MARCUS SLOSS

Contents

Dinosaur Warlord 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Epilogue

Dinosaur Warlord 2

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Epilogue

Dinosaur Warlord 3

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Afterword

Also by Marcus Sloss

Copyright © 2021 Royal Guard Publishing LLC.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ASIN B08TC7VM9Z

Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously.

Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination.

Dinosaur Warlord 1

AN EPIC LITRPG 4X

Chapter

One

I  pulled up to 119 Frankfurt Avenue with my rearview mirror awash in bright headlights. My tail had stayed close to my bumper ever since we left Lachlan Street, five minutes ago. The damn door handle of my old work truck jammed, again. It wasn’t worth fixing, so I finagled the trigger to pop the door open.

The hinges creaked from age. I brushed the greasy nastiness off my hands, pausing at the side mirror to tuck a few wild hairs behind my ears. My teeth flared white in my reflection with slight coffee stains. My sandy brown, short hair was mostly covered by a ball cap. I found a smudge of work grease on my cheek that I wiped off with a sleeve.

When I winced at the weary bags under my eyes, the motion needlessly showcased the crow’s feet and wrinkles I shouldn’t have in my late twenties. I was overworked and in need of about three good nights of sleep, probably four.

My squinting blue eyes caught a flicker of the car behind me opening its door. The headlights shut off with the dying sounds of the quieting engine.

The night critters cried out in their annoying ambience. I slammed Betsy’s door so it would shut properly. The clap of the jarring action startled my visitor. The younger woman, in her early twenties, found her confidence and met me halfway.

My gaze shifted downward to see she currently had her black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Her mocha skin was blemish free and her face lit up with a large smile from seeing me. Her clean, perfectly straight teeth were so white they shined in the night. She was pretty, a professional, and part of the city committee. Who didn’t love the pretty dentist?

Why Elanor Trimm would be interested in me was a mystery. I was pushing thirty, always single, had absolutely no free time, and was starting to pack a spare tire—from eating fast food while on the go. Yet, here she was, joining me on a work date.

“Elly, you look so freaking beautiful, it hurts,” I said with a half-smile and a blush. She was out of my league and we both knew it.

We exchanged an awkward hug of greeting when she finally found her voice. “Nathanael Immerson, so tall and handsome, thank you for the sincere compliment. I do believe you will owe me a drink after this… work date,” Elly said, certainty firming her voice, mid-sentence.

“Well, the quicker we get to it, the faster I can buy that drink for you,” I replied, popping Betsy’s tailgate. “This is your chance. We both know you're about three times more beautiful than the folks I usually hang out with, and I am literally about to ask a dentist to work a blue-collar job. I’m almost surprised you don’t retreat to enjoy your well-earned time off on a nice couch.”

She shook her head, her brown eyes trying to lock with mine in an attempt to share a moment. Except I was on a job, and minutes mattered. I hopped up into the bed of my truck to stick the dolly under the ductless air conditioning unit.

When I glanced back at her, she was ducking under the strap to settle my tool satchel over her body diagonally. “Hey, if you’re wanting to earn points, well, a girl who can show she is good with tools is one way to do it.” My charming tone and friendly smirk earned me a smile.

“You know, if you didn’t work so much, you’d be scooped off the market in an instant, Nate,” Elly said, helping me get the unit down to the ground. “You’re here pro-bono aren’t you?”

“Shucks Elly, you’d think you knew me or something.”

She was right, of course. We were at old man Bateman’s place. The guy was on a fixed budget, a retired veteran whose family had all moved out of the area. He was one of the very first customers who had trusted me right out of HVAC school. His A/C had finally died, after years of me tinkering with it. He’d saved up enough to buy this ductless unit and I was using my date night to install it. The kicker, was that this was at no charge to him.

These people relied on me. Literally to the point that I could save a life sometimes. South Florida, mid-summer, and no air conditioning can kill an old man as quickly as working seven days a week could kill a love life. No offense to Elly, I knew her—and yeah, she was sexy while also a great gal—but work couldn’t be skipped for a drink in a dimly lit bar. Not tonight.

“Also, Elly, not completely free,” I admitted to her. The squeaky wheels on the dolly begged for grease as we walked up the drive to the front door. “The old unit will cash in for fifty bucks or so. I can do these in an hour. So…”

“But you gotta drop the unit off, and then haul the old one out, and…” She smirked as I rolled my eyes. We rang the bell on Mr. Bateman’s door.

“Nate!” Mr. Bateman answered as if he’d been standing right behind the door waiting. He used his cane to step out of the way so I could wheel the boxed unit in.

Old war images of Desert Storm adorned his walls. His house was spotlessly clean, though the scent of Florida’s humidity hung heavy in his home. I could wick the moisture off the walls because he had every window open. The tiny kitchen led into a small living room with two recliners—one worn from use, the other untouched.

“George, this is Elly, Elly this is George,” I said and they shook hands.

“A woman with tools is a keeper and she even looks like she knows how to use ‘em,” George said in a friendly, teasing tone.

I wheeled the ductless unit into the middle of his living room, shifting the box off the dolly.

“I’m a dentist. Happy to help,” Elly said with a smile. She caught George eyeing me speculatively. “We’re friends. Well, he dated an old friend of mine who moved away some time ago. I’ve been meaning to stay in touch, but Nate is a hard guy to lockdown.”

I blushed a bit at the fact that George was figuring out we were on a date, in his living room.

“Care for a drink?” George asked politely. “Got water, some old beer, or lemonade.”

“No thanks George, I’m going to get the rest of my tools, if you could both unbox that,” I said pointing to the well-packaged ductless unit.

I left them to get a step stool, my drill with a hole bit, a level, and compression set. These ductless units were generally a breeze to install and this one was no exception. I kept catching glances from Elly while we worked. She enjoyed the process, following along and listening intently as she learned the basics about air conditioning units. My voice was soothing to her, for some unknown reason, and she smiled a lot.

George gave us space while he rocked in a recliner, watching the news. The two of us, well, we had a blast. The installation went by so fast, it almost didn’t feel like work. That is, until we went outside to remove his old, clunky central unit.

You see, George was obviously old, and he’d been injured in the First Gulf War. Lawn maintenance was not a high priority for the man—his grass was fairly high and the bushes were untrimmed. Ripping out the broken unit should have been simple: kill the power, drain the lines, and then cut the copper tubing, capping it afterwards.

My mind was on autopilot while I kneeled in the tall grass. I was wheeling the copper cutter over the line when Elly suddenly shrieked, causing me to startle.

She bolted for her car, screaming, “SNAKE!”

Sure enough, a moccasin reared up, chasing her away. I relaxed, watching the awkward exchange. When Elly was gone, the slithering creature returned to where I first saw it. When that diamond shaped head popped up at me, not five feet away from where I squatted, I huffed.

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m no zoo expert. But I knew my snakes and this one was studying me. It was trying to decide whether or not it should strike, or run. We locked eyes, its blocky triangular head fixated on me. I felt the moccasin relaxing, the interest it held in me increasing, while its aggressive posture decreased. I wasn’t sure if this was good or bad or what the hell was going on, but I knew I didn’t want to spook the snake into biting me.

While we stared at each other, George came around from the front of the house with a shotgun tight to his shoulder. “Back up and -”

The snake slithered away at the sound of George’s voice, darting through the grass for a retention pond a few houses back.

“That was close,” I muttered with a grunt, finishing the cut. I capped the old line before heading back for my dolly.

“Sorry about your date,” George said as Elly sped away without even saying goodbye.

I shrugged and replied with a chuckle, “George, I didn’t get bit by the snake, I consider tonight the same as getting lucky.”

“Ha! I hear ya! Still, it’s not healthy for a young buck like you to be working so late on a Sunday night,” George said in a serious tone.

“This is my last job for two weeks. Tomorrow, I fly to Australia, so if that new unit quits humming, don’t bother trying to call me,” I said with a sigh of longing. I had really, really, been looking forward to two things—the date with Elly, and my first vacation in ten years.

Well, hopefully the latter would go better than the former. “I will be by to pick up the old unit when I get back.”

“You’re a good man Nate, I 'preciate the effort,” George said, patting my sweat soaked back as I walked to my old truck.

“Have a good night George,” I said, departing with an over the shoulder wave.

I heard him muttering as I stored my tools in the back of old Betsy. My frown at Elly darting off was replaced by an unexpected smile. I bet she would be thinking about me the entire time I was on vacation. Me? I would be soaking up the glories of the Great Barrier Reef, combined with everything an all-inclusive resort had to offer.

Chapter

Two

CAIRNS AUSTRALIA

I f you’ve ever flown from Miami to Cairns, Australia, you know it’s a bunch of stops, and a whole lot of travel time.

To me, the thirty plus hours aboard a plane were a great opportunity to catch up on some sleep. With the new seat layouts, I’d brought along a big pillow to jam against the curved plastic shields from the seat facing the other way.

Sleep. So much glorious sleep. I even managed to not miss a flight, catch a delay, or have a crying kid within a row or two of my seat.

While others around me stressed, I was in heaven. I reveled in the fact that someone was waiting on me, I caught up on naps, and set my phone on airplane mode. One word to rule them all. Bliss.

When I’d told my mother that I was heading for the Great Barrier Reef, she grew confused. Why would I want to go all the way to Australia to snorkel when I could go to the Keys or the Caribbean?

The coral. I’d always loved the vibrant colors of coral. I wanted a saltwater aquarium but never had the time to care for one properly. So... I got one of those lamps that projected images of real ocean pictures instead—it was a far cry from the real thing, but still, I loved them. Plus, everyone knew that sharks didn’t kill people on the GBR; out-of-shape old folks, snorkeling for the first time, were the primary fatalities. I’d looked it up, when an old football buddy busted my balls for booking the trip.

All good things come to an end and the two days of travelling ended when I arrived at a swanky hotel, the Riley Resort. Many people might assume the owner of SouthernCool AirConditioning, L.L.C., would hold tight to the purse strings, especially with all the pro-bono work I did.

Nope. I was loaded. I had enough in the bank that my accountant kept telling me to slow down and relax. One time he’d noted that I was pulling in enough passive income, that I could retire. Yeah, even he was shocked that I could swap out two new air conditioning units for five hundred less than the big guys and still pocket two grand a unit. The math was crazy. If I pushed hard, I could make six thousand dollars a day.

I typically kept my mouth shut when people asked me how much I made. A new unit at wholesale was 2,200—with installation, I charged a smooth five thousand. Even at those rates, I was still decently under the competition.

Not every day was a new unit, but I charged a hundred and fifty per hour for routine maintenance and repairs. Hell, my dentist and doctor had lower rates for routine checkups thanks to penny-pinching insurance companies. So, working seven days a week and thanks to great word of mouth, I was… well, very well off.

Despite this, I had angst I was trying to let go of. I would lose clients from this trip, no two ways about it. If your go-to A/C guy takes off on vacation, then you tended to replace him if he was needed but not around in the middle of a Florida summer.

I sat at a posh bar, sipping a strawberry margarita to ease my concerns. The waitress was pretty, but a married British ex-pat with a hard accent. We chatted for a few hours while I snacked on finger food overlooking a pool, where I could also watch ocean waves lapping at the beach.

Laura swiped my room card to charge my bill and I left her a nice tip. My phone alerted me that I was due to catch a tour bus out front and I didn’t want to be late. I strolled out to the front of the hotel wearing a goofy straw hat, a flower print shirt, and plain swim shorts. I was, undoubtedly, the most underdressed guest at the resort. I found a nice bench to sit on, away from a crowd of what looked like college students.

Imagine my surprise, then, when a lone cutie pointed at me while talking with her girlfriends. A hulking football player type escorted her over to my bench. The brute knelt in front of me to say, “Senna, is my friend. I hurt people who hurt my friends.”

I nodded while waving to Senna, who stood nervously behind the big man. She ducked her head and gave me a shy smile and a rapid wave. I patted the seat beside me, giving her the opening she wanted. She plopped down with a happy sigh and her escort left without another word.

“I’m Nate,” I said and smiled, leaning forward to stick my chin on a closed fist with my elbow on my thigh. After making initial eye-contact, I turned my gaze back to the Australian countryside. This wasn’t to aptly study the boring road ahead of me, it was to let her get comfortable. “I take it you’re from the States too?” I finally asked.

Up to this point, I’d avoided gawking at her. She was pretty, young, and voluptuous. Even a quick glance could tell a man that. When she hesitated, I shifted to give her a long look.

Long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and a tight smile crested her face as if she wanted to laugh, but held it in. She wore a shawl over her shoulders, a tube top over her bikini, and bellybutton shorts. Senna had a bit of padding on her, but so did I. It definitely gave her hips an extra flare and her ample bust a nice bit of cleavage.

“Am I part of a prank or something?” I asked, returning my gaze to the road as a bus chugged slowly our way.

She sighed and finally spoke, “I’m Senna, and I… get nervous around strangers.”

“Huh?” I asked with a grunt. Well, mostly grunted in confusion; even added a twisted grimace to the mix.

“I made a pledge to talk to more nice guys. We were in quarantine my first year at university. Second year at school, the cure came out but people were struggling to find each other, and well… now, I’m here. You’re not a swipe right on a screen,” Senna blurted out. “Sorry.”

I was starting to understand what was going on. I was a shot in the dark for her; her smile wasn’t a ploy, it was stage fright. Well, I was a catch according to Elly, and I was on vacation. I decided I should do the same.

“Shucks, I’m a nobody named Nate. No reason to feel anxious around me. Here, I will go first. University you say? Well, whatcha studying?” I asked casually, inserting some slang to hopefully put her at ease. It was a little trick I’d picked up in the fourth grade; if you want a girl to talk to you, talk about them with easy to answer questions.

“Wait. Are you married?” Senna asked and I chuckled, flashing an empty ring finger devoid of tan lines. “What?! We’re only at the Riley because Oscar’s dad has a timeshare here. This place is for the rich and famous and his dad is rich. So, are you famous?”

“Who buys timeshares?” I asked with a snort, and soon had her laughing with me. Taking a trusting leap of faith, I did something most would consider foolish. I handed her my I.D.

She scanned the Florida License with her phone before handing it back to me.

“You want my consent, too?” I snorted.

“Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we Nathanael Immerson? Granted, you're cute, single, and somehow successful enough to stay here,” Senna said and I snickered. “Confidence issues?”

And then there were times you didn’t want to talk with a girl. I folded my arms, wanting to lean back, but the bench seat was flat, with no support. Before I soured further, I tucked away my attitude.

“Sorry,” I grimaced. “I’ve been a little awkward around women, as of late… Well, sure, an AC repairman like me gets hit on by single moms and lonely housewives—often, like almost daily—yeah, it’s not just in the pornos. A guy like me gets greeted by lingerie more than husbands do, but I have a zero hanky-panky work policy and always politely decline. Last thing I need is a frivolous lawsuit,” I admitted.

With a sad sigh, I continued. “I’m repressed and it kinda kills my confidence. I used to play football, with a body not much different than Thor over there. Now, I’ve got a dad tire and the start of man-boobs, and not the good kind you get to bounce in a mirror with a single raised brow.”

She slapped her knee in laughter while covering her mouth. “I needed that, please. I may be younger than you, but I’m not a fool. I stand by my earlier statement. Cute, single, and successful. There is more to a man than muscles—humor goes a long way, too. Thor? … too funny. Erik will love that.”

The screech of brakes joined a sputtering exhaust right about the time my bus was due. Senna was pretty, while being sincere with her compliments. I… I felt sad that our conversation was about to come to an end.

“It was nice meeting you –” I started to say.

“Silly Nate, will you be my dive partner?” Senna asked with a playful wink. I furled my brows, glancing over to see her group getting onto the tour bus.

“As in the GBR diving tour?” I asked and she rolled her eyes. She stood and held her hand out to help me up, bending over enough that her supple cleavage was in my face. She was adorable, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear while exposing her breasts so much.

I couldn’t help myself. I gave her a cocky grin and blurted out, “Shucks, I love the view.”

“Aw,” she blushed, “I think… I’m undecided if that was rude or sweet…”

“Sweet, now come on,” one of the eavesdropping ladies from the bench next to ours said. “She sent your information to us. You pass. Hurry up, you blossoming love birds. You didn’t bring a friend so I can have a vacation romance, too, did ya?”

I blushed, shaking my head no. I accepted Senna’s hand, rising from the bench to loom over her. Her short five-foot frame made me feel tall—then again, I towered over most women.

“Hmm, six-three?” She asked and I nodded. Close enough. I was 6’4” but found no reason to correct a beautiful woman who was holding my hand.

She broke into small talk while leading me onto the bus. Her blue eyes caught the sunlight, to the point I got lost in them again. I knew right then, today was going to be a very interesting day. This was the stuff vacation dreams were made of.

We sat in the back of the bus, which I hated. The air conditioner was frozen over. If you wondered what a technician thought about a frozen unit dripping water next to him because the bus company was cheap, well, they weren’t pretty thoughts.

I jimmied our window down shortly after we got going, which also needed maintenance. My conversation with Senna was nixed when her friends started in with twenty questions on me. Even Thor, or Erik as that was his actual name, prodded me about basic stuff—like, where I was from, and what I did for a living.

When it was my turn, I learned all fifteen of these college students were from Wharton—the business school at the University of Pennsylvania that was apparently tied for number one as THE place to get your MBA. Imagine my surprise, then, when a bunch of business students spun on me after finding out I had run a business for nine years. What made the exchange worse, was I did just about everything they were taught a small business owner shouldn’t do, and still was successful.

The first question was what school I’d gone to. When I admitted I went to the South Florida Academy of AC, well, they started smashing searches into their phones. It was kind of sad to see them so glued to their devices while we drove by amazing views of the beach.

Me, I was desperate to get off the damn bus that was making me queasy. Also, my phone was back in my room. I had even bought a special camera that was… wait for it… just a camera, only. I’d really wanted to get away from technology during this vacation, something these college students were making really difficult.

“Are you certain you didn’t go to the South Florida Institute of Technology?” Rosanne asked. She was the dumbest of the bunch—or maybe not, her tone seemed off. Maybe she was playacting for attention; even Senna winced when she asked that one.

“Thank god,” I muttered when our bus pulled up to a set of docks with dozens of pontoon tour boats bobbing in the waves.

I held my hand out to Senna, who happily accepted it as we left to find our diving pontoon tour. I stopped by the driver, to tell him he needed to service the A/C unit. The driver was a middle eastern man puffing on a vape like it was going out of style. He clearly didn’t care what I told him, so I moved on.

“Sorry about Rosanne,” Senna said quietly, a hint of shame in her tone.

I smiled. My grumpy face was gone. I even waited for Rosanne to catch up, so I could take the moral high ground. “Sorry,” I told Roseanne, “I really hate stuffy busses and air conditioners that leak on me. Let me say that, yes, I loved going to the South Florida Academy of Air Conditioning. Not prestigious, I know, but I don’t come from much, and my grades were mediocre because I worked through high school to help Ma out.”

This resulted in a bunch of “Aw’s” while we walked up to our tour guide team. I saw three Aussie bros with surfer blonde hair, tanned fit bodies, and big smiles waiting for us by the boat. The other girls started gossiping in whispers instantly. I was all but forgotten, as the ‘new shiny’ came in a trio.

Except Senna. I was oddly attracted to her, and felt a closeness with her that I was not accustomed to feeling, since… Well, high school. We kept sneaking glances at each other and it felt natural to hold her hand. It was no longer a ‘maybe’ that a vacation romance was blossoming, we both knew it was a certainty. We dropped back, so the others could swarm the snack shop first. We joined the back of the line because I needed to get a couple of water bottles.

“So,” I smiled at the cute blonde, picking up where we had left off in our private conversation, “we established that I’m not married. You did a great job of turning the conversation back onto me. Why are you studying business? Which now, I know you’re going to a prestigious business school, so there is that,” I said, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Ah… you noticed that. Well, we are a tight knit group.” She nervously tucked a blonde lock behind her ear. “You’re a loner on vacation, and while I appreciate the attempt to make small talk with me, my friends wanted to vette you—to ensure you weren’t a serial killer,” Senna said this with a sparkle in her blue eyes.

I found myself drawn to her.

She laughed. “Not a great time to get lost in my gaze.”

“Touché,” I said with a smirk. “I… Fine, you win.”

“Oh, dear. Win what?” Senna playfully bantered with me.

I hit the front of the line for the dock market shop. I stacked three waters on the counter. Senna placed three more next to mine. I fished out a red ‘funny money’ twenty. Aussies had some silly currency. I was given a series of coins for change that would pull my swim shorts down—either these coins were worth a bunch or it was expensive water.

“I’ll take them,” Senna said, helping me out since she had a swim bag. She opened a small purse section for me to drop the coins in while she put the waters in the bag. We left the booth and walked back to the pontoon boat. “So,” she continued, “you were saying?”

“I was about to divulge how I’m just an average guy,” I said, giving a single shoulder shrug. I saw her holding back her quip. It seemed that once she felt comfortable, the shy Senna was… not so shy. I timed my step onto the rocking boat before extending my hand to help her out. “Ready for my not so tragic backstory?”

She nodded, leading me to a shaded, emptier part of the pontoon. “I will go next,” she said with a yawn. “I’m jet lagged, and I tend to get sleepy on boats. May I use you as a pillow, good sir?”

“Shucks, I’d be honored,” I replied with a smirk, tucking her into my side. One of her friends got a photo of us and I blushed. “My Ma, though, hers is the tragic backstory. She was a meth junkie by twenty-one. My grandparents forced her into rehab after a short stint in jail for petty theft. She got clean but then hit the bottle. When she got pregnant with me, she dried up and went to AA. I know it’s a crazy way to put it, but I became her rock and her cure, all in one.”

I was about to keep going, when the captain launched into a spiel about how to stay seated during the ride. When we got to the reef, we would get another briefing where no phones were permitted, because our complete attention was required. Our excursion would take a full hour to get to the GBR.

I wanted to scoff. I’d paid for a six-hour trip and two of them would be leisurely boating there and back? That hadn’t been explained in the tour ad. I wanted to complain, except that asking for the manager would get me nowhere and Senna was snuggled so sweetly into my shoulder.

The engines were dual outboards that hummed as they pushed us through the slight chop with ease. The wind smacked into us and the air was a bit chilly, since we were in the shade. The weather called for overcast and mid-seventies today. The breeze made it feel like the temperature was in the sixties, but Senna was the best heater I could have asked for. Even her hair smelled nice; I knew this because the wind kept whipping it into my face.

“I never knew my father, and spoiler, neither did my Ma. She worked her butt off to keep me in decent clothes and in a good home. Once she learned she was pregnant, she cleaned up nicely and stayed sober. I grew up between our small studio apartment and my grandparents’ place during summer.

“It was good, my younger years, while rough… I think they made me a better man for it,” I said, opening up to her.

Because I had to talk loudly to be heard over the motor, Thor and Rosanne kept glancing over at us as they sat snuggled up by themselves. The football jock and his ditsy cheerleader girlfriend—some tropes transcended time. I did notice that one of the girls was less than enthused that Senna had latched onto me. She sat across from us, with her heels on the seat and her knees tucked into her chin with her face buried in her phone. I caught the dainty raven-haired girl glaring at me a few times, while her friends patted her back to calm her.

With Senna so relaxed and listening intently, I decided to keep going, instead of forcing her to take a turn.

“I’m different from most southern Florida residents. My Ma was poor, and I stuck out. I adapted, again… becoming a better person for it. My teenage years were fun, knowing from my Mom’s experience that drugs and alcohol can mess you up steered me straight. When high school ended, I had saved up enough money from washing dishes at Earl’s Diner to go to HVAC school, since my dreams of being a football star, or a pilot, had been dashed by realities I couldn’t control.”

I gave a long exhale, thinking of the hard times I’d been through when I realized my dreams would no longer be possible. I smiled down at Senna. My palm rubbed the chilly parts of her arm that weren’t covered by her shawl.

“Okay, I’ll meet you at the end of high school,” Senna said, snuggling in a bit tighter. Her hands fidgeted as if ashamed of what she was about to say. “I’m the oldest of three sisters. My Dad always gripes about how he should’ve just gotten a big manly dog so he’d have another guy in the house.” She released a happy sigh at the thought. “My little sisters are domestic terrorists.

“Eh, that came out wrong. They’re decent people, but to me, phew…” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “That is the extent of my rough upbringing and it’s kinda sad. I grew up privileged, but… Dad went to college, got his MBA and started a great business. So… screw the haters. Our spoiled lifestyles and plentiful opportunities came from his hard work.”

She clearly felt guilty about growing up privileged. I grew up without a father; I wished I’d have had her loving family support and siblings.

“You know -” I began.

She grunted before saying, “Yeah, yeah. I shouldn’t be upset that my Dad figured out how to recoat shipping containers so that they would never rust. My parents did well for themselves, and we’re not a socialist society. Moving on,” she sighed, clearly flustered by her own emotions.

I held her just a smidge tighter, to let her know I wasn’t going to judge. We didn’t get to decide who our parents were, or how we grew up. She released the tension in her shoulders at my hug, as if that was exactly what she needed.

The view of the endless ocean on the horizon, the breaking white caps, and the gentle bounce of the boat were soothing. The others were mostly glued to their phones while I soaked in the views. The rocking of the boat was soothing and the horizon delightful. Australia was everything I had hoped for, and more.

“I went to private schools where the girls were pretty bitchy, but we were in a wealthy, elitist area near DC,” Senna said with a sneer before switching to a more determined tone. “I never worked, but at the same time, I did. Still haven’t held a real job, but I also never had time for one. I focused on being the best student I could be, which meant afterschool programs, volunteer work, and piano lessons. My weekends were spent with tutors and I played tennis. I tried volleyball,” she shrugged, “but my frame is not conducive to jumping. Ha, I saw you glance at my lovely lady lumps.”

I, of course, had done exactly that. She was a voluptuous young woman, I could only imagine the pain of trying to restrain those big breasts.

She patted my thigh, blushing a little from the attention, though clearly welcoming my admiring gaze. Senna said, “I got scholarships all on my own, from my hard work and dedication to my studies. I fit right in at Wharton—even turned down a bunch of other schools. I want to get into business, it has always been a dream of mine.”

We grew up in two different parts of the country with two completely different realities. I frowned about how to phrase what I clearly wanted to say: experience trumps book knowledge. Would the guys at Wharton probably disagree? I bet they would. They probably didn’t think a man like me was successful, and that an LLC was a joke. Only a structured, ‘big C’, corporation was truly a business.

“And your plans for after university?” I asked, watching a seagull trailing our boat looking for scraps.

“It will be like applying for colleges all over again. I will be trying to build a resume,” she said, pausing to tuck her wild hair against my shirt to keep it from whipping me in the face.

I helped her get control of the flailing locks.

“Thanks. So… this is the part where most guys run, but I want a house full of kids and after years and years of working so hard to be successful… I just…”

“Ah.” I understood immediately. At least, well enough to make a reasonable guess. “It’s not fair.”

“No, it's really not. I want a happy home life AND a successful career. I crave both, but am likely to be given only the option for one, until I get so old I won’t be able to keep up,” Senna said, laying her dreams out there for me. “What I need is a man who would be a stay at home dad. That would be the dream!” Her words trailed off, full of defeatism.

“Being a stay at home dad would be awesome. I love kids,” I admitted. “And while I’d like to be a father… these days, I just work too much. If I did do the family thing…” I frowned, really considering it for the first time, “yeah, I’d rather just turn off work to focus on my kids. What I missed my entire childhood was a parent who was able to… well, parent.”

She pulled back from being tucked into my arm, eying me sternly. While we had been talking, she had been tapping away at her phone, which at first had offended me. Then I noticed what she was doing—she’d been investigating all things Nathanael Immerson.

I cringed, wondering what harsh questions were going to be asked, when I noticed an image of Elly on her phone. A caption under her smiling face talked about me. I tried to read what it said, but the raven-haired girl stomped across the deck, directly for us. We both became distracted as she plopped down beside me.

“What do you want, Amelia?” Senna asked with disdain. I was caught between the girls, but not loving this moment. Two college babes? Sure. Two babes wanting to catfight, with me in the middle? Not so much. “I was about to ask Nate about this lovely dentist, who seems to be in love with him.”

Amelia sneered, her lips raising to show flawless teeth. The woman was very attractive, even more so than Senna, as far as sheer beauty went. It was clear, however, that Senna was plush, with all-natural curves. Amelia was rail thin with a big ass and huge tits, clearly the products of surgery and not genetics. I had to remember that money was not a problem for these students.

“And here I thought you were snuggling up to him because of how rich he is,” Amelia sneered. The gloating smirk on her face had me worried. “He’s the self-made man version of what you’ve always desired.”

“Rich? He fixes air conditioners and comes from no money. His DL scan would have linked him to some lottery win or -”

“Amateur,” Amelia said, scowling. She folded her arms, giving Senna a chance to say more. When the blonde didn’t reply, Amelia continued, “I guess I thought too highly of you this time, like most of the others.”

Senna looked like she was on the verge of violence, leaving me confused as hell. I turned sideways to block the girls from acting on their pent-up aggression. The muscly guy gave me a thumbs up for trying to diffuse the situation, the deckhands were chuckling at me caught in the middle of a catfight, and the other college girls were worried.

“Are you rich?” Senna asked, her blues looking to mine in confusion.

I shifted to lean back, they were both focused on me now, and less on each other.

“Yeah, I’m wealthy. Rich is subjective. I work over three hundred days a year—uh, more like three-thirty—and I only sleep four to five hours a day. The rest of the time, I’m working,” I admitted, spreading my open shirt to grab at my paunch to emphasize my point. “This is from eating Wendy’s for lunch, seven days a week. I’m single, that picture was of Elly, well, she’s a friend of an ex-girlfriend. I literally took her on a work date, as in, she went on an install with me.

“Shucks, that’s all I have time for. So, it turns out that when you make a few thousand dollars a day, at three hundred plus days a year for nine years it adds up. I have no expenses.” I shrugged. “Almost no overhead. I drive a beater truck because it still works, though not great, but Betsy -”

“You did not,” Amelia said, her eyes widening with interest.

“Wait,” Senna piled on, “you named your work truck Betsy?”

I shrugged, noticing muscles and the cheerleader moving over to join our conversation. Erik stood, holding the bimini top that shaded us, to let Rosanne shimmy up to Senna. When I eyed him questioningly, he shrugged, his eyes telling me that I’d caught his attention. “Nate, right?” Erik asked.

I nodded.

He grinned. “You’ve got fifteen of us on vacation from business school. Amelia has connections, so if she says you made it rich by being a simple A/C guy, then I’m interested. Professor says to keep our ears to the streets. The stuffy lectures are old, only the guy in the trenches has the latest pulse of the economy.”

Wow, something I could agree with. Senna sighed in frustration, she was clearly not liking me being ganged up on by her friends. I could rationalize their curiosity, so I did the casual thing. I pulled Senna in tight and decided to explain.

“Manual labor comes at a cost, skilled manual labor, more so. There is no robot to fix your home’s air conditioner. When you work like a robot, charge a decent rate per hour, and subvert the competition's pricing by keeping your overhead low; well, you end up with a lot of money. I would hazard to say your professors would scoff at my real-world experience, but… I’ve been proven wrong.

“My first year I grossed six figures, easily. Look, I may’ve broken a few rules by sleeping in my shop, which was really just a big storage room. Simple cot, tv, and there was a business bathroom. No shower.”

The girls all wrinkled their noses.

“Yeah,” I laughed, “baby wipes and washing my hair in the sink. By year two, I had more clients than I could keep up with, and I bought my first house—with cash. I probably should’ve dropped a few customers or hired an assistant or a second hand, but did it all myself.”

Erik let out a low whistle.

“I’m saying this mostly for Senna. I do want kids,” I winked at her, “and I’d love to have a life—but I buried myself in my work. Honestly? Probably to the point that I got in too deep. Since I created SouthernCool, there have been no vacations. I’d force myself to take a single day off a month, but that never really worked.”

I shook my head. “On your day off, Patti will call and say her baby has a fever and their AC is broken, so no cold air. So,” I took a deep breath, “when I say I work three-sixty-five… I mean it, even when I was sick, I’d still have an old woman give me a call to save her from heat stroke.”

They all started to speak… at the same time.

“Yes…” I said waving their questions down. “There were a few spurts of time off. But consider that I charge a hundred and fifty an hour, while working fourteen hours a day, at three hundred plus days a year. That adds up quickly… and that is not including installs and underestimates my actual work-days.” I blushed. “I, ugh… actually gross more than that.”

Amelia held up a number on her phone and I blanched. Right there was my bank account number staring back at me. I’d even checked it this morning. How in the holy hell?! I’ve never wanted to hit a girl more than I did at that moment.

“I don’t get it,” Erik said with true confusion. “It’s a little over a million? Not crazy for a hardworking man to earn a million in what ten years?”

“Nine, actually, and just try saying that to your average hardworking man.”

He chuckled.

“I started the business when I was twenty. Finished HVAC school in a little under two years and was working nights as an apprentice.” I pointed at Amelia and glared. “You shouldn’t have that information,” I said with a hostile tone.

“Yeah Amelia, not cool,” Rosanne said.

“He also owns SouthernCool Housing. Real genius name there,” Amelia snickered. “He has five million in property, alone. Surprisingly, he has rentals generating more than ten thousand a month. He could retire off the rent alone, if he wanted to.”

I glared at her, while everyone else just shook their heads.

She got up, sensing she’d lost her edge here. “I see you haven’t been flaunting your business acumen to Senna.” She cringed. “Jealousy got the better of me. I… I apologize. A rare treat for you to experience.”

She left, as did the others. When it was just Senna and I, I finally relaxed.

Senna looked at the retreating Amelia. “We were lovers. Yeah, I... like girls and guys. You don’t seem to be the judging type?” Senna said hesitantly, though it was more of a question than a statement.

“Shucks, your past love-life is no business of mine,” I said and she returned to snuggle into me. “I have to admit, the interrogation was not fun.”

“Yeah, well, sorry. I’ll be the first to say, I didn’t see that coming. On another note, I take it that the pretty Elanor girl is just wishing for the best?” Senna asked, turning her phone off before stuffing it back in her bag.

“Who knows? We went on a date. She fled when a snake showed up. Which was weird, but hey, it’s freaking Florida. When the snake and I got into a staring contest, I thought for sure I would be the next ‘Florida Man’ on the news. Look,” I ran a hand through my hair, “Elly is a nice lady. I’ve been on exactly one date with her… one that ended poorly. To be honest, you and I have far more in common. Hopefully, now that the interrogation is over, you and I can relax and actually enjoy each other’s company. These views sure are amazing.”

She chuckled, giving me a hug around my waist. “I was drawn to you before the big wealth reveal, I’m certainly not a gold digger,” Senna said defiantly. “Now, tell me how many children you want me to have, so you can watch them while I dominate the housing world with SouthernCool Housing and More?”

I chuckled at this. It was a fantasy that I could actually see becoming a reality. When she launched into a teasing hypothetical, I couldn’t help but be drawn in by the situation. I held a sexy girl in my arms, on a sunny day cruising across seafoam green waters. Even better, I was on vacation and didn’t have customers on the other end of a phone, demanding my attention.

So, I enjoyed the rest of the trip to our dive spot, just exchanging playful banter with Senna. My ability to bask in the shade while having a pleasant time was working. I’d struggled with this decision to go on vacation. Would it be worth the lost income and the high cost? Well, as of when the boat stopped and we were given a safety briefing, I’d have to say yes… yes it was.

The next part would be purely a bonus—I was going to dive a non-bleached section of the Great Barrier Reef and, literally, bring a dream to fruition. Plus, Senna was worming her way out of her clothes to reveal a barely-there bathing suit.

Everything was looking very, very good. It was almost as if nothing could go wrong.

Chapter

Three

CORAL SEA – GREAT BARRIER REEF

“T his is dumb,” I complained, trying to adjust the life vest the crew had said was mandatory. “We’re snorkeling, not taking swim lessons. I had to sign four letters and get a doctor’s note just to board the damn boat!”

Senna patted my shoulder tenderly. “You’re just mad my boobs got covered,” she said.

“Touché, you seem to be pretty well versed in my thinking. Maybe I should keep you around,” I said with a winning smirk that had her blushing. Her gaze fell as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. I lifted her chin up to peck her on the cheek. “I guess I can stomach wearing a life vest. Being around a woman as pretty as you makes it hard to stay in a sour mood.”

“You see me as a woman, don’t you?” Senna asked inquisitively. I decided to ponder my reply to ensure I gave her the best response that I could. That and leaving her hanging had the right effect of getting a few extra glances my way.

We finished the safety lessons, signed the forms, and heard the warnings for a third time. Our group was finally ready to go into the water. We were tethered in groups of two. Each pair would stay bound to the ship, while we went off in different directions. The tail of our line broke into a Y at the end, so we could free swim a bit. My camera was strapped to my bulky life vest and we were the next in line to hop in.

The Aussie deckhand plastered a fake smile on his face. His man bun drove me crazy, but I returned the fakeness by thanking him before jumping in.

When my feet splashed into the water, I quickly learned that this was the cold season in Australia. Which was far better than the hot season—or summer—in Florida, but still, there was going to be shrinkage happening from the chill.

I swam forward, the life vest keeping me afloat with extra buoyancy. My jump into the temperate waters resulted in me having to readjust my mask. When Senna plunged in behind me, she cursed with a slight shiver. The deckhand chuckled while pointing the direction we were designated to explore.

Senna kicked to catch up to me while I laid out horizontal and looked down to inspect the reef. I felt a tug on my hand. Senna pointed at a school of vibrant orange anthias fish darting between acropora corals. The reddish-purple males had dorsal spikes and they stuck to the outskirts of the school. The coral colorations were vibrant in their variety and I quickly became lost in wonder.

My camera came out and I snapped a picture of a big angelfish darting between the rockwork. The four colors on the fish were beautiful; long streamers flowed from its fins. A school of tangs came over, noticed we didn’t have any food, and darted away again.

The water was clear, only ten feet deep for the most part. There were places where the rockwork jutted almost to the surface. I was able to reach down and touch a smooth patch of rock that was likely exposed at low tide. My slow kicks let us drift further from the boat to see more.

There was so much life here, tiny fish getting eaten by bigger fish, and even opportune tiny sharks working the confined reefs.

When we hit a sandy patch, Senna tugged on the line and pointed upwards with a thumb.

“It’s amazing,” I gasped, lazily floating in water that no longer felt cold. “I wanted to do this ever since I watched National Geographic, all those years ago. It is so much better in person! I always kind of expected the cameras were using color enhancers, or that they sped up or slowed the video.” I shook my head. “Nope, it’s all natural and right here. Wow!”

“You certainly are enjoying yourself,” Senna said, swimming closer to me.

In a surprise move, she wrapped her legs round my waist and kissed me. Not a peck on the cheek kiss, either. A deep kiss of longing. When our lip lock finally broke, I grew confused. I looked around to see if we were being watched. Nope, just the deck hands checking ropes. Our kiss wasn’t to make Amelia jealous or some photo op. It was genuine and… amazing.

I scooped her butt cheeks into my hands to raise her higher so she could kiss me again. The stinking life vests were getting in the way. Our kisses grew so passionate that I briefly wondered if we were going to get frisky in the ocean. Senna ran her fingers through my short hair, while my hands explored her plush curves

“Sorry, not sorry. You were adorable in your joy, and seeing you like that… well, it made me happy. I took a risk, getting to know you, and am glad I did,” Senna said, beaming. “Now, before you get back into your passionate admiration of the coral or reef snorkeling, I want to hear about why you don’t see me as a girl?”

I smirked, feeling a slight tug. We’d reached the end of our rope and were being pulled by the drifting pontoon boat. Butterfly fish circled our legs, clearly recognizing humans and were eager to be fed.

“I think this is a well-known tourist spot,” I said and she fake pouted. “Fine, fine. Look. I’m honest to a fault in these kinds of situations. You’re smart—you read a situation almost a full minute in advance—and temper your reactions with a maturity I wouldn’t expect in a ‘girl’. You’re crazy beautiful…” I smiled shyly, “with stunning eyes, not an ounce of fake on your shapely body, and I can’t help but wonder how cute our children would look.”

Her expression melted at that line.

“I know it is sappy, but you’re probably the girl of my dreams.” I pressed on. “You would literally fit into my life perfectly. You graduate, come home with me, and we become business partners. I’ll work the A/C part, you run the real estate.” I snorted. “I know you’d do better than the goofballs at Yanker Realty.”

She grinned.

“When you pop out baby one of three,” I continued, “we can take a few months off to tackle the early headaches of becoming parents, then I can retire while you build us a booming empire. I think of you as a woman,” I shrugged, “because I see you as one—”

I was kissed again, fiercely. When she finally let me breathe, another kiss landed on my lips. I felt a hand trail down my side to find the outline of my soft penis.

“Eh, Senna?” I asked. When her eyes locked to mine. I saw hunger and an insatiable desire for sex.

“It’s so big,” she said, biting her lip. I dodged her attempt to give me a hickey on the neck; she giggled at my deft bobs and weaves. “At least I know you’re as excited as I am. Going to be tough, fitting that big boy in little ‘ole me.”

I gave her a tender kiss that broke the mood—I wasn’t looking for some ocean sex.

“Ha, no excitement, and it’s only that small because the water is cold. I want to have sex in my hotel room, with the great views, not on the reef. I'm not even half hard,” I replied with a chuckle when her eyes widened. Her roaming hands went back in for another inspection.

“Damn… How big does it get then?” Senna asked and I rolled my eyes. “Please, as if you haven’t measured your dick. All guys do.”

“You’ll have to wait to find out,” I retorted with a playful tease. I kissed her cheek before returning to swimming horizontally.

While I was fairly certain I was getting laid tonight, I actually wanted to inspect the reef. Senna was content with holding my hand, stealing glances when she could. We swam the tether length of our rope from side to side. The deck hands were using long poles to push us across the reef so we could see new aspects of the GBR as time drifted by with us.

My eyes scanned the green, reds, and even yellow corals with wonderment. However, what perturbed me was that I never saw what I was hunting for. I wanted to see a carpet anemone with clownfish. Clarks would be just fine, or skunk clowns. I know, not the Nemo versions, but the same family and just as pretty to me.

We got out of the ocean for a water break and a breather. The guides listened to my request and knew a spot we could go. I was shocked—not only that they listened, but that they were also willing to shift our position to fulfill my request. The group relaxed for the short ride and Amelia tried to apologize again. When she left us this time, Senna was actually smiling.

Our small talk continued, far less heavy than the deep stuff I’d said earlier. Normally, I’d expect that to drive a girl away, but maybe Senna was different. Maybe she was my ‘it’ girl. Of course, I was no fool, it was way too early to tell. But playful banter, some fun sex, and a vacation romance were certainly on my to-do list with this amazing young woman.

I felt invigorated, on top of the world. We entered a series of flats. The captain paused the boat, added a touch of reverse and waited for the deckhand to set the anchor.

“We don’t come out here often. Mainly because there is only one thing to see and I hate setting the anchor. Below us is a clownfish reserve—a man-made space that a local mate of mine set up,” he said in his thick Aussie accent. “Be careful, a hundred feet that way is the proverbial drop off.” You could see the darker color of the deep water. “Yer lines are going to be shorter this go round. Enjoy.”

I wanted to be first in line and the others chuckled at my enthusiasm. The deckhand had a genuine smile on his face this time. I think he knew this was a big deal for me. My entry was subtle, and the moment Senna was in the water with me, I went horizontal. My camera was rapidly taking photos.

Below me, about ten feet down, was a sand pit, almost in the shape of a hockey rink. Stones built a subterranean wall around the sand to protect the area. Buried into the sand was a mix of plate corals with their feeler tentacles out, and carpet anemones. Hundreds, if not thousands, of clownfish hosted the majestic creatures. Some would dart into the rocks if someone kicked too quickly, only to get confident and return back to their anemones. Others never left the surface of their symbiotic homes. The swirl of fish and corals was beyond words.

There were so many clowns and all different variations. ‘Gem’s Reef’ was spelled out in the sand in rocks. Maybe the captain’s mate had dedicated this spot to a lover. If so, that was super unique.

I cherished every second of the experience. Senna held my hand the entire time and when we reached the end of the rope, I grew sad. I couldn’t get a great picture of a purple carpet—they were rare and I wanted a good shot for my stupid projection lamp. The deckhand must have noticed me tugging on the rope and let out some line.

My camera snapped about a hundred shots when a panicked tug from Senna caused me to come back up. When I bobbed in the water beside her, I learned that a deckhand hadn’t let out our rope. Senna held the frayed, detached end of our rope and pointed to the ship, which we were a good distance from.

I patted her shoulder to calm her. There was no undertow, the ship was close, and I saw no -

A tiger shark circled between us and the boat. The predator was huge, its calm eyes focused on me intently. I freaked out a bit, spinning to see if there were more. Sure enough, a dozen leviathans awaited us at the drop off that we were drifting towards. Torsos painted in those signature stripes, their sleek bodies were huge and daunting. I screamed into the water in frustration, hoping they would flee from my shout.

I didn’t care if Senna judged me. She did the smart thing, surfacing to scream, with an ear-piercing shriek. She clamored louder when the big bruiser of a shark approached, its large fin breaching the water. Her scream alerted the others, a whistle blew and unlike us, they were able to get safely out of the water.

When the shark pointed back towards us, swimming to close the gap, I felt like peeing myself. When the massive jaws peeled back, jagged rows of teeth were on full display. I put myself in front of Senna, holding my camera out as if it were a weapon.

And yet, instead of death, the shark hovered in place, halting its attack at the very last moment. The shark paused so closely, that I could touch its snout if I reached out my hand. I grew confused as we stared at each other.

I transitioned from a puzzled panic to a point where I found my cool. I went vertical to try to help Senna get herself back under control while the shark patiently waited.

“Stay calm,” I said between Senna’s screams. She flashed a ‘you’re out of your flipping mind’ look at me. The shark peeled off to give us space, as if we were no longer interesting. “Senna, trust me. It is swimming calmly. Steady your heart and follow my lead.”

She nodded, her fear transitioning into determination. Atta girl.

I ducked back into the water and saw we had drifted further from the boat.

Hmm… Okay, didn’t feel that but the shark had circled off to the side while we eyed the big predator; I started with calm strokes to swim back for the boat. Each stroke was methodical and smooth.

I started losing my cool, though, when our attempts to swim back to the boat resulted in us getting further and further away.

We arrived over the drop off and I gulped at the impossibility of my reality. Something wasn’t right. We clearly were swimming for the boat but still going backwards. Then I felt the ocean pulling at us. We must have been trapped in an undertow. I thumbed up for Senna to come back up top.

I realized, too late, that it was probably a bad idea to break the surface.

Not only had we shifted off the Great Barrier Reef, but we saw the boat go racing off a different direction. The passengers and crew all looked the wrong way, ignoring our waves of desperation.

“I’m so fucking scared, Nate,” Senna said, trembling with fear.

I wanted to reassure her. I needed to, because, at that moment, I knew I was dead. A dozen large fins circled around us, giving us plenty of space as we drifted further and further from the protection of the reef.

The boat was fleeing our area. Hope retreated and my mind accepted my fate. I was sad, but knew my Ma would be taken care of, and that I had led a good life. If only I could have saved Senna.

The least I could do was calm her. “Senna, we’re fine,” I lied and she held back her tears. “The boat is coming back around a rocky part.”

A motion below us caught my attention. A dark shadow that could only have been a whale or a megalodon came racing up at us. In the final moment before we were swallowed, I kissed Senna—both of us kept our eyes closed tightly shut.

There was a mighty rush of water, followed by an all-encompassing blackness.

Chapter

Four

CORAL SEA – GREAT BARRIER REEF

I  came back to my senses slowly. My thoughts swam in a haze of confusion. My body was drenched, and yet, the air around me was dry. Senna clung tightly to me, when I gazed down at her, her eyes were tightly shut, terror still etched on her face.

It did not take long for me to realize that we were no longer about to be eaten or even in the water. My gaze darted around, telling me we were in a clear, egg-shaped pod in the depths beyond the drop off. Engravings on the structural beams between the clear window-like sections displayed illegible glyphs that confused me.

Alien runes, maybe. But why? I asked myself. My mind had a rather tenuous grasp of the situation. Had an alien ship saved us, or was it the mysterious force that had pulled us backwards and diverted the pontoon?

Senna stopped shaking, pointing urgently above us with wide eyes. The underbellies of a dozen sharks occasionally flashed overhead. Murky, red waters revealed our pontoon boat’s frame casting a shadow.

There was a sudden hiss of air releasing, with two notable effects. The sound of bubbles was combined with a slight shimmer of our craft. Two nearly shredded orange life preservers were released out of the top of the alien craft and I immediately realized we’d had our preservers removed.

“When did those come off?” I wondered.

“Nate!” Senna’s eyes darted around, trying to deduce what was happening. “What’s going on? How is any of this happening?” She asked with a grimace.

Her panic from earlier was gone. She tentatively stuck her hand out, exploring the clear shell that encased us. The exterior was solid. Her fingers curled into knuckles, she knocked on the material. It pinged, as if hollow. My focus remained above us, trying to rationalize what my eyes were seeing.

“We just died,” I muttered.

Senna shot me a horrified gaze with wide, frightened eyes.

“Be calm,” I said, pulling her back into my arms, “please. I know. I know. This is the exact moment to panic. But watch. I think we are meant to see this.”

As if the container had been listening, our device headed for the surface. Passing through the circle of frenzied sharks, our craft breached the water without causing a single ripple on the surface. We hovered in the air, less than a hundred feet away from our pontoon boat.

We had to be invisible to the others, because no one noticed us floating over the water or heard Senna’s shouts for attention. I stood there mute and powerless. All of Senna's friends were either a horrified mess of tears or snapping photos at the water with their phones.

One of the deckhands used a long pole to fish out our bloody, ravaged life vests from the ocean. The tattered lifesavers caused a renewed wave of grief amongst the traumatized girls.

Senna gave a final, long, “Noooo!”

I stood stoic, watching our perceived deaths play out for the crew and Senna’s classmates. The poor girl trembled at the sight and took several deep breaths. I watched her struggle first to understand and then accept what had happened. Somehow, she got control of her emotions.

I’ll admit, I was a street smarts kind of guy, not a book worm like Senna. I just let my emotions fade into the background as the gears in my brain spun, vainly seeking a reason for what I was witnessing.

“Senna,” I murmured, “say goodbye. And before you spin on me, no, this is not my doing. Just… it was nice meeting you Rosanne, Erik, and others.” I squeezed her. “I forgive you, Amelia,” I said in a halfhearted attempt to wipe the slate between us clean.

She sniffled, dropping to her knees and pressing her face against the window. I grabbed and held on to her ponytail, just in case the clear exterior vanished. There was a frenzy of sharks below us, after all. She shot me a glare with her piercing blue eyes.

“I don’t want you to fall,” I said, releasing her hair, my hands raising defensively.

“They want us to die?” Senna asked, raising a hand for me to help her up. She found that inner calm again. “But why?”

I frowned when I realized I had no good answers. “Say goodbye, I have a feeling we’re leaving soon,” I repeated.

She nodded, turning again to watch her grieving friends. The captain of the pontoon was already turning the boat to leave. Senna hesitated as the image of the boat shrank, speeding now for the shore. She lifted her hand up in a brief wave before collapsing into me. We shot towards the heavens, leaving Earth behind.

“How… are you… so calm?” She wondered, between gasping breaths of air. It was as if her body wanted to cry, but she held the tears back with a will much stronger than I would have suspected her having.

“Either we died, and we’re taking a trip to heaven together... Or some super advanced aliens need us for something, so they staged our deaths. Either way, looks like we’re taking a trip to outer space, together. Either of those situations mean I’m powerless to stop whatever is going on,” I said in a defeated, deflated tone. “Any desperate attempts to free us from this bubble would have resulted in us dropping back into bloody shark- filled waters… or now, falling millions of feet to our deaths. So yeah, I think I’ll just stand here.” I smirked at her and rubbed her arms, “calmly.”

She thumped her head into my chest and shuddered. “Thank you for putting yourself in front of me. I was sooo,” she extended the o sound, “terrified.”

I patted her back, watching the blue ocean underneath us shrink as we shot into the upper parts of the atmosphere. We both spun to see the magical happening. How we were accelerating was unknown, though clearly bordering on the magical. I didn’t know what to say. Disbelief and a wave of denial washed over me. We increased in speed with a slight lurch.

“Where are we going?” Senna asked, as if I would know.

I reassuringly kissed her forehead, causing her to straighten her back. She found her spine, eyeing me ferociously.

“Nathanael Immerson,” Senna said, raising her voice and wagging a finger in my face while she glared up at me, “so help me, if you wooed me as some part of an alien abduction romance, I will cut your dick off, not service it.”

Her single finger became two and she even snipped her digits together like they were scissors.

“Shucks… Umm…” I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about. “A lot to digest in that statement. Care to elaborate?”

“I read romance books, some… naughtier than others. Alien abduction was a popular sub-genre—it’s a thing where the damsel in a dead-end life gets abducted by aliens who need females to help a flailing race mate, or a human woman to strengthen a bloodline—you pick the bullshit narrative.” She flung her hands up between us as if she were onto me. “But it always results in a charming male saving the woman, the woman saving the male, and then sex—a whole lot of extra-big penis penetration sex. And you, Sir,” Senna explained in a huff, “have a really-big dick… and now we have just left the atmosphere.”

I opened my shorts and looked down. Yeah, my dick was still a human penis. She peered down, hesitantly, to check. Senna ran a hand over my hairy chest and said, “You’re human, aren’t you?”

I chuckled and said, “Last I checked. I…” I kneeled before Senna on a single knee. “I promise on my Ma’s life, I did nothing besides be honest and try to protect you. I’m not an alien and I’m sorry we don’t get to have three kids in a mansion while you run our business empire.”

She huffed, stomping her foot in frustration. “Get up, you tall and handsome man. At least if I’m trapped with someone, it's with a guy I’m drawn to. It’s been two years since I had a cock inside of me.”

A giggle escaped, despite my valiant effort to hold it back.

Senna slapped me on the chest. “Amelia doesn’t count,” she snorted. “I was this close.” Her fingers spread an inch apart. “I never vacation, never have free time, and finally found a man I’m comfortable around enough to just be me.”

I pulled her close for a sweet, tantalizing kiss. Our foreheads touched afterwards. We turned our heads to watch Earth shrink in the distance. That view of brilliant greens and blues with a mix of clouds was something I would never forget. It was almost as pretty as the corals had been below that blue.

“At least the view is amazing,” I admitted ruefully.

She chuckled. “I can’t help but think we died,” she admitted sadly.

“We did,” I replied, “Or else whoever is doing this wouldn’t have shown us the conclusion to our rescue and the fake bodies… or pieces of bodies, they stuck in our place.” I shook my head. “There are obviously powers at play that we cannot wrap our minds around.”

“Like the mysterious undertow? How about how we’re still breathing, while in outer space? Or the fact there is still gravity in this ship,” Senna said, leaving my arms to put her hands on her hips. “I may be an emotional lady at times, but I can keep up.” She took a deep breath and then let it all out. “I’ve found my center again. While I’ll admit I was hoping you were going to tell me you are taking me to your secret spaceship, I’m also relieved that you're not an alien.”

“Alien romance novels, eh?” I said teasingly, and she rolled her eyes.

“Not going to let that one go, are you?” She asked, playfully swatting my arm. “Looks like we're heading for Jupiter, or are we going to Mars? So hard to tell with everything so far away,” she grumbled.

“Shucks, Jupiter was on my bucket list, right after Australia,” I joked.

“What's with you and shucks?” Senna asked, backing into me so we could face the same way while still embracing.

“Hmm… I find it disarming to others, calming to myself, and a great filler word to let me collect my thoughts into a proper sentence. Ma taught it to me when I was a kiddo,” I said, pulling her tighter against me. “I… I fear my mom will have a relapse. She is set to inherit all my money. I… if she grieves with unlimited money… I’m worried about her”

Senna patted my arm that was wrapped over her chest. “My dad is going to lose his shit, probably will eat shark fin soup for the next… forever. Lindsay, she… oh man, this is hard to talk about. She’ll be indifferent. Same with Heather.” She sighed and shook her head. “I just wish I could have said goodbye to those who mattered most. Even if we had issues.”

I held her and we lapsed into a contemplative silence. Eventually we approached and passed Mars, the red planet zooming by. The view we had was a marvel of bleak landscapes and a cratered surface. When we veered around behind Mars, I grew confused. Behind the back side of the planet rested an asteroid, tiny in comparison to the planet, but still huge compared to our little shuttle. The egg shaped ship we flew in slowed, approaching the large rock.

The asteroid was a cleverly disguised ship. A tunnel splayed open, swallowing our craft. We traveled down a lime green, illuminated chute. We zoomed by more of that strange alien writing scrawled into the construction. The tunnel had no offshoots and appeared to have been designed specifically for this craft, as the tunnel was just large enough to swallow our pod.

“What do you think it says?” Senna asked, trying to interpret the writing.

I smirked, my reflection in the clear exterior grinning back at us in the odd illumination. “Oh, that one is easy. It reads ‘if you ever get captured and abducted by aliens, be grateful you’re not alone’,” I gave her a squeeze, “at least that is what I think it says.”

She playfully bumped her butt into me while I held her from behind. A brighter light shone at the end of the tunnel. Our craft slowed, before coming to a full halt. Ahead of us, not more than twenty feet away, a floating object the size of a volleyball waited for us. There was a glow emanating from the hovering creation, a single, unblinking electronic eye rested in the exact middle of the sphere. Behind it, were a series of see-through doors that seemed endless.

The same dim, lime-green illumination continued down the hallway. A hiss came from our pod as the clear window-like walls melted into the junction pieces. Its outer covering peeled away, creating a doorway. When we were exposed to the orb, it spoke.

“Welcome to Arinium, competitor 334599 and mate,” the orb said in robotic English.

“Me or her?” I asked, stunned, pointing between the two of us.

“Do not be offended, Mrs. Immerson,” the robot said, turning to Senna.

That comment threw us both for a loop.

“Excuse me?” we replied in unison, our tones confused and faces twisted into puzzled expressions.

The alien construct projected a hologram before us. A lifelike rendering shimmered into existence. There was a depth to the three-dimensional image that was…well, impossible. The rendering danced to life between the alien and us as if he had flipped an on switch.

There was no audio, but I could clearly see what I had to assume was myself, an older version of me, at least, with a clean haircut and no hat. Hell, I was even wearing a polo shirt. I bounced a mini-me on my knee, gently patting his little back with a burp cloth over my shoulder.

Senna came over, wearing a business power suit, and handed me a baby bottle. We shared a long, tender kiss—the loving kind a couple only shared after experiencing many memories and tribulations. She shifted to kiss what was likely our son on the forehead. The camera tracked her walking into a big bedroom, shared by twin girls. They were not getting ready and momma finger wagged them into getting dressed. I showed up to pat her butt out the door while sticking a bottle in my son’s mouth.

The image faded to nothing, we both reached out at the flickering finality that had been our future. We both shot the orb shocked stares.

“You were chosen as a competitor over three years ago, 334599,” the robot said and I held up my hand.

“You may call me Nate,” I said in a gruff tone. I was upset by what I saw. Senna still had her jaw open. I kissed her on the cheek, sliding my hand into hers. My mind finally caught up to what the alien machine was saying. “Three years ago? What do we call you?”

“I have a long number identifier, but I prefer the name, Valance,” the orb said with a testy tone.

“Hello, Valance, please call me Senna. I’m not sure if I should be happy I met you yet, though. Can you see into the future?” Senna asked.

“We, not I, can calculate likely probabilities to a very finite percentile. While nothing is absolute, much is all but inevitable,” Valance replied in a smug tone.

There was a gut punch in that statement. This machine, or being using a machine to move, was able to render the future. My future self was married to Senna, but these aliens had waited until I met her to kidnap, well… abduct me.

“Why did you wait?” I asked, my brows furled.

The robot spun slightly to lock its electronic eye on Senna. Waiting. Then there was more waiting.

“You okay?” I asked Valance.

“Senna will piece it together quicker than you. I was hoping she would prove me right,” the floating ball admitted.

I rolled my eyes.

“Nate needed to either show he could have children and continue his line, or he needed to show he was able to at least find someone interested in him enough to marry him. I think the crux was… children,” Senna stated hesitantly, though doubt edged her voice.

“Correct. Which leads into why you are aboard the Arinium. Humanity is going to ruin its home world. A mix of warfare and environmental factors will cause the atmosphere to collapse. The planet will become a frozen wasteland, for far longer than humanity has ruled the planet.

“We are extremely certain of this outcome. Eventually, however, Earth will reset. As in, over a long period of years, it will heal, and although it is possible that a few humans might survive, the calculations of such small probabilities that far into the future prove troublesome, even for us.

“There is a group called the Archaics that I work for. They have designed a zoo of sorts, for their viewing pleasure and the preservation of doomed species. You, get a chance to go to this zoo—you and a few humans, of your choosing. Your finding a mate was required so you could unlock this opportunity. There would be no point in bringing you to replicate in a repopulation area, if you were never able to do so naturally.”

Senna and I glanced at each other in confusion. She beat me to the first question.

“Everyone on Earth dies?” she asked with concern. “When?”

“2139,” Valance said, and we both scrunched up our faces. “136 years from now. Yes, I understand your confusion. Nate is special. The entry to get into Qoobi… is extensive for some, simple for others, and impossible to more than half of those who attempt it.”

“Okay, I’m not afraid to admit when something has shot over my head,” I frowned. “You lost me. Let me walk this conversation back. I was selected to compete to go to this… Qoobi. What is Qoobi, and why would I want to go there?” I asked plainly.

“Qoobi is a planet the size of Jupiter. It is a single beacon of natural beauty, altered to be something truly amazing. It will be a delight to see the flower it will blossom into.

“The Archaics chose to set up preserves—or zoos, to use another term. They create these hidden planets for species who will inevitably doom themselves.

“Which happens a lot. You humans will likely get a few ships off the planet before its demise.

“We think there is a slim chance that humanity’s descendants in one of those ships will survive, reach a new colony, and repeat the same mistakes there all over again.

“The odds of that single ship continuing humanity’s preservation is only about two percent.

“There is less than half a percent chance that any humans will last beyond the purge of Earth and emerge from the depths after that ice age,” he said.

I deflated, when I was about to ask a question he continued.

“Qoobi is a place the Archaics have created to set up a human colony. You will get a continent designated for your species.

“That continent will be divided into many feudal sections, and the winners of qualifying events will become lords of their new homes.

“Over the last thousand years, we have been collecting humans just before their likely demise, to preserve your kind. Should you pass the qualifying events, they will be your subjects. Are you following?”

I scratched at the back of my neck. “You're testing us… to provide humanity a predetermined set of leaders for this survival colony? You want those leaders to demonstrate the right qualities before they are selected.

“You said Qoobi will be a delightful ‘flower’ which will blossom—hinting that life there will be a challenge. Therefore, you abduct and stick people into a training simulator to see who makes the cut. If I fail to demonstrate my worth as a leader, do I become a subject?”

The orb shook and thrummed, almost shaking first a yes, and then a no, with its being. Clearly Valance knew human behavior.

“No to becoming a subject. For the trials, though, yes—you will establish during a competition that you’re worthy. We need strong leaders with strong skills, and the ability to fend off both exterior and interior threats,” Valance said.

I threw my hands up in the air in frustration.

“Patience. Let me explain, while I understand that you're confused, you need to understand this is your chance at something amazing, or of taking a long spacewalk out an airlock. I see that glare in your eyes. Don’t shoot the messenger.

“Qoobi will not be ruled by the Archaics. Established and organized, yes. Trimmed, and pruned at times, also yes. Managed? No. You following me?”

We both nodded.

“Great. Yours is not the only species in need of help. Jupiter was used merely as a more familiar example. Qoobi is about fifteen times larger than the Earth.

“It was seeded with wildlife; but only has twenty-one percent of its surface covered by oceans. Earth, in comparison, is seventy-one percent ocean.

“The larger land mass to ocean ratio, in addition to fifteen times more of it, results in a staggering amount of terrain to colonize. The natural order of things has produced a myriad of big predators, as well as prey.

“If another species passes the tests you’re about to endure, they get their own island continent, with their own leaders, likewise divided by natural barriers.

“There will likely be infighting between like species, exterior fighting between different races combating one another, and all sorts of environmental conflict, in between. The Archaics’ goal is to have the strongest, wisest, and most fit, lead their species forward.

“If you lose… then you were close but lacked the right skills. If you were put into the general population at that point, your inherent nature would lead you to rebel and cause additional strife—which is easily avoided by ejecting your body out an air-lock… or sticking you back in cryogenic storage.

“Succeed,” the orb quipped, “and be a leader. Lose enough points, with enough failures, and enter cold storage until a new Qoobi is generated and, maybe, you can try again. For many species you will be competing against, this has happened to them. Their desperation for victory will show. Do not flunk out of the competitions more than twice.”

Senna tugged at my wrist, indicating she wanted to talk.

I smiled and inclined my head at Valance.

I highly doubted anything she said would be private. My eyes lit up when I realized she just wanted a turn to ask a question.

“So… There is a competition to get to a planet where humanity will have a colony. This colony will be split into factions. Those factions will have to face native threats?” Senna asked.

“Undoubtedly.”

“Let’s say Nate is the leader of our area. We will, as a team, be given saved humans to help guide. Our goal will be to build off the land, so that we all survive. I take it, there will be limited technology?” Senna asked.

“On Qoobi, there will be extremely limited technology, at least to start,” Valance admitted. “Inherently, most races doom themselves by their creations—more often than by their internal struggles.”

“Then, we are expected to build a new civilization, with other leaders—on the same continent, though separated by natural barriers, being human? The only way for other species to get to a human continent is by crossing vast bodies of water?”

Valance hummed happily with a lime green glow.

“Okay, that sounds like Qoobi sucks,” Senna said and the lime green dimmed to a petulant purple.

“The planet’s freshwater slowly heals ailments and prevents aging,” Valance said, once again utilizing a smugly tone.

I clapped, bouncing my eyebrows. “Senna, that means we can have… like, a thousand kids!”

She rolled her eyes at my antics but did unfold her arms and loosen her defensive posture.

“I wanted that image he projected of us in a mini-mansion, where my car had heated seats,” Senna said, folding her arms. “You’d have a boat you would drive while my lifted tits would look amazing in a stylish two piece.

“We’d live in a gated community, put our kids in private schools, and live the dream life. Spoiler Nate, that dream life did not include living off the land without electricity and fighting bush wars. I’d rather have a hover car, a fancy house, and three kids playing in our lush backyard.”

“And I would too, however…” I shrugged with a wince.

Senna let out a long sigh. I could tell she’d needed to get that off her chest.

She gave me a fake smile and turned back to the orb. “Well, what is this competition about? You have piqued my interest. I’d like to see my husband bouncing my children on his knee, for real this time. Even if it has to be in a mud hut. Do I compete also?”

“You two will be the nucleus of a team. How about I explain while you get new clothing?”

We were both still in wet bathing suits. I realized that I was indeed interested in finding something clean and dry to wear. Senna nudged me forward, following behind me on my left side while snuggling into the back of my arm.

“You going to be okay?” I asked her, kissing her forehead quickly.

“Yeah, no pressure. At least I’m going into a competition with the hardest working man I ever met. Even my Dad was known to take breaks,” Senna said with a mix of excitement and trepidation.

“We will be just fine,” I said and smiled, having no idea if it was even close to the truth.

Before we stepped through the landing area doors, Valance said in a booming voice, “Welcome to Arinium, your new home while you prepare for the competition. May luck shine brightly on you.”

I had an eerie feeling as I stepped through that threshold. The five fingers locked into mine reassured me. No matter what challenges I faced, I knew I would not be alone. Together, we would prevail.

We had to.

Chapter

Five

ABDUCTION DAY 1

V alance led us through an entrance on an interior wall and turned left immediately. Against the wall, I saw something unexpected—blobs of white goop that morphed into humanoid mannequins. Odd banded jewelry appeared on the plain replicas. There were chokers, watches, belts, and anklets; each had a buckle or display squarely on them. Off to the side were other almost square tablets, about the size of an iGpad.

“Okay, see the tablets? They will be in the competition. Since this will be your home for the immediate future, you get to style the same tablet interface into a sleek wearable. I would recommend the belt—mainly because you can tuck items as well as cloth into the band,” Valance said in a matter-of-fact tone. “This technology will not go to Qoobi with you, however, if you make it… and you only get the tablets in the competition.”

Senna walked over to touch a belt buckle. The reaction was shocking. In a blink of an eye the belt left the display, jumping around her waist before slithering to connect with a click. She shrieked at the speed at which it all occurred, calming when nothing else happened.

“Tap the belt buckle again,” Valance said.

She hesitantly touched the buckle. A projection materialized at chest height and far enough out that tapping on the interface was easily done without having to stretch out her arms. She selected an image of Earth. Her tapping increased. With some more tapping, finally an image of a house was displayed. The large home appeared to be calm, a single fancy car was parked in the driveway.

“No one is home,” Senna muttered with disappointment.

I selected a belt as well. Instead of messing with the interface, I gestured for Valance to lead us on to the clothing. The last thing I wanted was to get was chafed balls—they were already blue enough, from not getting laid in over a year and being teased by Senna’s sexy figure in a thong bikini. She caught me checking her out and went to pinch my butt, but I dodged her fingers with a smile.

Her cheerful grin gave me hope that she was coping with all of… this. We walked down the wide corridor, trying to keep pace with Valance. The metallic ball flew forward at a decent speed, its electronic eye spinning back around to look at us.

“Are you an AI?” I asked.

Valance turned left at an intersection. The dim green light of its electronic eye turned yellow.

“I am what is best described as a hybrid. My species perished, my body returned to the land, and my mind was retained by technology you would struggle to fathom. The Archaics implanted my mind into a machine. While I was a being at one point, I no longer am, and I have been modified to continue my existence in this machine,” Valance explained.

The hybrid reached a door that scanned his electronic eye. “You would not have access to this room without me. All yellow decks require me being present to access. Green decks are for you, and red decks are off limits.”

“And what exactly is in this room?” Senna asked, her gaze darting around, trying to figure out why we were here.

We had arrived in a white room with a single platform set against the back wall. There was no data pad to interact with or other machinery to give us a sense of purpose for the space. The stark white coloration of the walls and ceilings was lit by the yellow glow from recessed lights along the edge of the ceiling.

“Do you know everything there is to know about science?” Valance asked defiantly.

“Not sure where the hostility came from, but I’ll be the first to admit, I know very little about science. Beyond cooling and electricity—I get lost quickly,” I admitted, glancing over at an arms folded Senna.

“I’m sure my knowledge pales in comparison to the Archaics,” she muttered.

Valance’s electronic eye just peered back at us.

Senna finally shook her head no, before muttering, “What is the saying, ‘Magic is just science we don’t understand yet’? Well, I can put myself firmly in the same camp as Nate, science is not my strongest subject. I get all the basic concepts, but math is where I excel.”

I had a feeling she was downplaying her book smarts.

“Good, we get some contestants and their mates who react poorly to not only the competition, but how retrieval vessels like this one operate. You’re going to experience things you simply cannot comprehend. In doing so, it is prudent you understand that your lack of knowledge does not mean that what you encounter is fake,” Valance said and we both nodded. “Great. Nate, step onto the pedestal.”

I stepped onto the pedestal hesitantly. Like a switch had been flipped off, my vision vanished.

My arms shot out in shock and I flexed my knees as they wobbled. My eyesight returned suddenly.

It looked like I was in a clothing store, of sorts. There were several sections, each with rows of the same outfit in a variety of colorations.

As the clothing styles shifted, further away, I noticed there was a range of older clothing types. I realized I was in this massive space, all alone.

“Nate, calm yourself, you’re in two places at once,” Valance’s voice came from nearby, though he didn’t appear to actually be in the location his voice originated from.

It was as if my body, back in that odd room, had heard him while my consciousness in this body—in the warehouse store—could sense what that body did.

“You are in a restricted warehouse section of the ship,” Valance continued. “We do not let contestants get anywhere near vital areas, except for extension rendering. While you are more than a rendering, you're not much more. I’m not going to get into the fine details about why these rules are in place. Pick out seven outfits and think of them going into your tablet—the one on your belt buckle. They will be stored there.”

Uh… I stared at the device around my flabby waist, then back to the clothing options. “So… why no sweatpants and a hoodie?” I asked in a curious tone.

The tone Valance started with had a hint of frustration in it, almost as if the robot was trying to sigh. “Stitching is the short answer. Just know that this is what the Archaics want, and it is a way to level the competing field.

“If it is made by a machine, it is not allowed. You will learn that the Archaics ascribe evil to machines. Their methodology is… Well, it is… different.

“They salvage minds to work for them, and yet bend those minds into a machine to ensure the loyalty of a hybrid like me. That is the extent of what I am permitted to say.

“You need to understand that they use a different kind of science, something your mind will perceive as magic. It is not magic, but hopefully your thinking can get around that one day. For now, you’re being given something for free. Your Ma taught you to -”

“Say thank you. Shucks, Valance. I’m sorry I let my manners slip,” I said, my apology not quite sincere. After all, these asshole Archaics had abducted me.

Instead of moaning and complaining, I decided to use my time effectively.

The layout of the clothing was organized almost by time frame. There were only four options within each period, and each option had only two variations—a summer and a winter set.

Other than that, there were only different color combinations of the same styles. Okay, while it didn’t make the most sense, I could figure out what I would like.

“I’m taking Senna to her own room. You will not be able to leave your shopping experience until I return. Simply decide on your desired outfits and put them into the storage section of your belt. Seven outfits only. You will be training for melee combat, exercising, and need to survive out in the elements. Your first test will be in whichever outfits you select—so know that your choices will have a direct impact on your future,” Valance said.

I frowned when I heard Senna’s voice ask a question I couldn’t quite make out. Her chatter cut off when she must have followed the orb out of my room.

I went to the first section. If I had to guess, this was the pre-roman to roman era. There were one-piece tunics that reminded me of a dress that one belted over a toga. Fantastic for both a warm summer's day and for their simplicity.

The garment went on over the head with holes for your arms, and had ties on the shoulders. The material had no protective value and was light. There were no undergarments, besides the thin toga sheet.

The winter variation of this outfit had boots that went up to the top part of your shin. The tunic was thicker, though the design was the same.

There was also a fur cape that was attached around the neck and was meant to be wrapped around your shoulders like a blanket. I placed a single winter outfit of this style into my storage—that cape would come in handy.

I bypassed the medieval and early industrial sets of clothing and went right for the wild west outfits.

Here the design was all about the layers. I’d spent most of my summers on my grandparents’ farm, and on a rare occasion, I would go there over winter break.

They lived in northern Montana, so... I understood the concept of cold. I loved the idea of a winter fur blanket that could double as a sleeping aid.

I noticed the summer and winter outfits in the wild west theme were the most intricate and well built.

Sure, they lacked the simplicity of a toga, but I didn’t know where I was going. As a hardworking man in southern Florida, I loved having the ability to downgrade my outfits.

A light long sleeve and a flipped up collared shirt could do wonders. It was all about layers.

The western theme started with a cowboy hat for summer and had a fur cap for the winter. The summer outfit was pretty much the same as the winter one, minus a thick jacket. Both provided head to toe protection.

I selected light colorations in both variations. Three summer and winter sets of vests, jackets, long sleeve shirts, long trousers, cotton undershorts, wool socks, and cowhide boots went into my magical storage.

Feeling happy with my choices, I stripped off my shorts and put an eighth outfit on. I picked a summer variation of the roman toga as my lounge around choice.

The sandals were comfy, and it was great to be dry. When I tried to tuck away my swim shorts into my belt, they failed to enter the device.

I frowned with a huff, and then waited for Senna and Valance to return.

I probably should have seen it coming, but my wait was stupid long. I had breezed through two sections of the clothing. I was a guy, and I knew what I wanted: protection with plenty of layers.

Senna? Oh man. I bet she was in renaissance cosplay heaven in her own room. I walked over to a wall full of fur cloaks and grabbed two of them.

One I laid down on the ground, while I used the other one for a pillow. This simple process led to me tossing a wild west summer and winter outfit in favor of two early medieval winter sets.

After I got cozy, I drifted off for a nap. I was sure I must have slept for a while, because of the drool on my cheek, but it felt as if I was being shaken awake shortly after crashing.

Valance brought me back to the initial podium I had left from. Senna still wore her bathing suit, which caused me to frown. She stomped her foot, her eyes flaring with realization when she saw me in my toga outfit.

“Son of a biscuit eater!” she said with a scowl. “Where are your shorts?”

“I left them back in that room,” I admitted.

I understood what transpired when she hastily retrieved a wild west outfit from her belt that fell to the floor. Without so much as a warning, she started removing her bathing suit. It was my turn, for my eyes to pop out.

Her big, double-d breasts bounded free from their restraints. She didn’t bother turning her back to me, not even when she dropped her bottoms.

A trail of neatly trimmed hair led down to her small vagina lips. I had to close my mouth when her eyes shot up to mine.

“I don’t need help with this one. That was the main problem with half the outfits I had to choose from, and what took so long. I required a friend, lover, or family member to help get dressed.

“Such nonsense. I did get a few summer dresses for you to drool over, but four of my seven clothing sets are these casual clothes, meant for winter. I figured I’d just tuck the winter skirt and jacket back into storage,” Senna said sliding a pair of undershorts on that still were appealing.

An elastic type chest cover went on next, squishing her boobs. She then pulled a tunic on over her head and leggings up. A vest that held several pockets was the next layer and the rest went into storage. She was in a plain outfit that looked comfy and practical.

“I love it,” I said seeing her twirl. “Not as fantastic as the naked you, but there will be time for that later.”

“You think?” She asked with a brow bounce.

Valance hummed to get our attention. We were eyeing each other so intently, we had all but forgotten our host.

“Follow me and understand that everything I’m about to reveal to you can be researched further using the interface on your tablets.

“The competition is point based. Earn ten points, and you go into storage until Qoobi colonization begins, drop to negative ten points and you’ll have to hope there is a second expansion for humanity so that you may try again,” Valance said, leading us out of the yellow lighted area for a green deck.

The robot hummed to himself as we followed close behind him. Senna and I held hands again, causing the orb to thrum green.

Valance continued speaking after we took a turn that led us up at an angle. “Let me start by saying that every instance of you stepping onto a podium will be different. Going forward, you need to realize that time is subjective.

“While it cannot go backwards, time can be bypassed. The Arinium is flying to the ship Gladium, which is stationed above Qoobi. When we arrive, you will be frozen in time until a hundred competitors are ready to compete.

“You will compete, using the Archaics’ simulation technology, to demonstrate you can lead an empire. While you were shopping, you were simulated but also real.

“That is what the competition will be like. You will be in real bodies, but your true body will remain aboard the Gladium. Your competition will take place on a planet much like Qoobi will be, but without the water gaps. Questions so far?”

We had arrived outside of what appeared to be a dining hall. There was a buffet with copious amounts of different types of human cuisine.

This place was self-explanatory.

What Valance had said earlier about bodies and simulations… not so much.

My stomach rumbled fiercely to the point that Senna gave me a smirk, until her stomach responded with an angry growl of its own.

“How long can we be frozen in time for?” Senna asked, her gaze shifting from the food to Valance.

The two of us went about building plates full of deliciousness while Valance answered.

“Forever, or until some other force more powerful than the Archaics arrives and starts removing our legacy,” Valance said.

I had to wonder what the probability of that happening was.

I piled some fresh fruit on my plate before asking, “So we will go from this ship to a ship called The Gladius?”

The orb bobbed up and down.

“Man, I’m famished. All that stress and swimming. Maybe I’m stress eating…” I paused, noticing I was being stared at. “Sorry, can you tell me about the point system?”

“To do that, you need to understand the competition. When you compete, the interface you currently have on your belt shifts to become a tablet, as I’ve alluded to. Everything is about your tablet.

“Your ability to issue commands, construct buildings, place items in storage… even defeat your opponents. If you jump into a river and lose your tablet, you will not progress and likely place very low in the scoring.

“So, please note that you’ve been warned not to lose your tablet. Your environment can be interacted with manually, but since it’s just the two of you with your drones, you must use the tablet to activate Archaic technology.

“Which leads me into what exactly the competition is about. A hundred competitors will be dropped onto a single continent.

“Each team will be given a tablet to build from, and a creature theme—which they will choose—locked to them. The event itself is based around the 4x strategy games humans are familiar with.

“4x stands for - eXplore your area, eXpand your base, eXploit your environment, and eXterminate the enemies who surround you. Your tablet will do all this for you, and it will do nothing for you at the same time.

“You will have to walk alone at first—well, you’ll have each other—but eventually you can assign a human drone you can summon to scout an area, if they have the proper training. You will need to use the tablet to select your stronghold location and assign a worker to build your town hall.

“You will have to chop down trees, collect rocks, and mine until you get workers you can assign those tasks. You can raid others, but know that a mindless drone will always be less successful at doing things, when compared to an actual competitor.

“Before you enter the competition itself,” Valance continued, “your first big choice will be your creature theme.

“Teams will pick their theme in an order determined by your dice score. All teams will roll a number of dice, to determine a score between five and one hundred. The team with the highest score gets to pick first during the creature theme round.

“After that, the last team gets to pick their spawning location. Each creature theme can be researched; your interfaces will give you statistics on each creature’s win rate, average time to create, selection rate, etc. How are you understanding so far?”

Senna patted my arm, indicating she wanted to go first.

“What exactly are these drones you have referenced?” she asked.

“Human husks. You can give them commands, either verbally or with the designated tablets. If you’re in charge of the tablet, then you can assign the workers their tasks. Basically, you designate Brainless Bob to collect wood. He will pick up a tool, go to a tree, and chop it down. That tree will be dragged to a storage depot where it will be processed and wait to go in a long queue for building,” Valance said.

I swallowed my fruit and asked, “If I process it from timber to... say planks, is the time -”

“Reduced? Yes, yes it is. There are a lot of similarities between the simulation competition and human strategy games. Where it differs is you will have a team.

“For each stronghold upgrade, you will unlock a new tablet and an actual person to help you run your growing empire. The intent here is that you hit the ground running on Qoobi with a loyal team, experienced and used to working closely with you,” Valance said with a happy tone. “Also, here is a free bit of information—train your workers, you will be surprised what they can develop into.”

“Okay, I get stronghold up to level two. I get a new tablet. That tablet is… unique and specific?”

“That tablet is whatever you set its permissions to. There are ten levels of strongholds, and there is a tablet for each level gained. You both will share a tablet to start.

“At all times, though, the destruction of your original tablet means that you lose… I hope that sinks in.

“Now. When you hit level two, you do not get to unlock another team member…yet—mainly to make things fair, since there are some asexual species that simply do not need a mate to start with.

“They will get a partner and a tablet at that point. Everyone else just gets a second tablet for their mate.

“Unlocking third level means you get a third tablet. Third tablet, for you, means that you will have the ability to unlock another human manager to help you run your growing empire. Fourth tablet, another human manager, and so on. It's easy to see the pattern.”

“Can they betray us?” I asked.

The orb nodded.

“I take it there is a detailed layout of information available on our potential choices?” Senna asked. “Are there more than ten to pick from?”

“For humans, there are thousands you can choose from. You will even have the opportunity to interview your candidates. These competitions are long processes. Not instant or quick by any means—except for those idiots who die right away or lose their tablets.

“When you hit level two, you can start spending an hour a day with your potential candidates and return them to storage if you find them unsuitable,” Valance said.

I liked hearing that part. “And the win conditions?” I asked.

“Great, I’m glad you’re catching on. You’re competing to be a lord of Qoobi for the species of humanity.

“The rounds of battle have already started. There are going to be a hundred human lords, and hundreds of alien races. Getting a match going doesn’t take too long. Each match has a rank you can check inside the competition and points, outside. Best to think of them separately but they are related.

“The points outside matter the most. They determine if you win, keep going, or are removed. To win, simply earn ten points. To keep going, maintain a score better than a negative ten. You will notice that the Archaics tend to favor ones and zeroes for final numbers.

“For each competition there are negative three points awarded if you finish in 100 - 75. If you finish 74-50 you lose one point. If you finish 49 - 25 plus two points. 24-11 three points. 10 - 4 you get four points. Third is six points, second is eight points and the first-place team is ten.”

Senna grunted at this information and said, “Okay, based on this data it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the structure is tilted to favor you to stay in the competition. You get a fifty percent chance to get a bigger portion of points. This is setup to -”

“Give you experience, yes. More will win than lose, in the long run, and yes, it is built that way on purpose,” Valance said in a pleasant tone.

Senna frowned, “In theory, we could never win and lose. If we go into a competition, and earn two points then lose a point in the next two competitions -”

“Yes, but generally speaking, that does not happen—the longer you compete, the more you tend to tilt in one direction or the other. While not a perfect system, it is a system that has worked well before, and continues to do so. Merely try your best.”

Valance’s nonchalant attitude was bugging me. I calmed myself before asking, “Are there statistics on the competitions?”

Valance bobbed his head.

“Inside the competition itself there are five component factors that determine your placement:

Survival score - the longer you last, the more points you get and this has the highest factor. After 100 days, tablets will broadcast their locations, so hiding in a single tree fort will only help you to a certain extent.

eXplore score - see more of the map, find objectives, and discover regions to get more points.

eXpand score - how much you have built, where have you built it, and how vast your empire is determine this score. Build a lot to score high.

eXploit score - your collected resources—both farmed and gathered from the wild—count towards this score. You also can exploit your enemies and any neutral objectives.

eXterminate score - this one is a bit different. Tablets count for a lot. A local boar problem is minimal in the grand scheme of things, but will seem like a lot, early on. Everything your empire kills has a point attribute.”

I raised a hand and Valance paused.

“So, we can go into this game, because that’s what it sounds like to me: run around the map and get exploring points; kill some scouts, get some extermination points; and, then hide for survival points.

“Then, when the event is all over, our points are compared to the others to determine placement and ultimately, the number of points we are awarded?” I asked, ensuring I understood the rules.

“Precisely. Your overall score will place you in a point bracket. Get ten points, and you will go into storage until Qoobi. Earn less than ten and compete again. Lose ten points and die,” Valance said proudly.

I smiled grimly and nodded my understanding.

“Are there children in the game?” Senna asked with concern.

“Please be careful with that term. This is training to prepare you for the fate of your species. Everything will feel real, although there are certainly some aspects of the simulation competition that resemble gaming.

“Still, I understand why you humans always refer to the competition as such. No children. If you and Nate procreate, your belly will swell for a week, assuming you are fed properly. At the end of a week, a new drone will appear outside the town hall, fully grown, and ready to work,” Valance said and Senna groaned.

“Let me guess, the drones don’t reproduce?” Senna asked, running frustrated hands through her hair.

“They do, but much more slowly. They require a full month for -”

“I knew it,” Senna blurted out in frustration.

I scrunched my face up at her outburst. “So, honestly, I’ve been able to follow all this up to this point. Your anger here, though, has me confuzzled.”

“That is not a word. Blame my frustration on my stupid romance books. Think about it, Nate. Will we pick men or women as we upgrade our stronghold?” Senna asked, clenching an apple so tightly I thought it might be squished to pulp. Hmm... Needed to tread carefully here, she was clearly worked up.

“Depends on what we need. Are we in need of a farmer? Or maybe a cook? No offense to women, but at some point, we’re going to have to fight. We will need a warrior -”

“No, Nate, and yes…” She pulled on her hair and said, “we will pick someone who can fight down the line. These stupid… These serious contests are all about worker population ramping up quickly, though, to ‘build your empire’. The Archaics want you to reproduce, the entire reason I got dragged into this mess is so you could swell my belly, both virtually and in real life later on…”

She screamed in frustration.

I was so lost. What, in all that, was causing her pain?

“How can I calm you down?” I asked and she shook her head, no. “Explain it to me in simple terms.”

“If we want to win, we need to get busy, as in have sex. Math, and productivity are my forte Nate. I’m literally a business major with a minor in macroeconomics. Both apply here. We will fuck, a lot. And you will add a drone every week which means that two out of every seven days I will be a walking house, just so we can win -”

I smiled holding a hand up to pause her and said, “I think we both know we’re compatible. We’re driven people. Success is in our nature,” I said with a winning smile… that was easily deflected.

“Nate… if the first additional manager we pick is a man, what happens?” She asked, this time her face softening. She saw my confusion was genuine and felt badly for me as I worked it out.

“We miss out on the opportunity to add another drone a week, who could then make more drones,” I said with a gasp. The rationale of the situation was starting to kick in. I turned to Valance. “What is the average time per stronghold upgrade?”

“The event lasts for a thousand days with a fourteen-hour day cycle complimented with eight hours of darkness.

“We tried to get a twenty-hour planet and failed. Early strongholds take a few days. Later, though, much longer. The record to stronghold level three is fourteen days, record to level four is sixty days,” Valance said in a dry tone. “And that is the record over a whole lot of competitions.”

“Can a thinking team member impregnate a drone?” Senna asked in a testy tone.

“No,” Valance replied and Senna growled. “The justification is that they will only generate offspring if sufficiently happy. Which means the thinking team has to provide a stable, happy environment.

“No continually raping your drones while they are miserable. It won't work—in either training or in reality. We also want our competitors to bring forth the next generation to secure their rule when they arrive on Qoobi.”

I banged my head on the table, the math starting to add up. “A thousand-day event… 140 extra workers if the third human manager is a female who I put a baby in every week. Those 140 can turn around and make more in short order. If you do the math, it’s going to be a huge number. If we use a male at any point, especially early on, we shoot ourselves in the foot,” I grumbled.

“Tier five was recorded at eighty-five days. Level six at 172 days,” Valance added helpfully.

“We don’t want to choose a warrior male until we’re ready to fight,” Senna said, taking her plate to a deposit spot. She was clearly done with the conversation. I joined her, though she kept her space from me this time.

We trudged out of the dining hall, both in a bit of a shock. We were led to a gymnasium that was fairly basic—it had a treadmill, weight machines, and exercise bikes. Next, we were shown a bedroom with its connecting bathroom. The bathroom had a small shower, toilet, and sink. Basic toiletries were included. The bedroom included a small table with two chairs, beside a queen bed with basic sheets, covers, and two pillows.

“You have two weeks until we reach the Gladium. I highly suggest you get in the best shape you can, study the creature themes, and build your relationship. All the teams will be newly bonded, we do this on purpose. These trials will either help you grow or… Nate can replace you if he deems he must,” Valance said with a sad tone. “I will return in three days to answer any questions I am able to at that time, or to process any such requests.”

I watched as the orb vanished, not going anywhere—just disappearing. Maybe it was an extension creation on its own.

“I’m exhausted,” Senna said, flopping onto the bed, turning quickly to face away from me.

“Do you want company?” I asked in a soft, caring tone, “or should I go to the gym?”

Senna gave no response at first.

“I’m… I’m sorry this is so unfair to you,” I said.

“Get your pretty butt in this bed and be my big spoon while telling me it is going to be okay,” Senna said softly, patting her hip.

“I like it when you talk to me that way,” I said in a teasing tone. She shot me a serious gaze that faded when her smile finally won out. “I want to apologize—” I began…

“Save it, I picked you. I sought you out while you sat there on that bench, all alone—a handsome man in a silly dad outfit, with a dad bod but no wife. I saw something I wanted and went for it.

“Only a few hours after meeting you, I told myself you were the one, even if it was crazy to think that love on the first date even existed.

“This is the price I… we… have to pay. I get to potentially spend eternity… sharing you, and while that is scary to think about, I want to start with snuggling. So come here, before I change my mind.”

I stripped my toga off and climbed onto the bed, wearing only my thin cotton underpants. She noticed, but said nothing. I snuggled into her back.

For five long minutes I held her, trying not to get aroused. She freed her ladies, complaining about ancient bras.

When she returned to nestle in a comfy position against me, my hand was guided to cup a breast.

My growing erection eventually poked her juicy booty. She stared at me over her shoulder.

There was just the tiniest hint of desire revealed in that gaze.

I kissed her and found I had misjudged the situation.

She raced to get naked. Her ‘tiny’ bit of desire was full on lust.

She paused after flinging her top off to kiss me while running her hands up my chest and around the back of my neck.

I reached down, sliding a hand between her bloomers and her warm skin.

Senna’s hips arched up to help my fingers explore her vagina. My middle finger dove between her dripping folds.

She was swollen with desire as much as I was. Previous to today, we had been two pent-up busy bodies, in need of release.

Our mutual attraction was strong and our teasing had led us to this point.

I twirled a finger around her little pearl while she stripped her bottoms off.

My kisses left her lips to trail to her supple breasts. She moaned as I teased her clit. Her right hand grabbed her free breast while the other encouraged my suckling.

With her pants off, I trailed my kisses down her belly.

I pated her folds with my fingers as my lips arrived at her engorged button. My tongue lashed out passionately and she moaned in appreciation.

I was told not to stop, and that I was amazing.

Hearing that drove me on, my twirling tongue and two fingers seeking and finding her pleasure centers.

Time lost meaning as she ground her mound against my face. I found the perfect rotation for her and brought her to a shuddering climax.

She screamed into a pillow as she released. I let her pleasured spasms calm before diving back in for round two.

By the time she orgasmed the second time, I was a bit winded, and my tongue was sore. She was panting heavily from the climax.

She pulled me up so she could lock her lips to mine. I was worried she would shy away from the taste of her own juices and then remembered she was bisexual.

A little pussy juice, apparently, was okay.

Her kiss shifted to my neck and then she nibbled my ear. Her hand shot down to clamp around my engorged penis.

She whispered into my ear, “Nice and easy at the start. Then once I give you the go ahead, pound my little pussy.”

I gulped, dirty talk was so hot.

It really excited me—to the point that I didn’t go easy at the start. I drove my big penis aggressively into her thankfully well-lubricated, small vagina and she gasped and then moaned.

I shoved my swollen cock into her with ball smacking thrusts.

She wrapped her legs around my hips and pulled at me, her cries of ecstasy louder with each hilting.

There was no denying she was mixing her pain with her pleasure because of my girth.

For me, though, it was all pleasure—her pussy was exquisitely tight, her small lips squeezed at my cock.

We went at it with a mix of passionate kissing and pure animalistic pleasure. I had built up a sweat by the time I neared a climax.

“Can… I… Cum on your tits?” I managed to gasp.

“Don’t you want to finish inside me?” Senna asked and I nodded. “Fill me with your cum. Cum for me, Nate. Cum in this tiny little pussy with that big cock.”

I grunted and busted a nut in her, my balls opening the floodgates—the jizz that erupted filling her up.

I pumped, shuddered, and spilled into her some more.

She pulled me down for a deep, long kiss. I collapsed onto my elbows over her, and she stayed latched to me.

A few minutes later I softened, slid out, then fell to the side.

She rotated onto her side and tucked me in as her big spoon again.

The smile on my face was almost as big as hers. Snuggling together, we kept exchanging happy sighs.

As I held her tightly, I had to wonder, what would tomorrow and our research bring?

Chapter

Six

ABDUCTION DAY 3

“W hat?!” I exclaimed in shock.

“Yeah, dinosaurs. Crazy to think about, but get this…” Senna hummed softly, reading over some data. “Looks like our fascination with dinosaurs being powerful doesn’t transition well into the contest.” She scoffed. “Win rates are shit, the lowest in the game—on average—with only two species being above the one percent average,” Senna explained while I jogged on the treadmill.

We were in the small gym and it was her turn to read and coach me, while I exercised. It felt good to get out of bed, we may have had pretty much nonstop sex, intimate chats, and then more body exploring, ever since arriving on the Arinium.

After thorough bouts of fun… Well, my dick was sore and Senna said—with an expression somewhere between a grin and a grimace—that her vagina was literally broken.

So, we slept some more and then finally did something productive by going to the gym. Our time together was uneventful in small moments, but amazing as a whole, and it really helped solidify our growing bond.

I slowed to a walk so I could talk to her and said, “Okay, I read that there were ten creature themes, each with their own set of ten animals to create a hundred unique trees from the ten themes.

“Let me see if I remember all the themes. They were:

Desert Creatures

Dinosaurs

Forest Creatures

Grassy Creatures

Mountain Creatures

Nomadic Creatures

Plains Creatures

Savannah Creatures

Snow Creatures

Tropical Creatures

“Was that ten or eleven?” I asked, uncertain. I mashed the pace increase button, and started jogging again, working my way up to a run. I winked at my lovely lady.

“You got it right,” Senna said, unimpressed. She pushed the pace decrease button a few times—slowing my jog to a light trot. “We have twelve more days, hon, don’t hurt yourself.”

“You're going to be an amazing mom,” I said and then winced. It was probably too soon.

“That is the first time anyone has complimented me, and meant it about my parenting…” She knit her brows together. “That didn’t come out quite right. I Mom’d you and you were nice about it, but you really should take fewer risks right now,” Senna said, swatting my ass as I continued my slight jog.

“Hey, missy, trying to run here,” I said playfully.

“And, of course I’ll be a great mom. It was the most embarrassing daughter-to-Dad conversation ever, having to explain to my father—who leaned on me as his eldest—that I wanted kids. Suddenly, there were a lot of books I had to read, all because he wanted to ensure I was as boy free as possible.” She snorted, “I read the alien abduction romance novels to take a mental break from reading the classics or fascinating business topics, like ‘change management’.”

I let out a long ahhhhhhh… That explained the romance abduct and make baby books a bit. “Shucks, you sure have my confidence. So… getting back to the animal themes, why are Dinosaurs not a biome creature?” I asked, not letting my confusion trip me up.

“Well, it actually provides a lot of historical information here. So much that I think the Archaics are trying to imprint something of a lesson to be learned,” Senna said and frowned. She was skimming through the data, deciding what to say.

“Okay, apparently there were aliens called Klaskans. The Klaskans were a farming species that were sent out by an inner-universe species who predate the Archaics. They planted Dinosaurs on every goldilocks planet they could find. Time was different to them. They would return every decade or so to harvest protein for the inner universe galaxies. Dinosaurs are the founding blocks of most life in this galaxy, sort of.

“Plenty of life evolved from stowaways these Klaskan farmers seeded planets with, or from natural evolutions progressing faster because of their interference.” She flipped through a number of screens. “There is a long, long philosophical argument here about the dangers of using planets as farms.

“It goes on to say that dinosaurs are pretty much a constant, since they still live on many planets. Klaskan harvesters eventually stopped thinning the herds for protein collection, due to imposed restrictions or some such political nonsense. So… I would wager the dinosaurs are here on this list because they are universally recognized.

“All of the biomes have common themes, with one special standout for a competitor to select. Let me go over the basics before we dive into each biome. You get a worker creature to help with agricultural production. You build a stable, insert food, and then wait for a cow, bison, donkey, goat, or their equivalent to pop out. The bigger the creature, though, the longer it takes to generate. These have no offensive capabilities, but most will defend themselves, if attacked.

“After your worker, you have your mover: Horse, camel, elk, or something like that. These are for hauling stuff around your empire, or for riding. They will become the backbone of your army, serving as both cavalry and for hauling siege weapons, as well as supplies. While not naturally aggressive, you can train them to be more belligerent, or order them to attack.

“Then you have your fighter, which are the unique creatures that competitors select per biome. I’m seeing ice cats, elephants, sabretooths, jaguars, lions…” She paused and tapped a finger against her chin. “It says here that a gallimimus is one of the dinosaurs—so maybe not all fighters are as lethal as the others—at least that’s my initial impression.”

She wasn’t done, but I was feeling that we were missing something here. “I don’t get the logic. You get three animals per base. Most are basic, and you share your two basic animals with nine other teams. The fighter is the only unique one, right?” I asked.

She nodded.

“What the hell is gallimimus supposed to offer offensively? A faster cavalry is all I can think of. Maybe you would not be able to engage a decent enemy and maybe you could become nomadic with your army…” I let the sentence hang, thinking about possible applications of such a beast.

“Honestly,” Senna began, rubbing her eyes, “I believe all this creature stuff is to make us overthink the situation. When I think about this competition, most of it seems fairly equal. Buildings take the same materials, upgrades take the same materials, and all the timers are the same. There are only two, well three really, things that vary at the start of a competition. Do you remember what they are?”

I hit the button to slow to a walk. “I’m so out of shape,” I groaned and she gave a cute smile that tempted me. I restrained the urge to chase her around until we got naked. “Okay, so… there is a starting location and your animal selection. Everything else is standard. Everyone gets enough supplies at the start to build two strongholds, but that would leave you with zero resources. Each stronghold—at level one—spawns three drones a day when completed.

“You can either build one stronghold or adventure to an expansion—which is risky—or build one stronghold and ten homes, so you don’t hit your worker cap until the end of a full game week, or until you construct more homes or variants of homes.

“The playing field is level, but the world is not only very unique, resource drops are random, and objectives can vary. Picking your starting position matters just as much as what creature you select, if not more. Not sure about the third, though.”

“That would be the asexuals, who start solo and get a drone instead of a damsel like me,” Senna said, batting her eyelashes at me. “This states that starting solo with a drone could be an advantage, but it seems like a disadvantage to me.”

“Yeah, I start to think about it and then think too much about what these asexuals might look like. They get a drone,” I shrugged, “end of story.” I sped back up to a light jog.

Senna pulled up a display on the ten ‘worker’ animals, the lowest kind. Donkeys, goats, cows, and such. “Look, these creatures' spawn timers are based on their protein quantifiers. They are all balanced in the long run... so, theoretically at least, their win percentage statistics should be even across the board.”

“Well, you say that but… key words there were ‘in the long run’. A donkey that spawns in a day, versus the zuniceratops that spawns in three days means that you get two free days of a worker,” I said and she nodded.

“Yeah, the initial generation time difference is offset by the zuniceratops having 3.1 times more power and energy. So, there is a balance.” She frowned. “The issue must be quick invasions.

“One team generates ten donkeys, sacrificing them to bring in extra food to pay the tablet god to hire new drones. The dinosaur team is caught with their zuniceratops still in the stable generating, with fewer workers to gather initial resources…” Senna paused.

She furiously tapped at the screen while humming a tune to herself. I let her work and picked up the pace to a jog again. Five minutes ticked by on the treadmill before she gave an ‘Ah, ha!’

“I found it, okay. Exploit, one of the four Xs, is not meant to become a cheat. You each collect natural resources. Workers aren’t the same as warriors. If the donkey breeder rushes you and you’ve gone fishing, you can meet him on an equal footing. Assuming you also went and collected enough material to produce weapons. Then, it’s a roll of the dice as to who wins. The difference being, if he loses, he has nothing to go home to,” Senna said, with a proud smile at figuring it out.

“Okay, so… that means what, then? Other than that we’ll have to work our asses off both day and night at the start. Even if we get donkeys, we should wait until we get warriors to fight?” I asked and she nodded.

“Yeah, it seems the slow spawn timers are what makes it seem like the dinosaurs are a disadvantage, but… if you work hard enough, and are smart, they tend to win. Their win rate of all ten subspecies grouped into one goes from three percent, under seven hundred days, to nineteen by day one thousand,” Senna explained.

I returned to a walk. “Wait, so they are awesome if you survive? That is great! What has the all-around best numbers?” I asked.

“It looks like Dinosaurs get picked last, almost every rotation,” Senna said, reading over the stats. She was really getting into the research part of this. “Which, assuming we roll a decent number, we should be fine. Ideally, since we know bison and horses.

“We should pick plains animals and then hope for a common predator we recognize. The war dog is one, brown bears are another, and even wolves. There are alien variations of each of these and some of the animals overlap biomes—there is a black forest bear, and then a brown plains bear, and a white polar bear, for example.”

“Got it, statistically, pick something at the top of the pack in reliability and then a decent location,” I said and she bobbed her head in agreement. “Going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing a lion in this competition won’t eat you?”

“It says that all the creations you generate won’t betray you, so no… But there is a warning here to keep all your animals fed,” Senna said, scratching her head.

I grunted, thinking I’d figured it out. “I bet they go berserk or eat the drone workers if not properly cared for. It would make sense and fit the narrative here. You need to be able to care for the entire empire, not just create workers and animals, starve them, and then hope your citizens and beasts don’t turn on you.”

“Wow… there is so much we don’t know. It says that thirty percent of competitors, on average, make it through the entire competition to day one thousand.” She whistled. “That is a whole lot. That must mean that the bigger you get, the more secure your tablet becomes. The way I understand it, you get tablet two and then hide the original. Or stick it under heavy guard.” She let out a longing sigh while looking up at me.

“Everything okay?” I asked and her eyes sparkled slightly.

She went back to researching dinosaurs. “I… I’m excited. This will be a grand adventure. Sure, there will be plenty of hardship, but that's what I thrive on—buckling down to get a project done. But this time, it's for real and not just a homework assignment, which means I’m going to have to get in shape myself.” She smirked up at me. “Which means… it’s my turn, now.”

I hit the off button and let the device propel me off the edge. “I… I can…” I paused, collecting my thoughts. “Of all the things, understanding humanity is going to kill itself is the part I accept the easiest. I’m in denial, though, about superior alien technology being able to zip around the universe.

“These guys aren’t even from our galaxy, if I understand Valance right, and my knowledge of space says that is not possible.” I grinned. “Stranger things have happened—I could land a woman as beautiful as you!” I winked at her. “That has me feeling like I’m in a dream. And then there is this whole competition just to get to Qoobi, which introduces more stress and strife.” I shook my head. “All that leaves me jaded and feeling lost—on multiple levels, mind you.

“And yet… The fact that aliens were willing to abduct me, a hardworking, driven to succeed man, in order to preserve humanity? Well, I find vindication in our current situation. Like, if someone asked me, ‘Do you believe humanity will ruin Earth eventually?’—key part there being ‘eventually’—then I would answer ‘yes’ every time.”

Senna chuckled while jogging. Her bouncy bits were staying somewhat under control. Those dastardly wraps were killing the view but saving her back.

“Nate, I get it. While you have been stressing about tomorrow, I’ve been panicking about my family.” She picked up her pace for about three seconds, then thought better of it and hit the decrease pace button a couple of times. “Still, we have each other.” She smiled at me then said, “Though that is something new to me that I hope continues to get better. We’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”

“Right, each of these competitions is a monstrous one thousand days—almost three years! That is a long time, especially if you consider that we would have to endure ten competitions to qualify, if we only won one point each time,” I said with a sigh, opening my belt's interface. “Moving on… Based on my understanding, if we rush an army…” I paused as Senna jumped down from the treadmill and moved to an elliptical machine.

While she was using the elliptical, I dug into the Archaic’s limited database. She exercised and I read out loud. Until… well, until I got distracted by her shapely ass bouncing on the machine when she increased the tempo.

“Focus, honey,” Senna said and I smirked.

“Already on to pet names, I guess I did end up marrying you, after all.” I chuckled and she playfully stuck her tongue out at me. “Alright pulling up relevant data now.”

The interface was dumbed down, really easy for a semi tech-savvy guy like me to navigate. I was able to review elimination time frames. The information available was very interesting.

“Three percent die in the first week.” I whistled. “Damn, that is a lot. A thousand days, and three out of every hundred die in their first three days. I wish it would tell me more than just death and time frame,” I growled, and then let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I hated that too,” Senna said in a sour tone.

The gym door hissed open, and Valance arrived—a full day early.

“Oh hey, Valance, were your ears burning?” I asked, teasing the robot.

The orb hummed along, its electronic eye a happy green. “While I understand your reference, you should understand I hear everything and see everything on this ship. I have concluded that you will not need a replacement mate, but that you are in need of a clarification,” Valance said.

We blushed. So much for us having privacy.

“Is there a question you wish to know the answer to?” he asked.

“How long until the species populate Qoobi, in your estimation?” Senna asked. That was something we had debated while lounging in bed. “My guess is that colonization is not even close to happening. Nate thinks, since humanity is set to die in a hundred plus years, it means Qoobi will get colonized sooner rather than later.”

Valance performed what could only be described as a robotic throat-clearing. “Again, time can be bypassed. While the universe's lifespan is finite, to a degree, we cannot tell for how long. We do know that the overall string of existence is far greater than yours, mine, and even Qoobi’s will be. If you go into your competition and win, we estimate that it might be as many as ten million years before Qoobi will be fully colonized.

“There is a lot of space on the surface, so much so that it is hard for other species to comprehend. As other species have problems, they too will be saved. The goal is to let every species restart at the same time. That way your internal and then external conflicts will constrain your development to the point that operators like me can zap little problems as they arise. And yes, we do plan on taking a small, passive overseer role. Any other questions?”

I scratched the back of my neck.

Senna was still really hung up on the fact her family was going to die, while she moved on. She wanted to time the moment she outlived them, to know when to grieve. I could understand her desire to grieve, it did resonate with me—that those we loved were gone, had been stolen from us.

I had already moved past that, though. My thoughts were firmly on winning and building the best future possible. I could tell that Senna was slowly coming around to that point-of-view, also.

“Are there detailed stats on how often someone dies trying to move to establish a second stronghold?” I asked, trying to discern a pattern in the statistics.

“No, but you can assume that the early deaths are from either losing a tablet, their tablet getting destroyed, or that they both die while gathering with it. The early game can be drastically improved, though, by taking risks. You can see the results in those numbers, even if you don’t get the hard facts,” Valance said.

I nodded and then thought of something. “If Senna lives, and I die, what happens?” I asked, standing on the stationary treadmill while Senna continued on the elliptical. I leaned against the machine’s guardrail, folding my arms.

Valance eyed Senna when she also paused and replied, “Well, she would carry on… assuming your tablet survives. Just as she would if you were to perish once you become lord of your Qoobi kingdom. Is she your mate? Or do you wish for another? I am asking officially, this time.”

“Senna Immerson is my mate,” I declared proudly. She rolled her eyes at my proud stance, though her smile was wide and happy.

“Well, good, I am happy for you both. Now, I asked—officially—because she will be locked to you. It will take a lot, to remove her after today. There have been cases where another human picked an attractive mate for her looks instead of her smarts, and too late realized they wanted to replace them. So, know that you are going in as a team—picking your teammate does and should matter,” Valance said in a serious tone.

“Shucks! What can I say? I got lucky. Senna is the full package,” I said and grinned.

She habitually tucked a loose, dangling piece of hair behind her ear and blushed.

I continued, “Okay, I can die, she can die, and if we have a third person, they can still run the empire, assuming we have kept the original tablet safe, and our empire is operating smoothly. If there is no third team member, though, and we both die, but the tablet is safe... say, tucked safely away?”

“Your tablet explodes. Get in, protect the tablet, don’t die, and focus on the four x’s to earn the most points. Rinse and repeat until you earn ten points and then sit in stasis until you're on Qoobi, with your one hundred thousand angry and confused citizens,” Valance said with a snicker. “Pick your team members wisely, they will follow you from competition to competition.”

My fingers danced on the treadmill’s resting handles while I pondered my next question.

“I will be back on the day that you board the Gladium. Write your questions down between now and then, and enjoy the next twelve days,” Valance said, attempting to disengage and leave the two of us alone.

“Valance,” I stopped the orb before he could leave, “is there a combat training room?” I asked. I’d suddenly realized that this competition pointed to there being combat... a lot of combat. I had zero experience fighting, other than losing some fights early on in high school.

“There is a simulator, one room over. I will turn the lights on for you,” Valance said, and vanished. The device had thrummed a happy bright green at my question for some reason.

I rubbed at the back of my neck. That would have been good to know from the get-go. Better late than never, I supposed.

“You ready?” I asked Senna.

She smirked and replied, “Hell yeah! Let’s learn how to sword fight.”

Chapter

Seven

ABDUCTION DAY 15

A  sabretooth lunged from a bush, long fangs and splayed claws seeking my demise. I flung my shield up too late to deflect the attack. I simply was too slow, even with my awesome reflexes.

Huge fangs sank into my arm, eliciting blinding pain, and I instinctively screamed out in agony. My stomach was clawed open by its forepaws.

Shit, I’m so dead.

That single thought echoed in my mind as I stabbed my short sword into the big cat. Eventually, my sharp bronze sword found something vital and the damn beast stilled, its dead weight squishing me.

I used the last of my energy to fling the big cat off me. I really, really hated sabretooth tigers.

To be fair, I been killed by just about every variation of big cat.

The damn cats always got the drop on me, no matter how vigilant I was.

Against bears, dogs, and other predators, I was actually half decent.

Stick me against another human and it was child’s play, as if the game were set to easy. To be fair, though, I’d spent three years in high school playing corner back—which meant I was a pro at reading body language and movement indicators.

I tucked my wounded pride away.

With disgust and frustration, I spat on the dead sabretooth’s body.

My legs were wobbly when I stood.

I’d died enough times in the simulation over the last twelve days to know that I wasn’t going to bleed to death for several minutes, maybe hours, which meant I could continue with my mission.

I saw my target, not far away in the underbrush.

It was a lone village that held precious female drones of a shorter human variation.

If I could capture one of these, we would add another breeder to our empire.

They were the coveted key to an early lead. Hell, you got points for exploiting, expanding, and exterminating from these high value targets, though they were normally defended.

My arrival at the water line of the murky brown river surprised me.

There was no trickling sound or other water noise to warn me, and the forest stopped suddenly.

I could see a trail on the opposite side of the river, to where workers would gather the muddy water before boiling it.

I slipped into the depths, knowing that if this were real, infection would be setting into my oozing wounds. I was halfway across the water when, suddenly, there was shouting.

I’d been spotted. I swam back to the other side of the river, hoping to exit before the hyper vigilant enemy could attack me.

Nope.

I breached the surface and an arrow went in through the back of my neck and out the front. I tried to staunch the flow of blood and collapsed.

It wasn’t like in the movies, where the hero is able to splash out of the water and recover later. I got to the muddy shore and then died when another dozen arrows sank into my torso.

“End training simulation,” Senna said sadly.

My consciousness returned to the platform I was standing on. I saw my lovely partner sitting at a control station. She wore a sad pout; seeing me get killed tended to upset her.

“Okay, obviously you missed both signs… again,” Senna said, pulling up the replay footage.

I knew that whining that I tried my hardest wouldn’t help the situation. She knew it, and I knew it.

We both had been training on this simulator nonstop. The gym had quickly become a get in and get out warm up for the simulations.

The simulator had so much to it that I felt we weren’t even close to being ready.

The worst part, though, was that we were under a time crunch—Valance would be here to answer our questions at any minute.

As if appearing on cue, I heard the orb’s voice calling out to us. “Time’s up, follow me,” Valance said, appearing at the perfect time for Senna to groan after finding my initial ambush.

“Basically, the cat flicked its tail. The second time, when you hopped in the river. You only watched the water retrieval spot.

“The archer guard literally yawned while you were staring right below his tower. The simulator noted that battle fatigue and blood loss were both a factor in your inability to properly scan the area,” Senna said, nervously clutching my hand.

“Want me to read the list?” I asked her.

She shook her head no. “We have a lot of -”

“No time, actually, you’re late as it is,” Valance said. “This one is on me. I let a friend go first and your stasis room is already prepped. You were still in the simulator, so I bumped you back in the order.”

I went to argue but Senna shook her head. We were leaving, and that meant complaining wouldn’t matter much.

I thought over how nervous I was, though in all honesty, we were as ready as we could be.

Our hour long sexcapades had become quickies, so that we could spend more time in the simulator, training.

We had slept in four-hour spurts until last night to maximize our training time.

An eight-hour crash last night ensured our bodies felt well rested today.

We had reached the end of this stage of our journey, and we’d found that—besides the training room—there was no other information to go over.

I had to wonder why Valance hadn’t told us about the simulator until we asked about it. It was vital to our preparation, much more so than the Archaics’ limited and mostly restricted database.

I wonder if my asking him was a test, or if the metal ball had withheld the information because it didn’t like me, or maybe it didn’t like humanity, in general.

We walked right out the door and left, there was nothing for us to drag over from the Arinium to the Gladium.

We had our outfits in storage on our belts, and that was it. I was expecting that we would launch out of the Arinium in the same egg-shaped pod that we had arrived in and fly in it over Qoobi to the Gladium.

Nope.

We simply transitioned through a yellow lit section until we were forced to deviate at a red door.

This route led us to an exterior exit; I learned that our massive asteroid-looking ship had docked inside the other ship.

The hangar bay was bigger than I could fathom. It was so big, in fact, that I couldn’t even think of what to compare it to.

All I could see on the horizon was a ship deck. There was nothing else.

My eyes couldn’t even see an exterior wall—though I knew one had to exist. I was lost in its massive scale.

Valance sent a shock of electricity into me. This was the first time the orb had ever done so.

I frowned and rubbed my still tingling arm but did follow the orb as it led me into a cold room with two podiums.

My mind immediately understood that this was a storage room. We had been expecting something like this. I was still uncomfortable when Valance scanned us in.

“Alright, I’m off to get the next Earth competitor. Good luck Nate, and good job on asking the right questions, I think you’ll do fine,” Valance said in an up-beat, chipper tone. “When both of you step onto those podiums, you’ll be officially in line for the next competition.”

I gave Senna a quick kiss, mustered up my courage, and stepped onto the platform.

She seemed nervous.

“See,” I said, blinking, “it’s not that bad.”

∞∞∞

Senna was no longer where she had been. She stood rigidly beside me and I watched as another orb unlocked her frozen body.

“Welcome, competitor 334599. Your event is about to start,” the hybrid machine informed me in a soft, feminine tone.

“How… long?” I mumbled, curiosity surfacing through my hazy thoughts.

Across from me, the machine zapped Senna. She moved without a care. Seeing me, she waved with a thumbs up. She was like me, not realizing that time had lapsed. If I had to, I’d wager that she thought we were still waiting to get frozen. The transition into and from our frozen status was so uneventful, it was shocking.

“Earth years?” the female sounding orb asked.

I nodded.

The female orb said, “You’ve both been in stasis for seven years. You were put into a special queue. We now have a full slate of one hundred brand new competitors. Such a treat, the entire alliance will be watching this one,” it said.

I scrunched my face up in a grimace at this—seven whole years gone in the blink of an eye! “Senna, you okay, sugar?” I asked with extra concern in my voice.

She blushed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

Senna hopped off the pedestal and into my arms, landing a lustful kiss on my lips.

“Seven years and it felt like seconds. This alien stuff is weird.”

“Follow me please,” the orb said and we followed it down a lime-green hallway. “You will roll a number of dice for a selection score between five and a hundred. You will select your species and then have ten minutes to select your spawn location based on where your score places you in the competitors’ selection process.”

We were led down a series of turns; these corridors were four times larger than they were on the Arinium. We saw another species for the first time, and both froze. A creature with a nine-legged spider bottom and a monkey torso and head walked further along down the corridor. I furled my brow while Senna scoffed.

The orb shook side to side in warning.

None of the damn simulations had showed us anything besides humans.

Sure, some of them had bigger foreheads, were dwarfs or hulking in size, but they were all still human.

Before I could study the alien more, we were prodded into a side room. My rising anger was calmed by Senna’s gentle touch.

The door slid closed and the translucent exterior morphed into an opaque steel gray wall we couldn’t see through.

“Seeing your opponents is not supposed to happen. In my excitement, I made an error. Forgive me,” the orb apologized.

“I forgive you,” Senna said happily. She walked up to the only interface platform in the room. “Is this where we select? Whoa…”

She jumped back as the platform transformed into a circular table with a bowl in the center. Five twenty-sided dice ejected out of the side of the platform. They were five different colorations and little runes covered the surface.

“Grab those and roll them into the pit,” the orb instructed, since we were both frozen with uncertainty. I wondered if the five-foot-tall monkey spider was doing the same thing at this moment.

I snatched up the five dice, bouncing them in my palm to feel their weight.

I had my lovely lady blow on them for luck, shot her a confident wink, and then cast the dice into the bowl of the table.

There was a clanging sound until the rattling dice came to a final rest.

I gasped at what I saw. Three single dots and ten double dots stared up at me—a twenty three out of a hundred.

A display on the wall came to life.

Contestant 334599 with a score of twenty-three held the lead over a single, lower score. Best out of two was great in my books.

“Wahoo!” I fist pumped. My excitement lasted for all of another five seconds. The rest of the contestants’ scores populated onto the tally sheet. By the end of it, we were ninth from the bottom. Not dead last, at least, but damn close to it.

“This is where I depart. You will select your creature, when it is your turn, and then your drop zone. If you do not select in the time allotted, a selection will be made for you. This whole room is a transportation pedestal—when your event is over, you will return here and I will be waiting,” the orb said, vanishing before I could even ask what name we should call her.

“She made a mistake,” Senna blurted out.

I grimaced and nodded, “Not encouraging to see. Yet, she… I’m guessing from the tone of her voice, that she was genuinely excited about this contest. Something a robot wouldn’t… well, shouldn’t experience.” I saw Senna mulling over the situation. “What did you think of my throw?”

“That I should be in charge of throwing the dice next time,” she chuckled, wrapping her arms around my neck to gaze up at me. I stared down into her bright blue eyes getting lost in them.

“Shucks, you’re so darn pretty,” I said, slowly lowering my head until our lips touched.

When we parted our tender embrace, the first fifty contestants had already selected their biomes and unique choice of beast.

All our first ten choices were gone—every last one of them.

By competitor seventy-five, not a single dinosaur had been picked, causing me to cringe. All I could think about was the fact that velociraptors were still available.

The eighty-eighth competitor picked raptors.

When it was our turn, all that was left were nine other dinosaur types. All of them were herbivores, except for a tyrannosaurus rex and a Baryonyx.

I could see the win percentages listed right next to each of the last nine options.

There was some alien animal in the mix that I immediately discarded due to its win rate and unknown factor. My eyes shifted to the T-Rex.

They may sound cool, but it only had a .98% win rate.

Our research had showed that the T-Rex was easy to knock over in battle, and very slow to get back onto its feet—assuming it didn’t break a leg.

They still had massive charge potential and a whole lot of teeth, but they were second best.

The Baryonyx mainly excelled in water fights, but it wasn’t far behind the T-Rex, at .84%. The Stegosaurus was the only one on the list that beat the 1% average—and it was only at 1.03%. Our timer was counting down.

Ten.

Nine. My hand hovered briefly over the T-Rex.

Eight. I went to the Stegosaurus.

Seven. The T-rex again.

Three.

Two.

One. I hit the image of a stegosaurus. With a long and deep sigh of frustration, I bowed my head.

The screen flared green, locking in my pick of Stegosaurus at the last second.

“You did the right thing,” Senna comforted me, patting my back. “Notice how I stayed quiet?”

I knew what she was hinting at.

At stronghold three, she would be picking our third wheel. The two of us had been on a bender of love and I’d never been happier.

When we talked about the future, she was always ecstatic about our chances together to get to Qoobi.

Senna wasn’t ‘kind of’ my rock…she was my rock.

We meshed so well, it was crazy. For hours we would talk about baby names and what-if the crap out of the images Valance had showed us two weeks ago.

I expected our bond to fade, the newness to wear off, or the close proximity to eventually drive us apart. We only grew closer, though, as time passed, and we trained together. But now, there was a hard reality coming. If we wanted to survive and make it to Qoobi, our lives were going to shift. Assuming we made it to strong hold three.

With a quick shake of my head, I broke free from such wandering thoughts.

The bowl before us rumbled, the pit I had rolled the dice into morphing once again.

We stepped back as the table transitioned into a holographic map.

There was going to be a ten-minute break, now, so the last team—who had gotten the Gallimimus, with a .0201% win rate, could get a breather and select their spawn point.

“Okay,” I said, studying the ten-sided map, “we need safety more than anything else.”

Senna smirked at the map and said, “It's a decagon—should have seen that coming. These Archaics sure love the number ten.”

“Ones and zeros,” I muttered.

There were three hundred spawn points to select from.

The outer edge of the map was water, meaning that there was no retreating out of bounds. I wondered what the best option would be.

Starting on the edge of the map would mean fewer opportunities for expansion and exploration, but your flanks would be secured and you wouldn't have to worry about attacks from those directions.

One of the ten corner type spots was going to go first, I bet, or maybe the central one would. There were little resource icons scattered everywhere.

There were so many, with vastly different icons, that they cluttered the map. I decided that resources in the early game were not going to be a problem, at least not on this map.

I noted four ridgelines of mountains that met in the middle of the map, creating an odd shaped x.

The top-right mountain range hit a second range, creating a valley inside a Y. In that position, there was fresh water, from two sides your back was protected, and there were plenty of resources.

The next nearest spawn point was further down the valley, a good way to the southwest. The legend was in miles, indicating that it was roughly a hundred miles to the nearest potential threat.

A hundred and ten miles or so, up another mountain valley, there was another blue dot. That spot seemed less advantageous, unless you were trying to simply build and survive. Which, up there, could probably net you a top fifty finish.

Then again, that was pure speculation.

“You sure you like this one?” Senna asked, studying the spawn point I had zoomed in on. “I doubt it will have many villages to raid…”

I shot her a cold stare.

“Relax,” she chuckled, “that was just the simulator.”

I swear that damn machine listened to us.

Senna would say something like, ‘I doubt they will have sabretooths,’ and I’d get killed by a sabretooth... yet again. Or, “you know this scenario is just a one on one fight,” and I would get swarmed by a tribe of drone warriors.

It was such a consistent thing, that we got to the point where we were extra careful about what we said around the simulator.

“Did you find a backup spot?” I asked in a serious tone.

“Three, but your spot is probably going to still be available when we pick at position nine. Mine is only slightly better, though, and I can see why you picked yours. It was this one,” Senna said, pointing to a central location in a box canyon, with three walls of mountain around it.

I’d bypassed that one, because it was in the middle of the map and surrounded by a half dozen spawn locations—though it abounded in extra rich resources.

Senna patted my back and said, “I like yours, too. Would be far better with raptors, though,” I sighed, “and best with the plains biome.”

The ten minutes expired. The first pick immediately selected an outer ring location. As did picks two through six.

Seven picked the middle location Senna had liked and she gasped. We waited with bated breath until number eight selected a starting location three away from the spot I wanted.

Without hesitation, I selected the spot I liked when it was our turn. We cheered, giving each other a huge hug.

It was a minor victory, but still a victory. The spot down the valley never got picked up, while the area above us, higher up in the mountains, did.

I was a bit shocked, but this was all new to me, and apparently to everyone else. I knew we would be discussing the uphill threat and what we could recall about the mountain creature types later.

As the last teams picked their locations, I smiled. Even if we’d ended up with a bad creature type, ours had a decent win rate, and we’d ended up with a good spawn point. Now it was time to start building a dinosaur empire until the point I became a Dinosaur Warlord.

Chapter

Eight

COMPETITION 1 - DAY 1

W e went from rehashing our knowledge on mountain goats and rams to a mere second of blackness for our transition.

The two of us suddenly arrived in the middle of a grassy field, as if someone had snapped their fingers to transport us.

Except there was no warning, or even a countdown—just an instant transition.

I was shocked to find myself under the dying glare cast by a warm, setting yellow sun. The temperature was mild, even though sunset painted the skyline in oranges and pinks.

I looked around, absorbing my surroundings so that I could assess our situation.

Shin high, green grass was offset by white flowers jutting their delicate petals above the wavy green carpet. Bees buzzed over the area, darting around and collecting pollen.

Using my knowledge of the map, I noted that two sides of the mountain started to incline about ten miles to the north and east.

About half a mile from us, in either of those directions, thick, tall redwoods dotted the horizon. Birds sporadically graced the skyline.

From the north, a river cut southwards about a thousand feet off to my left. The water ran over rocky substrate, the foam from the speedy current was evident from here.

The fields of grass continued to the south and west in a widening picture of endless green—they appeared to go on for a few miles downstream.

“Oh, Nate!” Senna murmured at my side, awestruck.

“Yeah,” I whispered, transfixed by the majestic beauty of the spot I had picked. This was gorgeous.

“You get to pick our starting spots from now on,” Senna said, her pants rustling in the grass as she walked up and hugged me.

She was in her winter western outfit, which included a long sleeve shirt and full pants, with a wicker hat covering her lovely hair.

I embraced her tightly in my own cowboy outfit. I went to touch my belt to get my hat out, but nothing happened.

Instead of everything being stored in my belt buckle, right there in the front of my hide pants was a tablet.

Right, two weeks of habitually storing and pulling things from my belt had just changed. The tablet was the biggest game mechanic there was. I picked it up, swiping it on. The screen came to life, adjusting automatically to be easily readable, despite the bright sunlight.

INVENTORY

BUILD

SCORE

I selected inventory.

Personal

Materials & Supplies

I selected personal and saw that I could pick between Senna’s or my own personal inventory. I selected myself. A drop-down menu populated and I selected my cowboy hat.

Three feet in front of us, the tablet cast a wireframe picture of my hat made of blue light. Senna inquisitively swiped a hand through the shimmering display. My hat materialized in the grass, even with her interference.

“That’s cool,” Senna blurted out.

I fetched my hat from the ground, sticking it firmly on my head. I’d always been a hat guy, and it felt good to once again have the sun out of my baby blues. I went back to the interface and selected the build option.

Stronghold

Depot

Hut

Small Farm

Church

Stable

Water well

Barracks

Wall

Tower

Senna read over my shoulder with me and said, “Not much, is there? Hard to build an empire off this list.”

“It’ll get bigger, I'd wager,” I said, selecting the stronghold button.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 44 hours (Adequate)

100 - Stone (Adequate)

1000 - Wood (Adequate)

20 - Food (Adequate)

Would you like to build this structure? (YES) - (NO)

“Why?” I grunted in confusion. “Not saying I should pick ‘no’, but I didn’t realize I would be building the stronghold personally.”

I tapped yes. Three green wireframe holographic images of a western town hall made of wood populated around us.

You could see through the images and I understood immediately what this meant. These locations were my current options of where I could build the town hall.

The furthest one was closest to the large stream. I selected that image on the overview from the tablet.

Confirm you wish to start Stronghold Tier 1. (YES) - (NO)

I selected yes.

Assign worker - Nathanael or Senna

I selected me.

Input desired name:

I wanted to name our base ‘SouthernCool’ but Senna stole the tablet from me with big, pleading, puppy-dog eyes.

I had no problem with her picking a simple name, so waved her on with a grin.

She spun her back to me and selected a name. She smiled happily at me, after confirming her choice.

There was a slight problem, though. I wanted to ask her what name she had selected, but my body seemed to be on autopilot. Instead, I laid down in the grass and promptly passed out.

∞∞∞

I was being shaken awake. I awoke with a deep frown and copious amounts of confusion.

The last thing I remembered was lying down in the grass and enjoying the last rays of a beautiful sunset.

The shining stars and pitch black around us, however, told me it was now nighttime. Senna was in a panic.

“Get up,” Senna said urgently, struggling to help me up off the ground. One hand tugged at me while her other hand held a pickaxe and the tablet.

“What is going on—?”

She grunted, struggling to get me up off my back. “Get the fuck up, Nate,” Senna hissed and I hurried to rise. Senna rarely swore and her voice was extremely concerned.

The moment I was on my feet, she ran for the stronghold.

Making things even more confusing, I saw that the large office building had been completed, without me ever lifting a finger.

I had so many questions stacking up on top of each other, but realized I needed to focus on running.

When I had to jump over a bunny, Senna spooked.

I heard growling behind me, the bunny shrieked, and then there was a loud snap.

I spun around to see a few sets of yellow eyes and rows of stained teeth much closer behind me than I would have liked.

Shit!

We were in trouble.

Although I could run faster than Senna, I hesitated to outpace her. She held the tablet, after all. Another quick check over my shoulder showed that there were a half dozen wolves who did not appreciate our setting up a home on their turf.

A single wolf, a bit larger than the others, carrying a dead bunny in his jaws, loped back towards the woods.

Luckily, as we neared where the interior lights from the building beat back the dark, the wolves slithered away.

We had to weave around piles of apples in front of the building. Senna bounded right up the porch’s steps, almost crashing into the town hall’s framed double doors.

With a display of unnecessary desperation, she flung the right door open and darted inside. I hurriedly followed her and she slammed the door shut once I was next to her.

“Two flipping days, Nate!” Senna shouted and slapped me.

My cheek stung. I rubbed my face, another wave of confusion washing over me. That actually hurt a bit, but I quickly swallowed my pride. Senna was clearly distraught.

“Thank goodness they only showed up an hour ago,” she whimpered.

I yanked her into a hug, stroking her back. She buried her head into my vest and shuddered, struggling to get control of herself.

Her anger finally started abating, her breathing calming. I took off my cowboy hat and ducked my head under her straw hat to kiss her.

She melted into my soft lip lock. Her hands cupped my ass and when I finally pulled back and peeked at her, I saw in her fiery blues that she wanted more than just a kiss.

“Umm… What the hell happened?” I asked, clearly perplexed.

“It looked like you died, that is what happened,” Senna said.

I frowned and patted my body down for wounds.

“No, you goofball,” she snorted. “The game put you into a coma—some kind of sleep mode. The tablet has a help tab, it helpfully informed me that whenever a drone, or a team manager, is assigned to a construction project, they are put to sleep. From now on,” she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, “if we build anything—a hut for example—either a drone, or one of us, will lay down on the floor inside here.”

“Speaking of here, what is this place?” I asked, seeing what could best be described as a log cabin, furnished with an office desk and a single chair.

There was a door to what might be a small bathroom back in the corner.

“How the flip should I know?” Senna threw her hands up in the air.

I rubbed her back some more.

“Sorry for cursing earlier,” she muttered, “but when those damn wolves showed up and started sniffing at your body, I had to swing this mining pick to make them back up and then stand over you so that you didn’t get eaten.” She set the mining pick down, tapped at the tablet, and sent the tool back into storage. “I think we should stay indoors tonight.”

“What about all those apples?” I asked and she groaned, stomping a foot in frustration.

She furiously tapped at the tablet, and a sharpened stick clattered to the ground next to me. A second later, a big wicker basket materialized on the wooden floor.

“Good point, we shouldn’t dally. You need to stick a baby in me, now, to start the timer. And yes, we can only initiate a reproduction if we have a home—which we didn’t have, until about twenty minutes ago. Actually, let’s do that first, before we stow away my exploited gains,” Senna muttered, latching onto my wrist.

She dragged me towards what I had thought was a bathroom. Surprise, it was not a bathroom—hopefully this place came with an outhouse. Instead, beyond the door we found a closet-sized bedroom with a tiny bed. Sure hope this upgrades, I thought.

Senna pushed me onto the small bed, closed the door, and tapped away at the tablet. A moment later she looked up and said, “Done.”

“Da hell you talkin about?” I growled, my face a mask of confusion. Rarely did I drawl. Of course—being from Miami—I was a respectable man, not a boy from the ‘glades. In times like these, though, those bad habits came out and my drawl got thick.

“This bed is the absolute worst.” I struggled to prop myself up by my elbows. “And you can stop hitting and pushing me around. If I did the same to you -”

“Ouch… you are absolutely right. Please forgive me.” Senna pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m bullying you around like you are one of my sisters right now. I haven't slept in forty-four hours.” She shook her head. “Not quite myself,” she mumbled, and it was clear from her posture and eyes that it was true.

“Hey, I get it. Your stress level is maxed out, but we will get through this,” I reassured her. “Together.”

She blew out a heavy breath and gave me a terse nod. “Come on, we’ve got a metric ton of stuff to do and no time to lie around. We’re actually sitting decent in the score ranking, thirty-sixth, right now,” Senna said, turning the tablet around to show me:

35. Team 332842

36. Team Lovebirds

37. Team 338427

“Team Lovebirds!” I picked her up and spun her around before setting her back down.

She smirked at me and said, “I wanted to name our first house ‘lovebirds’. Turns out that isn’t just the name of our home, but the name of our whole empire.” She grinned sheepishly. “My bad. Feel free to manly it up a bit, since we're going to war, and all that.”

I nodded while she just stood there, fidgeting, fighting sleep. My brain caught up on something at that moment.

“Hold on, we’re not going to have sex? You must be thrilled,” I blurted out and she rolled her eyes.

“No… future husband. We will have sex tonight. This just starts the cycle. We have to enter a private room, indicate we want to create a drone and then, within twenty-two hours, do the deed,” Senna explained, holding out a hand to help me off the bed. “Trust me. Let’s get the apples in, then we will have sex, and then you will assign me to start on the next building. We need to build three more buildings before we will be able to upgrade our stronghold.”

“Damn… any three?” I asked, peeling myself off the tiny bed. “Probably best to build small stuff first and then upgrade this.”

“You’d think, but I’m not so sure. You see, this little gem,” she brandished the tablet, “has actual information in it—unlike that almost useless database we had access to on the ship.”

Senna led us out of the bedroom and back to the porch.

“It tells me exactly what every building does. The church for example… requires as many resources to build as four huts do, but also makes our drones happier—in addition to housing eight drones. But we won’t unlock the happiness help tab, until we build the church, which to me means that it will be important later.”

“Four huts, or information and happiness, on top of housing—but takes five times longer to build? Ouch, steep, but it is a much bigger building,” I admitted, grabbing the spear.

Senna scooped up the basket. I held the door open for her and we went back outside where the wolves were baying at the moon, off in the distance. They sounded close enough that I frowned at the noise and wasn’t about to let down my guard. They seemed to be moving further off, though.

Numerous candles were strategically placed to maximize lighting inside the town hall. One of these was near the entryway. I slid a hand over the flame, feeling nothing.

I’d sure felt Senna’s slap, though, which told me this world didn’t dial back on the pain.

Hell, my cheek still stung.

This flame, though, didn’t burn my hand at all.

“You okay?” Senna paused when I stopped to test the flame.

“Yeah, just trying to get a grasp of our situation. We can’t have the town hall burn down because a candle gets knocked over, I take it?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Probably not, I mean… at least from the candles, no. A built structure will not need repairs or deteriorate unless acted upon by an outside force. Actually,” Senna said, handing me the basket, “here, give me the spear. I’ve got more I want to read about and I’ll instruct, while you work.”

I traded the spear for the basket and went to a pile of apples. I stripped my vest off and laid it down next to one of the piles. I set the basket on its side and pushed apples into it.

“So, tell me about the last two days,” I said, focusing on trying to speed up my work.

Senna created a chair, the green wireframe outline materializing into a real object in a matter of seconds. She plopped down into the rocking chair with a relieved sigh of comfort.

“You laid down and it was like you… died. I freaked out, big time. You weren’t breathing and you weren’t responsive. It was… it was very, very disturbing.

“Eventually, I dug into the information section, where there was a help tab that led me to a warning about strongholds incapacitating their builders. You were fine, it seemed, and I was on my own,” Senna explained, standing and holding up the spear when a wolf exited the tree line to sit and watch us from afar.

“Well, we knew before we started, that food would be a big thing. We only started with enough to spawn two workers, so I went exploring. News flash. Points gained from the explore bracket are miniscule. At least the small scared journey I took, didn’t earn us much. Here, look.”

She flipped the tablet around to show me the map.

The outline of the ten-sided shape was there with a heavy black edge. The rest of the map was fogged out, except for our tiny, little area.

A single, small trail led away from a circle of exposed map. Senna zoomed the image in by splaying her thumb and index finger apart.

Eventually, the mapped showed our stronghold, which—shocker—had the words ‘Lovebirds’ over it. Little icons littered the map, with it zoomed this far in.

A bunny was hopping in the field. A wolf pack roamed to our east. The trail she had exposed led to an apple icon.

The fields around the stronghold had images of vegetables, which seemed to indicate they could become farm fields.

I was starting to piece together the importance of exploring.

“So… Nate. Part of why I was so angry at seeing you again is…” tears welled up in her eyes and she took a shaky breath before continuing. “I’m not an adventurer. Diving the Great Barrier Reef was the biggest risk I ever took, and we both know how that turned out. My father is a corporate bigwig who never even went camping, himself—let alone took any of his three daughters into the woods with him.” She sighed, releasing some of the tension she’d been holding inside.

“Let me guess, you had to go into the woods?” I asked with concern.

She nodded, returning to managing the tablet.

I righted the basket of apples, with it filled as much as I could.

A check back over my shoulder at the tree line, revealed the lone wolf had left again. I switched to piling up apples on my vest.

“I learned a lot on day one. There was enough metal for a few basic mining picks, but beyond those, everything we can build at this point requires wood or stone. I went to the wood line and picked up some branches, but was not able to store them—beyond what I consumed. We apparently start with our storage filled to the max. Honestly? Next time I’m debating starting off with a depot.”

“Not to veer you too far off topic from your retelling, but why a depot first?” I asked, lifting a vest full of apples into the basket. “Hmm… will the tablet accept half a basket?”

“Yes, why?”

I set the basket with apples in front of her. She tapped at the tablet and it disappeared. A few more taps on the table, and the basket returned, empty. Seeing this was a possibility, I put my vest back on and buttoned it up.

“Quicker to just tip the basket sideways, shove the apples in, set the basket upright, and then have you store it,” I said, finding a pattern of work I liked.

“Getting back to the depot, it takes six hours to build. So, you would have been out cold for only six hours, instead of two full days. I would even wager you could have collapsed in the depot when it came time to build the stronghold,” Senna said, spawning a second basket. “The wolf pack has left the area.”

“Yeah, sure… but that is six hours of a worker not being built,” I noted. “Still, that strategy is far less risky, and you could have slept in the depot, too.”

Senna just shook her head.

“Must have been nerve wracking,” I commented.

She went to the pile beside me and filled the new basket. While she shoveled in apples beside me, she continued her tale. “I caught a bunny on day one. The bunny couldn’t be put into storage on the tablet, it requires a small farm.

“I learned, that one of the small farm options is a bunny farm that we can build. Which is great… but it needs to be visited by someone at least three times a day for half-an-hour each time.

“If we’d had a depot, I could have placed the bunny in it and a countdown timer would have started, giving us some time to build the farm. Failure to do so, would have turned the bunny into some mystery ‘empire food’. How that happens or whatever else counts as ‘empire food’, I’m not sure about.

She sighed. “Catching the bunny was a lost cause… still is. After the bunnies, I went into the woods.” She shuddered. “The woods were spooky and intimidating, full of gloom with their tall trees and heavy canopy.

“I was so scared until I found that apple grove. A few things happened at that point. First, I walked towards the orchard, and earned fractions of a point. When I got close, the map revealed the icon for apples that I showed you earlier.

“I built a basket from the tool menu. We earned fractions of a point. I replaced the wood that went into making the basket with a couple of fallen branches—”

“More fractions of a point?” I finished for her.

She nodded. “I picked an unripe apple, got half the points of a ripe apple. So, the pattern started to make sense. That first night I spawned both your winter blankets and slept by your warm body.

“The next morning,” she continued, “the tablet noted that we both had magically consumed some of the food… And yes, I had to shit in the woods for the first time. Gross…” She grimaced in disgust. “I was able to add some apples to replace what we had consumed, but soon hit the cap again.

“I created some spears, additional baskets, and that mining pick—which ate up three of our metal stores. I mainly wanted to vary what I was doing, focusing as much as I could on learning how things worked as much as actually getting something done. I picked apples for a full day, to break up the monotony of just studying the tablet, hence these piles. There was a ton of apples in that orchard.

“Then a little after it got dark tonight, the wolves came… and you’re caught up. I think we’re thirty-sixth in the rankings, because I worked a lot and because other teams built in the wrong order or are moving off their spawn points to get to a safer location. We literally built right where anyone with a decent memory would know was a pre-selected location.”

I turned a full basket over so its bottom was flat on the grass. I grabbed the tablet from where it rested on the chair.

INVENTORY

Materials and Supplies.

Deposit or Withdrawal

I tapped the highlighted ‘deposit’ option.

Scan Item. You are within range of a storage point.

I aimed the tablet at the apples

Deposit apples? (YES) (NO)

I selected ‘YES’. “Is there a quicker way to use this?” I wondered, the interface felt a bit clunky.

“Sure, just think of depositing the apples, it will scan the apples and then you accept. You have to be holding the magic wand—the tablet, that is—though. Here, try it on these,” Senna said, plopping down a quarter-full basket of apples in front of me.

I pointed the tablet at the apples, thought the right things, and mentally confirmed my approval. The apples and the basket both vanished. I wished the basket back out of storage, confirmed that is what I wanted, and it reappeared. That was a lot easier and much quicker.

“I think that once we get into creating buildings and more complex things, they’ll prohibit shortcuts, but time will tell. Okay, the next big discovery I learned…” Senna continued, watching me delicately set the tablet back into the rocking chair.

I went to fill another basket full of apples.

“The hut is not the only place drones can sleep. I started to mention it earlier, but got sidetracked.” She stood up and stretched out her back. ““The hut at stage one will house two workers.

“They will reproduce, if given a hut and if they are sufficiently happy. A church can hold fourteen drones at about half the overall cost of seven huts—although the workers won’t reproduce right away, but who cares if that helps us save up the material to build another stronghold?

“Getting extra hands to help with the work early on is everything. Same thing goes with the depot, and a barracks. We can house and employ up to forty drones, with some hard work to gather river stones and tree branches.”

“What should we build next?” I deferred to her judgement, since she had been the one living the game so far and had been able to research things so thoroughly.

“First, we need to get these apples into storage. There was an alert when I picked them, that they would sour outside of storage in twenty-two hours. Things going bad unless they are stored properly appears to be a common theme.” She paused. “The twenty-two-hour day, while odd, is something we’ll adapt to.”

I nodded.

“I recommend that we build the storage depot next while you spawn a drone. Then, we can start sticking the peon with building new stuff and not have one of us keep passing out when we should be working,” Senna said and I grunted.

“Is there a spawn timer on the drone’s arriving?” I asked, righting another basket of apples.

“Yes, there is a timer for everything. All spawns come from the stronghold. A level one stronghold will produce three drones a day.

“At level two, it doubles to six drones a day. And it keeps doubling every time the stronghold gains a new level.

“The main takeaway seems to be that your empire feeds on itself, if properly set up. I don’t think we’ll need to keep making residents to convert into soldiers by day eight hundred or so.” She shrugged, “but who knows? Anyway, I queued up the first worker drone when this building started to materialize. So… in about seven hours we will get our first drone to manage,” Senna said proudly.

We were making quick work of the apples. I paused to grab the spear when the tablet pinged out a warning.

The wolf pack was roaming nearby—I saw yellow eyes watching us from the wood line.

I flipped my gaze back to the tablet.

BUILD

Barracks

Help

A barracks is a location that warriors train in the art of war. Unlocking this building means you will be able to unlock the archery range (Requires Stronghold 2). A barracks does not generate workers. It must consume a worker to train into a warrior. A warrior can be given worker tasks.

“I wanted to see if the barracks would spawn soldiers, but it does not,” I said with a sigh. “It converts a worker into a soldier—though there is zero downside to turning drones into soldiers in the barracks. Well, unless we get tight on food.”

Senna patted the ground beside her as we took a bit of a break before saying, “Yeah, and it takes ten hours to train a worker into a warrior. Ones, and zeros…” She snorted. “The process will be interesting to see.

“I just want to build the damn archery range once we have a barracks, so that we can shoot those wolves. Which means we’ll need a blacksmith.” She groaned, tapping at the tablet. “The smithy isn’t even unlocked at level one.”

“Probably not until stronghold two. At least they let us build basic tools without one,” I grunted, filling another basket. “I can get the rest of this. You should probably get to sleep.”

“We need to have sex first, then I’ll sleep,” Senna said.

I chuckled at how business like she sounded.

“I know,” she snickered, “it’s not exactly very romantic, but it’s all part of the game. Come on.” She held out her hand to me.

We sent both our baskets of apples into storage before heading inside. I checked the tablet to see that the wolves had left again.

I had a feeling they would keep checking on us, hoping to catch us when we were vulnerable.

At least the tablet gave us a warning when they were in the area.

I was tapping away, trying to pull up our inventory numbers, when I heard the sound of pants hitting the floor.

Senna bent over the table, jiggling her butt at me teasingly. I furled my brows and was about to ask why here, when she said, “You must first confirm consent, for me to get pregnant, and the sex can be anywhere. Now cowboy up and fill this little pussy until you are dripping out of me.”

And… that line did the trick; my dick grew hard in an instant.

Funny thing about stuff like that, I was already staring at her shapely ass and her, now fully shaven pussy, was being wiggled just for me, and while I found it all arousing, it only started to get me in the mood.

A smidge of dirty talk, though, and I was ready-Freddy, rearing to go.

She spit on her fingers, tucked them under her body and between her legs until her hand was right below her vagina, and lubricated her lips. “Be the hero,” she smirked, “fuck me until my toes curl.”

I grinned. She knew I loved hearing this.

I sauntered up, my boots echoing across the big room. I dropped my pants to my ankles, my engorged cock pulsing eagerly for her tight slit.

I guided my tip into her. She flipped her hair back to stare at me over her shoulder, her teeth clamped to her lower lip.

“Deeper,” she demanded.

I slammed into her.

Her palm smacked down and she clamped on to the edge of the desk, holding on for the ride.

For every deep stroke, as my hips thrust forward, she used her leverage on the desk to push back against my hips.

She’d lost some weight since we met, as had I, but she still was a delightful cushion for the pushing.

As a kid, when watching pornos, I’d never thought a man fucking a woman from behind could be romantic.

Yet, we both were loving the intimacy of the moment. She even held my hand while telling me to pound her little pussy harder.

Okay, so maybe it was still like a porno, I was banging her with love.

We went at it for ten minutes.

Ten glorious minutes of her squeezing on my cock, all the while telling me how amazing it felt.

When I climaxed, she cried out in pleasure with me. We both lay there panting for a moment before I pulled out of her.

I got ready to hand her my shirt to clean up with, expecting my cum to trickle down her leg.

Except there was no gooey mess or trail of jizz leaking out of her vagina.

I even stuck a finger into her honeypot to see if my seed was just stuck in there.

Nope, this was different.

“Okay, more than a bit weird, but I feel pregnant. Not sure how, or why, but since there is only a seven-day gestation term, we will know in a -”

I showed her our score on the tablet.

28. Team Lovebirds

“Yeah, I guess we got some points for you knocking me up, unless that is from all the apples we stored. Maybe building a stronghold is the right first call. There are more sticks and river rocks, even additional apples, still out there.” She yawned.

“Again, I didn’t know the stronghold name would be our team name—I promise I won’t mind if you change the name. Even said it to you twice, to get that across,” Senna noted, pulling her undershorts on. She headed for the bedroom, clearly fatigued.

“I’d say I’d tuck you in, but that room is -”

“Nate, be the amazing man I know you are. Don’t die, and start building us a fabulous empire. Start with a depot, please,” Senna said retreating into the bedroom.

I trotted to catch up to her. I pushed her against the wall to deliver a fierce kiss.

“Thank you for working so hard when I was out cold, Senna. We are going to do great, I just know it,” I said with determination.

“So tired.” She yawned again. “You’re so full of energy. Go get ‘em, cowboy,” she mumbled, tipping my hat.

I watched her close the bedroom door and heard her groan in pleasure when her head hit the pillow.

Although she’d never see me blow her a kiss, now that the door was closed, I did it anyway.

It just felt right.

I spun around, ready to get to work.

The first thing I did was rename this damn building, our team, and our empire to ‘Dinosaur Warlord’. We were clearly already in love.

We needed to get into a war mindset.

Winning—or at least placing—well, it meant everything.

With a determined grimace on my face, I headed outside to make a difference.

Chapter

Nine

COMPETITION 1 DAY 3

T

he depot finally finished, meaning that my test was complete. Senna was zonked out because I had assigned her to the process.

The first thing I did when I saw the double door barn materialize was try to rouse her.

“Babe,” I said, shaking my lover’s shoulder. She moaned. “You’ve been out for six hours. Most of it was while I had you assigned to building. Do you feel refreshed or exhausted?”

“Get the hell out of here, I still need to sleep,” Senna groaned, “badly.”

I gave a huff in annoyance before I slowly exited the bedroom, gently closing the door behind me.

I had hoped for a different outcome, because I had awoken refreshed.

Then again, I had done nothing before being assigned to the work detail.

That was probably why she was still exhausted.

I had hoped that the game aspect might allow her to build while she rested, so that she’d feel vibrant when she awoke. That was definitely not the case.

I smirked—looked like we’d be using drones from here on out for building, unless for some reason they were more vital than we were.

The next question I had was: did the workers need sleep? I was going to guess that they did, just like us.

Feeling a bit blue, I exited our small stronghold building. The morning sunshine crested the southern horizon.

Now that was different, never expected to see that. There were times during last night that I had to remember I was on an alien world.

There was a single moon that was much bigger and brighter than Earth’s moon.

While the glowing orb brought a familiarity to the night, its luminous glow had seemed odd.

Well, at one point while I was tossing sticks onto the balcony, a bat the size of a car flew over me.

The shape was highlighted by the moon's glow, causing me to be very concerned. Luckily it flew on, and I didn’t see it again, the rest of the night.

Outside of that bat, the night had been tedious. The work was lame and monotonous, but otherwise safe.

I had simply shifted every last thing Senna had dragged to the house into storage, via the tablet. I was beyond thrilled when the depot finally activated.

Well, that, and I was still dancing an internal jig about changing our name to Dinosaur Warlord.

I did take a two-hour nap after I’d finished adding everything Senna had collected. I felt great and didn’t need the nap… but, I wasn’t about to head out into the dark with monsters and wolves around.

The next big event for me was sunrise and after that, there would be an hour and ten minutes until the first drone spawned.

A few taps on the tablet showed that we had enough resources collected to build the church.

I wanted to select it but decided to get a couple of other things done first. I let Senna sleep—I wasn’t going to stick her on building detail again.

That meant I had an hour plus to kill.

I summoned a spear from storage and a pickaxe. Before I left to do some exploring, I checked our inventory levels on the tablet.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 173

Wood - 1120

Stone - 83

Metal - 4

Water - ∞

I then slid the tablet under the door to the bedroom, and headed off for the river. Clearly, we needed more stone.

We actually needed everything, but stone was fairly close, and I could carry it easier than Senna could.

It was an easy win.

I was guessing that water didn’t matter because we had an infinite water source with the river nearby. I could only imagine the struggles of those who had picked a desert biome for their starting point.

The sun had fully breached the southern horizon when I stepped into the dew covered grass and almost tripped over an apple I’d missed last night in the dark.

My fingers snatched it off the ground in a fluid motion.

With a skip in my step and smile on my face, I let this world know I was ready to start this beautiful day.

I headed to the depot to administer another test. It was a square building, big enough to fit a car in.

It had no windows but did have a short ramp that led up to double barn-type doors. I opened the door and tossed the apple in.

The fruit vanished as soon as it crossed the threshold.

I went back and repeated the process for all the branches, twigs and apples I’d missed in the dark.

When I had finished cleaning up last night's mess, I left for the river—although I guess stream might be a better term.

Honestly, I didn't know the difference between a creek, a stream, and a river.

I did know that this one was close to the stronghold, meaning that I didn’t have to haul buckets of water every day.

I patted myself on the back for placing the structures near to water.

Less than a minute later, I reached the bank of the stream. I crouched on my knees to scoop water into my cupped hands.

The tip of a tail wagging on the other side of the water was the only warning I got—the telltale sign of my nemesis, a big cat!

A pouncing cougar leaped over the water. My reflexes were on point, though. I raised the spear just in time.

While I had succeeded in getting the spear up defensively in plenty of time, I aimed the weapon poorly.

My spear’s tip dove deep into the cougar’s guts, not into its chest, like I’d intended.

The force of the cat’s momentum was pitted against the force of my stab and the strength of the sharpened stick.

I’d struck hard enough to arrest its lunge, mid-flight.

There was a brief struggle as the cat’s weight bent my stick and the cat tried to claw at me.

Suddenly, the spear broke, snapping with an echoing crack as I dodged to the side. My first taste of true combat… well, it left me stunned.

The massive splash as my opponent fell into the shallow water soaked me.

I shook my head to clear it and wiped the water out of my eyes. With the mining pick firmly in my hand, I followed the cougar’s body as it was pulled downstream.

The wounded cat cried out in pain. With a great effort, the big male cat pulled itself out of the river. A loud roar told me to back off, or else.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

I backed up, ran a few steps and leaped over the swiftly flowing water. I landed in the soft grass, tumbling forward over a shoulder to slow my momentum.

The wounded cougar was staggering towards the tree line. He called out, the pleading groans of a dying cat.

My cheaply crafted spear that remained embedded in his guts was utter crap—it had broken on the first use! Probably made in China, I muttered under my breath. Finally, the cougar folded over onto its side, its pleading calls weakening.

I rotated around its body until I faced its spine. Wounded or not, those claws still looked nasty.

Just in case this was a trick, I took every precaution.

My mining pick raised high, I looked down into the eyes of the defeated cougar, who glared back with pure hatred.

I used the closest eye as my attack point.

With all my energy I drove the point of the pick downward. There was a loud squish when it blasted through the eyeball and into the cougar’s brain.

The body jolted, spasmed, and then after a final twitch, became a corpse. I bet we could use the hide for grips, or clothes, or… whatever.

For now, it would be processed in the depot into food. My pickaxe made a slurp sound when I pulled it out.

I was in the process of trying to figure out how to pick the damn thing up to carry it, when there was a mighty roar from the tree line.

A second cougar came bounding towards me.

This one was covered in fresh blood. What the—?

I only had a few seconds to time my swing with the advance of this fast cougar.

When it leaped to latch onto me, my tumbling roll let me dodge the furious charge.

I swiped the pickaxe with a backhanded horizontal swing where I figured the new cat should land.

There was a jarring numbness that ran up my arm as the weapon collided with... something.

My foe shrieked in pain. I felt a tug on the handle as the big cat threatened to pull the weapon out of my grasp.

When I spun around to see what was happening, I noted my mining tool was embedded in the neck of the cougar.

The wounded animal desperately backpedaled, trying to free itself from my weapon.

With all my strength, I yanked on the handle in one direction, while it tugged in the other. The tool erupted out the front of the beast’s neck in a spray of gore.

The cat managed only four stumbling steps before collapsing in death.

I flopped back onto my butt, my eyes wide, weapon at my side, panting. What the hell? This competition was savage.

If I hadn’t been fighting cats in the simulator for the past dozen days, I’d be dead right now.

Shucks, I still should have died.

The sound of sheep bleating in the distance hit my ears.

Huh? What was that?

There must be a wounded sheep somewhere nearby. I decided to count my blessings while trying to figure out how to haul these bodies back to the depot.

The good news was that we not only got eXploration points, but also eXtermination points.

My fight had carried me far enough to the west that there should be new sections of the map revealed.

I had to wonder, though, would each direction have some predator or threat guarding the resources we would need?

Deep down, I knew it would make perfect sense if that was the case.

A second bleating cry caused me to get up off my ass. I huffed, deciding to head for the noise.

I shot a glance at the cooling bodies of the two cougars and decided to leave my dead foes behind—not like they were going anywhere.

I walked through the wet grass, feeling the bottoms of my pants get heavier, as my boots become saturated with moisture.

I was still a bit winded from my efforts during the fight, which caused me to pant until I could catch my breath.

My heated breaths fogged out before me in the cool morning air.

I reached the tree line, where the second cougar had come from.

Inside the woods, the forest floor was composed of a rich loam and moldy leaves. There was a heavy scent of decay in the air.

I saw thawing patches of snow clumped under low bushes or covered fallen vegetation. I could easily see the heavy prints of the running cougar.

I was neither a tracker nor an avid hunter. Didn’t really need to be an expert, though, to see where this animal had flung leaves behind it in its haste to get to me.

Another bleating cry split the air; obviously, there were sheep just ahead. I’d probably need a long stick to herd them home with.

While I cautiously approached the noise, I remained on high alert. This could be a trick from another tribe for all I knew. I wasn’t wounded this time, so that damn simulator could suck it. I was going to be hyper alert and take my time.

A few minutes into my cautious approach, I found a long stick that would work well as a shepherd’s crook.

I glanced up to see that I was under a massive, round redwood tree—it must have been at least three hundred feet tall. I gave the cavernous opening at its base a wide berth.

The bleating cries were louder, now, and I could tell they were the cries of a young lamb. My pace quickened, the undergrowth was still relatively thin.

Unlike Senna, I’d gone camping frequently in high school and going off the beaten path in Florida almost always meant thick bushes and a million banana spiders.

Here, though, there were a few bushes sprouting new growth and an easy trail to follow.

Ahead of me, I was able to see a clearing through a new growth of trees. I stepped carefully around the massive red trunks.

My exit from the woods was calm, with each step being smooth. There were a dozen sheep in the clearing.

Two lambs lay dead and a third baby was wounded. I could see where the cougar had mauled its hindquarters.

The crunch of leaves underfoot put the flock of sheep on edge.

“Easy, little one, easy,” I said in a soothing tone. I crouched down a bit as I eased my way towards them, the stick trailing behind me. “I’m here to help.”

The wounded lamb started bleating in panic as I came into sight.

The flock was not happy with my cautious approach but were unwilling to leave their wounded behind. Instinctively, I scooped up the injured, little fellow.

A ram charged me and I barely dodged. My hands were full, but I managed to pull the stick around between us in time for his second run at me.

The ram smacked into the stick, jarring my arm with the powerful impact. I smirked when the wood didn't break. I saw the ram shake its head in frustration.

“Easy, boss. I get it, you’re just protecting the herd. Come with me,” I said, stepping back into the woods, hoping the others would follow.

The little guy in my arms cried for its mother, who quickly followed my lead. When she tucked in behind me, the rest of the herd grudgingly followed us.

The route back was easy to follow, with both my own footsteps and the cougar’s charge marking a clear trail.

Our progress was slow but measured. The entire flock followed after me, intent on ensuring the lamb was okay.

My count had it at three rams, ten sheep, and the injured lamb in my arms. I had no idea how healing worked in the game, but I was sure that I would learn soon enough.

We exited the woods upwind and far enough away from the cougars that the sheep missed the scent.

We reached the stream and I followed it uphill until I found a shallow spot where we could cross.

The crossing was smooth, the small flock staying close together. After the crossing, my boots squished, ejecting cold water with each step I took.

I shepherded the flock towards the storage depot, softly speaking encouraging words as I went.

Arriving at the depot’s open barn doors, I simply walked straight in with the lamb in my arms and it vanished.

Momma sheep followed me right in, but the others hesitated until I shooed them in with the big stick.

I let out an exultant shout in victory when the ram begrudgingly trotted up the ramp.

Never figured I would herd a flock of sheep like some farmer in this game.

Fight wild animals? Oh yeah, sure. But not this.

Capturing animals was… oddly rewarding, in its own way.

Feeling my soggy feet start to rub in my boots, I headed for the stronghold. When I reached the chair on the porch, I took them off.

We had learned on the Arinium that tucking something into storage, like sweaty clothes for example, and then pulling them back out cleaned them, magically.

How the Archaic’s technology did the trick baffled me, and therefore, resulted in me calling it magic.

You had to remove all of your garments, though, for the magic to happen. So, I stripped naked, dropping my wet clothes in a pile and headed for the bedroom.

I cracked the door open to retrieve the tablet and saw that Senna was still snoozing peacefully.

The tablet said I had two danger alerts—must’ve been the cougars—and two notifications.

Worker - 0001 has spawned - designate a name and assign a task

Worker - 0002 spawn has initiated.

Behind the desk in the main room stood a woman with brown hair, brown eyes, and plain features.

She wore a simple burlap covering and stared straight ahead. I walked up to her and waved.

She repeated my gesture, completely unfazed by the fact that I was naked. I returned my clothes to the tablet, resummoned them, and hurriedly got dressed.

When I approached the woman, she said in a rather monotone voice, “I require a name and a task.”

I smiled tapping on the tablet.

Worker - 0001 - Rename - Alice

BUILD

Hut

Hut Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 8 hours (Adequate)

20 - Stone (Adequate)

80 - Wood (Adequate)

5 - Food (Adequate)

Would you like to build this structure? (YES) - (NO)

I selected ‘YES’ and headed back outside. There were hundreds of spots to pick from. I chose one further to the north. I double tapped that location.

Confirm you wish to start Hut 1 tier 1. (YES) - (NO)

I confirmed ‘YES’.

When I went back inside, I found Alice sleeping on the stronghold’s floor. I called up our inventory, checking on the lamb.

Your flock of sheep and rams will require a Small Farm (Livestock) within twenty-two hours or they will be converted into food.

Lamb 0001 is injured and will require an extra food ration to become ram 0004. Select (YES) to allocate extra livestock food. Select (NO) to harvest for empire food.

I selected ‘YES’ and my choice was accepted. Apparently, we had enough grass or whatever the animals required for feed stocked up. I hadn’t realized that there were different food types, but I should have.

A study of food types could wait, though. I was already behind schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic about finding the sheep, but… we needed stone more than we did food.

Before I went out to start collecting rocks, I checked on the build time for a small farm. The tablet told me I would need to set aside twelve hours for its construction.

That meant Alice or the next worker would go right on to building a small farm once the hut was complete, so I could keep the sheep and start them reproducing.

Feeling better, I returned the tablet to the bedroom. I left the building and headed for the cougars’ bodies.

Thankfully, no other predators were going to fight me over my kills. My clean outfit got drenched again, unfortunately, this time in blood.

The task was rather grisly and the bodies were still warm. I was not a soldier, or a hunter; only occasionally did I ever go fishing. I’d never gutted a thing in my life, much less hauled and then butchered dead animals.

Despite the process being grisly, I somehow managed to get it done.

I hunkered down, grunted with the strain and effort of dragging the heavy bodies back to the depot, and even kept from vomiting.

I knew I could be tough when dealt a bad hand; I had always been one to drive on through when things got rough.

By the time both of the cougar’s corpses had been quartered and were stowed away in the depot, I was desperately ready to clean myself up.

I went back to the stream and checked three times to make sure there were no more big cats ready to pounce on me before ducking my head in the water and rinsing the blood and offal, as best I could, out of my hair and clothes.

After sneaking back into the room to retrieve the tablet for a new set of clothes, being careful not to disturb Senna, I desperately wanted a second tablet.

I decided to check what we would need to upgrade the stronghold.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 2:

3 - Tier 1 buildings (Inadequate)

1 - Builder 60 hours (Adequate)

200 - Stone (Inadequate)

1500 - Wood (Inadequate)

40 - Food (Adequate)

You are unable to upgrade this structure at this time. Please ensure that all requirements are adequate.

I called up our inventory once again.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 203

Wood - 1045

Stone - 63

Metal - 4

Water - ∞

Hide - 47

Sheep - 14 (21.7 hours)

This immediately told me a few things. The hide from the cougars had been processed automatically.

Score!

I bet down the road, there was a butcher shop we could build in order to maximize output.

Currently, though, I was more than okay with tossing a body in and getting it auto skinned. The sticks I’d tossed in the depot had added five wood to our totals.

While not great, it didn’t take that long to collect wood or add it to the depot.

Since wood should be fairly easy to acquire, I needed to focus on getting rocks.

The last thing I noticed, was that there was not an equal ratio, one to one, of resources required for this upgrade.

The tier two building required more stone, which likely meant stone would be vital for all tier two upgrades.

I headed back out in a set of clean clothes once again. This time, I was able to harvest river rocks undisturbed. Which sure was a lot nicer than getting pounced on by any asshole cats.

I started wishing we had a wagon, or at least a cart, by the third trip carrying a pile of rocks in my arms between the river and the depot.

I tossed that load of stones in the depot, giving up for now to see about the possibility of building some tools to make things easier.

This time, however, my slow opening of the door woke Senna.

“How long have I been asleep?” She asked, yawning. Her naked form tempted me as she pushed back the covers, revealing a gorgeous set of tits.

I picked up the tablet and held it in front of my waist to hide my erection before replying. “You’ve been out for a while. But… you built the depot first, and then slept another couple of hours. I… I’ve been stashing the tablet in here every time I go out, in case I die, and keep sneaking back in to get it for one reason or another.”

She smirked. “Why didn’t you just leave it on the desk in the main room?”

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “You’re right, I should have thought of that.” I was sincere, though, and she smiled, accepting my apology. “How do you feel?”

“Still groggy,” she admitted, “but I doubt I’ll be able to go back to sleep. Probably take a nap this afternoon, then a big sleep tonight with you, or we can sleep in shifts or something.” She scrambled to her feet. “Eek… I need to pee something fierce!”

She pushed me out of the tiny entry way and hastily pulled on her pants and a shirt. I watched her rush out the building to go pee outside somewhere.

My finger danced over the tablet as I pulled up the build menu and the tools option. The available options were discouraging.

Mining Pick

Wood Axe

Spear

Shovel

Basket

Chair

Bed

Hmm…

I remembered seeing vines in the forest.

A two-person sled should be a faster and easier way to move rocks than a couple of baskets. I scratched at the back of my neck in thought.

A quick check of our inventory levels showed that in my three trips, I had hauled enough rock from the river to increase our stone resources by four.

Damn, this competition was going to be serious, backbreaking work.

Senna came back and asked for the tablet. “The hell! Who is that?!” She almost tripped over the body of the drone on the ground.

“That is Drone Alice, or just Alice. You were out for over eight hours, so we got our first drone. She is a lot more human looking than I expected.” Senna could tell I had expected more of a mannequin or something.

“Very human, indeed. She reminds me of a high school teacher I once had. What was she like to interact with?” Senna asked, trying to hold back a yawn and failing.

I shrugged before saying, “She was pretty bland, with an even tone—more human than robot—though definitely not normal. She immediately asked for a task and a name.

“I named her Alice, and then set her to building the hut, at which point, she laid down and passed out, right there. That is not the best part about what happened while you caught up on your beauty sleep, though.” I grinned impishly.

“And what is that, dashing mate of mine?” Senna asked, slinging an arm around my waist. “Did you miss me?”

“Obviously. Now, you ready for the surprise?” I asked.

She nodded, eagerly.

“I got us a flock of sheep. They -”

“Shut the front door!” Senna exclaimed, so I went to the open front door and playfully shut it. “Stinker, you know what I meant.”

I opened the door for Senna and we left the small office and headed to the depot. I pried the depot doors open and thought about wanting a sheep, but nothing happened.

“Why are you staring into the empty barn?” Senna asked, a little concerned.

I snickered. “Trying to see if I can get a sheep out of it without holding the tablet, but no, I can’t. Anyhow. Create an axe for me or spawn one from inventory, please,” I requested.

A wood axe materialized at my feet.

“How the hell did we get hide? And it looks like we have a decent supply of wood, already,” Senna said, seeing the progress I’d made. “And why is Alice building a hut and not a church?”

“So that we can catch up quickly enough on gathering resources to outpace the demand,” I replied. “I hope.” I shook my head. “In theory, we can finish the hut and build another one, which would mean we have enough buildings to go straight on to upgrade the town hall to stronghold two.”

She frowned.

“It’s going to take sixty hours to upgrade the stronghold. That means everything, right? We double our drones, add a second tablet, and come that much closer to getting a new manager,” I explained.

She grimaced but nodded. “And the hide?”

“Fucking cats attacked me here, too.” I sighed with a grunt of displeasure. “I really hate cats. I was pounced on while trying to get a drink of water. Killed the first one with the made in china spear… yeah, it broke right off the bat… in the cougar, at least.

“I used my tuck, roll, and swipe maneuver with the pickaxe—exactly like I had done in the simulators. Got the second one in the neck with a clean kill.

“A flock of sheep were making a ruckus nearby, so I herded them all back here. Is herded a term? Eh, either way... Huzzah! We now own a flock. With a little finagling, I got them to walk into the depot where they—poof!—went into magic storage,” I said with a nonchalant shrug.

My heroism was rewarded. I relished the sweet kiss on the cheek Senna gave me.

“I’m proud of you.”

“I even saw its tail flick!” I grinned. I was proud of myself and it showed.

She giggled, letting me bask in the joy of my victory.

“Alright, let’s get back to busy work. I can sleep some more tonight. The timing works out great for these sheep, though. We have enough time to complete the hut and the small farm before they become food.”

“No church for now,” she grinned, “… got it. Looks like the third structure we need to upgrade the town hall will be a small farm for the livestock. Once we have the resources collected for that, then we can focus on getting enough stone and wood to get to stronghold two,” Senna said in a chipper voice.

I nodded, realizing I had forgotten to count the depot as a tier one building. I smacked myself in the forehead. “You’re right, I can be such a dunce at times. Just another reason why I love you,” I blurted out, then froze.

A blush crept up my neck. “Sorry… I…uh… I know it's been an intense two and a half weeks. That just kinda slipped out. Not saying that I didn’t mean it, or that I want to… Oh bother.” I ducked my head. “I’m heading into the woods to find some vines.”

Before I could take two steps, I was tackled from behind and smothered in kisses.

“I love you too, you silly man,” Senna said joyfully. “Vines are a great idea. I think next level we get to build a tannery and can make leather strips. Now, go easy on me, this thing says I’m going to give birth to a fully grown child in six and a half days.”

“I have to admit, I didn’t expect to hear you were pregnant so quickly,” I said and we both chuckled. I picked up my pace to a slight jog, Senna stayed right with me. “Hey, what else does the exposed map now show?”

“The little area you explored shows a clearing that looks like it can be used as a small farm field, and the trees for wood. That’s it. This is the first time I’ve been north,” Senna admitted, looking around.

I smiled. “Well, part of winning is exploring. Hmm…” I said, slowing to a walk when we neared the trees. I eyed the tablet and Senna tucked the device awkwardly into her vest. “I guess that works. If we're both working out here and die, not like keeping that thing safe will do any good.” I grinned cheekily. “Consider it additional insurance for me to protect you.”

“Aren’t you ever so charming!” She bounced her brows with a smirk. “Woe is me, I’m in danger, please save me. He runs to her side, rescuing the tablet before dashing off, leaving the damsel in distress, so very alone.”

She playacted out the scene, even dramatically putting the back of her palm to her forehead with a flourish.

My smile was so big, my cheeks hurt.

“Very funny,” I said. Suddenly, the tablet pinged an alert.

“What is that?” we both asked, unable to find an answer on the map.

Hmm… we could play it safe or seek out the threat to our north.

“I don’t want something ambushing us when we think we're safe,” Senna fretted and I had to agree with her logic. Fighting a foe when you were ready for one made a lot more sense than letting them get the drop on you.

“We should clear the area close to where we work. Or kill the wolves if they’re sleeping. Let’s head to the stronghold,” she continued, “make some weapons and then come back this way.”

I grunted in agreement.

I certainly had a strong desire for safety.

Who wanted to be bent over, getting a drink, only to be almost killed by some cat or a wolf? Not me, that’s who.

Exploring our immediate area and clearing out any threats made a lot of sense. What made even more sense, though, was me facing the danger alone while she got a bit more sleep.

This was not going to be a fun argument. At least, that is what I thought would be the case, until I watched her yawn three times in a row.

It should be easier than I’d thought it would be to win the more sleep debate.

Either way, one thing was for certain: what the threat to our north was, it would never see me coming.

Chapter

Ten

COMPETITION 1 - DAY 3

I  headed north, twirling the single mining pick in my right hand. When I thought about my weapon choices, well, a tablet crafted spear was unreliable.

This was the best option we currently had. It was made of metal and had already proven itself; that made it good enough for me.

My ability to twirl the tool like the guys in the movies did with swords...unashamedly, I’ll admit that came about because of cheerleading…well, because of a cheerleader, at least.

I wasn’t much of a cheerleader in high school, mostly because I was a cornerback on the football team. Being tall, and lanky had its privileges.

Sure, I bonked my head at work, but it also meant girls were into me. Well, at least Veronica Salazar was. She wasn’t the first, but she certainly was a high school favorite I remembered fondly.

In this case, those days brought back memories of the fact that Veronica was a majorette—a baton twirler.

It was something I picked up with ease. Our lunch breaks were filled with back seat hookups and then twirling a stick to music from the car.

Hey, I had no problem with the snide remarks aimed at me back then. I gazed at the mining pick I rotated over my wrist with a smile at the memories. Those were now just distant times on a distant planet.

I returned my focus to my surroundings.

The weather felt refreshing with its light breeze and perfect temperature. Florida only had moderate days like this for a few weeks out of the year, though never without a cloud of humidity to go with it.

My boot lashed out to kick a flower, sending the petals into the wind. The morning dew was gone, and I was excited to make some progress on building up our supplies once I scouted out this threat.

We’d checked the tablet a few times, no icon of the wolves was shown roaming the area like it had before.

A short debate led to us figuring that they were probably what had triggered the alert, because they were further north.

Or it could be a threat not yet listed or discovered by us.

We also theorized there were going to be threats the tablet pinged but wouldn’t ever show up as an icon.

Hence why I was out here, alone with the pickaxe and without the tablet. As my boots crushed the tall grass, I thought of my lovely, yawning lady back in the stronghold and smiled.

Before I left, Senna had crafted a bed, trying to create something we could share. The tablet said a bed gave you better rest and the wood was only a requirement of ten.

Spoiler—it was another tiny frame with no padding.

We did set the sleeping worker, Alice, on the frame, so that she now had a bed.

When I neared the wood line, I slowed my pace to observe. The trees were thick here too, meaning many of these massive redwoods held cavernous openings.

A dark gloom from the canopy above dimmed the area.

My tense muscles revealed I was on edge from the vibe the forest gave off, but at the same time, I was excited to be exploring.

At this point, I was tired of not having a name for this planet. I decided on Noobi. Noobi just… fit.

I entered the start of the redwoods. My path meandered around thick trunks as I tried to stick to parts where the bright day transitioned into the darkened forest.

There was a hoot deeper in the woods pulling my attention from my wandering thoughts.

The snap of a twig caused me to pause.

I heard a sniffer sniffing intensely.

Turns out I’d been right; I wouldn’t be seen by my foe.

Surprise was about to go out the window when I heard a loud intake of air nearing from around the base of a huge root. So... I did the most rational thing that came to mind.

I sprinted into action, my legs pumping as I charged the sound, closing on my unknown target. My headlong run created a whole lot of noise.

A wolf brazenly came around the edge of a massive tree root, unconcerned. Apparently, it was unafraid of threats in these woods, but its yellow eyes widened in shock at the sudden arrival of my tall form.

The timing was perfect and... I forgot to use my weapon. Not sure why, but I tackled the wolf.

Two hundred plus pounds of human at full speed crashed into the beast.

This sent both of us skidding across the forest floor in a tumble.

Coach Partue would have been proud of the clean hit. The wolf whimpered from the impact, struggling to right itself with gasping breaths.

My feet kicked at the leaves until they found purchase. I shot up, looming over the confused wolf.

I slammed the mining pick through its chest with a harrowing crack of ribs. I yanked the weapon out quickly, though not a moment too soon.

A bigger wolf eased out of a tree cave, hackles raised as the large predator crept my way.

The loud growl was intimidating and joined by other wolves backing up the alpha. The wounded wolf limped back out of the way, and I knew it would clog the exit.

This was my chance.

The alpha had other ideas, though.

My short run was met head on. Snarling teeth snapped for my face.

It was my turn to be surprised by how quick this animal was.

I rotated my left fist to punch the wolf while my swing of the mining pick in a long right hook went for the torso.

My punch missed and the beast’s snout clamped onto my forearm.

Blinding pain caused me to cry out. I felt the pick meet resistance before piercing the hide and crushing into my foe.

My arm was gnawed on for only a fraction of a second as the wolf’s lunge crashed it into my body.

We went down, a tumbling mess of fur and blood.

The impact separated us, and as hard as I tried to maintain a hold of my weapon, it remained firmly lodged in the alpha.

A rapid glance at the tree cave showed my first victim had died and the other pack members sniffed at the corpse.

I saw four pairs of yellow eyes turn to the alpha for leadership.

I shifted my gaze to find the alpha lay dead, its vacant eyes glazed over. Its awkward landing had sent the pick into something vital.

My blood thrummed in my ears from the battle as my heart thudded against my chest. I was on an adrenaline high.

A few grunting breaths slowed my heart rate while I eyed the rest of the pack.

When I tried to use both hands to retrieve my weapon I winced, trying not to show any weakness.

There was a flare of pain from my bite wounds as the torn flesh oozed blood slowly…

I had to find a proper angle to retrieve my weapon from the corpse with my good arm. I stepped back thirty feet or so, my eyes determined and my posture aggressive.

This gave the four members of the pack space for them to sniff at the dead alpha. A few snouts nudged him, trying to get him to stir.

When they realized he was dead, I made my move.

There was no doubt that another human would find what I did next absolutely crazy. I had watched National Geographic as a kid, though.

Kill the alpha… frighten the pack. The four wolves bolted at my charge.

They fled north in a hurry, with a mix of growls and whimpers, but all had their tails tucked underneath them.

I watched them scurry away from their lost home. When they faded into the forest, I went into their tree cave.

There were a few bones in here from dead bunnies, too destroyed to be worth the time to salvage.

My stomach growled, though not in a way that signaled hunger. I dropped my pants, dropped into a squat, and shit at the threshold.

I then peed all around the entry, hopefully claiming this spot. With any luck, the wolves would not come back to reclaim what the pack had lost.

With that done, I gingerly slid my wounded arm into my vest.

I tossed the mining pick in the garment also, so that it rested against my chest next to my arm.

“Well, how do I get you home?” I asked to the bodies.

I bent over and grabbed the first wolf by the tail, dragging the body.

The forest floor was smooth enough, with decaying leaves providing a slick surface, that getting body one to body two was relatively easy.

A few minutes of positioning and finagling, and I was able to stack the corpses.

I grabbed both tails, attempting to drag both at once.

Nope.

The first one kept falling off and stacking them made it harder than it should be. I admitted to myself the idea wasn’t working… one at a time, it would be.

The next ten minutes were spent hauling the dead wolves into the depot. When I thought about it, I realized they were really close to the spawn point, same as the cougars.

I contemplated the nature of this competition while I completed my work.

There had to be a reason for the immediate threat. Was every competitor supposed to combat effectively? I mean, technically, if it had been Senna and I fighting, we would have probably still won.

It just seemed odd to me that these threats had been so close.

Then again, I think if we had built the stronghold first and a barracks on the second day, by day four we would have a warrior.

That would mean a slower long-term build, but a quicker step to a war footing.

Hmm…

These were interesting thoughts. With the dead body dragging done, I headed into the stronghold to the desk.

The tablet was hidden between the folds of a fur cloak and easy for me to find. Alice snoozed with a smile, the hut she was building barely starting to materialize.

I tapped the interface to pull up our inventory.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 243

Wood - 1035

Stone - 63

Metal - 4

Water - ∞

Hide - 82

Sheep - 14 (20.5 hours until conversion)

Well, the food was a bit better than an hour ago, so there was that, except that we’d used some wood for the bed.

I sighed, pulling up the help tab. I found the menu easy enough to navigate but not finding what I was looking for, I searched for ‘healing wounds’.

Competitor / Worker Injuries - A competitor / worker can get injured during many situations. In the early stages, a sleeping period with a 5x food consumption debuff will ensure the competitor or worker is healed. Later in the game, there are designated locations and professions to increase healing speed.

Okay, I could get behind that, even if it was limited information. I really didn’t want to deal with only working with one arm. The pain was manageable, but still a giant hindrance to getting anything done.

I pulled up the build option, selected tools, and then selected a bed. Ugh, the interface was so clunky.

I exited out and thought about a bed and confirmed I wanted one. The tablet shot out a green wireframe outline and the construction started.

While the bed was generating, I spawned my second fur cloak. The timing was perfect. My first cloak became a pillow on the stick bed that was barely raised off the floor, the second one made an almost soft mattress on the bed frame.

I laid down and the tablet gave me a prompt.

Competitor Nathanael is injured. A two hour rest period will heal his wound and consume three food. Do you accept? (YES) - (NO)

I hit ‘YES’. Drowsiness washed over me and within seconds, I fell asleep.

∞∞∞

The tablet jolted me as if I had set an alarm. My eyes went right to my forearm, which I raised up to see was completely healed.

Sweet!

Dammit, my long-sleeve western shirt still had some damage.

I left the bed that was more like a cot and headed to the table. I stripped my vest, and shirt off—sending them both back to get cleaned.

When they reappeared, I deflated slightly. The blood was gone, but the damage to the shirt remained.

Well, at least it was breezy now. I finagled with the buttons quickly, putting both garments back on so that I could get started on the mountain of work that we needed to get done.

While I felt like I’d really been fighting too much, each encounter had been a quick interaction.

Now, though… now it was time to get my grind on.

I felt refreshed and ready to get some vines. First things first, though. I pulled up the map of the explored area to see that the north had more revealed. I saw no roaming wolf icons, though, so that was good. I checked the score next.

38. Team No Mercy

39. Team Dinosaur Warlord

40. Team 325572

I frowned, seeing that we had fallen a bit in the rankings, and that someone else had an awesome name. I grunted, downplaying the score slump. The decline was to be expected, I consoled myself. I’d needed to heal and our base was more secure now. We would likely get a big boost from the farm—and to be fair, it was only day three of a thousand.

With a loud sigh, the kind designed to let disappointment go, I spawned a wood axe and a basket. I tossed the mining pick, along with the stone axe, into the basket. There was something I wanted to test, with the vines and the depot.

I headed out of the building, ensuring the front door closed quietly. A darkening on the horizon to the east told me there might be rain, soon.

For now, though, the temperature was probably in the mid-seventies with a nice, light breeze pushing the grass back and forth.

Additional wildflowers had bloomed since my first time entering this area, giving me yet another sign that we were in spring instead of fall.

Well, assuming this place had the four seasons I was used to.

While I walked north, I paused at the hut. The square structure was three hours into its creation process—almost halfway built.

The process was slowly growing the building from the ground up. The outline of the frame appeared to be becoming a reality, if ever so slowly.

I bent down, trying to touch the completed section. My finger went through what should have been real.

Hmm…

Maybe I was witnessing a work in progress that only sunk the resources into it when the build was finalized. Either way, this was magical to me and I was glad there was no smug ancient alien AI to tell me it was science, not magic.

I departed the slowly growing structure and headed into the woods. I found the tracks I’d created earlier when I’d dragged the wolves’ bodies through the two-foot-tall grass.

My trek back to the wolf den was cautious. No yellow eyes peered at me on my trip, fortunately, and the den was thankfully empty.

My journey to find vines led me further north. I found a thinning of redwoods that transitioned into a grove of weeping willows.

“Would willow branches work?” I muttered the question out loud.

As a result of working by myself and spending so much time alone, I’d picked up a habit of rambling to myself, at times.

The willow grove had tall weeds growing between fallen leaves. My trip to the nearest tree was quick.

I pulled down a few fresh limbs to chop at with my stone axe.

The tool was blunt and garbage, but these thin limbs were easy to break. I just held the limb taut, and the impact did the trick—no edge really needed.

After a few minutes of peaceful, soothing work, I had five thin branches coiled neatly into the basket. Something about the sway of these trees managed to calm my soured soul.

The question I had and was eager to test, was whether or not these flexible willow branches would count as wood or as vines? I realized I was assuming vines would be given their own category. There had to be something to bind wood together, though, besides hide strips or straps.

Deep down, I knew I was falling behind different teams who were simply buckling down and doing nothing besides gathering.

I accepted that learning was going to cost us, in the short term, but if I could build a cart or something to carry stones quicker, the invested time would result in a huge advantage. So, I carried on, determined to complete my test.

Further north there were tall pines with snaking vines climbing up trunks in search of sunlight. I saw some of the younger pines sprouted thinner vines.

Perfect.

I followed a game trail up and out of the willows.

A few bunnies darted around, though I ignored them, based on what Senna had said. Plus, I was fully focused on my task of getting vines, so I could build something to carry the stones more efficiently. We were good on food for now.

When I arrived at the pines, I paused to listen.

A bird chirped, belting out a mating call or just calling out because it enjoyed the afternoon sun.

There was a rustling from the wind and a pinecone fell with a slight crash off to my left.

My eyes scanned intently in that direction, finding nothing adverse or worrisome.

Deciding I was good to go, I smacked my stone tool… axe being a bit of a stretch… over the vine.

The blunt stone tip was enough to separate the vine into two halves after half a dozen, jarring hacks.

With two hands, I grasped the top portion. Leveraging my feet against the trunk of the pine, I yanked backwards with all my might.

The little root growths on the bottom of the vine popped free and a long string of the vine spooled down into a messy pile around me.

I trimmed some of the longer roots, plucking them off with pinches of my fingers. I saw I had filled up about half the basket already.

I went to the next vine two trees over. This time I used the metal pick. The flat blade cut the vine in a single hit.

After seeing this, I abandoned the stone wood axe—literally hurling it into the woods.

I pulled another vine down and pruned it, to consume less space. I coiled it up and set it into the basket, realizing I had room for one or two more.

I headed deeper into the pines, finding that most of the vines were just too damn thick to be worth the effort. The clump of pines thinned, the outer ring a growth of younger saplings.

There was clearly a pattern to what I was seeing. This Noobi planet had been created in sections.

It was as if a random generator had said that at this elevation, in this biome, there should be six tree types.

Then, it simply started setting trees into groves around and in between sections of the redwood forest. As a theory, it made a lot of sense to me.

Senna would probably agree with my theory, after much of the map was exposed.

As if to prove my point, I saw a new tree type a few hundred feet further into the redwoods beyond the pines.

I found two more, nicely-sized climbing vines to add to my basket. With the stack piled high, I decided to unlock the next set of trees. I had an almost insatiable curiosity to see what they were.

While I was vigilant, I walked casually. The mining pick weighed down the basket—though it was all still relatively light, just awkward to haul.

The redwood forest towered over me, blotting out the sun.

I frequently glanced up and scowled, unable to see into the treetops. There was no telling what lived in the trees, hundreds of feet above the forest floor.

The sparse undergrowth was much thinner here than it had been in the pines, allowing me to reach the new trees.

I saw I was nearing a decent section of plum trees. Delicious looking, ripe plums dangled perfectly. I licked my lips, feeling a slight tremble in my belly—the good kind of belly-grumble where I knew a tasty snack would be much appreciated.

So far, I had simply been fed by magic. The sight of all this yummy fruit made me miss eating.

Before I headed over to pick a few plums, I set my basket down. Good thing I did too, because I heard a clucking from the other side of the grove.

My eyes lit up at the thought of capturing new animals to bring home.

I wanted to see the chickens, at the very least. At a minimum, this should unlock their icon for later use.

Noobi was vast and intimidating, but equally rewarding to explore. I thought I would hate adventuring through the woods, but I found myself enjoying it immensely.

Taking only the mining pick with me, I carefully placed each step. The clucking intensified, as if a small group of chickens were happy; maybe they had found some good worms or something. I crept stealthily from one plum tree trunk to the next.

A few times, I squished a fallen piece of rotten fruit underfoot and I would pause, hoping it hadn’t startled the chickens. Nope, they were loud and oblivious to my approach. When I arrived on the other side of the grove, what I saw startled me.

Inside the grove of plum trees lay a clearing.

A little structure that reminded me of a small farm was on the edge of the opening.

Chickens pecked at the ground in the middle of the clearing, while an alien fed them by manually tossing grains into the short grass.

The loud animals covered my stealthy approach.

This was the best of amazing finds—a worker I could capture!

Who knew how long I’d have to wait to get another chance like this at a distracted worker? I studied the alien, while the chickens fed.

Using the loud cover, I inched forward, mining pick at the ready for a home run swing in case I was discovered.

The alien stood slightly taller than me on three legs, each limb gnarled in a wooden texture. It wore no clothes, and a stump of a dick, with balls, dangled between its three legs. The torso had two arms, with which it tossed food out of a pouch slung diagonally over its shoulder. The head had twigs for hair, though I couldn’t see how many eyes or mouths it had.

There was no doubt about it, this wood-type alien was clearly fixated on its task, though it was, unfortunately, not a female. Still a great find, though.

I left the trees for the soft grass of the clearing, feeling incredibly exposed and nervous. My palms slicked from the anxiety of being discovered.

The clucking chickens continued making a ruckus until I was less than ten feet away. The rooster noticed me first, balking at the sight of a stranger, before scampering away.

The alien paused, not certain what had spooked his animals. I turned the pickaxe sideways to use as a club.

My final approach was enough to trigger the alien to spin my way. A single wide shocked eye flared open as I swung my weapon like a bat at its head.

There was no time for the alien to flee or to react. He tried to get his arms up in time to save himself, but I had gotten too close and my swing was too fast.

Crack!

The side of the pick smashed into the alien’s cheek.

The initial impact carried a lot of momentum as it smacked the creature aside. The force of my swing lifted him off his feet and sent the alien tumbling to the ground.

I didn’t check to see if it was dead or alive. I simply snatched the heavy alien up in a fireman carry over my shoulder.

I left the chickens behind as I jogged back to my basket, grunting with each labored step. Adrenaline surged through my body.

I had a nervous sense that I was going to be run down or ambushed; the feeling made me want to vomit.

The reality of what I had done sank in. I’d knocked out or killed some farming alien who’d been simply minding its own business.

Deep down, I told myself I wasn’t a monster, and yet… I knew this was not something I would ever have done on Earth.

I let the angst of my internal moral debate fade when I arrived at my basket.

Off my shoulder the limp alien went, falling like a sack of potatoes next to the vines. Well, shit.

I wanted both prizes, but there was no way I could carry both the alien and the basket… When I saw the alien’s chest rise, I grinned.

He lives!

I looked at the vines, then at the alien… the alien, and then back at the vines. My shifting gaze gave my brain time to come up with a plan. Yeah, I could do that.

I bound the alien in the vines as quickly as I could, tucking the willow limbs in wherever they fit, and abandoned the basket.

The tool was only a few sticks of wood and easily replaceable. I carefully slung the alien over my shoulder with a grunt, before leaving the plum grove.

The mining pick was a pain to carry while holding my prisoner, but I managed.

At least, if I ran into some bears, I could ditch the alien and would still have a weapon at the ready. Or so I told myself.

The two weeks of running, three times a day, and lifting weights was paying off. Sure, I would run, walk, and then run some more, but I was hauling over two hundred extra pounds with me.

It felt nice to start getting in shape again. I breezed through the redwoods, went beyond the weeping willows, and grew nervous upon nearing the wolf den.

I even slowed to a walk as I passed the spot of my previous battle. The alien stirred at this point, coming awake. With a shrill shriek, the captured male called out for help. The sound was terrible and gave me an instant headache.

Knowing I was close to home, I ran straight for the depot. The awful noise never dimmed or slowed.

Apparently, this alien didn’t breathe like a human. There were no gasping breaths of air required to maintain the horrendous noise.

While that was fascinating, it was also infuriating. I picked up the pace to clear the last bit of redwoods. When I found myself in the shin high grass, I turned for the depot.

Our arrival had not gone unnoticed. Senna rushed out of the stronghold, her brows furled in confusion.

She saw me carrying this forest alien and gasped.

I could see her lips moving but could not hear whatever it was she was saying over my prisoners' distressed keening.

I sprinted for the depot and flung the creature into the open doors.

Um…

Hmm…

He crashed into the depot—little more than a barren storage shed. Wanting a reprieve from the incessant ruckus, I slammed the doors shut. The wailing stopped.

I opened the door slightly and the noise returned, my headache growing with it. Back to the door staying closed, then.

“Nate, what the hell is that?” Senna asked, shaking me out of a minor stupor.

I frowned, letting the headache fade. “That guy is stupidly annoying when awake. What is he? I don’t know… a target of opportunity, I guess.” I shrugged inconclusively. “I thought we could convert captures?” I asked with a shrug.

She grabbed the tablet, tapping away quickly at the help feature.

“Hmm… Drag him into the stronghold it says. There are options, limits, and timers… I’m shocked,” she said dryly. She patted me on the back happily with a big smile. “Nate, this is flipping huge. An extra worker this soon will pay massive dividends, if we make it to the end. Were there more?”

I shook my head. “Not sure,” I said, “there was a chicken farm he was working at. I snuck up and cold cocked him with the blunt side of this.” I waved the mining pick at her. “Let me get him.”

I opened the door and the woozy alien stumbled into me. The damn thing had gotten free of the vines. His awkward movements tried to bind me in a bear hug.

I lunged, thrusting my head forward to head butt the creature in its face.

Smack!

The intense impact caused him to stagger and collapse.

“Holy shit!” Senna exclaimed with wide eyes. “You knocked him the fuck out!”

I frowned, giving her an odd look.

She blushed, fidgeting, and said, “I never took you for a warrior. Yet, you snapped his head back with that nice head butt. Just… shocked really. Why didn’t you bind him?”

I hoisted the knocked-out alien, carrying him to the stronghold. I tossed him on the porch, and he vanished.

“Ha! Lesson learned,” I said proudly. “So…” I huffed, “a few things you should probably know about me—though I get why you are confused. You met a flabby, spare tire wearing guy who looked older than his not-quite thirty years. I used to play football, though, and fell out of shape because I worked every damn day and ate nothing but fast food, literally. Growing up, though, I had my share of fights as a white kid in a mostly Latino community.”

I shook my head at the memories. “While I tried my damndest to avoid conflict, I lost some fights and won some. This guy,” I nodded at the alien, “I got the jump on. He was still stunned from my first blow, luckily, when I knocked him out.”

“Hold on,” Senna said, clearly flustered with the tablet. She extended the device to me and I accepted it. “Here, you decide... there is some legalese here that we should both read anyway.”

HELP

Indoctrination and conversion - Capturing living beings is allowed—both for competitors’ workers and for wild workers. The stronghold has options on how to transition a captured worker into a being you can utilize. Select the worker from your inventory to find your options.

*Note - Competitors themselves cannot be converted or transformed. They can, however, be convinced to help willingly, and can always rebel.

“Okay, thanks for showing me this. I think I understand what it means,” I said, after reading the disclaimer out loud.

INVENTORY

BUILD

SCORE

I selected inventory.

Personal

Captured Workers

Materials & Supplies

Alright, it had created a new tab. I tapped ‘Captured Workers’.

Dryad 0001

Three options populated, each of the options glowing green, which told me they were all selectable and any necessary requirements had been met.

Dryad conversion Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Stronghold conversion slot - 1 (Adequate)

5 - Food (Adequate)

This will produce a -human worker- who has a 50 percent chance of fleeing when stressed. Every day after conversion, the chance is reduced by an additional 10 percent.

Dryad conversion Requirements Tier 2:

1 - Stronghold conversion slot – 1 + 20 hours (Adequate)

10 - Food (Adequate)

This will produce a -human worker- who has a 10 percent chance of fleeing when stressed. Every day after conversion, the chance is reduced by an additional 10 percent.

Dryad conversion Requirements Tier 3:

1 - Stronghold conversion slot – 1 + 30 hours (Adequate)

30 - Food (Adequate)

This will produce a -human worker-

“Wow, we literally toss in the captured dryad and get a human in exchange,” I said, scratching the back of my neck, deep in thought. “If that is not magic, I don’t know what is.”

“Based on this information, I’m seeing a pattern,” Senna frowned. “We get a slot per stronghold level for converting captured workers. I guess if you had captured five dryads, we would need a prison to hold more than one, or have to use something like the depot as a makeshift prison until a slot freed up.”

“So,” I continued, “we turn them into humans, but they aren’t bound tightly to us. They need to survive a few days, or a single day, or no days at all to not be considered a flight risk.”

“Ha,” Senna snickered, “I guess that term works in this case.”

“Damn… this is a tough decision.” I paused with a frustrated frown. “I’m trying to find a definition of ‘stressed’ in the help menu and not having any luck. Which option do you think we should choose?”

Senna aggressively grabbed a handful of my butt cheek.

I was a bit shocked and jumped.

She nuzzled against my neck before nibbling on my earlobe. Huskily she whispered, “Wanna have sex?”

I furled my brows, eyeing her intently. Her eyes were seductive, the blues sparkling with desire; her smile was predatory.

I gulped.

“What’s gotten into you?” I asked, smacking at a hand that was trying to undo my pants. She pouted.

“Seeing you manhandle that dryad thing was super-hot…” She admitted, pulling me close so she could kiss my neck again.

“Middle option it is,” I said, selecting the twenty-hour requirement on the tablet.

Our kissing led to me stumbling over a step and falling on the porch. Senna was certainly in the mood.

She yanked my pants down, without my being able to protest—not that I was about to. In the early afternoon breeze, my lovely lady straddled me, facing away.

The next ten minutes was her having fun and finally climaxing on top of me with a swollen breast in my mouth.

When we had both finished, she sat up—each of us was short of breath and slicked with sweat. I smacked her ass playfully as she got off.

“Oh! More of that please,” Senna said, bouncing her butt, asking for a second smack. I obliged and she moaned. “You complete me. Okay. That was fun, and definitely worth it. How about we build a stretcher and get some of our stone requirements met?”

“I love you, too. And hell yes! It’s time to hunker down and get on with the boring early game grind,” I said, pulling my pants up. I leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.

My inspection of our inventory told me the willow tree limbs and the vines had been counted as twine, which should work for what I had in mind.

Materials & Supplies

Food - 243

Wood - 1035

Twine - 205’

Stone - 63

Metal - 4

Water - ∞

Hide - 82

Sheep - 14 (20.5 hours until conversion)

When I spawned some twine, I realized the thin rope was weak and would break with enough wear or tension.

I knew it was just a basic conversion and that there should be something stronger available when we upgraded the buildings.

We had more than enough to build a stretcher, though, so I was happy to learn that my efforts resulted in something that would help speed up our gathering.

Working at Senna’s side, we exchanged playful banter, longing glances, and the occasional random kiss. We really were on our own version of cloud nine. While we built the stretcher, I knew we would face a lot more challenges, but I was excited to do so with her at my side.

The hut would be finished soon, and a second worker would spawn. The future seemed as bright as the midday sun.

Chapter

Eleven

COMPETITION 1 DAY 4

T hat optimism I’d had yesterday was shot.

The joyful feeling went straight out the window. That inner high where I’d been so chipper and felt the world was my oyster had faded into a miserable ache.

I groaned.

Moving stone was tedious, monotonous, and painful. Not only that, the stupid small farm for the sheep ate forty stone.

Which meant we needed to make dozens of trips from the river to the depot.

Alice finished the hut and shortly after that, a male worker we named Alex spawned. He was a fair-skinned man with the same monotone tone of voice.

My attempts to bring out some of his personality, or to create one in him, failed miserably. Nothing worked, he was simply a tool to use—he asked to be assigned chores.

We set Alex to collecting wood and Alice went right back to sleep, building the small farm.

Even with only four hours of sleep and working in the dark, we were woefully short on our inventory. While we worked, time went by slowly, though each of us was able to note a few things.

Food was actually being consumed, at a noticeable level after Alex arrived. Senna and I ate three food a day, with no idea what we had actually consumed. The workers only ate one food.

Right now, our main costs were in building workers, converting workers, and building buildings. As we continued adding people, we knew that collecting apples just wasn’t going to cut it. Our daily intake and new creation requirements required a more efficient source of nutrients.

The next revelation we learned was that Alex was slow.

He collected only ten wood an hour for, the first ten hours. His drone brain improved, however, and at some point, he picked up the pace—to eleven wood an hour.

How, or why, we didn’t know. We planned to try to understand the intricacies of the system, but knew micro analyzing small improvements would take a lot of effort and was best saved to do after the event—assuming we were still around to do so, once this was all over, of course.

Barry was our next summoned worker; he appeared to be of Asian descent. He also was placed on the wood gathering detail.

Our fourth worker was due in about two more hours. I stared at the tablet, wishing the numbers would move faster.

Both Senna and I kept a close eye on the tablet’s inventory page while a tracking timer counted down our next building’s spawn in the top left corner. With bated breath, we watched it hit 0.

A notification appeared on the screen.

Small Farm complete. Please designate the type of farm.

Vegetable

Fruit

Animal

I clicked ‘animal’.

Select the animal species.

Sheep (Adequate)

Bunny

Goat

…

So, this list was much longer than just three entries—like a few hundred options long. I stopped scrolling because it thankfully populated what we already had, first.

Select the distribution of production

This was new; there was an adjustable slider. On the left, it said empire meat. On the right, it said breeding stock.

“This is like the workers. We can select breeding stock, build a dozen sheep farms, and continue to increase our capacity until we have enough output to sustain thousands of citizens,” Senna said, giving a humph. “Look, you’re an amazing businessman. Keeping that in mind, know that I also love you…. but…”

She was torn on what to say, the angst on her face spelling it out for me. She went to an Ivy League business school while I managed an air conditioning company.

This was not about how fast I could get sheep to breed. My ability to increase output with more hard work in this equation was zero.

I was a big enough man to recognize that she was better suited for this job.

“You want to manage our farms?” I asked, less in a questioning tone than an inquisitive one. I hardly minded the idea, and I wanted her to see that.

She nodded intently. “I’ll need to manage more than that to ensure this is done right. I need you to continue exploring, gathering, and improving…” She kissed my cheek, gingerly taking the tablet out of my hand. “Nate, I love you. And don’t take this the wrong way. But we’re at a crossroads… no two ways about it.”

“Go on,” I encouraged. Despite the logic behind the decision, I had to repress an urge to fold my arms. This shouldn’t be about ego. I wasn’t upset, but I still felt we could do better as a team. I would hear her out, though, regardless of my opinion.

“If we start butting heads right now, it will get worse, going forward. One of us has to be the CEO of macroeconomics.”

“Why can’t we act as a team?” I asked, sincerely curious.

“We have to go in one direction,” she shook her head. “Splitting our effort might work, but… not as well as a solid path.”

I frowned.

“Think about this,” Senna continued, “What if I tell Alice to manage this farm and then you come along, and need her to get some stone?” she proposed, her blues locked to mine with a sad sigh. “The farm never gets the required work done and we unknowingly waste vital production.”

That made sense. I nodded.

“We simply need our own lanes and it’s probably best if we identify them now. I trust you. If I had been killed by the wolves on that first night, I believe you would be doing just fine—without me.”

She wiped at her face, her eyes misty. “I’m sad because the reverse is not true. I’m not an adventurer and you seem to be the burly man of the wild. You just needed the environment to bring it out of you. So, what I’m saying is that while we need someone out there, braving the wilds, discovering plums, capturing chickens, and battling the wolves off our doorstep... that person is not me.”

I pulled her in for a hug.

She looked up at me with those big blue eyes. “But I know with 100% certainty that the slider should go all the way over to breeding stock. That farm holds thirty sheep and breeds six more per day, at capacity.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Which also means we need to build a second farm, and soon.

“And another hut. We’ll both need to be gathering materials. Even more than before, because now we have workers who can help… who work less as they build more, meaning we need to gather more.” She smiled up at me, though it was a wan and pitiful one. “And by we, I mean mostly you. Not by yourself… not yet, but soon.”

She pushed the slider to the right for breeding, handing me the tablet to look over the new updates.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 172

Wood - 1925 (+21 per hour)

Stone - 214

Metal - 1

Water - ∞

Hide - 82

Sheep - 14 (+2.9 per day)

Twine - 193’

I chuckled at the fraction of a lamb being generated each day. I switched over to the score to see how we were doing, now that we had a farm going.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 17th

Survival: 4.1 (tied 97th)

eXplore: 1.1 (72nd)

eXpand: 1.8 (46th)

eXploit: 2.7 (9th)

eXterminate: 4.1 (5th)

I let out a long breath in satisfaction.

These numbers were great, showing me that we were certainly on the right track. While there was very little I could extrapolate from this data, there was enough to get a decent sense of the game’s state.

Three competitors had lost already, and we weren’t even a week into the game.

I grunted at the fact we were way behind on exploring and super ahead on killing stuff. Did this mean other teams were finding threats and bypassing them?

I also got to see something that irritated me. Dying early, even if you killed everything around you, would be super bad.

Before we had started this event, I’d had the sense that two people avoiding all risks and just hiding together in a tree would be atrocious.

And maybe it would prove a terrible strategy—later on—but right now, it looked like a pretty good idea to minimize risks. A point a day for survival, and only four points for risking death while killing four animals was… well, brutal.

Maybe the dryad factored into eXterminate because there was a .1 there. It just meant we needed to have someone micro analyzing the score to understand it better. The other learning point being, going forward, that I should take fewer risks and focus on surviving longer.

I snorted; as if that was going to happen.

Senna saw the score and gave me a thumbs up. My arm pulled her in so I could kiss her.

She deepened the kiss. “I love you and trust you…completely. My work ethic and experience is completely based on manual labor producing direct results—there was never a grand strategy to SouthernCool.” I frowned. “SouthernCool Realty… sure, but someone else managed that.”

I looked into her brilliant blues. “You literally went to school for this. How about… for the really big stuff, you try to include me, and if it isn’t a major decision… I am okay with whatever you choose?” I asked. The woman leaped on me suddenly.

I caught her, and… well, we made love again. Her slight baby bump was not really in the way, but it sure made her lusty. After a fantastic quickie, we knew what we needed to do.

“Let’s get more wood,” Senna said with a playful wink. I was a sucker for her rosy cheeks and cute smile. “Pun intended.”

I groaned at her silly word play.

My blistered hands had healed when I slept. Thankfully, they healed tougher than they’d been before.

I still had some tender spots, but picking up our stretcher was fine. We headed west to the cougar area, bypassing a few hopping bunnies.

“So, we drained the stream of a lot of rocks. They don’t seem to be respawning, which means we're going to run out of easy to gather rocks. You think we can just dig into bedrock and start a quarry?” I asked, as we crossed a small bridge of sticks we’d built over the stream.

We headed for the tree line, with me in the lead carrying the front of the stretcher.

“While you’re worried about stuff like that, all I can think about is what we found out earlier from Valance,” Senna said.

I listened intently.

“We’re on day four and should start building stronghold level two in an hour or two, at most. The sun just rose, so we’ve got a full day of work ahead of us. That should put us at day seven to unlock the next stronghold. What was the record... wasn’t fourteen days the record to hit level three?”

“Fourteen or fifteen, but our goal isn’t to set records, right? Shucks, we just saw we were already in the top twenty,” I said with a grunt, stepping over an exposed, large tree root.

I saw Alex and Barry further to the north, collecting sticks off the forest floor.

So far, I had learned it was quicker to scrounge for fallen branches than to cut down a tree with a dull stone tool.

We set our stretcher down in an area with a decent amount of fallen wood. We both went to work as we continued talking.

“Yeah, which is great, assuming we survive longer. My point is that I’m already needing a break from manual labor,” Senna groaned, taking a brief pause to stretch out her back. “And not just because I’m pregnant.

“I need to build spreadsheets, calculate build orders, figure out supply ratios, and get the macro side of our Dinosaur Warlord Empire configured. Which,” she grinned, “nice name. Very manly.”

“Hey! I didn’t call out lovebirds for being girly. Look... both were true titles.” My charming smile was deflected by her raised brows. “Ouch, fine, feel free to change it,” I said, tossing sticks onto the pile.

“It’s fine, macho works better in this case. There is another thing, too, that will eat up time while I’m not out working the fields.”

I rolled my wrists for her to continue.

“I researched the next team manager aspect. The help section had some… helpful information,” she grunted in a painful tone after hefting a heavy stick.

I hustled around the stretcher to help her deposit the branch, but she flung it down neatly on top of the stack without my aid. She waved me away with a smirk before continuing.

“I got this. Thanks though. Anyhow, we are allowed to start interviewing future managers the moment we finish the previous upgrade—that means I can pull a real, live person out of stasis and talk to them.”

I looked up at that.

“While I interview them, they will be unable to interact or affect the world around them—the drones won’t see them nor be able to take orders from them. But… it’ll be extremely helpful in my hunt for our third.”

“How long do you get to question them?” I asked.

“Once a day, for up to an hour a day, per candidate, I can figure out who our third wheel will be. I’m so nervous that I feel doubly pregnant. Also, slightly excited,” she grinned impishly, “and not just because I miss a woman's touch, but it means we're a step closer to placing in the top fifty. Day seven we should reach stronghold level two and… hopefully, by day seventeen, level three. That will give me ten days of vetting candidates.”

We both finished adding sticks to the pile. I saw that the stretcher was fully loaded up. I bent over to grab the stretcher and said, “I will have Alex join me, going forward. After this trip, you’re to manage the stronghold.”

“You asking or telling me?” Senna queried, both of us grunting as we lifted the stretcher.

“Telling,” I replied confidently. My look over my shoulder revealed a sardonic smile, which was better than a frown.

“Sure, sure,” she replied in a teasing tone. “I’ll run the stronghold, while you manage the resources and the drones I don’t assign. These next few days will not be fun—at least not until we get our worker numbers up. Speaking of which... Carson, the dryad who is now human, should be done soon. Might want to think about trying to capture some more workers.”

“We need to get Alice off build detail so she can get a bun in the oven -”

“Oh, I did that on an auto select. If they have a hut, and are happy, then… boom,” Senna said, making the boom sound effect with a smack of her lips.

Our boots clomped over the stick bridge extra loudly since we were hauling additional weight.

“She has a while to go, but Alice already has a bun in the oven. Which leads us back to needing to gather those apples or find more sheep or other sources of protein. Our food needs will continue to go up—especially on day seven, when we start generating twice as many workers at stronghold two.”

“Okay, I hear you. I’ll need to do two more trips to get the stronghold’s wood requirements unless... Oh, here they come.” I noticed Alex and Barry heading over with loaded baskets of wood. “Maybe we should stick the others on basic gathering, and I will head back to the apple orchard. Or maybe I’ll continue exploring beyond it. I think it's smart if we wait a bit longer to claim the chicken farm,” I said, arriving at the depot’s open doors.

We had noticed the map gave us the option to claim the farm that the dryad had tended.

The problem was that the tablet had to literally be inside the farm’s radius, which meant risking everything on some chickens.

Taking that gamble when we were getting a second tablet in three days didn’t seem prudent. So, we figured it was best to wait and get our food by other methods.

I walked us up and into the storage building. As the stretcher crossed the threshold, the sticks vanished, lightening our load. When Senna fully entered, I set the stretcher down and pulled her close, kissing her cheek.

“Do me a favor,” I said. “Look up another supply depot.”

She tapped away for a moment before stopping to roll her swollen wrists.

“Can we build another depot next to the apple orchard or the plums?”

She read over the text and sighed.

I saw her rereading the text, frustration clearly the dominant emotion on her face.

After a few button taps, she said, “All supply depots must be within a thousand feet of a stronghold. The caveat is, that is a thousand feet in any direction.” She rolled her eyes. “It even had a diagram of something being five thousand feet down, indicating that wouldn’t work… but a thousand feet underground was okay. The apples are darn close, but just outside of that limit, and the plums would be about halfway there.” She grimaced. “Building depots near both locations would seem prudent. Good idea.”

“Shucks, you sure know how to make a man feel loved,” I said, leaning over to kiss her. “Now what's the plan for the drones? Should we give them easier to remember names, like letter-numbers? A1, B1… or something like that? I hate how creepy they are.”

“I have a feeling these are going to be our subjects. I wouldn't even be surprised if renaming them has them wake up, thinking that’s their names. Not like the Archaics couldn’t pull something like that off. I’m going to send Barry to collect stones,” Senna said, heading inside the hall.

Alice waited on the porch, stoic and rigid like a robot. Senna picked the tablet up off the chair saying, “I’ll keep her here, resting, until we reach the wood requirement. I’m showing we’re super close to being able to start the upgrade. Ah, perfect, Alex and Barry are depositing their loads now. We were only seven wood off.”

I decided to wait to see this next part play out. I set the stretcher against the outside of the storage barn. Senna had walked to the middle of the field, anticipating the design would require a distant purview. I watched over her shoulder as she selected the build option and then stronghold.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 2:

3 - Tier 1 buildings (Adequate)

1 - Builder 60 hours (Adequate)

200 - Stone (Adequate)

2000 - Wood (Inadequate)

40 - Food (Adequate)

When the workers added their last few branches, ‘Wood’ changed to (Adequate) and the red wireframe diagram flickered to green.

Senna clicked the prompts until the approximate outlines generated. We both had slight gasps at the results. This structure was twice as big as the original stronghold and had to be moved. There were three potential locations for it: in the farm fields to the south; closer to the tree line, to the north; and, the final one was over by the stream, a bit more to the west.

Senna selected over by the stream and Alice walked into her hut to lay down. Just like that, we were back to being desperately low on resources.

We needed… well, everything. Which meant I needed to get back to work.

“Congrats,” I said, hugging Senna. “Alright, at least the old stronghold will stay in place until the new one is built. You have fun planning—I know you’ll do great. If I don’t make it back, which I fully intend to, know that I love you.”

“What are you going to do first?” she asked.

“I’m going to get to collecting stones, with Alex. Let me know when the dryad becomes human, so I can figure out what this whole stressed thing means. Maybe we should just tie him up for a day and toss him into a hut to avoid him becoming wild. Or would that just stress him?”

“I don’t know, there literally is nothing I could find out about it,” Senna said with a sigh. She kissed my cheek and continued heading into the interior of the stronghold. I saw her waddle just a bit, rubbing at her back.

I felt bad for her. On my way to the shed, I noted Barry was already heading for the stream, while Alex stood still, waiting for me.

“Manager Nathanael, I have been designated to assist you,” Alex said in a dry tone.

I nodded, grabbing the stretcher. “Follow me,” I said, picking up the pace and jogging towards the stream.

For two back breaking hours, we hauled rocks into the storage depot. We had to venture further upstream to find rocks.

Still, we added over a hundred stones worth of rocks and that was something to be proud of.

When Senna came out with a hippie type male and an ugly woman, like beat to shit with an ugly stick, I held in my reaction. My poker face finally worked, not that it mattered. I was extremely confused, the others all looked so plain but weren’t what I would consider truly ugly—not like this new worker was.

“Husband this is Carson, and this is Betsy -”

“Shut the… Shucks…” I said, clearly stunned. That dastardly woman had named an ugly spawn after my beater truck.

“I thought you might like that. Oh, it's really easy to find out what stressed meant. Stressed means Carson’s life is in danger. So, I’m putting these two on simple stone duty. If the tablet pings out a warning, they have orders to retreat into the stronghold. For the next twenty-two hours, Carson has a ten percent chance of running off in a different direction than home,” Senna said, spawning a basket and one of the two mining picks.

I furled my brows in confusion.

Just as I was about to query her about why she had summoned the basket and the pick, she continued. “Those are for you, honey. Good luck exploring. I can have the drones handle the farm and I, myself, will continue to collect sticks to break up the monotony. I’m going to build a church next, maybe. All these people have to sleep somewhere. Or maybe just another hut. I need to do the math to guesstimate what stronghold three will require. And we’re getting low on food… again.”

I smiled at her, she stood there so proudly.

Her long blonde hair swirled in the gentle breeze. She saw me fixating on her and blushed.

She knew I loved her.

It felt good, knowing that she knew how much I adored her.

The woman glowed with happiness, and that in turn made me excited to get out there and make her so proud she might tackle me into another bout of sex.

I mean… that had been kinda amazing and was a worthy goal, one I could certainly get behind.

I waved goodbye after sticking the mining pick in the basket.

I was off to the east to explore; who knew what I’d find.

Chapter

Twelve

COMPETITION 1 DAY 7

“H oney,” Senna said, her soft voice lightly waking me. Her gentle shake brought me out of my sleepy stupor.

I cracked an eyelid open to see a tablet time counting down. Five minutes, that was now four. She wanted to show me how close we were to the big reveal, and she was right on time for my requested wake up call.

“Good morning, my love. I slept for six hours then. There was a theory I would -”

I was mid-sentence when I exited the bed. I paused as my lovely lady gagged at my stench, interrupting my rambling.

Her face scrunched up in a grimace and her eyes narrowed before she said, “Nathanael Immerson, off to the river with you, this instant!”

“Hopefully, stronghold two has a hot water heater with a shower. Why, do you ask? Well, sugar, I have a great answer,” I said, hurrying out of bed. I didn’t even bother getting dressed.

I walked, naked as the day I’d been born, out the door into the early morning light in the direction of the stream. Not like drones devoid of all emotion or rational thought would be offended by my swinging dick. I saw Senna was following me, pinching her nose.

“Trying to sleep after washing yourself is the worst,” I said from experience. Cold water made your heart pound and woke you up, the opposite of what you needed to lull you into a nice sleep. “Waking up! Well, that there is a different story. Come, watch my penis shrivel, and listen to me squeal like a little girl.”

She giggled, trying to keep up with me, barely able to do so now that her waddling slowed her down. I had to give Senna kudos for her internal fortitude; she didn’t complain much about the changes rapidly affecting her body.

“Good morning, fine citizens of Noobi City,” I said, to the workers in the area who were… working.

I saw a new worker mucking sheep shit out of a small barn to be spread as fertilizer on another small farm.

There was a pair of workers carrying a stretcher of sticks. Further down the river, and upstream as well, teams were working to free stone from the muck.

Things were improving in our little area.

Noobi City was not actually a city. Over the last three days, it had started to look more like a village—rather than the single farm with outbuildings it had started as.

Speaking of farms, I walked between two.

They required few resources to create, produced vital food that counted for both livestock and empire, and had been our main focus while waiting for stronghold two to be completed.

Senna had learned that the sheep would be amazing, except that they had to be let out and shepherded to and from open fields to graze, which meant a ton of work.

Well… turns out that if you built a grain farm, the worker spent less time in the farm than herding the sheep, including harvesting the grain.

If you fed the grain to the sheep, they’d fatten up with minimal input overall. So, we had focused on building a number of grain farms to support our sheep production in the most efficient manner.

While I patted the side of a small barn as I passed, I knew that the pride and joy of my hard labors should be done by now.

A quick check over my shoulder confirmed we had a new extra-large barn to the south of the stronghold. The stable, which had completed while I slept loomed large on the horizon; it was our biggest building yet.

The amount of progress this little village had made was staggering, to the point that it brought a smile to my face.

My smile was short lived—the great progress only meant that much more work for me. We were almost out of food, although we were up to thirteen workers.

While Senna asked me almost every day to head out and abduct more workers through adventuring, I had fought the urge to explore.

I had a nagging feeling that any gains I made from exploring would be wasted if I didn’t have a tablet with me; I could make a much bigger difference out there with a tablet.

Also, dying early would suck, so I stuck close and helped upgrade Noobi city.

We had built five farms, three huts, a church, and a stable. All that had been done in the sixty hours it took to upgrade the stronghold to level two.

That was the power of the stronghold churning out workers. Well, that and the bazillion apples we had collected—so many damn apples that I was sick of seeing them.

I constantly wondered how much easier things would be when we could build wagons or sacks and have them drawn by cart animals.

That would be a huge help, which was why I grew excited with the stable’s completion.

“Nate, I just want to say, and I know you’re doing it for us… but you look amazing. Almost younger. You’ve lost weight and bulked up,” Senna said, eyeing my backside. I smacked my ass for her and tossed a wink over my shoulder. “Don’t give me any ideas, pretty boy, we are swamped with work. Get cleaned up so you can get dressed. You need to check on the stable, and then we need to find the new tablet, in…” she glanced at her tablet, “roughly three minutes.”

I reached a section of the stream that was deeper than the others. I wanted to jump in but it was still only three feet deep. Instead, I rotated to fall backwards, splashing into the water with a back-flopping smack.

I had designated this the bathing zone and personally ensured no rocks lined the streambed that might break my back.

The water was chilly—to the point that I hastily scrubbed myself with handfuls of sand instead of soap—before climbing back onto the bank with a shiver.

I’d gotten three days’ worth of grime and hard work off of me as quickly as I could.

“So… what's the verdict on the stable?” I asked, finished with my quick cleaning.

She scoffed, spawning a toga outfit for me. It had become our de facto towel and was filthy by the time I was dry. The garment went in to get cleaned and a summer western outfit materialized at my feet. While I got dressed, Senna sighed.

“I don’t regret building the stable this late in the game. But…”

A blast of light caused me to shield my eyes. “Huh?” I blurted out, seeing the stronghold disappear.

She waved me forward, now that I was dressed, and said, “That was in the warning. The new creation area must be clear and the tablet forced me to confirm that this is where I wanted our upgraded stronghold to be—for a second time. My sour attitude this morning comes with a defining reason.”

“I thought you were grumpy because of your belly,” I said, following Senna to the stable.

“Ha! You’re right, though. I hate that I have no emotional attachment to this burden, other than it being my contribution to victory. Anyway, I came to the conclusion quite a while ago that I’ll need to handle the sacrifice, without complaint, if we want to attain our future on Qoobi. Call me silly for not wanting to get ejected into the void for failure,” Senna said with a snort just as we arrived at the stable.

“A while ago?” I asked with a tease.

“You know what I mean. Before we know it, a whole month will have passed in the blink of an eye. Hard to believe it, but we apparently left Earth years ago. Let me get to the real reason for my grumpiness already. This damn stable unlocks medium farms—and while medium farms cost 2.3x more in resources, they produce 5x more. Which means…” she paused, letting me do the math.

Okay, maybe I half-assed the math, but even I could tell that medium farms were better investments than small farms. Not like we could go back in time and change things, so I merely smiled.

“We should have built the stable as our fourth building?” I asked and she nodded.

“Basically, here is the build order going forward: depot, stronghold, hut, hut, hut, stronghold two, stable, church, hut, and then a whole lot of medium farms. This would mean more fruit gathering than we did the first time, though, and a slower initial build development—but will enable a better transition down the road.”

I shrugged and she shook her head.

“If we do it that way,” Senna explained, “we get to the point where we skip having to build all these small farms. Thankfully, I can convert them to medium farms while they are still producing, but at the full build cost of the medium farms—all the materials used to build the small farms will end up going to waste,” Senna said, squinting her eyes until they were slits.

I let her release her anger at what she perceived as her failure as we paused outside the stable’s doors.

The stronghold rumbled to the north.

We watched the new creation rise on its designated site above the river. The building finished with a slight boom that echoed across the fields with a whoosh of air.

An uncomfortable sensation tugged at my belt line, telling me where the new tablet had gone.

I yanked the second device out with glee.

Competitor Nathanael or Competitor Senna must set permissions.

ALL

LIMITED

I selected ‘All’ and next thing I knew I was holding a duplicate of Senna’s tablet.

“Yes!” I exclaimed, showing her the tablet as she gave me an odd look. “Sorry,” I grinned and pulled her in for a quick hug. “I got a bit distracted there. Look, it's our first competition. I think we're doing great and the small farms have been useful—not like they don’t produce.”

“True, very true, did you check the score?” Senna asked.

I tapped at my own tablet to bring up the current tally.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 24th

Survival: 7.0 (tied 95th)

eXplore: 1.1 (84th)

eXpand: 3.9 (11th)

eXploit: 3.7 (19th)

eXterminate: 4.1 (15th)

This was great. Before the stronghold upgrade had completed, we had slipped back in the rankings into the high thirties.

Capturing that dryad had been amazing. The fact we stopped exploring and exterminating had hurt us in the grand scheme of things.

“Wow, we’re not in first, but Noobi City is just starting to come online. I also have come to accept the fact that less risk is better in the early going,” I admitted with a grunt. “At the same time, we had to kill the cougars and the wolves, else our resource gathering would have stagnated big time.”

“Lots of learning lessons,” Senna agreed, edging up to kiss my cheek. “We can start to plan a lot of strategies for next time when we have time to reflect on this competition.”

We entered the stables which were… unique.

When I thought of a stables, I had an image in my head of narrow corridors between rows of large stalls, for animals to live in.

This… was not that image.

On the right side of the barn, there were big boxes stacked neatly against the wall. Inside those boxes were nests of hay, as if they were simply waiting for eggs.

Each of these cubbies was empty. To the left there stood a large pen, a single, large group space for animals to be fed, watered, and maintained.

There was a decent stone path cutting through the middle of the big pen and a low wall separating the hay nest boxes from the general raising area.

I brought up the home screen on my tablet.

INVENTORY

BUILD

SCORE

MANAGE

I selected ‘MANAGE’.

Hay Farm

Sheep Farm

Grain Farm

Grain Farm

Grain Farm

Grain Farm

Stable

My finger tapped ‘Stable’.

Production

Inventory

Assign

Upgrade

I opened the production tab, finally seeing the dinosaurs that made us team Dinosaur Warlord.

Zuniceratops - the image of a two horned dinosaur appeared. It was much like a triceratops, but smaller and missing the central rhino-like horn. There was a brief description that said this animal was an all-purpose worker. The downside was that it was smaller than a human, and not recommended to carry a rider.

Maiasaura - the image reminded me of a large, duck billed dinosaur. This animal was really big—at least twice as tall as the human silhouette included with the image. The description said that it could break hard ground, perform extreme manual labor, and while not naturally aggressive, if ridden and trained for war, could trample its foes.

Stegosaurus – the image of a large dinosaur with a spiked tail and large flat spines on its back left me drooling. About the same height as a Maiasaura, it could be ridden with ease. The description said it was for intense manual labor, a roaming guard, and battle.

My mind reeled at these revelations. I wanted dinosaurs now! I tried to tap the stegosaurus option, but the damn thing blinked red at me. I tapped the smaller triceratops-looking feller with the odd name, instead.

Zuniceratops Requirements:

3 - Days

1 - Assigned worker to stable (Inadequate)

50 - Livestock food (Adequate)

Three stupid days. Ugh. I started to assign a worker to the stable when a soft hand landed on mine.

“Nate, lanes…we talked about this,” Senna said gently. She clearly was concerned I might get upset by her reminder of our ‘agreed upon’ roles.

“Right, right. Sorry. I got excited. You wanted me to see the Maiasaura, I take it?” I asked and she nodded. I went into the help section and pulled up information on the large duck-billed dinos. “Ten feet tall. Known as the mother lizard. Live in massive herds. Require seven days to incubate, then another four days’ care and training to reach the point where it can be useful… seven days beyond that to fully mature. Ouch. But once they are born…” I paused, re-reading the last paragraph. “Wait… we can go ahead and make one now?”

“Yup,” she smacked her lips together with a grin. “And I just assigned a worker. So, we need to either pick the big boy or a bunch of little ones. The building can queue three at a time at tier 1.”

Maiasaura Requirements:

7 - Days

1 - Assigned worker to stable (Adequate)

190 - Livestock food (Adequate)

“Wow, we have this much livestock food?” I asked. Flipping to the inventory page.

Materials & Supplies

Empire Food - 33 (+17 per hour)

Livestock Food - 193 (+50 per hour)

Wood - 228 (+44 per hour)

Stone - 9 (+33 per hour)

Metal - 1

Water - ∞

Hide - 82

Sheep - 25 (+4.8 per day)

Twine - 124’

“See, the small farms weren’t a bad way to go,” I said and she winced. “What?”

“I have strong hold three requirements pulled up,” Senna said with a groan. “And I guess you’re right about the farms. Hopefully, we’ll have some time to pour over our data when we finish this competition.”

Stronghold Requirements Tier 3:

7 - Tier 2 buildings (Inadequate)

4 – Builders and 60 hours (Adequate)

2000 - Stone (Inadequate)

200 - Wood (Adequate)

100 - Food (Adequate)

100 - Metal (Inadequate)

I joined in her sigh of displeasure. “Four workers to do the job in the same timeframe… ouch. If we had built medium farms from the get-go, they would have been tier two buildings already and would have helped check that box. Shucks, that is a metric shit ton of stone,” I muttered. “I guess it's time to find a quarry.”

“Yup, my work is cut out for me around here, but almost all of these upgrades require more stone than wood—which means tier two is part stone age, but tier three is full-on stone age. You need to get exploring, big time,” Senna said, wrapping me in an odd hug with her big belly. “We need to find mines, farms, stronghold locations, and well… everything. Expand, expand, and expand. We’re going to be getting a lot of workers here, soon. There are only so many downed twigs and branches to collect.”

“Oh right, okay, how about we go see our upgraded stronghold?” I smiled at her.

“Lead the way, lover,” Senna said, breaking our embrace.

“I need to go over what else we can build. What are your thoughts on the stable?” I asked.

She slid her hand into mine and said, “Well, there is a lot of math involved—so much that I will just abbreviate it for you. The maiasaura is a huge time sink. They are a fourteen-day investment, per animal. That is like five times more than a stinking mule,” she growled stubbornly.

She shook her head. “While the zuniceratops is a lot smaller, it is able to pull a wagon, and matures in only a day. Still, four-days is a lot of time. If I upgrade the stable, we can hatch up to six of the little guys at a time, or three ‘zunis and one maiasaura, but that would exceed our current livestock food generating capabilities.” She chewed on her lip.

“Look,” I agreed with her reasoning, “the big thing here is that they’re worth it. In an emergency, we can decrease food production and harvest the animals for instant food, if need be.” I smiled. “While I can’t wait to get a stegosaurus, that can be built after a later upgrade.”

“I recommend we pump zuniceratops out at the fastest rate possible. So much so, I’m going to go ahead and start three right now, unless you object?”

I shook my head no.

“They will pay huge dividends on medium farms and then on the large farms, they will be amazing,” Senna decided and punched the orders into her tablet.

I swung our entwined hands playfully as we neared the upgraded stronghold we used as a house. “I trust you, Senna. You got this. Make the zunicera… whatevers and increase our production. I’ve got my own tablet now, so I can see what I can find, get alerts, claim resources, and really work on helping you ramp up production. Stone… All that stone…” I paused, soaking in the details of the upgraded stronghold. “It sure did become much more like a city hall.”

The building had two stories now, with the second floor being about half the size of the first.

The first floor came with a wraparound porch and now had two entries, one each to the north and south.

A small wall on the roof of the first and second floors enabled archers to fire out of narrow openings while having decent protection.

There were fewer windows than before, giving the building more of a fortification type look. As we approached the southern entrance, I noticed that the doors were thicker and constructed of stone.

When I pushed it open, there were creaks and groans from the stone hinges. Hinges were probably included in the metal requirements for the next upgrade.

I dropped that line of thinking when I realized I had no idea where to find metal and inspected the interior.

The main room was a hall now, with the long side running north south. On the west wall, plain stairs led up to the second floor.

On the right side of the hall there were a few prison cells.

In the middle of the room sat a table for a receptionist. Behind that, there was an actual office; through the open doors I could see the corner of a large desk.

We oohed at the new details; this was a nice upgrade so far. I hurried up the stairs while Senna waddled for the new office.

“Stairs! Really, Archaics? You make me a human factory, and then make… Oh, Nate! Thank the heavens. There is a bed in my office,” Senna said, raising her voice.

I could still hear her as I reached the second floor. To the left was an exit out onto the roof, where I had noted the defenses.

To the right stood the bedroom. I skipped down the stairs and ducked my head in the office to tell Senna what I had found.

“So, the second floor is just a queen-sized bed and a bathroom, with a shit bucket. There are zero decorations, like plants or whatever, leaving it really plain. At least you get to decorate both the top and the bottom,” I told her in a loving tone.

“That’s great!” she grinned happily at me from behind the large desk.

There was nothing else to see here, for now.

I walked back up the stairs and out onto the roof while tapping away at the tablet to find out what additional buildings we’d unlocked. Holy cow, there were a ton.

Stronghold

Depot

Hut

Small Farm

Church

Stable

Water well

Barracks

Wall

Tower

Archery Range

Hunters Hut

Blacksmith

Mine

Quarry

Lumber mill

Medium Farm

Bakery

Butcher Shop

Tannery

Leatherworking Shop

Weaver

Textile Shop

Woodworking Shop

When I tapped on a few of these, they blinked back at me in an angry red. I guess there were intermediate requirements we needed to build first—the archery range, for example, needed a barracks.

The woodworking shop needed a lumber mill built first. That kind of stuff made sense, when you thought about it.

My long whistle at how much more complicated things had become was met with a loud groan from Senna.

Poor girl was going to be a busy, busy lady. She was probably reading over the list of new buildings and their interdependent requirements, if I had to make a guess.

There was a loud gasp from downstairs. “Nate get in here!” Senna exclaimed.

I trotted down the stairs, jogging into her office. I stopped to lean on the door frame instead of taking the seat across from her.

“You okay? Did your water break?” I worried.

She tilted her head with a frown. “Huh? No, birthing doesn’t work like that, here. I go to sleep when the time is right, and then we get a worker. Amelia freaking Earhart! She is on the list of potential sister wives. I’m going to interview her,” Senna said, excitement lighting up her whole face.

Before I could react, the green wireframe of a woman was etched before us on the floor, and poof, suddenly there was a young woman sitting in a chair across from Senna.

I saw her short, curly locks were cut just above the shoulder.

She wore a western outfit with a vest, and she calmly tapped the arm of the chair she sat in, as if this was nothing worth freaking out over.

“Are you the competitor?” Amelia asked Senna.

I hadn’t even crossed into the office yet. My footsteps caused her to spin around. I gasped, because she looked to be about twenty-one, and even I knew that Amelia Earhart was nearly forty when she had vanished in the Pacific on her historic flight.

“No,” she quirked an eyebrow at me, “it's you. Tall and handsome at least.”

This time, Senna’s jaw dropped open. The woman certainly was assertive.

“Hello Amelia,” I greeted her. “I’m Nathanael Immerson. This is my… lover and one day wife… sorta is already... Shucks, this is Senna. You’re famous. You disappeared -”

Amelia Earhart gave a flippant wave of her hand to stop my rambling.

“Ditched my plane outside Howland,” she said. “Noonan and I figured we were close to the island, just to the north of it, turns out. It was the damned overcast we seemed to be unable to rise above. The lack of night stars ruined my attempt to navigate.”

The young woman frowned. “We treaded water for a few minutes before I was scooped up and carted off by the Archaics. I was told Noonan drowned, a few hours after we were separated. That pronouncement was followed by a lot of self-reflection and grieving in the following weeks.

“I was allowed a full year on the ship to come to grips with my new reality. A full year of researching the same drab and boring material. The only perk was that I asked about the combat simulator. That thing helped me to pass the time and eased me into my new reality. Eventually, I was brought to Gladium, to wait in case I was called upon to help a competitor, or become a competitor myself.

“That little metallic contraption was an irritation… and yet, a lifesaver. Valance would duck my questions whenever I asked why I hadn’t been picked as a leader to start with—I’d always been a trailblazer, after all. Apparently, I got enough half answers to come to the conclusion that I’m too focused on exploration to be an empire manager.” She shook her head, curls swinging back and forth. “I’m too independent and rebellious to manage a hundred thousand subjects. Little bugger wasn’t wrong.

“Which meant, at most, I would be a sidekick unless something went wrong. He said that I would find out—and mind you, he waited ten months to drop this little tidbit of information—I’d be required to become a baby factory. The only bonus was that I’d be let out of that damn Arinium ship, that I’d explored a million times. And… I’d be twenty-one again, with a dialect set to something the contestant could relate to. Minor annoyances to put up with compared to dying. I’m grateful to be alive and to be here.” She finished her story. “So, what are your questions?”

I walked around the desk to stand at Senna’s side as Amelia told her tale. I was shocked I hadn’t stumbled, with the revelations she unloaded on us.

She was groomed, prepared, and far more ready than we expected. Hell, she had a ton more simulator time than I did.

“I wish I could take you exploring right now!” I blurted out.

Now that I saw her from this angle, I noticed her unique beauty.

She had high cheekbones and a softly rounded chin with a sharp jawline. Her damn eyes felt like they were boring into my soul with her steely gaze. She was both intimidating and mildly alluring, all at once. She had that tom boy look, but she pulled it off.

There was a smugness to her expression as she bounced a leg, waiting to reply.

Amelia smirked at the attention we both were giving her. She confidently winked, and said, “Please do. I yearn to get out and explore, even if it's without an airplane. And, while I shudder at the thought of turning into a walking house…” She winced and smiled apologetically at Senna’s evident condition. “I have learned in life, especially with having to take on that useless shit Noonan as a co-pilot… a girl doesn’t always get what she wants. Compromises make things happen.”

Apparently, she was still bitter at her co-pilot. Hmm…

Senna cleared her throat. “We… you… You’re the first interviewee. We… I… am at a loss for words. We’ll need to collect a lot of materials before we meet the requirements where we can begin to unlock you.” Senna paused and took a deep breath.

“Then, when we do, I don’t know how much we will need an explorer as our third... But, I’m sure you could explore, come home, manage stuff, give birth, and then when barely pregnant, explore some more. We haven’t gotten to that point, though. We may pick you later on,” she smirked, “as a ‘non-baby factory’ and set you free to explore Noobi.” Senna said this last bit with a disarming smile, her hands folded in her lap. “To be honest, my initial thoughts were tied around trying to convince another woman to share my man, for the greater good. I -”

“Pfft! I’m a survivor, always have been and always will be. I don’t quit, no matter the challenge. Again, I had a full year to think about this and months of realizing what was going to happen when I was brought out of storage. Neither of you are hideous. You’re delightfully pretty and very curvy, while he is handsome and tall for a man—not that I can afford to be too picky. Compromises,” she repeated, dancing her left leg in a rapid bounce.

I leaned down to whisper in Senna’s ear, “Return her please.”

Amelia vanished and I let out a long exhale.

Senna was shocked, completely stunned. “I need a few hours to process this. I’ve got a million things to do. I love the idea of Amelia Earhart, but… I just didn’t feel like she would be focused on the common good… like at all. She would vanish the moment she could on Qoobi. We certainly don’t need that; we can win without her.”

I bent over to hug Senna from behind. “She is direct. Amelia is a confident woman from a different age—try not to hold that against her. Sex… changes relationships. She won’t be a stay at home wife who cooks in the kitchen, barefoot. I, for one, can accept that. An adventuring partner would be fun, though. And… not that I think you’re vain. But you’re so much prettier than her.”

She shook her head, a wide, goofy grin on her face. “Okay, out with you. Take your tablet. I’m going to think this one over. We won’t get another manager until around day sixty or so and to even get this one, we have so much bloody stone to get. Thank god a quarry only requires wood to build. I need you to adventure, and I need a helper to stay around here.” She sighed. “We need a manager for all the tasks around here, more than you need a sidekick out there,” she said.

I nodded. Amelia was certainly not the farming type of gal we needed at the moment.

“I love the new place. Good luck, and I’ll try to be home before I need to rest,” I said, rapidly kissing her cheek. When I passed in front of her she tried to latch onto my belt, so she could seduce me. I managed to escape her eager fingers and blew her a kiss goodbye.

I was finally heading out with my trusty pickaxe and a tablet. There were so many options to unlock. First stop was the chicken farm—time to claim it as ours. I just had to hope it was still undefended.

Chapter

Thirteen

COMPETITION 1 DAY 7

“H ey Alex, good morning,” I said in a loud voice, still a fair way away from the man.

He grunted, greeting me with a nod in reply. I watched, hoping to see him mutter under his breath or show some kind of a unique reaction.

“Would you like to go adventuring with me?” I asked, heading by the man smacking a mining pick into the shore’s edge. He was trying to break some stone from a bedrock shelf. My pace led me to within a few feet of the man.

“Are you reassigning me?” Alex asked.

I stopped near him to gaze down at his tedious task, mid process.

“I was trying to see what you wanted to do,” I said, with a genuine smile. “Your efforts have been worthy of a reward—like exploring, instead of manual labor.”

“My wants are irrelevant. I am here to serve the competitor and his managers. Any thoughts beside -”

I left him mid-sentence, because this was the same response he’d given me the last five times I tried to engage with him.

He stopped talking when I stopped listening. This was my last attempt at coaxing a personality out of him.

What was the definition of crazy? Oh right, it was repetitively trying to convert drones into managers. It was simply a waste of time.

A large part of me wanted to explore with a partner.

You know how it is when you get that sensation of wanting something that you can’t have? Like that puppy in the pet-store window you think would be a great idea, but your Mom tells you to forget about it?

Well, I wanted Amelia, and not just because she was pretty. It certainly was not because I was in need of companionship in the bedroom.

But, out here, in the redwood forest I entered… well, another set of competent eyes watching my back would be amazing.

A decent conversation would also help beat back the eerie silence that crept up from spending too much time alone in the woods.

There was nothing I could do about it. We’d agreed that Senna was responsible for picking out our third wheel. Besides, I kind of agreed with Senna—Amelia Earhart was not an Immerson.

Would I pick her down the road, for exploring? Maybe.

Would I let her vanish into the ether? No, I would pull her out for some competition or plead for her to join my team on Qoobi.

So it was, that I found myself alone, walking through a forest that had been picked clean of branches.

The dummies even sought out any sticks hidden under the leaves, resulting in a big mess that I stomped through.

When I passed the old wolf den, I was pleased to see that it was just as empty as before. Wherever the remnants of the pack went, they had never looked back.

I wondered if it was a game mechanic where they couldn’t continue without a new alpha and drowned themselves, or just simply vanished.

Deciding to inspect the area, I kept my tablet in hand, scanning for threats. While I expected the device to alert me to any danger, there might be some kind of a stronghold distance limitation.

Or maybe these really were rare, irreplaceable and overpowered items, capable of telling me of all threats. Time would tell, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to let my guard down.

I exited the redwoods to find Caity at the weeping willows, where she was collecting the fallen limbs into a double basket system.

There were straps connecting the two baskets, so that one basket hung on her back while another hung on her front.

Something as simple as strapping two baskets together increased vine collection from +10 an hour to +14 an hour.

Senna and I had tested out a few such improvements. Now… Well, I was certain that with a bit of metal coming in, we could start building hand carts—assuming we checked other blocks, too, but soon.

Handcarts were a glorious concept that was long overdue.

Relief washed over me, just thinking about them. I waved to Caity, who waved back with a smile.

We decided to be direct with our help, but still maintain friendly gestures. She wasn’t showing yet, but Caity and the other drone females were all pregnant.

Senna stuck with the naming convention I had started, working through the alphabet from A-Z.

The stronghold produced a female then a male, without fail. This meant that we had an extra male, from the converted dryad.

I figured Caity would be the last worker I would see this far from the stronghold. We hadn’t seen anything in this area that was dangerous.

Bunnies were the only icons of wild animals visible on the entirety of our exposed map. I’d asked about catching them and Senna had said they weren’t worth the time and effort.

Apparently, even assigning a worker to catch them only gave you a probability of snagging some.

It worked out to a range between 0 and 3 empire meat per hour. If we did catch any of them, starting a bunny farm was a bad short-term goal, apparently. To me, though, it sounded like they’d be great in a large farm.

At least, that is what my own research seemed to indicate, but I let Senna win the argument since she was doing fantastic.

My Ma liked to mention that letting a woman be right was always a great strategy.

Senna managed the macro and the microeconomics of our empire down to a T. Every day that went by, Senna impressed me more and more.

I let the fond thoughts drop as I neared the grove of plum trees. The tablet flared with an alert, and I readied the mining pick for combat.

There were no noises, besides my breathing and the whistling of the breeze through the trees.

My eyes scanned the area intently for threats, coming up empty. I found a big redwood root to crouch behind. I’d wanted to scope out the plum orchard, before entering, anyway.

While I waited silently, I checked the tablet when it vibrated.

This is Senna testing the messenger.

I tapped the message. A text box appeared.

My fingers tapped out a reply to her, ‘Dammit woman, you startled me. I’m right next to -’

The chicken coup, I know. I wanted to test this before you got into the proverbial danger zone. I found out we can chat at a distance and I can track your tablet. Huge relief. Good luck, handsome.

‘Thanks.’

With my reply sent, I tucked the tablet back between my shirt and my vest.

It was time to see how the chicken farm was doing.

Four days in this game was equivalent to five months of real life, if you compared build times and pregnancies between the two.

I was curious as to what I’d find, and what was left of the chickens without any maintenance.

My gentle steps through the plum trees were cautious and careful. I had an almost unreasonable fear that I was going to be ambushed.

The great thing about plum trees, though, is that they are short. Well, short when compared to a towering redwood.

Halfway into the plum orchard, I paused to look and listen.

Ten minutes later, I pulled out the tablet and saw nothing new.

The screen showed there was still the option to claim the small chicken farm, but I was too far away to do so. I slid the tablet back into my vest and crept forward.

Each step seemed deafening, though in reality was virtually silent. There were a few clucks from the chickens. I checked the treetops, circled around the farm, and wasted a lot of time. Eventually, I walked into the farm where there had been thirty or so chickens, before.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small chicken farm. (YES) - (NO)

A quick tap of ‘YES’ revealed a management option for this building.

A text appeared before I could start messing with the tabs.

I’ve got it under control. Looks like we’re chicken farmers, now. They are great for fertilizing fields and even better producers than rabbits. Looks like we lost nine chickens, from no one managing them. It’s good to know what happens to a farm when it's not tended. I was worried there would be a disease or something, from the lack of care.

‘I feel like an idiot for not doing this three or four days ago.’ I texted back.

Yeah, well, if you lost the tablet, we would have probably wound up in the 75-100 bracket. There are risks, rewards, chances, and victories here. Anyway, thank you for this. Means I can free up the apple team to collect all those ripe plums. The fruit team was seeing a decrease in production, because of a lack of easy to pick or salvage fruit. Enjoy your adventures.

I exited the chat to study the map. We needed stone and metal—to me, that meant mountains.

Also, if we ever got enough stone, we should build a gravel path or road to this food collection point.

Always easier to extend a road than to build a whole new one, I thought. With that in mind, I tucked the tablet away and headed directly north to see what I could find.

Before leaving the plum orchard, I snacked on a half-dozen of the sweet fruit to sate my appetite.

There were no two ways about it, I was slimming down while gaining lean muscle. After three weeks of almost constant exercise, I still carried a little extra weight around my middle, just not nearly as much as before.

I figured another two or three weeks of this and I would be back to the athletic body of my prime.

While some things were instant or super-fast… like a seven-day pregnancy. Weight loss was not one of them.

I was okay with that, because noticeable gains were still evident. We had both been really curious about what the hell would happen to Senna’s body after the worker was created. I let the thoughts drop while easing through a brand-new section of redwood forest.

Five minutes of carefully avoiding root caverns in the gloom, while walking as quietly as I could, and I stumbled upon a small mushroom grove hosting a group of bunnies. Noobi sure liked to push bunnies.

Honestly, a few traps would probably be better than a farm.

I did see a hunter’s hut on the build options. I bet Senna was jotting notes on every building while seeing what unlocked what.

A part of me was desperate to figure out the gaming mechanics involved, and another part was just happy to see bunnies eating mushrooms.

I thought about the best way to hunt the little, fluffy eared rodents. Probably needed an archer, which required a barracks—and both those would slow food production down at this point.

Decreased food production would mean -

The tablet vibrated. I paused, just outside of the clearing, to find a nice spot to tuck into before checking on the alert.

Why didn’t you claim that farm? Senna asked via text.

I opened the map on the tablet. Sure enough, there was a mushroom farm on the map, it wasn’t outlined in black, like the chicken farm, but it was showing.

My goodness.

Hmm…

Maybe Senna was the answer.

‘Can you track me while doing other work?’ I texted her.

Yes, I have you on the left top quarter of my tablet, just our chat and a map overview of your progress.

‘Phew, okay. When you see me trigger popups, please let me know. This mushroom farm didn’t trigger an alert. I figured it was just mushrooms, with some bunnies that would be manually harvestable. A simple fence will keep the bunnies out. Going to claim it now.’

I headed back into the mushroom farm and the bunnies scattered.

You cannot claim a defended mushroom farm. Defender is still alive.

“The hell you on about tablet?” I cursed the device, before sliding it back into my vest. I checked over both my shoulders and saw no defender. I did catch sight of a few dead shriveled bunnies on the outskirts of the farm, but only a couple. I’d just figured easy prey meant -

A thick band of webbing hooked to my right thigh. There was a yank that was almost powerful enough to throw me off balance.

My eyes followed the webbing to find a spider the size of a bunny dangling from the redwood.

The creature dropped along its tether to get closer.

I noticed its nest was small and up high, hidden from the direction I had approached. A thorough scan would’ve found it, but… I’d let the tablet distract me.

With my trusty mining pick, I squared off against the spider.

Now, I’ll admit, a big spider is still scary, but… this one was not very large.

The next web it shot involved a tricky, coordinated maneuver of first becoming stationary, aiming, and then firing.

I dodged the thick, stringy substance.

The webbing whacked into a tree behind me.

I grabbed the now tethered spider string and yanked on it with my left hand. Apparently, big spiders can shriek.

This one cried out as it shot over my shoulder and straight at the redwood. The creature thumped into the tree.

Dazed, it stumbled about, trying to shake off the hard impact.

I had timed its impact with a big jump of my own. My leap resulted in both my feet slamming two hundred plus pounds of muscle into the two-foot tall spider.

There was a loud splat and then the ground was covered in a squishy mess of spider guts.

Green ichor stuck to my boots as I pulled them from the spider’s body. I scanned for more spiders and found none. I headed back to the mushrooms.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned tiny mushroom farm. (YES) - (NO)

I selected ‘YES’, and the rest was for Senna to handle. I noticed the mushroom farm was categorized as tiny.

That meant there were probably tier .5 farms, out in the wild. In less than half an hour, I’d probably added enough food production to save someone a few trips to the apple orchard. I grinned.

There was nothing else to it—this was the easiest way to get food and yet, it held the most risks.

The tablet went back into my vest, before I headed north once more. I decided to be a little more careful going forward.

Not like that was a new concept with me. Hell, I’d be the first to admit I was no Indiana Bones.

Adventuring in jungles was not some hidden trait of mine. Sweet twirling abilities and being able to judge momentum and inertia, sure—I had those in spades—but knowing when a spider was eating bunnies? That was a bit of a leap for a washed-up football cornerback turned air conditioning technician.

The redwoods went on for a while before I encountered some oak trees. Big gnarled beauties, they would make great tree swings.

There were acorns on the leafy forest floor, but no predators or prey. The undergrowth was mostly new oak trees seeking sunlight and some wild grass bursting through the old leaves.

I climbed up an oak until I had a decently protected perch and pulled out the tablet that buzzed.

Nice find, you’re doing great work. This is the first bit of livestock food we found that you can collect. I sent Carson south through the fields you explored yesterday. He’d slowed to +3 stone an hour, so off he went. There is hay to harvest there that will probably net us much more than acorns. I will do some testing. Again, you’re opening up enough resource options to the north, that I want to build a dirt trail or something to improve travel time.

‘Awesome, I noticed there are no trees north of this grove. It looks like short grass and rocks beyond here. So… hopefully that means a quarry is near. Oh, that mushroom farm was defended—which if the pattern holds, means that there are random challenges for local resources. Cougars for sheep, wolves for apples... a pattern for sure. Wish me luck. Love ya.’

Good luck, and I love you, too.

I tossed the tablet back into my vest before scurrying down the tree. The oaks sure were pretty.

This was the second time in recent memory where I’d felt at one with Noobi. I’d never considered myself much of an outdoorsman, but maybe I was changing.

The fallen acorns crunched loudly, a thick carpet of them beneath my feet. A simple rake would probably haul in a lot of feed.

What Senna said resonated with me.

She was right, this was yet another reason to build a road between our base and this area. I slowed my pace as I came to the last of the trees.

They were the smallest of the grove and provided the least cover.

I hesitated at the tree line. The landscape beyond here was drastically different from the rest of Noobi that I’d explored so far.

There was green, mossy grass for at least a mile or two before additional redwoods lined the horizon.

Off to the east, I noted a small rise that eased into a cliff—apparently one with a small waterfall.

The crash of water onto rocks was barely audible over the sound of tree limbs creaking in the wind.

A river split the open grassy area, flowing east to west at a rapid clip. This was a real river, nice and wide.

To my left, the break in the forest ran in tandem with the mountain, creating a long open space. From here, inside the tree line, it was hard to see how far these rock fields went.

The decision to classify them as rock fields was simple. The terrain was something you’d see in a movie about northern England or maybe Ireland. The dark green fields were filled with rocks.

The boulders were so randomly placed, it was as if rock golems had exploded and this was the messy result.

With my head on a swivel, I moved out at a tense trot. I hunched over, to lower my profile, while I ran out to the river.

A quick look to my left showed that the terrain remained flat—the green with gray rocks continued on for miles. It was a valley, of sorts, nestled between monster trees.

I grinned, here were all the rocks a man could ask for.

My tablet vibrated, but I ignored it. My legs quickened the pace until I reached the river in the middle, dipped a finger in, and then ducked back into the oak trees.

I waited until I’d secured a firm perch before I checked on my messages.

Whoa… We should build an expanded stronghold there. All that stone. The river has a fish farm. No idea how to maintain it but yeah… a flipping fish farm.

‘It’s exposed to a cliffside to the east I need to inspect. While the river is nice, and the rocks are a plenty, all that stone is finite. I want to find a quarry. Did it show up as a quarry or as stone icons?’

Honestly, you don’t appear to have found a quarry icon yet—unless it is the same icon as the tiny rocks on the map.

‘I say we keep looking. Heading east, then north, will check in later.’

My trip east hit a literal cliff wall double my height. The height declined to my right, so I followed the shadowy wall until I turned to walk up a steep incline.

The trip up was steep enough to cause my calves to burn and I noted the edge of the cliff from earlier, not far off to my left.

I did see something unexpected ahead of me. The massive redwoods broke here as if something acidic kept them from spreading north.

When I paused to study the terrain, I was a bit surprised.

A few hundred feet to the west was open moss, grassland with random rocks. Here, though, the slope was filled with jagged, craggy areas. This was the start of the actual mountain.

The terrain here was far more black rock than grass. The landscape had that bleak mountain vibe. I walked up the slope and loose rubble crunched under my boots.

I darted from one rock to the next, curious as to what I might find. While the forest had been huge and looming, the mountainside was daunting and open. I covered a lot of area in my short bursts. My tablet went off once, then twice, and then never stopped.

I sighed, retreating back to the oak trees, more than five minutes away.

When I was safe in the trees. I saw ten messages that had stopped a few minutes ago.

There is a mine! Great find. Oh shit, there is a species icon nearby.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Thank you for noticing. Sorry to spam you, got a bit worried. I see you retreated and stopped hitting my desk in a panic. I may not be with you, but I still get anxious. Okay… stopping this text while I’m ahead.

‘The extra pings told me something was up. Which got me out of there. Thank you, and spam your warnings… always. Just don’t get angry if I’m slow to respond. What did the icon show? I just looked at the map on the other half of the screen and it was blank.’

There was a shield that moved. That was it. Sorry, and yeah it disappeared when you left the area. My guess is you have to be within x distance, with the tablet to get it to register icons. Did you see the mine opening?

‘Nope, but this mine icon is bigger than a small farm, and finding one is huge for Noobi City. Even if I can’t clear it today, getting some data on this place will help tremendously. Maybe a stronghold with a depot up here is not that bad of an idea after all.’

You unlocked the Mine data information. Which leads me to believe a quarry will be something different and I need to figure out how to shift a bazillion resources that direction, assuming you conquer the mine. Good luck!

Conquer a mine…

Hmm…

Sounded like fun to me.

Chapter

Fourteen

COMPETITION 1 DAY 7

W ith careful steps, I crossed the crunchy terrain with its copious amounts of loose rock. Three big rocks nearby gave me an idea.

I tucked myself in between the large, bulky stones, feeling slightly secure.

I pulled the tablet out and opened the map.

Sure enough, to my northwest, there was an icon of a metal nugget with a mining pick in it.

A round shield with a warhammer engraved on it jumped sporadically around the area, which left me puzzled.

Hmm…

I was thinking the shield might be more than a single foe. Why else did it jump around like that? Unless it was somehow indicating a really big frog, jumping around randomly, I decided this probably meant there were rotating defenders.

I watched the slight variations and counted five separate locations.

Okay. The butterflies in my stomach stilled as determination filled me.

With nothing else to glean from the tablet, it was time to trek to the mine and see for myself.

This felt like cheating in a sense. This little tool was giving me insight I would have been completely without, yesterday.

My journey led to a narrow section of the river that ran really fast before it fell over the waterfall and crashed onto the rocks, below.

A small bridge covered the gap and there were well-worn tracks on both sides of the crossing.

Hmm…

What was my goal here…

Should I take on five… aliens?

Would they even be aliens?

Regardless of how many of them there were, wasn’t my goal to win the day and build a stronghold up here? With a depot at the bottom and a stronghold up here on top. Or vice versa.

Was I getting ahead of myself? Deep down, I knew I was stalling because I was worried an arrow might hit me while I was stuck out in the open.

So, I retreated back into my thoughts. I really wanted to know if I was here to fight or to conduct a reconnaissance. I guess I had better reconnoiter before I got into a fight.

Otherwise, I was doing it wrong.

Making up my mind, with determination I braved the bridge.

There is an old saying: Pretend like you belong. That was my strategy. The bridge was right out in the open.

Sure, there were rocks I could use as cover after the crossing, but for a while, I was going to be completely exposed.

Instead of slowly crawling, slouching, or running, I strolled over that bridge like a boss.

I was just another miner, twirling my pickaxe like I was heading to work. My acting and worries were both unwarranted. I crossed the bridge with no problems, my eyes desperately darting around.

Nothing showed itself, though, and no arrows struck me down as my boots echoed loudly when I clumped over the wood planks, which rested on a stone foundation.

I reached the other side and exited the trail, pausing behind a boulder to still my beating heart.

A minute or two later, I skirted the trail and finally caught sight of the mine… and the guard who was stationed out front. It was a dwarf—a big bearded, short legged, ale drinking dwarf.

A single ass-scratching dwarven male sat on a stool, guarding a cavern entrance with zero shits to give about his surroundings.

He was armored in a chain mail tunic that reached to his knees, with a warhammer leaning against the exterior of the cave, next to his stool.

He had a small end table he rolled dice onto while sipping an ale.

I noted a better vantage point that was closer, with additional cover. A few tediously careful steps somehow kept the loose rocks from cascading down as I crept to my new spot to spy upon the dwarf.

A god-awful stench wafted into my nostrils—to the point that my eyes watered, and my nose burned.

What in the seven hells was that?

I tucked myself into my hiding spot while I gagged as silently as possible.

I spawned my ruined shirt from my fight with the wolves. The entire outfit came out and I sent it back into storage, minus the damaged long sleeve. At least the tablet worked out here for stuff like this. Deciding to test something, I spawned a wooden spear on the gray mountainside. The tablet buzzed.

Damn, why the spear? You going to war?

‘Dwarves, probably as many as five, but I’ve only seen one so far. Making a bandana mask, and no, not because I want to look like a badass.’

Are you safe?

‘I’m watching the guard from right next to their latrine, apparently. These guys have real armor and gear—at least the guard I can see does. Killing or capturing one of them would be amazing. But we can’t build a stronghold here with these miners around. Is there such a thing as diplomacy?’

History would say diplomacy is always an option. Most historians would argue that the guy with the bigger gun, or stick in this case, usually wins said negotiations.

‘That fancy ivy league talk is turning me on. Send me a picture of your tits so I remember you’re just as sexy -’

Oh…

Boobs hit my screen, two huge titties swollen with milk. She had her wrap on in a teasing way.

Um… ask and ye shall receive, apparently.

I was planning on sending you a reward when I found out I could send photos. Send me a picture of the dwarf.

‘Wait, you send me tits, and you want a dwarf pic? not a dick pic?’

Ha! Right, yeah, we can have sex later. Stay focused honey… get me a mine and this little pussy will purr until it drips down your balls.

She closed the text, leaving me all kinds of excited. She made a good point, though. Picking up a mine was worthy of a reward. I daydreamed briefly about that reward, until a nasty waft of shit hit my nose again, killing the mood.

The spear really had been just a test and I left it on the floor of the small depression I hid in. I liked this spot.

It was relatively private, with these big rocks all around. Explained why the dwarves were shitting nearby.

I used the blade of my pickaxe to convert the shirt into a bandana of sorts. With three wraps of the cloth around my head, I covered my nose and mouth to the point that it was hard to breathe, but the stench was bearable.

Feeling better, I crawled slowly across the top of the rock to get back up onto my vantage point. The dwarf was still playing a dice game by himself. I settled in to watch.

After what felt like hours, but was probably no more than ten minutes, a dwarf with bulging muscles exited the mine.

He wore no weapons or armor but carried a mining pick. A single tan tunic covered his body.

Okay, here was something positive I could work with.

Sure, he was roided up—but at least he had a tool, instead of a weapon, and had no armor.

The miner spoke to the guard, waving his arms agitatedly, pointing towards the river.

The guard smirked, before grunting what was likely a rude reply.

Hatred flared in the miner’s eyes, but he deflated a bit and gave the guard a pissed off gesture in defeat. The miner headed my way, his boots loudly crunching through the gravel.

The guard chuckled to himself before returning to his game of dice.

Obviously, I didn’t speak whatever brutish language these two used, so I felt diplomacy might be out of the question. They were mostly grunting at each other, though. Maybe I could grunt my way into getting them to surrender.

Positivity is a powerful weapon, wield it often. Or so some famous philosopher had once said. I preferred making lemonade from lemons, myself.

One thing was clear, the worker hated the guard.

Call me a sucker for wanting the little guy to win, but I let the miner piss in peace. How did I know he was peeing? Because the miner stopped less than a dozen paces from where I hid, at a hastily dug hole, filled with flies. Even he covered his nose to piss.

I wanted to tell him that there was a river, right over there, but quickly I realized that is probably what he and the guard had argued about.

When the miner returned back to work, the tedious process of spying on the guard continued.

I watched this jackass of a guard pick his nose, drink his ale, and play his dice.

A half-hour later, there was movement on the trail. Two workers showed up, and two left. I burrowed into my safe little alcove as they exchanged grunts at the mouth of the mine.

Sure enough, the tablet showed the departing miners as shield icons. I started to pull the shreds of a plan together.

If I could incapacitate the guard, subdue the miners, and get some metal before going home, I could come back and beat up whatever backup the dwarves sent to reclaim this objective.

Or I could just kill them all and return triumphant.

We needed the metal. I wanted the metal, badly. Without a doubt, this mine was vital. I decided to invest a few more hours into my reconnaissance, to see if an opportunity to catch the guard unawares arose.

When I slithered back up onto my rock, I noticed the guard was missing. With the change out complete, he had finally gone to relieve himself. The asshole was headed for the river, not far from the bridge.

Typical, I thought, do as I say, not as I do.

I scurried off the rock.

The guard was humming a loud tune. I kept pace with him from the rocks and saw him duck down between a rock and the bridge. He went under the bridge and vanished from sight.

Oh, he was probably taking a shit.

My heart pounded in my chest, my palms got all sweaty, and my ears rang with my thundering pulse.

I knew I was about to knock out a shitting dwarf and maybe kill him. The buildup was getting to me.

I wasn’t some cold, calculating killer, though. Just looking at the trail he had walked down was causing me anxiety.

I swallowed my fears, returning to the—I belong here, nothing to see mentality. I strolled across the main trail in the direction of the offshoot he’d taken.

As I ducked down between the rock and the bridge, I heard a slapping noise and guttural grunts—not quite the kind of grunts I had expected to hear.

Fortunately for me, the warhammer he’d been carrying had been left against the side of the bridge.

A few more seconds of listening and it was clear what the half-drunk dwarf was doing.

Ugh… Was I about to be that guy? Yeah, I was.

I left the warhammer where it was, crouching to duck under the bridge. My foot placements were the stealthiest they could be.

The guard was facing the other way, his back to me. His left hand pinched a drawing at an angle he could see, while his right jerked at his wiener.

A few final steps put me in a perfect spot to club him.

Gravel spun under my left foot as I twisted my torso around to put some power into the blow. The guard spun around quickly, but was ultimately too late.

His quick reflexes killed him.

You see, I’d aimed my swing for the side of his head to knock him out. His quick turn meant the pointy end of the tool crashed into, cracked, and ultimately squished into his brain.

We were both stunned by this turn of events.

He pointed a shaky finger at me before his eyes crossed. We sure made an odd sight. The exposed dwarf was clearly confused, and I knew he was already dead. This fact just hadn’t caught up to his stubborn brain, yet.

His brows tucked in as if he’d just had a startling realization. A moment later, his eyes glazed over and his legs gave out. He crumpled at my feet, gave a final twitch, and died.

The picture of a nude dwarfette was snatched up by the wind and plastered itself to my chest in the breeze. I peeled his jerk material off my chest to inspect it.

It was a dwarfette in lingerie, one hand cupping a breast, while with the other hand, a single finger pushed at her slit, her nether lips visible through the frilly undergarment.

The image was about as risqué as a non-nude could get and the perfect prop for an idea I had.

I did what made the most sense at the moment. I tucked the nearly nude image under a rock, next to the dead dwarf’s face.

Next, I pulled out my tablet and sent a picture of the half-naked dead dwarf, along with his spank material, to the missus.

There was no doubt in my mind she would love the nudie I sent her.

I retrieved my weapon from his skull. Which was gross on a few levels—mostly because of the slurping sound the pickaxe made as I pulled it out of his skull, and the way the head wound gurgled blood.

My deft fingers checked his trousers bunched around his ankles to loot a dagger, a belt, a pouch of dice, and a small purse of gems, along with three nuggets of gold.

Under his coarse shirt, I found a gold necklace that I added to my purse of valuables. A final pat down found nothing else, besides a few earrings which I ripped free from his ear.

I then quickly spawned my clothing set the ruined shirt came from. I stuffed a single nugget in a pocket and sent it back to magical storage.

When I summoned the clothing again, in a different spot, the nugget was still in the pocket.

Besides the nudie picture and the dagger, all the other looted items that could went into storage. Well, that… and his armor.

The dwarf had removed his chainmail tunic before trying to relieve his stress, setting the chainmail off to the side. Made sense, I guess, because otherwise he wouldn’t have two free hands.

I compared the armor to my frame.

These dwarves were bulky. While this armor wouldn’t go down below my knees, like it had on the guard, it should fit my upper half.

My attempt to dive into the armor was far from smooth, and the links ripped out a number of chest hairs, but I got it on.

Definitely needed to put an undershirt on below this, next time.

Damn, the armor was heavy—it must have weighed thirty pounds. I smacked my chest with a few hits. Yeah, this was the real deal. This armor was some fancy stuff, and I would just have to adjust to the weight, with time.

My tablet buzzed.

WTF is this?! The dwarf is dead… where are his pants? Is that a drawing of a dwarven hooker? OMG. What the hell happened?

‘One of five down. I caught the guard spanking it.’

For real?

‘Yes… Moving on, his armor fits me. Only comes down to my hips, but I have armor and a warhammer now… plus gems and gold, along with a boot dagger. The problem is they are swapping workers out, and the workers are in much better shape than the guard was. I have a great plan, though.’

Oh? Lay it on me.

‘Phrasing, babe. Phrasing. I'm going to drag his body up to the mine and say that he owed me money… that the mine is mine now and tell the others to leave.’

You’re an… See you in the next competition. At least you got a bucket load of points before you went out in a blaze of glory.

I chuckled at this and decided to check the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 16th

Survival: 7.2 (tied 94th)

eXplore: 1.7 (74th)

eXpand: 3.9 (11th)

eXploit: 3.7 (19th)

eXterminate: 12.1 (4th)

The smirk on my face was legendary. Killing this guy gave us eight eXterminate points. Yes! Probably because this was a medium objective.

I left the spot under the bridge and picked up the guard’s warhammer. When I hefted the weapon, I found the weight of it was stupid heavy.

Maybe a blacksmith could smelt the metal down, or maybe I could barter with it. I left the weapon next to the bridge. With my right hand, I grabbed the stripped guard by the hair and tugged his naked ass out onto the trail.

There was no doubt, I made quite a spectacle. A guy just strolling down a mountain trail in the mid-morning light, dragging the body of a warrior with a brain leak behind him.

The noise was loud, but I didn’t care at this point.

My trusty mining pick dripped gore and the body I dragged behind me left a bloody streak along the trail.

When we reached the entrance, I sniffed at his ale. While it smelled fine, I still poured the contents of the mug out, tossing it to the side. I smashed the table at the threshold of the mine, with an extremely loud, splintering crack.

“Hey! This is my mine now. This guard owed me a debt and this mine now belongs to me. Pack up your stuff, because you’re heading home!” I shouted down, into the mine.

There was an echoing snap of my call. Eventually, my booming echoes faded to a whimper and I could hear a bunch of chatter as the dwarven miners discussed what they should do. When they finished chatting, they arrived together.

Four burly dwarves walked hesitantly up to the mine’s exit. They saw the shattered table and looked sad. That was fair. I probably should have just yelled. It had been a decent table, and we didn’t have any nice tables at home.

When they saw the dead guard, they gasped, then exchanged high fives. Happy eyes fixated on me after a mini celebration. I frowned, not exactly expecting this reaction.

“Can you understand me?” I asked.

They answered in their dwarven, which I couldn’t understand. My tablet vibrated a lot, so much so that I pulled it out, risking the distraction. Three of the dwarves stayed where they were, as the biggest of them stepped forward.

“You must defeat me. If I lose to you, these others will surrender with me. If you lose, you work the mine for six hundred days,” the big dwarf said.

I was shocked. Not only was his challenge given in English, it was perfectly clear— without any weird dwarven accent. To make matters worse, I would become a slave, if I lost.

When I looked behind me, to ensure there was no strange magic at play from some unseen force, he charged.

Alright, I probably deserved that—karma was a bitch.

This brute was looking to brawl, though, as he immediately tried to get in close. I decided to dodge his bull-like rush and let him wind himself.

But then, the asshole hurled his mining pick.

The twirl of the weapon was so fast from his burly arms, that I barely had any time to react. That part of your arm, under the bicep—I think it’s called your ‘triceps’—well that was where his pick hit me.

I cried out in pain. Behind me, there was a massive crash as after ripping through the underside of my right arm, the tool buried itself into the rock wall.

There was no time for me to contemplate some grand strategy. The dwarf barreled forward, hunched over as if he were trying to tackle me low.

I rotated around the clearing outside the mine, to avoid his attack. One of the other miners stuck out a foot, trying to trip me. My elbow smashed into the interrupter’s nose, sending his hands to his face, with swears galore.

“Hey, I thought this was between –”

In my peripheral vision, I caught sight of the big dwarf trying to free his pickaxe from the rock. I changed tactics, darting in.

When a meaty right hook flew towards my face, I stepped back beyond the range of the punch. Letting it narrowly miss me, I stepped forward and swung my pick broadside into the back of the big dwarf’s head. He stumbled, giving me an opening.

I swept a leg out, tripping him before he could recover. My adrenaline and sudden advantage had me grinning. I loomed over him, casting a long shadow as I held my pickaxe high over my head, ready to end his life.

“I surrender,” the dwarf cried out, rubbing at the lump on the back of his head. “Check your tablet.”

I stepped back and pulled my device from my vest. A few taps later and I saw he was telling the truth.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small mine. The six defending workers have agreed to surrender to you. (YES) - (NO)

I selected ‘YES’ and what transpired next was like being on a super mind-bending acid trip. There was a swirling, brown magical cortex over each of the dwarves. They were sucked up into the brown magic, that dulled slightly in coloration. When they vanished, I grunted with displeasure.

Where -?

Suddenly a flash of blinding light erupted that forced me to shield my eyes.

When I looked up, instead of four jacked dwarves, I saw four humans who looked like a bunch of gym rats who skipped leg day.

They were massive across the shoulders and chest, with massive arms, and itty-bitty chicken legs.

The tablet vibrated. I had thirty-two missed messages. Yeah. No doubt about it, Senna was a woman. Damn, girls loved to text.

Let’s see what she had to say. There were 31 rows of: Claim the mine!

And then she changed her tone.

You have to be shitting me. You simply waltzed up with the dead guard and they surrendered? Six workers and a mine?! I’m going to have to send them to gather acorns, for now, just so they can be fed.

‘I got hurt. Not bad, but there was a second fight. I kinda wished these workers had stayed dwarves, but not my rules. Glad it worked.’

The mine… it added so much metal to our inventory. We have over two hundred metal, now. I’m sure we will spend it eventually, but damn! Okay… I need to calm down. There is a ton of stone up there, too, and not much is needed to build a second stronghold. We will have enough resources ready in less than an hour. I need you to build the stronghold. I am assigning Mitch and Megan to you.

Two of the four chicken-legged gym rats walked off, probably reassigned by Senna. I looked at the remaining two workers.

“Mitch?” I asked and he grunted. I thought about ditching the body at my feet. Maybe it would bring a bear or some other predator, or maybe it would just vanish. I had no idea what the gaming mechanics for disposing of dead bodies might be. I certainly didn’t want to convert it into food.

I sighed, realizing I couldn’t just leave it. “Mitch, next to the bridge is a warhammer. Go get it, carry it and defend me. Megan, you will carry this body. Follow me.”

They each went about their tasks, staying close to me.

I found the waterfall, seeking another way down, only to realize that the path I’d used to come up here was likely the easiest route.

My arm ached dully and I was tired of being injured. My hopes for an easy route down were dashed.

After a few taps on my tablet, I saw a few places where I could theoretically build a depot up here. I just needed to butt the stronghold up close to the cliff wall.

Since I had a plan, I went and checked out the stronghold level one material requirements.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 44 hours (Adequate)

100 - Stone (Adequate)

1000 - Wood (Inadequate)

20 - Food (Adequate)

This led to me pulling up our inventory. Obviously, we needed more wood.

Materials & Supplies

Empire Food - 43 (+4 per hour)

Livestock Food - 23 (+50 per hour)

Wood - 927 (+92 per hour)

Stone - 104 (+0 per hour)

Metal - 221

Water - ∞

Hide - 82

Sheep - 27 (+5.0 per day)

Twine - 124’ (+14 per hour)

Gold - 1.2

Gems - 3

Eh, we had gems and gold, now. Not the most important thing. I saw that Senna had shifted all the stone gathering teams and some of the food workers to gathering wood. Knowing that girl, she was probably heading out to get some sticks herself.

‘Stay at your desk, it will be okay.’

How did you know?

‘I love ya. Be home soon to heal.’

She either ignored me or was focusing on other things, because there was no reply.

With nothing left to gain here, I trekked across the bridge with my two shadows. We walked toward the forest.

While I wanted to see where the other trail led and where these workers had been living, I decided to leave it for after construction on the stronghold had begun.

The three of us entered the redwoods, walked down the hill, and into the grove of oaks. I stuck close to the cliff and we soon reached the roaring crash of the waterfall.

I told Megan she could dump the guard’s body, for now, and we waited for the inventory numbers to creep higher.

A half hour later, the build option for a second strong hold turned green. I selected build, picked Mitch and set him to work, with the intention of having him go to sleep in the main stronghold.

“The build will not -” Mitch started to say, but I cut him off.

“Follow me, Mitch. I will show you where you can rest,” I said, heading back to Senna and Noobi City. I looked over at Megan and pointed to the dead guard, “Carry the body.”

A huge smile was on my lips. I had claimed a mine and six new workers. We had started construction on a second stronghold, and things were looking up.

I was excited for what the next day would bring, and yet… I was worried there might be a battle with some dwarven tribe looming. These workers had come from somewhere—you don't have a mine unless you have a need to craft weapons.

The more I gave the idea serious thought, the more worried I became. One thing was for certain. We needed to build a damn barracks.

The military arm of our empire was going to start, today—assuming I could get Senna to agree with me. That should be easy, I thought.

Chapter

Fifteen

COMPETITION 1 DAY 10

I  closed my eyes, turning my head in anticipation of the violent action.

Smack!

A crumbling, scraping noise was followed by the loud thud of stone cascading down onto dirt.

Maybe it wasn't the manliest reaction, but I got freaked out every time Mitch swung that mighty warhammer. Without fail, I cringed, holding a two-foot-long chisel in place. We were breaking down the massive stones around the second stronghold into movable pieces.

Feona grabbed the stone slab with a grunt. She hoisted the heavy material onto a hand cart, one that was being pulled by a small dinosaur.

The fantastic little animal was the only one this area received. The other two were working the fields outside of Noobi City.

Here, at Noobi North, Two Horns was my new best friend. The little dinosaur had more personality than any of the workers.

While the dinosaur munched on coarse grass, I focused on lining up the next chisel drop point with my mallet.

“Clear,” I said, turning my head.

There was a whoosh of air, another smack, and a fresh section of stone fell down into the dirt. We had been at this for what seemed like forever, the repetitive work gave me time to recall what had transpired over the past three days.

Senna shut down my military request fairly quickly. She met every one of my logical justifications with rational counter arguments. We eventually came to a compromise—the moment we reached stronghold level three, we would shift to a war footing. To prove a theory she had, I was sent to inspect the other trail that led away from the mine. It led to a single hut that was unclaimable until the stronghold was finished.

Her theory was that the game had these rings of challenges. The near circles around a starting point all had some form of required materials to some degree.

Her argument was that there would be a cave in the savannah with a mine, just the same as the mountains.

Why?

Because why else have a starting point there, if there weren’t resources nearby to make growth at that point feasible?

I agreed with this logic, because while we were in an alien competition, most of this was built around skill, and decision making, with a fairly balanced approach between the two.

Which led to our next debate, the rings of difficulty.

Senna hypothesized that we were still within three miles of the starting point. This should still be in the starter ring around our selected point.

The further out we went, though, the harder the wild objectives would become.

At seven miles, she figured there would probably be a wild village. At fifteen, there would be a wild town.

Twenty-five miles and beyond, probably cities—maybe even some that reinforced each other. Of course, this was all conjecture, but she proved her point when I learned that there was no dwarven village we’d need to combat.

The mine was literally an objective point, with no other connections to anything. Same with the dryad farm.

It was smart to think that eventually, we would reach a point where there were chain reactions—like if you stole someone’s farm, they’d bring an army to reclaim it. I really felt that should be what happened, and yet, Senna’s reasoning made sense to me.

I guess it made sense to the Archaics also, that in the early stages of the competition, you should have an opportunity to amass resources and build up your holdings.

Otherwise, we would likely never control the mine and get mired in a nonstop tug-of-war over essential resources.

When I got home from the mine raid, I learned a few things.

To start, dwarfy the dice chucker went into the depot.

The concept that you could convert a still cooling corpse into food was gross, savage, and wrong. And yet, he increased our resources by thirty hides and added seventy something to livestock food.

So… I guess that worked.

This led to a sad conversation about policing up battlefields, if we were desperate.

I had to shake those thoughts off. After losing my argument for a barracks, Senna laid out a plan she wanted my opinion on. We were going to make tools.

If we started on a barracks now, that meant we wouldn’t have enough resources for a blacksmith, for days.

Senna showed me a list of stat bonuses that tools provided; and by tools, she meant hand wagons, chisels, mallets, wooden wheels, and the list went on.

We would move out of the stone age into a Roman era once we had proper tools. Most important, though, we’d see a big spike in production.

Which we needed.

Senna dropped some math bombs on me that I couldn’t help but agree with—though that didn’t stop me from grumbling about it.

Although I had known she was smarter and more capable than me when it came to such things, now she was proving it.

She noted that on day ten, we would have forty workers, require seventy-five food a day between the farm animals’, ours’ and our workers’ needs, and be producing an additional nine workers, between both strongholds.

The math was really starting to steam roll.

We theory crafted future build orders, factored in our needs, and even spitballed what an early stronghold rush might look like, for next time. The competition allocated just enough resources to do so, but we would end up with almost no food and a huge demand for it.

We realized we needed to make the most of what we had.

This resulted in me working my ass off over the past three days as I adjusted resource imbalances—delivering tools and helping out wherever Senna needed a competent manager. I became her runner, in a sense.

And while others may judge me weak for not letting her do more, she was flipping huge, in her third trimester.

So, I happily ran around—both for her and for Noobi City. I understood, now, why Amelia Earhart was not the right person to pick for Senna’s assistant.

Speaking of pregnancy.

Senna woke up this morning with no swollen belly, her fine hourglass figure was back, and we had our forty-first worker. She sent me a selfie on my tablet, telling me she’d be over to visit soon.

Then, there was the second math bomb she dropped on me.

It seemed we had a daughter named Nora. If Nora lived through the entire contest, she would have thirty-three of her own children.

If Nora had a daughter, her first daughter would have thirty-two children, and so on. The compounding math gave me a headache.

I tried to convince Senna to just let the strongholds produce, but she refused. This was our path to victory.

She was convinced that this was how we could beat the others—with sheer human numbers swarming over the map and expanding our empire.

While I was beyond proud of her, I knew that down the line she would need a break. She struggled the last trimester—even if it only lasted for two days. And I loved her too much to watch her do that to herself every damn week.

I’d always thought of myself as a rather distant boyfriend; I usually kept my female companions at arm's length.

Senna was my everything that I always wondered if I’d find. Which is why seeing her so uncomfortable drove me to do as much as I could to improve our situation.

This overwhelming love translated into only four hours of sleep a night and eighteen hours of back breaking labor—all while wearing that damn chainmail over my toga and under my western outfit.

Yeah, the armor was hot and annoying, but Senna’s sacrifice reminded me that this was for all the marbles.

Sadly, our dedication was not shared by others.

We gave Amelia a second interview that she failed. When asked to become a manager—what she viewed as a glorified worker—she declined.

After seeing the burden Senna bore without complaining, I could understand her decision.

In addition to the ever-increasing math and managerial burden, Senna picked through thousands and thousands of potential recruits.

Apparently, telling women that they needed to be baby factories, get cucked—since Senna already had my heart—and then informing them they would be worked to the bone, was less than appealing.

Like, to any of them.

Sure, they understood the stakes, but they were still human, not robots. A few were initially hesitant, like Amelia had been, but all requested a late game summons. They wanted to help, but only so much—which was a red flag for the two of us.

Senna was sad because we were still drowning in work—so much so, that I had to cut back on exploring and adventuring.

There was some good news, though.

Senna was no longer pregnant, and we would be starting both our fourth and fifth medium farms today, with a sixth and seventh due to begin construction tomorrow. Meaning, if all went well, we should be ready to upgrade the stronghold to level three around day fifteen.

That, and we finally had dinosaurs; our Two Horns had hatched. Buttercup, and Grumpy were the best.

Senna mentioned that one of the ladies she interviewed had asked if there were going to be dinosaurs on this dinosaur ride. When I didn’t get the reference, Senna struggled to explain the original Michael Crichton plot between bouts of giggles.

Another three eggs were slotted into the queue and my very own mount was next in line after this second batch of two horns.

The maiasaura egg was huge, making the stable my favorite place to visit first thing in the morning.

I liked to watch the eggs shimmy and shake, tiny dinosaurs growing inside them.

“You ready to go?” Senna asked, breaking me free of my thoughts.

She had arrived unexpectedly early.

Her golden locks spun freely in the light breeze She wore a tight adventuring outfit, that always seemed to fit, regardless of her rapidly changing size.

She twirled around on one foot, showing off her slim figure, while a wide smile showcased her pearly whites. One look in those merry, sparkling blue eyes and a jolt of love zapped away my fatigue, filling me with energy.

“Honey, you look fantastic!” I said, placing the chisel on the rock and using the mallet to hit the tip until it was firmly seated in the rock with a good foot of metal above my grip.

“Clear.”

Smash!

“That always freaks me out.” Senna said with a grunt, cringing as another chunk of rock split off.

I agreed, nodding with a ‘yup’ as a new female worker walked up.

“Nate,” Senna grinned, “I’d like you to meet Nora.” She turned to the worker. “Nora, this is Nate, your father.”

I waved briefly and Nora waved back, with only the bare minimum of emotion showing on her face.

If this were anywhere else, I’d be concerned because there was zero resemblance. She was black, tall, a face full of freckles, and had a neat ponytail.

“Nora, you are to help Mitch break apart this stone, is that understood?” Senna ordered in a testing tone.

“Yes, competitor Senna, I will do as you command,” Nora responded politely.

I left the chisel and mallet on the rock for Nora to take over.

When Senna handed me a water skin, I gulped greedily from the neck before setting it down.

Hand-in-hand, we strolled back towards the townhall, for me to gear up before I departed to explore what lay to the west of our second tier one stronghold that I had named Noobi North.

“You sure about this?” I asked.

Senna nodded. “I knew this is what would have to happen, since before this thing started. We’re just agreeing to have another baby,” she bounced her brows at me, “at this point.”

“Alright.” I grinned at her antics. “I love you.”

“That’s sweet, and I do appreciate it. When you get done exploring, I’ll reward you properly. And fret not, it’ll be just like I’m at your side—with me constantly monitoring your progress via tablet.”

I frowned and she rolled her eyes.

“We discussed this, Nate. And while I know you're concerned for my mental health…” She chuckled at my scrunched-up face. “That is super endearing, by the way.”

“I know, but…” I grimaced. “I just want to make you happy, but I still worry. That’s all it is,” I admitted.

“Careful Nate, we are about to agree to have another baby and you’re in danger of ruining your reward by me tackling you and giving it to you early, because I can almost feel the compassion oozing off you in waves. You…” Senna shook her head and swatted my butt playfully. “Earth would have been so good to me. At least I know I got a great man.”

“So, while I caved on this part, I wanted to say that… if, no… when you find an assistant. I’d like to do some exploring with you really by my side,” I said, holding the door open for her. “I miss you… a lot. And while I know that space is supposedly good for couples…”

“Join me,” Senna said, flashing me a warm, loving smile.

She walked straight for the bedroom, pulling out her tablet. I headed to my desk and grabbed mine. Senna left the door open for me, so I could follow her into our room. When I entered, I was met with a fiery kiss that lasted for several wonderful minutes.

Soft fingers trailed down my cheek. “And now we have twenty-two hours to consummate the deal. As to the next manager, it's definitely a ‘when’ and not an ‘if’ we find one. I still hope to find someone to help me manage things, so I can vary my daily workload and get some enjoyment out of this ordeal.”

My worries must have wormed their way onto my face again because Senna reached up and smoothed out the creases on my forehead.

“I’ll compromise if I have to,” she admitted, “but only because we really need the help. Speaking of which, I need to get back to it—I may have a decent lead on our third wheel. The biography looked promising.”

“Someone famous?” I asked, leaving the bedroom to strap on the only sword in our slowly blossoming empire. “Thanks for letting me get this in the queue.”

“Pfft. You demanded a sword. Even put your hands on your hips and stomped your foot. It’s not like we are short on metal, and the blacksmith had no problems making you a basic short sword.” She frowned at how I hooked it through a loop of cord attached to my belt.

“Just no sheath yet,” I shrugged. “I’ll deal with it.”

“I doubt a leather worker will be a priority for a while. As to the potential lady… Yes, she is famous, but not from our time.” Senna giggled when I raised an eyebrow. “Apparently, the Archaics have been snatching people for a very long time. I’ll text you after the interview. If it goes well, I’ll have them trail you tomorrow, for an hour.”

“Did you ever figure out the surrender mechanic?” I asked, heading out the door.

She followed me out, throwing an arm around my waist and leaning against me.

My smirk grew when she tried to rest her head on my shoulder but couldn’t because I wouldn’t slow down. We walked south on the dirt trail that connected the strongholds.

In the fields that we walked past, at least twenty workers were breaking stones apart, hauling rock away in carts, picking up pieces of stone and stuffing them into a second depot.

All around us was a veritable hive of human activity, though not much progress had been made here, building wise. There was just the stronghold, the mine, and two depots.

“There is conflicting information about surrenders between competitors,” Senna said with a frustrated sigh. “I think… based on what the help menu told me, that competitors can surrender.

“As in, on day one, we can jog a hundred miles to the next starting point where we abduct the first competitor and stand guard over their partner until the stronghold is finished. We could then kill them both, and get eXterminate points, or we can capture them and get eXploit points.

“The thing is, the competitors can rebel and turn the tables on us. Also, I think that is why, even though we’re already on day ten, there are only five competitors who are out of the competition. I think the number is probably higher, if that number included those who have been captured. Even if we surrender, our survival tally would still increase.”

I let out a low whistle, realizing that we had gotten insanely lucky.

Senna sensed this and smirked. “I am able to tell, to some extent, just what you’re thinking.” Her smile lit my world. “I love seeing us grow as a couple. Anyway, yeah, next time I will build the depot, and then barricade it. Technically, one of us could hide in the depot until abducting a drone gave us winning odds.”

She frowned. “It’s not a smart tactic to abandon your base location to attack another that way, though.”

I nodded. “Sure. We could build our base closer to whoever we picked to attack first and build a barracks right after stronghold one. That might work better than trying to kill another team on day one.”

I paused. “The more we learn, the more I feel we got lucky having only one close neighbor,” I said, looking to the east.

“Yeah, well, rushing to take down another competitor doesn’t help, unless you capture their workers, too. And we haven’t really faced other workers yet, unless you count the Dwarves.

“Who knows? They may be really easy to incapacitate. There is a lot for us to think about and learn, that's for sure,” Senna said, pausing just before we entered the tree line. She leaned into me with a loving hug. “Good luck today. We’re doing great in the rankings but could use some more eXploration points and access to new resources. Keep up the great work and know that I’m proud of you.”

I leaned down and nibbled on her earlobe, eliciting a delightful giggle.

She scampered away, before things devolved into outright debauchery.

“Later! When you finish exploring the west. And be careful, Nate. Even with a sword and armor, I worry about you,” Senna called out, her voice fading as the distance between us grew.

“I’ll have my guardian angel over my shoulder the whole time. Text often, my love. Alas, this is my exit,” I yelled, watching her snap her hips with each step she took. “Your ass is divine!”

“Thanks, husband!” she shouted, before disappearing around a bend in the trail.

A loud, disappointed sigh escaped me.

There would be no church wedding with our families, but she had every right to call me that.

I deviated off the trail that granted a bonus speed to our workers and wandered off to the west. Since this was likely another bunch of woods, I was hoping to avoid any big spiders and find some neat things to improve our empire.

Twirling the sword in my hand, I stepped off into the unknown.

Chapter

Sixteen

COMPETITION 1 DAY 10

T he smaller oak trees shrank in size until they faded away altogether.

The towering redwoods choked off the little trees’ access to sunlight, with their massive canopies. I glanced up with a twisted frown of disapproval. I really hated how tall these trees were.

I paused before entering the dark, gloomy forest. Senna had mentioned the score. I was genuinely excited to see how much a second stronghold had helped our ranking.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 26th

Survival: 10.2 (tied 94th)

eXplore: 1.9 (78th)

eXpand: 5.2 (23rd)

eXploit: 7.7 (14th)

eXterminate: 12.1 (12th)

I kicked a pile of leaves in frustration.

Three days.

We’d slipped twelve places in three days.

Yes, I checked this tablet a lot. But I got into a groove yesterday, and we’d lost a full eight spots since I’d last checked on the score. It had to be the fact that I’d stopped exploring.

When I roamed, killed baddies, and got to exploit things, we earned a lot of points. My frustration was fleeting, when I recognized there was an interesting element to this score.

Our eXploit points almost matched our survival points—meaning that even if we died today, a team in hiding would need to persist three times longer just to match us. I really hoped that as we expanded and continued to grow, this would have a greater effect.

I kind of felt like you should get less than a point a day for just surviving. Seeing these other numbers start to pick up, validated my concern. It appeared that the scoring system agreed with me… assuming you survived long enough to build up your city.

The device went back into my vest, which I wore over my shirt and mail, until it thumped against my belt.

I’d at least started to grow accustomed to the constant weight of my armor. The heavy weight of so much metal had done little for me so far, besides make my knees, ankles, and back ache. Yet... I wanted to learn how to carry the extra weight without noticing it, to feel natural in the gear.

There were times, when walking to and from different jobs, that I would pretend to fight some vicious foe—usually trees. It was mainly to get the motions down, while carrying the extra burden of armor. I was sure I looked silly, but practice makes perfect.

My determined pace had me exploring new territory again. This time, I was heading west. A hundred plus miles in this direction, off in the distant mountains, would be the competitor who had picked the spawn point closest to us. I had a feeling they were doing what we were doing—hunkering down and improving. I knew I sure as hell didn’t want to climb up a mountain to attack them.

Actually, it was a worthy strategy to bring up with Senna for our next go around. The idea resonated with me. Go high up into the mountains, eek out a living and simply persevere, instead of trying to achieve glory. The process would never get you into the top ten. But… we didn’t need to finish first.

Just like everyone else, we only needed to earn ten points, to get to Qoobi.

Hell, with a strategy like that, you would probably get in the top fifty more often than not. Do that ten times in a row, and you’d make the quota and become a leader for your species.

If you stayed defensive, a high-ground turtle-up strategy had several advantages. I could get behind that concept… in theory at least.

I doubted Senna could, though, and deep down, I knew looking at a seventy-seventh place ranking from a lack of substantial progress day in and day out would drive me mad.

My internal debate quieted and I focused on the forest, letting my fingers slide over the bark of a young redwood.

I had come to have a love hate relationship with the redwoods. Their size was soothing, but also a constant reminder that those damn caverns in their base could be home to anything. Five minutes into my walk through the giants, my device pinged.

My boots scuffed as I jumped up a root. I ensured the space above me was clear, and went about seeing what the commotion was all about.

I yanked the tablet out of my vest and noticed it had a single alert. When I opened the map, I saw a few trees over, that there was half of a wolf icon.

Oh… is this where they went after I killed their alpha? I felt confident I could dispatch them without any problems.

The tablet went back under my vest until it hit my belt. My wistful desire for an adventuring satchel was abandoned as the thrill of pending combat rose up within me.

This would be the first real test of my new sword—none of the trees I’d sparred with had bothered fighting back. I was excited to finally have proper gear and more importantly, the opportunity to use it.

Sweat greased my palms and a nervous anxiety washed over me. Despite my increased rate of breathing and flushed cheeks, there were no butterflies or self-doubt—maybe because I’d defeated this foe once before.

While there was a chance that this was a different pack at only half strength, I had a hunch I’d seen these mutts before. My eyes picked out four sets of tracks around the base of the next tree.

Hmm…

Picking up different tracks on a forest floor was easy. I even bent down to inspect them. They were partly covered by leaves that had likely dropped during a hard rain, two days ago.

This seemed so easy, now. Was I improving on a hidden scale?

My brow furrowed as I contemplated such a possibility. I was curious whether such improvements were noticeable because I was leveling up, or if it was simply my becoming accustomed to searching for such signs.

When I arrived next to the tree where the tablet had shown the half-icon, I paused behind a big root and watched a small, dark opening in the trunk.

These redwoods… it was hard to explain how tiny they made you feel when you were right up next to one. The roots towered over me. When something grew this big, it tended to grow imperfectly.

In this case, that had led to a jagged, natural opening forming at the base of the trunk in the shape of a triangle. The entrance was only about the width of two men and might easily have escaped casual observation. I was not surprised the wolves had managed to hide safely in there.

If it weren’t for my tablet’s notification, I’d be left searching every little alcove in the area.

My ability to sit and watch, patiently, was not what made me nervous. I just… felt a long reconnaissance, leaving my back exposed, was less than prudent.

It was that anxiety that spurred me forward, into an opening that was ten shades of gray and black. Not a peep of noise came out of it.

I’d spooked this pack once, and wanted to end this for good this time, so I decided to rush and clog the exit, which was barely wider than I was.

Deciding to sprint the last bit, my feet crunched fallen leaves and my chain mail rattled. I used a hand plant to leap over a waist high root that stood in the way.

My blood pumped in my ears as I strained to hear my foe.

My heavy footfalls seemed deafening to me, crashing over the thunder of my rapidly beating heart. I strained to hear the wolves as I sprinted to the tree. They made no sounds at all, though, which I found troublesome because I’d certainly given them plenty of warning that I was coming.

When I hit the threshold, I heard ragged breathing—the kind you associate with sickness.

The interior of the hollow was so damn dark, that I could only guess at what was in this den. There’d been no snarling or defensive barking at my arrival. Something was clearly off.

The tense defensive posture I held turned out to be a waste of energy.

When my eyes adjusted to the dim interior, ever so slowly, the den revealed a sad sight. The four wolves had retreated here, likely days ago, and had starved.

Only two of them still breathed as they panted weakly on their sides. The pair never even acknowledged my arrival. They were little more than skin and bones, having given me no signs of doing much more than retreating here after our previous encounter to lay down and give up.

I felt kind of bad.

My short walk to the two who still breathed left me looming over them. Finally, I was noticed by the dying wolves. They both closed their eyes, as if begging me to put them out of their misery.

With a sad sigh, I obliged.

I was not a butcher. The excitement of a fight had spurred me forward, but what amounted to murder, like this... well, it hurt. These were the decisions I would have to make, though.

A quick stab through the dying wolves’ chests ensured the spot was secure. At least the dead ones still counted as fresh meat.

The tablet buzzed at me.

Wahoo, we got some more points and I see you killed a wolf pack. How did it go? Are you hurt?

I couldn’t help but smile at Senna’s message and tapped out a response. ‘The wolf pack died long before I got here… starved to death. Still, decent hides here, send a worker. I’ll draw a few marks in the dirt and on the tree.’

I didn’t want to go into any details about the sad ordeal via text. Maybe I’d bring it up during a real conversation later, if I needed to get it off my chest—assuming we found the time to talk.

A new text came in.

Don’t worry about that, keep exploring. I can send a worker to your current location. Peter is enroute now, and he will be able to drag those bodies back, no problem. You’re not setting a record pace, after all.

I chuckled, reading that.

When I opened the map, I saw that I was still fairly close to the new stronghold—close enough that I could dump a depot here, if I needed to.

Hmm…

I didn’t like this. Why would the wolves starve? The bunnies weren’t too far away. I’d seen plenty of squirrels in these big redwoods. When I walked out of the small den, I did so with the tablet map on.

There was no bunny icon, but there was a -

An alert buzzed that I didn’t bother to check.

The sound of running footsteps had me expecting a fight. I tensed, readying my sword, only to see a short Mexican man run right past me. I went right back to texting.

‘I take it Peter is Mexican? Or South American at the very least? Damn, he spooked me because I don’t see workers run that often.’

The workers burn more energy and consume more food when they run. I learned early on that having them run is normally a waste of resources and counterproductive. He is going into hostile territory, though, so he ran. And Nate, no way in hell am I naming a few thousand workers every round based on their looks. I set the naming feature to auto generate… so, Peter is Peter. Sorry, not sorry. Good luck. Sexy lady has stuff to do, loves ya.

I chuckled before sliding my tablet back into my vest.

Okay, maybe there was a reason the wolves were inept, or maybe another threat had caused them to hide away in that den.

Peter came back out, dragging a wolf by the tail. I was about to leave him to his task, when a flicker of movement from above caught my eye.

High in the tree was a large hole, from which a bat as big as a car dropped down, suddenly.

My sword rang out when I yanked the blade free.

Sharp talons descended for Peter, and my reaction was way too late to save him.

The drone shuddered, shaking his head right before he died. I saw his eyes widen at the last second in confusion, as if he had suddenly awakened. The poor man craned his neck up at the wrong time.

A claw the size of my arm sank into his chest. He gave a blood curdling scream that sent nearby birds flying. I charged the big bat as it flapped its wings intensely, trying to escape with its prize.

I wasn’t too far away, though, and my thrust sliced open the back of the beast’s leg.

The shriek the bat belted out was brutal on my ears and left them ringing. Its squished face darted down to bite me; it flung poor Peter off its claw, so it could seek revenge.

I rolled, trying to dodge its bite only to feel a sharp sting on my right ass cheek. I grimaced and swiped out erratically with my sword, slicing only air.

When I burst back up off the ground like a puma, I felt the strokes of its enormous wings pushing air against my body. The bat was climbing, either to escape or –

It dove with a speed even I found terrifyingly fast. My instincts told me the claws were the biggest threat. I jumped to get above them stabbing my blade into the chest of the bat as we were on a collision course.

My lunge for its heart missed, my blade piercing a lung, though the impact with its torso sent me flying. When I recovered from my tumble across the forest floor, however, I came up without a weapon.

A darting glance about me found a stick I could use. My body protested such abusive treatment, aching from the force of my impact with the ground.

I snatched up the fallen branch, noting that my enemy was trying to fly away, but was unable to gain altitude.

With only a stick in my hands, I squared off against the gigantic bat. I stepped sideways, keeping my eyes focused on my opponent.

The bat struggled; the dry retching sounds it made became a wet hack. Blood painted its sharp teeth in a spattering of red.

I stepped backwards for a few paces to check on my wound. My right leg had blood trickling down it from a small gash on my ass. I was relieved it was minor; nothing a simple healing couldn’t fix with some rest.

Maybe the creature knew it was on borrowed time, because it shrieked angrily—its yellow eyes staring at me with a mix of hatred and desperation. Checking out the damage, I took my eyes off the bat. During my brief inspection, my foe darted in for the kill.

Alarmed, I stuck my stick out before me like a lance. The bat faltered, landing on the ground.

It wheezed bloody foam then took to the air once more. With my stick, I was able to keep the bat from getting too close.

Each time, it would fall back to the ground before launching itself at me.

Every time it landed, I ran. When I ran, it flew. With my stick, I kept it at bay. The bat was weakening—time was on my side. So, I continued to play the game of holding it at bay with the stick when it flew around and running away when it landed.

A second worker arrived just as the bat seemed to tire. It was the miner from earlier, Mitch. He took one look at the massive bat and bolted. So much for his help and yet…

The bat slowed, its constant, nervous inspection of all around it gave me more time to stall. It never saw another human, but it kept checking for an attack from behind.

There was a fire in its eyes—the sudden realization of defeat maybe. With powerful flaps of its wings, it tried to lift itself one last time in an all or nothing bid to retreat back up to its home on high.

The exertion resulted in a hacking sputter that sent bloody foam in a spray from its chest. The bat fell, smashing into a tree root before collapsing to the forest floor.

I limped to the twitching body. Its eyes were open but glazed over. I still waited a half hour before pulling my blade from its carcass. Senna was concerned about me, and I used the time to reassure her that I was okay.

When I finally had my blade back in its impromptu sheath, I had to wonder—was this what had kept the wolves shut in? Or was there some other threat nearby?

There was only one way to find out.

I headed deeper into the woods, walking with a slight limp. I should be cutting south some more, but I was drawn further east by the sound of a hollow peck, the kind birds made when they smacked their beaks annoyingly into bark.

The bird was a big letdown, flying away before I got near. Off to my right I could see a field like those that were visible from our second stronghold.

Were these those same grass and rock covered fields? I walked north until I could make out the stronghold from the tree line.

I felt a pang of guilt, I almost felt like a pansy with how slow I was going. Then again, all it took was one careless mistake for some huge momma spider to turn me into lunch.

Who cared if I made swift progress? Well, besides some inner competitive ego, I doubted anyone besides Amelia would complain about my limited progress. Senna sure wouldn’t be encouraging me to run into a den of aliens.

With renewed confidence, I picked up the pace, keeping my head on a swivel.

There were so many spots some strange creature could ambush me from. I had to wonder what it was like exploring the savannah—you could probably see everything you needed to from a small hill.

I wanted to go faster, even did so for a few hundred feet, but the looming shadows of the giant redwoods slowed me down again.

My snail’s pace… well, it just felt right.

I was able to be thorough while checking out a lot of potential threats. Five minutes became ten, and soon an hour had passed. I climbed up a root to check the map.

The oak grove was off to my left, as I’d turned south again at some point. No icons were visible and I’d explored a nice, big area, without much to show for it. This was the largest chunk of land I’d trekked through without stumbling across some objective or reward.

After a few quick gulps of water, I figured it was time to head more to the west. My tablet buzzed. There was an image of Senna beside a smaller, pretty woman. She was almost Senna’s opposite.

Whereas Senna had pretty eyes, blonde hair, and soft, delicate features, this woman had long, dark brown hair, with intense, sharp features. Her hazel eyes were friendly, her smile was either worthy of a poker game or genuine—I was leaning towards genuine.

They both looked really happy. This woman was petite and incredibly pretty, like a model on a website cover.

She was definitely out my league, even with a small mole on her cheek.

Staring at the image of the two of them, I knew this lady would have been the hottest girl in high school, for sure.

Senna looked really happy. After the struggles she’d had to find someone to help out, it was good to see her smiling with another woman like this.

Part of me wanted to pitch a tent at the thought of them both naked with me.

I ignored little me’s input and smiled, happy that Senna was exuberant enough about another woman to send me a photo like this.

This is her! I know it. You can introduce yourself to her for ten minutes. I want you read her bio before you hear her story.

‘So read the inside flap before I judge the cover? Got it. What’s her name? I’m in a safe spot.’

Elizabeth Blount, there are three. You want the one born 1498.

That loud clearing throat sound people did when they were super shocked, yeah, I did that.

I wanted to talk to Valance, because this was insane.

1498?!

Why didn’t the Archaics just zap Hitler, or remove some key technology to keep us humans from destroying ourselves?

Then, I figured it would be a lost cause. This is the route a super powerful alien race took based on their own conclusions. My logic, well, I doubted they would care about it.

Before I dove into the tablet’s interface, I climbed about four feet higher into the tree to nestle into another safe spot.

The pain in my ass cheek had faded into a numbing tingle I could ignore. A quick lookie loo at the surrounding area confirmed there was nothing about to eat me.

I felt secure enough in this small groove that I could halfway drop my guard to study Elizabeth Blount’s bio—though studying was not really a strong suit of mine.

Shucks, I’d had some issues in school… quite a few, actually.

While I’d done well in science, math was meh, and my performance in English, social studies, history, and the others was lackluster at best.

I’m talking high C’s low B grades—mostly because I was a doer, not a reader.

I’ve always been the extrovert who preferred to be outside cutting the Garcia’s lawn instead of doing homework.

Or building a tree fort to shoot a potato cannon out of… because the ground launched ones were boring. I think it was safe to assume, I never once got called a bookworm.

However, when something piqued my curiosity, I was more than okay with investing time and energy into learning all I could about it.

The fact there was a dashingly handsome woman that was all smiles with my Senna… Well, color me extremely interested. Read her bio before hearing her story… interesting way to put it.

INVENTORY

BUILD

SCORE

MANAGE

I selected manage.

Strongholds

Personnel

Farms

Stable

Blacksmith

Animals

It was nice to see this list had gotten a bit longer. I never messed with this, because if I did, I would throw all Senna’s stuff for a loop. I tapped personnel.

Workers

Managers

Huh, I selected managers.

Senna - text, send images, track

Interview new manager

Ha!

That lines up with how she figured out how to text me.

I really should try to find the time to tinker with the system. Probably would have to wait until day nine hundred plus when I could be relaxing with my harem.

Assuming they didn’t kill each other, or me, first.

I opened the new manager tab.

Okay, things became chaotic at this point. There was just a massive scrolling list of names that continued to populate. At the top right, were a dozen folders that Senna had apparently made. From the top left to the middle, there was a search bar, which had some drop down options, and even a preference selector.

I searched for Elizabath Blount.

It came back with an error and then the screen figured out I spelled like an idiot and auto found the three Elizabeth Blount names. Score one for technology.

Elizabeth Blount born 1498 - England

Elizabeth Blount born 1523 - Wales

Elizabeth Blount born 1702 - England

I may not be the best speller, or the world’s greatest reader, but I could recall faces pretty darn well. Each of these had an image and the image matched the 1498 option. I selected the personnel file and two options populated.

Self-Biography

Biography

I sighed, giving this a moment. This was similar to what I’d become accustomed to seeing when I’d searched for a sidekick to assist me, or when I was researching who to manage my properties.

Same with the properties themselves. Anyone and everyone would lie on a resume, touting the best of what they thought they were.

My style was to shake their hand, ask some questions, and assess for myself the worth of the person or building I was inspecting. Yet… this had two options. I had to assume, if I were abducted over six hundred years ago, then I would understand the value of my biography and the fact the Archaics were going to give a non-sugar coated version.

Against my normal nature, I selected Biography.

Elizabeth Blount. Born 1498. Was raised as a minor noble, where she received a decent education. Most of her youth was spent with her mother where she learned textiles, agriculture, and general business her father was often unable to handle. Her mother instilled great character in her daughter that would save her life. She grew into a rare flower of beauty, and due to her father’s politicking, she was thrust into the King’s Court. King Henry bedded her as a mistress. She was thought of fondly by most, except by the Queen, whose husband fancied her. Due to pressure from the Queen and Mary Boelyn becoming the King’s mistress after she bore him a son, Elizabeth was sent away. She was married, faithfully twice, and was a wise woman to escape the court's wrath. Elizabeth gave birth to six healthy children without complication. Abducted in 1539 before she could perish from illness. Preserved for her ability to manage estates and produce heirs. Interview (YES) - (NO)

Wow, that little girl had six flipping kids? Woman, I corrected myself.

I had to remember the Archaics were storing everyone at a vibrant age. I should probably look in a reflection.

Now that I thought about it, even Senna had started looking slightly younger than she did when we first met, but for me it would be a bigger difference.

She did comment about my looks, earlier…

Damn…

My mind returned to thoughts of Elizabeth Blount. I had never read her story, but it was certainly fascinating.

How did Senna find her in that huge list?

I bet she searched for healthy children or something.

Wow.

I was so stunned that I needed a minute to process this. I set the tablet down to ensure I was still safe.

My surroundings had forgotten about me, the woodpecker smacked a tree in the distance, rabbits hopped, and squirrels foraged.

So…

How the hell did you make a better biography than that?

I selected Self-Biography.

I’m young again. In the thousand times I have written this, the justifications I have indicated for this magical transformation have... altered. Those three immortal words at the start are fitting and have been left intentionally. At first, I attributed my abduction to me going to heaven. Then, as the years went by, I learned so much. Valance would bring me out of stasis every ten years for a few weeks. I would get caught up on world events and study new revelations. I saw everything and everyone I knew perish. My less famous children went on to lead amazing lives. My legacy was intact as the model mistress. Even though King Henry eventually scorned me, I never regretted my decision. I was dutifully loyal, and kept my mouth shut and my legs open to him. It gave my son privileges and me a special place in the King’s heart. I know you will be reading this, aghast from such bold statements. I say this, because if you research Henry, he killed people he didn’t trust. While it is an odd way to say I’m trustworthy, I find my past fitting. Know that I’m direct, yet private. Meek, yet fiery. Uncaring, yet sympathetic. I have lived forever and am uniquely different. Valance says mankind is redeemable in small measures. Imagine my endless merriment to learn I am to be part of that redemption. Except, these aliens have informed me there are two potential futures for me. Either I will wake up with a young body devoid of all memories on a planet named Qoobi, or I will faithfully serve a competitor in need of support in a competition and maintain who I once was. So, if you’re reading this, please know the kind of support you need are things I excel at. I implore you, talk to me, free me from stasis to see how we can help each other. I don’t want to lose my memories. Interview (YES) - (NO)

I hit ‘YES’ and a prompt told me that Elizabeth Blount had eleven minutes and change to chat with me.

The tablet shot some blue lights out, building an outline of a woman no taller than five feet. A moment later she was seated across from me, up high on the tree root.

She wore a cape that covered her body, which she pulled tightly around her petite frame, hiding her outfit—except for her sandaled feet.

There was an adjusting period when being teleported suddenly like this. I had experienced this myself and figured it was best to give her a moment.

Her head craned back before swiveling to take in her surroundings. She was quick in her inspection, while her hands snuck out of her cloak to give a happy clap that was so quiet, it was a strain to hear.

At least it was easy to see she was happy.

Wait… full of merriment.

So fitting.

“Nathanael?” Elizabeth asked, her inspection complete. I was now her sole focus.

“Nate works,” I said, tipping my cowboy hat with the signature tap a gentleman performed for a lady.

“Oh my! You’re a handsome one. Call me Beth, and know that Senna sang your praises. We walked some of these woods by the stronghold.” She gave an encompassing gesture. “Senna showed me Noobi City, it sucks -”

I snorted a laugh. “Is that so? Can’t say you're off. It is certainly a work in progress and will be grand one day. Or so I hope.”

Her eyes flared with excitement and she patted her legs as if eager to go for a trip. “That is what makes it so amazing. I hope you both always choose me as your third.”

I blushed a bit. This woman was a master at elevating emotions in me.

The way she half smiled with her stunning looks and batting lashes… I knew what she was doing.

And yet, it was genuine enough that I wasn’t offended that this lady wanted something from me.

“Why is that? And where is your accent?” I asked, noticing she didn’t sound even slightly British.

“Nixed out by the Archaics. In my years off of Earth I have talked with French, Brazilians, Russians, and more. I would bump into them…” She sighed with a painful wince. You just couldn’t help it with her adorable face, you wanted to hug her. “Only for fleeting moments. Aboard the Arinium everyone speaks one language and it's not English.

“We’re speaking something else right now. I never bumped into an alien or anything like that, but we humans got a whole new language. Probably going to be called Qoobish if you asked me,” she said reverting to a chipper tone.

“Well, what did you like about your chat with Senna? How about we start there?” I asked.

“Hmm… How about we walk instead?” Beth countered with a slight brow raise and an up to something smile. I folded my arms, getting comfy as a reply. “Fine! You win. I want a whole hour with you. Honestly, I want to never go back into stasis.”

I grunted, deciding to acquiesce to her request for a walk. My shimmy to exit the tree had me rustling my way out of my hiding spot to get to the forest floor.

I offered the lady a hand but her dainty fingers passed through mine. She smiled and hopped down like a tomboy.

She shed her cloak, as if to give me a reward. I gulped at what I saw.

Beth wore a thin, intentionally see-through, Roman toga. Which was great, because she was nude under the thin veil. Maybe to adhere to current morals or to just be a tease, there were two flower petals covering her nipples and a full lily hiding her nether lips.

It was at this point the young woman was able to show off her figure. She had average breasts that arched upward to a nipple, pointed perkily upwards. Her thin waist revealed a flat stomach, and when she turned to place her folded cloak down on the ground, I noted she had a runner’s firm butt.

Obviously, she was flaunting what she was born with, and my goddess it was delightful to see.

The sight was so delicious I averted my eyes from her body, raising them to her beautiful face. She smiled mischievously, letting our gaze lock.

The flower that fell out of her hair let me break away from her sultry gaze, the chemistry between us growing. She knew exactly what she was doing.

“Don’t take me into danger please, threats will not show up for me. If you die, when I should have been able to warn you, well, Senna might react negatively,” Beth said as if speaking from experience.

I shrugged, stepping away from the tree and inquisitively asked, “Has this happened before?”

“No, honestly I’m old, like actually old. All those wake ups, even for a few days or weeks at a time, age a person mentally. Also, I was an adulteress.” Her face winced at her admission. “The one man who summoned me, asked nothing but sexual questions and I was a bitch to him. So…”

I chuckled, walking towards the oak grove. My gaze lingered on her.

She was not sorry or remorseful about her actions in her biography, nor was there any regret showing, even now, on her face. She stuck to her man, even if he already had a woman.

I offered her my arm with my best smile.

Beth knew the gesture was frivolous, but adored it.

“I…” I sighed. “I pity you. And before you scold me. Hear me out. I love Senna. Before Senna, I loved greed. The plan was greed, love, and then family -”

She snorted, half-heartedly trying to stifle her interruption, before saying, “Ambitions of the common man: achieve his wealth, treat his family with it, and then live in merriment. When I came into my own riches, I scorned a man who flaunted his. You, Nathanael Immerson, are the kind of man a woman holds onto, if Senna is to be believed.”

“Thank you,” I said, “but I need to finish. I shall forgive you this time,” I huffed in my best English accent, which made her roll her eyes. “Were you recently given more time alone?”

She scrunched up her face, halting our walk to pick at a wildflower that defied her grasp. I’ll admit, I may have stolen a glance or three at her shapely ass.

“I’ve been a beauty my whole life. Even as a mother with ruined tits, I was the best looking gal in the group… And yet, I didn’t flaunt what I was born with like I am now. I tried to be a good soul, a spirit above the fray. Your question intrigues me. You want to know more about the current me, than the past me?” Beth asked, guessing correctly.

“Indeed.” I smirked, feeling like I’d won a jousting round.

Her squinting eyes allowed her to peek at me while she bounced a finger at me. “Excellent question, and one Senna missed. For two years, and the time was dreadfully lonely. Not lonely enough to tell Dimitri Bogachev if I liked anal sex, though.”

She eyed me, those hazels were fixated on my every little gesture. The question was probably a bait tactic. Most men would react. I was not most men. When she saw my shrug with no intention of providing a quip, Beth continued.

“Valance said I needed to be ready, and that even if I didn’t get picked, the big culling of humanity would come soon. If I wasn’t up to speed with current human ways, I would flounder even with my history erased. Apparently, everyone goes to Qoobi with the same basics but a wiped past. So yes, two years is a very long time to be left alone with your thoughts -”

I bent over to pick the flower for her. I placed it in my vest pocket, over my heart.

“Lady Elizabeth. Senna was right. I’d love to see you again tomorrow, if you’d do me the honor,” I said with the best bow I could muster.

“And this is why I was clapping in happiness when I first saw you. I accept, Sir Nate. Please bring me back tomorrow.”

Her hand went to compress the flower to my chest, but she vanished mid-motion.

Chapter

Seventeen

COMPETITION 1 DAY 11

T he next morning, I got out of bed and stretched, feeling refreshed. I spied Senna curled up under the covers, watching me rise for the day.

That little vixen had left me all hot and bothered by sending me a picture of her in a see-through toga.

So much so, in fact, that I headed home immediately by the most direct route.

I’d uncovered a bit more of the map, without any objectives unfortunately, in my quest to get back to Senna. My abandoned exploring meant I spent the rest of the tenth day helping Senna.

Well, that and talking with her. We worked out a lot of things regarding Miss Blount—then we focused on us.

We’d had a quickie in the depot... a romp in the stable’s hay… Oh, and even boinked in the river during a bath. All of those were topped off by a loving night in each other's arms.

We knew our alone time was going to hit a limit. Late tonight, stronghold three would begin its creation.

Team Dinosaur Warlord wouldn’t be breaking any records, but we wouldn’t be far off—a day or two at most.

“You sure have filled in nicely, your ass could grace the cover of a romance novel,” Senna noted from behind me. We had proven our getting younger theory. My face had that rugged twenty-five year old look, instead of twenty-nine going on forty—so my rollback was either still in progress or paused.

“Shucks, your body is something I daydream about nonstop,” I gushed.

Senna blushed and grinned.

“I… I’m conflicted,” I admitted, rehashing a conversation we’d already had.

“Please! Nate… I love you. In a few days, it’s not going to be just us anymore. There will be another woman in this bed. She is a master of a king’s court. You need to understand that if she is happy, I am happy. And if you’re happy, then we’re winning,” Senna said and I held up a hand.

“Merriment,” I snickered and Senna laughed. “You sure you're okay with this?”

Senna sighed, the covers draped over her form fell off her body as she slipped out of our bed and sauntered over to embrace me. “Would you be okay if I were the man, you were the woman, and I had to sleep around?”

“That is deep,” I said, frowning in contemplation.

I pulled her in tight, our embrace warm as her juicy booty fit nicely against my crotch. Together, we watched the south rising sun creep up over the horizon.

I let out a soft exhale before saying, “I love you. We’ve talked about this, and I thought we were on the family train, until we had to try something different… But… Assuming we end up in a dire situation, and our roles are somehow reversed? Well, I’m not sure. As the female in this ‘what-if’, do I like girls like you do?”

She nodded her head against my chest hair.

“Then I know I’d be fine with it,” I said confidently. “Mainly because we’re sharing each other as a family. If the roles were reversed and you had an all-male harem, and I wasn’t bi—which I’m not—then I would be bothered. I mean, there would be no connection between me and the other men.”

“Okay. You're certain?” Senna asked, leaning back against my shoulder and peering intently up at me.

I kissed her hair.

“I will draft up a marriage agreement. You and I are not to stray. If you die during a competition... I go barren. If Beth perishes, I can still have your children. If I die, she can still have your children—but if we both die, you don't get to summon a fourth manager and plug babies into her.”

“It’s what we agreed to yesterday,” I nodded. “We will give up some hardcore gaming aspects of whatever this competition is… to try to build a family, instead of a fuck and chuck situation.”

I rotated her around until her sparkly blues stared back at me before saying, “For us, tossing out the hypotheticals, Beth adds something to both of us. She will be an added layer to our love life, social interaction, and can even help our current love grow. I know, if we were on Earth, I’d see another woman like Beth and let my eyes slip on past her. You, Senna. Are my Queen.”

A roaming hand groped at my crotch. “So fucking hot when you say that,” Senna growled and aggressively kissed my neck.

I smacked at her hand and she pouted back at me—her batting lashes telling me she was eager to play.

“What,” I smirked, “didn’t get enough of me yesterday? I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of sore.”

“You’re right, my vagina aches from the ten times we had sex yesterday and last night. I just can’t get enough of you inside of me. As for Beth, I may have made her an offer... And hear me out—it was not out of desperation to lure her into our lives. More out of… fairness,” Senna admitted.

She dropped to her knees to tease my cock. She stroked me gently, all the while, staring back up at me with her sparkling blue eyes and wild bed hair.

“If Beth accepts us and joins our family, then she will be a Queen, and not a mistress. She has some questions for you that I want you to answer honestly. Can you do that for me, my King?”

I smiled a yes and gave her the slightest of nods. I meant it, and at the same time I was more than a little distracted as she slipped me into her mouth.

Ten minutes later, she was eagerly swallowing my morning build up. My ass was happily swatted on the way out the door as I went to go exploring.

With that most amazing of send offs, I left the Noobi City stronghold. We had deduced there must be a reason all that explored land was devoid of objectives—something big had to be in that area.

Today was going to be my day with Beth and tomorrow was going to be Senna’s day to spend an hour with her.

I went to the bathroom, did my morning routine, and grabbed my gear. A quick dip in the river before I headed out for the day had me feeling fresh and semi-clean.

We both had our fingers crossed that the level three upgrade would include a shower and even soap.

A quick self-inspection, after I felt I was ready to go, confirmed my belt was on tight, the chainmail wasn’t pinching my flesh, and I had my tablet in my vest and my sword at my hip.

Before I got to the tree line, I decided to turn around and take another look at Noobi City.

Our stronghold was the centerpiece, of course, with the depot shed nearby.

The depot and two of the farms had a minor orange tint to their frames, telling me they were on active upgrade timers.

The rest of the small farms we’d already converted into medium plots. The once tightly knit fields, with their tiny management buildings, now required about five times more space.

The animal farms had gone from small barns to two story structures that were nearly as big as the stronghold.

Everywhere I gazed, there were signs of progress. At least twenty workers were awake, performing their menial tasks.

Two full-size zuniceratops were tilling fields, heavy plows dragging behind them.

The blacksmith’s open framed structure billowed out smoke, as Megan hammered away on some creation. The echo of each smack was consistent and loud.

“Timber!” was called out to the north.

I heard a thunderous crack and my eyes spied a mighty redwood topple smaller trees on its way down.

A lumberyard was handling all the timber we chopped down with proper tools—like two-person long saws. Given the queue of stacked wood in the yard, I figured Senna would either divert workers to other tasks, or build a second lumber mill.

I grumbled at the sight of the drying wood, wishing we had more stone.

All the tier one buildings barely used any of the gray substance, while each of these upgraded models had both a foundation and lower portion of stone.

The vibe I got from the city was one of progress. I frowned at the fact that most of the buildings were still wooden, defenseless, and so exposed. I knew the city was in its early stages, but vibrant and improving.

The tablet came out of my vest when I headed northwest to complete yesterday’s exploration. My feet crossed the upgraded bridge with loud thunks over the green planks.

I tapped at the screen, pausing once I was on the western side. The greenish wire frame of a slight woman shimmered into an outline of Beth in the bluish light until she stood before me.

She wore a form fitting western outfit, with a matching cowgirl hat. Ah, so no seductress today. Her eyes radiated excitement as she smiled at her summoning. I let her adjust, before offering a friendly wave.

“The sunrise, it’s majestic. It has…” She basked in the morning glow, closing her eyes to soak in the rays. “I yearn desperately to feel the warmth.”

“Shucks, you look radiant. I prefer this outfit for a forest walk, and because I need to stay focused today,” I said, tipping my hat to acknowledge her beauty. “Join me for a stroll, my lady? All safe spots for at least ten minutes.”

“Good morning, handsome fellow,” she smiled up at me and fell into step. “I’m certain we will have a merry walk.”

I knew she was enjoying her freedom, so I let her walk without pestering her with questions.

The sights along the trail were common to me now. Birds darted around up high, flighty squirrels leaped from branch to branch down low, and bunnies tensed in the underbrush as we approached before relaxing as we walked past unawares. The morning light did a decent job of illuminating the forest.

While she enjoyed the view, I checked the tablet for the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 27th

Survival: 11.1 (tied 94th)

eXplore: 2.4 (76th)

eXpand: 5.4 (23rd)

eXploit: 8.2 (12th)

eXterminate: 12.1 (15th)

“How does that work?” Beth asked and I started to hand her the tablet like a goof. Her wide eyes and vigorous head shake had me pulling the device back. “I’ve learned about computers, tablets, and cellphones—all are magic, pure and utter witchcraftery.”

“Funny,” I chuckled, “glad to see that a dashing woman from the past thinks about modern technology the same way I view the Archaics’ alien technology. As for how the score works... do things, get points, mostly. Well, besides survival, for which I guess you still have to feed your body.” I paused and frowned. “I’m honestly shocked so many teams are still in the competition.”

“I saw that we’re only on day eleven. Based on construction in Noobi City, along with what Senna told me yesterday, only four more days until I get to feel a sunrise warming my skin,” Beth said, and groaned with desire. “After reviewing nothing but lore and television for eons, I feel a bit like a vampire—minus the blood sucking, of course. Four more days!”

“Ha! Four more days until you become another tool—a proverbial cog in the machine. Sorry to be so cynical, but it's the truth. I’m just another tool in that machine,” I admitted.

I twirled the sword in my hands, when we stopped briefly on the dirt trail between the rising redwoods. A pair of workers was sawing a fallen redwood into sections for the lumber mill, its blade spun by the river’s power. We passed by the sight and I realized I was being watched intently.

Beth’s beautiful hazel eyes fixated on my face like I had a dangling booger or something.

She smiled briefly before returning her gaze to inspect the forest before suddenly asking, “If you pick me, and I say yes, what happens? What should I expect?”

“Honestly?” I asked, hesitating and rubbing at the back of my neck to buy myself time to properly frame my response. “You would be an equal partner in our relationship, with time -”

“Please expand on what you mean by that,” Beth said firmly, but politely.

“Is it okay if I’m direct?” I asked and she piqued my curiosity, when she gave me a thumbs up.

There were all these unexpectedly modern little gestures that she should not know, that sent my thoughts down the rabbit hole about where or from whom she had learned them. I shook my head clear of such musings, I knew I needed to stay focused.

“Senna and I talked about this,” I said and paused. “I’m not going to get my knickers in a twist over the situation... but, I want to have a team I can trust. That means the team has to trust me and we’re going to have some out of the norm situations.”

“Threesomes aren’t the norm? I even had a few back in a forgotten age,” Beth said with a smirk and a wink.

I gave a manly grunt and said, “Also talked about that with Senna. I’m a manly man—I can take charge and be the alpha. Throw you over my shoulder, then throw you on the bed and rip your clothes off. I don’t doubt my own masculinity and if you try to walk all over me, I will politely correct you.” I looked down at the beautiful brunette. “I see you playing your games.”

“Let’s get back to the ripping clothes off part,” she grinned.

“See Beth… That’s where I need to correct you. We all equally need each other. I will be good to both you girls—and I feel I can handle you both—but do not see my kindness as weakness. I will give you respect… until you stop showing it to me. Understand?” I asked in a stern tone.

“I understand the fact we will have to be flexible with our hearts,” she agreed. “Something that was not flexible back in my time, however, was equality -”

“Oh, right. Stop right there,” I said and she frowned. “Look, if we make it to Qoobi, assuming you join the team, then you will be a queen... or empress or baroness or whatever title is most appropriate. A big family will be a given and we will all be equal partners. I have -”

She interrupted me. “Equal to the point that you would rotate authority for the kingdom between us?”

“What? Like I was King for a year, then you Queen, then Senna Queen for a year? If that is what we decided, then yes. Assuming we collectively come to that decision and figure out how to make it fair, then -”

“Do you truly mean that?” Her gaze was stern. She had come to a halt with her hands on her hips.

“Again, listen carefully. We would have to reach an agreement—together—that was fair. Assuming we do so, then yes, I would have zero issues giving up my throne for a time. Senna is drafting marriage contracts, as we speak.

“We will be bound together equally. Let that sink in a bit. This is a team competition and on Qoobi we will be a ruling family. Which is kinda why I actually want to get us a male warrior for our fourth manager rather than another gal.” I watched two squirrels playing tag through the branches overhead. “It’ll give us time to bond and strengthen our family. And honestly,” I snorted, “I’m not sure if I want to add a third wife, at all.”

“That’s what Senna said, too. I told her that you never know who else might be as awesome as I am, though.” She gave me a mocking bow. “But, just to confirm, I won’t be a mistress or shunned as a second wife? This marriage agreement has me on the same level as a wife as Senna?”

“I take it you’re either not listening or still don’t believe me.” I stopped and tried to take her hands in mine—though they passed right through my grip. She chuckled, then rested her hands in mine. “You will be an equal family member. If we go forward and add more ladies to our family, they get the same offer. It’s the -”

She grinned and finished my statement, “The fair way to do it.” She smiled and patted my hand. “Let’s carry on with our walk.”

I noticed that she didn’t let go of my hand as we started up again.

“I accept,” she nodded, “assuming you will have me. I swore never to be a plaything again and I meant it. So -”

“Ha!” I smirked and bounced my eyebrows at her. “You will be a plaything—just as a wife to both a man and a woman.”

She blushed. “You know what I meant. Senna said I would start out as an assistant to her, managing things as needed for this settlement. Going forward, at least in the game, I may deviate to run a different section of the Empire.

“She started going over stuff that I could understand, but could not do better than she can. So I agreed to that. But that just means I will have to find my own way around here.” Beth tucked her hands behind her back. “That way, on Qoobi, I will be less of an errand girl.”

“Tell me, what interests you?” I asked, lightening the conversation.

“Ugh… This is sexist to say by your modern standards, but… I love children. I wouldn’t have kept my legs open if I hadn’t. I can manage an estate, and have no problem doing so, but the wee ones are my weakness—I just love them so much,” Beth admitted, her eyes glazing over as she got lost in memories of an oh-so-distant past.

“Shucks, I got to see three of the children I would have had with Senna if we’d remained on Earth, and it melted my heart,” I admitted as we arrived at the oak grove. We were having a good time and our trip out here passed by quickly. I veered off the trail to finish my recon of yesterday.

“You’re it, Beth, Senna and I both know it... And I think you know it, too. I’d like it if you come exploring with me, even if you can't help out. You can be good company and enjoy the outside.”

She smiled. “I see you still have my flower in the pocket of your vest—very gentlemanly of you. I will admit, the thought of having children again has my stomach in butterflies. Not the worker babies, though… Ew…” She shuddered.

“Changing the subject—tell me about your dreams versus your reality,” Beth asked.

I frowned, deep in thought, and we walked on in silence for a few minutes.

Finally I said, “I wanted to be a football star—except I got hurt and had to have knee surgery in high school. Then my dream became to be a pilot—but to do that, I needed a lot of money.

“So instead of chasing my dreams, I got a job as an apprentice to an air conditioner technician… and the rest is history.” I shrugged. “I worked hard to make a living. That living was decent and steady, if not glamorous or fulfilling, so I saw no reason to veer from the path I was on.”

“Then you became a contender,” Beth nodded to herself. “I only ever met one other—the Russian, and he was a big business man, too. I reviewed your biography—it reads as both remarkable… and unremarkable.” She looked up at me, her head tilted to the side. “After talking with Senna about you, I was eager to judge the man, not the words on the paper.”

I snickered and said, “Shucks, I’d do the same thing… did both, in fact, with you. I thought you would be a lot less grounded… and more… entitled?”

“I will be, as should you, eventually. Lords, lord their station over others. I hate it but understand it. You will have to become more like that, or else you will end up dead, just like my eldest.” She shook her head, sadly.

“Passive leadership in cutthroat politics leads to leaders being replaced. We will have time to work on that, though. Just know that your selection to be a contender for a position as a lord of humanity, means the Archaics saw you as a cut above billions. Senna said you are much like her father. Hard working, determined, and yet have a caring soul,” Beth said and I scoffed.

“I knocked out a farmer, stabbed a dying wolf, and killed a man trying to pleasure himself,” I admitted in a heavy tone.

“Oh, do tell! I fancy this story,” Beth pleaded so cutely, we both blushed, staring at one other.

When I finished retelling the story about the fatally interrupted self-pleasuring dwarf guard, I returned to our previous topic. “Lady, since this game started, my halo has dimmed. This quest for victory has turned my moral compass from being firmly oriented on ‘good’ to… well, ‘good enough’. I’ll do whatever I must to win,” I admitted with a loud sigh. “What do you want from Qoobi?”

We’d arrived at the spot where I’d summoned her yesterday. That annoying woodpecker was back, and we continued further west than I’d ever been before.

She noticed my body tense as my eyes went into a different mode.

“Thank you for taking me this far,” she said. “Again, not my fault if you die. As for Qoobi... I want to be merry, in a big home. I loved the old castles of England. So much better than modern homes… or a spaceship. The extra wide stone spaces and actual burning fires.” Her eyes grew distant as she replayed some memory from her past. “The sex on the fur rugs… and then watching the babies play in the very spot they were created.”

I laughed.

“It thrills my heart.” She shrugged, “I should be dead, I do comprehend that, but starting over… I want all that. Call me a sucker, but I crave merriment around a bright hearth.” She looked up at me, a twinkle in her eye. “Also, I’m not going to even pretend to be shy about it—I miss sex. Like… a lot,” she said with a wide grin. “You're about half a foot taller than any man I’ve ever been with, which means that when Senna says you’re huge -”

My mind drifting to thoughts of Beth spread out naked on a fur rug before a crackling hearth was ripped away by a sudden roar.

I shifted my focus. I’d let myself get distracted. Thankfully, not too badly. I retreated quickly to take cover behind a redwood and assessed the situation. As always, I scanned up first.

“Why did you run?” Beth asked and I stuck a finger to my lips.

I peered at the spot where the creature had bellowed its challenge. What I saw had me tilting my head in confusion.

There was a box of redwoods here that appeared to have grown unnaturally—as in they formed a stout box with four sides, creating a fence so thick nothing could enter.

I couldn't see an opening from here, but realized I must have triggered a roaming guard. My tablet was buzzing furiously.

I retreated further before pulling it out to see that Senna had sent multiple texts, warning me.

When I pulled up the map, I was in for a shock.

There was an outline of objectives here—it was just as we had theorized. Beth could see the tablet and she gave an “Oh” in understanding, as I contemplated what I was seeing.

There was a fortress of trees blocking off a section of the map. A narrow entryway led to a checkpoint with a plant icon I hadn’t seen before, but which appeared to be a defender. Further in, the enclosure opened onto a large lake.

On the map, I saw a large farm icon, a quarry icon, and a defender icon that resembled a webbed hand.

This was almost setup like a trial of increasing difficulty, and then a boss. I wanted to see this for myself, instead of trusting the tablet.

“I found a threat,” I told Beth, “so whispered talk from here on. And yes… the sex will be fantastic. You’re absolutely gorgeous—to the point that I hoped Senna wouldn’t freak out, when I told her how beautiful I thought you were,” I said with a slight grumble of embarrassment.

She tilted her head to the side while squinting her eyes. Maybe she was getting a read on me. I could tell she wanted to talk, but I needed to focus.

Her impatience got the better of her and she asked, “Men don’t tell women how they see another woman. It’s just not done…” More inspecting.

I gave her a funny look and a shrug.

“You told your wife exactly what you thought of me when I teased you with that see-through dress, yesterday?”

I gave her a thumbs up, running between the trees all crouched over. When we finally arrived outside the entrance to this… whatever it was, we were only a few hundred feet away.

“She said the same thing about your amazing figure that I did,” I smirked. “Let's be honest, you're better looking than we are. Again, we agreed we wouldn’t get all angsty over this. We’re actually a somewhat new couple, ourselves, and we made a grownup decision.”

I looked down at the brunette beauty. “We both find you attractive, and the thing that takes a friendship—which we think were compatible enough with you to have—to the next level, is sex. Senna admitted she wanted to do things to you that even made me blush. Then again, she knows my buttons. She knew I would get off on the sex talk while we were…” I coughed, blushing furiously. “Well… you know.”

“Oh my,” Beth said, fanning her face, which was as bright red as my own. “You both are already fantasizing about ravishing me? Going to be some fun times.”

“Indeed. But Beth, I need to focus. So, while I truly enjoyed our half-hour together, I need you to go spend some time with Senna. I hope you -”

“I do,” Beth said breathlessly. Stepping up on her tippy toes, she pretended to kiss my cheek. “See you tomorrow, Nate. I enjoyed the walk and the chat.”

“As did I,” I said, pulling out my tablet and returning her to stasis.

I read over Senna’s messages, now that I had a moment. They were alerts about the threats in the area. I read them all, and seeing that they were direct, with very few questions, I used this safe spot to type out a reply.

‘Beth has about a half-hour left. I told her to spend the rest of her time, today, with you. This reminds me of a dungeon in an action video game. I’m looking down the entrance. There are forest bears who walk on four legs, with two heads and plants growing out of their backs. They are big brutes that would take archers to kill… or better yet, fire archers. Beyond them is a lake where I can see a few dozen aquatic aliens.’

I paused, studied what I could see, then continued my message. ‘If I had to guess, they are something akin to a siren or a mermaid. My best guess is that this is a dungeon and the objectives for the whole area are combined here. I can’t defeat this solo… so I’m going to skirt around it and head back south. Oh, and yeah, the icons for a large fish farm and a quarry are also inside this dungeon. Definitely worth getting to… when we can do so safely.’

I tucked the tablet away, giving the roaming mobs on the exterior wall a wide berth. The guard I’d initially triggered was still agitated, walking with a quicker pace around the trees. The interior defenders were oblivious to me being out here in the woods.

A large farm and a quarry were amazing finds. There had to be at least forty defenders there, though, and it simply was not in the cards for a solitary warrior like me to best those odds.

Reluctantly I left the amazing find behind. The mystery of why this area was devoid of objectives had been solved. I fled south seeking an easier target.

My trip through this last bit of trees was uneventful, and even Senna didn’t reply to my text.

She was probably already figuring out how to get an army over here. Or she was doing the math to determine whether or not, if we’d had an army, would we have advanced quicker because of finds like these.

The mighty redwoods ended abruptly, not far south of the dungeon.

When I stared out to the south, what I saw brought a twinkle to my eye. I had found something I could conquer. I just hoped my solo efforts would be enough.

Chapter

Eighteen

COMPETITION 1 DAY 11

T here was a huge boon in front of me—one that left me giddy with the opportunity it presented.

When the redwoods ended, golden hip-high oats swayed over rolling hills all the way until they butted up to a mountain to the west. There were more redwoods, miles away to the south.

What had me so excited, was the fact I could easily see three objectives.

The first was a small goat farm being tended to by a green-tentacled alien about my height. This being had six legs, a narrow torso and alternated its lumbering walk between two and four limbs.

When the alien needed to do something, like throw out feed or pass through a gate, it would walk on just its two lowest limbs.

Out in the open, though, it leaned forward and walked on all four of its lower limbs. It clearly could swap from arms to legs with a fluid ease.

There didn’t appear to be a definitive head or a neck on it. My best guess was that its brain was in its long torso—where its three eyeballs were evenly spread out along.

To the left of the farm, and much further away, there was a dilapidated stable. The building was partially in ruins and in obvious need of repairs.

Would we have to build a stronghold to conquer it?

Would it be defended?

There were more than a few unknowns, here.

To the right of both of those objectives was a medium to large marsh that stuck out as an oddity against the backdrop of swaying oats.

The marsh was brooding and dark, with sporadic trees dotting the edges of the morass. Little waddling creatures moved about the area. Because the swamp was a good distance away, it was hard to tell if it was a duck or a chicken farm.

The defender though, was easy to spot. A massive swamp hag, who stood twenty feet tall, towered over the marsh.

Her wrinkled body had a black coloration that not only looked unhealthy, it was outright gross. Her nasty face was on the lookout for potential intruders while her legs kicked up mud and swamp grass in the water that barely covered her ankles.

So, I thought, this is what the savannah, plains, and other biomes got to experience when there weren't a bazillion trees to navigate.

I so wished I’d found this earlier. It was all about risk versus reward—the tradeoff between time survived, versus losing a key member early on. I sighed, knowing you can’t change the past… only learn from it.

Of the three objectives, I felt the goat farm was the safest.

The defender was more of a known quantity, didn’t seem to have a weapon, and wasn’t twenty feet tall.

The stable was eerily quiet, without any hint as to what the defender might be, making me cautious. The swamp hag was most likely a medium target—probably a challenge similar to what the mine guard should have been.

Her immense size told me I would need trickery or surprise and some crazy lucky strategy, or else I’d have to wait and come back with overwhelming superiority of numbers.

Based simply on her behavior, I wouldn’t have the benefit of surprise and couldn’t think of anything tricky at the moment.

Probably best if I leave her the hell alone, until I got some archers and shield bearers to help me with this swamp defender.

I crouched low in the oats, until only my head remained exposed. My careful creep across the fields to the goat farm was tedious and slow.

Eventually I neared close enough, that it triggered an alert on the tablet.

I laid down in the tall grass and pulled the device out.

The icon of the farm was indicated by a goat head on the map. The little tentacle-creature left its farm for the fields.

I wondered where it was going when I heard a rustling noise approaching my location.

Shit! I had been spotted. The tablet buzzed with a message from Senna, when I dropped it and ran to my left.

My jump up to put some distance between me and the device didn’t startle my foe. It locked onto me, without even having an eye facing in my direction.

A tentacle arm whipped out, the edge serrated like a steak knife. I was shocked by how fluid, smooth and quick it was.

The tentacle stretched out more than ten feet, but the slap I was expecting on my cheek was, in reality, a sharp pain. Blood trickled down my cheek and dripped from my chin as my cheek was sliced open.

The alien gave me no reprieve. A second limb slashed out, snapping through the air as it sought my neck.

My initial stun at its charge, being caught flat-footed, had ended.

I jumped and twisted to the side to take the blow on my armor while bringing my sword around in a counter.

A massive shriek escaped the alien as my blade severed a tentacle which had become embedded in my chainmail.

My jump had been both a victory—trapping the appendage—and a mistake. Even though I cut the tentacle, the force of my awkward landing sent me for a tumble.

Fortunately, I didn’t twist an ankle and soon sprang back up to my feet.

The alien was mortified at being wounded. Maybe, it had never been attacked before, because it was frozen in fear.

When I regained my feet, I saw that three of its limbs held the one that gushed purple blood freely. When I approached the being, it gave another shriek and fled for the farm.

Instead of pressing my attack, though, I scoured the field to find my tablet.

Well, that was a lesson learned—the alien must have infra-red or heat sensors to have tracked my warm body in the tall grass. It was the only thing that rationally made sense.

I needed to remember that Noobi was alien. Aliens were different and they should be respected for doing the unexpected.

My wound stung my pride more than it did my face—the cut was numb and still bled freely.

I had been cautious and rightfully so, but I was in a farm field. Even the swamp hag had seen me from over a mile away.

She was not willing to attack me yet, though, not if she had to leave her territory, apparently.

Thankfully, the tablet was not far away, where I had tossed it.

Watch out!

Senna had sent that text like a dozen times. Then, she said she was conversing with Beth and would fill me in later. She wished me luck.

Good to know, that even when distracted, she still had my back.

I tucked the tablet away in my vest and headed for the goat farm.

An alien head kept popping up to look around, as if hoping I had retreated. Nope, I wanted goats. When I reach the inside of the farm, the tablet vibrated.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small farm. The one defending worker has agreed to surrender to you. (YES) - (NO)

So, I did the smart thing and hit ‘YES’.

Oh… man, in retrospect, maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to do. I certainly wished I could revisit that decision a few minutes later.

Everything was great at first.

The brown swirling light converted the alien into a wounded human, who laid down to sleep in order to heal.

Ha! You conquered another farm. I was just telling Beth how amazing you are. We’re having fun, just spending time together and you’re our distraction entertainment, since there are no children to mind. What the hell is that?

Watch out!

Monster coming!

I was perplexed, wondering how the woman asleep at my feet could harm me. She was a human now, anyway, certainly not a monster.

The bouncing of pebbles next to the worker’s head was accompanied by a jarring sensation in my feet.

My head swiveled around, searching for the sound of something heavy impacting the ground, off to my right.

That swamp hag had decided to claim the farm or my life. Probably my life, because the ugly alien was focused on me. She was moving at a speed that only a twenty-foot tall creature at a full sprint could maintain.

My eyes flared wide in surprise at this turn of events.

“Shit!”

I was screwed. There was no out running her. This damn converted worker wasn’t going to be any help, and the buzzing tablet I tucked into my vest was certainly not needed at the moment.

An army was about all that might be helpful. Well, that and an insane amount of luck in this coming fight. If I died, I would do so knowing that Senna would carry on without me.

Instead of letting the hag crush my goats and kill my healing worker, destroying my new farm, I ran to meet her halfway with a loud, albeit useless, battle cry.

Or was it.

I had a feeling this ugly fiend hadn’t faced a real opponent before. She halted her charge to square off with me. I cursed her smart decision. When I was far enough away from the goat farm, I slowed my pumping legs from a run to a stroll.

“Surrender!” I demanded, and she laughed. “Wait… you understand me?”

She smirked, displaying massive molars covered in swamp slime. I twisted my face in disgust, she one hundred percent understood me.

“Say something!” I yelled.

She just shrugged. Okay, that helped… not.

“Surrender… Please?” I hesitantly queried and she shook her head no.

“Fight until one of us surrenders?” I mused.

This time she bobbed her head yes.

For a brief moment a flood of fear washed through me. I contemplated how long I would spend as the swamp hag’s prisoner, if I lost. At least two weeks. We were so behind on getting our military stood up, that there was no way moronic workers would free me as simple warriors.

The tablet buzzed from inside my vest. I pulled it out.

‘Send a runner, going to need someone to help with the goats anyway. Rescue me if I lose. Love ya,’ I sent.

I wasn’t able to read her reply because the swamp hag charged. I tucked the tablet away again, and braced for the fight of my life.

I wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it was that events could turn so quickly.

Instead of laughing, though… I ran for the ruined stable off in the far distance.

If someone had asked me what my plan was, or what thoughts went through my mind at that moment, I’d respond with just one word: Survive.

My only goal was to head for the busted up stable and hope for a miracle. I had to cut an angle that would let the hag get at least one good shot at me. It also meant, though, that if she were slow at turning, I would have an advantage and gain some time.

She lumbered for me with lunging steps that closed the gap so quickly I was almost kicked.

I lunged forward, as if tackling an imaginary player, to dodge her heel. I swiped my sword across the bottom of her foot as it narrowly hissed over my head.

Did I mortally wound my foe? Hell no.

There was no roar or loud shout; she moaned out a brief warble in agony as I tumbled to the side.

Her charge carried her beyond me, toward the goat farm. I only gave her a quick glance over my shoulder, seeing her lumbering to a halt, before making my move.

I sprang up off the crumpled stalks and ran for the ruined stable.

She noted my direction and glanced first at me, then at her farm, and finally at the goat farm, as if trying to prioritize what to do. She decided on me.

Her speed was slower, now; she limped a bit from where I had cut her right foot.

The huge swamp-giantess was obviously a female, with her flopping, hideous tits and a vagina I could probably dive into.

That disturbing mental image was shaken away with the realization that the fiend was gaining on me, even with a severe limp.

While I wanted to ditch the damn chainmail that was weighing me down, I knew better. Instead, I pumped my legs harder, inhaled deep breaths, and pushed as hard as I could. It was like doing sprints for coach all over again, except this time I’d die if I fell behind.

I risked another quick glance over my shoulder. Between my extra effort and her limp, it seemed we were an even match in speed.

We both were pushing ourselves pretty hard. I noted the grimace of pain etched on her ugly face, but I was struggling to breathe at this pace.

That damn stable was getting bigger in the distance, but it still felt so far away.

When I reduced my labored sprint, she dialed back her run. The fact that she slowed and kept glancing back at her farm told me she didn’t like how far away from it she was getting.

We continued our run through the fields—hunter chasing the hunted—until suddenly, I no longer felt the dirt vibrating under my feet.

I noticed that the hag had paused to sit in the field of tall oats. Her labored breathing matched my own wheezing huffs for air as I slowed.

Hmm…

Was this a trick? Was she playacting to bait me in for a fight?

I doubted she would be able to defeat me. I stopped my run, leaning over with my hands on my thighs to catch a few deep breaths. I twirled my weapon at her in a taunt.

Did I really just-

Her body twisted up from the grass so quickly my jaw nearly bounced off the grain.

She was impossibly fast, and my only hope was the distance between us. Her hands dug deep into the field, her feet gouging the soil as she coiled in a crouch, ready to spring, before she rocketed towards me in a massive leap.

Turns out a crippled foot isn’t much of an impediment when you can literally fly at your target in a lunge. I was screwed… and yet, safe. She might close the distance, but her one directional lunge was easy enough to dodge as I shifted directions.

My legs shot me to the right in a heart beating, leg pumping sprint. I was no longer heading directly for the barn but was focused on putting some distance between me and the swamp hag so that I could narrowly avoid her lunging attempts to squish me.

She slammed into the field with a Noobi shaking thud. There was a groan of pain from behind me that I ignored, desperate to put as much distance between me and her next lunge as possible.

That was a wise decision, because when I adjusted back on course for the stable and risked a glance over my shoulder, I saw that saggy tits had landed awkwardly and held her right hand out to the side at a gnarly angle.

While some might consider that a minor victory, or at least a great turn of events, I would assure them, it was not.

She had a fiery rage in her eyes that spoke of no turning back.

I could tell by her facial expressions and drastically slowed pace she must have torn the gash I’d made in her foot wide open.

I could fight her now; I really felt I could. But… the busted up stable was not too far away, now. Five hundred or less feet to go and she was falling back.

She had slowed so much, in fact, that I was able to jog at this point. She must have thought I was mocking her, because she tried to catch up to me. This only had her hurting herself more and more, with every step she took.

The war of attrition had started. I knew if she turned back, I could harass her until I won.

But she no longer had any inclination to turn back. Her only goal was my demise, her swamp farm abandoned completely.

Her ragged breathing left the wrinkly skin of her limply hanging dugs heaving with each step.

I imagined she was trying to scream obscenities at me and failing.

When I reached the barn, I ran my sword down the side of the vertical wooden boards. This created a loud clank of metal on wood, which hopefully irritated the defender or defenders inside.

I got what I’d expected as a monster slithered out of the stable that was so gross, it made the hag look kissable. I was no genius, but with a prized possession like a stable, deep down I knew this building’s defender was going to be a real challenge.

The defender had a long, segmented body, like a centipede, but with crab pincers and a shark-like mouth.

The creature was a nasty thing of nightmare—five feet tall, twenty feet long, with hundreds of clacking legs and a dark brown carapace.

I ran beyond the barn; the crabipede had scared me off

There was a brief, self-congratulatory clacking of its pincers in my direction, as if it was bragging about successfully having defended its prized home.

The snapping noises were short-lived, however, as the swamp hag approached the stable, forcing the defender to shift its focus to its next target.

A pincher latched onto the calf of the tall intruder.

I let an epic grin spread across my face, as I slowed down. While I caught my breath, I watched the two monsters fight. My tablet continued to buzz against my vest, but I ignored it.

The crabipede was a moron. Its initial clamp onto the hag’s already damaged foot resulted in the swamp-giantess falling forward onto the crabipede’s long body. There was a loud crunch as dozens, if not hundreds, of the crabipede’s legs shattered under the sudden weight.

The crack of snapping bones reverberated across the fields. I stood there in shock at how quickly the battle had turned. I threw my hands in the air in frustration.

Not giving into death or defeat, though, the crabipede started to eat the leg in its grip. This elicited an angry growl from the hag.

Her huge, meaty fists pummeled the long torso of the crabipede as it took chunks out of her foot, ankle, and calf.

This only served to frustrate both monsters. The hag switched up her attack, ripping the crabipede’s legs off by the handful, reaching under the body to rip into it.

Limbs were tossed into the field. The hag was clearly winning the fight. She’d removed at least a hundred legs and the crabipede finally succumbed to blood loss, collapsing in a heap.

I had not been idle while the two massive combatants brawled, though. I crept closer to the fight, hoping to end the winner before they could recover from their victory.

The swamp hag stood, or tried to. The damage to its leg was severe. There was no way she could walk on it—the first time she tried to put weight on the limb, it shattered. The snap of her femur was so loud, it left a ringing in my ears.

The ground shook from the impact, when she collapsed with a groan. She fell so hard, her head bounced off the ground a few times with a sickening crunch.

Her eyes never regained focus as I charged. With my sword aimed like a lance I sprinted for her head.

At the last second, I thought better of my attempt. If my sword smashed into her skull, I may not have the power to puncture through to her cranium. If I failed and broke my sword, then I was super screwed.

So, I halted near her hair, gagging from the stench coming off her body.

I clasped the offensive nappy mane to climb onto the side of her disoriented head. I drove my sword into her cauliflower ear, through the thick mold that grew out of it.

The blade didn't appear to reach her brain, but instead hit something solid.

She groaned at the damage, her good hand crashing down to swat me aside. Her thumb smacked into me, sending me flying without my weapon.

This was it, I thought, I had taken a risk, and I’d finally have to pay for a mistake.

I was facing a dead beast and an injured foe, but I was weaponless.

Stunned from the blow I heard a buzz from the tablet vibrating next to my ear where it had landed after falling out of my vest. My tablet had more messages, go figure.

I crawled to the tablet to jam out a final ‘I love you’ before the hag finished me. While I typed furiously, I couldn’t help myself. I peeked up over the device at the hag.

She was still, not breathing, and very dead.

What?

I pulled myself up off the field, sliding the tablet back into my vest, for now. I needed to get my sword back, or at least secure the area, before I dealt with the tablet.

My eyes watched the hag’s chest for any hint of movement. There were no signs that she still lived.

Each of my steps was hesitant, a thousand worried thoughts swirling through my mind. She’d tried to bait me, before, and I’d seen her move like lightning. It frightened me.

My slow, careful journey continued as I side-stepped around her body, well out of arm's reach, in case she was just playing dead.

I believed she was dead, but there was one way to be certain. I glanced over at the swamp farm, in the distance.

I made up my mind. The stable would still be here when I got back, and I could look for my weapon, then.

I really wished I could call Senna and hear her voice while I walked back to the swamp. Instead, I decided to read her warnings—seventy-three messages. Damn, that girl must be sweating up a storm.

‘Hey love,’ I texted. I snapped a selfie next to the dead hag, with the massive crabipede in the background. Blood coated my face.

What the hell happened? Are those bodies? Gross, a giant insect thing or whatever that monstrosity is. You okay?

‘I’m safe, barely won, but will live another day. Will explain when home. Going to need a healing nap, anyway. Send runners out. Going to claim a second farm and a stable. I know we can convert the farms out here, but not sure how the stable will work.’

Our empire grows! We can probably convert, repair, and wait for the upgrade to stronghold 3 to make it functional… or just build another stronghold out in the middle of those resources. Was it the plains environment?

‘Yeah, while I could see like a boss… everything could find me no problem, too. The tentacle alien had some kind of infra-red or heat sensing ability. While I feel the trees give the enemy a bit of an advantage, they provided cover for me, too. Same with the rocks and hiding. I can’t do that out here and this reminds me of being scolded by my Ma for wanting more of whatever I didn’t have. She like to point out that the grass is not always greener on the other side. Okay, I want to be alert and ready to run, in case there are gators or hag children I have to kill with my bare hands.’

What?! I will order another sword made. That will likely become a farming outpost. I still think after SH 3 is the best time to transition to wartime footing… I’ll send Mitch with the warhammer.

I didn’t want to argue the merits of when it was most appropriate to start our military. After a fight was not the time to analyze the data. I was raw with emotion at the moment. Enough so, that I was grimacing about not getting to pick a general as our fourth. Hell, even a troop of ten warriors and ten archers could have made quick work of these threats…

Senna would argue, and had successfully done so, that those twenty workers would be otherwise unproductive—useless, to a large extent—not to mention the productivity we’d lose while I was training with them.

Then there was also the factor to consider of which tool or farm upgrades would have been kicked further down the queue.

I grunted in dissatisfaction—her way was best for now... assuming that I, our sole warrior, continued to win. It made more sense to build a solid foundation before investing in other warriors.

Maybe this is why the Archaics had selected me.

My resolve was rock solid, and I don’t think anyone could doubt my commitment.

I let out a long exhale, noticing I was not even halfway to the swamp. A glance over my shoulder showed neither monster had moved, their bodies lay piled beside one another.

Talk about a story you could brag about over drinks. I smirked, adding a bit of a swagger to my walk. I cracked my knuckles and tipped my hat to myself—surprised the damn thing had stayed on the whole fight.

This victory would be a big boon. A big score, both for our ranking and for our future.

When I neared the swampy farm, I was able to see that the hag had been managing some alien poultry—somewhat like a black swan, but with wrinkled skin and no feathers. The hissing birds had three legs and were less than fond of me.

Eh… they were food. If I could eat dwarf, I could eat these nasty looking things. Now for the big reveal.

I pulled my buzzing tablet out and clicked on the alert.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned medium kraska farm. (YES) - (NO)

Sweet! Saggy-tits, mcstinky face was good and truly dead. I triumphantly selected ‘YES’, and the kraska went from hissing at me to waddling back into the water, as if I had always been their best friend. Score one for team Dinosaur Warlords!

Which had me checking our actual score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 22nd

Survival: 11.4 (tied 93rd)

eXplore: 2.6 (74th)

eXpand: 5.8 (24th)

eXploit: 8.5 (11th)

eXterminate: 22.1 (5th)

Wahoo! eXterminate points seemed to be a bit low, but fifth place—in any category—was fantastic.

I was on top of the world at this point, and very interested in what options the stable might have.

After all, I wanted a freaking maiasaura. Sure, I had one egg incubating already, but a few more to stampede with would be nice.

We still hadn’t figured out what the requirements for a stegosaurus were, but I knew I would be all over them when that time finally came.

I would have a saddle custom-made, learn archery, and be a grade-A badass, slinging arrows from up high. Thoughts like these, and maybe a few of my two hot, naked wives—who I couldn’t wait to dally with—ran through my mind on my trip back across the swaying oats.

I even closed my eyes, tilted my head back, and ran my hands through the fields. All I was missing was the wolf cloak and the gladiator kilt to look just like…

Hmm…

Another time, maybe.

I reached the dead swamp hag first. Man, did she stink.

I scrunched my face in disgust before retreating.

A few quick taps and I spawned the outfit that had my bandana in it. Wrapping that cloth around my face, I had to wonder. Seeing as how Noobi seemed to be filled with awful stenches, would it be better just to roam around with this on at all times? Not like the worker drones actually cared if they saw my smile.

I slotted the unused gear back into storage and shoved the tablet into my vest.

With my sniffer set to off, I climbed up the corpse. The first thing I noticed was that the idiot hag had killed herself, smacking my blade deep into her own brain.

Like the hero I was, I squirmed into her ear and planted my feet to either side of her ear canal.

With both hands clasped around the sword hilt, I tugged for all I was worth—struggling not to suck in a deep breath, afraid it might make me pass out.

With a mighty heave and a slurping, sucking squelch, my sword slid free.

The oozing fluid that my sword unleashed caused me to gag as I stumbled back. A wad of bile surged up the back of my throat, and yet, I didn’t vomit. That—in my books—was a win.

Walking on the hag’s nappy hair was odd. I hopped off the gross fiend’s head and went to the oat stalks to clean my blade.

Next gross thought I had was… could we chop mcstinky face up and feed her into the depot? Certainly would be easier just to pick up the crabipede legs strewn across the field…

I stepped over a few of the creature's dismembered limbs while walking over to claim the stable.

When I pulled up the options on my tablet, the prompt confused me.

You cannot claim a defended stable. Defender is still alive.

I chewed on the inside of my lip, clearly perplexed. Standing around wouldn’t fix this problem, though. I tucked the tablet back into my vest and went hunting for baby crabipedes.

The stable door leaned over at a lopsided tilt. The hinge at the bottom had shattered, the frame extending outward from when big momma came bursting out.

Ugh…

I certainly didn’t want to go into the stable. My hero talk, earlier, had seemed to be propelling my legs, even though my brain was telling them to stop.

Except, I had changed. I had showed no fear with that snake near the A/C unit a month ago. Hell, the tiger shark had spooked me, but I didn’t flee or panic.

I had been in more than one battle; battle is chaotic, random, and… mostly luck, I had learned. So, if there were eggs I had to smash or babies I needed to squish, I would do so. Not like there was another warrior back at Noobi City I could send back up here in my place to finish the job.

I stepped forward, butterflies in my gut and slick palms be damned. While I beat back my trepidation, I was not happy having to enter the stable.

When I entered, it stank horribly, even through my bandana mask.

A slight cough I tried to suppress, escaped.

I certainly wasn’t surprised the giant bug had left such a stinky smell behind.

My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I saw ruined cobwebs with angry, fist sized spiders. I killed those with quick swipes of my sword.

I continued my inspection, hoping those were the culprits, but somehow doubting it.

A large nest in the main area revealed neither eggs, nor young. There were defined tracks in the mud and the bed was the perfect size to fit the dead bug outside.

Hmm…

I started to sort through the cupboards on the -

A horrid groan preceded rustling from the doorway. I spun around, but was too late. Momma bug was somehow still alive. A pincer shot forward, snipping my left leg off so quickly, I fell onto its claw.

The alien bug panicked, flinging me towards its mouth.

I soared forward, my mind reeling from the sudden turn of events.

The most basic of thoughts smacked through my mind in those fractions of a second.

Raise your sword.

I managed to line up the pointy end with the big bad bug and my blade slid between two crossed eyes and into the creature’s brain. My foe’s body twitched in a death spasm while I let out an agonized shout.

“You cut off my fucking leg!” I screamed, spittle flying.

I refused to accept this situation; my mind pitted itself against reality.

Using one hand to balance myself, I retrieved my weapon. I hobbled over to my severed leg, and crashed down onto the ground beside it.

Maybe the game would glue it back on or something. I weakly pulled my tablet from my vest, dropping it as my hands started to shake. I was going into shock.

I managed to scoop it up off the nasty, wooden floorboards with unsteady hands. I opened the interface to sleep and heal.

You must be inside a building you own, or in the wilds, to rest and recover.

I grunted from the pain. “Oh, fuck right off!” I wailed.

My unsteady hands managed to work the interface until I was able to select ‘claim building’.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned stable. (YES) - (NO)

Great. Not a moment too soon. My leg was spurting blood, my vision was starting to blur, and I was struggling to control my hands. Shock was clearly setting in.

Competitor Nathanael is mortally wounded. Unable to heal mortal wounds with rest.

I screamed in frustration. How did I…?

National Geographic with the save. Those old videos always talked about using a tourniquet to stop heavy bleeding… That had to be the answer. It came to me so suddenly I almost smiled.

I ripped my belt off with labored breathing.

When I sat up, I vomited bile onto my pants that I ignored. With a bit of a struggle, I slapped the belt around my femur.

I cinched the leather down as tight as I could. There was no fucking loop hole to bind the belt at this size. I finagled a tight knot, and picked up the tablet.

Competitor Nathanael is injured. A 3.4 day rest period will heal his wound and consume forty three food. Do you accept? (YES) - (NO)

I jammed my finger at ‘YES’ in a panic, my blood-stained hand smearing muddy, red goop across the surface. I fell backwards with a groan as blackness consumed me.

Chapter

Nineteen

UNKNOWN

I ’m not a drinker—never have been. I never saw the need, though I faced a lot of peer pressure to get drunk growing up.

Why not indulge?

Why would a football player, who was young and vibrant, stay away from booze? The feeling in my head, right now, was the answer. I felt like a fifty-year old man, who’d had a few too many glasses of wine the night before. My headache was insane.

My groans were noticed and a soft palm ran down the side of my face as I awoke.

“Easy baby, you’re going to be just fine,” my mother said.

Huh… To say I was confused, well, that would be an understatement. My eyes cracked open to reveal a blurry haze that faded quickly as everything came into focus. Sure enough, my Mother was looking down at me.

“Where am I?” I asked groggily.

“Baptist Health,” Ma said sweetly, running her fingers through my hair.

I groaned a reply, “Again?” I’d had to come here when I broke a finger and my damn work insurance made me stay the night. There were some nice folks here, but I was not a fan of hospitals.

“You got bit by a snake -”

I scoffed at the silliness of that statement. “How is Senna?” I blurted out, wanting to check for any messages from her on my tablet. I looked around feebly, but couldn’t find the tablet.

Mom frowned, clearly confused. A burst of inner rage at this falsehood left me reeling. I wanted to lose my composure and have orderlies get called in to restrain me, just like in the movies, but I felt so weak that I could barely lift my head to look around.

“Who is Senna?” my Ma asked patiently.

“Senna is about 5’ 3” with blue eyes that light up a room. Long blond locks down to her shoulders and is the closest thing to a soulmate I could imagine.” I smiled. “You’d love her—she’s a great match for me. We’re supposed to get married… You should come, Ma. At least it’ll end your nagging, always telling me to work less and settle down.”

“I’d love to be there at your wedding--you know I would—but you may be slightly loopy from the venom and the drugs. There are things I need to tell you while I’m here on my lunch break and we’re almost out of time.

“Even if she is a fictional woman, thank you for telling me about your sweet girl. A handsome man like yourself, I figured you would find love eventually,” Ma said cheerily, though her eyes were so sad. She wiped away a stray tear that trickled down her cheek with the back of her sleeve.

“I’m just happy you're going to be okay. I should get back to work so your head can clear up a bit. I just want you to know—especially when accidents like this happen—I’ve always been so very proud of you. I love you, my little Nate.”

I reached for her hand, before she could flee. Ma rarely got emotional like this. I knew something was off. I should be in Noobi City and Senna should be at my side. If that was all wrong, well, I would have to find Senna, somehow, and win her heart.

But it wasn’t wrong. My Ma knew something... or maybe she was being given a chance to let go. It just… it felt like this was the chance to say goodbye that I never got to have.

“Ma, look at me,” I wheezed.

She dried her puffy eyes.

“Ma, I can never repay you. You… you say I saved you, but it was you who made me the man I am. I cannot and will not ever forget that. I won’t let you down. I’ll be the good boy you can always respect and cherish… And yes Ma,” I smiled weakly, “I know you would cherish me, anyway. I just hope you're happy and that you stay that way… You deserve it.”

Her face flattened with a sigh. She closed her eyes tightly before opening them again, I saw a mother’s love poured out in that gaze.

“Your father is -”

∞∞∞

“Nate?” Senna’s face was inches from mine when I woke up a second time—this time without a headache.

“No!” I jerked back, panicking a bit. I looked around wildly. I wanted to know more about my father, and yet never would.

Her loving hand reached out and caressed my cheek in an attempt to soothe me.

I squeezed my eyes closed tightly and took several deep, shaky breaths.

Senna grew worried when I didn’t open my eyes again for a long minute, until I’d regained my composure. “Nate?” she asked, “are you okay?”

“Hey sexy,” I finally said, leaning forward to give her a soft kiss.

I felt fabulous—besides the damn vision. My body pulsed with vigor, as if I’d overslept. My energy levels were through the roof and I was eager to get out of bed.

A concerned blue-eyed stare and raised eyebrow caused me to focus on the beauty before me.

“Soulmate huh?” Senna asked.

I groaned, not sure how much of my conversation with my Ma she had heard.

My hand found the edge of the blankets, flicking them off to see that I had my leg back…

I wanted to rejoice, regale Senna with stories of my epic battle, and catch up, but I had a sudden, urgent need to pee. “Gotta go pee,” I muttered. “I take it you heard my dream or vision, or whatever?”

Our bedroom layout was different than I remembered, where was I? Ugh… so much was different, but I didn’t bother to check it out—I had to pee.

I stumbled into the bathroom, right past a running shower and found a bucket toilet. What? That made no sense. While I pissed, I looked over my shoulder.

Damn!

“You’re fucking hot!” I blurted out to Beth, who half-heartedly tried to cover herself at my sudden intrusion. She was showering with no door, her fine, naked form on full display.

Yummy...

Senna followed me into the bathroom, snickering.

“Ta Da!” Senna laughed, “We have a shower! But… it’s only cold water. Next time, just pee in the shower.” She sighed. “We still have to shit in the bucket and have a worker wash it out, well down stream. Eventually we will upgrade to a sewer system, but we can’t do that until we, literally, have a quarry. Still, all of the tier three buildings get a water outlet.”

“What day is it?” I asked while I groaned with pleasure at the relief it was to finally empty my bladder. I finished peeing, and turned around, eager to catch up. With a wink at Beth, I walked back into the bedroom with Senna.

My love winced. “I’ll get to that. Tell me about your dream, first.”

“I saw my Mom, and yes… I know, I call her Ma. I got to say goodbye… I think. The Archaics let us connect in a dream world, somehow. She didn’t believe me when I told her I was getting married. She was about to tell me who my father was, when the bastards cut me off and I woke up to your sparkling blues,” I said trying to tamp down my emotions.

“It’s okay to feel the pain, Nate. I… don’t know how I’d feel if I had to say goodbye to my family. As for what day of the competition it is… You’ve been unconscious for a while... Well, it’s day sixteen…” her voice trailed off.

“Five days?!”

“Four and a half, actually—and yes, it was more than we expected. I’d already sent Alex to fetch the first worker you defeated and to do the daily maintenance for the goats. When you went silent and my manager's feed of you showed you sleeping to repair wounds, I re-prioritized Alex’s tasks and had him bring you home, first.”

Senna frowned, her eyes misting up with unshed tears as she remembered that day.

“When Alex brought you back, you were ashen white. I think your tourniquet came off on its own or maybe it fell off when Alex carried you back.” She wiped at her eyes. “You almost died, Nate. I bandaged up your wounds and got an adjusted timeline for your healing… and well, you’re better now,” Senna said with a smile.

When I inspected my leg in the sunlight that streamed in through the window, I saw that my thigh was clean. Hell, my whole body was clean, and I even smelled fresh.

Beth turned off the water and came out of the bathroom, water dripping from her lithe curves, to catch me sniffing at my pits.

She laughed at my antics. “I arrived last night and helped Senna prioritize some build orders. One of the things I know how to do is make soap. Mutton fat, wood ash, and some of these wildflowers heated over a low fire make a decent mix that I poured into molds.

“Senna had to build a tier one building, for me to age everything quickly, though.” She shook her head in wonder. “I stuck the molds in the curing house and a process that normally takes upwards of six weeks and days of labor was done in two days.”

Senna grinned.

“Anyway,” Beth continued, “I’d invite you to enjoy a shower with me, but you have a million things to do.”

I saw a wool towel on a counter and handed it off to the smirking woman, who knew I was enjoying the view.

“Focus, Nate,” Senna grinned, seeing my obvious appreciation of Beth’s beauty. “You two can have sex later, we have a metric ton of stuff to go over.”

Beth pouted.

“Travis!” Senna called out with a loud groan. She was super pregnant again. Poor girl.

Hmm… Why was she calling in another male?

I was still in the nude, which was obvious when a dainty hand slid over my firm ass to cup a cheek. I smirked as Beth opened her towel to hug me from the side.

She was chilly from the shower. A slight shiver escaped her as she used me for warmth. Her pert breast, with its hard nipple squished into my side. I could feel the heat of her crotch against my leg.

“Why hello there,” I grinned, as more of my blood fled south. I pulled the petite brunette in tighter, she felt natural at my side. I lifted my gaze back up to Senna. “Who’s Travis?”

“Do I need to get a water bottle to keep you apart? Down… both of you. I promise tonight will be filled with fun. Let me wake up, after the baby is gone, so we can enjoy our honeymoon properly,” Senna pleaded with us.

I frowned and Beth pouted, but we pulled apart.

Senna swatted Beth’s ass as she walked by. “Travis is stubborn and just hatched this morning.”

I started to ask what she meant about the honeymoon bit, when a baby dinosaur trumpeted nervously from the doorway, its tiny duckbill head peering around the door frame. Senna encouraged the waddling, little guy to keep going.

Travis was about the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. He was hesitant, but finally came over to where we stood.

He came up to my knee. The tiny duckbill baby had green leather skin with black stripes and inquisitive, emerald eyes. He dropped to all fours to sniff at my feet, then waddled up on two legs.

“Ugh, pick him up after you get dressed. Travis, Nate. Nate, this is Travis. He is bound to you… which brings up another issue we will need to get to. Really need you to hustle that fine ass of yours into your gear. And Nate…” Senna said, closing the distance between us and placing her tablet on the counter, “I want to hear you call me your soulmate again.”

She pulled my face down and kissed me so deeply, that I yearned for more.

After a long minute, she came back up for air. “It... It was a dream come true.” She held me tightly. “Later, I want to show you how much you mean to me. Just know that I missed you…”

Senna paused and grinned at Beth’s pursed lips and loud sniff. “We… missed you. Welcome back to the land of the living.” She grinned and cupped my other ass cheek, giving it a pinch.

I jumped and then watched her snap her hips seductively as she walked away.

“Your pregnant saunter needs a little work, babe!” I teased her playfully and she whipped back around with a glare, flipping me the bird.

Okay, I deserved that.

I walked over to my dresser, where my tablet and western outfit were already laid out, waiting for me.

I hoped my busted up sets of clothes were being pulled into one outfit. I checked the tablet and sure enough, my ripped shirt outfit included shorts, now. I bet Senna had fun cutting those up.

When I pulled my chain mail on, I noted a broken link from where the six-tentacle lady had tried to stick her knife tip into me.

That made wearing this burdensome armor worth it—after all this time, I finally got to see the benefit of wearing the heavy, protective gear.

A second inspection of my outfit confirmed I was fully geared up and ready to go, once I found a sword in its sheath to clip to my belt.

Travis let out a groan, trying and failing to clamber up onto the bed. I hoisted him up and he curled into the warm spot I had vacated, quickly falling asleep with a contented sigh.

He would need another seven days of nurturing before he could carry me; while I was up for the task, I was not sure where I would find the time.

There clearly was a need for him to sleep, so I let him crash.

Finally ready for the day, I saw Senna waiting with Beth on the balcony. The girls were comparing tablet notes.

Behind them was a drastically different Noobi city. I gasped and headed out to join my lovely ladies while absorbing all the changes.

“We’re on the third floor!” I blurted out.

The balcony faced south and the sun still hung low on the horizon, telling me it was still fairly early in the morning. There was so much to take in, that the scene was almost overwhelming.

The stronghold was in the same spot, or close to it, but our main building was no longer wooden, or small.

We lived in a mini-fortress of stone. I could only see to the south, since more of the building blocked the rest of my view.

I noted two corner towers on an exterior wall that surrounded the keep; it likely had towers at each of the four corners. While the keep itself had a wooden roof, the walls had a parapet for guards to walk along and defend from.

The structure had grown to the point that a lot of what had been the interior had shifted around as the building grew vertically.

“Going forward, I found out how to pre plan an upgraded layout. I had the option here,” Senna waved her tablet, “but didn’t know how the new city layout would look with this new building. I was blindsided when all of our buildings were returned into inventory when I stuck this upgraded stronghold down.” She shuddered. “For a little while, we just had this stronghold, here, and nothing else. I scrambled to figure out what had happened and learned about the city planning feature. This is the result,” Senna said, spreading her arms wide to showcase Noobi City’s grandeur.

It was still a rather dated, small town, but what I saw before me was a vast improvement over what I remembered.

To start with, I saw no farms.

So, we’d gone from seven or eight medium farms around our level two stronghold… to zero. I saw that there simply was no room for the farms, this close to the main structure.

There was a wall that almost completely encircled the settlement, though it was wooden and missing several sections. Inside the settlement wall were huts, aligned in rows to form a street off on the west side of the stream.

On my right, there was nothing but production structures. Some were new to me—I had never seen their like before.

Outside the settlement wall, to the south, I saw all the farms. Five zuniceratops were plowing the fields with a number of workers.

Speaking of population, the numbers were beyond what I had imagined five more days would add. If Senna had added another stronghold, then today, the main one would generate nine more workers, with six at the others.

Fifteen workers a day? …assuming the other strongholds were still at tier one. The math of daily churning out workers was telling.

There were people everywhere I looked, busy with their chores. And the earliest created women were starting to show, too. We really were on the up and up.

“I love how you sectioned off the city. I take it we need more wood, though?” I asked, pointing to the missing sections of wall.

“Dear husband, we need everything. Okay, let me start with the bad. Bring up the score please,” Senna said.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 8th

Survival: 15.2 (tied 91st)

eXplore: 2.6 (84th)

eXpand: 11.8 (4th)

eXploit: 22.5 (4th)

eXterminate: 30 (2nd)

“This is fabulous!” I said, but Beth shook her head. “What is bad about this?”

“Survival is on par, eXplore is frozen, and we now believe there are at least six or seven teams who have been taken prisoner.

So, in reality we’re competing against only eighty-three or eighty-four teams--unless they just stopped exploring, like we did. That eXplore ranking hasn’t moved in two days. The rest of it is great… until you look at the last number.” She frowned. “It had been 30.1, but is now 30. We lost a fraction of a point in eXterminate.”

Senna picked up where Beth left off, pointing to the western mountains. “That competitor stole one of our workers. For the next twenty-two hours, he will be tracked on our maps—to give us an opportunity to rescue him, I assume.

“They are moving rather quickly, so our guess is that they are traveling by ram; when we asked the others what they had seen, all they said was “Gone. Ram.” That was it.

“Nate, we’re already at war, without having a solid war-footing in place. I theorize that the offender is a manager, though, not a created warrior—which means it will take them a day to get back home and a second day to return to our lands to scout and strike again.” She growled and winced. “We simply cannot get around losing a worker every few days, for now.”

This irked me a bit and I blurted out, “You just want to sacrifice -”

Senna placed a hand on mine to calm me, before saying, “Yes, and no. Nate, I know you see me as a big softie, but I want to conquer their settlement, raze their city, and convert their entire population.

“We currently generate twenty-one workers a day. Hell, if you can either subdue or get their raiding party to surrender, that will probably back fill the few we will lose.” She pointed. “The barracks is there. We’re finally beginning to get our war footing set up, now.. we just need you to secure a quarry so that we can finish the training grounds and the archery range.”

I followed her finger to see a longhouse, nearly completed. “Okay,” I grunted, “fantastic. What is the plan if he kidnaps two or more workers a day, or brings a larger force to attack?”

Beth snickered and said, “We’re the eighth-place team, that means—once we secure a quarry—we can do things like build a second barracks, another archery range, a second blacksmith, a weapon smith…”

“Ha! You two are amazing,” I said and they both curtsied at my compliment.

“Without your conquests, we would be ranked in the mid-thirties and struggling. We will war with our neighbors and they will rue attacking us,” Senna said, cringing a bit as she blew out a heavy sigh, “in seven to ten business days.”

“Ha! You’re adorable.” I gave her a hug and turned to Beth. “That was a quote from our time about deliveries and ordering -”

“I got it,” Beth said with a smirk.

“Okay, so the bad news is that we’re behind schedule on setting up our military and on exploring… and we have an aggressive neighbor. What’s the good news?” I asked the ladies.

“Check the build options,” Senna said and I tapped on the options until the building list came up.

Stronghold

Depot

Hut

Small Farm

Church

Stable

Water well

Barracks

Wall

Tower

Archery Range

Hunters Hut

Blacksmith

Mine

Quarry

Lumber mill

Medium Farm

Bakery

Butcher Shop

Tannery

Leatherworking Shop

Weaver

Textile Shop

Woodworking Shop

Smelter

Warehouse

Community home

Cartographer’s Office

Cavalry Stable

Soap Maker

Candle Maker

Inn

Brewery

Dungeon

Siege Engine Shop

Seamstress Shop

Armor Smith

Weapon Smith

Bowyer

School

Advanced School

Triage Center

My eyes scrolled down the list quickly. I whistled. “Damn, girl… we can build a city!” I frowned, seeing Blacksmith and Armor Smith and Weapon Smith. “Can’t the blacksmith make weapons and armor?”

“Sure, but only the most very basic ones. When the blacksmith’s forge upgrades, we get new tools that unlock…not weapons. The blacksmith’s forge will only craft a simple sword and a shield—the shield being considered armor—and yes, it’s just semantics. I know it's not armor, but there isn’t even an option for armor.”

She sighed. “Generating items for the city, the more developed we get, the more we have to get into specifics—which leads to us needing more resources and raw materials to unlock additional builds. So this is great because…” Senna paused with a big smirk. “The cavalry stable requires a regular stable at level three. But, by unlocking the cavalry stable, we unlock the stegosaurus for all stables.”

I cheered.

“The cavalry stable operates the same as a tier three stable, just one that has a unique build. I expect in ten days or so, we will get to see the timers on a stegosaurus egg. If we push real hard, maybe we can get some stegos around day seventy-five. For now, though, with two stables operating at full capacity, we are churning out zuniceratops quickly.”

I smiled and said, “Fantastic. What else do I need to know, and where do you need me?”

It was Beth, who answered. “The materials list has grown to insanely long lengths, now that we have stuff like a soap maker. Luckily, they broke things down into groupings, so we can more easily see what we need.” She smirked as she handed me a tablet. “This is going to be a bit of an eye opener—open raw materials, please.”

Materials & Supplies

Oh, it had a drop down now.

Raw materials

Manufactured Materials

Supply Inventory

Military Inventory

The complexity thickens… I selected raw materials.

Empire Food - 3 (+71 per hour)

Livestock Food - 5 (+595 per hour)

Wood - 7 (+205 per hour)

Stone - 14 (+117 per hour)

Metal - 12 (+24 per hour)

I groaned, and immediately said, “Some of these production numbers are insane. But… I mean. This needs to be included in the bad news…”

“I told you,” Senna said with a smirk at Beth. “Beth thought you would want to get out there and explore with her today, and with me tomorrow. I said you would want to gather stone instead.”

“Har har… Very funny. I will gladly go find some new stone resources for us. Any objections to that?” They shook their heads, no. “Alright. Consider me caught -”

“There are two more big reveals. Follow me,” Senna commanded, leading me downstairs.

While I’d enjoyed the view of Noobi City and exulted in the progress that had been made, I stayed close to my lovely lady as she led me to a second-floor office that overlooked the north side. The room had two chairs facing a desk with a chair behind it. Senna eased her swollen belly down into the chair behind the desk with a groan.

Behind her, I absorbed the view I could see of the forest that was being pushed back as our city expanded and our needs increased. Senna cleared her throat and I stopped staring outside to give her my full attention.

She slid an actual piece of parchment across the desk.

Huh, this was the first parchment I had seen.

When I read through the document I dropped into one of the chairs. Beth joined me, sitting on my lap, while Senna came around the desk to rub my back.

I held a marriage contract.

There were equality rules, no adultery clauses, and a list of family duties. I was expected to help with finances, children, and giving family directional input. I could sleep with one or both of the girls and they could sleep with me, or each other, without repercussions or jealousy. Anything beyond those specific circumstances, however, was breaking the rules. The fine print was pretty straight forward—mostly aimed at bringing us into an agreement on being a family.

There were three thumb print boxes with our names below each box; we all had Immerson listed in a neat, flowing script as our last name.

Senna glided a small cup of thick, red liquid across the desk until it was next to my elbow.

I sniffed at the cup and grimaced. “Whose blood is that?” I asked with a frown.

“Sheep’s blood. Had to get the sheep fat for the soap somehow,” Beth said, sticking her thumb in the blood and then pressing it down in the box above her name.

Senna followed her, and I was the last to complete the ritual. I handed the document to Senna who placed it in a frame and hung the frame on a nail in the wall.

Uh…

“So, that’s it? We’re officially a family?” I asked, slightly perplexed.

Senna beamed and pinched my cheek.

“Wifey,” I said to Senna who kissed me in agreement. “Waifu?” Beth rolled her eyes but smiled and nodded before giving me a kiss.

“At some point someone has to make the first official signature in a new empire. That authority belongs to us—not a church or a higher power. If people want to get married and have it be recognized, a clerk can officiate, or whomever we appoint, or we can do it, ourselves. My point is, there is no priest to marry us—not even an orb to officiate our wedding, husband,” Senna smiled, giving me another peck on my lips. “Wife.” She pressed her lips to Beth’s.

I was kissed by Beth after they’d smooched. “

And that is it. We’re a family.”

I scratched the back of my neck. “Shucks, thought we would let Beth acclimate more,” I admitted.

“I already have a ready egg,” she giggled. “Nate, dear husband, that means tonight you can plow my field and plant your seed.” She batted her eyelashes at me. “Don’t you think we should be married, before you stick a baby in me... even if it’s just a worker?” Beth asked playfully, lifting her hand to my cheek.

I became lost in her analogy, loving the detail.

“Right… Nate, focus on this part. Do I have your attention?” Senna asked.

I nodded.

“While you were unconscious, healing, I was offered a contract of my own… by the Archaics. They offered to make me a competitor, based on my performance during your absence.”

“Wow, that’s great, you are really doing amazing,” I said proudly.

“Perfect answer,” she smiled. “I declined. I want us, more than singular glory. I would rather improve us and this team than start my own empire—the contract vanished, the offer forever rescinded, when I declined.”

I pulled her into a side-hug.

“But… We need to understand there are things at play occurring up there,” Senna said, pointing at the ceiling. “And down here… I would imagine Beth might also get such an offer—we can only hope she likewise chooses us, when that time comes. The goal is to build up capable people in our species that are able to adapt to the environment, whatever that environment on Qoobi may be.”

Beth squirmed delightfully in my lap to get my attention. “I keep my word and never go back on it. We’re married, as crazy as that sounds—I’ve been in arranged marriages much worse than what we have...” her voice trailed off. “Also, I am better off being a team member; going off into the wilds alone? No thanks. And to be honest, I know how hard it can be to find a man you trust and can rely on.” Her pretty face wrinkled up into a sneer. “No offense to your sex, Nate… but men suck.”

Senna chuckled. “Now, onto the next development that you need to know about. The dinosaurs require an assigned handler, and each of the stable animals have a personality. The handler… is getting a personality from his interactions with them.”

That got my attention. I had given up trying to wheedle the barest hint of a personality out of any of our workers.

“Worker Carson, the dryad you captured, who turned into a human and was assigned to handle our first batch of animals...” Senna frowned. “Well, that Carson is now one ‘Sir Fredrickson of Austria’. At one point, he was on my short list of potential managers—though his file showed zero interviews, he matched my criteria for a potential warrior type.” She rolled her eyes. “He is certainly brash, eager to fight, and a pain to deal with in his current state.”

“Okay, this has me puzzled,” I admitted with a frown.

Senna sighed, waddling back around the desk to sit down across from us. Her elbows rested on the desk while she propped up her chin on her knuckles.

“We have to manage real people now, too—real people who we can promote, upgrade, and advance.” She rubbed her temples. “Unfortunately, not everyone in this city will be a mindless drone, going forward. I can now assign potential recruits who I want to interview later as animal handlers and then managers.”

I tilted my head to the side, puzzled. “How is this a problem? Heaven knows I wasted tons of effort trying to get more than the minimum dead-panned response from any of our workers, before.”

“The problem is,” she sighed, “I had Fredrickson tested. He is terrible with a sword and very upset that his years of training did not convey. So… rather than a talented warrior, he is a worker with a partial mind and a serious case of attitude, wanting to be and do more than he is currently capable of.” She winced. “I sent him off to the barracks, where he will—hopefully—be a military leader. We’re still learning and -”

“There will be some upset people you encounter now, so be mindful. Fredrickson can stab you in the back, and we don’t know what the repercussions of any disgruntled citizens might be. We think…” Beth paused and studied me closely. “We think he is affected by the town's merriment factor.

“So we built an inn, where he wallows in his drink, mooning over his missing memories. At least he leaves us alone, now. Here is the crux of the issue: the dinosaurs need one handler for every ten dinosaurs, so…”

I shrugged, “so we expect to get more potential managers at degraded capacity arriving in our city and converting our workers into workers… plus? That is a mechanic I can get around. We can build that map office and get Amelia, she gets trained, and away she goes!” I said excitedly.

“Yeah, that’s the plan… which adds a whole bunch more work, because now we’ll need to micromanage the potential managers.” Senna snorted, “And Amelia would need a tablet. Also, I know you were wanting a general for a fourth manager, but that is still fifty days away. I will probably need another -”

I held a hand up, stopping Senna. “No rush. Okay. Maybe you can use one of these buildings—like the school and then maybe an advanced school—to generate your own lackeys who will be able to take over Beth’s work, while Beth manages other parts of the empire.

“Day sixty or seventy is so far away… let's not lose focus on the short term issues we face. I one hundred percent want a military for the empire, and for my home life; I want to strengthen our new family, as it is. Okay?” I asked.

“Okay,” they said almost in unison.

“Are you putting your foot down?” Beth asked, her hazel eyes close to mine.

“Yeah, on this one, I am. Don’t fret and build the schools. I’ll train up Fredrickson to be a warrior. I obviously need to become one, myself.

“Instead of rushing headlong to upgrade to stronghold four, let’s level up what we already have, and build all the new infrastructure a real city is going to require.” I tapped my chin thoughtfully. “I will head out and go southwest and then to the south, looping around to the eastern mountain.

“There are a lot more trees, down there. We also need to find more stones, I take it?”

Senna nodded and said, “Badly. I tried to send Fredrickson out to scout what lay in that direction, but it wouldn’t let me. Only a competitor or a cartographer can actually explore.

“I didn’t put one and two together earlier, about Amelia and the Cartographer's Office. Mainly, because we only just unlocked stronghold three a couple of days ago, and then Travis was born, and then you woke up, and now we’re here.”

“I take it there is a sword for me somewhere?” I asked, noticing there wasn’t one in the office.

“And a satchel for your tablet. I’m going with you today, because Fredrickson isn’t ready. Once you can get some reliable backup, though, I’ll stay at home and help Senna manage things here. We figure a second set of eyes is very important right now,” Beth said, kissing my cheek. “Plus,” she grinned, “bonding time!”

Senna smiled, leaving her chair with a waddle. “By the time I go to sleep tonight, I will be a normal size again. I want us to stagger our trimesters. That means I will go barren for a few days.” She laid a hand on my cheek. “That means, please do me a favor and save the sex for our threesome in the middle of the night.”

“Perfect by me. Looks like I have more work to do than ever. We have no materials, are behind on exploring, have enemies at our doorstep, people to train, and a military to build,” I said, summing the situation up.

“Give me a kiss goodbye, wifey.” Senna bent over to kiss me goodbye. “Waifu,” I grinned at Beth, “up with you, we’re going adventuring!”

Chapter

Twenty

COMPETITION 1 DAY 15

“T hanks, Greg,” Beth said to the bowyer. We ducked out of the confined little shop, heading for the bridge to reach the western exit.

The dirt road cutting through the city was busy with workers. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Beth strung the bow naturally, her movements fluid and graceful.

“I didn’t know you could shoot,” I said, dodging a two horned dinosaur heading the opposite way. It carted a small wagon laden with raw ore.

“The biographies are lame. They really leave so much to be desired from what little they say. If they had a pro and con column mine would say archery. Except I never hunted, I only shot for my own merriment,” Beth said. With her bow set she adjusted her quiver. “I used my tablet to rush a bowyer and order a bow and arrows. Did you want a set?”

“Uh… Yes and no. Yes—for later, when I can practice—and no, for this adventure. This sword on my hip will do fine,” I said, smacking the sheath. The leather worker had crafted a fine sword holder and tablet bag. Both were very welcome upgrades to my kit. “Too bad bows are so far down the tech tree.”

“Pfft, you can get a basic bow at an archery range, which honestly, should be done tier two. Barracks and an archery range. If we get raided early—we’ll lose, next time, without them. I mean it.

“You can assign your warriors worker tasks, if need be, but three archers on the tier two stronghold can repulse enemy invaders. Senna and I disagree on this. I feel this city was too exposed and rushing stronghold three risky,” Beth said with our feet clomping over the bridge. “Obviously, this time she was right, and the team is in a better position for having taken the gamble.”

We entered the residential section of Noobi city, where the homes were packed tightly together.

These were tier two huts, which were converted into square homes that shared two bedrooms. Wooden in design, they had thatch roofs and a few windows.

We passed a few with an encompassing orange glow, which told me they were upgrading. Noobi City was ever improving, the raw resources being put to use. I saw a few workers sweeping porches and smiled.

They at least kept the area clean and free of a stench.

The western gate was a bit of a tease and one hundred percent a false statement. Two stone frames arched over a wide trail that would one day be a road.

There was no portcullis or even a wall here; the design was open besides the framework. I sighed, another project for another day.

We exited Noobi City at a brisk pace. My long legs caused Beth to shuffle to keep up. Farm fields were being tended out to our left, while tree harvesting occurred to our right, and the groans of working dinosaurs competed with the bustling noises of a growing city.

Now that buildings weren’t blocking the wind, I felt a decent draft from the east and smiled as I watched the birds play in it.

A few bunnies hopped in the unused fields we passed by. To my right, was the spot in the trees where I’d rescued the sheep.

The route curved until going straight west. I knew about half a mile ahead we’d find the place I nearly died.

I saw Beth soaking in the warmth of the sun to my left. She basked in the bright daylight of the early morning. She exuded happiness with her endless smile and worry free face.

I could only imagine what she had been through.

Honestly, it made me sad.

To the point that I wanted to remind her she was no longer alone. Instead, I bounced a theory of mine off her.

“I bet these guys that snatched the worker… I bet they put resources into their military. Had to… at least for the stables. Makes sense to me anyway. A hundred miles is a good distance to walk instead of ride,” I said and Beth shrugged.

“I grew up in a time when there were no cars or planes. This is actually something I can school you on. A full day’s walk, nonstop and on through the night would put you right around a hundred miles, if you weren’t unduly burdened. Roughly, with variances made for obstacles, curvy roads, hills, and such.

“Riding a horse at a walk is the same as walking on your own, except you sit. Double horses on a carriage is the only way to go if you’re royalty. Speed is protection, and the comfort of a well-padded seat is divine.

“As to the raiders, assuming they chose a mountain theme, then a riding ram would do it in half-a-day at a trot. Carrying two, even a ram would need to walk, which is probably what happened. I think we’ll lose more than a few more workers, before our military comes online,” Beth admitted with a sad sigh.

“What ifs… Those tend to spin your brain in circles. We’ve got bows now, which is great, and we will keep growing. Three tablets, is better than two. At least Senna can watch us on one while working on the other,” I said.

Beth had been hesitant to give up her tablet, since she wanted to study it. We didn’t need two, though, so I left mine with Senna. Beth’s tablet was currently in my satchel, I was just carrying it for her.

“So… husband. What is your plan once we have an army?”

I moved us off to the side and waited as a male worker hauling eggs in a basket came up the trail.

When he had passed, I replied, “Depends. From what I understand and from experience… exploring without a tablet, is mostly a waste. I really want to be an archer riding a stegosaurus. That is my man dream… for the moment. I want to go into battle atop a mighty tail swinging killer, raining arrows down from above, and bring us victory through conquest… I guess that would make me a warrior emperor, or king.”

Beth frowned. “Which is it? King or Emperor?”

“Hmm… Haven’t given it much thought,” I admitted, shrugging with my palms upwards. “Which do you prefer, Empress or Queen?”

“Queen. Always the Queen. Empress is an Asian thing. So, my warrior King... do you have any battlefield experience?” Beth asked.

I frowned.

“Like in video games or in studies?” she added. “I know you were not a soldier. I also happen to be privy to the fact that your generation had the ability to literally be anything they wanted—at least in digital worlds.”

“I played a few simulated games. Mostly the pilot flying types, though.” I shrugged. “I thought I would flounder in battle, based on my limited simulation experience aboard the ship.” I grinned. “Turns out, I’m pretty good at adventuring. My adventures, while challenging, have been successful.

“In more than a few ways, I would say that I’ve adapted. Enough so, that we’ve made it this far. Not saying I’ll be such a good general, that others will write about my strategies, but I hope to do okay on my own. The best part is, this is all unique… maybe my lack of experience will be an advantage.”

We arrived at the stable where I had lost a leg. The building had been repaired, of course. My eyes lingered on the structure, noting the many changes around the area.

The field of oats had been reduced to stubble, their harvest complete.

A large barn had replaced the shed on the goat farm; the upgrade was much larger than the original had been.

The swamp building, though, still lay in that weird, marshy layout with its single coop.

I tried to find the bodies of the monsters I had killed. The fact there weren't big mounds of dirt anywhere nearby, told me what had happened; Senna had repurposed the protein.

Looks like that asshole who stole my leg was going to be shit out, when next I found the time to take a dump.

Revenge at its finest. I grinned grimly to myself.

We left the path and headed towards a clump of trees to our left. My fingers managed the clasp on the satchel and I handed Beth her tablet.

“You stay glued to that and I will stay alert. Deal?” I asked and she faltered in her step. She put her hands on her hips and her torso leaned forward, her head tilted to the side. I admired the view. A finger pulled my gaze up to her face and those gorgeous hazel eyes.

“There is something that I want to do. You’re the experienced adventurer, and yet I want to test you... Consider this a trust exercise,” Beth’s pretty eyes narrowed when I chuckled and then had a full-on belly laugh.

“And your request?” I asked.

She folded her arms, propping up her breasts. “I lead. You follow with the tablet.”

Now, I’d known a few stubborn women before; my ability to charm them was always suspect.

I had learned, that if I played the brigand, they would take the moral high ground. If I played the superiority card, they would go low.

As in most things, though, I’d found that if you decided not to play and simply gave in, in the end you would win. So, still chuckling, I gestured for my lady to take the lead while opening and orienting myself to the tablet map.

“Done. After you, waifu,” I said with a bow.

“Okay, if I get us killed, it will be my fault; but I promise I’ll be extra cautious,” Beth said hesitantly. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before leading off. “While we cross this field, tell me, how many children will we have on Qoobi?”

“Like, are we normal people, or people with help who will live forever?” I asked, watching her lovely ass walk ahead of me in those tight pants. “How did you get those pants on? They’re so damn tight.”

“I do like it when I am complimented,” Beth sang out, smirking at me over her shoulder.

Yeah, it was a compliment, alright—her butt was swaying just right. I wanted to rip those pants off her and ravish her right here in the field. She sure knew how to tease me.

“We probably should have had sex earlier, a girl has needs, you know.” She smirked. “And I see the desire in your eyes. To answer your question, I would say that we have a single nanny.”

“Won’t we struggle with more than three kids, if we only have a single nanny?” I asked.

She paused, turning to face me with a frown. We were close to the new redwoods and she was confused. Based on my read of her body language—her posture, combined with her expression—I could tell this was important to her. I tried to convince her.

“Look,” I said, “I could see the exhaustion and strain on my face when I was given a glimpse of myself as a stay-at-home-Dad, with my three children. I was sad to see Senna go to work, probably because the amount of work that left for me to do around the house, solo, was hell of a lot.”

“Huh? Wait, you want to be a mom-dad?” she asked, her face screwing up into that grimace that people make when they are pooping. I had to admit, though, she was still pretty, even with that expression on her face. That’s how I knew I had a winner.

“Not sure what a ‘mom-dad’ is, but yeah. I kind of wanted to be a stay-at-home Dad,” I admitted with a shrug.

“You realize that you are smacking me in the face with about ten thousand years of sexism? I studied a lot on that damn ship, stay-at-home Dads are a myth—they don’t exist. Sure, a few men might raise a child as a single parent, if the mother died, but the vast majority of single Dads found help—or another love,” Beth sneered.

I held my hands out wide—not in surrender, but simply because I was not sure how to respond to that.

“You’re serious?” her brows came together. “You will help raise our children, and I don’t just mean financially... You’ll change shitty diapers and teach them, every day?”

“Yeah, wouldn’t you?” I asked.

“But what about the Qoobi Empire we will lead?”

“Teamwork?”

She blew out her cheeks, hard. I’d clearly flustered her. “Would you wash clothes and clean the stew pot?”

“Do the dishes? Yeah, of course. But…it would have to be a fair division of -” I faltered, watching her cheeks turn a rosy, dusky red.

I thought I was making her mad; she looked like she was about to boil over in anger… Yeah, super wrong.

The feisty little woman tossed her bow down and tried to tackle me.

The maneuver was cute—futile to the point of being ridiculous. I chuckled. I had at least a hundred pounds and nearly a foot and a half on her.

I hoisted her tight, sexy body up so she could wrap her legs around my hips and shower me with kisses. This was another bad idea, because I soon found that she was trying to undo my belt.

I all but dropped her at that point, and she chased me around for at least five minutes. The two of us must have made quite the sight.

“Ugh! I need you inside me!” she vented, throwing her hands into the air.

I chuckled at her antics.

“I was alone for so long…” Beth complained. “I’m starting to wonder if they do that on purpose, to make us yearn for a position as a contender or a manager.” She glowered at me. “Who are they kidding, you spent only fourteen days ‘in transit’, while I spent years. Of course it's one of their tactics.”

I shrugged, agreeing with her.

She pouted at me. “I do think that is one of the hottest things I’ve ever heard a man say—that he will do my laundry, cook, clean, and even change our baby’s diapers.” She leaned forward, giving me an eyeful of cleavage, her hands teasing down her hips until they stroked across the leather ties of her pants. “Meow, this kitty is purring for you!”

“I get it,” I laughed. “I really do, but we need to be good for Senna. God knows I’m tempted,” I admitted, and grinned. “And some of the things you say are hilarious.”

She puffed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes and retrieved her bow from where it lay in the short oat stalks. With a hand held out in my direction, she asked for the tablet.

I handed the device over.

“Test passed,” she grumped. “You didn’t give in. You answered correctly and may consider me a wife who will do all I can to fulfill your—yours and Senna’s—needs. The sub to her dom.”

I raised a brow at this. “I can be your alpha, if that is what you want. I can pull your hair or straight up dominate you.”

She bounced her eye brows at this, her grin becoming almost predatory.

“Honestly, though,” I shrugged, “We just want you to be happy. If you want to be barefoot in the kitchen, I won’t deny you your… merriment.”

“Thank you. We will have lots of children—until we are overwhelmed with them! In exchange…” she met my gaze with a sultry stare as she sauntered in close, leaning into me. Firmly, she grabbed my dick through my pants and squeezed, as if ensuring I had her full attention.

“If your balls ache and you desire a release, you will have it. If I’m on my moon flow, or am still recovering from childbirth, I will suck you dry—but if my lady bits are functioning, you will fill me until I am pregnant and then cum wherever you desire… besides my face, or in my hair. I hate getting it in my hair. In exchange, you will be good to me,” Beth whispered huskily. She released her grip on my cock, after stroking her fingers up and down its length a few times.

I leaned down and kissed her cheek, softly. “Is this your way of saying that ‘the key to a man’s heart, is through his balls?’” I asked with a playful smirk.

She winked, stepping back and giving me a curtsy. “After you, husband.”

“Okay, we need to get serious now… no more deep, reflective questions,” I admonished sternly. I couldn’t help it, though, and chuckled. “When they arrive, I bet our kids will be so cute,” I said.

Beth blushed, as if I’d claimed her heart, on a whole different level.

“The absolute cutest,” Beth agreed, pinching my ass to get me moving again. “You’re a dashing man,”

I pulled my sword free of its scabbard. That was the sign we had shifted from romantic interaction, to serious adventuring mode.

The looming, tall trees—with their gnarled, massive roots—provided plenty of cover from which an enemy could view these fields.

I checked over my shoulder, seeing my teams off in the fields, and Beth not far behind me with her tablet out, her eyes peeled for danger.

We’d made it no more than fifty feet inside the tree line, when Beth tapped my side.

We hurried to a protected area, where we could confer.

“Look at this,” she whispered, showing me the tablet.

An icon on the tablet’s map showed a small mushroom farm was not far away, with a single defender. We’d been heading straight towards the icon, already.

Beth tucked her tablet away and readied her bow.

When she indicated she was prepared, we continued to creep through the forest so we could study the defender.

The deal with these wild mushroom farms, was they were very much enclosed and part of the forest.

When I stumbled upon the small section of exposed fungi, I also ran into its defender.

A creature I had to look up at roared a challenge from no more than a dozen feet away. It was what I would have expected of a yeti, except this one had long, matted, woolly-mammoth type gray fur.

The beast was bipedal, with a looming, bulky frame and it carried a sword and shield.

A large ram stood at its side; they both charged me.

There were a few immediate problems with this situation, I thought to myself.

I’d almost stumbled into this duo, expecting something much smaller—maybe a two-foot-tall spider or a single foe, who could be dispatched easily—certainly not the double-trouble combo that attacked me.

The other problem was our proximity—Beth was only a step or two behind me—and the tight bunching of the trees restricted our movements. I scrambled forward to protect Beth.

An arrow whizzed over my shoulder while I tried to anticipate my foes’ charge.

The spinning arrow sank into the big yeti’s upper chest with enough force to twist its torso to the side from the impact.

The ram snarled, taking the lead.

The beast never got up enough speed to execute a good charge, but the blue furred creature managed to reach me first.

I lunged forward and to the side, dodging the tucked head that passed through the space I had just occupied.

I slashed my sword down the creature’s left flank as it passed by.

There was a tearing sound as my blade opened a nasty wound along the side of its body.

The ram faltered and then collapsed, moaning and bleating. I blocked out the noises it made, so that I could deal with the ten-foot-tall sword-wielding yeti who snarled at me.

My feet carried me to the big guy, just as he tried to yank out Beth’s arrow.

A second twang from behind me was followed by a zipping sound as another arrow crashed into the beast’s hastily raised forearm. It gave another sharp cry of pain.

While it tried to fight through the pain of the barbed arrows, I took advantage of the distraction to run around his big frame.

My quick chop to his hamstring landed with enough force that I felt my blade scrape against bone.

My movements were fluid, much quicker than what the big guy was capable of reacting to. Its torso twisted, arm flung out, as it tried to back hand me with its shield.

My response was perfectly timed, it was as if my much bigger foe was moving in slow motion.

A bellowing war cry reinforced the full force of my overhead chop. My blade sliced through his arm cleaving the limb that was extended with the shield at the elbow.

The yeti dropped the large sword in his other hand, clutching at the nub.

His wide, bloodshot eyes filled with fear as his mind came the conclusion that he was not likely to survive this fight.

Defeated and in trouble, he tried to hobble away. Instead of retreating towards the open fields, though, he ducked around a tree, retreating deeper into the forest.

The reality of the situation hit me like a hammer blow.

The ram and the yeti were likely raiders... and running west to what was likely an enemy stronghold.

This was a worker who’d been turned into a warrior and not a wild beast. A vicious grin crested my face as I decided to play with what would—ultimately—become my food.

I watched my hobbling foe retreat through the trees, with thoughts of vengeance flooding my mind. This was my home; the bastards had been abducting my people.

I ran the invader down, hamstringing his remaining, good leg. He collapsed in a heap—not far, actually, from his bleating, wounded ram.

The creature flipped over onto his back, his hands coming up, as if seeking mercy. A fluid swipe removed one hand, at the wrist.

“You okay?” I asked an ashen-faced Beth.

She panted, pointing a shaking finger at our wounded foes.

“So fast…” she huffed. “It was all so fast; you’re damn good with a blade. I always expected a fight to include a lot of monologuing, maybe even some chest thumping.” She shook her head. “Or at least, that both sides take a moment to prepare, to size each other up, or something. We caught sight of each other, you fought… and it was over.” Her wide hazel eyes stared up at me. “Nate, you were amazing. I’ve seen hundreds of tournaments, and you’re incredibly fluid and quick with your blade, with such a natural poise.”

“What?” I snorted. “Nah… they were just big, dumb, and slow. Now get in that tree, hurry,” I said. When I clutched her slim frame to boost her onto a massive root, so she could provide overwatch from cover, she leaned back and stole a quick kiss.

She scrambled up after that without a quibble or counter, thankfully letting me lead. “Claim the farm,” I instructed her. “Tell Senna to send a dozen workers—with weapons—as well as a two-horn, with a wagon… and rope. Hurry!”

I had hissed out the last part—not that it mattered, but because these two wounded invaders were still making quite a racket.

I expected reinforcements to come pouring in at any moment.

And yet, none did.

Five minutes turned into twenty and I was shocked there was no rush to defeat us.

I crouched in a position from which I could ambush any reinforcements coming to help the wounded yeti, expecting another fight.

My reinforcements arrived with the crashing, rustling, and general noise I’d come to associate with untrained or careless troops.

I was surprised they had arrived before any additional invaders.

Hmm…

Even though I knew something was off about this situation, Senna was getting a reward. She’d immediately sent a dozen reinforcement, with weapons, and a cart.

Perfect.

These two would likely survive. I was interested to see whether or not the ram would become a dinosaur, or just stay a friendlier ram. I wondered what the warrior would convert into.

When Mitch handed me the rope, nervously clutching the warhammer, I went to work. Normally, I wouldn’t care about his facial expression—because he had none.

Hmm… Why did he have an expression?

After a few minutes, both my wounded victims had been bound tightly and their wounds seen to.

Four of us struggled to hoist the big yeti into the wagon. The wood frame of the wagon creaked, when his weight settled.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek worriedly, when we added the still weakly bleating ram, but the axle held.

Mitch stayed with us when I sent the rest of the workers back to Noobi, guarding our latest prize. I patted the big guy on the shoulder and he relaxed. Beth scurried down out of the tree.

“There was a ten-minute timer that I watched count down to zero, for the defenders to react. The shaggy yeti guy never surrendered—and the timer counted down without a contest. This,” she sighed, pointing to the tablet, “mentioned that if they re-entered the claimable area, they could hold onto the objective. The mushroom farm is ours, now, and is uncontestable for the next twenty-two hours.”

“So…” I frowned, “we can lose buildings in ten minutes?” I wondered at the insane logistics of an invasion.

Beth handed me her tablet. A display of the timers had been pulled up from the help feature.

(Note: this does not apply to team buildings) Control point timers when two teams compete over the same wild objective:

Tiny - 5 minutes

Small - 10 minutes

Medium - 30 minutes

Large - 60 minutes

Extra Large - 3 hours

Giant - 6 hours

Massive - 1 day

Epic - 3 days

I frowned at this information.

At what point did a wild objective become a controlled building? Maybe the dwarven mine hadn’t been wild, since it had been linked to a stronghold?

I started typing and Beth saw me pecking at the tablet. My slow, plodding finger stabs made her cringe.

She asked for the device and I handed it to her. “What do you want to tell Senna?” she asked, fingers poised to type.

“We need to learn about how to convert wild objectives into team buildings. And then hope that the west and northern strongholds are on longer timers. We need to research how an enemy would besiege our buildings.” I nodded in the direction the wagon had gone. “They had a warrior here.” I frowned and blew out a heavy breath.

Beth pinched my butt before she retreated up the tree to type a message to Senna. I found a nice spot to hide, myself, while I waited for Senna’s response.

My mind returned to the fight. A few fast moves was all it took to win—nothing special about that, really.

When I replayed the brief fight in my mind’s eye, I came to the conclusion that Beth was just being sweet.

She finished typing a moment later, then leaned down and pointed deeper into the woods.

I hesitated. Was this the right call? We needed to scout out what else might still be out here, though, and I had Mitch to back me up.

I decided to creep forward. The lumbering giant followed behind me but was super loud—each step he took was a combination of a foot slam and leaf kicking, all at once.

Turning with a frown to stop him, I said, “Follow a hundred paces behind us. If you hear fighting, come help immediately, but be careful not to hit us.” He grunted in reply, then dropped back.

I turned to Beth. “What did Senna say?”

“Still working the issue—hopes to have a report ready by the time we get home,” she whispered.

I could hear Mitch crashing through the forest behind us. I was frustrated at the whole situation. We were being invaded and that caused a white-hot fury to coil and twist inside me. I wanted to clear out the infestation, now.

If I hadn’t bested the yeti-ram duo so easily, perhaps I would have been more hesitant to push on. Except, I really was concerned about what else we might find.

I needed to know if they had established a stronghold here. The only thing that gave me a wee bit of reassurance, was the fact that our farm was still operating unmolested -

“Psst…”

I stopped at her harsh hiss, then hustled to where Beth crouched under a bush. Mitch ran into a tree, trying to keep himself exactly a hundred paces behind us.

I sighed at the loud thud and accompanying grunt. That was probably going to leave a mark. There was no doubt about it, I was super hoping that my trained warriors wouldn’t be so dumb. When I huddled under the bush, in the shadow of the big, red roots, Beth showed me the tablet.

A few hundred feet to the south, according to the map, lay an enemy stronghold icon.

There was also four shaggy-haired icons patrolling the immediate area around an ‘under-construction’ stronghold.

Okay… A plan started to form in my head.

“Order Mitch to come here, giving him the command through the tablet.” I looked back in his direction and rolled my eyes. “I fear that if I head back and try to tell him to come to us, he will run away to keep a hundred paces distance between us,” I said.

Beth snorted a giggling laugh, but did as I asked.

When she looked up again, I continued. “Right, okay. Here is the plan.”

I went over my plan with her for the next few minutes.

“That is the worst plan ever,” Beth said with a sour face, then she smiled… like I had told a joke.

Was she just waiting for the punch line? I frowned.

She frowned. “Swampy vagina… you're serious, aren’t you?”

I wrinkled my nose in disgust and grumped, “What kind of a swear is that?”

“Punch words are meant to elicit responses—you will learn about that, in court. If you tell a maiden that you will say nice things about her to a boy she is pining after, but who you think is bad for her... Well, when you tell him that your swampy vagina smells like a fart, he will twist his face up in disgust—just like you just did—and your friend is saved from her own folly,” Beth said with a smirk and a wink.

“So… you’re not really swampy, are you?”

“Fresh, clean, and purring…” she murmurred. “Freshly shaven, actually. It won't be swampy, but it will certainly be wet,” Beth said, kissing my cheek before nibbling on my ear lobe.

I gulped, enjoying the tease.

“Oh, you poor man,” she chuckled wickedly. “You’re married to two insatiable vixens. Imagine the fun times you might miss out on, if your stupid plan backfires.”

“Hey, it’s a terrific plan,” I said in a semi-serious tone. “We just need to hope the manager is the one who is towing our captured worker home. Oh,” my eyes lit up, “ask Senna to notate all scores before we do this, so we can see what effect it has on the rankings and figure out who it is we are at war with.”

Mitch surprised me, showing up quietly.

“What the hell? How did you get him to do that?” I asked with wide eyes.

She shrugged, not willing to give up her secrets. I pouted and batted my eyelashes at her with the best puppy dog eyes I could come up with.

Yes! She caved, flipping the tablet my way.

Worker Mitch

Order: Custom – Proceed to manager Nathanael as if a baby were sleeping nearby. Failure to be quiet will result in termination of the worker.

“We can terminate a worker?” I mused.

Beth slid a finger across her neck.

“Oh,” I blanched, “that kind of terminate.” I patted the drone on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Mitch, I actually like you,” I admitted with a smile.

“Competitor Nathanael, good man,” Mitch said, causing me to eye him inquisitively.

I puckered my lips and arched my brow in surprise. A loud, “Hmm…” escaped as I gave the situation more thought.

Okay…

“You’re changing, buddy… Maybe I should alter my plan to exclude you, so I can send you to school…”

“Mitch like school.”

I rolled my eyes, handing off the tablet to a giggling Beth.

“He is going to hate your plan,” she chortled.

When I told Mitch the plan, he again did something unusual—he frowned. I asked him if he had a better plan. When he admitted he did not, he immediately changed his mind and suddenly liked my plan. Atta boy, Mitch!

We crept through the redwood towards the enemy stronghold which was still under construction.

The butterflies rampaging in my stomach and my sweaty palms didn’t stop me. This ‘stupid’ plan of mine might be our best shot at preventing our enemy from getting a foothold in our area.

We paused, halfway to where I’d established a rallying checkpoint. Mitch followed behind us silently. Apparently, Beth—with her dainty, slender fingers—was the drone whisperer.

The map showed the same four hairy icons and the half-completed stronghold. So… they had probably started building this, realized we had no reaction, and figured our lack of an army meant it was a good chance to steal a worker.

The fact they had decided to take our worker all the way back to their base puzzled me. Maybe they didn’t know about the tracking mechanism?

I shrugged. Why not just keep your prize around for when this stronghold was completed and convert her here?

Many rational decisions were just the result of seizing upon a target of opportunity.

Taking a second look at the map, I noted the same four guards and half-built structure. Making a quick decision, I pushed us further into the woods, until we found ourselves on the outskirts of a medium sized glen, in the middle of the forest.

I left Mitch and Beth behind, to get a better look at what we were facing. When I saw the enemy, I frowned. Beth was so going to rub this in.

I returned to where she and Mitch were crouched down. “So… we’re going with plan B. Beth, go put an arrow in three warriors,” I gave a dejected sigh.

“What?!” she hissed at me. “What happened to plan A?”

I drove my sword into the forest floor, with the hilt sticking up, before saying, “It won’t work. We don’t know everything about this competition. There is new stuff we learn every day. I saw three yetis walking around, with a fourth laying on the ground. When I arrived and built my stronghold -”

“Senna said you did the same thing. Why do you want to change the plan from Mitch running around screaming and flailing his arms until you can ambush the others?” Beth asked. I smirked, wondering if she was changing her tune and about to praise the plan. She read me pretty well. “No,” she sneered, “it was never a good plan.”

“The best, you’re not going to dissuade me of my plan’s awesomeness. Now. I bet they are on orders to stick to guarding either the boss, or the worker who is constructing this building. So,” I shrugged, “go shoot them.”

She rolled her eyes.

“If they abandon their post and come chasing after you, I will simply kill them as they run past me.” I patted her shoulder. The glare I got in response was not of lust or even love. She did playfully wag her finger in my face. “Yes, dear... I promise to make it up to you.”

She smiled at that.

“I don’t think they will run, though,” I admitted. “I count a dozen arrows in your quiver… make them count.”

“You seriously think they won’t chase me?” Beth asked, standing up and walking back into the forest.

I shook my head no and followed her to the edge of the tree line.

With a huff, she confidently strode out into the clearing.

The wooly yetis reacted immediately, forming a shield wall around the male form on the ground to protect him.

Hmm…

Beth returned when I lightly whistled at her.

I waved the lumbering Mitch over, too.

“Okay, I want to test something. I’m going to run around to the left and get the guards to turn that direction. Hopefully, I can keep them distracted. Send your arrows into them from the flank,” I ordered in a firm tone.

Beth smirked, her devilish laugh and glittering eyes showing that she liked this plan much better. She smirked and said, “At least you didn’t order me to shoot the poor sod on the ground.”

“Shucks, I love you too. You’ve got this, babe -”

My head was pulled down and I was kissed, her tongue snaking past my lips. My lips were left smacking empty air when she pulled back. “Not quite a real ‘I love you’, but I’ll take it.” She grinned up at me. “It is so good, not being alone anymore.”

“What Mitch’s orders?”

“Mitchy boy, you are my guardian. If they break ranks, slow them down, so that I can run to Nate, okay?” Beth instructed.

Mitch gave a manly grunt and replied, “I guard Queen.”

“Aw… you boys spoil me. Okay, quiet Mitch, until our King makes the big noises,” Beth commanded, shooing me away to execute my flanking tactic.

There was a part of me that balked at making a plan before contact with the enemy. Pretty much, just about every single time, really, plans changed or went awry. I still liked my strategy, though, but by taking the time to let her vent about how bad it was, I’d build up a rapport between Beth and I.

I smirked at the thought, creeping away from both the enemy and my allies.

A few quick dashes between the massive trees, and I had swung around onto the yetis’ flank.

The guards had shifted back to their circular patrol, scanning for threats. It was as if an archer hadn’t just showed up a few minutes ago. The fact that they were acting like it never happened, sent my mind reeling.

Hmm…

My frown deepened, my jaw twisted, and I rationalized a lot in this moment. Dumb soldiers were almost worthless. So… military school for sure. I bet this team didn’t have any training or schooling though—hell, only one of them wore any armor.

Just goes to show how rushing upgrades can improve your capabilities—provided you survive long enough. Also, it was clear that the manager really had fled with our worker. I don’t think he had many options, though. Given the fact that we had zero warriors… I doubted that he, or she, was worried about losing this outpost. Not sure why I thought of the other manager as a male—maybe because all these yetis were nude males, with big, swinging dicks.

When I left my cover from the flank, I kept my eyes at head level while bellowing a challenge.

I kept my sword in its sheath and held a handful of rocks in my left hand.

From fifty feet away, I flung a rock at the still form on the ground.

The enemy trio collapsed once again into their shield wall, with the armored one on the far left, barking orders at the others.

Clang.

My lazily thrown rock ricocheted off a shield and their shield wall turned to face me. I threw another rock. Before my second rock landed, however, an arrow sprouted in the side of the guard on the right’s head.

Damn… that girl could shoot.

The dead guard’s head tilted to the side before its body teetered and then crumpled backwards. With a loud thud, the yeti’s body smacked off the forest floor.

The leftmost guard ordered his companion to spin around to confront the new threat. They had moved about, facing Beth, when my rock hit one of the guard’s shield.

Clang.

The two covered to protect the prone worker, facing me again. Since I was now the immediate threat, I was the one they had to protect their friend from.

Yeah, these yetis were dumbasses.

I threw another rock. Beth’s arrow narrowly missed but was noticed, the guards spinning to face her. A fourth rock got their attention back on me.

The next arrow sank into a guard’s chest, causing him to wheeze out bloody foam, before collapsing. When this guard fell, they did so with their sword arm struggling to hold up the weapon's tip. I watched what was about to happen as if it occurred in slow motion, cringing the whole time.

There was a nasty squish when the guard fell on top of the prone worker.

Shit! Not good, I thought. Not good.

I yanked my sword out and sprinted to protect Beth. As I had rightfully concluded, the guard had killed the prone worker.

This freed the last guard from his guard and protect orders, which had defined his responses so far to each of our attacks.

When the final guard charged at Beth, I smirked knowing that I had judged the situation right.

I met him well before he could reach her.

Her arrow pinged between his shield and chest, clattering against his chain mail.

The enemy warrior snarled out a war cry. He beckoned me forward, tempting me to rush him.

His red, demon-like eyes were calculating. The warrior was in a battle rage, but was not acting on raw emotion; he was judging my movements.

I noticed that he kept me between himself and Beth.

This guy wasn’t a complete dumbass… maybe he was level two or something.

I tried to turn him to give Beth a clean shot, but he was able to adjust his shield, deflecting another arrow with it. I considered ordering Mitch to charge, to give me an opening, but I didn’t want to sacrifice -

“Die!” Mitch screamed, running in from the side.

Mitch was a bulked up, gym rat-looking miner… who skipped leg days. His little chicken legs carried him slowly across the glen.

The yeti’s eyes flicked between us. He was unable to focus on just one target and I forced his decision as I ran for a flank.

Mitch stopped and flung his warhammer at the remaining foe, missing completely, and then ran away, once he was weaponless.

Ha! I thought Beth had sacrificed him.

Realizing that I was the only melee threat left, the big wooly yeti tried to get into a better position against me without exposing his flank to Beth’s arrows, but quickly realized he couldn’t.

Another snarling war cry preceded his charge, much faster than the other’s had been. The agile fiend even jumped over an arrow, mid-flight, in an amazing display of agility.

I grinned at the impressive display—maybe there was some hope in converting drones into warriors, after all.

My feet crunched through the leafy remains on the forest floor as I charged to meet him head on, likewise jumping into the air.

I timed my leap with his landing. His shield came up, just as expected, and I slammed into it, bear hugging my foe, the wind partially knocked out of me.

I watched for the swipe that I knew was coming.

He angled his blade to free me from his shield. Perfect, he had committed to his attack and was doomed.

My left hand slid from his shield to latch onto fur and I pulled myself even closer in. His blade sliced air while my sword sliced into his neck.

I felt a jarring tug as my weapon hit bone.

I yanked the blade free, ducking down and tumbling backwards in a roll to the forest floor as my foe clutched at the gaping, mortal wound I’d left in his neck.

A second later, he collapsed in death.

Beth clapped excitedly, her eyes wide and jaw agape.

“Fantastic shooting, Beth,” I congratulated her, heading to check on the worker. “Shit. All four of them are dead. Well,” I shrugged, “free food at least.”

She shuddered, before walking up to me with a sexy saunter. “You’re gifted... you know that, right?”

“Like… in bed?” I gave her my best, winning smile. “We haven’t even bumped uglies yet,” I grinned, “thanks for the compliment.”

She groaned and grimaced. “Nope. Never say that--never, ever. Our sex is not ‘bumping uglies’.”

She shook her head. “Nate, seriously. I think you were under the impression I jested with you, earlier. I do not tease, so please pay attention and hear me out—I’m serious. You are fluid on the battlefield. Your timing is precise. This warrior was much better than the first, and yet you defeated him easily when he made a single mistake.” Beth peered up at me intently.

“Shucks, I was really good at reading body moves in football. When I got hurt, I got replaced, and by the time I was healed up, the season was all but over. So,” I shrugged, “I worked hard, got fat, and went on a vacation where I met Senna. The rest is history.

“I did have some good moves… back in the day. They sure didn’t help much against the damn simulator tigers, though. Fucking hate those things,” I muttered, scratching at the back of my neck. “I appreciate the kind words though.”

Almost like a delayed reaction, the reminder of being mauled to death made me shudder.

Beth sighed, and grabbing the collar of my chain mail, yanked me down until our foreheads touched. I got lost in her hazel eyes.

“Your big, damn baby blues are seriously distracting, you big sexy man.” She frowned. “Listen to me, Nathanael Immersion.”

Uh oh, the full name. Shit just got real.

“You are a champion. A warrior of such skill in battle that you would have won tournaments against knights with more years of training than you could imagine. You need to continue to train and keep fighting—there is a reason you kill so smoothly. Trust your instincts.”

“I did… and lost a leg,” I muttered.

She scoffed. “To a twenty-five-foot-long monster from someone’s nightmares. You will be fighting other humans on Qoobi, long before you will have to fight aliens.”

“Maybe…” I straightened up. “I have a feeling that planet will require taming, but I understand your underlying message. You’re impressed how easily I can kill. Thank you, my Queen,” I said with a bow.

She curtsied and replied, “Twelve more hours, and your ass is mine, pretty boy. Okay… Tablet time.”

I walked around to watch over her shoulder. She was messing with the map. When I saw Mitch looming behind us, I gave him an order: “Mitch, crush their skulls, I don’t want anything stirring.”

“Yes, my King.” Mitch said, immediately leaving to execute his grisly task.

I spun so I could watch him while he worked—not that I was eager to watch the man bust skulls—I just wanted to ensure he was safe. The bodies were motionless, and he should be fine… but I was worried enough about there being any survivors to give him the order.

“Do you think we unlocked… his mind?” I asked the pretty brunette.

Beth was tippity-tapping away at the tablet, focused on her work. “Excuse me?”

“Mitch is showing signs of being less of a drone,” I said, folding my arms and nodding towards the big guy.

My face twisted in a disgusted grimace when his first hammering blow landed, accompanied by a loud popping sound with an extra squish.

Beth handed me her tablet, instead of answering.

Stronghold expansion is now undefended. You may claim the structure. (YES) - (NO)

I hit ‘YES’, claiming the structure.

The stronghold is within a mile of another stronghold. A worker can be assigned from anywhere in your empire. Continue building with 20.3 hours until completion. (YES) - (NO) If you select ‘YES’, no resources are required. If you select no, you will recoup half of the invested resources.

“What did Senna say about combat conquest?” I asked, handing the tablet back to Beth without selecting an option.

“She wanted to go over this tonight in a briefing, but the short version is that the rules are stricter than for wild objectives. Basically, defend your stuff or lose it—the conversion of buildings seems to have no timers at all. If they conquer one of our strongholds, it unlocks for the invader. We sally forth and retake the settlement… it's ours again.

“That is the way it works—both in this competition and in real life. No timers like with the wild objectives. Maybe objectives are a way of conducting trades securely without fear of betrayal, or they may just be a mechanic the Archaics enjoy seeing in the competition,” Beth mumbled, squinting at the tablet. “Senna sent a request.”

“Tell her we will gladly explore the rest of the area,” I said, hearing her type in my response. “What does she want us to do with this stronghold?”

“She already has it being built,” Beth said, face peering down at the tablet. “More bodies to churn out... More fights we can win. And it keeps the fight all the way out here, instead of closer to our main city.” Beth looked up, “at least that’s what she wrote. Do you want to object?”

I shook my head, no.

Mitch finished popping the head of the last dead body.

“Excellent work Mitch,” I congratulated him, “please take the bodies to the nearest depot. And Mitch...”

He paused.

“Take the rest of the day off,” I ordered. “When the warrior training opens, go into it. If Senna tries to order you to do otherwise, tell her that I am to be informed of all orders to be given to Mitch before they are executed. From this day forward, you are one of my warriors. Understood?”

“Yes, my King,” Mitch said with a smile. The fact that he was smiling while slinging a headless body over his shoulder was irrelevant to the drone. He was happy, clearly thrilled by this change in status.

When he trooped off with the still leaking corpse over his shoulder, Beth put her hand into mine. “So, Sir Fancy Swordsman… care to take a stroll to see if there are any more objectives in the area that make this place worth protecting?”

“I’d love to,” I said, twirling her as if we danced in a ballroom.

She spun like a ballerina, obviously a well-trained dancer. She continued to impress me. There was no doubt about it, the woman loved the attention I was giving her. She blushed furiously as my eyes hungrily devoured her lithe figure.

We shared a giggle that turned into a long, pleasant laugh. We had a nice moment.

When it was time to go move on to a new section of redwoods, we opened the map and saw that we hadn’t really gone that far to the south. I added a waypoint to the south west, oriented the map and myself in that direction, and then stepped off into the unknown.

Chapter

Twenty-One

COMPETITION 1 DAY 15

B eth managed the tablet, her hazel eyes barely glancing up as she rapidly tapped on the device. Our journey southwest resulted in us being directly south of Noobi City.

As far as new resources or objectives go, that long trip resulted in only a fruit orchard with some kind of alien pink melons hanging from the trees.

There were three bears guarding the objective that we ignored.

Our growing empire had food, and there was no competitor, squatting with a secret base here. Besides, we needed stone.

So, Beth and I ran, rightfully avoiding conflict until we arrived in big, open, rolling fields.

In the far distance to my left, I could see our farm fields. Well… the farming area. I could only see the second story of the barns, since we were downslope from the farms.

A quick map inspection told me we were at least a mile south of those farms. My hopes of finding new objectives in this area were dashed.

It was a perfect space for expanding, but no stones unfortunately.

Beth’s runner’s ass, and her ability to keep pace with ease, told me she’d spent plenty of time on that treadmill aboard the Arinium.

While I panted, she was hardly winded. I sensed she was ready to keep going and groaned at my tablet.

My plan was to cover a lot of ground quickly once we hit the open fields. So, we kept the rapid pace while tromping through tall blue flowers that reminded me of daisies.

When we reached the stream, I noticed workers stuck off in the distance, far out on our left.

“Hey handsome, this way,” Beth called, picking up the pace as she turned to the left. Yup, definitely a runner.

We ran, until we were a dozen paces short of the workers, who were chipping away at the bedrock. As if a switch flipped, the crew meandered into the new section of the stream. The work crew instantly began to load easy to retrieve stones onto the cart.

“Well, this is a good start, I bet their production numbers just went up,” I said, catching a few deep breaths.

“Time to unlock the full river. I bet we find a fish farm or something,” Beth said, heading south again.

While this would help with our stone problems, it was a drop in the bucket. We had so many buildings to upgrade and demand for stone would only go up, once we reached the next tier.

The run south resulted in us skirting the narrow waterway to ensure we unlocked all that we could. A forest of pines with dark green vines slowed our pace.

The river’s flow stagnated with thick S curves, resulting in a murky, brownish water.

Besides the pinecones being low quantity agricultural food, the pines ended without much more to offer.

What they had done, however, was block us from easily viewing what was further downstream.

There was a descent in elevation with plain shin high grass covering the landscape until it reached rocky terrain.

A basin here had formed a decent sized lake. The river flowed into the lake, and then continued on, with a new creek that slithered off to the south east from the lake.

At the southern edge of the large body of water was a rocky shoreline that jutted against a light tan colored cliff.

Sporadic rocks dotted the area, and there was a decent amount of stone to be harvested here. Finally, some stone! There were enough rocks in the fields to get a lot done, back at Noobi City and I licked my lips, seeing all the stone in that cliff face.

There was a slight problem, though.

The lake and its shoreline were infested with baryonyx dinosaurs. I counted at least fifty of the large predators and groaned. Figures that such a great objective would be so heavily defended.

While my brain spun up likely scenarios of how to defeat this challenge with just the two of us. The results were less than ideal.

I realized the best course of action was to move on, since this was clearly too much for just us two.

“Okay, so there are mountains to the east. We unlock this area by going further south and then more running. The workers can get a lot of these river rocks and random boulders before triggering the defenders,” I said to Beth.

She tapped on the tablet. “We need to get closer to find out what size of quarry that is. If it even is a quarry. That stone is tan, and it looks unique.”

“Alright, if we get in trouble, you just have to run faster than me with those little legs of yours,” I said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes, leading the way to the lake. Being extra cautious, we gave the predators a wide berth.

When we did cut in, it was from an angle; the cliff helped hide us from the threat.

I was sweating, nervous, and certain we were going to be discovered when Beth gave me a thumbs up.

Our retreat was careful and the expectant roar of a roaming dinosaur guard, never came. A few minutes more, and we were heading back into the pines again. I had seen a natural bridge of fallen trees here to cross that I headed for.

“Hit me with it,” I said, once we slowed to a walk.

She frowned, alerting me I might not like the news. “That is a large granite quarry. It will give fifty percent stone, fifty percent granite—which is likely a tier four and above material. On the shore, there is a small, silicate beach… for making glass, maybe? There is a sea monster in the lake, and lots of fish. The trout icon indicates it is a large fish farm.”

“Sea monster!” I blurted out, stepping carefully up onto the fallen pine’s trunk that created the bridge.

We carefully crossed—one at a time—pausing our conversation until we were safe on the far bank.

“Yeah, not sure what it is, though I can safely say that I don’t care.” She shrugged. “I was able to study some of each biome’s unique animals. The baryonyx for instance. They would probably get a bonus to water fighting and that is why there is stuff like this here. Outside of that, what the hell is the point of picking the hippopotamus?” Beth said with a grunt.

“We will get an army soon. It is great to find these bigger objectives to tackle as we get more powerful. I’m hoping to find another quarry and mine to the east, but who knows,” I said, just us we exited the pines, finding ourselves in new, expansive, open fields that faced to the east.

Immediately, we both cursed.

“Shit!”

“Titty sweat!”

A big turtle the size of a barn lumbered around a dilapidated tier-two stronghold. Each step it took sent vibrations up through our feet. The building and its defender were at least a mile to the southwest. Thankfully, we had gone unnoticed.

I sighed at the sight—frowning at both the delicious prize and its monstrous defender.

Beth snorted before saying, “Why can’t you just become a fifty-foot-tall warrior with magic who smites everything?”

“Right,” I scoffed, because I was in complete agreement. “But I get it. We’re a few miles from home. If everything was solo-able, we would never have a need to build an army. The pattern is clear: kill small stuff, and get enough to upgrade; build an army, and get enough to create a full city. Build an empire, and get multiple armies.”

“What’s the plan, boss? Sun is almost over its zenith,” Beth said, looking up at the sky. I noticed she was right.

“Show me the score,” I requested. There were a few boulders around us, and we were well shy of the roaming turtle. “At least we found some more rocks to break down, Senna will be able to use these.”

Beth flashed me the screen.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 7th

Survival: 15.2 (tied 91st)

eXplore: 4.6 (80th)

eXpand: 14.4 (4th)

eXploit: 24.5 (4th)

eXterminate: 33 (2nd)

Okay, we were holding steady. That was nice to see.

I was loving the fact we were nearing a hundred points. The other teams who’d gone into hiding, without building anything, would have their tablet locations pinged to all other competitors at day one hundred. So, if they did minimal exploring and survived, somehow, I figure the most they would get was around 200 points or so.

“Thanks, from here we can run east, unless Senna -”

Beth interrupted with, “She does need me. Is that what you were going to say?” She winced at her guess.

My tight, terse nod was enough to draw forth a smile, before she continued.

“Since it looks like you’re exploring, without fighting anyway, it’s best if I return. It's a safe trip home from here.”

I was handed the satchel and ensured the tablet was in it. We exchanged a goodbye kiss and some tender words.

When she was gone and over the higher hill, I didn’t waste any time. I ran across the fields, not even coming close to the behemoth turtle I saw.

There was a part of my mind that struggled to figure out a way to even kill that monster. I bet the war turtle would choke on a stego’s spikes.

Would I swap a stego for a level two stronghold? Probably.

Strongholds had to be built at least a mile apart, meaning our expansions would be stopped out in this direction, without conquering that building.

Leaving it here unconquered, would mean there’d be no way we could build other buildings around it, either.

A quick check of the tablet map and I saw that I was directly south of the apple orchard. I cut diagonally across to the east, to inspect new areas and expand our map.

After a few hundred feet at a decent jog, I found I was approaching the massive redwoods again.

The gloomy vibe the forest gave off was far less frightening than it had been. I was getting accustomed to the system now.

I was less than a mile from our initial location, and that meant I should be able to handle just about anything at this range.

Sure enough, the tablet I held in my left hand vibrated. I could almost see the apple orchard from here. There was a mushroom farm with a bat icon that populated. Senna had been really smart to just stick to those apples.

Hmm… Hard pass.

My feet carried me around the objective, making sure I didn’t trigger its defender. While it might seem like I was skipping stuff… hell, I was.

The city needed me to find more stone and this bat would be a great solo test for some new warrior, or something. I bypassed another wild farm and avoided its bear defenders.

Vanquishing the invaders had been an urgent and worthy cause, though. I just needed to find out where else those bastards had gone.

The redwoods transitioned into another section of pines. There was a buzz from the tablet that I ignored, Senna had been sending updates on minor stuff to the point they were distracting.

I should have pulled the damn thing out, though, because this time, my fast pace and proximity to an ambush predator left me no choice but to fight.

A pair of ten-foot-long snakes reared up and hissed at me, tails rattling. I was beyond lucky that they at least had been kind enough to warn me.

Their long snouts, four fangs, and glowing stripes told me these were some alien variation of rattle snake.

Snake one slithered closer; with snake two waiting to see how I reacted. The attacking snake lunged at my chest, fangs flaring with dripping venom.

My eyes zeroed in on its head, intent on the timing of my swing.

The rapid swish of my sword, at precisely the right moment, landed perfectly.

The sharp metal split the snake between the eyes, rending the head in two.

My face was sprayed in a gory mess as the momentum of its strike sent the suddenly freed brain and blood all over me.

When I wiped my eyes clean, I saw the second snake hesitate. I don’t know what it had expected. Maybe that I would dodge or something? Certainly not that I would kill its mate so easily.

The eyes of the remaining snake were a conflicted mess, as if it was both enraged and frightened, at the same time.

When the dead snake at my feet suddenly twitched, its surviving partner reared to strike.

I’d already concluded that I didn’t know much about snakes—beyond whatever National Geographic reruns had played on Sunday nights. This one was a bit sluggish in its attack, though, and even tried to fake me out with a feint.

Hmm…

I charged, my boots flinging leaves behind me as my weaving sword spooked my foe. The snake curved its long body around, darting from nearly upright to hugging the ground, slithering away with urgency, as it tried to flee.

That made sense, actually; these objective defenders had survival instincts, after all. They weren’t just mindless, fight-to-the death AI constructs.

I ran the reptile down, cleaving at its neck with several overhand chops until the head was sent flying.

While its body coiled in on itself in its death throes, I saw the decapitated head. Those eyes told me everything I needed to know—I realized from its glazed, haunted stare that the second snake had feared death.

The snake’s primary goal had been to survive—meaning that its strategy had changed from attacking to putting as much distance as it could between it and me, until it could hide or find a better place to fight.

I pulled the tablet out of my vest, accidentally smearing snake blood across the screen.

Ugh… gross.

There were about a dozen messages about how several crews were on their way south, how the exposed river added plenty more rocks, and then a note or two about how the baryonyx would be dealt with… eventually. After skimming through all those, I read the most recent entry.

Thanks for sending our waifu home. We both like the separate nicknames. Also, hell yeah on the random stone finds! We’re ticking back up in production. Still, I’m going to be sad if we don't find at least a small quarry. These medium ones will take weeks to unlock. Great job killing the defenders of that small mine.

Huh?

I looked around the pines. There was certainly no mine around me. I went to the map. A dozen paces to the east there was a small mine icon. I frowned, wondering about the logistics of a mine in the woods.

I tapped the icon while heading that direction.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small mine. (YES) - (NO)

My constantly looking down at the tablet as I searched for the mine almost led to me falling into it. There was no grand entrance, just a three-foot wide hole in the ground. That was it. I’d have had zero chance of finding it without the tablet.

I selected ‘YES’ with a huff. The competition sure could be odd at times. I obviously didn’t think it was great to force tablets into the world, but I was seeing that the Archaics wanted them to be put at risk.

With a shrug, I left such quibbling thoughts, the dead snakes, and the mine behind me. I didn’t doubt that Senna had already assigned a crew to come out here and clean this mess up.

When I checked the map again, I noted that I wasn’t too far from the apple orchard. My feet shuffled through the pine needles as I trekked further east.

A part of me was worried. Senna would have been killed by those snakes, if she had explored just a wee bit further past the apple orchard. Noobi could certainly be a dangerous place, when venturing into the unknown.

Realizing I’d ignored Senna’s last text, I quickly typed in a reply.

‘Moving east. Hunting stone. Only text if it's super urgent. Love ya.’

I smiled at my neanderthal text.

Honestly, I was never much of a texter—a phone call got the same message across much more efficiently.

I’d often had female clients who would text for help. They seemed pretty shy when I called them back on the phone, though, as if taken aback that someone would want to hear their voice. I was just that kind of guy.

The pines gave way to a new section of towering redwoods. There was no denying the fact we were living in a zone that was heavy on wood.

My eyes were trained on my tablet, because I decided to let the device alert me to danger, instead of hostile defenders.

This section of trees revealed another small animal farm of something alien, with its odd defender icon. Maybe a pig hybrid? While interesting, again, it wasn’t stone. I didn’t even scout the objective to get a visual on it—just marked it, skirted the area, and moved on.

My continued journey east eventually led me out of the sparse groves of trees and up an incline.

My calves burned from the steep grade. This was another mountainous landscape, with many boulders, tons of rubble and fragments of small rock that had cascaded down from the tall peak nearby.

I sighed in relief, letting a smile crest my face. It wasn’t a quarry that would respawn new material, but there was plenty of stone here.

Definitely enough that I could breathe easy, knowing that our city could keep growing, well into the future.

I stepped further up the slope, glancing around the area until I shifted over to get a good view to see what there was to my north.

The mountain curved to the north, until it hit a separate east-west mountain chain, about a mile or two away.

The mountainside grew quite steep a few hundred feet to my east until disappearing around a curve into some cliffs.

I spied a few dangerous trails that appeared to go higher and wondered where those paths might lead to.

Out to my right, to the south, the mountains faded into foothills, folding around the valley itself, before running into another peak.

Hmm…

Did I go left or right?

Was it prudent to even go further, with this copious amount of stone we could harvest?

There had to be some sort of objective in this area, with all these craggy ravines and natural rocky terrain… Right?

A few additional glances at the map had me heading further north.

Before I turned that way, though, I went a little further up the side of the mountain to the east. When I finally shifted to the north, it didn't take long for the tablet or my eyes to alert me to the danger.

A growling grunt of effort up ahead of me focused my gaze on where a massive creature tossed a huge boulder in my direction.

My mind told me that I had startled a large rock golem. The flying rock cast a shadow over bouncing pebbles as the golem retreated back behind cover with a ground shaking run, after hurling its slow-moving projectile.

I easily dodged the boulder by hiding behind another large rock, well out of the boulder’s path. I had been lucky it was a desperation throw.

My eyes darted to the tablet. Medium quarry, single defender. The quarry icon was on a big rock face, okay…

How the hell did you kill a rock golem?

I watched the icon stay put where it had gone to ground. My jaw twisted with a grunt and I chewed on the inside of my cheek as one of my crazier plans began to take form.

The girls would hate this plan, and that… twisted my thoughtful grimace into a wicked grin.

I jumped out from behind the boulder where I’d taken cover, thinking that the first boulder he’d thrown had rolled down hill, where it could be collected. More rocks hurled my way meant more stone… Hopefully.

“Hey dumb dumb!” I yelled, performing a jig. My kicked-up heels sent a light plume of dust into the air. I even taunted it with my hat.

The mighty golem’s forest green eyes and snarl told me she was angry. I studied the creature, who was so big, the ground shuddered with every step that she took.

The golem had breasts, telling me it was a lady. She had four fingered hands, two legs, and no hair. Humanoid to a small degree and yet very alien, her eyes seemed to lack intelligence.

I’d undoubtedly caught the big golem's attention.

Her hand reached into the quarry and magically extracted a rock that perfectly fit into her big palm.

Uh… The positive side of the equation was that it wasn’t a boulder being thrown at me this time. But then I watched as the rock she had launched did the impossible. Little arms flung out to its side, the small boulder gave a “Weee!” cry as if loving every second of its abbreviated flight my way.

When the boulder landed a dozen feet from me, I watched in shock as a blocky head popped up. I furled my brow, trying to comprehend the oddness of it all.

What the hell was this? I guess the golem had spawned a four-foot tall version of itself, out of a magical quarry.

How intriguing.

I watched as the bottom part of the creature crunched gravel, rolling towards me with its black, beady eyes. Two nubby little arms smacked into each other, as if to show me I needed to get closer so I could be smashed.

Yeah… No thanks.

At a slight trot, I backed away from the rock I had taken cover behind, having decided as the second little golem was flung to land fairly nearby, that I would be in trouble if the big golem kept this up. The darnedest thing happened, though, when I arrived at the tree line. Somehow, I still held the attention of the two little golems.

Hmm… How to use this to our benefit?

They only moved at what was a comfortable, walking pace, so I led the little golems into the forest, where I found a large redwood root to up hop onto. I waited patiently for the golems to arrive.

The small golems didn’t care that they couldn’t climb. Their nubby limbs smacked into the tree root, as if that alone would bring me down.

In reality, it did nothing besides waste what appeared to be the little golem’s boundless energy.

An idea started to form in my head. I needed to test something first, though.

A quick check over my shoulder indicated the forest floor was clear behind me. I hopped around to the other side of the root and out of view, quickly departing the area.

The golems rolled their slow torsos after me, undeterred. The sounds of their dense little bodies snapping through low hanging branches caused distant birds to flutter away in fear.

I huffed, the golems should never have been able to follow me, but it appears that these aliens followed a whole different set of rules than what I was used to seeing in an RPG.

I pulled my tablet out and typed a message into the group chat.

‘Need warhammer, a big two-horn pulled cart, and two helpers sent my way, please. Priority for stone.’

Large sled hammer or the warhammer? I have extra sets of the tools just lying around, and Mitch is in training with the warhammer. Beth texted back.

‘Sledgehammer will work fine. Assuming you meant that, instead of a large sled.’

Sledge, yes. Sorry, I typed too fast. Beth texted back.

Can I come? Senna texted.

‘Sure, I am heading towards home, because I want to test out an idea.’

I see the quarry icons are… following you? OMG.

Apparently, freeing up the resources I needed took some time, because I didn’t meet up with Senna until I had reached the apple orchard, with the little golems a fair ways behind me.

There were some emotions that leaked out of my heart when we finally caught sight of each other. Poor Senna was huge, her face showing extreme discomfort as she rattled along in a new wagon pulled by two zuniceratops.

Her pregnant frame didn't stop or deter her, though. She still wore that form fitting, summer dress that showed so much cleavage, that I instantly wanted to motorboat my face between her breasts, like… a lot.

Senna scooted forward and bent over to place the reins on a holder, giving me an even better view down the front of her dress.

“Hey beautiful,” I murmured, kissing her cheek. “I like your style. Hand me that sledge.”

The sledge had been propped up beside her. She struggled to pick it up before handing it down.

“Here ya go,” Senna grunted as I accepted the tool. “Got Kirk and Rico in the back, ready to help.”

I waved at the two workers who were sitting in the back of the wagon, staring at each other with blank looks. They didn't wave back or even acknowledge my greeting. The sledge went up onto my shoulder before I turned east again, fairly confident I could kill the little golems… Maybe.

“Where you going?” Senna asked, confused.

My over the shoulder wave was enough for her to spur the wagon after me. A few minutes later, I caught sight of the little golems rolling in my direction. A closed fist held high alerted Senna to stop the wagon.

There was no root for me to hop up onto here, because we were still on the outskirts of the orchard, but I saw that the rolling boulders were spaced far enough apart that I could dispatch them one at a time.

The first little golem popped up from its roll and smacked its arms together, in anticipation of my approach. Swinging the sledgehammer like a bat, I had about triple the reach of the little guy.

Crack!

His head went tumbling back the way he had come, his body rotating around until an arm arrested his torso’s movement. I casually walked up to the next little golem and clobbered its head off, with another big swing. The head stopped rolling and its body came to a stop.

Setting the sledge against a tree trunk, I walked up to the nearest head.

“Bring the wagon?” Senna asked hesitantly.

“Bring the wagon,” I replied with a grunt, feeling like this crazy plan might just work.

When Kirk and Rico rolled the torso of one of the boulder-like bodies up, I was shocked to see that the wagon had a detachable rear ramp. Up the incline, the heavy stones went. A few minutes later and both golem bodies had been tucked into the wagon bed and we were heading home, with a snap of the reins.

As the wagon jostled over the roots of the apple trees, Senna tucked her head into my shoulder and asked, “So… care to explain?”

“I found a third quarry. Well, quarry two is a bit of a hybrid. But this one… has a neat mechanic that will enable us to farm stone—if we are clever about it. I actually have a solid plan,” I said and Senna smirked.

“Sheesh… Will Beth like this plan?”

“Umm… maybe? It is to have a worker get a mini golem thrown at them and then to kite it away, while a new worker gets another golem thrown at them, adding to the chain. By the time a third worker gets a golem thrown at them, I’ll have already killed golem one. A fourth worker gets a golem thrown at them while worker one hauls little golem one’s body and head to the wagon before turning back and getting in line to kite another golem.”

Senna thought about this for a good minute, tapping on her chin, before asking, “how fast does it throw a golem?”

“Every twenty to thirty seconds or so... just guessing there, I didn’t bother to set a timer.”

“And is there a limit to how many golems it will throw?”

I shrugged. “Not sure if it can run out.”

“Let’s see what these two are worth. Pull up the raw materials list for me, I’m tablet-less.”

Empire Food - 3 (+0 per hour)

Livestock Food - 125 (+655 per hour)

Wood - 227 (+207 per hour)

Stone - 124 (+99 per hour)

Metal - 56 (+0 per hour)

“Hey, these numbers have come up since this morning,” I said in a chipper tone.

“124, okay good baseline, and yeah. I sent a group of miners into the southern river, and we had another five workers spawn.”

“Oh!” She stuck a finger in the air, as she remembered something. “Hey, I can’t convert the warrior you captured,” Senna said as the two horns rolled us in through the east gate.

“Why not?”

“Turns out we need a dungeon to convert soldiers. I just turned him into a worker, though, using the stronghold prison. Did the quickest flip I could—we’ll just limit him to interior city work for the next week or so,” Senna said, guiding the dinosaurs through the city. “Oh, and before you ask. The ram didn’t convert into a dinosaur. We merely put it in a stable pen, and after 21.6 hours, it will be ours.” She glared at me. “It will only take that long, because someone almost killed it.”

There was no reply I could make to that, so I decided to just enjoy the ride. We turned right towards a warehouse with massive doors. As the wagon rolled inside, the golem heads and the two boulder-like torsos vanished.

Oh… this was an upgraded depot? Awesome. There was enough space in here to turn the wagon around.

“Do I grab more workers and have you head back out, or return this wagon and team to getting stone in the south?” Senna asked. I could tell she was itching to take the tablet out of my hands. She probably never went anywhere without one.

I pulled up the raw materials list again.

Empire Food - 3 (+0 per hour)

Livestock Food - 125 (+655 per hour)

Wood - 227 (+207 per hour)

Stone - 134 (+98 per hour)

Metal - 56 (+0 per hour)

“Why is stone production decreasing?” I wondered. “And we got five stones per mini-golem.”

Senna grabbed the tablet to confirm. She looked behind her at the wagon bed, trying to figure out how many golem bodies would fit.

“The stone we need to harvest is getting further and further away. Breaking down boulders is not only a huge pain, but the process is slow and unreliable. Some hours we get almost nothing and others a lucky strike bursts a stone,” Senna said, tucking her hair behind an ear when she noticed me eyeing her fondly. “These suckers rolled on nicely, though.”

I looked inside the wagon bed.

“We have a second wagon coming out of production soon. If we could nonstop farm them in an unlimited supply, with no hiccups in the chain—that would yield upwards of five hundred stone an hour, with a smaller workforce required than I have dedicated now, harvesting only ninety eight stone per hour. Plus, it…”

I rubbed her back, kissing her cheek as she tapped rapidly on the side of the wagon.

“Nate, wait right here. I’m assigning you five runners, four haulers, and a cart driver. If you find you need more than that, just ask. Less, let me know. I’m already tired,” she blew out a breath. “Thank you for the mini adventure. And boy, you sure are fast, when you decide to attack,” Senna said proudly.

“You mean when I killed the golems?” I asked.

She nodded.

I shrugged. “Beth said something similar. I was faster, in my youth. Might be that, or I might still be changing. I had a ten-foot long snake strike at me, twice… and again, maybe just because they were really big, but… they seemed slow.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re on our side. Now, dear husband. Thank you for being so wonderfully patient. Do you want a blowjob, while we wait for the rest of the assigned rock-kiting team to show up?” Senna asked, with a sly grin.

I may have choked on air.

Yeah… when your pregnant wife with super boobs offers you a random dick sucking, it can be quite the shocker. Who knew?

“No. Uhh… thank you, though. I agreed to wait until tonight. And Senna,” I chuckled.

She arched a brow.

“Nice try. I’ll take a raincheck on the blowjob—maybe mid-day tomorrow? Preferably after a nice lunch break.”

She smiled, kissing my cheek. “Well played, Nate. If you didn’t do such a good job going down on me, I might have said no. Consider the BJ a rain check.”

I pretended to fold a check, opening my best pocket to stuff in my promissory note, for later.

“Alright, here comes your crew. Find a good rhythm and pile up the stone bodies. A third wagon will eventually show up. If this works out, we might well be close to setting a record for reaching tier four stronghold. If not,” she shrugged, her cleavage jiggling delightfully, “thanks for finding all the loose rocks and clearing the -”

“Oh, yeah, about that. So… the direct path to the quarry is fine. Build a depot out that way, but know that there are two defenders guarding some wild farms, not far off the trail. Saved them for Beth or Mitch or Fredrickson to attempt,” I said, which caused her to sigh.

I saw her struggling to get down. My booty shot off the bench so fast I stumbled on the warehouse stone floor. I sent my legs pumping as I bolted around the wagon until I was able to smirk up at her, offering her a hand. She rolled her eyes, but I saw a sparkle in them; it was love.

We shared a long, passionate kiss goodbye and her eyes dialed into lust. She was always such a hornball at this stage of her pregnancies.

Too bad it passed so quickly. Some men hated the idea of screwing a pregnant mother. I quite enjoyed the adventure. We all have our quirks.

I watched her walk away, with the breeze tossing her lovely blonde locks back, the hem of her white dress swaying to and fro. When she vanished around the corner, I frowned. I already missed her.

Deciding to take a few minutes inside the tablet interface I settled back into my wagon seat while I waited. Rarely did I have time to laze around and just fiddle with a tablet.

INVENTORY

BUILD

SCORE

MANAGE

I tapped build. That mega long list populated, but no upgrade options appeared.

Hmm…

‘How do I see all the buildings we have and how they are upgraded?’ I texted the group chat.

Manage. Strongholds. Select the stronghold you want to see the buildings around. The Noobi North and Noobi West strongholds are both tier two, already. The surrounding buildings are capped by the stronghold level, which is why you will find no tier three depot near the medium mine. Technically, when Noobi city hits stronghold level four, the others will be inside its radius. They really expand to huge circles of influence, later on. It’s still worth upgrading them, for more workers instead of for increasing the level of the adjacent buildings.

Well, shit. I guess there was a reason I didn’t manage the tablet. I would literally miss an upgrade or build queue, because I was busy killing a golem or digging stone out of water.

There were simply too many moving parts for me to do both. The requirement for a full-time expert manager was definitely there; luckily, I had two charming damsels on the job.

While I tinkered with the interface the tablet vibrated.

Senna sent another message saying, Messing up my build order will result in the revocation of sexual favors! I smirked, knowing that she was teasing.

Returning to my research on our city’s progress had me frowning. There was a single barracks and archery range.

Both had upgrade slots available, when we were able to meet the resource requirements—not exactly a massive war footing.

The school was ahead of them on the list, as was the advanced school, and the cartographer’s office.

Everything required stone.

If I could make this golem trick work... Well, we might be able to turn ourselves into a proper city, really fast.

There was that nagging sensation at the back of my mind. Our yeti enemy was going to realize we weren’t to be trifled with. Losing five soldiers was going to get their attention, same with losing a stronghold. Despite that fact, I felt they would continue to be more of a problem than even these medium and large challenges.

I had to drop those feelings because I was about to hit the mother lode of work. My guess was this darn city needed at least thirty thousand stones.

Knowing there was no rest for the weary, I decided it was time I got to work.

∞∞∞

A tugging on my boot woke me. I hadn’t even realized that I had fallen asleep.

“Nathanael Immerson,” Senna called out from the edge of the wagon bed.

Uh-oh. Rarely is it ever good when a woman calls you by your full name.

“What in the heck are you doing?”

I furled my brows, blinking the cobwebs away, not quite sure how to answer. “Hey, you look fantastic!” I said, noticing that her cleavage had shrunk back to its normal, amazing self, and that her belly was no longer swollen.

“We have been waiting in bed for half-an-hour!” Senna pouted, her hands on her hips. Her eyes deduced what had happened and they softened. “You must really have been exhausted. You didn’t even wake up when you came into the depot and the stones vanished, dropping you into the wagon bed?”

My tired mind was scrambling to catch up.

I remembered the great part about little golem farming. If you timed it just right, momma-golem threw out a mini-golem every twenty seconds. The little golem kiting was handled expertly by the drones; it was a simple task, on auto-repeat. They brought the rolling boulders down to me like clockwork.

We ended up shattering the numbers Senna had asked for. I worked for twelve hours straight—four of those into the night. I must have swung that damn sledge at least two thousand times.

Of course, with only two wagons in circulation, there was no keeping up with the endless slaughter of the rolling-ball little golems. Meaning, I had to get a little creative and behead them on the move. We made it work, though, and the rubble stacks between here and the quarry were still pretty high. Hopefully, while I slept, rotating crews would keep things going and clean it all up.

My neck craned around to find two drones sitting on the wagon bench, like the robots they were.

Aw, shucks. My tired ass falling asleep had broken the chain of wagons hauling rock.

I shimmied out of the wagon bed and it was like someone flipped a switch; the drone holding the reins snapped them across the zunis’ backs, and off the wagon went.

“I laid down on the rocks to catch a quick nap, so I would have enough energy to -”

Senna kissed my cheek, tucking her fingers into mine. She gave me her seductive, bedroom eyes.

Oh…

“You’re forgiven. We did share a laugh about how you were going to be late to your honeymoon. And Nate,” Senna said, turning our walking pace into a light jog. “Thank you. We’re booming now. Stone was the long pole in the tent—a real bottleneck.”

“That’s fantastic!” I grinned.

“We literally have a realistic shot at breaking a record. I don’t think small teams usually unlock medium objectives with our kind of infrastructure.”

“That’s great. I was looking over the military -”

“Mitch is done with his training… and he’s not Mitch anymore.” She rolled her eyes. “Now he is Zhang Wei, a Chinese warrior from a dynasty that I can’t even reference. Anyway, he is a sworn guard now. I was hoping he would be another general, though, because I really don't like Fredrickson.”

She frowned. “He just feels off,” Senna said, arriving ahead of me to get the stronghold door.

I heard the door bolt shut, the clasp locking. I gave her a quizzical glance.

“You locked your doors in Florida, right?”

She had a point, we were at war and this was our home.

I just settled back and enjoyed following her up the stairs. She was wearing Beth’s see-through toga and my goodness, Senna’s ass was delightful to admire from behind.

My palm smacked a juicy butt cheek, startling her. Squinting eyes were paired with a finger wag. I spread my fingers into tickle hands, causing her to dart up the stairs.

No, I wasn’t going to chase her; I was too exhausted for that. I kinda hoped the tier four stronghold had an elevator. Somehow, I knew it would just stick our bedroom another floor higher, with steeper stairs. Stupid Archaics.

“Hurry up old man,” Beth snickered from above me, her voice echoing in the stairwell.

I gave my legs half of an effort. You know, the way your kid did, when you told them to hurry up? Just enough to placate the impatient -

Hot damn! Finally arriving at the door to my bedroom, I lost track of any and all thoughts, overcome by the sheer beauty of the sight in front of me.

Senna and Beth were both waiting for me at the end of the bed, in lingerie. I grew puzzled, my tired mind briefly darting down a rabbit hole, wondering where the lingerie had come from—until I noticed one of the curtain rods was missing a curtain.

Hell yeah. Atta girls.

“So hot! Who did the handy work?” I asked, walking over to inspect my beautiful ladies.

When I neared them, Beth pinched her nose.

Waifu let out an audible sigh before saying, “I thought we agreed, since tonight was special, that you would bathe before you came home?” I started to object that Senna had all but dragged me here and Beth’s face softened.

“Never mind, into the shower with you.”

Senna giggled. “Don’t mind her, she just spent the past three hours making these outfits and -”

“Shucks. They are so yummy. I’ve never seen a teddy sewn like this. Really fantastic work, Beth, and sorry,” I admitted, sheepishly rubbing at the back of my neck. “I kinda worked too hard and fell asleep on the wagon.”

Her eyes told me she accepted my apology, but I was still pointed towards the shower. Shitting in the woods, had actually become somewhat normal. Showering or bathing in freezing cold water, though?

Nope. I still hated it.

Any half erection I may have had walking into the shower was squelched by the nearly freezing water.

The bonus was I that did smell fresh and was sparkling clean afterwards. When the shower water turned off, I heard moans from the bedroom.

Oh! I hustled to get dry and join the fun.

When I saw the two naked bodies entwined on the bed, my heart thudded against my chest.

I smirked.

Oh, yeah, this was going to be epic.

Beth heard my approaching footsteps. She kissed her way down Senna’s body until she hovered over her pussy.

That deer in the headlights thing? I did that. Transfixed by the sheer hotness of the scene before me, I froze.

Senna reached down to stroke Beth’s hair, as the brunette slid two fingers into our blonde wife. Her other hand reached out and latched onto my cock, pulling me closer until her warm mouth enveloped me. Senna moaned as she sucked on my penis.

My hardening cock informed her she was giving me a great blowjob. I reached down to squeeze a large breast. She loved it when I clamped down on her supple tits; so I gave her what she wanted. My fingers tweaked and then tightened on her nipples. Her moaning increased.

Senna really got into her blowjob. To the point that I was so engorged, she was choking on it and loving it. When I spied Beth twirling her tongue around Senna’s hard pearl, I realized she was hitting all the right spots and that Senna was already approaching climax.

Her face contorted and she squirmed before popping me out of her mouth.

“I can’t focus enough to cum. Stick this monster in her; it’s what she’s been lusting after all day. And Nate,” Senna said with a moaning gasp, “go easy—at least at first—and let me cum. You can knock the bed all over the room after I orgasm.”

She gave me a sweet look from under my cock. She squeezed her tits with a groan of pleasure, as Beth never slowed down. Obviously, she was at the point where a penis in her mouth might be counterproductive.

Beth stopped and turned sideways, presenting her ass to me at the edge of the bed. I smacked her firm globe while Senna rotated around. The moment Senna had a pillow under her head, Beth went back to performing magic with her tongue—suckling gently on Senna’s clit.

I lost sight of the amazing scene when I teased Beth’s slick entry with my tip. That feisty minx shoved back with a grunt. Yeah, I was too damn big, and for her, it had been too long. It took a few minutes, but I only managed to ease the first couple of inches of my girth inside of the super tight sensation that was her exquisitely tight vagina.

A few minutes of playing with just the tip had Beth eliciting a super loud orgasm from Senna. I knew it was a good one, because I got to watch her toes curl. Senna loved having her pussy licked and there was no doubt about it, Beth pleased her pearl like a champ.

Senna laid me onto my back once she regained her breath. She shifted Beth on top of me, and then snuggled into my shoulder to watch our wife ride me.

So, I will admit, I was not an expert on threesomes. Before tonight, the closest to a threesome I’d ever come was a drunk double blowjob at a party.

Much like things had been then, the girls didn’t plan things out—they just sort of happened.

Beth struggled to get me all the way in her, until she got frustrated and slammed her pussy down onto my cock.

She bit her lip to keep from crying out from the pain. Senna swatted her ass, telling her the sting would help. It must have, because this really got Beth fired up.

The next ten minutes was Beth rocking her hips back and forth on my cock while I squeezed her tits.

Senna spanked her ass, and when she’d climaxed a third time, I finished inside of her.

We watched her get off and Beth grew confused, when despite my having poured a large load into her, nothing dripped out.

“Bonus, no shower then!” Beth said playfully with a chuckle. “Been pregnant enough times to know that did the trick. Swollen belly, here I come.”

We snuggled up in a heap, letting the light laughter fade. Less than a minute later, I fell asleep. I was probably the first one out, after such a hard day's work, despite the warm bundles of love who curled up under each arm.

Hopefully tomorrow would be just as amazing as today was.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

COMPETITION 1 DAY 26

“S ilence,” I hissed over my shoulder.

Fredrickson sneered at my order. His eyes lingered on me as if he were going to make some smartass quip. At least the heavily armored man halted his needless banter with the female soldier beside him.

Plain and simple, Fredrickson had no discipline. He swore up, down, and sideways that he was a general, though, with many victories credited to his cunning strategies.

I figured the Archaics had made a mistake, pairing him with us. He didn’t know it, but he was on his last straw—with all his sexist comments about my wives, combined with the heavy dose of attitude he constantly gave me.

I reflected on the past ten days while we crouched, perched, or ducked behind cover in the forest; concealing our ambush.

To say the latest tribulations of my Noobi challenge were joyous or awesome would be a lie. I quickly learned that my ability to kill golems was irreplaceable…

Even Zhang and his warhammer had failed to kill the boulder beasties quickly enough—which forced me to stay on the frontlines, killing little golems… nonstop.

Eventually, when he’d been upgraded to a tier three warrior, Zhang managed to replace me.

Of course, that meant waiting for three days of upgrades on the barracks, bringing it up to tier three, and then Zhang going into training for three more days, beyond that.

Eventually, the bulky, dynasty warrior was able to fill in for me—and not a moment too soon.

As grateful as I was to be relieved, there’d been constant, minor problems that required my attention all across our expanding empire.

Believe it or not, but we found ourselves short on food, and because of the increased barn upgrades undertaken to meet that need, we suddenly needed a lot more wood.

Barns consumed a huge amount of wood and our capacity to rapidly harvest trees was unable to ramp up to meet the spike in demand.

To help stem the tide of consumption, Beth had led a team of archers to remove the bears defending the wild farms and killed the aliens guarding the pigs, so that we could claim the remaining wild objectives that were close by.

She had even discovered a wild grape farm, northeast of the stronghold. While I was proud of her, it wasn’t nearly enough to mitigate the increased demands for massive amounts of food that our growing empire consumed.

There were also several big lessons on stronghold management that we had to learn the hard way—the first of which, being the proximity rule.

A new stronghold could not be placed in another stronghold's circle of influence, but they had to be close enough to be mutually supporting.

While I recognized this conceptually—it made sense that you couldn’t build ten strongholds in the same spot—it brought about its own series of headaches.

It was the requirements for stronghold tier four, however, that gave us fits.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 4:

70 - Tier 3 buildings (Inadequate)

7 - Tier 2 strongholds (Inadequate)

9 - Unique fully grown creatures (Inadequate)

20 - Builder 60 hours (Adequate)

20000 - Stone (Inadequate)

4000 - Wood (Inadequate)

10000 - Food (Inadequate)

8000 - Metal (Inadequate)

When I finally saw this list, the rationale for Senna admitting that we could finally afford to build up our military made a lot of sense.

There was simply too much to get done to make any realistic headway, if we focused on leveling up and continued ignoring our defenses.

I finally understood why Senna had me venturing out and sticking strongholds down at such a high rate.

Sadly, we would not be breaking any records for getting to tier four.

Stegosaurus incubations hadn’t even started. A stego egg took twenty days to hatch, and then another twenty days of training until it reached maturity.

We had dropped the ball on rushing to build a cavalry stable—but it ended up being a moot point, because we had no soldiers to train them.

Honestly, that was another mistake we’d have to improve on… next go around.

We needed cavalry soldiers to train the duckbills, who were rapidly maturing. Oh well, we didn’t need to set a record on completing a tier four stronghold. What we needed, was an army.

So, while I was stuck knocking golem heads for home runs with a sledge hammer for nine days straight, the rest of our blossoming army expanded—at such a rate, that it was staggering.

Beth and Senna were constant busy bodies, managing the sheer madness that came with herding cats for eight strongholds.

We slept together for four hours a night and texted often—whenever any of us had a break between tasks—but there was no ‘sweet bonding time’ after our initial honeymoon night, like I’d imagined there would be.

We lost four workers who roamed too close to the baryonyx herd, trying to collect stone. Note to self, don’t sacrifice workers to feed dinosaurs.

Each of them died in mere seconds—with zero chance of rescue. Which, we later found out, ended up slightly increasing the size of the baryonyx herd.

And that was only the start of a host of problems—which on their own might only be considered minor. Expanding rapidly, as we were, it felt like each of these minor pains decided to dogpile us all at the same time.

As I ran around putting out fires, this gave our yeti foes another opportunity to strike at our vulnerable workforce.

Over the past ten days, we’d lost a dozen workers.

The fact that we produced fifty-one workers a day, with seven strongholds at a mix of levels, was irrelevant. I hated losing people, period.

Not to mention, the latest loss had been of a full team. Two days ago, a stick harvesting team in the southwest were taken, in a quick snatch and grab. I had to watch their icons being carted west into the mountains, feeling not only frustrated, but also powerless.

This told me we had more than just a small raiding detachment to deal with; we had a small army operating in our area.

The yetis should be at tier three, by now, since they had been on a wartime footing well before we were. Bottom line, I should have expected this.

They made a mistake though, letting us get prepared.

Three warriors a day and three archers a day—each with proper armor, weapons, and even mounts, were going to be a rude awakening to the yetis.

Speaking of mounts, Travis had turned into a fine duckbill, but we were short on leather for his saddle, so he was still at home, working the fields, instead of being ridden into combat by me.

I had a sword in my hand and my trusty cowboy hat, on tight. The comforting weight of my chainmail protected me, along with the greaves strapped over my thighs and shins.

The eleven warriors and nine archers I had brought with me were not all leveled up, or even schooled. Most were noisy, even when trying to be stealthy.

Hence, the silent sit still and wait ambush—except that ole blabber mouth Fredrickson had missed the memo about the silent part.

He was standing on my last nerve.

This ambush was set up on a heavily worn trail the yetis had used just about every time they returned to their mountaintop fortress.

Yes… they did use other routes, and yes, this was boring, tedious, and might not even be productive, but we badly needed to crush the army they had operating freely in our back yard—like… yesterday.

The sound of giggling from behind me told me Fredrickson was flirting with the drone again. While I was slightly curious about how he’d managed to coax out her personality, I’d had enough.

The fact that he had, yet again, defied my order to stay quiet meant that it was past time for me to act.

I was finally going to heed Beth’s warning—that a passive leader can wind up dead.

My tablet came out and I typed. ‘Can we reassign Fredrickson to something where he will lose his cognitive abilities?’

About damn time! Beth replied snarkily.

Senna’s bubble chat revealed. Yeah, I can manage him and select termination for exchange… No idea what it does, though, so don’t get mad if he becomes a turkey or whatever. Want me to do it?

‘Confirmed, 100%.’ I hit send without a second thought.

I decided to watch to see what happened to the man—curiosity about his demise boiled within me.

I was sick of him snickering about how I foolishly treated women as equals. It was stupid for me not to listen to their input. All great kings had been supported by amazing women.

This turd thought women were useless—other than for menial chores and popping out babies. He scoffed endlessly whenever I let Beth lead our forces. And now, he moaned, groaned, and even flirted during an ambush.

There was always a sneer, when even I gave him an order—let alone when Senna or Beth asked him to do anything. Enough was enough.

The warrior tugged at his eyes, which had iced over all of a sudden. He screamed, but no sound came out. Panic flared on his face as his lips turned blue. He struggled to breathe, before passing out.

Within moments of this happening, he fell over dead. I was shocked by what I had witnessed. When I checked his pulse, I found he was ice cold.

As if...

I gulped, figuring out what had happened. His body whirled around in a magical brown vortex, vanishing. Nothing but a memory of Herr Fredrickson remained. A moment later, a warrior drone, tier one, stood where he had been.

Did it work? I’m showing that he was replaced.

I typed as quickly as I could with my hunt and peck typing. ‘Um... I could be wrong, but I think they dumped his real body out an airlock. He died from exposure… to space.’

There was no reply. I was sure each of my ladies were digesting this tidbit of information in their own way.

Noobi planet, felt at times like a video game. Touching that frozen corpse had been a rude awakening that this game was much more than a simulation—for any of us.

The clattering sound of armored warriors coming up the road pulled me from my thoughts. The ruckus entering the forest was more than I expected… a lot more, actually.

We were well hidden, my twenty soldiers and me. I peeked out, and quickly saw that the enemy had double our numbers.

This was basically a large-scale invasion—at least for this stage of the competition.

They were probably looking to establish another stronghold, fortified with a proper number of guards, this time.

My hypothesis was confirmed, when I noted that the entire back half of the formation was composed of workers, not warriors.

I counted eighteen infantry, who marched along in two neat lines—these were all male yetis without armor.

Behind them, rode another three mounted ram fighters, also male, but these had breastplates.

Mingled in at the rear of the formation, along with the twenty or so female workers, were five female rock slingers—who all wore thick, hide armor. It was abundantly clear the wooly yetis liked to assign roles by sex.

On the last wagon sat a large male yeti. In his meaty hands was a tablet that glinted when a random ray of sunshine managed to breach the thick canopy above.

Hmm...

I didn’t have long to think about what to do. Attrition was a valid strategy. Even if I lost this fight, I’d win eventually—assuming I killed enough of them. I had no doubt I could generate more troops—and equip them better and faster—than this yeti empire.

At that moment, I came to a decision, quickly coming up with a loose battle plan that I felt confident about.

Honestly, I was almost surprised none of my level two archers hadn’t fired already, spoiling our ambush at exactly the most inopportune time.

I let the enemy’s infantry pass us by; I figured it was best to hit the ranged troops first. I wanted to make it so that our enemy would have to fight through their own workers to reach us. That was my grand plan, in a nutshell.

I was counting heavily on surprise carrying the day.

There was no fierce battle cry or beat of a drum to signal my troops to attack. I simply and stealthily exited from behind the tree where I’d hidden.

My sweaty palm cinched tight around the leather grip on my sword. Once out of the tree line, I quickly went from a crouched walk to a full run.

The trail the enemy marched along was fairly wide here—at least a dozen feet from one side to the other—which allowed the troops to spread out a bit, and for me to dart into a gap that had developed between the workers and the wagons.

My rapid approach spooked a drone. In that fleeting moment, I realized I must have stressed one of their recent converts, sending the female yeti worker fleeing into the trees with intense fright.

The ambush sprung, my warriors dashed in behind me. My archers’ bows twanged, their arrows seeking out targets from up in the trees.

I rammed my sword into the neck of a rock slinger.

Her startled eyes widened. Her instinctive reaction had been to grasp at the blade in her throat, but this just removed her fingers. With a rapid yank, I continued my fluid spin and removed the head of the yeti slinger next to her.

The workers panicked when my battle lines slammed into their ranks.

There simply was no contest; my armored warriors cleaved a path through the middle of their formation.

A worker punched me in the chest, breaking her knuckles against my armor, but sending me stumbling.

The blow knocked me right into one of the mounted warrior’s lances. The tip of his weapon crashed into my armor and knocked me clean off my feet. I was sent flying into one of the wagons.

While I soared over the workers’ heads, I realized I was going to land really close to the other manager—the yeti with the tablet.

I crashed into the rams that were pulling his wagon, with a jarring thud. My groans were ignored as the wagon’s frame knocked me to the ground and passed right over me.

A few painful breaths later, and I was back on my feet. I charged from the back of the wagon, only to see that the driver’s bench was empty.

A quick flicker of movement in the tree line grabbed my attention.

There.

To my left, the enemy manager was rapidly fleeing. I left my troops behind to run him down.

A few dozen feet into the trees, the yeti cut west, making a beeline for home. The direction he turned, gave me a nice angle on him.

The yeti caught sight of my rapid approach. He brandished a mace when he stopped his retreat to face my charge.

I kept running at him at full speed, not hesitating or slowing at all—I was determined to catch him.

A snarled war cray erupted from the boss as he swung his mace from the hip.

I dove under his frantic swing, feeling the whoosh of air ruffle my hat as it came within an inch of connecting with my skull.

I lashed out with a decisive chop, scoring a backhanded hamstring strike as I rolled past.

My steel blade bit through tendons and scraped against bone.

I let the blade flow around with my acrobatic roll, the exit of its razor-sharp edge adding even more damage to the yeti’s ruined appendage.

My enemy spun to face me as I recovered from my tumble. He hobbled on one foot—his bellow of a war cry pleaded with me to come close enough for another engagement.

Nope.

I left my hobbling foe far behind me, darting quickly back through the trees to reach my warriors. I hoped to rescue however many of them remained, since they’d been outnumbered.

When I got back to the battle… well, it wasn’t looking good.

Four of my surviving warriors were fighting back to back, while my archers rained arrows down in coordinated firings.

The enemy had a single rider and a dozen infantry left. I knew that with time, and no enemy ranged troops left on the field, my archers would be fine.

The ram snorted loudly, its rider leveling a ten-foot-long lance at one of my soldiers. The weapon deflected off the front of his shield at a horrible angle.

The lance’s tip diverted and plunged, with a sickening crunch, into the man’s face. With that warrior down, the ram bowled the last three of my infantrymen down.

Shit.

I reached the scrum as the last of my soldiers was being bludgeoned to death by the enemy mob.

The yetis had failed to take notice of my approach.

The rider watched my soldiers being massacred, with a smug smile on his face. When I removed his head, I briefly wondered if his expression had changed from smug to shocked?

Knowing that the effects of my surprise would be fleeting, I made the most of it. My sword slid between the back ribs of a warrior, finding his heart before I yanked the weapon free.

These yetis sure seemed to get off on face-stomping a defeated foe.

A precision thrust into the side of the next warrior's neck, left that yeti clutching at the spurting wound.

Ten enemy left.

There were nine twangs as my archers released their arrows.

Three yeti fell, struck by multiple arrows. Six wooly yeti stared up into the branches, wishing they could reach my archers in the trees. Then, as one, they turned on me.

Hesitant about fighting six yeti at once, I paused. When I pretended to charge, they defensively bunched into a shield wall to receive my attack.

My feet skidded to a halt before I reached them. I twirled my sword before their shield wall with great flare and showmanship. The weapon’s dazzling spins and twirls kept the yetis’ attention, even when I heard the lead archer call out the command for another volley.

Twang, whizz, thump.

Four more bodies crumpled to the trail, leaving me facing only two. While I would have loved for them to surrender, I had a manager to catch.

I ran away from the fight and the startled yeti infantry just stood there—not comprehending the situation.

My dash through the forest carried me back to the spot where I had hamstrung the enemy manager. I followed the bloody trail he had left for another hundred or so feet before I caught sight of him, a dozen trees away.

I wasn’t surprised to find that the asshole was trying to hide his tablet under a tree branch. He grunted, and then snarled at his bad luck, realizing I’d caught him red-handed.

I paced back and forth, cautiously, at least thirty feet away from my foe. There were absolutely zero reasons for me to get any closer to him.

Why should I fight him?

He was crippled and I still had nine archers.

My tablet buzzed.

Archers need orders, Beth sent.

‘To me,’ I replied.

The enemy manager used the distraction of my tablet to hobble in my direction. I retreated away from him at a much quicker pace.

Was this honorable? Hell no.

Fredrickson, were he still alive, would undoubtedly be calling me a coward, at this point. I couldn’t say I was sad that he was a human popsicle.

We played a game of hobble-chase for about two more minutes until my archers arrived, arrows nocked and their bows drawn.

“Hold!” I commanded them. I turned to the yeti. “Do you surrender?”

“Filth, a Yerrbi would never submit to be a slave to -”

“Fire!”

Bows twanged, arrows soared, and the Yerrbi manager tumbled to the ground as his torso was pin cushioned with arrows. I watched him defiantly try to rise up to his knees. He dropped his mace, as if asking for a clean death.

“Do it!” He demanded through clenched, bloody teeth.

I shook my head no.

“Avrinia!” He shouted at me.

I shrugged and asked, “Is that your lover?”

“It is a slug who cannot fight for shit -”

“Fire,” I repeated the command, turning my back on a dying enemy who no longer deserved my respect.

The sound of shafts whizzing through the air halted when I heard their tips punch into the yeti.

There was a slight thud behind me, as the dead manager lay down for an eternal nap—at least as far as this competition was concerned.

I headed over to scoop up his tablet. When I picked it up off the ground to check on it, the tablet read.

You have claimed a tablet. Competitor Nathanael, Manager Senna, or Manager Beth must set permissions.

ALL

LIMITED

Hmm… Probably ‘LIMITED’, but Senna would know best as to what a cartographer or an upgraded soldier like Zhang might need.

“Your orders, your grace?” My tier three archer asked.

He was the only archer we had at this level so far. He stood ramrod straight, as if he had some military bearing to fall back on. His eyes continued to flick about, scanning for more hostiles. The other idiots were picking their noses, or stabbing arrows into the body of the dead manager, for fun.

“You’ve changed, haven’t you?” I asked, interested in how he would respond.

He nodded and said, “I’m not sure how I got here. It feels like I awoke from a long slumber, mid-fight, holding a bow pointed at a woolly-mammoth looking creature who was twice my size. I shifted my fire to kill two of their cavalry, instead.”

“Excellent work,” I said, sticking out a hand. “I am Nathanael Immerson.”

Instead of shaking my hand, he simply mimicked my gesture, sticking out his hand.

I grabbed his hand and shook it slowly. “When and where are you from?” I asked.

“Marius Corixi, at your service!” He snapped a fist in salute to his chest. “I was an equites sagittarii in Africa with the Roman legions—the ‘Fighting Fifth’. In modern terms, that would be a line commander, in charge of a unit of horse archers.

“I… I got lost in a fog while trying to see where my scouts had disappeared to, and then was whisked into heaven. There, I learned I would battle for the Archaics, in their competitions, for a second chance at life. Weeks of preparation has led me to -”

“Do you have a problem with female commanders?” I asked, cutting him off. I wanted to assess some key facts before hearing more of his story.

“Cleopatra was a great foe of Rome. My wife, Linia, was quite a cunning woman.” He smiled sadly. “Smartest person I ever met—by a lot.” He shook his head. “No, Sir, I have no problem with an intelligent woman doing a job a man might normally hold. And -”

“How cunning was she?” I smirked.

“Again… Linia was the sharpest woman I ever met. I was shocked that she somehow came to love me… said I had the… the ‘reliability’ she desired.” Marius’ tone dipped into melancholy as he remembered his wife.

I went into the ‘Manage’ tab, pulled up the interview list and searched for the name, Linia Corixi.

Linia Corixi - Born 521 A.D. Rome

Interesting. This was… a nice development. Before I brought her out for an interview, I decided I’d better talk with Marius, first. I stuffed both tablets into my satchel, locking the clasp.

“Have your troops loot these corpses, and then stack the bodies in the wagons before following us with the loot. Time to ‘pick’...” I emphasized the word ‘pick’, “clean a battlefield,” I commanded, leaving him briefly to carry out my orders.

My battle senses may have relaxed a bit, but my eyes were still wary. I caught the flicker of movement behind a tree off to my right.

Upon closer inspection, I found a young woman hiding under a bush.

I approached her cautiously, with my hands up; she relaxed enough to show herself.

“Worker Uma, needing a task from competitor Nathanael” she said shyly.

I was about to grab my tablet to input a task when she turned around suddenly and walked over to help the archers pick the battlefield clean. I connected the dots when my man purse buzzed with an incoming message.

Wahoo! Congrats on the rout. While I wished you had saved more of them for conversion, I won’t pretend to rationalize how tough, in the middle of combat, it must be to disable but not kill your foe. Excellent score on the tablet—and I see our level three archer has become a potential manager. Awesome! Beth’s message read.

Senna’s note was more subdued. Eleven dead warriors, sad. You rescued one prisoner, though, who I’ve already ordered to help pick up the battlefield. I am sending wagons and a cleanup crew. We need the meat. Also, I know which team we’re up against now—after you defeated that force, Team Yerrbi dropped from 51st to 65th.

‘I may have found our fourth’, I texted into the group chat, ‘but I’m not getting my hopes too high just yet... A husband and wife team. I think the Archaics finally realized why we dismissed Fredrickson.’

Interesting. You owe us a sit-down meal, my warrior king. I… we both, miss you. Beth sent.

‘I miss you two, too.’

When they didn’t answer, I decided to check our score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 14th

Survival: 26.6 (tied 88th)

eXplore: 9.6 (77th)

eXpand: 27.7 (8th)

eXploit: 54.5 (6th)

eXterminate: 64.9 (11th)

That eleventh place ranking in eXterminate told me that the other teams were definitely fighting, now. And the fact that there were still eighty-eight teams left in the competition meant that most of those fights must be skirmishes.

I slid my tablet back into its satchel and locked the clasp.

I smiled when Marius started to walk back towards me. When I walked across the battlefield to meet him, he joined me with a gruff snort.

“No injuries among my troops, your grace,” Marius reported.

“Your grace?” I quirked an eyebrow at him.

“You are my King. I…” he paused. “I don’t know how I know that, but I do. The Archaics made it clear long ago what must happen. We must ensure the chosen succeed, for the cause. As the gods will it.”

Hmm… Not sure how much I liked that sentiment.

“I’m not a great believer in the divine,” I admitted. “Yet, I do not question that there are powers that created everything. The Archaics certainly seem to have a science—magic, really—that borders on the divine,” I murmured.

“Yes, well. When you’ve lived as long as I have, you tend to shift your beliefs. The Archaics rolled back my body to its youth, stopped me from aging, and gave me a second chance at life.” He shrugged, “who but gods can so completely control our destinies?”

Marius paused as we arrived at the battlefield. “I understand these… other soldiers are not really soldiers… not yet; they are just tools in a competition.”

“Indeed. What was your time after capture like?” I asked in an inquisitive tone, curious. Marius and his wife were the oldest known abductions I had heard of.

“Short. Valance tried to convince me that he was not an Archaic… and I refused to believe him. He stopped bringing me out of stasis and updating me, after a few repeats of this kind of behavior… that is, until a few weeks ago, when I was pulled out of stasis and given a quick update on recent human history.” He frowned at the ground. “The last thing I remember before shooting an arrow at that furry creature, was going to bed hating what humanity had become.”

“Since you no longer have the Roman Empire to swear allegiance to… Well, what do you believe in? Or want to dedicate yourself to?” I asked.

“I believe in my skill with a bow on the battlefield and…” He looked up, almost shyly. “I’d like to dedicate myself as a priest to the Archaics—but I would need to build a church to dedicate to them, if you’d allow it,” Marius said.

I tossed a mace to the side of the trail into a pile of weapons. The other archers returned, from hauling away the dead manager, and started a stack of bodies off to one side of the manager’s wagon. I looted a slinger, stripping her of the thick leather she wore. Way too big for one of mine, but quality stuff that make a great… saddle! My eyes lit up at the possibilities. There must be bison, up in the mountains or something.

“A church… interesting. Would you kneel before me and swear allegiance if I gave you the chance to do both?” I asked.

“Yes!” There was no hesitation in his declaration.

“Swear to protect the Immerson line until death and I will grant you battle with your bow and build you a church to preach from. Assuming your congregation won’t rebel against my rule,” I said, adding the last bit as a precaution.

Marius kneeled before me. “I will preach the Archaics’ way of war, and that we must loyally follow our champion. I will support you, our champion, and your family with my life. So shall it be recorded.”

“Thank you for your dedication. You may have the church, it is already vacant and all yours. Now, get up and follow me, Marius,” I ordered, lifting him to his feet.

He smiled.

“We need to get you set up to manage your own team. Do you want archers only?”

“Preferably,” he said assertively. He paused and tilted his head to the side. “Unless you have siege weapons?”

“Tier four, I think. So… still a few months away,” I admitted with a sigh.

I left the others to strip the dead and went to the wagon with their rams. They were docile, but eyed me with hostility.

Normally, I would be all over sorting through the loot and piling up the dead, but I was done dealing with death—at least for today. That, and I was still interviewing Marius.

“I’m going to give you an order that will be hard to follow.” I looked at the man closely. “Consider it a test.”

He frowned, but nodded.

“I want you to sit in the back of the wagon under a covering and say nothing when the rendering of a woman appears, who you may recognize,” I said.

He paled and visibly gulped. “Linia?” he asked desperately.

I gave him a stern glare but then softened and said, “Yes. But listen to me closely. I need to know I can trust her. I find no reason I shouldn’t reward two loyal supporters with happiness… but, I’m not foolish enough to think that she may have undergone a different transition than you.

“I have interviewed someone who spent years and years being left awake aboard that spaceship. They became a drastically different person, having moved on from their previous life. Your wife… may have been one of those who… who has been awake for a long time.”

He deflated sadly and said, “Aye. I see you want to protect me, while at the same time judge her character. I will follow your orders, but I beg of you… if you choose not to accept her… at least let me say goodbye.”

“When you ask like that, it's hard to say no,” I smiled, pulling out my tablet.

I summoned my cloak and handed him the garment to hide under. He was sad, but accepted my terms readily enough.

“You can peek, but if she turns around because she hears you, you must hide,” I ordered.

A few taps later and Linia Corixi began rendering in the seat beside me. When she came to life, I left her alone for a moment to adjust to her new setting.

I snapped the reins, leading the rams off the trail. I headed towards the sirens’ lake, planning to show the dungeon to Marius. It was the next objective on our list, now that we had an army, and it would be great to hear another warrior's opinion on the challenges involved in seizing the resources within.

“As a contender or manager?” Linia asked, her eyes determined and hard.

I gazed upon her. Probably a little over five feet tall, with dark brown eyes and a face that was… handsome more than it was pretty.

She had long, black hair that probably went down to her butt when loose, but which she had up in a high pony.

Her youthful cheeks displayed light freckles and she gave off a confident vibe. She frowned at my inspection.

A wiggle of the tablet in my hands caught her attention. “First order. Keep your eyes straight ahead, now that you're familiar with your surroundings. Understood?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes narrowing.

“Good. Now tell me about your previous life in a few sentences.”

“I ran a vineyard. My husband was a fierce warrior, who gave me three sons. My business was successful, my trade constantly valued, and my counsel sought after. I learn and adapt quickly. I fell into despair, at the news of my husband’s death, and after becoming ill, arrived in front of a floating orb named Valance,” she said, her tone saddened as she reported first her husband’s death, and then her own demise.

I smiled, pleased that she had answered exactly how I had told her to.

“Are the Archaics gods?” I asked.

“No,” she said in a short, clipped manner, “merely advanced aliens.” She almost gave a snort at the notion, as if that thought was ridiculous.

“Would you judge someone negatively if they viewed them as such?” I asked.

She blew out a breath, wanting to look at me, but kept her eyes pointed straight ahead. “Your biography failed to mention that you were into philosophy, or even cared much for it. I’d remember were it otherwise, but I just read your religion was ‘none’.”

“And your answer?” I prodded.

“Freedom of religion is important,” Linia said, leaving it at that.

I guided the wagon around a block of trees, entering the redwood section of the forest that held the quarry with the sirens. The three of us sat in silence, letting the creaking of the wheels and the chirping birds do the talking.

“Would you be willing to swear fealty to a woman, as your queen?” I asked.

“Which one? You have two,” Linia blurted out, her eyes darting to my face before fixing before her, once again. “Not that I’m judging—but normally… well, in Rome at least, a second wife was more of a mistress.”

“Fealty to both my wives, and to me… to my family. You would work for us, and we would in turn, work hard to ensure that you and yours are both protected and provided for.”

“Yes,” she said simply, still staring straight ahead.

“Good to hear… and if I asked you to work insane hours, would you still agree?” I asked. Again, she nodded yes.

Hmm…

I was contemplating how I should ask my next question, without unfairly trapping her. Instead, she spoke up. “Are you not going to ask me about having children?”

“I’ll admit, it often comes up in these interviews. Would you be willing to help breed the next generation?” I asked.

I saw her fighting back strong emotions. “I… I will do as I must,” she finally ground out, her voice thick. “I had to let go of Marius, a long time ago.”

“And if you could have him back?” I asked sharply, jolting her.

She broke my rule and eyed me with disdain. I had apparently crossed a line, except she somehow picked up from my facial cues that such was truly possible.

Her eyes darted to the back of the wagon, where Marius tried to hide beneath my cloak.

“Thank you, your grace. You will have my undying loyalty, if you make this a reality,” Linia murmured, an incredible amount of emotion attached to her words.

“You can’t hold him for another forty days or so,” I admitted, “but I will try to give you each an hour to be together, once a day. I need people I can rely on and trust,” I said and she fought back a sob, tears streaming down her cheeks.

This was a lot to handle and it was best to give them some space. “I’m going to scout out our next fight. You can’t get too far from me, so I won't go too far--to ensure that you both get time to reconnect.” I shook my head sadly. “I’m sorry that you can’t touch one another; know that if I could allow it, I would.”

“Does that mean I can come out now, your grace?” Marius asked from beneath the cloak.

I returned my garment to the tablet, leaving him exposed. He may have dashed to give his wife a hug, fallen through her, and hit his head on the seat. Love could make you do silly things.

“Hey, one last thing. I expect both of you to call me Nate, in private,” I said and they said that they understood.

I headed off to scout out the next threat. I felt a warm glow in my heart. There was one problem, at least, that had a happy ending. Convincing Senna and Beth that Linia would be a worthy fourth, shouldn’t be too hard. I was certain I could win that battle.

While I gazed upon the forest bears and sirens, I remembered that I had killed a man earlier today, forever. I was not sure if it was good or bad that I didn’t feel a bit of remorse about Fredrickson’s death.

Thoughts like these tended to leave me in a what I called a ‘rocking chair conundrum’. It gave me something to do but took me nowhere. With a sigh, I stopped thinking about the worm, who had probably been preparing to betray me at some point.

Glancing down the opening through the trees, I knew the fight for this badly needed quarry was going to be tough, unless I could think up some amazing strategy to spare as many of our warriors as I could.

Chapter

Twenty-Three

COMPETITION 1 DAY 28

T wo days later, we still weren’t ready to assault the sirens. Mainly because... I’d sort of lost all of our infantry, besides myself.

Marius and I spent half-an-hour reconning the bears with growths coming out of their backs. A long inspection showed that their hide looked thick—we learned they had bark for skin.

The stuff was tough, so tough that we needed pikes to kill them.

When you added their natural toughness to the fact that the path between the trees was quite narrow, there was no avoiding the fact that there was no way we’d be able to pull this off without infantry, with pikes.

Which, just my luck, pikes were a tier three creation—and our weapon smith was only tier one. That would take at least another week.

And then there was training another army of brand-new warriors how to maintain a shield wall, while infantry with sixteen-foot-long pikes jabbed at the enemy over your shoulder.

Of course, we had only the one barracks, at least for the moment, since we had all agreed that archery should be our main focus…

Which was biting our desperate need for infantry right in the ass and frustrating me to no end.

Every single direction I tried to build up our army, required more time. I eventually got so frustrated, that Senna apologized to me.

The fact was, we faced a foe that we had already defeated a few times. If a second army showed up at our door, though, we would struggle to win a battle, and would likely lose our outposts. Instead of letting it fluster me, I focused on the positives.

We quickly jumped from having only nine archers, to twenty-one with both archery ranges having been upgraded at tier two. I thanked Senna with an extended session of pearl twirling that left me tongue-tied.

It was a little game of ours, seeing how quickly we could make the other climax with just our tongue, but the challenge never got old. She came so hard, she squirted.

Our bowyer upgraded to level three yesterday, and Greg could finally craft six-foot-tall longbows.

We soon had two dozen longbows, plenty of arrows, and a plan to help improve our issues with acquiring enough leather to outfit all the archers with two quivers each.

It was even a plan that Beth liked. Shocker. That sassy little queen of mine was just the cutest.

She was also currently waddling around, her belly super swollen with a second baby. She cursed up a storm when I reminded her we could do this mission without her.

I tried to win the argument, even put my foot down, but she demanded I let her ride into battle on Travis’s saddle.

I finally caved one afternoon, after she out shot me at the range. I knew that she would be safe, high up on the duckbills back.

Thankfully, all those nice wooly yeti hides turned into something epic—saddle platforms. The maiasaura was tall, even before we rigged up a platform from wood and leather along the crest of its back. Not surprisingly, since I called my ladies by their nicknames—wifey and waifu—I never called the dinosaurs by their given names.

Zuniceratops were ‘two horns’ and the maiasauras were ‘duckies’—short for duckbills. I called the stegosaurus ‘stegos’, even though we still didn’t even have the ability to hatch one of the big dinos—yet.

So... Travis was huge. He was only four feet taller than me—but that was a lot. We had to use a rope ladder to climb up onto his platform. Two could sit up there comfortably, raining arrows down from above.

Currently, Beth was up there, teaching Linia about the tablets, up in ‘the roost’.

I may have grumbled a few times about having to walk beside my massive mount, instead of riding him to the battle, but I found myself content, talking with Marius. We were on an easy march south, along the river. It was proving to be a nice break, after spending a full day running down yeti scouts from Travis’ back, yesterday.

I was fairly certain that whoever was in charge of Team Yerrbi was desperate to find out what had happened to their lost war party.

We tossed three warriors and a rock slinger into our dungeon when we found them searching for their missing manager—or probably hoping to find his tablet.

I had to give it to Travis. It may take him five times longer than expected to become a lumbering menace, but once he got up a full head of steam—it meant that no one ever escaped.

There was no speedometer on him, but it felt freeway fast to me—especially with how the wind (and the bugs) smacked into my face. Having the big dinosaur around sure was something different—it really highlighted the dino part in team Dinosaur Warlord.

Hell, when we walked out of Noobi city and through the farming district, there were nothing but two horns everywhere you looked—either in the fields, or pulling carts between the fields and the city.

There certainly were more than a few dinosaurs on this dinosaur ride, it just took a few weeks to get us to that point.

None of those two horns, despite their playful personalities, were as awesome to behold as our mighty duckies’ battle prowess. I couldn’t wait to see how the stegos would do.

My brief scratches at Travis’s side, above his shoulder, had him checking back to see if I needed anything. When I smiled at him, he tooted out a random call. We heard a few baby duckies call back, answering from within the cavalry stables back in Noobi City.

I shifted my focus back to our captain of archers while we walked southward. His blocky forehead, high cheek bones, and dark eyes made him look rather intimidating. That was until you realized he was only five-foot-two. His deceptive height could put you at ease, though, and it was easy to underestimate him.

I’d sparred with the man, and Marius was a cut above the others with his agile, fluid movements with a sword. More importantly, though, he was death incarnate with a bow.

Me… well, I was still a terrible shot. Watching me on the archery range was like watching a toddler try to play basketball on a twelve-foot net.

One day he will score, dismayed parents might tell themselves, though today was not going to be that day.

At least I could fire in the right direction and had enough raw strength to draw the powerful longbows.

“When will more be ready?” Marius asked with an inquisitive tone.

“Duckies or longbows?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, the duckbill dinosaurs. Travis is amazing.”

“By the time we have more, they will be a bit irrelevant. Those saddles require a mountain of hides,” I grumped, tugging on one of the thick leather straps that held the massive contraption together. “We’ll need to kill a lot more yeti, or farm something with thick hides like -”

“The Baryonyx?” Marius asked, finishing my sentence for me. I gave him a confused look that he quickly picked up on. “The baryonyx has a three-inch thick hide. Didn’t you read their profile in the help menu?”

I grumbled, kicking at the tall grass, and as my luck would have it, finding a large rock with my toe. My hopping around and then limping from the pain was quite the entertainment for my friend.

“You boys okay down there?” Beth asked from up on high.

“Peachy!” I called back, with a grimace. I turned back to Marius, about to make up an excuse, when I realized it wasn’t worth the effort. “You sure about this plan?” I asked for the tenth time.

Of all people, who’d have thought I would be the least enthused about a crazy plan?

Why? Oh, it relied on hoping that the baryonyx didn’t slam into the trees where our archers would be perched. Well, that… and praying that they couldn’t jump higher than twenty feet… or worse, climb trees.

Of course they would run into the trees where our archers would be precariously perched.

At least I wasn’t going to be the sucker on Travis’s saddle—that would be Beth this time; that crazy wife of mine was more than okay with playing bait.

Things between Beth, Senna, and I were amazing. Our bond only got stronger. Last night’s dinner had gone great, and the best part was dessert.

I winked at my lovely lady when I caught her watching me fondly.

To say that I had a happy home life, would be an understatement. Other than having to postpone our attack on the sirens’ lake while impatiently waiting for new infantry, things were going great, which meant that we could focus on nice-to-haves—things like trying to gather granite ahead of time.

We honestly didn’t need more stone right now, though.

We did need additional food and therefore, always needed more wood as we struggled to upgrade our barns and farms.

Those numbers were going to take more than a few weeks to catch up to demand. And I should be careful about such thoughts like not really needing more stone.

Knowing the Archaics, some desperately needed upgrade would require a ton of stone and I’d find myself stuck back on some shitty detail again, killing golems.

So far, the golem quarry had continued to provide a never-ending stream of stone. We had a sneaky suspicion that the magic would eventually dry up, though, and then it would only produce a limited amount of stone per day. When that would happen—and how much stone per day that might be—was still very much in the air.

I decided to check on our resource figures as we neared the pines.

Empire Food - 3 (+175 per hour)

Livestock Food - 5 (+939 per hour)

Wood - 11 (+420 per hour)

Stone - 6134 (+425 per hour)

Metal - 1456 (+350 per hour)

I sighed, knowing that we were here as much to harvest meat, as we were here to get enough leather to build more ducky saddles. I quickly undid the clasp on my satchel and stored my tablet away safely. Timing my leap and carefully climbing upwards, I managed to scale the ladder on Travis’s side while he continued to walk forward.

When I finally reached the platform, ten feet up off the ground, two sets of eyes blinked at me, giving me questioning looks.

“We’re almost here,” I said assertively.

“For half-an-hour tomorrow, then, I will summon you for your next lesson,” Beth said to Linia, who smiled and thanked her for the lesson before being sent back into stasis.

“I like her,” Beth said.

“Me, too. I’m curious as to whether or not Marius can put a bun in her oven, when she is here for real,” I mused. Beth rolled her eyes—because we had debated this very question more than once or twice, and only time would tell. “Well,” I frowned, “are you sure about this plan?”

“Did you read that the Baryonyx relies purely on fish for its diet?” Beth asked, with an arched brow. She was a master of inflection and expression. In this case, she was challenging the fact that I might say yes.

“I’m concerned about you being up here on your own, enough so that I will probably just join you. You’ll need someone who can stab the enemy, if they get too close,” I said in a chivalrous tone.

She snickered before replying. “The baryonyx can run at a good clip, but they’re not nearly as fast as Travis. As long as we don’t get pulled into the water with them, we should be fine. Fighting them in the water would be a terrible idea; that’s for damn sure.”

I plopped down beside her in the seat. I retrieved my tablet from my satchel and opened up the Baryonyx’s help page.

If you see something on this world, you can access help features on it. If you got close enough to unlock its icon on the map, which we did when we had unlocked the granite quarry, then the tablet helpfully gave you data on whatever it was you’d found.

The Baryonyx help page revealed a few things I didn’t know.

These dinosaurs were thirty feet long, semi-aquatic, opportune predators, and normally lived in isolated herds.

They had a thick hide, sharp teeth, and claws that should be avoided. With decent eyesight—at least during the daytime—they could sense vibrations in the water, though they had poor hearing.

A Baryonyx could run faster than a human—up to thirty-five miles per hour—in short spurts.

I pulled up the help page on Maiasauras—after spelling it wrong five times in a row. Runs consistently for long period at up to forty-five miles per hour.

Sweet, that information was certainly reassuring, and probably why Beth was confident enough to come out here on this mission, despite her current state.

Okay, I considered myself caught up. There were other stats available on the Baryonyx, like how long they could breathe underwater, how much they weighed, and a bunch of other things that didn’t matter that much, if your goal was to kill them.

From up here, I could see our archers spreading out, heading for the trees. Teams of two carried tall ladders with them.

The pines here were almost fifty-feet tall, at their maximum height, which should provide our bowmen ample spots to find high and safe perches.

By the time we reached the edge of the grasslands that opened up to where we could view the Baryonyx herd, the ladders were all stacked against the taller trees.

Archers scurried up into their perches, both to hide while waiting for the coming battle, and to gain sufficient height where they could fire down on the big dinos we had come to harvest.

I was supposed to get into a tree myself but had decided to stay with Beth on Travis. The saddle itself had a nice bench seat and reminded me a little of a roofless carriage.

The design was wood on the top and leather underneath. Beth sat on a feather pillow, while I twisted around to get comfortable after sticking my sword in a container on the side of the bench where I sat.

Two longbows rested in front of the saddle, along with a few dozen arrows. I handed one to Beth and grabbed one for myself.

“Nate,” Beth said encouragingly. “Find a pull to or anchor point that you draw back to smoothly every time. Try to keep your draw length consistent. Once you have that down pat, then worry about your aim.” She smiled warmly up at me. “You’re talented in many things; I am confident you will master archery—with enough practice.”

“Shucks, appreciate the coaching,” I said honestly. I felt her kiss my cheek tenderly before she moved on to suckle on my earlobe.

She whispered “I love you” in my ear.

“I love you too, Beth,” I admitted.

“I just wanted to get it out there, because you’ll need to string both bows,” Beth said with a smirk, encouraging Travis to move beyond the tree line, putting all of us in danger.

When I counted sixty massive and fierce sets of predatory eyes that focused on us from the water… well, I cleared my throat and tried to put on a brave face.

I realized that Beth had confessed her love, because she was likely scared—or at the very least, worried. Who could blame her? There might be a hell of a lot of sharp teeth and claws headed our way, in a very short time.

While I wanted to be sweet and comforting, reaffirming to her that the last few weeks had been the best of my life, there simply wasn’t any time for that.

That crazy woman’s nimble fingers had strung her bow before my fumbling digits even found the string.

She halted Travis, nocked an arrow to the side and, extending the bow carefully away from her pregnant belly, fired an accurate shot—all before I could grab my first arrow.

There was a whistle as the projectile spun wildly for the nearest part of the meandering baryonyx herd. The snap of Marius’s bow from the trees behind us told me he’d also started firing.

When my bow was finally strung, I tested the tension. I had been told, repeatedly, to go easy with my release and to never dry fire the weapon.

I had paid strict attention during my lessons, and though not confident about my aim, felt ready to shoot the bow.

Beth’s arrow narrowly missed a large claw, causing her to grunt in frustration. Marius’ shot hit a baryonyx on the outer rim of the herd; it shrieked from the painful sting to its torso. Beth had already stowed her bow, spinning Travis around so as to be ready to make a hasty retreat.

A few hundred feet down the hill, the wounded baryonyx cried out before fixing its steely eyes on us and charging up the hill.

I watched with bated breath. This was the big unknown. If the whole herd charged us, it would make things very difficult. We needed to attract the attention of only one or two of the beasts at a time, to have a decent shot at pulling this off.

The agitated cries of the angry dinosaur raised a lot of heads. The rest of the roaming herd of predators became more alert. They scanned the nearest vicinity, found no threats, and returned to being bored.

The single, wounded baryonyx focused on Travis with dark eyes of pure hatred; the predator dashed up the hill at us, its claws splayed out in anger.

I released the breath I’d been holding.

For this first test, there was only a single dinosaur heading at us—exactly what we wanted.

I plucked an arrow from the wooden box in front of us, its fletching stiff.

When I nocked, drew, and released the arrow, I felt like it was a good shot.

As I watched my arrow streak back towards the charging baryonyx, I sighed.

My arrow fell about thirty-feet short of my target and was off to the right. Not Marius’ shot, though, that man drilled a shaft into the neck of the charging beast.

Apparently, going uphill was tough for the baryonyx. Its big claws awkwardly clacked against the rubble as it slowed down at the steepest part of the slope.

When it stumbled past the pole one of the archers had driven into the ground a hundred and fifty feet from the trees, Marius called out the order for a volley, which zipped out from the trees towards their target in a hail of long, feathered shafts.

Enough shafts hit, that the big dinosaur crashed to the ground. Beth indicated for Travis to slow, turn around, and back head towards the weakly flailing beast.

This dinosaur had only made it halfway to the tree line. I was fairly certain that Marius’ neck shot had been fatal—the other shafts just helped it expire even quicker.

When Travis neared the twitching baryonyx, our duckbill lunged forward.

A mighty front paw crashed down on the fatally wounded dinosaur’s head with an echoing pop.

Travis’ paw caved in the other dinosaur’s skull, leaving behind a mushy, gory mess. Travis extracted his foot with a squish and flicked the beast’s brains off of his ankle with a grunt and a snort.

I watched the herd intently, they seemed to have heard the noise, but had not been triggered by it.

Beth tucked the reins to the saddle loop and readied her bow to fire again. I decided to join her in an attempt to lure another beast up the hill and within range of the archers.

She frowned, but said nothing. That should have been enough of a clue that it wasn’t a good idea for me to fire at the herd.

That inner voice, the one who always encouraged ‘You’ve got this’, gave me false confidence in my own abilities.

Her arrow whistled past two baryonyx and hit a third. The arrow thunked into its body, smacking hard into its torso and lodging in a bone, which triggered all three into a frenzy.

I mean, she was shooting beyond her normal firing position, because of her belly, and still hit her target, roughly in the area where she had aimed.

Me? I hit a random baryonyx in the shoulder—a big male who was well into the herd. Maybe it was an alpha, or maybe we had done enough damage to properly stir the pot, because the rest of the herd reared back and gave a bellowing roar.

As if they were all controlled by one mind, the entire herd locked their gaze on Travis.

The ensuing chaos that resulted included a hastily dropped bow, as Beth yanked on the reins to spin the duckbill around and start running.

She reoriented our mount to face back uphill, and we started fleeing for the trees, long before any of the enemy got close.

I held my next shot back when I saw the entire herd racing up the hill, intent on killing the duckbilled dinosaur and the two puny humans on its back who had tormented them so.

Believe it or not, we had a plan for this—run, ignoring the mob hot on our tail and avoid wasting arrows; then, after leading them on a merry chase, try to keep the attention of a select few as we led them back towards the pines where the archers waited.

We didn’t have an infinite supply of arrows, after all.

Travis honked loudly, fleeing from the pack of predators who raced to climb the steep hill.

The quick pace of our massive mount sent rubble and rocks flying behind us down the slope. I’d seen the big guy run, but never when afraid; my goodness was he fast!

His insane sprint left the trees behind us within a few seconds. I spied Marius giving us the hold signal, while Beth clutched the reins frantically with a tight grip.

Jostling of any kind at this speed, was obviously not very good for a pregnant woman.

An ear-splitting roar behind us let me know when the lead baryonyx had reached the tree line, its snarling face was frustrated by our speedy retreat, waving back and forth between the pines.

Beth slowed Travis, who panted heavily after the adrenaline-fueled burst of speed. We spun around to watch the scene as it unfolded.

There was a dead baryonyx at the forest’s edge. Another was jumping up, trying to snatch an archer from his perch, while a third stalked the tree line, its head tilted back as its hungry eyes raked through the boughs, searching for prey to eat.

The alpha sulked away, deciding not to play our games.

Beth sent Travis forward at a walk. If he was winded, then the Baryonyx—who were only designed for brief bursts of speed and not really meant for running, would be too.

During our walk back, a third baryonyx collapsed, its body riddled with arrows.

The fourth one was smart, though. It tucked its head down and lined itself up before charging straight at the nearest tree with an archer in it.

An ear ringing crack erupted from the impact. The tree teetered briefly before the trunk buckled and snapped in an angled break—the archer screamed the whole way down.

Beth snapped the reins, letting Travis know it was time to act. The baryonyx let out a victorious roar, seeing the puny, hobbling human vainly trying to hide amongst the trees. For a snack like this, the big dinosaur was willing to brave the woods.

We swerved back and forth between the trees in a head long rush to save the wounded archer. I clutched the front edge of the saddle apprehensively, uncertain if we’d make it in time.

The baryonyx stopped just inside the tree line, pausing in his confident stalking of his prey when distracted by a nearby archer’s taunts. A volley of arrows slammed into the beast’s side, causing a frustrated roar to escape its maw.

That distraction gave us more than enough time to close the distance and Travis plowed into the wounded predator. Beth had ducked down inside the platform, while I had pulled my sword from the side of the bench.

I was ejected from my seat by the immense impact when the two large dinosaurs collided. I cursed my limited appreciation of the laws of physics as I was flung forward.

When a tree grew impossibly large in my vision, I decided to bear hug it, instead of simply going limp and trying to roll with the blows.

The young pine I smacked into bent, its top half splitting with a crack, breaking my momentum.

As if saved by the gods themselves, that tree absorbed most of the impact before breaking and dumping me to the ground from fifteen feet up in the air.

When I tumbled in a roll on the ground, knocking the breath out of me, I witnessed something magnificent.

Travis was literally jumping up and down on the Baryonyx, like a child might jump on a bed. Huge claw marks oozed blood freely from where the predator had tried to strike back, but in all reality, the fight was over.

A precise arrow whistled with insane power right into one of the downed predator’s big glassy eyes, causing it to twitch and spasm a few more times before an eerie quiet settled over the forest.

With the threat removed, the duckbill dinosaur stopped stomping on its victim. I stood up, groaning at a host of minor injuries that made taking a deep breath painful.

My hands patted reflexively at my right hip, and I soon realized my tablet satchel was missing.

A quick search later and I found the satchel, with my tablet tucked safely inside, a dozen feet to my left. I pried the bag out of the nest of pine-needles it had landed in, feeling battered and bruised, but otherwise okay.

This had been a great learning opportunity. The lesson that I took from it, was that even if we managed to stir up the entire herd, only a few of them were likely to stick around.

A few archers scurried down their ladders and collected up their spent arrows.

I couldn’t see downhill from here very well, but if they were coming down from their safe perches, that must mean that the rest of the herd had retreated.

“You okay, your grace?” Marius shouted down to me.

Beth peeked her head out over the edge of the platform and yelled, “Just fine. I want you to test Plan B, while we clean up the current batch of dead baryonyx.”

“Thanks, Marius, I’m fine,” I added.

After a few minutes of rooting through the pine needles on the forest floor for arrows helped bring my heart rate and breathing back under control, I reflected on the mini-battle.

Should we wear harnesses? That option had been built into the saddle; wearing one made firing impossible, though.

Would a tether around my hips work? Probably should do that anyway and just pray it didn't snap from the force.

I’d gotten lucky, crashing into a young pine tree that had a lot of give to it. Luck, usually bad luck, though, seemed to be a common theme for me, of late.

Not long into our scouring to retrieve our arrows, crews arrived from Noobi, a number of two horns pulling wagons filled with more arrows and tools.

Beth moseyed Travis over that direction to order the crews to break down the bodies. The task was a grisly, though necessary one.

Butchering the dead baryonyx meant not only that we’d secure vital food stores, but also their thick leather hides.

I left the work crews to their bloody tasks, so I could see Plan B in action.

We didn’t know what kind of sea monster lurked in the depths of the lake. When we had triggered the icon, the help tab had simply stated ‘type unknown’. So, we’d come up with a second plan to try and lead a number of the baryonyx into the depths where the monster might kill our prey for us.

To do this, Marius had staged himself on a decent sized rock, directly across the lake from where the baryonyx herd shuffled around along the shore.

His shouts, impressive whistles, and even a challenging roar only attracted the gaze of a few sets of predatory eyes, at the most.

The baryonyx shot him a stern glance for a few seconds every now and again, before returning to fishing in the shallows.

Since that didn’t look like it was going to work Marius knocked an arrow.

I watched as he pointed up into the sky before pulling back in a single smooth motion and sending the projectile soaring high into the air, arching over the lake until it reached a pinnacle, and then dove for the herd.

He cursed when his shot narrowly missed the crowd of targets he’d been aiming for.

His next arrow burst off the bow and though I’m not sure why, I had a good feeling about this shot. He once again shouted for attention. The arrow came down and sank deep into a startled baryonyx’s shoulder.

The dinosaur roared once before coughing up blood. Oh, he’d hit a lung.

This baryonyx was enraged. The predator spun around and noticed Marius shouting and waving his arms.

With its target in sight, the dinosaur leaped into the water. Whatever fear it may have had of the lurking leviathan was abandoned as it sought the life of the dastardly human who’d shot it.

Off all the possible lake monsters we might have expected to see, what I witnessed next came as a complete surprise.

A massive, speared tentacle launched up out of the water, missing the baryonyx by inches.

Understanding that it was in trouble and no longer the hunter, but the prey, the dinosaur spun around and swam for its herd.

A second and then third tentacle, tipped with sharp points, didn’t miss their target. These skewered the fleeing animal and dragged it into the depths.

I watched, in sick fascination, as the water pooled red and pink bubbles boiled to the surface. Then there was… silence.

I hurriedly pulled up the help page about the lake monster icon. A quick peek down toward the lake showed Marius was doing the same thing.

Evidently, we faced a stingray-type monster with four clawed tentacle arms, called a sumrini.

Hmm…

When no logical way to defeat it came to me at first, I let my mind stew on the challenge. Eventually, I decided that maybe, just maybe, it would be possible to go fishing for the beast, attaching a big thick rope to a massive barbed hook that we might somehow tempt it to swallow.

Then, if we were able to set the hook, we might use a team of dinosaurs to drag it out of the lake and onto land where it should be nearly helpless.

This assumed, of course, that it would take the bait and ingest the hook.

Then, we could only hope that the leviathan would either die—being a fish out of water—or at least be weakened enough that we could attack with ballista or heavy crossbows.

I sighed, so many what-ifs in that scenario.

Marius was already unleashing a second arrow at the baryonyx herd. The goal now was to see if we could get the sumrini to kill and then abandon the bodies for us.

Five arrows later, a baryonyx was again swimming towards Marius, rage and hunger in its eyes.

The sumrini drove its first attack through the gut of the baryonyx. This time it did not even bother dragging the dying beast into the depths.

This was a rapid kill and forget.

The body sank into the dark water, causing me to sigh.

According to science, in due time, the corpse should bloat, and rise to the surface. The question was… would there be any salvageable hide or meat left?

I shrugged, realizing that this herd of dinosaurs guarding this mine would need to die—whether or not we could take full advantage of their demise. The resources they could provide were nice, but so was the quarry itself.

Marius was walking up the incline towards me when there was a sudden breach of water. The epic splash was sudden, as a gout of water from the depths revealed the body of the dead baryonyx being flung onto the shore.

Apparently, the leviathan didn’t want to sleep beside a decaying body.

Well… that concluded my work here, then. My tablet buzzed, as if Senna had been monitoring not only the latest developments, but my thoughts, too.

I’ve got a mission for you, handsome hubby of mine. Come see me in my office. Waifu is coming to pick you up.

Interesting, this was… a first. It must be an urgent mission, for Senna to assign me like a subordinate. I had to let go of my ego whenever I was bluntly reminded, at times like this, that she managed the big stuff for the city.

I’d never get out here to slice up wooly yetis or watch massive lake creatures eat monster dinos if I got stuck behind a desk. That simply wasn’t my style.

Instead of grumbling, I slapped a genuine grin on my face as our waifu approached with my mount. I had to wonder what mission was so important that I got called into the principal’s office.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

COMPETITION 1 DAY 28

T eam Dinosaur Warlord: 18th

Survival: 28.6 (tied 84th)

eXplore: 15.6 (67th)

eXpand: 29.7 (15th)

eXploit: 77.4 (5th)

eXterminate: 99.9 (18th)

“Okay, Senna…” my puzzled frown deepened. “Darling, ya lost me,” I admitted, after pulling up our score. “This is fantastic. I mean, think of how far we are from falling below the top seventy-five.

“Losing three points right off the bat was always my biggest fear. Even if something drastic happens, we are doing amazing.”

“Nate, eXpand is where we should be the highest,” Senna said, testing me. “Think about it.”

I glanced at the numbers again. “There have to be armies already defeating medium objectives. If I can get lucky, doing one solo, then others can too.”

“That was one, Nate, what else?” she pressed.

Beth cleared her throat from the bed at the side of the room. “Don’t give him grief, wifey. Nate, the others are either by-passing medium and up objectives as they focus on conquering their neighbors. Or…”

“Ah, got it, this gets back to our shitty explore number.” I paused, scratching the back of my neck before letting out a heavy sigh. “I never explored to another starting point,” I said, and Beth groaned before laying back down.

“It's going to take months to get an army built up to start removing the bigger threats in the area,” Senna said.

I shrugged and nodded. “We knew this. This is a byproduct of going full production, instead of military early on. I get it, macroeconomics are not my expertise, but surely you saw this coming. Not to mention… our exploring is low because I’ve been helping out so much around here.”

Senna tapped a finger on her desk, her nail clicking against the wood. She tried to give me a narrow-eyed glare, but huffed in frustration.

“I can’t… I want to get just a little angry at you, but I flipping can’t. I love you so much it hurts. Alright, let me carry on. Yes, I did see this coming… and yes, this was a good way to advance. The problem is that the threats keep getting bigger, like that damn war turtle. Or, the fact that the enemy expansions in the mountains to the west, are far more than just you and a few troops can handle.” Senna winced. “Honestly, we needed you to check out the empty starting point, probably as soon as we had our first wagon.”

Beth peeked an eye open at this and frowned at Senna. She’d figured it out before I did.

“You want to send our husband out into the wilds?” she asked in a stunned tone. “Alone?”

“Yes. No... not just Nate—he will go with some backup. How much backup, though, has yet to be determined,” Senna admitted, blushing as I gave her a frank, appraising stare. I watched her tuck her hair behind her ear, a clear sign she was enjoying the attention.

Hmm, this seemed… irrational. I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to see how she had come to this conclusion. Unable to see the logic, I pinched the bridge of my nose and squeezed my eyes shut. “Again, love, you lost me. This score is fine and we will -”

Senna was calm, her outward appearance happy. “I have deduced what the enemy is doing—and I believe it is the only way they can drop us down so far in the eXpand ranking so rapidly.” She paused, noting with a smile that she had both my and Beth’s undivided attention. “I bet expanding into another starting point, gives a massive boost to an economy.”

I frowned.

“So much so, that I think we erred in not making an early expansion elsewhere. Hell, even just setting up a tier two stronghold, with three warriors would have been enough.” She blew a stray lock out of her face and ran her hands through her hair to settle it in place.

“And spoiler alert, we’re going to need that economic boon with all the resources we’re dumping into the military. What we don’t need is idle workers waiting for our armies to crush objectives or shaggy bigfoots,” Senna said in a flippant tone.

Her calling them bigfoots caused me to grin. “Love, oh, my love… if I die, what’s in it for me?”

Senna sauntered around the desk, placing her juicy booty on its edge. She was about to make some demand of me or give me some order.

Instead, I leaped out of my chair, startling a smile out of her. I kissed and nuzzled at her neck, feeling her hands run over my back.

With a rough spin, I turned her around to face her desk.

I bent her over, pulled her pants and bloomers down to her ankles, and then fucked her so hard, the desk scraped against the floor.

We went at it until the desk was butted up against the wall, each thrust echoing in the office. We came together after both grunting and groaning out in pleasure for nearly fifteen minutes. When I finished, I did so inside of her, thereby sealing another baby in her womb.

Beth watched the whole thing with eyes filled with desire. I blew her a kiss that she caught playfully.

“I submit to my mighty king,” Senna said, getting on her knees to lick my cock clean. She gave a delighted shiver. “You dominated me so wonderfully.”

Odd… this wasn’t a play on words or anything. “Everything okay?”

“A wife can love her husband and defer to his dominance when he needs to assert himself,” she said, her dazzling blues peering up at me. She pulled my pants back up. “I love you, my King.”

“Shucks, I love you, too, my Queen. Now get up off your knees and tell me about your crazy plan,” I said, flopping back into my seat with a relaxed sigh.

Senna snuggled into my lap, handing me a tablet.

Convoy starter expansion material list.

10 - Workers

2 - Archers Tier Two

500 - Stone

5000 - Wood

250 - Empire Food

250 - Agricultural Food

3 - Wagons

6 - Zuniceratops

1 - Maiasaura

1 - Maiasaura Saddle

“I take it the duckie is not mature,” I said, not sure if I liked this list very much.

“You’re giving him three full wagons, and a duckie?” Beth asked, sitting up. She tapped on her tablet.

Senna shrugged and said, “Rupert matures tomorrow. If I hold him back he can do a lot of good here, but Nate is worth more than a lot of good. If he -”

“Keep Rupert. If he stays I go to two wagons correct?” I asked, fairly certain that the third wagon and two of the two horns were for the saddle alone.

“You sure?”

“Pretty much, and give me three archers and four workers. I’ll build a tower first, followed by a stronghold, and then a depot. Actually, make that three workers. Yeah, that should be enough. It will be tight, but… yeah, I like it.”

I was agreeing with myself, head bobbing at my own words.

Senna lifted my chin to kiss me passionately. When she waved Beth over, I furled my brows. I kissed Beth tenderly; after I pecked her swollen belly, which she shoved in my face.

“Have a good trip my King.”

“Oh!” I said, figuring it out. I wanted to smack myself in the forehead, but held back the temptation. “Those weren’t just random kisses. I’m leaving now.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Shucks, I just thought you wanted some office sex and were gonna send me after the sirens.”

“A hundred miles with a laden wagon on a nice road? Should take you half-a-day, at a good trot,” Beth informed me. “With you having to scout ahead, no road, and slow walking dinosaurs, not to mention idiot workers…”

“Gotcha, alright. I will be back in a week or two, then. I’m going to miss you, my lovely ladies,” I admitted with a touch of sadness.

“Nate, our military will be ready to take on Team Yerrbi soon, but not in a week. So…”

I grunted, kissing her cheek. “I understand. Get a great mini city going, then come home to start the campaign against the western foe. I hear you.” I paused. “Do you know how the depot there will work with this one?” I asked.

“Once we have a stone road connecting the two, we will share supply numbers. Which means, building a road… we are soon going to be out of stone.”

I groaned at Senna’s words; it was as if the Archaics had heard my thoughts about us being fine on stone, not only an hour ago.

“Okay, I hear you. This will be good for me. I’ve wanted to try my own hand at building my own city, but really liked adventuring. There was a part of me that fell in love with the wilds. The danger was a plus, but nature just pulled me in,” I said. My palms slapped my thighs happily. I stood. “Where is my caravan at?”

“It’s waiting for you at the depot. We’ll walk you out,” Senna said, helping Beth up. She looked super fatigued from our baryonyx adventure, earlier.

I went to her other side to support her as we left the stronghold. She was faltering a bit, so I scooped her up in a princess carry and walked forward like Beth was a new, blushing bride and I was crossing the threshold of our home.

The wee lass was light enough for me to handle without any difficulty, though, as we walked through Noobi City to the depot.

“I am always awed by the sheer progress we make every day. How many workers do we have now?” I asked, partially because the road we were on was packed with drones.

“In total?” Senna asked. She blew a raspberry. “It changes constantly, but over four hundred now—if you count the soldiers not soldiering as workers. We’re stuck at the other expansions being tier two. Only Noobi City can be a three. Once it hits four, though, the rest can go up, too. With six of our seven strongholds at tier two, we produce forty-five workers a day. Of those, I can only turn three into warriors and six into archers.” She frowned, “our military remains… a work in progress.”

I puckered my lips with curious brows. That was a lot. “Wow! Great numbers, you’re doing fantastic.”

“Yeah Nate, but if you get down there, set up five more strongholds, and then…” She paused, letting the math start to sink in. “The baryonyx farming is in full swing—Marius is slaying the water dinosaurs… slowly, but surely.”

“Are we adding another base at the granite mine?” Beth asked with a grunt, pain etched on her face. She winced when I adjusted her in my arms.

Senna smacked her lips together, before saying, “Yup. Towers going up at each stronghold, too. We’re growing, growing, and growing.” On the last growing she patted Beth’s belly with a smile.

I passed a rolling cart heading our direction. It was an empty wagon with a bloody bed. My mind deduced that this was likely a meat transport, returning from the southern front. My muscular arms set my pregnant lover down gently on the wagon’s bench. There were two beefy drones in the wagon, besides the driver, who I ordered to carry Beth back to our bed.

She leaned down, kissing me goodbye again after a sweet exchange of fond words. We watched her diminutive form fade in the distance, as the wagon jostled its way through the streets, taking her back home where she could lie down. She’d probably gotten hurt today on Travis, and was going to need to sleep that baby off.

“I hate being that big, thankfully the baby doesn't kick or get habits. It’s just there,” Senna admitted.

A quick sling of my arm around her shoulders had us walking together in a half-embrace the rest of the way to the depot. We enjoyed the time together—something we’d been lacking lately. We were still in the lovebird, honeymoon phase, and Senna was smiling.

When she saw my eyes focused on her with a loving gaze, she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before planting a tender kiss on my cheek. The short walk ended much too quickly. At the depot, we found the two wagons I would be taking with me.

“How long to build the road?” I asked with a grunt, before leaving her side.

“Three weeks—unless I can find some better way of crushing and laying gravel, score more stone, or are able to free up workers from other assignments.” She blew out a heavy sigh. “Probably about the same time that the forces for the western offensive should be ready. We will miss you terribly, though, and expect you to come home before then. If anything, I may send Marius or Beth to replace you after two weeks,” Senna said.

I wiped a stray tear from where it threatened to spill from her misty eyes. We did the ‘love you more’ thing for another five minutes, before I finally left her embrace for the wagon’s seat.

The interior of both wagons had been loaded up with boxed supplies. Odd… My guess was this was how you moved items about within the depot. There was a box simply labeled ‘food’. Would this have to be eaten manually or would these rations just be consumed as we went along?

I shrugged. Three archers and three workers stood beside my wagon, awaiting my orders.

“Where are your swords?” I asked the archers, who shrugged. I retrieved my tablet, and selected ‘Inventory’ when the menus popped up.

Raw materials

Manufactured Materials

Supply Inventory

Military Inventory

I opted for the military option

15 - Short Sword T1

15 - Short Bow

2 - Medium Bow

0 - Long Bow

2 - Leather armor

15 - Shield

5 - Chain Mail

5 - Shin Guards

17 - Arrows

Some of this excess equipment had to have come from the yeti ambush. That must mean that Senna had already smelted a lot of stuff down—hence there being no maces or clubs. I added five short swords, a medium bow, all the remaining arrows, a shield, and a single set of leather armor to our supplies. If I needed to be stealthy, I’d have to ditch my chain mail.

There was a random flash of light. Wagon two, which was still inside the depot, filled with the items I’d requested. I turned back to the waiting archers and workers.

“You two on the back of the wagon,” I instructed. “You two,” I pointed, “on the back of the second wagon, and you two on the front of the other wagon. Hurry up,” I said and they raced to their positions.

I had my longbow, a dozen arrows, my sword, and my satchel with my tablet next to me on the wagon’s seat. So, lots of clothing since I had the tablet. I generated a cloak, which I folded up and tucked underneath me to cushion my butt.

“If we get to pick clothes again, I think I’m just going go with togas and a tunic with the fur cloak. Honey, remember to use the manage tab when you can’t give them verbal orders,” Senna said, before launching into a long string of loving tips.

I smiled and patiently let her get it all out.

She finished with, “Be safe, see you soon.”

I snapped the reins. The feels overwhelmed my manly heart as we rolled towards the gate.

This was a competition; my loves would be strong and safe, even if we were forced to be apart from one another.

The two horns were responsive to my tugs on the reins and I managed to drive us out of the city’s eastern gate without any further delays.

As I felt the bumps of traveling over cobblestones transition to a smoother ride, though with the odd, jarring jolt, of riding on the smooth dirt trail, I knew one thing was for certain.

This journey was going to be both interesting, and rough. I was going to be stuck in the wilds with three idiots and three semi-idiots.

What could go wrong? I thought, with heavily laden wagons, no road, and increasingly difficult objectives to challenge us.

Ha!

Despite the daunting task, I planned on making the most of the situation.

Losing simply wasn’t an option.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

COMPETITION 1 DAY 29

O kay, I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed the journey. I know, right? I was shocked at how relaxing and pleasant it was just to roll along, exceedingly slowly, over open fields.

The first big challenge we had to avoid, was the war turtle and the dilapidated stronghold it guarded.

I detoured, giving the behemoth a wide berth, which allowed us to proceed unmolested with the bumpy trip.

While we bounced along, I spent hours fiddling with the tablet. I was bothered that the girls had had so much time to dive into the device’s help functions when I could barely find my way around the main screens.

I was always annoyed and a little peeved when they teased me about my lack of knowledge.

This was my chance to catch up. A thorough examination of the help menu had me learning everything I could about build orders and resource requirements.

For instance, I was surprised to find that there was no automatic tool maker. The blacksmith’s forge made the tools and when it was upgraded to tier three, the building added a second forge on the other side.

By tier five, it would have four smithies. Right now, Noobi’s forges were broken down into one for general smithing, with the other being tool specific.

Little things like that opened my eyes to all sorts of things.

Bees!

I’d seen bees everywhere, and wondered why we didn’t have a beekeeper.

Turns out you needed to upgrade to a tier four farm and then, once you upgraded the woodworking shop to tier four… boom! you could make bee boxes. The bee boxes would not only produce honey for consumption, but also beeswax, for candles.

But wait there's more! It seemed almost all tier five buildings required candles as another of their tier specific building requirements.

Which meant, that the little buzzing bees I saw darting from flower to flower would someday play a vital role in my empire.

If we didn’t start producing bee boxes at tier four, we would stagnate trying to reach tier five.

I texted Senna about my discovery and she quickly deflated my ego, popping my bubble by revealing that she had known this for a while. I’d find something to wow her with… eventually, or so I told myself as I kept at it while enjoying the ride.

We followed the creek, that joined another creek, and eventually became a small river. That small river blocked our way, forcing us to build a bridge.

While we could ford at a shallow spot a little further on, I didn’t know if this competition was like the Oregon Trail game I had played in grade school, all those years ago.

I remembered trying to ford a shallow river and busting my wagon’s axle.

Would a busted axle repair itself? I wasn’t going to risk it.

The planks in the bed of the wagon served nicely as the planks for the bridge we made over two large tree trunks, and yeah, we lost some time, but we transitioned over the water just fine. When the sun hung low on the northern horizon, we saw a big village of walking mermen.

The village had to have held a thousand souls, most being residents. There were maybe a hundred warriors patrolling the village.

For the first time I saw something unique: a big (?) floated over the area, telling me that maybe the larger challenges didn’t divulge all the juicy details up front that might unfairly aid you in your conquests.

My goal wasn’t to fight over a small town, though, not even to soften up the objective for a later assault, once we had an army.

So, I had the two horns detour in a wide arc around the village--sticking to the edges of their fields. About half-an-hour after that, I lost the ability to check on Noobi City’s status; I’d lost the ability to text my lovers some time ago.

I’d been so fixated on the journey I didn’t realize I had left our sphere of influence. I had a strong feeling, though, that once the road was built connecting this outpost that I would build with Noobi city, our ability to communicate would be restored.

I was sad, however, that I’d missed out on my last chance to respond to the ladies’ goodbye messages.

Senna had said Beth went to bed early.

Poor waifu had indeed injured herself.

At least she would be baby free tomorrow, and better able to help with military planning as well as other organizational matters.

The other good news was that I learned the baryonyx were nearly defeated; our food shortages had turned back into surpluses thanks to all the meat Marius had harvested. In their final goodbye message, Senna had sent me a picture of both ladies blowing me kisses.

Dammit. I was so going to be in trouble for not replying.

That night, we camped in the middle of a field; we rotated guard shifts a couple of times. While I was nervous, so far there had been a minimum of roaming animals and we survived the night without incident.

In the morning, we packed up our camp, and I hoped to get more than ten miles closer to our objective.

If I remembered the huge map in the room on the Gladium correctly, there should be minimal forests on this route—the river literally connected the two starting points.

Sure, the river fed a lake that emptied into a creek and so on; there would be no easy invasion where we could easily haul our supplies on the water, but it provided a nice guide to follow.

The concept of following the water seemed great on paper... well, on the map at least. Reality, though, was a little more complicated. It was midday on the second day, when my tablet buzzed.

Hmm…

I instinctively whipped my sword out of its sheath while I scanned the area. We were passing through a brief patch of jungle, of sorts. There were clumps of tall trees with large fronds, instead of leaves; definitely not a tree typically found in this area. This was the first sign that something was amiss.

When I could find no immediate threat, I retrieved my tablet from inside my vest where I’d taken to carrying it instead of the satchel.

I didn’t want to miss any alerts it might give me.

There was a tree icon on the map—a ways off to my left. On the tablet’s map, it was a small icon. I hit the help function and found out this was labeled as a grove.

As in, a renewable wood resource. If you chopped down a tree, the next day another tree would reappear.

We had been in the plains for much of the day; without expansive forests to draw resources from, this ‘grove’ resource made sense.

You’d need such groves if you didn't have hundreds of thousands of towering redwoods on hand to satisfy your never ending requirements for wood. The concept of a tree farm was not new; if we got stuck on the savannah next match, it was good to know that these existed.

Staring at the tiny tree icon, I pondered about whether or not I should make a slight detour to secure this objective.

Should I? I wondered if I would be able to convert its defender. It was a tiny grove, meaning it should be an easy win. I decided to go for it. If nothing else, the victory would earn us some points and be something to break up the monotony of travel.

“We require orders,” the archers said in a perfect monotone.

I shuddered at their robotic nature. “Guard the wagons,” I commanded, hopping down from my wagon to head into the jungle.

My cautious reconnaissance had failed to locate the defender, when I neared a small section of brighter, extra-vibrant green palms. I frowned at the odd color. I’d learned to notice such tips and cues—so when a monkey-like creature shot out at me from the tree’s branches with its cat-like claws, I simply stepped to the side and avoided the ambush.

Interesting… this attack felt even slower than usual. Dodging the attack was super easy.

I snapped out a punch when the creature bounded at me again. My fist completely altered the creature’s flight. There was a thunk as its torso bounced off the nearest tree. The defiant little bugger shrieked at me before lunging at me once more, its claws extended.

My boot caught the manic creature in the head this time, sending it tumbling into the dirt. I waited to see if there would be a round three.

There was a defeated groan from the creature, but it didn’t get up. I went up to the brightly colored trees and pulled out my tablet to claim the grove.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned tiny grove. The one defending worker has agreed to surrender to you. Do you wish to accept their surrender? (YES) or (NO)? Selecting ‘YES’ will convert the worker into a mohuma. Selecting ‘NO’ will convert the worker into empire food.

Of course, why wouldn’t it ever be simple? I had to smirk at the Archaics’ little surprises. At least they kept me on my toes. I dug into the help section to understand what the hell a ‘mohuma’ was.

Mohuma (Modified Humanoids): A mohuma is a large variance of species that face extinction and cannot defend themselves. In order to live on Qoobi, they will require partnerships with more dominant species. Locating them in a competition is rare. They are only found on tiny objectives and are meant to find suitable symbiotic relationships. The Archaics consider them a boon to any community. They will breed at an increased rate, work at an increased rate, and be decent citizens. Warning, cannot be converted into military roles.

I selected ‘YES’, claiming the grove and picking up a hybrid human. I was not disappointed with what I saw when I turned around to see what the monkey-creature had become.

On the ground before me was a naked woman, curled up in a ball, asleep. She was tall, at least six-feet tall. She had a big, busty chest with wide hips, but a tight, toned body.

I could handle keeping a porn star look alike around—except that this woman had a monkey tail growing from her lower back, and huge monkey ears high up on her head. Her face was pretty, and very human, but she had slightly larger than normal canines.

When I nudged her with my boot, she didn’t respond.

Hmm…

Probably still healing from our fight. While the few minor blows I’d dished out seemed like nothing, the monkey I’d beat up had been pretty small and I swore I’d heard a bone crack at one point.

I scooped her up in a princess carry, hoping she wouldn’t try to kill me or do something crazy. I had just beat her up… well, the monkey version of her.

When I returned to my archers, I ordered one of them to spread my cloak out in the bed of my wagon.

I laid the mohuma down onto the big cloak and then frowned. Shit, there went my comfy padding. I rotated her body around so that I could better keep an eye on her and spawned my second cloak, as well as my toga.

I opened the coverings, laying the toga over her curvy frame, before folding up my other cloak to protect my bony ass from the hard wooden bench.

With a snap of the reins, we set off once again. When we cleared the patch of trees, I returned my sword to its sheath and contemplated the situation as we entered a field of tall, tan grass. These weren’t oats, though they looked a lot like oats.

I looked to my left and to my right—for as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but a sea of the boring, drab stalks.

There were a few birds in the otherwise clear sky, and with no foreseeable threats, I relaxed a bit.

The bright sunny day had defeated the chill of the morning, and I was soaking in the peacefulness. At least I had plenty of things to ponder, as we trundled along towards our distant goal.

Why would the Archaics not just offer lords of their fiefdoms the mohuma before arriving on Qoobi? Was this how they tested us, to see if our race was speciest? I didn’t care that she had a tail and big ears.

What would be the benefits of having a mohuma with us on Qoobi? Would they be the same as here? How rare was rare?

I really hated how subjective that term could be, without proper context or a quantifier to back it up.

How had they been modified and what had happened to their masters?

The list of questions in my mind kept growing longer and longer. Lacking answers to any of them, I had to put my thoughts on hold. Instead of fretting about it, I tried to dig into the tablet’s help menu to find what answers I could.

This mohuma reminded me a bit of Senna’s old lover, with her fake tits and ass lift. What was her name, again? Eh, it escaped me… as did any and all answers to my questions about the mohuma.

I did find an option to contact an administrator about non-competition questions. I gave that a go and asked where I could find some answers.

Wait until she wakes up. Sheesh.

The communication terminated and I realized I’d been sassed by a hybrid. Hey, at least I’d gotten an answer.

A loud creak from the wheels told me we’d hit a rocky patch again. I checked my inventory numbers.

Convoy starter expansion material list.

3 - Workers

3 - Archers Tier Two

1 - Mohuma

500 - Stone

5000 - Wood

240 - Empire Food

210 - Agricultural Food

2 - Wagons

4 - Zuniceratops

0 - Water

Shit! We’d forgotten all about water. A smack of my lips told me I had a dry mouth, even if I wasn’t thirsty… yet. Time to detour to the river.

I veered the wagon over to the right, letting the two horns keep to their slow and steady pace. My desire to travel a ways out from the river was mainly to avoid predators. I kept my head on a swivel, nervous as we approached a section of rapids.

I opened my tablet’s interface, playing around with the options until I found ‘Tools’. For ten wood, I could craft myself a water bucket. Score.

I crafted a pail in my lap. It had no handle or anything fancy.

The design was incredibly basic, as if I had simply carved out a divot from a chunk of wood. It would have to do, for now, because the larger barrel option required metal that I didn’t have, and the version with a handle required twine.

We were running short on space in the wagons to keep the three buckets I crafted. After trying to see where there might be a good spot to store them, I decided that the back bench—where the drones sat—would probably be the best. Hell, they could hold it in their lap.

Feeling somewhat ready, we slowly approached the river. I kept my tablet out. No pings, alerts, or icons flared. That didn’t mean I wasn’t apprehensive, though. The water was fast here, and fairly clear.

I had to assume it wouldn’t be necessary to boil the water.

I was pondering how to go about filling the buckets safely, when the one in my lap sloshed with water. Oh... I guess that made sense.

The buzz of the tablet had me instantly alert. I stuffed the device away in my vest while scanning the area. The flick of a tail caught my eye.

“My nemesis!” I chuckled. “Come on out kitty, I see you.”

The cat did not pounce at me, though. That is when I noticed the weaving trails of stalks bending away from where the wind pushed them. There were more of them in the tall grass and they were seeking to attack me from the flank.

“We're under attack!” I shouted, drawing my sword and letting the steel shine in the daylight.

A lion tried to pounce on one of the two horns…

Umm… bad idea.

The dinosaur caught the biggest cat’s charge on its horns—the cat goring himself with a loud cry of pain. The wagon lurched as the pair of dinosaurs stomped on the wounded cat.

I hopped down from the wagon seat into the grass, shocking a lioness with my swiftness. She tried to turn on me, but I cleaved through her neck before her claws could rake my leg.

The triple twang of bows sounded, followed by the screams of a wounded human. The pride was down to four, but they were dragging off one of my archers into the tall grass.

I closed in on the four lionesses with stealth and speed. I killed my first target quickly with a stab through her ribs and into both lungs. She stopped gnawing on the man’s arm to hack up thick gobbets of blood.

The other lionesses spun on me, which let the wounded archer scramble back to the wagon. Two twangs resulted in a dead cat, leaving only two.

I slid my blade through one beast’s open mouth, killing it.

This exposed my flank to the final lioness, who attacked with a fury. The last damn cat got her caws caught in my chainmail, just as the dying cat with my sword in its brain ripped my weapon free of my grip.

A truly awkward engagement ensued. The best way to describe what happened, was that I… got into a fist fight with a big, one armed cat.

It was more than a little odd. The lioness didn't want to get her claws stuck in my chainmail, and I didn’t want my hand to get eaten.

Both of our attacks were ineffective. A fierce lunge to one side tugged the big cat along with me as I tried to maneuver us closer to my weapon. The lioness countered by yanking her paw the other way.

There was a sudden flash as a sword dove in the cat's chest with a squish, ending the fight.

“I despise cats,” the mohuma said, spitting into the grass in disdain.

What? Oh.

So…she was nude, had a sword, and had killed the big cat.

“Thanks…” I was uncertain what else I should say. “This should be all of them.” I pointedly locked my gaze on the horizon over her shoulder, as my face grew warm. “Go get dressed, please.”

“Sure,” she said, flicking the blade out of the cat's skull and laying it against her shoulder like a triumphant warrior.

She didn’t quite saunter back to the wagon, but she didn’t need to. Luckily, I was a happily married man and able to tear my eyes away.

Ah… after I admired her ass, that is.

I peered down into the dead cat’s eyes, seeing the lioness’ eyes were frozen wide with shock. The expression on the feline's face caused me to smile.

A dead cat was a good cat.

Not housecats, mind you—I totally adored those. The big one who tried to eat you, though? Eh, not so much.

“Hey you lazy workers,” I called out, “get these cats’ bodies up onto the wagons. If we push hard, they won’t rot before we can get the depot built.”

This spurred the drones into motion. Me, I was stuck on my butt in the tall grass. My damn chainmail was still tangled up with the lioness’ claws. I frowned down at the bloody mess after severing the cat’s claws from its toes.

A few of the chainmail links had popped from the attack, meaning that I could once again say that the heavy gear had likely saved my life.

Taking the armor off finally did the trick. A minute later, after storing it in my tablet and then pulling it back out of storage, I pulled a clean chainmail hauberk over my head. I frowned at the four new holes in my protection.

I went to the back of wagon two, finding an extra sword and the set of leather armor. I grabbed a bow, too.

My first stop was to check on the wounded archer.

The bowman was already asleep, probably healing, so I left him to visit the mohuma. When I got to the front of my wagon, I found her sitting on the bench, humming a song with a pleasant smile.

“Here,” I said with a grunt, passing her the leather armor.

“Oh, I can use these,” she said, grabbing the leathers to replace my toga. “Those, though…” she pointed at the weapons, “won’t do me any good.”

I frowned at her, hooking a thumb over my shoulder back at the dead lioness and quirking a brow.

“Sorry. I don’t fight. Me stabbing a sword through a cat to save you doesn’t make me a fighter.”

I couldn’t fault her logic and it seemed irrational to quibble with my savior. “Well, just keep these nearby, in case another opportunity to save me pops up.” I stuck out my hand. “Name’s Nate.”

“Roxie,” she replied happily. The leathers were not nearly as thin as the toga had been, but her proportions were such that it was impossible for an average guy like me not to look. When at last I saw the final cat loaded up and the drones take their places behind the wagons, I gave the reins a quick, light snap.

“Thank you for rescuing me,” she said.

“Rescuing you? Shucks, I beat you up, abducted you, and then you saved my life. Soooo… Thanks for that,” I admitted sheepishly and she gave me a thin-lipped smile, checking me out.

“Mohuma are shunned,” Roxie blurted out.

I just nodded.

Again, there was that speculative eyeing of me. I bet she was curious as to why I would trust her with weapons—a species the Archaics considered in need of protection.

“The tablet said as much. I have a bunch of questions about mohuma when you're ready,” I said, checking the tablet.

Whatever the lions had been protecting, it had to be nearby. A cartographer would probably find it, seeing as it was undefended. After looking around intently, I handed her the reins.

When she didn’t say anything, just tilted her head to the side and gave me a curious stare, I shrugged.

“Just keep us going straight, for now,” I said.

I pulled out my tablet and checked the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 15th

Survival: 29.5 (tied 84th)

eXplore: 25.6 (60th)

eXpand: 31.1 (19th)

eXploit: 97.5 (4th)

eXterminate: 129.9 (8th)

Yeah, I knew that once we got going, the exploring teams and smaller cities were really going to struggle to catch up to us. It was a competition about building an empire, after all.

Survival mattered a lot early on, but less so towards the end game.

Not just that you survived, but how you survived was more important these days, or so it seemed.

I checked the score to see if finding Roxie had made a difference. We had jumped up ten places in the rankings and a bunch of points had been added to both eXterminate and eXploit... I doubted that boost had come from defeating a small pride of lions.

“I’m ready,” she said, situating herself to get comfy in my cloak.

I let out a long sigh. “We have another day… maybe two, on this journey, so there’s no rush.”

“You’re a competitor, correct?”

I nodded, fiddling with the tablet. “Let’s start with the Archaics and just you. Unless it would be better to go into more detail about mohuma, first.”

“Can I know more about you, before we talk about me?” she asked.

This was the first time I’d gotten a look at her brilliant green eyes, with sparkles of yellow. The more time I spent studying her, the more the alien quirks came out. That tail was certainly… um, different.

“Uhh…” I rubbed at the back of my neck. Her wanting to learn about me was unexpected. “I lived on a place called Earth. I worked too much and did a technical job that others could do, with a bit of practice, but were usually too busy with other things to do on their own.

“I met a great woman and we were about to get eaten by sharks when we found ourselves zipping off planet to an Archaics’ ship. Then we were dropped on this planet in a competition to earn a place on Qoobi. We are only just now expanding our empire—this mission is part of that.”

“No slavery?”

“Personally? Never, though historically—for humans—there was a period where slavery was legal, but not for a long time where I grew up,” I said, not wanting to go into the details of my ancestors' likely sins.

“Rape?”

“What?! No, never. Ever. I have no problem keeping it in my pants. Trust me, I’ve had offers that were hard to refuse, but I managed to say no,” I muttered. A memory of sexy Mrs. Witherspoon, asking me to inspect her leaky pipe sleeve—in the buff—crashed through my mind. Yeah, I could control my urges.

“Forced labor?”

I sighed. Her awkward direct questions were starting to make sense.

“Okay, now you're pushing me into philosophical territory.” I grunted sourly, flicking my wrist back and forth to demonstrate that I wasn’t too fond of such conversations. “I can entertain your questions, but that doesn’t mean outside circumstances might not change my answers, somewhere later on down the road.”

The wagon was at least a thousand feet back from the river, so I had Roxie turn the dinosaurs back to parallel the water. I waited to see if she had a comment. When there was none, I continued.

“So…suppose I get a young man brought before me. A father flings him at my feet for judgement. The young man raped this man’s daughter and as far as this what-if is concerned, there is no doubt that he is guilty.

“I can stick him in a cell to rot and provide zero benefit thereby to society. Maybe I send him to an army unit, for criminals, that gets all the high-risk missions.

“Or yeah, I could sentence him to forced labor—building roads or improving parks, or whatever. It becomes a slippery slope, though, which makes me hesitate to commit to a full answer.” I sighed. “But as of today, no. No one has been forced into labor camps. Unless you count what these drones all do as -”

“They aren't drones,” Roxie interjected harshly, folding her arms with a scowl. “They are your people, waiting for you to lead them, with altered cognitive abilities.”

Hmm…

“Okay, I mean the Archaics are super smart and these workers were never simply mannequins—you know, a one size fits all. They’re all unique, but… will they remember any of this?” I asked and she shook her head no and then shrugged guiltily.

“They won’t remember anything, besides how to survive and that you’re someone to come get orders from. At least that is how it was explained to me,” Roxie admitted. She handed me the reins, burrowing into her cloak to adjust her bust. “It is my understanding, if you succeed in securing a position on Qoobi, that you will forget most of what you know of that.” She pointed at the tablet.

Interesting.

“If the Archaics magical science is to be forgotten, then I can rationalize the need to use it. That technology will not be on Qoobi. I wonder if the concept of modern weapons—guns and nukes—will also vanish.” I sighed, not liking that I was just an ant, being toyed with. “But that is a long time away,” I said, deciding to let her talk about herself when she was ready.

With the sun at its zenith and only a light breeze, she abandoned the heavy cloak.

Instead of ogling her exposed cleavage, I watched a flock of ducks flying high overhead. Their shadows raced over the tall golden grass that swayed gently in the breeze.

I had that feeling of being at one with nature, again. Ahead—about half a mile further out in the plains, a clump of trees narrowed potential routes through a choke point that we would be avoiding.

I detoured our tiny convoy closer to the river side of the exposed area. The trees would likely be just as safe as that opening would be.

“I’m a Cybernetic who was created by the Iliads,” she finally said, opening up. “Most referred to us as Cybers. Well… sort of. It’s complicated.”

I smiled gently at her and said, “I understand that most back stories are. You got the condensed version of my recent history. I don’t know who my father is, though, and it appears that the Archaics want to keep it that way.”

Roxie shifted in her seat to glare at me. Maybe trying to hear if I was lying? I put my hands up defensively and she eased off with the pointed stares.

“Cybers are… were lower citizens in the Iliad society—those who had run out of usefulness. If you can’t contribute enough to pay your dues to society, you were modified to perform better—with little to no chance of escaping. I was a maid, born poor, and my family was large. My parents worked hard to support so many children. Too many children.

“I… made a mistake.” She blushed. “It ended up being both good and bad. There was a dashing boy of privilege, who said he fancied me… and one thing led to another. While I never saw him again, he’d left a lingering reminder of our time together.” She sighed. “Millie was never anything other than the sweetest little girl. My entire family was swept up for modification when my sister had twins.”

I scoffed at first and then sighed. Honestly, I could see humanity doing something like that—in a distant future. Can’t pay your dues to the one percent? Then they’d force you to. To hear it had actually happened somewhere, was beyond sad.

“I became a maid, and was forced to wear revealing clothing. My nearly flat chest was enhanced,” she glared at her bountiful bust, “to the point of being ridiculous and my hips widened,” Roxie said with a sigh. I caught a glimpse of her squeezing her tits out the corner of my eye, but I was able to keep my face pointing forward, despite the distraction.

“And the tail?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“Is the tail and the ears another enhancement -”

She shook her head. “This is who I am… well, minus the enhancements. All Iliads have a tail and these ears. There are other alterations that had been made to my body, to make using me more pleasurable, but I noticed that they have been removed. I actually feel almost natural in this form.”

I nodded.

“Anyway, I was thrown into the grinder of ‘servicing’ wealthy homes. In both senses of the term—for cleaning and for sex. The only saving grace was that my family pooled our money together, once our debts were paid.

“Twenty of us worked together to free Millie and my nieces. I did whatever hideous things the wealthy required, to ensure those girls were set free. We even managed to save enough to elevate them into recurring revenue positions—which should keep them out of servitude.

“Eventually, we aged and were cast aside as no longer attractive enough to please—being relegated to doing only maid work, at that point. My ability to sell myself and earn my way to freedom diminished, but I was okay with my lot in life—because of Millie.”

Roxie smiled softly to herself. “Millie got off the planet as a spaceship engineer. I was never prouder than the moment when I was able to tell her goodbye. I had freed my little girl.” She discretely wiped at a tear that trickled down her cheek.

I pretended not to notice while she recovered her poise.

“Not long after that, an angry client threw me off the top of his mansion. Imagine my surprise, when I was saved by the Archaics, instead of going splat on the sidewalk below. I watched from a secure ship as an internal war among the wealthy devolved into savagery.

“A bioweapon was used and all the Iliads were dead within a matter of months. The Cybers persisted, and I pleaded with my captors to save them. Instead I watched in horror as the cycle repeated itself. The leaders of the Cybers became just like the monsters they once served.

“A new class of have and have nots was established. Saddened by this new development, a scientist removed the planet's atmosphere. I watched the last remnants of my race vanished. I know that somewhere, out there in space, my Millie is one of the last of her kind.”

She sighed. “Maybe the planet she was flying to colonize will manage to get things right. That is my hope, at least. I learned about the Archaics, the competition, and the simulator. I may have come to enjoy killing big stupid cats, after being killed by them a few thousand times.

“So that is me… at least the short version,” she said.

I grinned.

“For whatever reason, the Archaics are leery of my race, preferring to integrate us into other societies. I will never be a competitor… or a manager. You bringing me down here, allows me to exist, though I’m not sure what else I am expected to do.” She grimaced. “I lack a purpose… now that Millie is gone and safe. I’m confused and don’t understand why the Archaics preserved me.”

While I listened to her story, I couldn’t help but see parallels and echoes in humanity’s barbaric history. Sure, these Iliad were a different species, but had a similar appearance and an unfortunately similar lack of morals.

While I was no Marxist, who thought the lazy should get an equal share with those who busted their humps, I was most certainly not about a ruling class enslaving the poor. Not in the least.

For a few minutes I fiddled with the reins, thinking of how best to respond. The tablet vibrated an alert, but didn’t show me an icon. We were approaching the trees. I turned us towards the left, putting more distance between us and the patch of pines.

When I turned back towards the opening, the tablet stayed quiet. There were faint shadows and flickers of movement as defenders darting between the trees to our right as we stuck to the middle of the grassy fields.

Whoever, or whatever, was in that patch of woods was content to let us ride by—for now—as long as we stayed in our lane.

We passed the choke point and entered an area with new scenery. The golden grass turned into farm fields off to our right.

A towering city that made Noobi City look like a quaint village was just visible on the horizon, to the south. Troops of four-armed scaly humanoids paralleled our route, as if escorting us away from their lands.

There were so many aliens that I gasped. That city had such a grandeur to it, that the objective—assuming it was one—had to be epic.

The scale of Noobi was difficult to fathom, until moments like this. That city reminded me of a megalopolis—like Miami or Tampa—just without the modern technology.

The next few hours were tense ones, with the lizard aliens never too far away. They obviously wanted us to keep going in the direction we were headed and eventually, our shadows dropped back and let us be.

I had to admit, thinking about how much power we might gain by getting that city to surrender, had me salivating with desire.

One day, though…. but that day was nowhere close. I snorted as I took in our meager expedition with our measly armor. I was hopeful we might be able to trade with them, though.

A lot of 4x games included trading markets, where you could swap excess stone for food, for example.

“You okay,” Roxie asked, her hand coming up to block the rays of the setting sun to the north as she peered at me.

“Sorry, I was saddened by your story, and then worried that we would die.” I shrugged, “I’m kind of fond of living.”

We shared a smile at this quip.

“My goal is to have a good, long life on Qoobi. I think that it is not only a plausible goal, but a future I’ll live to experience.”

“Positive thinking is important,” she agreed.

“When I see an army like that, I worry. Those troops could have easily defeated us,” I said unhappily.

Roxie stood, spinning around to give the area a good, long look. When she sat down again, she shrugged.

“So, Roxie. I’m at a turning point with you... what do you want to do, be, or strive for?”

“I was alone for such a long time,” she sighed. “The simulator was my best and only friend. I know that dastardly orb liked to see me die… though I’m not sure why. Maybe because the deaths were fake and it taught me things? While I may not be a warrior, I did enjoy exploring,” Roxie admitted, talking through her thoughts.

“We’ll be building a cartographer’s office, soon. If based on what you see on the tablet, you draw a map out in the wild, it will be an accurate one. It will earn us eXplore points and reveal new areas on our empire’s map as you venture out into the world.”

I smiled at her. “Go out, draw what you find, and come back home with the data, to have it count. You could do that. The tablet doesn’t classify you as an Iliad, a Cyber, or even a hybrid… just as a ‘mohuma’. The competition rules say that you cannot have a military role, though the help section did note that you would be an awesome worker and a baby factory.”

She covered her mouth, trying not to giggle. Eventually she lost her ability to hold it in and burst into a long laugh.

“I’m a Cyber, we’re barren. Forever. And that -”

“No, Roxie,” I shook my head, “you’re a modified humanoid. My guess is that when you get to Qoobi, you will not be a Cyber, but an Iliad—maybe back to being a flat chested woman. Maybe this look helps you, and the Archaics want it that way.” I shrugged.

“Think about all the power the Archaics have,” I said, letting that sink in. “The competition has limitations on what you can do without a tablet. But… you seem like a nice lady. Think about what you want to do in this new life, and I will try to help you.”

Roxie went silent and I had to wonder what the future would bring for her. Would she become a selectable manager, going forward? Or would we always have to try to free a mohuma by conquering some tiny objective, and she would be it? Or would I simply be given a choice to include her on Qoobi?

I guess only time would tell.

We rode down a bit of a slope through the otherwise smooth, hard terrain. There was no doubt about it, after the city was little more than a distant memory, we picked up the pace. When we set camp for the night, I noted that we were about seventy-five percent of the way to our target area, and it was downhill from here.

If I had to make a guess, I figured the mega-city was around the halfway point between the two starting locations. That would fit with Senna’s circling rings of increasing difficulty theory.

Now, I just had to hope the starting point we were traveling to was still empty… and relatively easy to capture. Somehow. I knew there wouldn’t just be a blank open space, with a big sign saying, ‘here, take this for free!’.

Or would it?

Chapter

Twenty-Six

COMPETITION 1 DAY 30

“O f course,” I muttered quietly in disdain.

I was tucked behind a big rock, not far from the tree line where we’d left the rest of our expedition. I had Roxie at my side and the wagons were hidden in the trees.

Ahead of us, in a large field, was a completed stronghold. Although it was only a first tier stronghold, it had a number of buildings sprouting up around it, and a small guard force.

A bipedal, big headed, frog race was busy developing the outpost. The tablet called the species ‘Pola’.

They were only humanoid because they walked on two legs and had two arms. These ugly amphibians had no neck, just curving, hunched backs that merged into their wide heads. They were green with blue streaks and white chests.

Their gait was more fluid than I expected, in the sense that they appeared to have spent a lifetime on two legs. What I watched were still robotic motions, though—such as a low tier drone might have.

Protecting the bustling activity in the area was a single tower, which guarded the main building and the depot behind it, which stood with its doors spread wide open.

The minimal progress they had made told me they must have beaten me here by less than a week.

That timeline matched up with Senna’s concerns. I would have to give her sensitive pearl a special reward for nipping this problem in the bud. No pun intended.

We watched the group for another twenty minutes. There seemed to be five warriors who were bringing tree limbs into the depot from a section of pines off to the north.

They sported lances with small chest plates covering their vitals. Their vacant stares spoke of tier one training and had me evaluating the best way to kill them.

A movement to the east revealed a regular worker. The naked Pola was hauling a bundle of purple-stemmed sunflower type plants with bright orange seeds. Those tall, flowering plants were just about everywhere there were no trees or buildings. The single worker was the only non-soldier I spied.

A few new buildings were outlined in a green glow, telling me there were other workers probably comatose inside the stronghold as they focused on their builds, along with the tablet manager.

Three archers leaned against a chest-high framework atop the tower. I noticed how they lazily eyed their surroundings. Their short bows and minimal armor were only a minor concern, though—I’d seen how poorly level one archers could shoot. It wouldn’t be far off to say that they relied on ricochets and blind luck to hit their target.

A burst of confidence surged inside; I knew that I could defeat this group. The question remained, though—What was my best way of doing so, with the least potential of damaging my team?

Should I even bring my archers up from where they guarded the wagons? Probably not.

If I snuck into the stronghold and killed the manager, would the others just convert? I checked the tablet’s help function on that one; the only answer it gave, was that defenders must be defeated or they must surrender.

Would I suddenly be seen as a must kill target or a friendly, if I killed the frogaroo manager? Meh… there were too many variables. At this point, we probably had over five hundred workers—were a half-dozen more really worth the risk?

Yeah. I grunted. I would need them here more than Noobi City would.

Our concerns about population were fading quickly enough that I had been able to leave without sticking another bun in Beth’s oven. And to be fair to her, she deserved a break.

So… How could I defeat these forces, removing what was likely a guarded manager protected by a sentry tower? Then I remembered I had another thinking being beside me.

“Thoughts?” I asked Roxie who was intently pulling a burr out of her tail.

She frowned before saying, “I take it these creatures are not from your empire.”

I chuckled, shaking my head.

“There has to be a boss, right?”

“Yup, and he’ll likely be the greatest challenge. He might be out, though, exploring on his own. If he falls while exploring… I have no idea what would happen,” I admitted with a shrug.

A plan started to form in my head for dealing with my wagons. I tapped her on the small of her back to let her know I was about to leave, and she flinched.

“Sorry, gesturing that I was about to leave. I… I’ll be more mindful of touching you, unwelcome physical contact was a stigma in my society also,” I said, feeling bad for her.

She eyed me speculatively before saying, “If your intent is to give a signal that aids me, with no ulterior motive, then I will be more mindful of my reaction. I… I have some issues to deal with, but I promise to not let it get in the way of our winning.”

“Awesome,” I said, dropping the topic. “Follow me.”

We snuck back to our wagons where the others waited. I saw them observing the area intently.

The wounded archer was back up, fit and ready to fight after a full day’s rest. When we came out from the edge of the trees, the archers locked their arrows on me.

“Easy,” I said with a stern tone. They relaxed their aim, returning their eyes to scan mode.

“We need to retreat a mile back towards Noobi City and build our own stronghold,” I said, giving my orders.

Roxie glanced at me with those odd, alien eyes. Her tail flicked with what I had to assume was curiosity.

I’d weighed out all my options, the best one was to expand regardless of this enemy base.

“The workers serve no purpose being idle. We’ll build a stronghold as close as we can for a few reasons.”

“Reasons such as…?” her furry ear twitched.

“If I can whittle their numbers down, then great... but what if the frogman manager -”

“Pola.” She corrected me. Those eyes were more than just pretty; they were sharp. She had been reading the tablet over my shoulder.

“Sure… What if the Pola is a renowned warrior and I lose the fight. We might as well get the most points we can from the materials we hauled all this way,” I said, hopping on the wagon’s bench and patting the seat beside me.

“You think you will lose?”

A light snap of the reins got the two horns turning us around, ready to head back the way we’d come. I handed her the reins so she could drive while I kept a careful eye on the distance from the Pola stronghold on the tablet. Half-an-hour to the north west should put us outside the zone of this stronghold.

I huffed, idly fingering the holes in my chain vest while thinking about combat.

“Maybe. I’m confident in my own abilities, but at the same time… Noobi tends to throw curveballs at me. The layout of that stronghold’s interior holds the key.” I paused. “I would assume they’ve been here at least a week,” I muttered, watching a trio of large ants guarding a grub farm.

I cringed. It was nasty to think about eating insects, but crunching on carapace wasn’t actually required when the food was automatically consumed for you.

Roxie asked to see the tablet.

I handed the device over with some trepidation, she couldn’t run faster than me—even with those long legs.

I suppose she could break the tablet, but then again, had to know that I would kill her if she did something stupid like that.

She had no other side to betray me to, or a reason to betray me as all, really—not when I literally held her continued existence in my palm. It was a savage way to think about things, but true.

“Interesting. It takes only three days to get to their current level. Why do you assume they have been here a week?”

“Their lack of wagons. They could have hiked here quicker than us, but how much could they have carried with them? Scrounging up enough wood and stone resources for even a tier one stronghold would be tough. So… my assumption is that they gathered the necessary resources after they arrived, and even with… say a total of ten workers and warriors, that takes time,” I said, propping my feet up on the baseboard.

“If you kill him or her, can I have their tablet?” Roxie asked and I arched a brow. “Well,” she huffed, “it’s not like the others can use it.” She gestured at the drones. Her assessment was accurate.

“Have you figured out what you want to be when you grow up yet?” I asked and she rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Yeah, being a cartographer sounds like a good role for me for the competition. If I die charting new lands, so be it. I wouldn’t risk taking a tablet far away from a stronghold, though. I mean, if I’m killed by three ants, you come out and kill the ants, and retrieve the tablet. If I die a few hundred miles away, though, why did I have a tablet on me?” Roxie said and I wagged a finger at her.

“To get instant explore points, conquer wild objectives, and to unlock other mohuma. The counter to your reasoning is that eventually, if we acquire enough devices, they will just sit around, unused. But, that is a decision I’d like to discuss with Senna, first.” I frowned and rubbed the back of my neck.

“I’ll make you a deal,” I said and her gaze left the screen to focus on me. “If we win a tablet, you can use it until Senna says otherwise. In exchange, you swear to protect and aid me and my family, the Immerson lineage, as a well-paid and respected employee.”

“Sounds like a servant to me,” she grumbled and I shrugged.

“Someone has to be the boss. You just need to ask yourself if I’m the kind of boss you want to work for. It could have been a fox with balls defending that grove. Fox boy would be sitting here by my side, pestering me with questions, trying to figure out if I was a worthy leader. At least that is how I think about it. The Archaics are not fools—to believe they would make a fool a competitor would also be insulting to them. I have no doubt that they matched us up, in the hope that we would be compatible.”

She was silent for a long while. When we came upon a grassy clearing, surrounded by oaks, I gestured for the tablet. I saw that she’d been researching Beth, and noted that she hadn’t agreed to my proposal.

Of course, she hadn’t disagreed, either. The clever girl wanted a better deal and was doing her homework. I could get behind that. Figuratively speaking, of course!

I opened the tablet’s interface.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 44 hours (Adequate)

100 - Stone (Adequate)

1000 - Wood (Adequate)

20 - Food (Adequate)

Would you like to build this structure? (YES) - (NO)

After tapping ‘YES’ a single green wireframe diagram appeared in the clearing, just barely fitting between the sporadic oaks.

Confirm you wish to start Stronghold Tier 1. (YES) - (NO)

I confirmed and selected one of the workers to start building the stronghold.

Tower Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 7 hours (Adequate)

10 - Stone (Adequate)

200 - Wood (Adequate)

10 - Food (Adequate)

Depot Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 6 hours (Adequate)

40 - Stone (Adequate)

400 - Wood (Adequate)

15 - Food (Adequate)

Perfect. I assigned two more workers to build these, then typed in manual orders for the archers to climb up into the nearby oak trees and guard the workers, as they slept in the wagons.

A few taps later and the archer I had reassigned as a worker had orders to collect resources and build a barracks, when able. If I died, the chores should at least keep them busy.

I handed the tablet back to Roxie.

“So… I’m going back to scout and watch our foe. Then I’ll likely attempt to kill the boss. You’re in charge. If you get bored, pile sticks over by where the depot will materialize. I’ll be back in a few hours… or not at all. If I die…” I paused for effect.

She tilted her head to the side, arching a single eyebrow.

“Avenge me,” I commanded in my best sinister tone.

She rolled her eyes, not accepting the tablet. “I’m going with you. A second set of intelligent eyes will be more useful than having me pick up sticks.” She grinned, “who knows… I may finally get to be the girl who pokes the guy with the pointy stick for once.”

I scrunched my face at this image. “Sexual innuendo with frogmen? Ugh, not appealing, at all. A strap on with Beth, though…” I bounced my eyebrows at her.

Thinking about Senna and Beth, I let out an extended sigh of longing. “I miss my wifey and waifu.”

“What? No wifette? I’m surprised you only have two,” Roxie snickered.

I scoffed, removing the dinosaur’s harnesses and putting them in the wagons. If the two horns needed to bolt, they could. No sense leaving them here, chained to the wagons as easy prey. This way, they could eat as they roamed.

She eyed me speculatively, expecting a response to her comment. I didn’t answer, instead striding quickly for the Pola stronghold. I was jonesing for some frog legs.

Roxie ran to catch up. She was awkwardly trying to strap the spare sword around her waist.

“You sure about this?” I asked. I saw her struggling with the buckle, so I stopped and waited for her. I held my hands up in front of her, waiting for her permission before stepping in to assist her with the belt and sheath.

“I was raped, so many times, it…”

She bit her quivering bottom lip and not in a sexy way, but the way a woman does when holding back tears. My hands, facial expression, and posture never shifted. I gave her the moment she obviously needed to regain her composure.

“I am not afraid of you. Nor am I worried about you trying to help. I’m stronger than you give me credit for. And yet, I find there is sincerity in those blue eyes of yours that scares me more than the scars of my past.” She closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath.

When she opened them, she smiled at me. “Yes, King Immerson, please, fix my belt,” Roxie said, her stern tone softening. “Why only two wives? Don’t Kings generally need more?”

Ha! I chuckled at this. “Suck it in,” I ordered and she did so.

I pulled the belt tight, pressing one hand against her gut and with the other, tugged on the end of the belt. She grunted, but didn’t complain.

“Can you keep a secret?” I asked.

She nodded, then paused and shook her head, no. “You’re right. I’m different than before. Before… before, I would’ve automatically said yes. Now, the answer is, it depends.”

“Fine by me. The secret isn’t one I keep from my wives anyway, just others who might try using it against me. I… When I met Senna, I wasn’t expecting to find my soulmate. She is my everything. Beth, though…” I paused.

“My relationship with Beth was nothing more than a byproduct of the competition… and as painful as it is to admit it, that is the truth.” I shrugged. “Senna is everything I could ever want or need. My point is that there never would have been a Beth in my life if the Archaics hadn’t snatched us up for this competition. So... Yeah, I have two wives.”

I stared back in the direction of Noobi City, my heart aching. I missed my lovely ladies.

“Honestly, though, it's a lot to balance.” I returned my gaze to the tall mohuma. “Let me guess, the elite ruling class on your world had more spouses than the lower, working tier?”

“Didn’t your rulers?” She quipped back, as if offended by my statement.

We navigated through the oak trees, which transitioned suddenly into pines. There was no underbrush to speak off, just a carpet of pine needles. The tablet in my vest stayed quiet. The birds must be hiding from the blazing mid-day sun, because all I could hear was a strong breeze that creaked the limbs of the pines.

“Look, we kinda… we’re big on winning. We want to win and make it to Qoobi.” I snorted. “Call me crazy, but being ejected out an airlock is not on my bucket list. At the same time, we’ve decided to take steps to preserve both our sanity and our humanity.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “You’re dodging the question,” she noted.

“Yes,” I sighed, “some humans had multiple partners—no doubt about it. Generally speaking, though, there have mostly been times where it is just one man and one woman. Before I was abducted from Earth, some woman even married her dog… yup, her pet. Legally! Throuples—legalized threesomes—were rare, but not unknown, though outright harems were a big no-no—a very taboo thing, at least in public.”

“I don’t get it?”

“Shucks, Roxie. We’re from two different worlds. Literally.” I studied her pretty features. “My ma always said to treat a woman with respect. I can’t help but feel she would think that my having two wives was being disrespectful… to both of them.” I shook my head. “I’ve made my peace with this crazy situation and accept the fact that different circumstances have led me to change how I think about such things and have moved on, so we all can be happy.

“I guess what I’m getting at, is, I am lucky enough to have two wonderful women in my life and for our life to be filled with ‘merriment’, as my waifu would say. Nothing would make me sadder than losing my wifey or waifu.” I paused. “Adding a wifette would be up to them, not up to me.”

I noted how she appeared to be contemplating my words, while studying the tablet. “And I don’t know how they’d feel about bringing another woman in our bed. Hell, there is only one dick to go around and those sexy minxes’ voracious appetites leave me drained, as it is. Can’t you see that I’m already a few tiers above content?”

She nodded in understanding, choosing to walk a pace behind me.

I think she’d expected me to see her sexy enhanced body and desire her. Instead, I’d kept my distance, remaining cordial. The fact she was researching Beth, meant that she was interested in learning about me and mine. That was a good thing; I should leave it at that.

A rustling noise, up ahead, had me silently tucking behind a tree. I looked around and saw two Pola warriors who were collecting sticks, oblivious to the world around them.

I cautiously retreated back up the slope to give them space. I wanted to see the stronghold again from a different vantage point. Hopefully seeing it from a new angle would give me some more ideas or insight. Five minutes of stalking through the woods revealed that two of the archer guards had come down from the tower.

A new building was glowing green with only the frame visible. My eyes darted around, searching for the worker who had been collecting food. He was gone.

Hmm…

This manager had reassigned his archers, pulling them from their guard duties to offset the resources lost by producing another building.

The archers were weaponless, having left their bows behind to collect a number of the nearby sunflowers. The tall sunflower-type plants grew up to at least my chest and would provide adequate concealment.

Roxie tapped me on the shoulder.

I crouched down to hear what she had to say.

“I think they’re at their most vulnerable right now,” she said in a hushed tone, handing me the tablet.

I stuffed the device into my vest. “I have a plan. You ready?” I asked, also whispering.

When I told her my plan, she frowned. Her frown deepened before turning upside down, so suddenly had her visage flipped around, that her wide smile made me wary.

“If I do this terrible plan of yours, you will make me a member of your team, on Qoobi,” Roxie stated with determination and I breathed a relieved sigh.

“Define team.” I was definitely hoping she didn’t say ‘wifette’.

“I’m probably no longer barren. You will find me a mate and add us to your team. I promise to be loyal, someone you can rely on. I… I never really got to be a mother to Millie,” Roxie said, her eyes flaring white with a sudden inspiration. “Oh, and no more sending me out on dumb missions. I get it, though, this is not a bad plan… for you. For me, it is really, really dumb.”

I wanted to argue the semantics of that statement, but instead, I let her win.

“It’s a great plan,” I grumbled, before nodding. “I will acquiesce your request to no more suicide missions—at least not when we get to Qoobi. You will be a trusted team member with status in my kingdom.” I smirked, “it’s up to you, though, to find your own panty warmer.”

“Panty warmer?”

“Nickers?”

She shook her head, not understanding.

I rolled my eyes. “Your mate. ‘Panty warmer’ is slang for a mate. I’ll not be responsible for your love life. With a rocking body like yours, though, you’ll be fine. There are probably more men than you can shake a stick at, who’d like to pull on your tail…”

She smiled and said, “I got that reference.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Okay then, good luck, Nate of Earth. I look forward to you winning and freeing me on Qoobi. Thank you. I hope my sacrifice will not be in vain.”

I groaned at her dramatics. “Ha! Not expecting any sacrifice, they’re top heavy frogs. You’ll be fine.” I chuckled. “Just wait for my signal,” I said and she drew her sword, giving me a terse nod.

I was gone a moment later. There was no real urgency besides the fact I wanted to be gone before she changed her mind.

The thin pines flowed downhill until they reached the alien sunflower plants. I paused just inside the flat field of the plants to peer at the tower.

The archer was licking an arrow’s fletching like it was catnip.

Sights like this… yeah, they were probably why you always wanted to upgrade your troops as soon as you could afford to do so.

I weaved in between the wrist-thick stalks to where the other two archers were harvesting the plants. The two archers had staggered their rotation between the field and the depot, with only a few minutes of overlap.

I squatted down and inched forward, keeping my profile low. A plant was ripped out of the ground, not even ten feet away from me. The archer already had three sunflowers stacked over its shoulder, which was apparently was his limit, because he turned to head back to the depot.

A few steps closer to where they were harvesting the sunflowers, I crouched down, waiting to ambush the next archer when it came back out to collect more plants.

A thought flashed through my mind. Should I stab it in the mouth, the gut, or the head?

Hmm…

I picked up a loose rock by my foot while I waited.

The Pola walked up, its long, thin legs straining to support its upper body. I tossed the rock behind it.

The thump caused it to spin towards the sound, the drone’s huge eyes growing even wider.

I sprang from my crouch with an overhead swing of my sword. With a light grunt, I put as much into this strike as I could. The archer never saw me or the blade that split it down the middle, from its head to its crotch.

I had used so much force, expecting to hit a hard skull.

Yeah… that proved to be a bad assumption.

The sword kept on going, literally splitting the frog archer in two. My momentum carried me forward and into a pile of freshly spilled frog guts.

I bit back a dozen curses, coated in ten different types of frog nastiness. I ground my teeth together, instead. I snatched up the rock that rested not far from where I had fallen into what was left of the archer.

I darted back into the tall sunflowers, resumed my crouch and waited by the edge of the cleared path. The guard in the tower had no idea what had just happened, still licking the feathers on his arrow.

The other archer returned from the depot with that mindless zombie walk. I tossed the stone behind him. Just like the other Pola, this one whipped around to inspect the noise.

I ambush the archer with a rapid lunge and a measured, overhead chop. This time, my blade sliced through the head, stopping in the torso. My blade was thoroughly stuck, so I dragged the dead Pola with me back into hiding. I spent the next five minutes yanking, pulling, and tearing apart the frogman to get my weapon free.

Now that I had my sword back and two of the archers were dead, I was ready for phase two of my plan. Part of the reason why I liked my plan so much, was because I had read about the watch towers in the help section on my tablet.

A tower was designed to spot an enemy out in the open.

All nearby forces would be notified of the threat, by the screaming guard.

Their shout would trigger an automatic response from every warrior nearby.

The manager's tablet would also receive an alert, indicating everything the tower saw and where it had seen them—in this case, Roxie.

I waved a hand above the sunflowers, and my bait ran out.

Roxie yelled, “Yip, yip, yoorah!

The archer missed her as she executed a dancing routine.

My legs pumped, and my heart crashed against my chest as I burst from the plants for the stronghold.

I covered the few dozens of feet quickly, with the archer still looking the other way. I leaped the porch railing and waited beside the door.

Roxie dodged a second arrow before the warriors arrived, mindlessly chasing her away.

When I saw the pursuit, I noted that she was much quicker than the Pola. That had been my biggest concern with her role in the plan; that maybe the enemy frogmen could sprint or hop faster than she could and she would be run down.

“No! Don’t chase a single scout, you idiots. I swear Haxona will rue the day she sent me out here with just tier one trash,” a voice boomed from behind the door, in a language I clearly understood.

The handle turned, and a nasty grin stole across my face. The door was flung open, and out walked the manager, facing the way that Roxie had fled. Oh well, curiosity killed the frog.

With a horizontal thrust, my blade slid smoothly into the back of his head; the pointy tip came out one of his large eyeballs.

He was dead before he realized it. When I yanked the sword free, his top-heavy frame collapsed. His tablet clattered against the stronghold’s porch.

Dashing to retrieve the device, almost cost me my life. An errant arrow from the tower clipped the porch railing, deflecting to graze across my cheek. My eyes flared at the pain but I stayed focused on my prize.

I snatched the tablet up off the deck, spinning back for the entrance. With a tumbling roll, I dove into the stronghold.

In the dim candle light, I saw three still bundles that must be the comatose workers building the new structures and one confused archer, who had no weapon at hand. My long, rapid strides closed the distance between us. With a hard shoulder check, I knocked the frogman to the ground with a grunt.

He pleaded with me, his hands up, beady eyes full of fright. My blade’s tip bit into his cheek. With the archer cowering before me, I checked the tablet.

You have claimed a tablet. Competitor Nathanael, Manager Senna, or Manager Beth must set permissions.

ALL

LIMITED

Shit… I tossed that tablet into my vest and fished out my own. A few quick taps showed me where I was on the map. I clicked the stronghold.

You have activated the ability to claim a tier one stronghold. The seven defending soldiers and three defending workers have agreed to surrender to you. Selecting ‘YES’ will reset all builds in progress and return materials to the depot. Selecting ‘NO’ will revert all defenders into hostiles who will fight until killed. Will you claim this tier one stronghold? (YES) or (NO)? You have 8 seconds to decide.

I tapped ‘YES’ quickly.

There was a swirling of brown magic so bright inside the room that I flinched. A moment later, a boom echoed across the entire area.

When I opened my eyes, blinking away afterimages of the bright glow, I peered down at a very confused human archer.

His eyes were wide, staring back up at me, startled but unconcerned. I sheathed my sword and tucked my tablet back inside my vest.

Perfect, what a pleasant turn of events. The three workers rose up off the hard floor and started to open their mouths, likely about to ask for orders.

“Find the bodies outside,” I ordered. “Toss them into the depot.”

When I stepped back outside, I found five human warriors carrying lances and one confused archer. I felt blood drip down my cheek and finally got a waft of myself. Ugh… frog guts reeked.

I headed outside, walking directly through the sunflowers for the river. I walked right into the clear, cool water, removing most of the gore. When I’d finished my impromptu bath, I headed back the way I’d come and saw a confident Roxie strolling for the stronghold.

“Welcome to Sunflower City,” my voice boomed over the area. “You’re all to gather...” I paused, looking around me. “Gather stones at the river, once the dead bodies have been deposited in the depot. Be careful to avoid all wild objectives.”

The archer in the tower came down the ladder. It caught my attention because they had left their weapon up in the tower.

I sighed and shook my head as the rest of the soldiers and workers went about the tasks I had assigned them.

Roxie approached with a wince. Her eyes were focused on my still bleeding cheek. “Does that hurt?”

I shrugged. “It’ll heal when next I sleep. Come on, we need to go back and get the wagons, supplies, and then build a city,” I said, leaving our newly conquered stronghold behind, mere moments after conquering it.

“So… That worked out a lot better than I thought it would. You were right, they were slower than me,” she admitted guiltily.

“Hey, great job,” I said encouragingly. Roxie was still a bit like a fragile flower—maybe getting out and achieving success would help draw her out of her shell.

I pulled out the new tablet and set its permissions to ‘Limited’.

I tapped through the options, setting the device up so that she could utilize every feature an adventuring explorer should need. I then gave her full access to the manager interviewing functions and all the help options.

“Here you go, Roxie. You’re on Team Dinosaur Warlord, now—both on Noobi, and later on Qoobi, you’ll be part of the Immerson nobility. You can interview every human who is a potential manager to find your love interest. With this tablet, you can unlock features and icons on the map, claim objectives, and even text us—if we are within range. This will be your lifeline on Noobi,” I said, spinning to gesture at the world around us.

“Thank you for accepting me as an Iliad, and treating me as an equal. I take it I can’t manage the outpost the other workers are building or assign tasks here?”

“No, sorry. If you pass Senna’s tests, then maybe she will open up permissions for those functions, but that will be up to her. It takes a master tablet, to unlock further permissions on that one, now,” I said with a grunt.

I took off my cowboy hat and raked my hand roughly through my hair with a sigh. “So much to do, so little time to do it in.” I looked back over my shoulder, frowning at the Pola bodies being stacked next to the depot. “They’ll be back, you know.”

“With an army?” She asked, her voice and tail drooping with a hint of disappointment.

I smacked my lips together with my firm “Yup.”

We walked the rest of the way back to our wagons and supplies in silence. There was not much more to say about it.

All we could do now was get this outpost set up and to a war footing as quickly as we could.

Meaning the next few days would be filled with a whole lot of conquering wild objectives, capturing any Pola scouts we came across, gathering resources, and hard work.

Yeah, I grumbled under my breath, there will be plenty of hard work.

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

COMPETITION 1 DAY 32

“I ’m leaving,” Roxie said, confidently entering the stronghold.

My quick inspection of her had my eyes darting back down to my work. I sat at my desk tapping on the tablet interface, adjusting my automated build order. I set the device down, giving her my full attention.

She had her long brown hair free flowing in her tight leather outfit. Her green eyes danced with their yellow alien flecks.

The way she stared at me… left me feeling a bit like a piece of meat she wanted a bite of.

“Huh? Leaving to where?”

The clomp of her boots on the floorboards echoed until she carefully sat down in the chair across from me.

Yesterday, she had squished her tail in the basic human chair, causing her to take extra care, when sitting down. If she was sitting down, I knew she meant business.

“I’m going to Noobi City to get help, and you should have sent me yesterday,” Roxie said confidently.

“You’re not a servant,” I muttered, not wanting to get drawn into a debate about needing permission for everything when she had been improving so much.

She smiled before saying, “Yes, I know, and thank you. But feel free to boss me around if it’s for the good of the mission. My tasks here are finished…” She smiled, her large canines slightly protruding. “I’ve located every objective within a mile radius for you. Meaning I should either head into the great unknown or warn the wifey and waifu of your dangers.”

My fingers massaged my temples, failing to soothe my slight irritation with her. She had started calling herself wifette in passing, testing my resolve and commitment to my current wives by offering to scrub my back when I took a bath in the river.

Actually, I really could have used her help with that, because I had been sweating a lot lately with all the work I’d been doing. I’d politely declined, though her offer had been tempting.

I didn’t think she was actually trying to seduce me—merely seeking to assume the role of a wife—almost as if her nature was pushing her to do so.

Maybe her Iliad ways would have her gravitate to a man she could rely on. Seemed to me she’d never really had that, and I was spurning her timid advances because I was already taken.

The next logical step, if she truly wanted to become our wifette, was for her to get to know Senna and Beth. Which meant that I would send her to meet them at my own peril—worrying constantly whether or not she could win the girls over.

I didn’t know if I hoped she’d succeed or fail with them. My concerns were not worth suppressing her freedom, though.

With a heavy sigh I nodded to myself—I’d already said that it was up to my wives, when it came to accepting another woman into our marriage. This was the right thing to do.

“Alright, you want an escort or a wagon?” I asked, propping my elbows up on the table and giving her a hard stare.

“Just a thank you when I return with an army,” Roxie said with a smile. When she left the seat for the door her tail swished with her bouncy booty. “Your wifette will hurry home.”

I waved goodbye to her and the door closed. I was just happy she was finding her confidence and being her own person.

Call me a sap or a sucker, but I loved seeing the downtrodden become empowered. If she decided to be a pining woman for a taken man, then we could work on that, and I might just have to find her a lover.

Before I decided to figure out which objectives to clear today, I pulled up the score. It was the only link I had to Noobi City and those lovely wives of mine.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 17th

Survival: 32.1 (tied 80th)

eXplore: 35.9 (tied 58th)

eXpand: 35.4 (28th)

eXploit: 127.5 (2nd)

eXterminate: 149.1 (10th)

I blew out a heavy sigh at seeing this. We were pretty much guaranteed not to lose three points now. With this being our first competition, dipping below zero to negative one would hurt, but… it wouldn’t be as hard to come back from as negative three.

The big lesson I took away from studying the score was that our eXpand score had stagnated.

Had we lost a stronghold? It was certainly a possibility. The Yerrbi team was bleeding troops to us, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t an aggressive general with enough tactical sense to besiege the area since I was gone.

None of our strongholds had walls; even Noobi City had lacked a complete set of defensive works when I had left, and that was bad.

A loud grunt broke me free from my worried thoughts of home as I studied the score. This told me we certainly had made a mistake early on.

There were dozens of random fields on the way here that I should have filled with strongholds—posting them every few miles along the way.

I think Senna neglected them, due to food issues. Why build strongholds all the way across the map when you can’t generate workers at them?

Well, this score said that you did so for points, and so that when your food came online you could take advantage of what, at the time, had been an investment. But there was a part of me that was not worried.

We were second in gathering and exploiting our area.

That meant our infrastructure could rapidly support an expansion.

Me… here in Sunflower City? Well, I was in need of resources, big time. The second stronghold had finished this morning, its storage depot already converting resources.

Currently, there was no shortage of wood—though, remembering similar thoughts I’d had about stone before, I knocked on the wooden top of my desk.

I had sidelined both wagons, sticking them by the river. Upon returning to the river from the depot, the two horns—still in their harness—would be detached from the empty wagon and their harness attached to a loaded wagon that they would then haul back to the depot.

This cycle would then be repeated, as the empty wagon they had dropped off was loaded while they were in transit.

This allowed me to free up a set of two horns. I had taught a tier two archer how to hook a two horn to trees and have the sturdy little dinosaur pull it out of the ground.

They would then drag the entire tree right into the depot for processing.

Since there was nothing else for them to do, I kept the two of them doing that. Everyone else was assigned to bring in stone, since that was our biggest constraint.

Roxie’s explorations had been fruitful.

The map she uncovered revealed a small quarry, a medium quarry, and a dozen more farms of various types in the region that would be a great help later on, as this settlement continued to expand into the higher tiers.

I had already conquered six wild farms—three of them being poultry which could be plucked to make advanced arrows.

Thinking about that led me to an understanding that I’d been remiss on not correcting earlier.

Now, I know I’m not perfect, but I try not to miss out on any opportunities to thank my lovely wifey and waifu for all their hard work, but as I found myself scrambling to get this settlement on its feet, I realized that I owed Senna and Beth at least five-hundred back massages.

Running a city was hard, pitiless, grueling, and soul draining work. There was no doubt about it, my tablet had become my nemesis.

I got so frustrated keeping track of all the mind-numbing minutiae that I got out of the office whenever I could—and took those frustrations out on the local objectives. In short, I conquered just to stay sane.

My new method of capturing objectives was certainly something I should have been doing from the start.

I stopped killing everything with my sword and started beating the defenders black and blue until they surrendered; converting them on the spot saved me so much effort.

Not once since I’d gotten here had I needed to drag a prisoner all the way back to my stronghold to convert them; nor had I killed any of the defenders.

Using this method, I patted myself on the back after every objective for not only gaining another production building, but also adding a new worker.

Here is the rub though, about these wild objective farms. A six-legged pig farm required a minimum of three twenty-minute visits every eleven hours from Jane. Alright, seems easy enough, you might think.

But don’t forget that Jane still has to get there, from wherever her other tasks have her working. So planning where she works, matters just as much as what she works on. The math gets complicated. I’ll just admit up front that I pretty much had the calculator out the whole time.

So, if Jane is working on gathering stone at the river, she is most effective as a member of a team.

Except… whenever she leaves to go check on the piggies, her partner, Finn, literally sits on his ass for half-an-hour as she goes to the pig farm, takes care of the piggies, and comes back.

I know this happened, because I actually caught the lazy bastard just sitting there like a bump on a log.

But he was just a drone, so his laziness was my fault. That is just one example of how pulling one cog out of the machine can shuts things down entirely.

Another thing that was sure to give me gray hairs, was that you couldn’t automatically assign new workers right as they came out of the stronghold for the first time. You had to flipping give them a name before you could assign them a task.

And of course, I couldn't figure out how to dig through the settings to find the automatic name generator.

While there were definitely some early bumps and a lot of frustrations, if I secured this small quarry and a medium quarry, we would start growing rapidly. With all the extra wood my dino-archer team brought in, I built walls first. They were both cheap and quick; hard to argue against that.

I already had two barracks done, with a third still under construction. The issue was, they were all just tier one buildings.

My first build order, after taking over this settlement was to dump everything I could into upgrading it to a tier two stronghold.

I checked the timer for at least the tenth time in the past hour. I groaned, we still had another sixteen hours before I could start upgrading any of my buildings to tier two. There were only so many options available for me, though.

I had to proceed under the assumption that the enemy was going to send a massive army my way and sought to convert the outpost into a fortification as soon as possible. I was worried that they still might overrun it and then use it against us, later.

Sunflower City was in a nice valley, directly on a path that led right back to Noobi City. Securing this base would go a long way towards preventing a future invasion. Plus, I only had to build a fortress, not a stinking city.

The moment the road I’d sent a small team off to start constructions on, collecting resources as they went, connected to Noobi City, I expected we could really start flexing our offensive military might.

Once I made it to stronghold level two, I planned on starting to pump out archery ranges, stables, and warriors. This expansion would be primarily military oriented, so developing my forces took top priority—along with creating additional defenses.

The extra two towers we’d built were a great help when they’d spotted a Pola scout riding a horse through the area last night.

The main Pola base obviously knew their stronghold had been sacked. Which led to my constantly debating whether they would decide to fight for it or if they would seek to find another expansion point.

I had to assume the former.

At least it was just a scout—for now. When I put myself in the enemy’s shoes, though, my first thought was, ‘We lost a tablet. Let's get a massive army together to ensure we don’t lose a second’. At a minimum, I expected them to attack with a force led by at least an academy trained, level three warrior-general.

If they followed similar logic, I knew I would at least have a few weeks before they could attack… probably.

When I pushed my chair back, it scraped against the floor. I sighed, stretching out my back and trying to dismiss my angst.

On the back wall, there was a series of pegs from which we hung our bows and quivers. I selected the medium bow and some training arrows.

Every time I left the stronghold, I made it a point to shoot ten arrows. The practice didn’t take all that long and the Archaics knew I needed the practice.

Unfortunately, I’d found that a short bow was much too small for my lanky frame, and I was crap with a longbow, still. Imagine my surprise, when I found I could hit my targets most of the time, with a medium bow.

Sure, I had to stand closer than I could with the longbow, and bullseyes were few and far between. Almost as rare, though, were truly errant shots. Usually, I’d at least hit the target.

My quick trip to the archery range resulted in me hitting the target with nine of my ten arrows. I smiled at this and went back inside to retrieve a quiver of the more advanced, fletched arrows.

Dave, a poultry farmer, happened to come through on a walk past the stronghold three times a day. Picking up any stray arrows he came across, he’d set them in an old practice quiver I left hanging on the wall.

No longer wasting time hunting through the woods for my stray shots resulted in my finding enough time to head out of my bustling little city and clean up some local objectives. Currently, I was focused on locating the plant defender of the small quarry. I secured my tablet in its satchel, now that the build orders and commands for my workers had been updated for the day. My sword was sheathed at my hip and my bow and quiver were slung across my chest.

The morning sunlight intermittently broke through scattered clouds that promised coming rain. That was one thing I had expected more of here on Noobi—rain. Maybe it didn’t rain as much because we were in such a water rich area; the rain was probably more for the dryer desert locations.

I doubted I’d ever figure it out.

Our gate to the northeast was the only entrance and exit to the village. I’d stationed two of my three watch towers here.

I’d oriented the defenses facing away from the road that led to Noobi City—though not made of stone, I also had a team out carving a cleared path to connect my small strongholds in this region.

My two level two archers stood poised atop the towers, providing overwatch for the workers as they toiled to haul in more raw resources. I nodded to each of them, receiving a sharp fist to the chest salute in return before they returned to their vigilant watch.

I decided to open up my tablet. I’d need it to follow the map, anyway.

A few taps later and I pulled up my raw resource figures.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

SUNFLOWER CITY

Empire Food - 279 (+25 per hour)

Livestock Food - 455 (+39 per hour)

Wood - 5013 (+220 per hour)

Stone - 134 (+32 per hour)

Metal - 0

Water - ∞

Hide - 192

Snorties - 14 (2.1 per day)

Ducks - 21 (2.4 per day)

Swans - 19 (.8 per day)

I paused, chuckling that the alien pigs were called ‘snorties’.

A loud crash echoed from nearby. Shit... that stone jumped, they must have broken down a big rock or something.

Hmm… Senna! I love you for how effortlessly you managed Noobi City. I sorely missed my brilliant and talented wifey at this point.

I needed to find a spare worker to… crap, there weren’t any available. A glance over my shoulder at the tier one warrior stationed at the foot of the other tower, and I realized I was about to pull a damn frog-manager maneuver. My only tactical reserve would have to be my ‘it’ guy. I selected Kirk from the command menu and sent him orders to start building a stable, once the depot reached 150 stone.

Okay, with all that set, I opened the map. A few steps to my left, well—in about five hundred feet, actually—there would be a small quarry. It was closer to the enemy, though. I chewed on the inside of my cheek. Oh well, I needed an easy win to start the day off right.

I found myself among a bunch of tall pines, the underbrush consisting of scattered ferns. There were plenty of vines snaking up the trees and I walked over a crunchy floor of pine needles. A few rabbits darted around and I was tempted to start a rabbit farm.

I would need seven tier two buildings to qualify for tier three. All of my upgrades would be military, more than likely. Food, well there were more than enough orchards and objectives in the area I could conquer to carry us for a few weeks.

The journey alone to the quarry was quiet, my pace brisk in the otherwise calm morning. Humidity added an oppressive weight to the clouds roaring in from the northeast. Yeah, rain was definitely coming. At least the boom of thunder in the distance masked the loud crunch of my footsteps through the pine needles.

The grove of pines thinned out until I arrived at the edge of a clearing. There was a pond in the clearing, no bigger than the stronghold.

Against the far end of the clearing was a ten foot cliff, its yellow sandstone face exposed on one side. And… here was my quarry. This was the first small version of one I had come across.

There was low grass in the clearing, with only minimal cover available amongst the shrubs and a big rock to the left. The pond itself had lily pads with the telltale dimples of fish darting up to nab an insect; it might even be a fish-farm. I waited patiently, looking to find the defenders.

Two walking plants with venus fly trap heads meandered above the quarry along the cliff’s edge. There was no single spot on their bodies that looked like it would make a good target for a disabling blow.

My strategy with defenders these days, was to wound them until they were incapacitated and surrendered.

I’d shot a snarling raccoon in the gut yesterday, a perfect example of wounding the small farm’s defender and then accepting their surrender.

These defenders were not humanoid, though. They had roots near the ground for legs that I supposed I could lop off.

They had long, dangling arms which hung limply at their sides—with which they would likely try to entangle me.

The fact there were two of them meant this was probably not just a quarry, but also a fish farm. Since Roxie probably hadn’t touched the water, she hadn’t unlocked that icon.

Deciding to verify my guess by doing just that, I nocked an arrow first. A few hesitant steps into the clearing and it seemed the walking plants hadn’t noticed me.

I walked casually up to the water's edge and dipped the toe of my boot in before fading back into the pines once again.

After releasing my bow’s tension, I pulled out my tablet to check the map. An icon of a croc, or maybe it was a fish like a gar -

The sound of hissing caused me to drop the tablet. I raised the bow, smoothly pulling my arrow back with the sinew before releasing it.

My fingertips rolled off the string, firing the arrow. The motion was fluid, my aim quick and sure.

A snake with the head of an alligator had slithered angrily out of the pond and was seeking my blood.

The range was almost point blank and my arrow sank into the beast’s back, a couple of feet below its neck, reflexively causing it to coil up on itself.

Getting shot by an arrow sucks—which was clearly made evident by the rapidly retreating snake hybrid. I tried to line up another shot, but it dove back into the water before I could.

I snatched my tablet back up off the pine needles and walked to the edge of the pond.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned tiny fish farm. The one defending worker has agreed to surrender to you. (YES) - (NO)

Aw, I was kinda hoping for a naga-like mohuma, but maybe they really were as rare as Roxie had said.

I selected ‘YES’ and waited for the inevitable convert to surface with an arrow in their back.

A short, dark skinned African man spluttered in the shallows, coughing up a bunch of water.

He exited the pond with a bit of a limp, a painful looking wound above his left butt cheek. I named him Zoomba, and sent him back to rest and heal in the stronghold.

He limped away after pulling the arrow out of his ass and handing it back to me. I snickered, checked the tip, and was pleased to see that I could reuse the projectile.

The two plant walkers were oblivious to my capture of the small fish farm.

The sudden crash of thunder was followed almost immediately by bright illumination as lightning struck close by.

Rain started to fall, coming down slowly at first, but building up its momentum as the storm rolled in. A downpour wouldn’t deter me.

I lined up a shot at the closer of the two defenders. My arrow missed, pinging off a tree before sinking to the bottom of the pond.

Well, shit... never going to see that arrow again.

I drew out a practice arrow, this time, one without fletching. My aim was spot on, but the wobbly arrow missed—down and to the right. This flustered the walking plant enough that it swung a beady eye on its massive head around wildly, searching for me. I, of course, waved and gave it a winning grin as the rain drenched my clothes.

Its partner was slow to join in the fun as the first one jumped down the cliff. It was imperative that I kept them apart, though, so I carefully set my bow aside and drew my sword. My long strides propelled me quickly over the short grass.

I sped around the pond, reaching the first defender as a slow, viney arm shot out to ensnare me.

My wrist twisted around, parrying the blow with a vertical strike while I stepped to the side, avoiding the attack.

My blade parted the spiky vines and I dug my feet into the grass, to arrest my charge. My fluid movements confused the defender as its oversized head chomped down onto the spot where I had just been.

The blade sliced through one side of its closed mouth, rending open a large gash that oozed yellow fluid.

With an awkward cry of pain, the first plant creature retreated.

The second one stepped forward to take its place and two viney arms lanced for my chest.

I twisted sideways to avoid the strikes, presenting myself as a juicy target.

The head snapped shut on air as I rolled forward past the flytraps menacing needles. My tumble carried me to the many stubby stalks that kept the creature upright.

A swift slashing blow with my sword six inches above the hard sandstone ground lopped off three of the four walking roots the creature used for legs.

It teetered to the side and fell with a painful wail, crashing onto its side. The defending plant wiggled around on its side, trying to roll over to stand up again, but failing.

While I wanted to reflect on how easily I had dispatched these threats, this was something like the twentieth small-objective I’d conquered.

I was smooth with a sword and faster than the foes I faced. My physical prowess and skill with a blade was, at this point, well beyond anything a small-objective might challenge me with.

I still heard the warning voice at the back of my mind, reminding me not to get too cocky or overconfident.

This was still for all the marbles.

There would be no respawn for me in this competition. I’d figured coming here today would be an easy victory, and I was right.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small quarry. The two defending workers have agreed to surrender to you. (YES) - (NO)

I selected ‘YES’ and there was that brown magical swirling light and then the slightest of booms as the defenders were converted into humans.

When the two wounded men had headed back to the stronghold, to sleep and heal, I congratulated myself at another victory that added to the score.

This one was a bit of a milestone for me, since I had never seen what a quarry produced. I dug into the managers tab, selected the small quarry and was not disappointed.

Small Quarry Management Requirements & Productivity

4 - Workers (Optimal)

100 - Stone per hour (Optimal)

5000 - Reserves

1000 - Daily output

Okay, this about lined up with what we had theory crafted the medium quarry had been doing with throwing golems, but at rate 5x slower—which matched up, as the increase for upgrading most small objectives to a medium one was roughly a five-fold increase.

Of course, there was an easy way to test this theory.

I just needed to head over to the medium quarry that had a raptor icon over it. No biggie at all. I mean, how hard could it be to solo a pack of raptors?

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

COMPETITION 1 DAY 36

F our days flew by with non-stop rain. Today was the first bit of a reprieve we’d had from the wet weather, but to be honest, it didn’t make me feel any better.

To say I was worried would be an understatement. Let me start with those damn raptors.

My attempts to conquer the medium quarry ended when I ran like a bitch from three of them. I was so grateful they didn’t hound me all the way to Sunflower City. The second strategy I tried ended up getting two of my tier one warriors killed—though, to be fair, I’d specifically ordered them not to let themselves get eaten.

That near-death adventure put a pin in my sacking the medium quarry. My next attempt would be with thirty tier-two archers, if not more.

Part of my worry stemmed from the fact that I had expected Roxie’s return three days ago. I had been gone from Noobi City for two full weeks at this point; she should have been able to jog there and back again by now. Easily.

Instead of roiling in angst, I went to work. I cleared every single small objective in the area. Which was both a blessing and a curse.

The Pola were back and raiding. I lost three workers yesterday alone in snatch and grabs. My tablet would fire up and tell me, ‘Hey, Leon is being taken’.

What could I do, though? The enemy were on horses and I was on foot.

I was losing workers at a fairly rapid rate—five total, over the past two days. Still, not as many workers as I was producing, but it was worrisome.

I built a tower over the quarry; that was a key resource point I simply had to know about. The level two archers, which were finally being produced, at four a day, were noisy resource pickers, but alert ones.

My tablet buzzed while I managed my build order of extending the walls and adding even more archery ranges. A red flash flipped the screen to the map. This meant the enemy was nearing a controlled point.

I shot out of my chair, snatching my medium bow and fletched arrows off the wall.

The quarry was under attack and at a hard run I could make it there in three minutes. I managed to code in all the military to converge on the quarry before stuffing the device in my vest. The majority of Sunflower City’s residents were military of some background. Only a few fresh spawns had no training.

Soon, there was a mad dash as a host of soldiers ran into the depot to get their gear on. I hoped if I got into trouble, that they would arrive in time.

My long strides carried me beyond the stronghold’s walls, through the pines, and deep into the forest that whipped by me.

I was on the hunt, legs pumping to reach my quarry tower defenders.

About halfway there, a loud crack sent flighty birds fleeing from trees. That had to be the tower being torn down. A rope and a few horses should be able to do that, no problem.

Four of my warriors, without weapons, fled by. They were pursued by three Pola riding horses. I paused by a thick gnarled tree to let them pass.

Catching my breath, I sank two arrows point first into the ground. I knocked a third arrow, and held my weapon at the semi ready. The retreating warriors rushed by my position with the Pola cavalry hot on their heels.

The thundering crash of hooves approached so closely that the noise from the horses blocked all else out.

A blur of motion tried to speed past my ambush point. I hardly bothered to track my foe, unleashing at such point blank range that I was not surprised I hit my mark.

The rider spun off its mount, crashing to the pine needles in a boneless tumble.

A second rider croaked a war cry. I saw ropes with weighted rocks at the end being hurled. The device tangled up the feet of one of my warriors, sending him crashing to the ground.

They were not even trying to kill my troops—this was just another snatch and grab. With this realization, I knew there had to be someone smart conducting this raid.

Interesting…

I yanked the next arrow out of my quiver and dropped it, by accident. I scooped up one of the arrows I’d stuck in the ground, allowing me to nock it to my bowstring hurriedly.

A cavalry frogman had stopped to turn with his victim. I lined up my arrow, unleashing a sure shot. The twang was followed by a whoosh as the hastily fired projectile raced to its target.

My arrow snapped the Pola's head back and knocked the frog off the back of its mount to the pine needles. I snatched up the other arrow, nocking it quickly. The last rider had spun back around, riding for me while twirling a bola over his head.

With no time to take a shot, I was forced to dodge his throw. As I dodged to the right with a low somersault, the bola whipped over my head, tangling around the tree trunk.

Suddenly, I heard the zip and whizz of more arrows. Those noises stopped when they hit the rider. The rider coughed blood, uncertain of how he or she had died. My level two archers were here, and at thirty paces, they didn’t miss often.

I scrambled up off the ground and was soon bounding towards the quarry again. The trip was short at this pace. A hasty glance over my shoulder showed two dozen of my troops who were trying to keep up. The tier twos quickly outpaced the tier ones, and I cursed to myself. We weren’t ready for a large-scale battle.

When I reached the edge of the pines I saw a fire.

My tower was ablaze, a raging inferno that blocked the enemy from noticing my approach. Through the flickering flames I saw my defending archers were being tied up by at least thirty cavalry, who hemmed them in from all sides in a loose circle.

Shit.

I had only a moment to assess the situation. I looked to see if any of these Pola cavalry had a tablet. Sure enough. a Pola who looked exactly like the others, was tapping away at a device.

My feet turned sideways and I skidded to a halt. I drew to my anchor point and released my arrow.

The odd spin of the projectile told me I was going to miss the tablet bearer I’d been aiming for.

I quickly retrieved another arrow from my quiver and fired again, releasing the second shaft before the first one hit a horse to the Pola manager’s left. When the second arrow hit its target, I grinned.

The sharp broadhead arrow slammed into the Pola’s below his shoulder, bursting out the other side of the frogman in a spray of green gore.

A second Pola watched on in horror, trying to stabilize the first, who coughed up slick green froth, his eyes wide and confused.

To be fair, I think all of the Polas’ eyes had gone wide at this sudden turn of events.

When it was clear that my arrow had killed the first manager, the second Pola secured the tablet.

My next shaft was joined by a full volley from my archers. The enemy cavalry spooked--half a dozen of the green troopers falling out of their saddles to the ground, either wounded or dead.

The new leader signaled a retreat, fleeing to avoid further losses. One of my archers didn’t get dragged off, the rider of that horse lay dead on the forest floor.

The other tied up archer was not as lucky. I saw her die when the bolting horse jerked harshly on her rope, tossing her flailing body violently about.

Her head smacked into a tree with a resounding crack. I watch in fury as her brains spilled out from the impact.

As quickly as the fight had started, it was over. Less than five minutes of intense, violent action transitioned into me numbly staring as my ruined watch tower succumbed to the flames.

“Get these horses inside the walls, everyone is to halt all resource gathering and prepare defenses--starting right now. We can manually build parapets and small towers. We have the wood, see that it is done.” I stared angrily at a large red smear, low on the pine’s trunk. “I have a feeling this was just the beginning,” I muttered to myself.

Blank eyes stared at me, a few of the tier two’s processing my orders, started dragging the dead bodies back towards home.

A few of the troops used the enemy’s own bolas to restrain the wounded. Four rider-less horses had lingered in the trees nearby, while my soldiers set about their tasks.

We had enough food to manage a few days without having to gather or farm. I would still send runners out to do their farm chores, but that was it, for now.

I needed to see if this was the first act of an impending siege or just a raiding party.

I ran to the nearest rider-less horse, slinging my foot up into the stirrup before finding the warm Pola saddle was suitable for my human ass. Finally, I had a mount! I gathered up the reins and spurred my mount after the fleeing Pola.

Instead of trailing directly behind them, I offset my path to parallel theirs.

I rode for five minutes at a hard gallop, before slowing my blowing mount to a more sustainable canter. Five more minutes turned into ten.

The forest around me broke, revealing rocky rolling fields of gray and a mossy green. A few hundred feet beyond the forest I almost stumbled into an army. I quickly reined my mount back into the safety of the trees. I counted over a hundred soldiers.

This was… yeah, this had to be a majority of their entire force. I realized with a grunt, that if they had built for war from the start, this might only be half of what they could field.

Most of the force was infantry and archers. The only cavalry I could see was the remnants of the unit I had decimated.

I saw an argument spring up between the retreating riders and another Pola who was mounted on a chariot, pulled by two horses.

Wait… we can build chariots?

A whizzing arrow landed far short of the tree line I thought I was hidden in. I witnessed more arrows arc high into the sky, knowing they would soon come back down, seeking my demise.

That was my cue to leave. I spun my new horse around, riding at a quick trot for Sunflower city.

Behind me, I heard the enemy’s war drums, pounding out what must have been an order to collect the loose formations into an organized body to make a forced march.

A quick glance back over my shoulder showed the vanguard of their army, marching in the same direction as me.

I spurred my horse from a trot back up to a canter.

There was a lot I needed to do and very little time to get it done. In an hour or two, Sunflower City would be under siege.

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

COMPETITION 1 DAY 37

T here was finally movement from behind the enemy forces. After a day of immense stress with minimal sleep, I stood, half in a daze, wishing something would happen. That wish came true when I noted horses drawing a wagon toward the enemy army.

The bright sunny afternoon glistened off of our foes’ gleaming armor. I had a feeling, today would be the day our resolve was tested. There was a part of me that wanted to order these defenders to never surrender and retreat from this hopeless stand to live to fight another day.

Instead I stuck it out. If I died, I was merely a single part of this empire. My job was to hold this line and prevent the foe from having an open avenue to our main base.

The enemy laid a half siege in the open fields to the east. They formed up well outside of the range of my archers.

In an opening exchange yesterday, between a tier three archer from their side and a tier two I had posted in a tower had clearly established what an advantage the towers were. The Pola’s tier three archer had been hit in the shoulder, forcing the enemy general to think up a new battle plan.

I wasn’t going to complain. Every minute that went by meant more of my tier ones became tier twos and I could still generate workers. Plus, the unruly horses we had captured had finished converting to faithful steeds in our stable.

Honestly, I was a little surprised that the enemy hesitated. With only a few grappling hooks or ladders, they could breach our defenses. I think the problem was that they were following orders. Maybe their orders were not to lose any more troops? They were waiting on something, though.

I stood beside an archer in the tower for a full day after they arrived.

Off in the distance I intently watched as that wagon approached the army. When I saw longbows being distributed, it all made sense.

“Ensure you’re ready to take cover,” I ordered my troops, well before a volley was released by the enemy.

In my forces, we only had four longbows which we had brought with us from Noobi City. That meant most of my thirty-one archers would be useless against their longbows, even with a favorable wind.

I had been converting tier one warriors into archers and upgrading my archers as quickly as I could, but I would never be able to upgrade them to tier threes while under siege. The best I could do yesterday was to expand the walls and add two more archery ranges.

A quick lick of my thumb showed that we conveniently had a favorable wind, leaving me with a tough decision. I had no doubt, though, that in this area, the wind could change suddenly. In five minutes, we could find ourselves holding the short end of the stick.

“Longbows to the towers,” I said just loud enough for my troops to hear.

This was a siege, and one where I had only a few hundred quality arrows. If we died with full quivers, though, that was just as bad as not having the arrows when they would be critically needed, at the end.

My troops ducked behind walls and under parapets while the archers swapped out tower positions.

When the four of us with longbows were ready, I nocked a longer arrow.

“Ready.”

The enemy raised shields, their formations coming to life. Obviously, they could see us readying.

“Aim.”

I arched my bow until it was angled up high into the sky.

“Fire!”

The twang of our four bows snapped into the quiet air. As they shot forth the shiny arrow tips reflected in the sunlight. They reached their zenith, before twirling in descent for the opposing army.

Front line infantry tensed, and waited. For whatever reason the archers and cavalry just stood there. Maybe they thought.

‘Hey, it's only four arrows. Or. They’ll never reach the back line.’

Those arrows went over the infantry, archers, and landed in the middle of the cavalry. A horse collapsed and a rider was pinned suddenly. Screams startled the army.

The rest of the small volley missed, sinking into the fields, and only jigging fletching was exposed.

The general was not far away and clearly became concerned by our range. He whipped out his tablet, pulling his cavalry back further.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Whomever this leader was, he was overly cautious.

Now, I could resonate with not wanting to needlessly throw away lives.

Yet, this was a competition of attrition.

I had watched two dozen troops reinforce that army while I was only making nine a day.

Yeah, the passive general never went into the woods. After losing his seven horses, and more cavalry he likely didn’t want to risk diverting his army. And now he was getting more distance from four bowmen.

The risk aversion was a bit ridiculous.

Of course, I should have learned by now they were up to something.

After pulling back a few hundred feet, I had my troops relax. I saw the new bows finish being distributed and a bonfire was set.

Uh…

Maybe the enemy general didn’t understand the competition mechanics.

I pulled out my tablet to check our resources.

Since the enemy wasn’t capturing my objectives, I was still sending workers into the woods to manage them.

Sure, there was only a team of two with a stretcher at the quarry and no one gathering wood but the food was the biggest part to surviving a siege when you had infinite water.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

SUNFLOWER CITY

Empire Food - 399 (+61 per hour)

Livestock Food - 255 (+49 per hour)

Wood - 3013

Stone - 134 (+19 per hour)

Metal - 3 (+19 per hour)

Water - ∞

Twine - 79’

Hide - 192

Snorties - 14 (0 per day)

Ducks - 21 (0 per day)

Swans - 19 (0 per day)

My farm sliders were all set completely to empire food. I had seven horses and four two horns in my stable ready to be converted if things became desperate.

If the enemy was about to start raining fire arrows I would need to make some buckets with twine handles.

I crafted a dozen water holders and had workers set them against the wall near the river. The clunky warriors left went about the task I set.

This would be an interesting test to see what happened. The competition obviously bordered on the realm of magical.

Would the arrows have to actually burn the wood for it to have damage?

Or would five arrows smashing into a stable ruin the roof?

I could only imagine the damage a tier four siege engine would do to my puny wooden walls.

The enemy archer line was stepping to within range for both sides.

“Full volley, aim for the nearest enemy troops!” I commanded to all my archers.

Even the short bows angled high into the sky and waited.

My neck angled as I readied my arrow with the others. I figured maybe they would reach since the enemy was firing into a headwind.

“Fire!”

The twang of thirty bows snapping killed the quiet.

The whoosh from the volley turned to whistles as the projectiles shifted to dive down.

My eyes struggled to track the arrows as they grew small.

Two enemy archers croaked out painful cries.

All the arrows from the short bows failed to reach the enemy by about twenty paces.

Runners, holding torches low, ran along the enemy archer lines. They were lighting arrows swiftly.

A loud call out had the flickering arrows angled for my base.

“Take cover!” I shouted, ducking behind the tower's small sidewall.

The whistle of the falling arrows was quieter than I expected, and the thumps sounded soft, as if hitting the dirt instead of hitting wood.

I peered over the tower wall to see the enemy arrows burning in the cleared farm field.

They were about twenty paces short of my stronghold, meaning they would be well within the range of my short bows if they kept advancing.

My eyes hunted for the enemy commander. The frog general sat on his horse, far in the back of the formation. A few inputs on his tablet had the archers step ten paces closer.

Another volley launched from the enemy, this time without fire arrows. One or two hit my walls but most fell short.

I was given an alert on my tablet.

Wall section 14 & 17 have sustained damage

14 - 580/600 (Repair time 1 hour = 12 wood)

17 - 575/600 (Repair time 1 hour = 14 wood)

Hmm… that’s not good.

That meant there were variables and unique factors to damage applied. Clearly an arrow did not hurt a wall but it somehow did here.

While I wanted to dig into the help tab, I returned my focus to the battle.

Motion in the back showed the enemy general becoming frustrated.

An argument broke out between the general and the cavalry leader. The enemy archers never stepped forward while they bickered.

Buying time was my goal.

“Longbows, rapid fire!” I commanded.

The quiver with my dozen precious arrows rested against the tower wall.

I was able to easily nock, draw, and fire in a practiced motion.

Shooting was becoming less awkward to me as I honed my skill.

The first arrow soared into flight with me never watching it.

If the enemy was going to argue and ignore me, I was going to make them pay. The second arrow twanged out while the first was still in flight.

A cry alerted both sides the enemy archers were dying.

After expending half my quiver the enemy finally pulled back. Only seven of their archers were abandoned from our nearly thirty shots.

Still, that was seven more dead than before.

When the enemy tactic was in a halt, I sent two warriors to retrieve arrows that the foes had kindly left in the fields for us.

I sighed at what was likely the end of the skirmish.

A few inputs had me ensuring the troops were relaxing while still being ready for trouble. It was only a matter of time before the wind shifted and was not in my favor.

At least the enemy gave us free arrows and time.

Of course, the moment I felt we had won a minor victory I couldn’t rest.

Commotion from the enemy caught my attention. The loud sounds of drum beats matched the marching feet.

The enemy cavalry peeled off and the army stomped into the woods.

It seemed their plan would be to claim all my objectives, secure my spare stronghold, and starve me out until they had a favorable wind.

Not that I was excited about this, but I was kind of happy the enemy was doing what was expected.

I checked the tablet.

Sure enough, there were contested tabs already alerting me on the other objectives. My frustrated growl at the situation dampened my mood.

Where the hell was Noobi City?

I decided to check the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 9th

Survival: 37.3 (tied 76th)

eXplore: 35.9 (tied 66th)

eXpand: 55.4 (8th)

eXploit: 177.5 (1st)

eXterminate: 199.1 (3rd)

Whoa!

This was incredible news. I jumped for joy with a fist pump.

And yet, it was infuriating to the point I wanted to toss down the tablet and smash the screen.

If we were expanding, gathering, and growing; where the hell was my support?

Hey sexy! Did ya miss me? Beth texted suddenly, as if reading my mind.

The map showed her at the edge of the expanded stronghold’s range. I watched as her forces trickled onto the display.

Holy shit! My mind raced as I saw what she arrived with.

A dozen duckbills, forty paving workers with thirty wagons, and sixty two horns. Infantry marched onto the screen and foot archers too. There was a whole mini army arriving in bits.

My mind spun its gears. Did we pinch the foe? Or did I rush to her to combine forces? The enemy cavalry was racing for my undefended stronghold.

Oh shit, we’re under siege here too. Beth sent.

‘Too?’

The Yerrbi team sent a second war party that conquered our western strongholds only to have Marius cutting off reinforcements. When I left with these teams there were only minor skirmishes.

‘Did we win?’

She texted. Yeah, since I’m connected to the road, and obviously the score, we won. Honestly, a ram is nothing compared to a duckie. Marius defeated that force while I was put on the road building crew. The spare duckies caught up after winning the western front. The bad news is Zhang ate an arrow to the forehead. Died instantly, much sadness.

‘Poor Mitch who became Zhang. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?’

Every time I sent a scout they would ride back with reports there were enemy cavalry in the area. No sense in letting the road crews die if we were almost done. We're here now though. There is a tactic I would recommend. Unless my Warrior King has an epic plan that will wow me?

‘How big is the work crew and are they workers or warriors who are working? And what tactic is my Warrior Queen wanting to suggest?’

A few hundred non-military workers with dozens of wagons. We have thirty duckies, the other half is in the rear. Each of those has two T3 archers in them, another thirty on the ground and sixty T1 and T2 warriors.

‘Wow.’

Queen Senna really wanted this road built. It is the best way to secure your expansion. The road was a priority even more than if that stronghold fell. Sorry, but if you started bleeding points we would have noticed and bypassed.

I sighed, realizing that yeah, my little base was not the biggest part of the equation. I could always recapture this place. Sunflower City required a road to bloom anyway.

As for the tactic, I will unhook the 2 horns. Stick them in the front of the army and barrel into the enemy.

‘You can do that?’

Yeah herding is perfectly fine, just don’t expect the two horns to wheel and run down a routing foe.

‘When can you be ready, this general is super adverse to losing troops and just went into the trees. Now is the time to hit.’

Senna is complaining that the road isn't finished and she can’t talk to you until it is. I just promised her you would build the road by hand yourself if you had to. Unhooking the 2 horns now. You sure you can get ready in time?

‘Yeah, we can leave now.’

Go ahead and see if you can get the enemy to square off to you. If not flank them when they prepare for our charge.

There was a huge grin on my face. My exhale was legendary.

I realized there was not much to do besides take to the field. A few quick taps had my manage tab open.

I selected infantry as a unit and put them into a single line as wide as possible between my city and the forest. The archers doubled up behind them. I set all workers to run to the road pavers to help build the road.

‘Leaving Sunflower City now, ETA to the enemy army 5 minutes.’

The gates were pulled open with the wooden pegs creaking. A loud shuffling of troops on the move spooked a few enemy scouts in the treeline. While I watched them flee I knew I had to make a choice here.

Did I ride a horse with a lance, shield, and sword?

Was it best to blend in on foot with shield and sword?

Avoid a shield and use a bow? There were a lot of archers out there.

Or did I ride the horse, using the medium bow while riding?

Hmm…

I fully expected the enemy to break. That general was about cunning and producing optimal results; not about attrition brawling.

There was a part of me that rationalized he would surrender his foot troops to save his cavalry.

So I went with a looted lance, a shield, a horse, and my trusty sword. I would stand out as a target, but so be it. At least I’d be able to react quickly to the ever changing situation.

The placated horses weren’t much different than the one I had stolen fresh off the battlefield earlier. They merely responded quicker.

I was in the Pola saddle still, riding a chestnut stallion that nickered often. He was the biggest of the bunch, with big thick muscles. Nothing on a duckie, but still good enough to skewer some walking frogs.

The tablet in my vest buzzed. I rested the eight foot lance across the saddle. The clapping of the horse’s hooves was loud against the stone trail inside the stronghold. I was late to my own formation so I trotted the horse to catch up.

“Forward march, halt when enemy army is in sight,” I commanded.

A few archers who were slower to reach the lines scurried into formation. The unit stomped into the woods toward the small quarry. I pulled out the tablet.

Careful there is a second force rushing to get to you. Hold out!

My face blanched. The enemy on the map had to be spotted to be displayed. Sure enough, I saw a hundred and fifty of the original force had become three hundred. This was a full army and the forces were rushing for my troops I had just exposed to them on a silver platter like an idiot.

And this is why planning sucked.

There was no time for a long, well thought reaction.

“Halt formation. Infantry ready for charge. Archers retreat to Sunflower.”

Yeah, I did the unthinkable.

I left good men and women behind to die to buy my ranged troops time.

I even spun my horse and got the hell back inside the wall. The archers were trying to keep up and only had a few hundred feet to go.

I jumped out of the saddle closing one half of the gate. Archers crossed the threshold while I readied the other side to close.

“Get high, free fire on the enemy!” I cried out.

At least fifty enemy cavalry thundered from between the trees in a full charge.

My poor infantry were barely a speed bump... But they were enough to buy the archers enough time to get into the city.

The door rocked when I slammed it closed.

There was only a single cross beam securing the two halves. No way would it hold for long.

The sounds of my men dying pierced my heart as much as an arrow would.

A shadow loomed from under the fencing and then there was a crash against the gate. A sword was inflicting damage against the feeble wooden wall.

I returned into the horse's saddle, waiting for the gate to fall.

Twangs mixed with snaps, and the whizzing of arrows erupted from thirty archers in perches firing at will. Their arrows slammed into cavalry that were trying to beat down our door.

Well, I had chosen the wrong gear set. There was little for me to do beside hope my little English vixen saved the day with reinforcements.

I waited atop the horse with a lance teetering at the ready.

Arrows streaked into the sky, falling into Sunflower City, causing troops to cry out.

When a few clattered against stones near me, I trotted my horse onto the stronghold’s porch.

Of course the enemy had their own plan.

They weren’t a mindless objective, they were real thinkers and this was finally their reaction.

The enemy general wanted the gate all along and was probably stalling to cut off my escape.

I ground my teeth in frustration.

Archers tumbled from towers to splat into the cobbled interior.

Another archer fell from the parapet near the gate, crying for help as he breathed bloody gasps with an arrow in his chest.

Three hooks were flung over the double wooden door. When they caught a competition mechanic triggered.

Instead of being yanked down, the gate had taken enough damage to simply disintegrate into a cloud of sawdust.

The stunned enemy cavalry had paused.

Their hesitation continued when the trumpeting of duckies erupted loud and clear over the clashing battle.

The enemy outside the proverbial gates spun, and in that moment I knew I was so screwed.

Dozens then hundreds of infantry Pola were fleeing from a herd of two horns.

The damage was incredible and astonishing to watch as rows upon rows of frogs were trampled under six foot tall horned dinosaurs.

The bodies were smushed flat from the incredible weight of the charging herd.

There was an undeniable fact that the frog army was seeking my walls as safety. My mind made a snap conclusion that they were being sent into the city to fight to the end.

So… I did the rational thing any soldier would. I pulled out my tablet as a horde of desperate Pola charged toward Sunflower seeking safety.

A few taps gave me a prompt.

Removing all walls will destroy them. Confirm (YES) - (NO)

I confirmed yes. There was a puff of wood followed by screams as archers ten feet up suddenly were in free fall.

There was no time to grieve those I’d sacrificed. I tucked the tablet and spurred my horse.

It was time to kill the enemy.

A jerk of the reins had me charging at an angle to the left. Those two horns were in a panic and I wanted to avoid them as much as the Pola did.

My poor archers were firing into the coming tide of blue and green aliens. I only managed to watch a few of them as they were run down.

The chestnut stallion picked up speed, eagerly anticipating battle with his fiery eyes, and angry snorts.

A cracking of splitting pines revealed the duckies clearing the trees. High in their saddles were archers freely firing, while the large four legged dinos squished amphibians with glee.

The horse was panting as he raced forward. I lowered my lance at a warrior who tried to be anywhere besides on the tip of my weapon.

My lance skewered the enemy with enough force it tore free of the body with a spray of gore.

I lined up an archer only to have to divert at the last moment.

An arrow suddenly caught my peripheral. My twisting torso allowed my shield to deflect the speedy projectile just in time.

The horse bowled into a half dozen Pola trying to flee my main army. My head was on a swivel looking for the enemy general.

Sure enough, I saw him retreating in a dead sprint with a dozen cavalry protecting his flight.

Instead of solidifying his forces to use a fighting retreat, he abandoned them to save his own hide.

The battle was no longer a battle, it was a rout at this point.

Three hundred had already been thinned by over a hundred and the massacre ensued in full.

The ability for a horse or a duckbill dinosaur to run down a straight fleeing Pola was easy. They didn’t bob or weave unless they were tier three.

Since the damn general got away there would be no surrender here.

I tried more than a few times and I couldn't get any of them to accept my request to stop running so they could convert.

Their last order was probably to run for Sunflower City’s walls.

Since I removed the walls, they just kept going. Maybe these were bugged… There were things I would be puzzled about with this competition. This one, I accepted while trying to wound more than kill.

An hour later the last of the retreating Pola army was defeated.

I went to find Beth whose icon was in my stronghold. A short ride to my home had me hitching my horse to the porch, hurrying to see her.

When I flung the door open I found her naked, washing off with a rag from a bucket.

I devoured her sight, those perky tits, tight curves, and thigh gap of perfection had me rushing to her side. My stinky embrace was allowed with rapid kisses landing on her neck. I backed up, hurrying out of my clothes.

The smell of a flowery soap water washed the grime off my blood caked face. I stripped quickly while Beth scrubbed me.

“I missed you, was going a bit crazy being alone,” I admitted.

“Aw, did the wifette not please you enough,” Beth said teasingly.

I grumbled my reply, “Her term not mine.”

“We know. She said you were the kind of man every woman dreams about. Then she would go on and on about you. Almost like she was brainwashed. So Senna used her as a runner and a training tool. Roxie is really good at scouting,” Beth said, scrubbing the nasty off my back. I could tell she was trying to stay positive.

“Thanks for coming in the nick of time.”

She smiled with sad eyes. “I’m glad I saved you, but husband, you lost a lot.”

“Yeah, all of them besides the workers and maybe a few archers,” I said in a hollow and equally sad tone. “Far less than they did thankfully.”

She swapped from a soap rag to a clean rag. “The troops are going to consolidate. The road will finish and we will figure out what to do. Cracking a starter city with walls requires tier four siege engines. Which, shocker, it's only day thirty seven not seventy seven. No point trying to smash down their gates yet.”

“Stegos?”

“Nine stegos are in the oven. Senna is going to be thrilled you built a fortress outpost. I saw your reserves. How did you get so much wood?” Beth asked.

She tugged on my cock when saying the word wood.

There was no enticing needed for my little brain. My cock was stiff as a board. Her hazel eyes forgot her question, as did I. The intimate moment superseded talking.

Beth hopped onto the desk, knowing my secret could wait. She spread her legs, laying onto her back.

A lick of her fingers let her wet her swollen pussy.

She propped her elbows up, waving me forward for her exposed slit.

I was too slow apparently because she locked her legs to my hips, aggressively pulling me forward. We both moaned out in pleasure as I dove into her tight opening.

“I missed you, my waifu,” I said in a pleasured tone. My hands clamped onto her full breasts.

She ran a hand down my chest, her fingers curling around a pec when I slammed into her with a wicked grin. It felt so, so good.

“It's like your cock grew or my tiny little pussy shrank,” Beth said, knowing I got off on dirty talk.

I pulled out of her, resulting in her pouting. I held up a finger, spawning my cloaks. I laid my wife down gently onto the floor atop the comfy cloaks.

Tender kissed landed over her tight toned body before I mounted her.

We went at it in a fiery embrace.

After a few minutes I was flipped to my back. She rocked her tight fit hips onto my large cock.

Her rhythm steadily increased. She yearned for me to dig deeper into her. After ten minutes she climaxed in a euphoric release that was so loud my ear rang.

When she finished shuddering with loud panting moans there was a few final strokes before she got off.

I was surprised when she shifted one hand tickling my balls while the other rotated while stroking my shaft.

Her mouth enveloped my big cock with a tongue tease and sucking so tight her cheeks caved.

My fingers entwined in her hair as I neared a finish. When she felt my balls pumping she increased her blowjob’s speed.

Her eyes flared open when I burst into her mouth.

She struggled to swallow the huge load.

Beth hummed happily after slurping down the dripping second helping. She continued to suck and drain me until I was fully finished.

“Shucks. Round two?” I asked, feeling like a god.

She licked her lips before saying, “In an hour or two. We got to cycle workers into these buildings, sort loot, send prisoners up the road, and hastily construct this road. Which is why I ate that meal of jizz instead of needing a bath after. My goodness, it's like you had a week of pent up cum.”

“Uh… yeah.” I snickered with a shrug.

“Wait, you didn’t, umm… You know, finish one out?” Beth asked, a confused look on her face. “Where is the merriment in that?”

I snickered and said, “Why would I? You like feeling me leak out of you? Right?”

“Like ten times more than I should… at least I know now,” Beth said with a mischievous grin.

She tried to get up to get dressed but I tackled her for round two after ensuring the tablet said we were safe.

I even bent her over the desk to fuck her while she worked her dainty fingers to manage our affair.

This was double tasking at its finest

While I shoved my rod into her with a pleasurable repetition, I smiled.

I sure missed my waifu.

Together we would make those Pola pay. Maybe even capture their objectives… right after I conquered that damn raptor quarry.

Chapter

Thirty

COMPETITION 1 DAY 40

I  can’t wait to see you. Senna texted.

‘Yes! I know, it's been too long. That final bit of road was a pain because of the two bridges. But we finally finished it. Gave us time to clean up this mess. Being synced into Noobi City’s resources is freaking amazing… Sorry I’m excited to see this fortress get T3. I’m glad to hear you're doing well. What’s the first thing you want to do when I return home to you?’

Besides seduce you? Go for a nice walk. Switching gears real quick. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about wifette.

I rolled my eyes.

We had completed the road a half hour ago.

Opening a whole lot of options for Sunflower City.

Over the last three days we had reestablished our dominance of the area. The only thing left to smash was the medium raptor quarry.

We even defeated a medium mine, and a large granite quarry.

The raptors were merely a pride point for me to save for last. The Pola forces were long gone.

My guess is they were reeling from the lost resource generation. We had been converting captured workers into warriors as fast as we could.

All these developments led to a long back and forth between Senna and I about business.

Only a little bit of the lovey dovey stuff had seeped into our texts so far. Which had me startled that she brought up Roxie.

‘Roxie is a -’

Wifette is a manager. Do you understand what that means?

‘What about Alina?’ I texted, knowing that Beth had been grooming our fourth pick and I’d never do that to Marius.

Marius’s wife is named Linia. I know you’re good with names, Nate. She is great and will be our fourth manager. I don’t think that is how a mohuma works anyway. She’s not on our list, but might be next round. Or maybe she will be found by exploring. The point is, she wants to be a baby factory and I don’t. Plus what if she does a baby a day. She also wants to test her baby experience with you. Obviously.

I frowned before reply. ‘What's our daily generation? Can she not let Marius give her a good filling?’

Men… I swear. You’re lucky she is not hovering over my shoulder. You want me to tell the woman who was raped and broken that she has to have sex with a man she doesn’t care for? You’re thinking without any emotions. And as to our daily generation, it's currently two hundred and forty three.

‘Huh? How?’

I’ve been building strongholds the entire way down the road. A little over a mile to separate them. You have a very valid point husband. You don’t need to stick buns in ovens at this point unless you desperately want to win. Nora, our daughter will have her first baby tomorrow. Alice already had hers. Those babies will help offset the losses from war and ensure we have a larger army than without them.

‘I get that, every able body counts assuming you have the food to feed them. But, we're getting into semantics. I found Roxie to be interesting, but honey. I love my wifey, and waifu. Like a whole lot.’

Awe Beth texted from beside me.

Okay, I won’t press you on it, but Nate, I’ve been interviewing men.

I looked over to see Beth typing. He’s scrunching his face like a chipmunk. Beth told her and I adjusted my reaction.

‘I trust you.’

And we trust you too. Here is the thing. Marius is good, Zhang was better but he is gone. A few more of the workers are becoming cognitive capable. The men from the past hate taking my orders except for Marius.

‘Sorry I’m not there for you.’ I texted and Beth rolled her eyes.

Well, it’s bad. To the point they will seek Marius out before me, and it's causing issues because he is not in the know on a lot of things. I’d like to get a male manager at T5, and then if you don’t want a wifette, she will select him.

‘Ah, makes sense why you wanted to bring up Roxie. Not wifette, please.’

I hear you. At least she would have a hundred days to pick over the list of men she can choose. But Nate, she literally draws pictures of you and in as much of a puppy love as Beth and I. We actually like having her around. She has sworn to protect me. I need that. I also need a set of balls around because of sexism.

‘How did the interviews go? And I can stop being a warrior king to rule. I do want to settle down at some point.’

And then you would be by my sworn handmaiden.

‘Ah, I think I’m starting to understand. You don’t want me to cause a rift between you and your new BFF?’

Sorta, what did Beth say?

‘That she was nice and talked about me a lot.’

I didn’t tell him because I wanted to do it together. Beth texted

Senna texted. She is unique, and would be unique to us. How about we stick a pin in her future with us for now? I super want to see you again. When you coming to me?

‘Raptors today, then I was going to spend a few days conquering all these small and tiny objectives on the way home. I figure we’re in a combat lull of sorts. Too small for most large objectives, and not developed enough to roll over enemy cities yet. In a month, I’ll be on the warpath, so it would make the most sense to use that time to help you for now. Three days at most until I’m home.’

Senna texted. You sure you don’t want to come here first real quick, for our… walk… yes walk… and then go do small adventures.

‘Ha! I’ll be quick. Uh… with the adventuring. Not the sex. Which is walk, correct? Beth save me.’

Okay see you soon, hurray, come make my little pussy purr!

I gulped, blushing when I read that.

Yup he’s super red. Love ya wifey.

Love you waifu and husband. Bye for now.

“You ready to go kill these raptors?” Beth asked, seeing the tent in my pants. She snapped a photo and sent it into our group message.

“Hey!” I said playfully, not actually caring.

“I’ll let you save that for when you get to her. She has been patient and the last three days have me walking funny,” Beth said with a chuckle.

“I told you it wouldn’t fit in your ass,” I replied with a full throated laugh.

Beth was hard to get a blush out of, in this case I managed to get her cheeks cherry red. She liked the back door play but we would be regulated to fingers or toys for the foreseeable future.

I embraced her in a tender hug, deciding to sweep her off her feet.

A big smile crested her face as we shared a moment with me swaying her into a dance. That had been a thing of ours.

She was a lady of the court, dancing an expertise.

I was shown how to lead a proper lady with nothing more than hum and a smile.

We enjoyed the sweet interaction that finished with a long loving kiss.

“I guess we can leave, funny how I saved the dinosaurs for last,” I said with a snicker. “I had wanted raptors so badly during animal select when I knew we were getting dinosaurs, but settled on stegos.”

Her pat of my chest shifted gears when she headed for weapons. “You going sword and shield, or bow?”

“Undecided. I do want to walk though,” I said, heading to the back wall of my office.

A few chin taps helped me ponder. I came to a conclusion, grabbing my sword belt.

My plan was to wear a sword, medium bow, and quiver. No shield on this journey, mainly because I found I was more fluid without one.

Raptors were fast, agile, and smart. They never tested the same part of their perimeter twice when we observed them. Honestly, the big matriarch was a clever girl.

The two of us decided to take the full duckbill army.

Pretty much enough to squash a stone golem; which I learned had hit a limit to the amount of mini me rolling creations it could hurl a day.

When we left the stronghold the team was assembling at the new gate.

Soon this would all be stone with the orange shimmering giving an indication of the impending upgrade.

Over the last three days there were additional barracks and archery ranges. I really hoped this would be a turning point in our war efforts toward victory.

Travis honked at my arrival, nestling into me with his big head eager for attention. I gave the awesome guy a bunch of scratches.

He reveled in the moment while Beth headed into his saddle. She was busy tapping away, drawn to her chores, and probably continuing to expand this fortress.

Beth was as gifted at managing as she was beautiful.

She caught me fondly eyeing her and blew me a kiss with a wink. A few minutes of organization, and the thirty dinosaurs shook the ground on their exit of Sunflower City.

We navigated the pines in a loose formation. After talking with Senna there was a brooding anticipation of seeing the soaring redwoods again.

Beth was up on Travis’s back still typing away, so I let the silence win, and enjoyed the stroll.

We weren’t too far from the raptor quarry when the small herd of dinosaurs squeaked and then honked in agitation.

They were shifting from four legs to standing on two, trying to peer further into the forest. I tried to see further by shifted to glance around the trees while on my tippy toes.

I furled my brows because I sensed nothing. I checked the tablet, seeing it was completely normal.

Hmm…

Instead of ignoring the warning of the dinosaurs I strung my bow. There was a tingling on the back of my neck… I felt nervous.

“Go defensive!” I hissed loud enough that the group halted.

The distant sound of crashing trees trickled our direction like a wave washing onto a beach.

The noise grew into a crescendo and was powerful enough to get every dinosaur to rear up trying to see further.

I nocked an arrow, being cautious even if I was confused.

That sweaty palm feeling that had pretty much abated with experience. Yeah, that, and the butterflies were back.

A tree went soaring over our heads to land hundreds of feet behind us. The speed it moved and height it achieved was so great it blurred.

What could have done that?

The tablet went crazy, and suddenly I wished I was in the saddle with Beth.

There was a Pola icon, followed by raptors, and following that was a spike tail icon with a diamond frame I had never seen before.

I readied my bow.

Beth shouted, “It's a scout, dragging an epic defender on top of us, we must -”

A deafening roar ruined my ear drums. Beth was rapidly typing into her tablet while I stowed mine.

A black stallion was hard charging directly for Sunflower City, spitting pine needles in its wake. The female rider was amazing as she weaved between the trees.

Her course had her barreling right for me. Her frog eyes widened at seeing me with a bow, but she accepted her fate with a toothless grin.

My arrow release was fluid and my aim was precise; the arrow sinking in-between her eyes.

The shot was epic and there was also the fact she never veered.

I watched her go flying out of the saddle and into a tree. Her body twitched unnaturally, I shifted my focus knowing she was certainly dead.

The rider less horse zoomed by me more terrified of the threat behind it than any concern with harming me.

What had it so spooked?

I snatched another arrow from my quiver. The moment it was loaded I realized I should have run. We all should have.

Beth had ordered the troops to flee and saw a threat from her higher spot. She screamed a battle cry while lobbing an arrow deep into the forest. The raptors I was expecting never showed, and when the forest floor trembled beneath me I understood why.

A forty foot tall dragon chewed on the remains of a raptor. Half the dinosaur’s body dropped for the bottom of the massive jaws.

The sight was indeed terrifying. The dragon was a radiant silver with sapphire eyes that sparkled as if the behemoth were having fun.

The teeth that dripped blood were bigger than me. The legs were thicker than most trees. This was an epic dragon and it had been brought right to our doorstep.

A challenging roar unfroze Beth and me.

We fired, our bows snaps drowned out by the sound of the dragon.

My arrow went into the maw, disappearing.

The dragon coughed, spurting blood.

There was hacking. Painful, angry hacking.

I grew confused, desiring to capitalize on the hesitation of the beast.

“Run Beth!” I shouted.

The dragon charged, shaking the land so violently I was worried Travis would topple while trying to run.

Beth’s hazel eyes locked onto me longingly, confliction clear on what to do. She turned Travis to collect me.

She was almost within reaching distance, that ladder a few feet from my grasp when the vision of her vanished.

A maw of dragon massive teeth snapped around Travis and Beth, violently engulfing them both in a single chomp.

The impact for the dragon’s attack cracked the air so intensely I was sent flying. My body twisted to protect my head. With arms out, I flew directly into a tree.

There was a disorienting crack sound that sent a tingling sensation into my body.

My vision blurred and my body was numb. A final thought echoed through my mind.

At least I died to an epic dragon.

Chapter

Thirty-One

COMPETITION 1 DAY 41

T here was blood in my mouth. Hazy memories swirled in my head, breaking my confusion.

A sudden urge hit me like a strong punch to the gut. I vomited a throat full of blood, and then, I hurled some more.

My sleeve dragged across my lips, saturating with nasty bile.

Ugh… Dragon. Then… Beth… Shit.

In a panic, I swiveled my head to inspect my surroundings.

There was a fresh morning sun on the southern horizon. The early rays barely illuminated the destroyed forest littered with fallen pines.

Not ten feet away rested the body of a sleeping dragon.

The reality of the situation caught up with my returning memories.

A desperate urge to escape the dragon overwhelmed me.

I flung myself off the forest floor, my feet speeding me into a sprint. My eyes were focused on the massive silvery behemoth nearby.

The lack of looking forward had me run right into a duckbill dinosaur.

The damn creature had no give, sending me crashing back down to the ground with a loud, long groan.

An archer glanced down at me from the saddle platform.

“Report,” I said with a grunt. I rubbed my temples trying to calm myself. I was hoping the tier three archer with a confused expression would answer. When she waved I knew what my report was.

If she was here and alive… Then that dragon wasn't merely sleeping.

The tablet inside my vest vibrated. I pulled out the device and was surprised the screen wasn’t cracked. My flight into the tree hadn’t exactly been gentle.

217 messages. Ah, to think Senna must be worried… talk about an understatement.

‘Not reading yet. Alive and love you. Assessing the situation.’ I sent the text quickly so she could breathe easier.

The scaled body of the silvery dragon was still; no rise or fall of its chest. I walked for the head, passing around claws bigger than a greatsword.

There was a sudden splash from my boot. I frowned, seeing my foot was ankle deep in a literal pool of blood the size of a pond.

What the hell happened?

The amount of blood was staggering to the point it bordered on the unbelievable. My boots sloshed through the muck, determined to get to Beth.

When I journeyed around a shoulder, I found out how the dragon died.

A raptor was halfway out of the dragon’s neck. You could see the raptor had shredded the neck to expose its snout to air.

A guess here, but the dragon ate the raptor whole. The dinosaur used its claws and teeth to get jammed in the throat.

After tearing itself free the dinosaur was killed by arrows from the troops that Senna probably sent to rescue us.

That left one issue.

If the throat was clogged, which would explain the hacking problems the dragon was having before it attacked us…

Where was Beth?

I neared the head of the dragon, stepping over a detached duckbill dinosaur’s tail. Maybe she was alive inside the mouth.

My inspection for a way in found a missing tooth. The horrendous smell caused a gag that I managed to suppress.

I wormed beyond two teeth, struggling to get into the mouth. My effort to get between the teeth meant I was shot forward when I got through. I splashed into a nasty thick liquid that was sticky with warmth.

It was eerily silent in here.

When I pulled my tablet open I found poor Beth. Her eyes were wide, filled with panic, and completely glazed over beneath the liquid.

Her body was trapped under Travis. She… I saw she had drowned in vomited gore and blood from both the dragon and Travis. I quick inspection told me that liquid had pooled in the jaw cavity.

Travis died instantly, he was missing half his head. His body had pinned her under the liquid and she was unable to get free.

There was a loud sigh as I sloshed into the knee high blood to close her eyes.

When I tried to free her I couldn't. Travis was slimy, and she was fully stuck. I could mutilate her to cut her free, and… Well, it hurt to think about being so ineffective, and not being able to bury her.

At the moment, I need to be strong.

I used my tablet to see where her satchel was. The leather straps were on the harness ring and I sadly retrieved the device.

There wasn’t a chance in hell the dragon wasn’t going to get dissected and tossed into the depot. She would be buried after the drones could free her.

As for the device, it was best to recover the tablet now.

Exiting a pool of blood and escaping that maw was the highlight of my shitty day.

When I wormed out of the dragon’s mouth and splashed into more blood. I was less than happy.

“You!” I said pointing at the nearest duckbill and rider.

The level two archer pointed at his chest as if I could possibly be talking to someone else nearby.

“Yes, get down and go protect Sunflower City.”

When he exited the saddle I scurried up the ladder to take his spot. The drone beside me smiled and waved.

I held in my desires for violence. The friendly drone wouldn’t understand this was not the time to be joyful.

“Follow the trail of the dragon created. Can you do that?” I asked in a dry tone.

“Yes,” the Filipino looking man said happily with a big smile.

This was a competition. Beth would be okay. I hesitantly checked the tablet to be sure.

Elizabeth Blount born 1498 - England - deceased for competition 12806, currently in stasis.

Elizabeth Blount born 1523 - Wales

Elizabeth Blount born 1702 - England

Phew. She was safe in stasis.

That was good enough for me.

Time to address Senna and her worries. Before I got too far into it I ensured we were going the right way, because the drones were not the most intuitive individuals.

Sure enough our duckbill was leading the pack up the massive trail of demolished trees. Good, the damn dragon at least made it easy to see where it came from.

‘Beth is gone. I’m so sorry, wifey.’ I typed.

I know, the first thing I did was check what happened. You went to sleep from injuries, and needed time to heal. I sent the 1st Cav to protect you. What happened?

‘Some crazy frog bitch grabbed a dragon and pulled it to Sunflower City. Almost made it too. Uhh… it ate a raptor that clawed free of the dragon’s neck. Note - raptors are fucking awesome. Also, we need to have Beth extracted from the dragon’s mouth in order to bury her. I can’t do it alone.’

It will get done. So factual, you can have emotions Nate. Are you okay? How did our lover die?

‘Oh, she shot a dragon in the mouth and then got eaten. It was over super quick and I’ll be fine only because I know she is in stasis. Her death was rapid and she will come back to us. I found her in the dragon’s mouth and you’re caught up.’

Sure I had dodged the fact she literally drowned in blood, but I figured Beth would want her strong, not having nightmares.

This was a situation where if I got shit for it later; I hoped I’d be forgiven.

Where are you going?

‘Whatever that silvery asshole was protecting had to be something good. Too bad we didn’t get the points for him’

The only thing keeping me strong right now is that Beth is in stasis and she died a hero. Did you not check the score?

‘No, give me a moment. We’re nearing where the trees end.’

“Where to now?” the archer asked for orders.

I opened the map and saw no icon. My mind told me a silvery dragon would be higher into the mountains. So I nudged the duckbill’s reins to keep taking us higher.

A single grizzly, twice the size of an Earth bear, roared off to my left. I could barely see the bear as it swiftly darted between big rocks.

Hints of brown showing between the gray. The fact it was angry from so far away caused me to frown.

The tablet buzzed telling me it was heading our way. Obviously, and better late than never for the device to notify me.

My guess was that this species was a roaming mob we triggered.

“Spread out, fire within range. Whoever the bear chases is to run around the area until it is dead,” I ordered in a loud commanding tone.

My frown deepened when I realized I was without a bow. All I had was my iron sword… Awe, well, I did say I was willing to be a commander. Here was my chance.

The thirty duckbills picked up a trot, giving each other space. The grizzly’s claws climbed straight up the side of a rock that was tall enough to be a cliff.

Um… Okay. That just happened.

The way its claw tips sunk into stone combined with the swivel of its ankles, told me it was very alien even though it looked familiar.

The new height allowed the beast to get a better look.

We waited, tensing with anticipation of the coming fight. The bear paused, its aggression dwindled as keen intelligent eyes studied our formation.

This was a foe to be feared.

There was a rising of thick lips to reveal rows of teeth, and a loud echoing roar washed over us. The echo of its challenged dimmed slowly.

I expected a charge, instead the mighty grizzly went back to the spot it came from, continuing to roam. I frowned.

This wouldn’t be great.

A foe who was patient and an opportunist was one to be concerned about.

When the threat vanished from sight and the map, I was left with a tough choice that I quickly decided on.

Beth hadn’t died for mere points. We were going to claim whatever objective that dragon was guarding.

“Follow me,” I called out, urging the duckbill forward.

The mount’s uphill walk was slow with each step strenuous from the angle.

The rubble underfoot slid out a few times as we hit a steeper section and I hoped we didn’t have a wipeout. Eventually we climbed up to a leveling off point that had an expansive view.

In the foreground was a lake, and in the distance was a cavernous opening. I waved a duckbill forward.

“Go touch a foot in the water, be quick about it,” I said to a tier two female archer.

She slid down the ladder like a pro and ran the hundred feet to the water’s edge. I watched apprehensively when she tapped the water, her ripples stirring activity from the semi clear depths.

The tablet populated new information for me.

Yes, there was a defender. A swarm of sharks.

I lifted my gaze from the tablet to see fins high in the water. Part of the swarm was interested in the yummy human near the shoreline.

I gulped, those were huge fins. This was a giant aquatic farm. The sharks were protecting a crab farm that would produce chitin for armor.

A great find, and something I had no desire to deal with. The logistics of just handling that bear already gave me a headache.

When the archer returned to her saddle I said, “Take the right side of the lake until you’re in front of the cavern. Move at a steady pace.”

The dinosaur and riders moved forward at a brisk walk as if there weren't huge sharks in the water nearby.

The lake’s wraparound was plenty wide enough to give the water space and they stuck to the middle.

Even though it seemed safe, I was worried these might be flying alien sharks with laser beams; because, well, it was that kind of a day.

I checked the score instead of letting the angst and suspension build.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 1st

Survival: 41.2 (tied 74th)

eXplore: 38.9 (tied 64th)

eXpand: 124.4 (4th)

eXploit: 297.5 (1st)

eXterminate: 1371.1 (1st)

Warning - The 1st place team will have every stronghold and controlled objective highlighted after day 100.

Whoa! Okay, while the warning was shitty and ominous. The score was amazing.

We really needed to explore. Then again. Why the hell would we? You need to expand, exploit, and exterminate.

That dragon was worth a thousand points on its own.

That is more than you get while on the run with your tablet trying to gather minor points.

How is it going? Senna texted

‘Alien bear, megalodon sized sharks, and inspecting a cave soon.’ I texted back.

I nudged the mount forward seeing the other team arrive safely in front of what was likely the dragon's lair.

‘You doing okay?’

Being busy helps. I want to see you.

‘Tomorrow. As soon as I’m done here I will bury Beth, and then ride right home to you. I don’t want to promise, because I have no idea what this dragon was guarding. Hey, bright side is we're not losing three points no matter what.’

I know, that is great. We should be very proud of our work. All of our work. With that said, I bet we hold first place going into day one hundred.

‘Good, let them come, we will smash all those we face. At the very least go down fighting and earn enough points to bypass our way into the top fifty. If we haven't already. The teams running ragged around the map won’t be passing our score.’

Yeah, Roxie was saying the same thing. Be safe, and use the road to get home. On a duckie it's only a five or six hour ride.

‘Want the whole unit home?’

Probably the best option. The herd will lay eggs if given three days of peaceful rest with double food intake. So let's do that. I think our closest threats are placated to just survive at the moment.

The chat closed just in time as we arrived at the massive opening. In the distance, it looked big, up close it was all sorts of humongous. There was no smooth opening like an arched door, and instead large chunks were missing in sections bigger than buildings.

The rising southern sun, only lit so far into the eerie place leaving the interior a mystery. A tiny snap on the reins told the duckbill to walk forward and into the gloom. I had the tablet out, hoping this was the den of the dragon. There was a shimmy as the map generated a new icon.

Hmm…

A mine generated. An epic mine, this was as big as the objectives in the competition became. I hit the help and of course, since it was unclaimed I got the generic overview. Blah, blah.

I tapped on the icon to claim the mine.

You are unable to claim an abandoned epic mine. An objective of this size requires you to stand in an activation circle.

“Tally ho,” I said to the drone and the dinosaur.

Since no one died to the sharks, I stopped inspecting that lake and focused on our dive into the Blount Mines. The path down into the mind was immense and worn with time. There was room for the duckbills stacking behind us to go ten abreast.

When I slung my tablet to illuminate the area, flickering shines revealed there were traces of different elements in the walls. I even saw glimmers of gold and raised my brows in surprise. Gold wasn’t useful. It was a soft metal and almost useless besides for crafting.

Hmm…

I had to wonder if there were going to be stages of ore like there were stages of stone. It made sense.

My tier one sword was iron. Maybe we skipped bronze, started iron, and then went to rare minerals. Again there was so much to learn here.

This was a point of pride too.

Our first competition and we hit first place; and not on day one for doing something basic faster than others, like collecting sticks.

We got it for partially defeating an epic dragon. The pang of losing Beth was there, but I certainly knew the achievement was not lost to me.

If Earth did survive, or I got to get a message home, Wharton was certainly getting high praises for its business school.

And then I thought of Ma, growing sad. A shake of my head brought me back to focusing on the epic cave.

I really felt like I was in a dwarven movie. An imaginative eye could place a hundred dwarves marching in lock step to make war on their foes.

We passed smaller offshoots that could easily be converted into housing. I had no idea what the competition mechanics would be for building in here.

At least with game building it would give you green outlines. But in theory. You could find a spot in here, collapse a tunnel, and set yourself up on the other side; assuming you had food, water, and air.

The options for this place were really vast if you got a creative mind going.

The downward ramp came to a flat section that shone light.

I intently watched the dinosaurs. If they were calm in the spooky mine with unnatural light, then I was okay with it too.

When we leveled off I saw the shine was from a magical staff up high in a massive dome shape cavern. I had to assume this was the dragon’s den.

The sight threw me for a loop. We were in a competition, and sure it had a game like mechanics, no doubt about it.

But… This room had loot.

As in you kill the bad guy, you get gear, raw materials, and an objective.

Was this how all these big objectives went?

I shrugged, continuing into the huge area. The staff was jammed upside a hundred feet up, the bottom half wedged into a crack.

Silver scales mush have eaten a wizard and wanted a night light. But there wasn’t magic in this world except from the tablets. Or was there and we didn’t know about it? Technically the candles in the stronghold one were magical.

The duckbill stepped near piles of gold, shaking the coins until a few tumbled down. That other city, with the lizard folk, they might trade resources for these. Or better yet let us buy mercenary forces. Interesting find. Gold…

The dragon liked to organize its piles and the clump of gear had my attention.

I shimmied down the side of the dinosaur, my boots giving a slight echo when they slapped into the stone floor.

Everything okay? Senna texted

‘Yes and no. There are a ton of trinkets in this epic mine. Here, let me claim it first so you see what it produces.’

I walked until I was under the staff, seeing as how it was pretty central in this dome shaped cavern it was a good place to start.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned epic mine. Claiming this mine requires:

1000 - Metal (Adequate)

5000 - Stone (Adequate)

10000 - Wood (Adequate)

Claim the epic mine. (YES) - (NO)

This was new. Hmm… Better to ask for forgiveness. I selected yes.

There was a swirl of brown magic. The staff in the ceiling shattered, cascading us into a swirling darkness. The only light was the arcane tendrils flicking their brown illumination. An eye covering brightness erupted, causing me to clench my eyes shut.

A powerful boom washed a gust of wind over me and then… then there was calm.

When I opened my eyes there was a smelter in the middle of the room broadcasting light from its internal fires. Torches hung from walls combating shadows.

There was a transportation system with mine carts on tracks, ready to head to off-shoot openings and commence mining. This spot had gone from a dragon’s home to a functional mine in less than a minute.

Epic Mine Management Requirements & Productivity

180 - Workers (Optimal)

1000 - Metal per hour (Optimal)

153 - Gold per hour (Optimal)

88 - Silver per hour (Optimal)

55 - Leenspar per hour (Optimal)

40 - Onyx per hour (Optimal)

2 - Gems per hour (Optimal)

Recovery Rate - Undisclosed

Reserves - Undisclosed

Whoa, so much. I guess we needed these rare minerals later.

The tablet buzzed and Senna texted. Awesome find, and I hope we can use it all. At least there is extra stuff. I’m sending some teams that way.

‘The path is dangerous with infested lake waters and there is an alien grizzly bear that seems to be open to targets of opportunities.’

Nathanael Immerson. You never said the grizzly or sharks were dangers. Clarify that before you spend valuable resources on a mine we can’t use?

‘Eh, we can kill the bear. Maybe. Probably. Actually, if that beast wants to run its super gone. It can climb walls vertically like a possessed demon.’

You have the backbone of our army. Load those saddles up and then come home. When we have tier four archers and stegos we will revisit the mine. We’re sitting pretty on metal for now.

‘Was about to suggest that myself. Maybe even build some stone towers along the path.’

See you soon my love.

I sighed heading for a pile of gear.

“Listen up!” I said in the echoing space. The drones all looked at me. Stuff your saddle harnesses with the shiny trinkets. If your dinosaur groans in complaint, you have too much in your saddle and need to unload some. Get to work.”

From the mound of armor and weapons I saw a bow that looked like it was from an elven movie.

Score.

New bow for me, don’t mind if I do. The bonus was it had a few dozen arrows with perfect fletching.

The only downside was the quiver had scratch marks and blood marring the intricate design.

I shifted the heavy armor, ornate helms, and greatswords. I was a one handed swordsman, not sure why, just felt right.

The downside was most of these weapons were massive two handers.

I found a tiara, or was it a crown. There was a part of me that always wondered what the difference was. Either way it was white gold with lots of emeralds in it.

A present for my Queen. Into the special pile it went.

Five minutes of shifting gear and I was pissed. Every one handed blade had been basic iron, no different than mine.

The pile was mostly trash from lower tiered gear. When I reached the bottom I found a set of ornate dwarven armor.

There was a dark black sword with a reddish brown metallic handle. The bottom nub was a miniature warhammer. The hand guards were circular with two even smaller warhammers. The blade was a bit longer than my current one.

If I had to guess this was a dwarven two hander.

There would be some adjusting, but man oh man, this was a fine sword. Beside the sword was a helmet with flaring wings on the back of the skull and a long nose guard.

There was one thought echoing in my empty head, I really liked my cowboy hat.

A set of pants were made of black metal and they would never fit my frame. Under them was the torso chainmail. I whistled at the sight, a huge grin on my face.

I stripped my old armor off, tossing it into the pile, and feeling a bit sad. Even though there were cat holes and a few links snapped, it had served me well.

I donned the upgrade and it was as light as a feather.

Oh man, I was going to be so fast now.

My cowboy set went back on over the lighter linked armor. I gave a second look at the helmet.

That empty skull of mine grew a brain and I decided to take it. For adventuring I would wear my cowboy hat. For a known battle. Then yeah, a helmet actually made a whole lot of sense.

To say I felt like a kid in a candy store would be an understatement. I was ecstatic by these upgrades while still sad I lost my waifu.

When we loaded up with our loot I had to hope that damn bear still feared us. I would hate to die right after getting some nice fancy weapons and armor.

Chapter

Thirty-Two

COMPETITION 1 DAY 84

F orty three days of nauseating boredom.

If anyone asked me did I regret racing home after burying Beth, I’d answer no.

The reality was, while I really did miss the constant adventuring I made the most of the situation.

Senna was amazing to the point I never became bored when she was around. I truly enjoyed being with my wifey, and cherished our time together a great deal.

In the mornings we would walk, after we would hold court, and then eat lunch. That was never different and brought our bond to a whole new level.

She encouraged me to go forth and conquer.

Happy to oblige after going stir crazy my first week; I would hit a medium objective until they ran out around us. After that, I mostly trained with my new bow and bonded with Larry, my stegosaurus.

There were fights to be had and there certainly were enemy cities to assault. The problem stemmed from the lack of our sieging capabilities.

Those were finally coming online, and the transition to siege warfare had been a learning development.

The way the competition developed showed an inkling of a pattern.

If you didn’t hit your opponent hard and early, you would take big losses trying to crash down their walls until tier four. Once you had siege weapons, advanced cavalry, and your unique creatures you could again stem forth to wage war.

In our case, we hit tier four on day seventy one. A full eleven days after the record...

Ouch… The delay was the damn stegos. Other competitor’s cities advanced closer to that timeframe, and I knew this from my evening reports.

My scouts said the Pola city was under siege by a humanoid cat race called the Crix. Their capital was encircled and both sides had siege engines flinging stones at each other. This was likely the number one spot where dinosaur teams suffered the most.

But that was almost a week ago and we survived to the point we were ready. Our armies contained thousands and were so big we had two legions.

My legion had a duckbill cavalry that was over a hundred strong, our stegosaurus siege line that was over twenty fully grown adults, and our archers were rapidly cycling into tier four. The infantry was a mix of tier four pikes and tier three shield walls.

And yet I was in court. I thought Senna was sugar coating the problem, or really just being a touch whiney about her predicament of not being respected enough.

Wrong. She was justified in wanting me or another male around.

I literally got asked questions even by females before they’d ask her, and this was after I put out she was handling day to day affairs while I prepared for the coming campaign.

There was sexism, and I can say… it wasn’t just the mean men stuck in their olden ways.

The good part about holding court was I saw Senna a lot and held her hand for most of the day. As we grew into a population of over seven thousand we smashed into a happiness wall and that was part of all the coming to me for answers or gripes.

The happiness factor was both simple with a few complex overlays.

People would protest in the streets if they weren’t happy. To make them happy there were a few tricks beyond building the right buildings.

They wanted to see Senna continuing the lineage. No joke, if she had a baby, more smiles. If we held court, infinite smiles and zero protests.

Most importantly the awakened folks would gripe out something directly in front of us in the court session, telling us exactly what was needed.

The biggest complaint, and the one that came up over and over was we never gave out Beth’s tablet.

Since people liked to see dominance, and I grew bored of sitting on my ass in a throne room, I made a challenge. Defeat me in a duel of sword sticks and you could have the spare tablet.

This turned into an event every day after lunch, and without fail, drew a crowd in our training arena. Which today would be my last day in Noobi City. After the duel, I was leading an army to smash the Yerrbi capital.

Senna slammed a walking stick into the elevated flooring, silencing the side chatter. I’d crafted that for her to help with the stairs when her belly was swollen. The head of the stick may have dragon gems inserted into it.

“That concludes today’s court. I have already started a second triage center and will be adding a third starting tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you all at the arena,” Senna said in a loud booming voice.

We both stood, and then the attendees rose before bowing. We exited the courtroom, passing two pikemen guarding a narrow stairway. I smacked her plump ass that was in my face.

“Ugh, I hate being pregnant when I really don’t need to be,” Senna mumbled even though she was still barely out of the first trimester.

There was a light snicker from me before I replied, “You sure like making those babies though.”

“He is right, you get loud, my lady,” Roxie said from the top of the stairwell.

“Don’t take his side,” Senna said playfully.

“Shucks ladies, I’m blushing,” I admitted with a smile.

The stairs ended into a wide hallway. The courtroom was tied into our upgraded stronghold.

Which, spoiler: no hot running water. Senna was taking me to a balcony to eat a peaceful lunch. Our fingers were entwined while we walked.

Roxie was chatting with Pat behind me. She and Senna found the man after a long search. I wholeheartedly approved of the guy and we got along.

Pat was an army guy from when I was in high school. Pat was a football player who joined the army and was saved by the Archaics during some friendly fire conflict.

So far, I thought he would make a great fifth summons.

On our fourth summons we had tried to bring Beth back instead of Linia. That was a big no go. So Linia was currently in Sunflower City with Marius.

When I marched west with the fearsome second, he would march east the fighting first. We were that big and that ready.

There were plums and oatmeal waiting on a table overlooking the view of Noobi City.

“It never gets old,” Senna said with a sigh.

I smirked, replying with, “The holding hands, or just how much we’ve accomplished.”

She saw me eyeing her lovingly and tucked her hair behind her ear. Senna never tired of my doting eyes.

“Please sit, I will miss you dearly and cherish moments like these,” Senna said, but I pulled her chair out for her instead. “You spoil me.”

I kissed her cheek as she scooted forward.

“I have a report from Marius I’ve been meaning to relay. A manager can make babies with a cognizant after academy tier four. The building just upgraded today and they got a prompt,” Senna said with a sly smile, blowing on her tea. “While… They… you know.”

“Interesting,” I said with a tilt of my head.

She eyed me with an eyebrow bounce, saying a puckered, “Yup.” I rolled my eyes. I had thought it wasn’t possible and Senna said it would be. She was right again.

“You’re simply the best. I was thinking of giving the tablet to Amelia,” I said, shifting the conversation and tasting a yummy maple flavor in the oatmeal.

“She is favored, there is what? Forty who can manage it now, and at least a half dozen cartographers. Why her?” Senna asked.

“Beside her hiccup in the south she has been exceeding reliable and helpful. We need an explorer. We’re first in expanding, exploiting, and exterminating. Exploring makes sense if we want to continue to spread across the map,” I said with a shrug.

Roxie sent Pat back to stasis to join us. “I could go and you could bring up one of the managers to help manage the micro and macro. There was a roman fellow who seems well liked. Good with economics. Amelia seems a bit… off. Not soulless but not part of the team either.”

“Ha!” Senna said with a chipper tone. “You’re going nowhere. And you and Pat are smitten. Let that blossom. Plus, I trust you. A lot of the others, including Amelia, aren’t fully cognitive. I agree with her as a choice though simply because that girl can cover ground quickly and I need Roxie.”

“Excellent, so… I’d rather just give her a tablet on merit grounds and not let her beat me in the arena,” I said shyly.

I was undefeated and Amelia wasn’t good. She was actually a terrible swordswoman, but that didn’t matter because she was an explorer.

“Easy fix. We will sound the horns of war right now,” Senna said and Roxie sipped a drink. “Roxie, go sound the horns for the fearsome second!”

Roxie normally was pretty sharp. She cruised out of her seat with a brisk walk.

Senna continued by saying, “The aristocrats will want glory and prestige that comes with battle. After I send you off to conquer the Yerrbi, I will hand Amelia the tablet and off she will go. There simply will be no getting it back. In court I will say the King’s will is being exercised or whatnot,” Senna said with a flippant hand. “Settled?”

“Settled,” I said, scooping the last of my oatmeal up.

I left my seat for the balcony’s edge to stare over the city.

One word would dominate the rapidly changing buildings.

Stone.

The wooden roofing was replaced by stone tiles. The few frames that had some wood were swapped for the drab gray tiles over wood boards.

The city was still divided into two halves. Housing on the west, production on the east. The difference from before was the sheer size of the city now that expanded for a half mile each way.

The huts went from mini houses to apartments. Barracks included training yards and soared three stories high.

An arena sat not far from our four story stronghold and beside it were a half dozen inns. Half the damn city glowed orange and had been this way since I’d gotten home.

I heard metal hinges creak as tier four doors opened. The busy streets sent an echoing roar of foot traffic and dinosaur snorts. There were two horns on every widened street moving goods and supplies.

The fortification went from half a wall to metal main gates, thick stone walls, and numerous towers.

Outside the city all the nearby redwood trees were gone. There were nothing but farms, roads, and stables dotted the expansive landscape. Team Dinosaur Warlord was a massive empire and we were only going to get bigger.

I smiled while ingesting the site and then frowned at the fact we were minus one key member.

“You miss her, don’t you,” Senna said, rubbing my back. I nodded, letting the silence settle between us.

We hugged while watching the traffic progress. I’ll admit, I may have gotten a bit comfy and jumped when the trumpets blared loudly.

The duckies honked in excitement. Trumpets flared loudly from them, returning the call. The stegos added to the animal noises with groans of impatience. The fearsome second was going to war and they were eager for blood.

“I won’t be gone long. If… If something happens to me,” I said and her eyes watered.

“Ah come on honey, you’ll be fine. The Yerrbi will fall with ease,” Senna said, faking a smile while being strong. “Plus if you die, I won’t feel so much pressure to win.”

She used the tease as a way to break the tension.

“Hey, speaking of which I should check the score. Last time was a week ago and not many teams had fallen off. I think everyone is entrenched waiting to get proper armies,” I said, pulling out my table to see the score.

There had been a few things I had let slip off the last few weeks. Training, running, and preparing were not one of them. Checking the tablet daily, yeah. I just didn’t have a need because I was stuck in court with Senna. The score was the same anyway.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 1st

Survival: 84.4 (tied 71st)

eXplore: 68.9 (tied 60th)

eXpand: 425.7 (1th)

eXploit: 1233.5 (1st)

eXterminate: 1422.9 (1st)

Warning - The 1st place time will have every stronghold and controlled objective highlighted after day 100.

This came as no surprise. As an empire, we were generating over two hundred workers a day. Every bit of land between here and Sunflower was farm fields. Marius and the first legion had claimed every objective up to large in the area.

Oh, and the lizard people loved gold. Traded food or stone for it at a great rate. There was a reason we had so many points, hard work, and luck.

Still, I worried. That warning would mean in a few weeks armies would wheel on us. And yeah, you could team up.

Our furthest scouts said a purple three eyed alien was seen in a combined scouting cavalry party of tentacle haired cyclops. So there was a chance we could be crushed by a combined foe. I just didn’t think it was likely.

For instance, we didn’t want allies.

The Yerrbi sent a delegation to try to coax us into an agreement.

We did the right thing and let them speak before sending them packing… alive. I had no interest in being their allies. They asked to be neutral and I smiled, telling them we would think about it.

Which was a lie, zero chance I was going to cut them slack.

They were worth points, just like the Pola were.

Even Senna was itching to give them payback for their raids when we were weaker. I just wasn't that kind of man… or king who let you stab him and then he hugged you.

I kissed Senna a dozen times before gearing for war.

I was finally going to ride a stego into battle with my fancy new bow. Larry was going to be thrilled to be let out of the stables and march to war. I just had to hope everything went smooth getting up the mountain.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

COMPETITION 1 DAY 86

“S ay again, Sire,” Harold said, cupping a hand to his ear.

The cavalry man was in a saddle two dinosaurs over. I had decided not to scream my orders to him. Trying to be stealthy with a dinosaur army was the most infuriating thing ever.

My eyes darted to see a way to get to him quickly. Harold and I were in the reserve formation a few hundred paces behind the siege engines. All around me was a gravel filled terrain mixed with large boulders, and a few short mountainous trees.

I arrived early yesterday morning, picking the south side of the city as our siege line. The main component of setting formations was completed quickly. There was a repetitive sound of six engines smashing walls.

Snap. Whoosh. Boom!

The siege had been a pain so far because it was tedious with little to show. That and ever since we arrived, the dreary weather overhead sprinkled with rain.

There was a sense of gloom over my hundreds of troops arrayed in tight formations.

We had caught a few of the wooly yeti scouts trying to glean information on our forces which was worrisome and led me to wanting to give commands without shouting.

And like hell I was going to have the drones pass the message for me.

I tried that once, and only once. I had an archer captain named Carina. I told the drones to pass the message - Send pikemen left and it became - I lick pikemen. Which resulted in me having to explain that I didn't do perverted things with my infantry.

Deciding to just go to him, I jumped from Larry and into the saddle of another stego. The next jump carried me to a duckie platform with Harold.

“Your grace,” Harold said flatly. He was uncomfortable because I was known to be short tempered with the mostly cognitive citizens. Well, that and the space was packed with him and a drone runner.

I rotated the tablet for him to see the image on the screen. “We’re here. The enemy expansion is here. I shouldn’t have to yell to you -”

“You could send a silent chat message if you gave me the spare tablet. Can I have it if I sack this outpost?” Harold asked enthusiastically.

I really was starting to think that the Archaics washed our brains. Actually, I know they did. I had an inkling they were hiding something that I knew but couldn’t prove it.

At the same time, their technology added to people like Harold. That and obviously the Qoobi language was implanted on all managers in all species.

I also deduced that the damn Archaics made the tablets like catnip to potential managers. Which led to the arena fights and questions like this one.

“As soon as you beat me, I will let you have my very own tablet for a week,” I said as if tempting a child with a toy.

He frowned, probably because I kicked his ass in the arena soundly.

“I will do without a reward. I’m drawn to the tablets for reasons that perturb even me. But if you could maybe let me have it for an hour a day, for a week, I’d love that. To learn of the lovely ladies in stasis, of course,” Harold countered and my jaw dropped.

Hmm… Very interesting.

Maybe this was a way to build more teams like Marius and Linia. I would make them dukes in my kingdom without a second thought and I needed that in spades as we grew.

“Of course, in a supervised location. Deal. Now. I jumped over here so the enemy scouts couldn’t hear my battle plans. There are four towers and -”

“Pfft, your grace, I’m…” He saw my scowl of disapproval from his interjection. “I apologize. You don’t know of my acumen. I shall prove myself with a sound victory and have my own scouts ensure we’re both kept up to date,” Harold said and I shrugged.

He was some knight from the crusades. Not sure when or what battles he led, but I liked him enough that he got a battalion.

A battalion that would split my forces, and yet, I wasn’t worried. The enemy had secured their capital with stone walls and extra towers. I called this city Peak and so far the damage had only cracked a few points.

“Fire!” a siege engine captain shouted.

Snap. Snap. Whoosh. Boom!

I heard a catapult team in the distance being screamed at for firing late.

“Victory, Harold. Give me a clean victory. What’s the motto?”

“Victory first, capture second, Sire,” Harold replied confidently.

And so I returned to Larry, leaping from saddle to saddle.

I had Carina in the bench seat with me. She was my next report due.

I moved Larry to return to our battle lines. My reserves that were stashed a quarter mile behind the siege line to protect the rear march away with Harold.

“My light scouts bagged three more enemies. They really are too big to be stealthy. Ten foot furry drones tend to stick out.”

“Nice work,” I replied.

“And you think this lasts that long, you're sending away the reserves?” Carina asked, her wrist flicking a gesture at Peak City.

“Tonight, maybe sooner is what I’m guessing. The thing is, we know there is no magical second force. Our scouts are spread wide.”

She grunted and said, “But we might get hit from below or above.”

I rolled my eyes. “If the walls break and we don’t need Harold and the reserves. Shucks, I could have built wheeled towers and won instead. If I didn’t want this city intact I’d lob rocks until it was rubble,” I said with a grunt.

Carina sighed, pulling a duck pillow from her bag to create a cushion. “You don’t mind do you?”

Snap. Whoosh. Boom!

The tall walls beyond my forces rattled from the impacts, but remained unchanged. A volley every few minutes. Carina had the right idea, might as well get comfy. I situated my cloak as a pillow.

“By all means relax, at least you have most of your cognitive functions. Talk to me while we wait. Academy tier three right?” I asked and she nodded, chewing on a long piece of grass that bounced with her jaw.

“Four when we get back.”

“So… how did it happen for you?” I asked.

There was a brief flash of pain in her expression. “Never thought I’d go from a board room in the world trade center to sitting on a dinosaur watching catapults smashing rocks into pretend walls. At least the aliens are cool,” Carina said with a snickering chortle.

“You sure you’re okay being an archer commander?” I asked, knowing she was suited for other things.

Senna had assigned her with decent praise, which was rare for Senna to do.

Out of the awakened she was one of the few I never had to beat the shit out of in the arena over and over or mansplain things to endlessly.

“Eh, so I’ll let you in on my side of the equation. I wake up in Noobi City smelling like shit and confused as hell. I can fire a bow like I’m a starving games champion and I can crush a man with my thighs.

“Hell, I even do decent if I line up and fire with my eyes closed. So I rolled with it because being a useful archer means I get to live if I do well, sort of. Plus always been a fan of school.

“Went through academy three, and then archery four. The process is like going to sleep and then waking up with new skills,” Carina said, propping her feet against the edge of the saddle. A pleasurable relaxed sigh escaped her.

“You weren’t confused when you arrived?” I folded my arms getting comfy.

“Oh, yeah. Super. But… I remember Valance and the rundown of what to expect with the competition. I was surprisingly calm. Confused, but calm. They… Twist your mind when it's in that half state. I wanted to be happy. That was a driving factor.

“Now… I want to survive. I know if I do well, you’ll add me to your team with memories of my grandbabies. Yeah, I was seventy three when I was abducted on September eleventh of two-”

I cut her off to say, “We just call it nine - eleven. Just like that. Well, I can say you don’t look a day over twenty one, and -”

“You’re not flirting with me.” There was a hard stare. “I understand it's you just trying to be nice.”

“Thank you for being reasonable.”

She smiled and said, “I tried to get an in on that spare tablet by seeing if you wanted a personal trainer in archery. Figured I suck with a sword, so I might try to show I was worthy in a different way.” She eyed me speculatively and I shrugged. “That’s how I got to know Senna. She loved that I was trying to at least trade instead of demand. Question for you.

“You’re a tall handsome man. Why did you turn down the sexy girl with the tail that all the men drool over?”

“Believe it or not, I have a very fulfilled sex life. I try to rationalize why I was picked. When comes down to it, I worked non-stop and -”

“That’s not it.”

I grumbled but continued. “I know my work ethic didn’t make me a competitor. So what is it then? I certainly wasn’t a business magnate. I wasn’t a military…” I was paused politely this time.

Snap. Whoosh. Boom!

“You’re saying that since you can keep your dick in your pants. Got it. The fact you can be nice to women while still kicking ass is why you think you were chosen to lead a section of humanity?”

I shook my head no and replied, “I’m special. I just haven’t figured it out yet. Maybe I’m an enhanced version of a human or something? My dad is a point of contention. Always has been. Outside of that I get lost when I think about the subject.”

“I can buy that one. Look at what you achieved on your first competition,” Carina said, sweeping a hand over the neatly formed lines of soldiers waiting for the enemy walls to come down.

“Just because a sexy woman throws herself at me doesn't mean I need to dick her down,” I said and she spurted laughing. “What?”

“Ah!” she sighed with her laugh. “Honesty goes a long way, my King. So weird to say that.”

I watched the catapults reloading. “Anyway, I like Roxie, she will be good for our team. A kingdom with two queens is enough and I have no problem making friends along the way. My theory is - the more I improve your lives, the better things will be on Qoobi.”

“So, I was a banker. The kind that studied businesses as if they were teams. I have a theory about Qoobi.”

“Oh?”

Snap. Whoosh. Boom!

Carina folded her arms under her small breasts. Her short hair had a masculine look that went with her tom boyish features.

Senna said she was a banking acquisition and transactions manager or something like that. They bought and sold companies like I did with used AC units.

Now she was chilling on a battlefield with her feet kicked up. Just casually talking with a man pretending to be a king and completely okay with the situation.

“A hundred percent conjecture here. Qoobi is real. But it is not some isolated continent thing for everyone. Valance always hiccups just slightly when I ask him about the layout of Qoobi. Why?

“If there is a continent for each species with a hundred slots for that species… Why stutter? My guess. We’re in a tournament for a reason and getting ten points is not the real reason.

“It's all about the winners of the individual matches. Why else give them ten points? Again, just a guess, but they do it to create a different battle royale. Every hundred matches those first place teams go onto a continent and fight without tablets. This isn’t about preservation, it's about parting the sheep from the wolves, and then a big main event they drool over,” Carina said and she meant every word. Her voice was so certain it unnerved me.

“Dark, that’s… savage. Well, maybe we should be in second place. What do you think happens to the teams that don’t come in first but earn ten points eventually?” I asked.

“As long as they don’t come in first, I believe they go to a preserve. Their offspring are future competitors or whatever. These Archaics are obviously watching this and they love the ones and zeros,” she said.

Snap. Whoosh. Boom!

The distant boom came with a resounding crack. Oh… The second panel to the right of the gate was partially crumbled. Finally, some good news!

“Oh, lookie here,” Carina said, spitting out her grass. “What’s the plan?”

“Typing it out now, but we’ll go with stegos first to break the enemy infantry line. Followed by our own infantry and then archers. Duckies stay on outside arrowing opportune targets or fleeing troops. Good luck, Carina.”

“Aye, your grace. Give em hell in the front.”

She stuffed her pillow in her ruck before heading off Larry’s back. A tier four archer replaced her a moment later.

I tapped the tablet. Ordering that I wanted the catapults on free fire and to send a longbow volley into that section of the wall.

The sight of seeing three hundred archers in unison was amazing. There were a few times the robotic nature of the drones shined and this was certainly one of them. They readied arrows in sync, arched back, and whoosh.

A loud whistle of the arrows launching caught my attention. I watched the volley’s increasing speed when the projectiles arched downward, darting for the stone wall.

Then something unexpected happened. The metal tipped tier four arrows converted the damaged rubble into a plume of gray dust.

Uh…

My army went into a relaxed posture since the target was defeated. And this is why I hated commanding by tablet. Every one of the cognizant soldiers looked to me.

“Free fire on the left and right sections of the broken wall! When those fall, we charge!” I shouted.

Nord, a Viking turned infantry commander, gave a loud battle cry of eagerness. He was the only one though. I guess the thrill of battle never left his blood.

“Larry take us to the front,” I said loud enough for my munching dinosaur to hear me.

The small beady eyes squinted at me for making him walk. I had to admit, Larry was like five tiers of awesome, and six tiers of lazy. Deep down I knew he’d be a warrior when the time came.

A sway kept me on my toes while we led the heavy cavalry forward. Behind me the other stegos followed the path between the formations.

Snap. Whoosh. Boom!

I flinched a bit when a billowing of dust erupted on the next wall section. The breach was filling with wooly yetis arriving in heavy armor.

“Archer volleys into those troops!”

The ranged soldiers were ready. A second later there was the sound of a hundred twangs.

Snap. Whoosh. Boom!

In the breach yetis crumbled from the raining arrows.

As organized as this was, it was still chaotic.

We were smashing the walls down and the enemy was rotating troops. A second volley of arrows quickly filled behind the first. The enemy couldn’t take fire like this for long.

Unexpectedly, the gates on both the east and west sides of the city creaked open. Heavy yeti infantry marched out in neat formations to the sounds of singing.

Well what did we have here? I guess they wanted to fight outside… But why?

I couldn’t let them set key pincer points, it would prevent me from storming the breach. At the same time, this was a gross error to send troops out from behind protection like this.

Maybe the enemy was up to some grand strategy I couldn’t fathom. I removed my self-doubt knowing this moment required decisive commands.

“Archers left flank focus! Infantry guard the range! All cavalry charge right flank!” I shouted over the sounds of the battle.

Larry jolted forward, his growl joined by the duckies sounding the trumpeting charge. The sheer power of the noise reverberated through me.

The thundering clap of heavy animals racing forward across the stone terrain echoed across the battlefield.

The sight of our heavy creatures storming for the enemy infantry was mesmerizing. I had to focus intently to look for targets of opportunities.

I yanked an arrow out, slotting the weapon in the sinew. A rapid inhale and exhale allowed me to steady my aim while the saddle rocked.

I drew to my anchor point and released.

My spinning arrow crashed through a thin metal chest of a mounted wooly yeti.

The foe coughed blood before slumping forward on his ram. A rain of enemy arrows came crashing into our cavalry lines.

A duckie stumbled, then tumbled in a loud crash.

Dozens of cavalry behind the fallen ally parted to try to avoid trampling the dinosaur. An arrow whizzed mere inches from my face, sinking into the archer beside me.

There was no cry or alert, merely a body crumpling in the saddle beside me.

A few arrows were not going to halt our charge. Daylight broke through the heavy clouds for just a fraction of a second.

A heavy shine of sunlight on metal caused both sides to squint. Our dinosaur charge arrived at the perfect moment.

Larry tucked his head low, using his sheer mass to push the hastily arranged enemy shield line; smashing the formation.

I fired an arrow into an archer in a tower, sending the body flailing for the ground. Chaos ensued when the stegos parted infantry before swing tails with such force their spikes sent ten foot tall infantry flying like rag dolls.

The battle lines of the enemy broke when the duckies crashed into mere infantry. A four ton animal was oppressive to push back, especially when they were raising and stopping with front legs.

Cries of anguish and pain lashed over the din of metal clashing.

My eyes sought the enemy general and I came up empty. I slew an opportune infantry target before focusing on another tower archer.

My ability to fire a bow had drastically improved and my shots were landing exactly where I wanted them to.

Larry continued to lead the pack, diverting our charge into Peak City. The heavy foot falls of the cavalry behind us told me the fight was already over.

But why was there no surprise sprung, or grand strategy revealed?

My mounted archers, big dinosaurs, and the fact the enemy swordsmen had no adjusting orders resulted in a slaughter.

Larry strolled into the city and I expected to encounter a boss fight or a surrender or something. Instead my mind had that ah-ha moment.

Tier four strongholds had a hidden exit under your stronghold if you built the dungeon. There was a manager or competitor fleeing some secret spot.

My gut knew it.

Shucks, Senna and I used our own private secret exit to go on secluded walks. I’d thought they would run with a wild direct charge out of the city.

We didn’t even have the city completely surrounded. This was unexpected and probably why it worked so well. They sacrificed their entire army to trick me.

Considering myself fooled, I spun Larry to head back out of the city. There was a fading fight left in these defenders.

I tapped a command to advance on enemy forces for my infantry and for the archers to get closer to the city to pick defending archers off walls.

Larry charged back into a small clump of warriors, bowling them over. The stegos behind us stomped the fallen warriors into the mush. I spun Larry right to follow the wall for the left flank.

My infantry was routing the enemy already. A glance over my shoulder showed the same with the right flank. The Yerrbi general had literally given me kill points on a platter to escape…

While the points were nice, and this city was great. I wanted the tablets. With a clenched jaw I sent Larry back into the city through a broken wall section.

We trotted for the stronghold and I noticed the enemy archers had stopped firing. Weapons were being laid down across the battlefield.

I sighed, knowing I’d won, but lost somehow.

There was a gate on the stronghold that was opened by wooly yetis, as if they knew I was conquering their city.

I was surprised they let me in, but maybe there was a moral factor here. Kill enough, have your leaders flee, and the drones surrendered. I tapped on my tablet to find out.

You have activated the ability to claim a tier four stronghold. The seventy three defending soldiers and twenty three defending workers have agreed to surrender to you. (YES) Selecting yes will reset all builds in progress and return materials to the depot. - (NO) Selecting no will revert all defenders into hostile forces until death. You have 8 hours to decide.

Hmm… Eight hours. Nice.

Must be a mechanic in play that we just didn't fully understand yet. I selected yes. There was a swirling of brown magic that was so bright that even Larry flinched.

A resounding boom erupted from the stronghold, washing magical tendrils over wooly yetis.

That wave of magic transformed the enemy into friendly humans. The sounds of battle had completely died as the victory was secured.

I opened the map to see if my forces saw the enemy managers.

Nope… Well shit.

I guess I would need to send a hundred scouts out.

The map showed Harold had already conquered the outpost and was awaiting a tablet to convert the building.

There was a bit of shock in the fact I hadn’t gotten an immediate congratulations from Senna. I knew she would be following this closely so I texted her.

‘Secured Peak City! Going to hunt down the managers.’

Wahoo. Busy helping Beth. Chat later.

I read this line and it passed by the first time with barely a notice. A second glance at her reply was like someone punched me so hard in the gut I could cry.

Beth was dead. She knew I would know that.

Senna wasn’t busy. She was in trouble and deep down, I feared I would be too late to save her.

Chapter

Thirty-Four

COMPETITION 1 DAY 86

T hat nagging feeling I was going to be too late ate at me.

Larry the lumbering stego was abandoned. I stole a duckbill from some drone archer and picked up Carina as my first stop. She was super confused, but I merely stuck a finger over my lips and had her sit.

She pouted, folding her arms with disdain, but minded my orders.

I didn’t know what was going on, or who to trust. Senna praised Carina, so… She was going into the danger zone with me. Just needed to give Harold my trackable tablet first.

“I’m confused, your grace,” Harold said after I handed him the tablet.

“Get in line,” Carina snorted and I wanted to pinch her for her outburst.

“Harold, you did wonderful, beyond expectations actually. I’ve decided to reward you. Build up this stronghold, conquer nearby objects, set defenses, and grow your army. I am off to ferret the Yerrbi managers. Can you handle this?”

He frowned, smiled, frowned, and settled on a smile. “I see what is going on. You wish to get the glory of earning more tablets while sticking me with managing menial workers. I have sworn myself to my king and our kingdom. It shall be as you command. Good luck in your hunt, Sire.”

“Harold. The succession goes, me, Senna, and then my dukes. Keep up the good work and I’ll make you a duke like Marius and Linia,” I said.

“Duchess Linia,” he incorrectly corrected.

“Duke. My titles do not have sexes. Something that you need to understand is that if I fall, there are women leaders in my kingdom. Do you wish to go back to stasis?” I asked, gauging his response. “There will surely be male only leaderships with some competitors that might be a better fit if you need that.”

I’d never told them what happened to Fredrickson. That was a secret Senna, Beth, and I kept close.

Harold shook his head with a big grin. “Women have ruled the world since man roamed its surface.” I was going to correct him that it was humans instead of man but I closed my mouth. He continued saying, “I will defer to the next highest authority without question.”

“Perfect. Good luck, and await your next orders while securing our gains,” I said, spinning the duckbill for a run.

We bounced from the jostling ride in a hurry to return to Noobi City. After ten minutes we were clear of all troops.

I spun on Carina, not drawing a weapon. I was confident I could best her in this closed setting if she did.

“Who was plotting against us?” I asked harshly with a snappy tone.

She furled her brows, then understanding relaxed her scrunched features. “Senna is in trouble. A coup?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, surprised she figured it out so quickly.

“You realize it could have Harold involved right,” Carina mentioned, trying to get comfortable as the duckie sped down hill. Her judging eyes told me she was calculating the situation.

“At this point, I have to trust someone. Here is a secret that you get to earn because Senna had faith in you. As a manager I can return you, another potential manager will eventually replace you. That means we're incompatible and will never be a match. If the Archaics find you unable to be matched with another competitor later… They put you out an airlock, and the real you.”

“Fuck off! No way,” Carina said, obviously offended by my statement. Then she saw my face. “Jesus… not the right word right now. I should be trying to seduce you to not kill me?”

“Shucks, and no. Again, I’d like to think I’m one of the good ones. Using a woman as a sex toy for my benefit and her survival is beyond low and the more I think of it the angrier I get,” I said with deep inhales to cool my temper. “There is a caveat to this revelation you need to hear. Senna was offered to be a competitor and form a team without me in it.”

“Wow, so if we prove ourselves, we not only can get to Qoobi, but we can be kings or queens on our own. Talk about incentive. What about treachery? Does killing a competitor get you infamy?”

“Carina, I have no idea. I would have to assume, if Harold leads a coup and comes in fifth place, that would be seen as a positive for him to run his own team,” I said with a loud sigh. “The flip side is -”

“You catch him, you can literally ice him. Forever.” She paused, biting the inside of her cheek. “Damn… I was okay with waking up without memories. I had a good life but understood I could have another without knowing I put good people out of work to buy a bigger boat. And maybe I would marry for love this time,” Carina said with a mix of regret and longing.

And this is why you talked to people. “So you’re not a traitor?”

“Heavens no. Look Nate, you’re a cocky asshole at times. Everyone grumbles and moans about you flaunting your skills in the arena. But that’s the thing. You back up the swagger with tangible results. People like the best to be in charge. Not to mention you and Senna are kicking ass. How do you say – ‘This guy is the worst leader ever, he is in first place.’ You simply don’t.”

“And Beth too. But thanks. Okay, I hope we don’t kill this duckie running him this hard. The stats said they can run for a full day and at this speed. My guess has us back in four hours or less. I can only hope it is soon enough. You ready for the plan?” I asked.

“Rumor has it your plans are the worst,” Carina snickered with a smile. “Sorry, Senna told me to do that, and you did reduce your frown at my joke.”

“Alright, this is what we do.”

∞∞∞

“Go find a stable after you rest. Thank you,” I said to the duckie, patting his side in goodbye.

“Wow, you took off that cowboy hat,” Carina said, seeing me remove my favorite part of Noobi besides my waifu and wifey. I noticed she found a new stick of grass to chew on right away. “I was a habitual pen chewer, grass is much better.”

A chuckle escaped my lips and I decided not to judge her. I stuffed the hat into my bag, sticking my helmet onto my head. The chin strap was a pain and Carina came to help.

“I… I’m proud of you Nate.”

She eyed me shyly for the first time. Her tender eyes and proximity caught me off balance.

“Huh?”

“My husband… My former husband…” Her face flustered. “Never mind. Anyway. I’ll try my best to help you save the day,” Carina said in a sad tone.

“You okay, I need you strong,” I said, sticking a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded and patted my hand.

“Sorry, I touch women without asking and…”

Carina shook her head and said, “Senna and Beth are lucky ladies. Now let’s go kill some traitors.”

“Oh! You wish you had a husband like me,” I said, connecting the dots.

She lightly laughed, gesturing for the cavern opening behind the ivy.

“Nothing gets by you. How do we see in there, it is pitch black?” Carina asked.

“Let me walk into stuff. When the stairs start there is a light so it shouldn’t be too bad,” I said in what turned out to be a big lie.

The too bad part was a lie, because the dark tunnel I normally used a tablet to illuminate, beat the shit out of me. My nose was bleeding, my cheek was cut, and an eye was puffing.

I absorbed the pain with pride. It's funny the tortuous things you’ll put yourself through for love.

Also, Carina had like a dozen chances to stab my back in the dark.

Or when I was knocked out from walking into a low overhang.

Yeah, taking the secret entrance without a light was not fun.

When the stairwell illuminated at the end of a long hallway I cautiously stepped forward. If there was an enemy guard he would be here at the top of the stairs. It's where I would set one.

There was tension in the air. My palms were moist, my mouth dry. There was a twist in my gut, a dreading of what I would find. Carina passed me with her bow ready.

I hadn’t even realized I’d frozen.

I drew my sword silently.

She cleared the stairwell with her arrow swiveling with her aim.

I found my resolve, heading up the stairs first. This was a super long stairwell that butted against a common stairwell on the left wall. I tried to listen if people were moving up and down but there wasn’t anything audible.

Then again, we snuck down here without anyone figuring out this existed, so the sound must be quiet on the other side.

We reached the top of the stairs where the small candle illuminated the landing section and the stairs with a flickering light.

A door frame was situated here that would lead to my bedroom. This was the moment I waited for. There was no plan after this part.

Carina pushed the door to the side and I burst out.

And into an empty room. Custom clothing was strewn across the floor. Every drawer was tipped upside down. Even the book shelf had been moved.

Hmm…

This mess was clearly someone searching for something.

I was hoping to find Senna or Roxie here. Or at least some motive.

“The master tablet,” I muttered and Carina shrugged.

There was a light distant scream. My guess was that came from the dungeons. Which…

I waved to Carina to follow me. She stuck close as I entered the bathroom.

Again we saw everything turned upside down as a search was conducted. I set my sword into its sheath knowing what we should do.

A quick flick of the shower to on, left Carina giving me a very confused gaze. I stuck a finger to my lips rapidly shutting the water off but turning the dial beyond where it should go.

The floor edged back with a grating sound, revealing a confined vertical crawl space with a ladder.

“We have to hurry,” I hissed.

I scurried down the ladder, taking a few rungs at a time to clear room for her. She quickly followed me, and a moment after she was in the ladder space, the floor reverted to closed; plunging us into darkness.

The steps had a consistency to them, allowing me to pace myself in the dark. A new cry of pain that was not distant, echoed up our confined space.

That was Senna.

My heart ached. I want to rush to her, save her from the torment.

A few quick breaths let me keep a steady pace.

“This is your last chance you bitch. Where is the master tablet? Things will get dark, very dark if you do not give me what I need. Do you understand me?”

“Fuck you and all of you No Mercy bitches. Who the fuck sends assassins and tortures women for a simple game,” Senna shouted with fury.

There was a blood curdling scream.

“Ya just don’t get it. This is life or death. Win or lose means everything. Ya know what, maybe I'll stop cutting off toes. You don’t seem to mind the pain. You don’t seem worried about my tormenting your pet either…”

“Nate will fucking murder you,” Senna said between sobs, her resolve weakening as if she doubted her words.

My feet arrived on a landing not far from the interrogation room.

This tiny quick connect went from my shower to the prison shower.

Meaning there would be some vital space to cover before I could get to Senna.

“Darling, we both know he is up in the mountains hunting for tablets. Amelia said he wouldn’t love you enough to come back for a random check in.” I heard him scoff taking a pause to say. “Right boys.”

I gulped. Suddenly it made sense.

Amelia had gone south on the map a few weeks ago after completing cartographer school. She had spent five days not moving, her spot not too far from a starting point.

When I read the report of her adventure I thought that fact was odd… She said she was getting information on enemies.

So these No Mercy aliens had flipped her. I was stunned, horrified, and then ten shades of pissed off.

“Finally, removing your toes made me desiring other things. Pete, flip her over,” the voice said.

Another wave of realization washed over me. This was probably another human team. Had to be if they got beyond guards and had names like Pete.

Well, like hell I was letting this fucker rape my wife. I pushed on the shower fake shelf. Toiletries spilled as I opened the concealed door.

I tensed as the soap clattered onto the stone flooring.

“What was that?” A new voice said.

“Dungeons spawn rats you idiot?” Another new voice replied.

Well, shit, there was more than a few of them. That was not good.

I exited into the shower room as quietly as possible. Carina joined me but needed a minute to ready her bow. We eyed each other, terse nods confirming we were ready.

The sound of struggling gave me a sense of urgency.

Senna was at least a few cells over based off the noise.

Speed was everything here. I burst from the shower room, instantly sprinting for the sounds of a tussle.

Two guards watched the inside of a cell, not actually guarding anything. Watching their boss about to rape a women was apparently more entertaining.

The gap was closed before the first one could fully turn.

My sword lanced out through the front of his neck, spraying blood onto the wall.

I continued the attack by diverting the tip of the black steel into the face of the other guard. The blade dove in at the nose level. Startled eyes crossed as the second guard’s mind realized he was dead.

“Kill him!” the leader in the red and black armor said from behind my wife.

The troop raised flutes at me. I noticed the flutes were dart guns a fraction too late.

The left guard knew he was doomed.

He spat a dart into my cheek.

A quick lunge with a tight horizontal chop let me slice through his neck, sending his head tumbling.

Senna fought the leader with a fiery rage.

An arrow whistled into the forehead of the right man after he shot a dart into my neck. I stumbled, dropping my blade.

There was a realization that my mind caught up to.

These darts were poisoned.

I slammed a fist into the leader’s face as he struggled with Senna. My clumsy punch was right on the kisser, turning him into a limp target.

My weakening hands latched onto the man’s neck to strangle him.

“Die you fucking pig!” Senna shouted in rage.

She swung my sword into his face, splitting the features into a tear of nastiness. My hands released their strangle hold on his neck.

“Sorry, took… so… long,” I managed to say, my body giving out.

I crashed to the blood soaked floor.

Senna flipped me over, her eyes were so ecstatic and full of emotion.

She shed tears of joy while lovingly stroking my face; as if I were but a dream, and she was confirming I was real.

My face was covered in kisses. She grew concerned when I struggled and was unable to return her love.

“My hero. Nate… You… I love you so fucking much it hurts, my knight in shining armor. Let’s get you healed.”

Senna grabbed a tablet off the dead leader’s body. “Messages from a Khan,” Senna muttered, navigating the menus.

“No!” Senna screamed in frustration. She cried twice as hard.

I coughed, struggling to breathe, and my vision was blurring.

“Like Genghis Khan the history guy? Would explain the No Mercy team name,” Carina said with a scoff. Her casual tone turned to a gasp when she read the tablet over Senna’s crying shoulder.

“Love…” I managed and Senna brooded over me, abandoning the tablet for a goodbye.

“This is so stupid! First Beth, now you. I love you so much. I’ll make you so proud.” Her fingers shook from her raw emotions. Tears streamed down her face.

“Remove the darts!” Carina said, and Senna plucked the dart out of my face and neck.

My fading vision saw Carina shake her head no, telling me I was indeed going to die. Senna kept talking to me as my ears rang and I went blind.

I died on that prison cell floor knowing I’d save my wife.

Chapter

Thirty-Five

DATE UNKNOWN - GLADIUM SPACE STATION

“E xcellent viewing,” a female robotic voice said in a pleasant tone. “I’m Sheila by the way.”

I felt like I’d chugged a thousand beers the day before. I was brought back to life only to feel like I was dying again.

I was drowning in bile I couldn’t expel, my feet tried to walk in desperation and I stumbled.

A zap of electricity raced through me, clearing the immense headache that had been building.

“Oops, almost another error. Shouldn’t forget to wake you properly next -”

My eyes shot open and I aimed my projectile bile onto the floating orb. A thick white coated caused a spark of dissatisfaction.

“Aw… I deserved that.” The female orb muttered.

There was a blink of light and the orb left.

A different orb, or a clean one returned and said, “Welcome back to your real body.”

This voice I recognized. He pushed me back onto the podium and into stasis.

In what felt like a second later I was brought back feeling amazing.

“Ah, Valance, thank you. I didn’t like that female, gotta admit to err is human,” I said and Valance hummed delightfully.

“Your healing lost you a day. It was the least I could do,” Valance said, triggering the space stations door to open. “Are you ready to join the others?”

“Shucks, Valance I’d thought you never ask. I take it the competition is over?”

Another lime green hum of satisfaction. My feet felt sure under me while I followed him out of the room. That single eye rotated and locked onto my belt before returning to watch the route.

Duh, my belt was a tablet of sorts. I pulled up my information.

Competitor 334599 - Nathanael Immersion = +3

Competition 1 - Rank 11th

Eleventh, hmm…

I decided to be really proud of this ranking. The desire to get an extra point by being in ninth was there, but I had also hoped Senna would get second. Or first. There was no point in fretting, again, eleventh was amazing. That and I was just a smidge elated to be among the living again. I kinda understood why others hated stasis so much.

Before we got too far Valance pulled me into a side room. There was a single pedestal with yellow track lighting. I recognized this room but the dimensions are off from my previous visit to a duplication room.

“You get a full month break assuming no unforeseen circumstances arise. Now is your chance to properly equip for the next event. I would recommend you replace damaged clothing, and any items you did not use,” Valance said in an informative tone.

I headed to the platform, feeling myself suddenly in a different plane of existence the second my foot stepped on. All around me was the clothing room with the exact same choices as before.

“Nate,” Valance said from inside the clothing warehouse, causing me to jump like I saw a mouse.

“What -?”

“Don’t speak. Keep moving and swap out your clothes. I can’t be tracked in here, but your side of the conversation can.”

I heeded his words, deciding on two toga, three winter fur cloaks, and three western outfits in less than a minute.

He buzzed in irritation at how quickly I shopped, so I pretended to keep shopping to placate the irritated orb.

“Carina was wrong. And her concept… Well, that put an idea in a spectators’ heads. The notion isn’t new of a real competition, just not visited lately. This charity work of saving the dumb species from around the universe costs resources. There is the universal law of you can’t make something from nothing. I was really looking forward to you getting revenge on team No Mercy for their vile ways. Alas, they took first,” Valance said and I frowned.

Someone had bested Senna and I hoped it wasn’t Khan.

“The funding has come from the natural evolution of the games. That funding is still solid… but, where there is greed there becomes a need.

“Khan is talented, and he also has a dark side. Even my kind sees that. Sacrificing him to a ten player free-for-all instead of allowing him on Qoobi has garnered a lot of interest. I figured since I’m so invested in humans, I’d tell you the two truths. He won, and he will not be a long term target of yours, because even if he wins again, he will die. Do you understand?”

I nodded that I did.

“Good,” Valance continued. “I wouldn’t fret about coming in first during your next iteration, I just wanted you to know what's happening. Senna knows too… And hold your tongue.” I nodded “Good. You both did well. I’m glad you two found each other.”

There was a hint of pride in his voice.

“I need you to request my presence for professional support. I fear there are anti-human sentiments at play. Most of your kind can be quite diabolical. Sheila almost killed you and I filed her for recycling. It’ll never happen, but if you file a complaint form 22-1.d.c.2b well, then she will be removed and I can help support you. Say you’re done shopping now.”

I smiled, pretending like I remembered that stupid form. “Valance you’re the most helpful hybrid a competitor could ask for. I’ve finished shopping. Please extract me.”

I shifted planes to the white room with yellow lighting.

We left the room, walking down a tight hallway, and arrived at a square pad. When we shot a thousand feet in a nanosecond, I screamed like a little boy being told he had to go to the dentist. There was a distracted tucking of my new cowboy outfit while I collected my balls.

“Where we going?”

“Gladium is a space station orbiting Qoobi. You are going to…” A buzz sounded and the lift halted. Valance was frozen for a second. “Good news I was assigned as Team 334599’s official liaison. Sheila’s slight at almost killing a rising competitor has resulted in her reassignment.”

“Oh, good, that sucked, the dying, then almost dying again bit,” I said with a cheerful tone that swung to disdain.

A cheerful hum vibrated from the device, resulting in me wanting to flick his ear if he had one.

We strolled down a yellow lit hallway wide enough for a four lane road. The space station was devoid of everything.

No decorations, no traffic, no cleaning bots, and no one else. White utilitarian corridors that seemed endless in their length branched into intersections of more endless lanes.

“Oh, right. We’re going to your after competition stress relief home. Yes home, sort of. You will have twelve bedrooms, a kitchen, an entertainment room, a gym, a pool, a sauna, a spa, hot water, gaming center, and more. Each species gets a luxury restoration home based on their species desire. Think of this time as your place to learn, improve, and focus for the next competition,” Valance said in a flippant tone and added. “Or use the time to do nothing important besides indulge.”

“You mentioned team twice. As in Senna and Beth?” I asked hesitantly.

“Senna has granted a room to those she deemed trustworthy. A reward for their hard work. Being free of stasis as a full team helps build bonds, repair cracks, and remove bad apples. As the team leader you can supersede her decisions. There will be no harm if you send them back with favorable feelings,” Valance said cautiously.

“I understand. Will we have freedom to roam -?”

“Nope, you will have food auto generated in your kitchen and consider your home aboard the Gladium a fancy prison. Can’t have you getting free and killing other teams now, can we,” Valance said with a tisk sound.

“Hey Valance. Are their baby inhibitors?” I was a bit confused by this situation. “I mean…”

“I’m well aware of the perverse stuff you mortals dally in. Senna has news for you on that front.”

“So yes.”

“Really going there?” Valance questioned in a sassy tone.

I smirked. “Fair point. And it can be longer or shorter than a month?”

The robot buzzed green, answering yes.

“K, thanks Valance. If we have -”

He interjected and said, “I’ll be on Gladium. A friend of mine is over earth, plucking the last few souls deemed worthy. Your competition ended some time ago and all the teams are finally being awoken. You were given inadequate preparation time, no team building, and still came in eleventh. And another human team won the competition. Part of my reassignment comes from your success.”

We arrived at two barn sized white doors that hissed open, rapidly tucking into the walls. The coloration went from yellow to green. I stepped forward and Valance stayed in a hover, not crossing the threshold.

“Goodbye for now Valance. And thank you,” I said, humbled by his help.

“Enjoy your team building enclosure.”

I waved over my shoulder, entering the prison on my own free will. The sounds of laughter were loud in these halls. That laughter silenced when the big sliding doors behind me sealed shut with a snap.

The sound of bare feet running on tiled floors echoed loudly. I could hear two sets in a race, eager to reach me with an increasing noise. I stuck my hands on my hips waiting for the inevitable bombshell babes to greet me.

Beth and Senna rounded the corner with squeals of delight. I braced, catching both my wifey, and waifu as they lunged for me. A torrent of loving kisses were exchanged between tight hugs.

A few cautious footsteps triggered Senna to whisper into my ear, “Set me down, and don’t squeeze too tight. And I haven’t told the others yet. Feels so different.”

“Am I late?” I asked.

“Yesterday,” Beth said, dragging me forward with Senna pulling my other arm. “Valance said he wanted to summon you but was fighting with Sheila, even said it in an Aussie accent. Said she almost killed you, so you would be a day late. He was spot on. Oh, my handsome man. I thought of being in your arms for too long.” She did her playacting with this.

Beth halted our journey to the others. She hopped onto my torso, straddling my stomach, and leaned down to lock her lips to mine.

My neck and back were rubbed as if she wanted to strip me while she increased her hungry kiss. I smirked when she let me breathe.

After I set Beth down, Senna yanked my collar to match her height, stealing a long, hard, and passionate kiss. My lips smacked the air teasingly when she parted.

It felt good to be missed, honestly I wish I could have been the one greeting them in such a manner. There was a joy in my chest that continued to grow as I took in their beauty.

“I love you Nate, a whole month of the three of us reconnecting. You’re going to get so many rewards for saving me,” Senna said tenderly, a hand running down my chest, wanting to go further south.

There was a cleared throat from the group of onlookers.

I saw Marius, Linia, Roxie, Pat, Harold, Carina, and three more female faces I didn’t recognize. Senna must have had more issues with men. After seeing Roxie get brutalized and that asshole remove her toes, I couldn’t blame her.

“Let me give him a short recap,” Senna said, leading me over. “You died and I tried to ice Amelia Earhart. She didn’t die a horrible death, instead she simply vanished from our list. Best guess we came up with, is she shifted to Team No Mercy.

“On day one hundred we were in first place. We were swarmed with enemies and Team Dinosaur Warlord fought battles at our borders for months. Those extended engagements just helped us stay in first. Eventually there were so many we had to turtle.

“In the end, I was assassinated by poison in my tea that I drank for pleasure. I… probably should have just stuck to automated water quenching my thirst, but the tea made me feel human. No proof, but it would make sense to lay the blame on No Mercy.”

“I died on campaign,” Marius grumbled, shaking my hand. “An ape humanoid waited in a tree for a prime target.” He shuddered. “Had my throat chewed out, was a rather unpleasant demise.”

Linia patted his back and said, “I died defending the walls of Sunflower City. A chip of wall went through a window I was walking by. Random things cause random deaths, I guess. I held out for a month though.”

“Thank you both for giving it your all,” I told them with a friendly smile.

Pat stood there with an arm around Roxie. “Roxie and I fought a retrograde after Senna passed. We lasted for another month until we succumbed on day 193. After Senna died, it was as if they knew. The enemy grew more reckless in the attrition war. We did our best in slaying the hellions at the gates. Our points kept us in first for a while.”

“And husband, my manners. You remember Harold. Said you promised him a duke title.”

I smiled, man hugging Harold. “Well, how did Peak City go?”

“During the war, I went ten kills to one loss. Remember Nord that Viking. He was fantastic in helping me, ya should promote him. We held the high ground with decent tactics. You can really make the enemy bleed until they realize to cut you off,” he beamed with pride.

“Then your dukedom is solidified. Are you okay with managing war instead of cities?” I asked.

“Quite right, your tablet let me find Cecilia. She was a saint, known as a musician. During my times before the crusades I studied her. Very privileged to introduce you two. Cecilia this is his most noble grace King Nathanael Immerson. King Nathanael, this is Cecilia Devout,” Harold said, introducing me to the pretty brown haired woman with soft brown eyes and round features.

“I’ve come to terms with a different definition of god. My earlier faith… has altered,” Cecilia said and I fake smiled. “I would like to go to Qoobi if able, your grace.”

“I have this goofy smile on my face because I tend to avoid topics of religion if helped, and I have no problem with whom you praise your faith upon or how you chose to do so. Glad to have you around for the next month,” I said, shaking her hand.

Senna guided me to a strawberry blonde woman with no hips or tits. She had a pretty smile and kind brown eyes. She was homely, and yet comforting to be around.

“This is Emily, a Georgetown scholar who was stolen from Earth in the 70s. Helped me run Noobi City when you were gone,” Senna said.

Emily curtsied and Beth went beside her to correct the gesture. The two became lost in the process, so we moved on.

Senna guided me to a striking woman with fiery red hair, light freckles, and sparkling light brown eyes. She was a looker, almost as pretty as Beth.

Senna pulled a cloth from her bust, wiping my chin as if I were drooling. I shot her a playful glance, unable to contain my spreading smile.

“This is Dr. Isabella McFlinnin, and she was our triage center awakened. Tier five academy is when they fully unlock. She and I became platonic friends for a few months and I invited her to spend time with us while we study our results.”

“Pleasure to meet you Isabella,” I said, extending my hand and receiving a hug instead.

“Izzy, I go by Izzy. That’s one hell of a lady you have there,” Izzy said, tightening our embrace. The big juicy breasts squeezing against my frame told me a lot. “Oh.”

Beth darted in to kiss my cheek. “Come tell us the story of how you figured it out that Senna was in trouble, then well, we’ll tell you ours. Best part, strawberry daiquiris!”

“No Zhang?” I asked.

Carina raised a brow. “This party is lacking meat… if ya know what I mean.”

“Flipping flip,” Senna exclaimed. “I’ll get him in tomorrow. He was loyal and worthy of including. Now come, time for some celebration.”

“Oh wow! I guess some relaxing is long overdue. We placed eleventh, earned three points, and are well on the way for Team Warlord to reach Qoobi,” I said with cheer.

Beth had vanished without me noticing. She returned carrying a tray of champagne glasses. I snatched a glass with a thank you.

“No Team… Dinosaur… Warlord?” Pat asked in a gruff tone. Roxie had two hands around his one and the duo looked adorable.

“Yeah, I liked the Dinosaurs,” Carina said, with others echoing her sentiment.

Harold cleared his throat. “I won a lot of fights I should have lost by sheer mass of our mounts. Even fought raptors with duckies. The stegos swatted them both aside.”

While not spilling my drink I executed a two hands up shrug at the notion. It would be silly to take something that was working and try to fix it. When I saw Senna was finished handing out flutes, I raised my glass for a toast.

“Team three three something or other came into the first competition as two souls desperate to cling to life. Senna and I were determined to endure the suck to achieve greatness. We did that and became stronger with Beth.

“Along the way we grew our family, we made amazing friends, and built one hell of a kingdom. To all of you, thank you!” I said raising my glass and everyone but Senna drank.

Senna snuggled into my side, raising her full glass. “I’m pregnant!” Loud female squealing erupted. When the joyful noise abated, Senna continued, “Like a real baby we get to take to with us to Qoobi and goes in stasis when we compete.”

Beth, Senna, and I hugged.

Our trio broke apart so I could say, “No matter what challenges we face we go into them knowing we are a force to be reckoned with. Let’s relax for forty eight hours, we certainly earned it. When our skin shrivels from too much hot tubbing and were exhausted from the good times, we hunker down and train. I believe in you, and I believe in us.”

Senna handed me her flute, sensing the moment. Her baby blues spoke of lust. Beth grabbed my ass-cheek. Her hazel eyes sparkled with hunger. Apparently I had bed room entertainment on the menu. There were chuckles at seeing the audacious ladies.

Before I was dragged away Beth shouted, “To Team Dinosaur Warlord and the Immerson Kingdom!”

We echoed her cry and at that moment, I had never been so happy in my life. The future was bright, bright indeed. As a team we simply had to increase our +3 score. No big deal… Or was it?

Epilogue

“N o!” Khan said in disdain. He tried to swat Sheila but she dodged his attempts with ease.

“I’m sorry competitor 334534, but there is no other way. The new tournament is mandatory.”

“One big competition was not enough. I don’t stagnate in second place only to win due to deceit. I cannot accept my economic brilliance was behind a common serf. I will sacrifice points and you will pit me against these pathetic dinosaur lovers.”

Shelia hummed unhappily, her red tone evident to him. Khan was completely uncaring of her displeasure at the situation.

She exited the room by teleporting her core. In a flash she arrived in an amphitheater. This was Gladium’s competition control room and it hummed with over a hundred hybrids. Her boss buzzed in irritation at seeing her.

“Sir, competitor 334534 is requesting to not go to this new mode of competition. He desired to crush his human competition and -”

“Partial approval,” Lancon interjected with a happy vibe.

“Excuse me?”

“I said approved,” Lancon this time went purple with a neutral hum.

Sheila was flustered by this. “The conditions?”

“They only earn nine points instead of ten for their last win. A deduction based on the request. Have them submit form 1-pp-eb sub paragraph (H). We’re going to pretend the ten team first place event is real, see how revenue goes, and then release it as a trail run. Adjust from there. Archaics around the universe have voted with their donations.

“They want both, more Khan the villain, who strives for perfection without morality. And then that Senna lady with her warrior king - Nate and the helpful Beth. They get to play the good guys for humanity.”

“You’re very generous, sir.”

An angry buzz of annoyance rattled from Lancon. “Qoobi is a faulty endeavor of grandeur that never had a way to be financed. Moving ships, collecting contenders, and staging competitions costs resources.

“Don’t thank me. Thank the fans. Now go tell this pathetic human who was part of his species demise he has won a prize. Extra work for the chance at restoring his wounded pride.”

Shelia knew when she was dismissed. She flickered out of the room and returned to Khan.

The man was chuckling happily, as if he knew Shelia would returned.

“You go into a ten competitor competition then you can face off versus them 334599, or Team Dinosaur Warlord. I cannot guarantee when, but my superior said it -”

Khan cackled an evil laugh. “Excellent, now leave me. I have subordinate training to do.”

This is what the Lericon Faction paid her for. Propping up the vile. In Khan they found a champion.

The Saga Continues.

Book 2 Teaser – Available 11-14-2020

Dinosaur Warlord 2

AN EPIC LITRPG 4X

Prologue

PLANET FARUM - AN ANCIENT COLONY

Irshar

T he sound of heels clacking against the floor told him his wife was coming. A mental will to swap the image to a new fight in the competition was completed moments before Terinia arrived.

“I thought you were taking the lounging pad to the Bay Theater for the competition,” Terinia said with a hint of confusion.

She shined in her shimmering dress that rotated with her mood. Terinia was happy and content in life, letting that fact display her confidence for others to see. The Ancient female he called his soulmate was beautiful.

She had delicate features with just a tuft of fiery red fur on her nose. Her double ears were cute with icy tips, and Terinia had the smoothest baby-blue skin Irshar ever saw. To him she was the perfect female for the long haul.

“Daxfor is late, unusual for him,” Irshar said with a mischievous grin. He patted his lap, a clear sign to her of what he desired. “You got ten minutes?”

Terinia waved at him dismissively. “You’re insatiable. We had a coupling this morning… Oh!” she exclaimed when he pulled her onto his lap.

The two Ancients licked each other’s cheeks passionately. Their love had endured the test of time, allowing them to feel alive in such proximities even after eons. That didn’t mean Irshar was without his flaws.

“Five minutes, and not in the baby hole. My hormones are off the charts. This body is… hitting a peak. If, I get crazy, you stop me,” Terinia said and Irshar merely shrugged.

She shimmied off his lap to remove her undershorts and lift her lovely dress. Irshar always adored seeing her flaunting their wealth.

Some Ancients grew petty and frustrated at their partner’s spending. Irshar merely increased his digilax holdings and let her spend as freely as she wanted.

This was his reward. He unstrapped his belt, letting his erect penis point at the bright blue sky. She giggled, straddling him. He had three options.

A baby opening that was tightly closed. An Ancient female had no control over this sexual member. It literally triggered when in a heat of sorts, and it would become aggressive for an Ancient male’s seed.

Behind that was the sex hole which females achieved their joy from. Her pleasure vagina was moist and ready from the excitement of a daring quickie on the couch.

Finally, there was her disposal hole. Terinia was a gracious and amazing lover. She’d let him use her as he desired.

He wanted something rough, bucking her off his lap he flipped her over. It was the damn competition; seeing humans spurred him on. He bent his life partner over his favorite lounging spot.

His penis glided into her tight opening slowly as she cinched down. A crack of his hips echoed in the small chamber from his hard thrust.

While his stabs increased to find a nice rhythm, he couldn’t ward off the flashbacks. He tried to focus on Terinia’s shapely rear or her adorable tail and failed.

Irshar recalled a tedious mission for cataloguing humans. He entered the planet near the busiest spaceport, avoiding detection. He disguised his ship, extrapolating data as well as collecting samples.

While on a collection expedition, an intoxicated female who was both drunk and high offered sexual favors. Irshar accepted, he had a thing for alien females.

Slamming his big cock into his wife, he thought of having sex with that woman. How she screamed in pain until she cried out in pleasure. His tempo increased as he reveled in the memories of the tiny sex organ that woman had. What a thrill it was to do something so… wrong according to society.

When Irshar fixed her brain that kept her tied to spiraling negative behavior… she thanked him in oh so many ways. Earth was one of his best expeditions. Seeing humans in the competition spurred him on to recall his enjoyable encounter.

When Terinia bucked him back as she was getting near culmination, he thought nothing of it. His brain was too fixated on reliving a past memory.

Her baby sucker clamped over the tip of his dick, causing his eyes to widen at the sudden change. Terinia’s baby hole had left her body, seeking a penis to latch onto. They were normally easy to dodge… assuming you weren’t lost in the thoughts of sexing a human woman.

“I… I’m sorry,” he grumbled, feeling the projective vagina winding him in.

She shot him a glare that said it all. She was out of control in her passions of heat. Her eyes burned red and she meowed in pleasure. The vulva lips of her organ climbed higher and higher up his penis until he was dragged inside.

Terinia screamed in pleasure while Irshar grunted through the process. His seed was being pumped out with a rotation suction he couldn’t fight. The process was too tight, and he rarely wanted offspring to deal with.

Too late for that, he welcomed the sensation of her vagina sucking his seed out until he shuddered into her. When he looked over his shoulder as he finished, he saw a human who had a resemblance to the woman he encountered on Earth.

He’d tried to be safe, but he knew she’d become pregnant. He set her up to be an average mom to an average son. The genetic code of the baby was cleaner than normal, but not flawless. He should have grown up as another human.

Except Irshar was fairly certain, as he likely put a son in his life-partner, he was looking at a different son from a recent trip to Earth. Recent to his Ancient mind anyway.

“Are you not listening to me?” Terinia scolded.

He shook his head. “I… I… You’re my everything.”

She slid her shorts on, licking his cheek tenderly. “I’ll set off sensors and the planet will pull me in for a barrage of -”

“I know, I know. You really hit me back hard and I was a bit lost in the moment,” Irshar grumbled.

“Yes, well… It has been a while for us to rear a young. It’ll help our image. I look forward to my groups gushing over my pregnancy and then spending all the digilax,” she said, nuzzling into his chest with love. Her head turned and she barked out. “Get out here, servants. Clean up the master.”

A flood of mohuma flowed out to clean the coupling off his body. When he returned to his favorite chair, he didn’t care that he was having another child. He was well within the Ancient quotas.

Terinia left the lounging room, allowing him to retrieve the data on the competition he’d been following.

Nathanael Immerson - Born on Earth. Selected for tireless work ethic and near perfect genetic coding.

“Hmm… Interesting. There were so many reasons he shouldn’t be picked…” While Irshar muttered to himself a connection hit him like a ton of bricks.

Valance!

That orb loved humans.

He saw them for what his scientific research could not. The data not only said humanity was doomed, but they were an infectious species. A rot of their own making.

A buzzing alert told him Daxfor was here. He sealed the doors between his home to the lounging room.

A moment later the entire room zoomed into the sky to rendezvous with Daxfor and his shuttle.

Daxfor was an acquaintance with almost no ties to Irshar. They met aboard one of his exploration missions, and on a very, very, rare occasion would take a meal together.

To Irshar he was a long term, rarely used proxy.

As a scientist who visited the planets of doomed species, well, he was restricted from gambling on their competitions. Daxfor held no such restriction.

His shuttle attached, allowing him to walk in a seat himself as a chair rose from the floor.

“You’re late,” Irshar said with disdain.

He nodded. “They figured it out. This last bet was too specific, and they can’t prove how but they will likely try.”

“Well it wasn’t me who helped you,” Irshar lied.

His friend flared his ears nervously. “You went and saw humans and a human with three percent won.”

“One in a hundred chance. There were probably a million Ancients who picked a human to win,” Irshar said, without really asking a question. “Did they pay you for your wise choice?”

“I see how it is. Fine, evade your admittance. Yes, they paid, but now I’ve been deemed a scientist by the gambling council. A soft ban for a while. Not that I gamble much. They’re going to come for their digilax,” Daxfor said in a warning tone.

“Interesting. I’m sure your wealth is stored as wisely as mine is. I’ve got plans within plans within plans. They are showing the rerun of the competition at the Bay Theater. You want to actually go, or should I go solo?” Irshar asked. “Terinia is off for a turtle race derby thing. Wine and boring stuff. I favor the blood and guts of a battle.”

Daxfor shook his head and said, “I… I’ll likely never see you again. Thanks for the friendship, you never steered me wrong. I hope what you have amassed with your insider gambling pays off for you.”

Irshar snickered, waving Daxfor out, and letting his need for violence simmer. Daxfor was obviously trying to gain information for someone.

When the door sealed, he controlled his anger and checked a few hidden accounts. They were exactly as they should be… overflowing.

In a few years. There would be another competition or two with humans. Plenty of time to ready his bets.

The questions gnawing at Irshar was… What did he do about his modified son?

Chapter

One

DATE UNKNOWN - GLADIUM SPACE STATION

“B eth, you’re certain?” I asked her, letting my hands run down her shoulders tenderly.

“Yeah, we both know this is what is needed. Senna is scary smart when it comes to breaking down the competition,” Beth said reassuringly.

“I… -”

“Nate, I love you. I know you want to take me.” She paused to kiss my cheek. Her hazel eyes pleaded with me. “Don’t make it a big deal. Senna and I agreed that I’d go first next round.”

I nodded when she said this. She was right that I should let the issue go.

Beth was the better warrior, and the early game required you to use both brains as well as brawn to conquer objectives.

Senna was a manager who could easily pick up the slack at tier three.

The counter argument was Senna would be the one designing the tier two layout to prepare for the tier three expansion burst where Beth would be vital.

There was no use in fighting once the girls made up their minds. Especially since our throuple relationship was near perfection.

The last month had been a mix of bliss, and rushed preparation.

I could safely say that simulator cats were no longer a threat to me. Handling the medium sized objectives, like the swamp hag, was a sticky issue that I wish I could work on more. They required the proper weapon and a valid strategy, or luck. Luck, unfortunately, was always a factor.

My archery skills were better than my nunchuck skills by a long shot. I’d learned the bow to a point where I felt like a smug asshole when in the simulated range. Which was good. This next competition was slated to be with experienced teams.

When we weren’t training, we spent family time together. Senna had been super cuddly, and extra horny. I think she really loved the idea of being an actual mom. Her lovely dovey clinginess shot to an eleven and honestly, it was perfectly okay.

With Beth being a balance, we made it work. She had Izzy to bond with when Beth and I were away for combat training. That foxy redhead almost got her way. We had a drunken encounter that nearly became a foursome. Valance notified us we had an event in three days, so we got tipsy that night.

As strong as I pretend to be, I’m still only a man and was tempted. Yet, I convinced the girls not to rush anything. I had to remind them, we needed to not upset balance and to be certain this is what we wanted.

That went over poorly, but I put my foot down. There was a chance we could scoop Izzy up on day 140 at stronghold five or use the advanced academy to unlock her. That would mean us spending almost two full years with her.

The last two days had been for final reviewing and planning based on the knowledge we had.

Which led to this morning kerfuffle of Senna crossing her arms saying that things were already settled, and she was my starting partner.

I kissed Beth on the lips, leaving our private room to head back to the briefing.

Valance waited with only Senna. My confusion was resolved when I saw a platform was raised in the corner of the room. I recognized the stasis point and that we would be leaving her here.

Valance hummed with a green tint and said, “Step onto the stasis pad, Beth Immerson. Short on time for long goodbyes, not my fault.”

“He called me Immerson,” she said with a cute smile. Beth kissed Senna quickly and then me. “See you both at stronghold three. Loves ya!”

“Love you!” we said in a matching cutesy tone.

We watched Beth step onto the spot in the room and vanish. Senna stared at the spot and said, “Everyone said goodbye, through me, to you. Seems like we’re on a time crunch.”

“Indeed. I was about to platform you both in your room. Step into the corner please,” Valence said politely.

I confidently went first. At this point, if the Archaics were here to kill us… well, then I’d be dead for real. When I stepped onto the podium there was a slight delay, and then blackness.

∞∞∞

I stepped off the platform in the narrow competition selection room. There was a timer on the wall counting down three minutes for us. Senna materialized a moment later, joining me at my side.

When I shot her a wink, I noticed the window viewer out of the room was shaded over. I guess there was no peeking to see what aliens were across the hall.

My finger messed with the table interface beside the bowl with the extended dice. I input our name as Team Warlord.

Senna scooped the dice, rattling them by her ear. “No, Nate, you don’t get to blow on the dice.”

Senna tossed the dice into the bowl. We both watched hesitantly as the dancing dice came to a sudden halt. When I saw a ninety-four, I shouted for joy.

Hell, we both did a jig.

Ninety-four was amazing! We could pick in the top three probably.

Our research showed that the number one pick was the war elephant from the savannah biome with a three percent win rate. The smallest working animal was a warthog, and the riding animal was a wildebeest. Both animals were quick to produce in comparison to a dinosaur.

The number two pick was an arctic icecat which translated into a laclaw. The muskox was the working animal that had a longer creation timer but was a great worker. Then an elk for a riding creature.

We stared at the other teams’ scores populating on the board while reveling in Senna’s roll. I felt like a kid at a ball game waiting for the first pitch to be thrown.

“Damn wifey, that was amazing,” I said in a chipper tone.

She placed her hands on her hips smiling broadly. “Aw… we got second pick. I can’t believe someone got a ninety-nine. Impressive.”

“Hey, this is great. Maybe they want hippos or something,” I said, rubbing her back in excitement.

“Always the optimist. Love that about you. Hey, this isn’t my real body. I can tell,” Senna said, rubbing her tummy and I applied additional soothing back rubs.

The timer hit zero and the first team picked raptors… really was surprised by that. They were hovering at only one and a half percent win rate at the moment. When our interface pinged that it was our turn I hesitated.

We’d talked about this to the point I had to stop the debate. I needed to stick to my guns. We had two picks that were simply too good statistically to avoid, and beyond those choices we wanted dinosaurs.

War elephants it was. I selected the savannah biome and then war elephants.

There was a heavy sigh as we waited to go second to last on the map rotation. “I wanted dinosaurs,” I muttered.

“I know, if we get first… maybe they’re on Qoobi. If not, we can get them next round. No way we get lucky rolls every time. I’m excited to see the map,” Senna said in a quick rambling manner.

The options ticked away, until there was the last pick. Zebras were selected right after gallimimus. Go figure.

The map populated and I gasped.

“No!” My voice came out in a deflated exacerbation.

The map was tiny with only a hundred spawn points. There was the same ten-sided arena but it was so much smaller. When I looked at the map a realization dawned on me… yeah it was ten times smaller. A warning came on the screen.

Selecting for Quick Round will begin in five minutes. A hundred-day competition will initiate shortly after the last starting point is selected.

“Shit,” Senna said. “Why no warning? A zebra team would be great here. Wait. A hundred days...”

She hyperventilated slightly. Senna was a planner, a calculating master, and she’d just been given a variable there was no way to quickly adjust for.

I pinched her ass, giving her my charming smile. “I’m great at fighting. Maybe we should not build,” I said, trying to calm her.

Her eyes flickered before she paced in agitation. “I’m useless in a fight. Not useless, but a spear would be my best option. Anyway, no. We build, you protect.”

“This will have us at ten miles from the next starting point, wifey. That means…”

“A few hours until a foe can get on top of us. Maybe the build timers are shorter,” Senna said, tossing her hands into the air in frustration. “This interface won’t give me an answer.”

“Half the spots are already picked too,” I said, pointing at the map.

The exterior slots were all gone. We were going to be in the thick of it. No sense in whining or moping. Senna obviously didn’t share my sentiment.

“This is fucking bullshit. We spent a month preparing for a thousand-day event with a huge map and then this happens. It’s like they’re toying with me for fucking sidelining Beth. I wanted to perfect the starting build order. That was it. I knew she is -”

“Senna… Wifey… Deep breaths. I love you,” I said, kissing her cheek. “We’re up in two. There are only middle savannah spots. None near water and -”

“That one, maybe…” Senna said, pointing to the map hesitantly.

It blinked red showing as being taken by the team before us. Then it was our turn. I picked one of the last two at random. Both were in shitty desert spots in the middle of the map.

Then that was it. We eyed each other with trepidation. All our planning had gone to shit, to the point where my never swearing lover became a sailor. I held her tight and we were sent to a planet I called Soobi.

Chapter

Two

COMPETITION 2 DAY 1

T he bright sunshine greeted me with a warming embrace. I smiled, ready to get this competition started. Suddenly there was the growling yowl of an angry puma behind me.

“Watch out!” Senna warned me. A dastardly cat pounced on my back, before I could spin. I felt small teeth mauling my shoulder with a gnawing snarl.

Senna shrieked, kicking the puma into a tumble beside me.

“Create a pickaxe!” I shouted.

She dropped the tablet, her hands a shaking mess.

I snatched the tablet into my grip.

The cat lunged onto my back again, resuming eating my flesh.

A green outline materialized in the shape of a pick. I slid the tablet away, freeing up a hand to grab the tool. A confident wide grin spread across my face.

With a propped elbow and a powerful heave, I flung the cat off my back. The puma was alien with thumbs, a tiny sucker mouth, and a cat body.

The alien cat leaped for my face. A sideways swing of the pick drove the pointy bit into its torso. The weapon punctured the skin, driving into what I hoped were vital areas.

There was a loud meowing of pain.

My grip on the pickaxe was firm and steady. The cat tried desperately to get away, the damage too much. There was a new battle. The cat was digging its paws in, trying to go backwards, and I was holding it in place.

“You’re not going anywhere you -”

“Argggg!” Senna screamed with a charge.

Crack!

Senna slammed a large rock into the dying animal's head. There was a wobble while it tried to stay upright. I wrenched the mining tool free, causing more damage during the weapon’s exit.

The cat stumbled, dancing the last steps of a slow death. Blood pulsed from the wound, soaking the desert terrain in a growing pool. There was a whine from the cat before it lay down. The three of us were panting heavily from the intense action.

There was a final desperate inhale and the alien puma died.

Senna was awash with emotion; her face was bright red, and she was terrified. “I’m so sorry. What the fuck is that!?”

“Senna, wifey. Calm. You need to get your game face on, literally,” I said, scolding her. “It’s dead. Start the depot so I can heal.”

“Right, sorry. I just focused on the build orders in the simulator. Apparently, I need to spend the next cycle in there training. Fighting… yeah,” she was getting control. A confidence washing over her. “I can do it. Fighting will be hard, but I’ll learn.”

“Senna, you don’t need to justify yourself to me. I love you. The depot?” I asked, hoping she’d recover.

Her fingers tapped quickly on the device until she gave a relieved sigh. “It's half the build time. Three hours instead of six for a depot. A stronghold is only twenty-two hours. Depot it is, you can heal while you’re out. Wish me luck.”

I lay down, hoping for the best. “Hey, real quick, did anyone lose yet?” I asked.

“You want the score?” Senna asked.

She showed me the tablet.

Team Overlord: tied 1st

Survival: .1 (tied 96th)

eXplore: 0.0 (tied 96th)

eXpand: 0.0 (1st)

eXploit: 0.0 (1st)

eXterminate: 0.5 (tied 91st)

“Exactly what I wanted to see. Everyone had to fight right away, and four teams died already. Five teams ran and lived. We got no exploit points because there was no processing of the body yet. This is great information.”

Senna smiled, kissing my lips. “Rest well. It’s an hour to heal that, and then three for the depot. Thank you for being so strong. See you in four hours.”

She quickly tapped in the build, causing me to slip into sleep.

∞∞∞

When I woke up, Senna was butted up against me. She was seated upright, her knees tucked to her chin. There was a darting of her head left and right as if it were on a swivel.

A deep, concerned breathing told me she was stressed.

“It’s done!” I said.

She jolted with a slight jump. Yeah, certainly on edge.

“Oh, Nate.” Her blues swung to stare at me with joy. “Yes!”

She covered me in kisses when she saw me awake.

“That was the worst four hours ever. The only part I enjoyed was watching your shoulder heal.”

I smirked, propping myself up so I sat with her. “I bet that was neat. Any bad guys?”

“I walked the perimeter a few times. We’re in an oasis. This jungle is frightening. I went a few feet in and sensed I was about to die after seeing a pond over there,” she said pointing at some trees to the west. “These jungle trees shouldn’t be here, but I think they’re for the competition to seclude the starting point.”

I shrugged, saying, “Yeah, I can believe that. Make it tough to get in or out. Then you can easily use the thin jungle trees to probably hold tiny and small objectives. The pond may be a fish farm or something.”

I was trying to be positive and reassuring for her. There was an ebb of worry fading from her face.

“Everything is so condensed. I miss the grandeur of Noobi,” she said. “I’m so done with this place and we only just started.”

“So… What do we do now?” I asked, letting her express what she wanted.

“I’m going to lay down in that storage shed and you’re going to build our stronghold with me as the worker. Do me a favor and kill all the stuff that can eat me,” Senna said, leaning on me for a hug.

This was the most stressed I had ever seen her. I was handed the tablet, and her terse smile said she was happy to go to sleep. We exchanged a quick kiss before she left for the depot. The building itself was half the size of the Noobi depot with only a single door.

Hmm… I guess that made sense.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 73

Wood - 900

Stone - 90

Metal - 4

Water - 43

Yeah, it looked like we started with half the materials as before too. I went to the stronghold requirements to confirm.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 22 hours (Adequate)

50 - Stone (Adequate)

500 - Wood (Adequate)

10 - Food (Adequate)

Would you like to build this structure? (YES) - (NO)

Alright, these changes would super throw our math equations out the window.

Would our babies take three and a half days now? All sorts of questions ran through my mind about the new ruleset.

Instead of fretting, I stuck the stronghold in the middle of the clearing to start the build. I pulled myself off the hard, tan dirt to head for the depot.

Senna was sound asleep with a serene smile on her face. I knew she would be excited to have an office to hunker down in later. I closed the door, sealing her in.

With her secure, I walked around the clearing.

I was hoping to see if anything would populate on the tablet. Nope. I kept looking over my shoulder at the depot. There was a certain amount of stress at having Senna in the depot defenseless.

My stomach was as conflicted as my mind was. The butterflies twisting in my gut left me with a very tough decision. I had the tablet and we needed points. The early game in this competition was going to be everything.

With that defining thought, I headed for the pond.

The sun was near its peak in the sky with a light breeze swaying the lime-green fronds. As I neared the tree line, a bird squawked angrily at me. The offended bird took flight with a speedy retreat, its irritation faded into silence. There was a pause, when I started walking again, I heard the grit of the savannah crunching under my feet.

The rough Soobi terrain was different from the fluffy grasses of Noobi. When I craned my neck, I noticed the sun had the same tint to it, making it the only recognizable part of Soobi so far.

During the preparation time our team had long debates on whether the competitions were a simulation. We believed them to be real and that competitions were held on Qoobi, just on a specific continent. We theorized the ruins of events would be wiped or used to improve the eventual colonization. The what-ifs went fairly deep down the proverbial rabbit hole.

Focusing on the situation at hand, I twirled the mining pick while entering the light jungle. The hip-high fronds wicked moisture onto my pants. Only a few feet into the thick underbrush and the tablet pinged.

When I reached for the device, a sticky tongue struck my chest with a wet smack. I didn’t go flying back. Instead I was pulled toward a chameleon lizard that was double my size.

There was only half a second to think; everything was happening so fast.

I avoided striking the muscle that was latched onto my vest. With a mighty overhand swing I roared out in defiance while rapidly heading for the chameleon’s mouth.

The tip of the mining pick sunk into its eyeball with a desperate strike.

The weapon was yanked from my grasp while I was pulled headfirst into a mouth by the powerful tongue.

I fought throat muscles trying to worm me into a belly. The feeling of being suffocated overwhelmed me as much as the stench. When my shoulders went down the throat I couldn’t breathe.

Sheer panic and claustrophobia sunk in. I wriggled to free my head, my hands pushing against the corners of the creature's mouth. A sense of salvation washed over me when I plopped my shoulders free.

A few hard tugs later and I was sucking in glorious fresh air.

My feet slipped against the drooling slime of the chameleon. I anticipated another attack, but none came.

When I studied the beast, I saw that the creature was alive… but it seemed brain dead; its remaining eye was unfocused. The front arm tried to free my pick.

Patient timing was needed to dodge the foot swipes that a two toed foot pawed at the tool with. I managed to snatch the handle, yanking it to a good angle. When the weapon slurped free, I grinned.

This massive alien was alive, stumbling around aimlessly. Now, if only I could find my tablet. I searched the foliage for a fraction of a second to find the device in my vest. Right, probably should have looked there first.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small quarry. (YES) - (NO)

Shucks. The animal was still breathing but there was no surrendering defender. Maybe he was just dead to the point the competition counted him as such. I claimed the quarry to see what would happen.

There was no swirl of magic or conversion of the big lizard. The only thing that happened was the quarry trees a few feet away briefly had a green tinge to them.

The tablet pinged, notifying me I had an objective to manage. Without any workers to assign, I shifted my attention to the brain-dead chameleon.

Hmm…

I stared at the big dumb animal. There were two options here. Stick him in the depot, dead or alive, and hope it gave me meat and hide. Or herd him into the next objective as a decoy.

There was clearly something at play here. The logical conclusion was everything was twice as fast, twice as hard, and ten times more condensed. Less warning would be part of that. The Noobi system of letting the tablet warn me was probably out the door for this event.

I decided to try to push the chameleon for the lake. My boot nudged the rump of the creature forward. There was an odd groan noise of displeasure, but it stepped into the underbrush. I herded the lizard for the pond that I could barely see through the trees.

A wandering thought of how we were ever going to win this competition vanished from my mind when a howling shriek split the air.

My eyes had been alert, and I had been scanning the trees and the underbrush vigilantly.

Somehow, above the forest canopy, a dozen hip-high baboons launched onto the lizard with mad howls. I leapt into action, knowing the distraction would be short-lived.

I silently sped with determination for the bubble butt creatures. The first death was instant, the pick end cracking the skull of a distracted opponent. I wanted them to surrender, but probably needed to thin the troop first.

A short, tight swing impacted a baboon on the chest. There was a snap of breaking bone and a cry of pain.

The pick slid free right as the lizard collapsed. My cross swing swept a baboon off its feet, soaring to thump into a tree. I pressed the attack.

A leaping baboon snarled, trying to get at my face. I sidestepped the flaying claws, charging the largest of the bunch.

Two smaller baboons went to intercept my approach. A jumping kick sent one flying as I soared the last of the distance.

The biggest one fled when I tried to line up a killing blow. Apparently, we weren’t fighting for a harem in a winner takes all. Well, that wasn’t good enough for me.

I chased the cowardly baboon who was scampering up a tree. At the last moment I figured out the baboon was going to attack. I spun to the side, applauding the courage of the dumb animal.

The slow nature of the alpha let the pick slide into its spine as it flew by me. An incredibly loud shrieking howl came from the monkey when it landed with a thump. I yanked the sharp point free, spinning on the group.

The rest of the troop spread out, their howling slowing as members sat. All eyes were on me with the troop calming.

I pulled the tablet out. There were two warnings. I went to claim this prize first before seeing what else I had to worry about.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned medium fish farm. The nine defenders have agreed to surrender to you. (YES) - (NO) You have twelve seconds before the defenders return to hostile.

I hurriedly tapped yes. The brown swirling magic converted nine baboons into nice women. The harem leader with the busted back lay on the ground twitching. It seemed that the game was not taking heavily wounded converts for some reason.

A big smile crested my face at this victory. I wanted to shout for joy. The fact I had conquered a medium at this stage in the game and snagged nine workers was flipping fantastic.

Another alert caused my tablet to buzz.

Depot has been destroyed, unable to be repaired.

Oh shit!

Like a flash my legs carried me, sprinting through the undergrowth. The panic that washed over me that I’d be too late was warranted.

When I saw the clearing, my jaw tightened in a grimace. I saw two competitors pulling boards off the depot to get to Senna. These were hideous humanoids. Praying Mantis type creatures with intelligent eyes, two slim arms with long, curved, pincer fingers, and four bulky legs under an ant-like torso.

The rush of my charge through the jungle growth gave me away. I watched in horror as Senna was snatched up. One mantis turned to face me, with the other fleeing with wifey.

I never slowed, entering the clearing in a sprint. This alien was taller than me, with a fluidity to its movements.

While I wanted to ask questions, make demands, and say bad things about their moms, I decided to just kill them instead.

A pincer arm shot for my chest. I dove, as if trying to tag second base. The hard terrain skidded me to a halt directly under the lower half of the creature. A swift jab up sent my pick into the alien’s guts.

I tried to run with the weapon to create a dragging wound, but the outer layer was too tough. My hard leg sweep cracked into a leg that was spinning to try to stomp me.

My weapon lost pressure, exiting the creature while still in my grasp. A pincer hand crashed into my hip as I sped into a fleeing run for Senna.

“Argg…” I cried out, ignoring the injury the best I could.

I powered through the pain, running away from the first manager. However, my rapid flight resulted in me overexerting my wounded leg and hurting myself. Each running step converted my gait into a limp.

My only saving factor was that the first one was hobbling worse than me and the alien with Senna was slowing down to stick to a very defined trail.

These aliens could probably sense objectives better than me. The head alien holding Senna rotated until it twisted to face me. Normally I’d wince at the neck reversing unnaturally. Right now, I was filled with rage, hungry for blood.

The path was clear, and I was gaining ground. When I was only a dozen feet away the alien spun. A trio of pincers were held to Senna’s neck.

I slowed to a walk. The alien displayed Senna’s limp body, warning me to stop. Unable to come up with a perfect answer, I paused.

“Put her down,” I warned with a stern tone.

There was a gurgling noise, maybe laughter. The alien was happy to buy time. There were head tilts, almost as if it were contemplating what to say.

Behind me the hobbling alien was trying to catch up, staggering from the injuries. I was stuck in a really bad situation. There was no time for hesitation, or I would lose regardless.

This was a competition, so Senna would come back... eventually. She’d probably never forgive me but…

I charged and the alien squinted. Pincers dove into Senna’s neck. That simple maneuver cost the alien its life.

I had already leaped inside the guard of the creature when it dropped Senna. Two arms shot for my torso mid-flight. Both buried their sharp pincers into my guts.

My overhead swing landed at the same time the alien halted me. The mining pick cracked through its skull, diving into the brain.

There was a slurping sound when I extracted the tool. The sight of brains oozing out gave me endless delight.

I went down with the green insect humanoid. We crashed into the thick underbrush with me rolling free of its arms. A kangaroo type pouch on its chest showed the glow of a tablet.

My wounds were not superficial, fighting this last alien was going to be tough. Using my right hand my fingers went into a sticky slimy pouch.

When I clasped two, instead of one tablet, a realization dawned on me.

These were early game raiders.

I slurped both devices out, placing them on the jungle dirt. I broke the first device with my pick. The second shattered a moment later with another swing. That sealed this last alien's fate unless he got my tablet.

I couldn’t do it though. I couldn’t kill my chances if I did win the fight. A shitty hiding spot under some fronds was where I stuffed my tablet. Getting to my feet was tough and I used the mining pick like a cane to stand.

My search for the tall alien came up empty when I stood above the underbrush. I followed the path back for the clearing. Each step was painful and hesitant.

A few steps further resulted in a rustling sound off to my right. I noticed the alien had fallen here, leaving a trail. There was no sign of conflict or it trying to hide. Then I looked up -

A tree snake the size of a house was trying to fit the alien into its mouth. The two odd creatures were entwined in a fight that the competitor was clearly losing.

I nodded a thanks to the snake, knowing where not to venture. The walk back to retrieve my tablet was painful. I passed Senna’s corpse, knowing I would have to bury her body after I healed. There was no way I could manage the feat with these injuries.

When my tablet was in my hand I carefully stepped back onto the trail.

As I passed the tree snake the mantis alien was no longer fighting. The competitor had been set down against the jungle floor. The corpse was unmoving, and the massive snake was trying to fit its mouth around the prey from a new angle.

There was no shudder at watching the disgusting thing eating my foe. I smirked instead. My labored walking resulted in me coughing up blood. That wasn’t good.

The moment I was in the clearing I pulled up the tablet to see if I was mortally wounded to the point I couldn’t heal.

Competitor Nathanael is injured. A twenty-one-hour rest period will heal his wound and consume twelve food. Do you accept? (YES) - (NO)

Alright that was good to see. I smiled at the fact that I could live. I would heal, then build the depot, and then salvage this mess of a competition. Poor Senna. I sure hope she forgave me.

Knowing I needed to get these drones to work, I decided to set them up before I went under to heal. The interface told me the stronghold construction had to be restarted without a loss of materials. The depot, however, was a total loss.

The only way forward was to have them build with all the resources I could spare. I started a new depot. When the stronghold materials were consumed it left me with enough for a well and a barracks. I assigned the rest of the drones to gather supplies at the quarry and the fish farm.

When the depot finished construction, they were to start tossing items into there. I felt good. All nine drones were set to work, and I would wake up to something I could build from.

I checked the score, feeling we had to be doing well.

Team Overlord: 3rd

Survival: .6 (tied 84th)

eXplore: 2.1 (36th)

eXpand: 0.5 (44th)

eXploit: 19.9 (1st)

eXterminate: 217.5 (2nd)

I really wished there was a clear-cut point system but there wasn’t. Those tablets were probably a hundred each. There likely was no variable to calculate with static items.

Killing the competitors was likely five points with a variable on how I killed them. Maybe, there was no - kill a lizard at a small and get five points.

We deduced that a small objective defender killed in ambush in a flawless execution was worth more than a long fight, but still around three points. There were probably ten decimal points worth of numbers and we only got to see one.

Third place was amazing. Sixteen teams were already gone, and that wasn’t counting captures.

There was a mountain of work to do when I woke up and I was determined to make Senna proud of her sacrifice.

I keyed up my healing option while I lay down. I selected yes and tucked my tablet into my vest to drift off to sleep.

Chapter

Three

DATE UNKNOWN - GLADIUM SPACESTATION

A  zap shot through my body, waking me in a manner I not only didn’t expect, but also did not enjoy. Imagine my surprise when I saw Valance with a lime green coloration hovering in front of me patiently.

Uh… My hand shot to my belt while the hybrid waited.

Competitor 334599 - Nathanael Immersion = +2

Competition 1 - Rank 11th + 3

Competition 2 - Rank 67th - 1

I groaned at this. My mind made the logical conclusion that I died while I was healing. There would be replay footage to go over at least.

“No long walk this time. The quick matches always lead us into a longer match right away,” Valance said in tone that surmised I’d know this.

“Is there a longer than a thousand-day competition?” I asked with a grumble, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Wrong question.”

“How many competition types are there?”

“There are variations. Ten thousand of them. They are all based around three total types: short (100 days), normal (1,000 days), and long (10,000). Long events are exceedingly rare. Shorts are even fairly uncommon. The decision to lengthen or shorten competitions is based on aliens keyed up to compete. You want to sit this next event out?”

“Huh?” I blurted.

“The event you competed in is over. There is no long cool-down break for you. I cannot choose for you, but I would highly advise you go right into the next competition,” Valance said, and I scoffed.

“I don't even know how I died. I mean I -”

“A roaming scorpion buried itself under your stationary heat signature and killed you. I’m allowed to tell you, if you had lay on boards and had part of the depot above you, you would have survived.

“Luckily, it didn’t destroy the tablet and your workers amassed enough points to carry you under seventy-five and beyond. You want to watch the replay, it will mean less time to prepare,” Valance said, and I frowned.

“No, not if we’re short on time. I’ve come to trust you. Take me to the preparing room. Is this another short competition?” I asked.

“I cannot say directly.”

“Of course, while a pain, I understand.”

“Who do you want to join you?” Valance asked.

“Beth,” I said without hesitation.

A pedestal rose in the corner of the room. I stepped onto it realizing we needed to do better.

∞∞∞

I arrived in the preparation room by myself. A timer on the wall showed a fifteen-minute countdown. At least I’d have time to explain to -

“Nate! What the fuck?” Beth said, coming to my side. “Did you dismiss Senna?”

My brows furled as I put myself in her shoes. Last thing she knew I was kissing her goodbye for competition two.

“No, no, nothing like that. Ease your concern. Senna and I competed and lost. Minus -”

“What? I’m so confused,” she said, her hazel eyes squinting as if I were up to something nefarious.

“Waifu, we got a few minutes, so I’ll summarize. Roll those dice while I talk,” I said, and she trusted me. She blew on the dice, rolling a fifty-four. “Eh, that was quick, and a great roll.”

“So…”

“Senna and I were told the map was ten times smaller after creature selection. Key part after. We fought instantly. For me, the action never stopped. Since we were ten miles apart. There was a lot more fighting than a hundred miles allows. I… Senna died due to being stolen by enemy contenders. She was asleep, building the whole time.”

“Ouch, you saw her die?” Beth asked and I nodded.

We hugged and I said, “There… was no other way that I could figure out. Sorry. Then I died while trying to build also. Only lost one point thankfully. Anyway, Valance said we could prep or go while emphasizing the importance of going. So, I picked you, and here we are. A fifty-four means we get to pick dinosaurs more than likely.”

“Raptors or Rex?” Beth said, kissing my neck.

I saw we had twelve minutes. When her eyes went to the clock, she smirked. She quickly rotated to drop her western-themed pants. Beth spat on her hand to wet her slit.

“Really?” I asked, glancing at the door nervously.

She snickered and said, “You going to make me purr, or should I do it myself?”

I undid my belt, letting my pants drop. Beth’s smooth entry felt delightful. She lovingly smiled over her shoulder for the entire seven minutes. When I finished inside her we shared a daring laugh.

There was always a rush from being naughty in places you shouldn’t. We kissed passionately until the timer buzzed. We fixed our outfits, shifting our focus to the selection process.

We were going to pick fifty-second. Again, the raptors went quickly, and we frowned. Lacraws and war elephants went soon after. Then it was stegos that got selected. When it was almost our turn, I pulled up the winning ratios.

Tyrannosaurus - .94%

Baryonyx - .43%

Gallimimus - .39%

Ankylosaurus - .51%

Triceratops - .91%

Dilophosaurus - .53%

Brontosaurus - .48%

Spinosaurus - .87%

“Damn, it hurts to look at sometimes. The only two choices over one percent are already gone. Triceratops are really just another duckie to ride on -”

“We’re up next, we can spino and do water objectives mid-game. Probably the best water fighters besides hippos or polar bears. But no idea how they do on land for extended periods or how capable they are fighting out of water,” I said with a shrug.

“The big T-Rex. Could you imagine? Oh, the merriment. I think they’d be amazing to see,” Beth said, smacking my ass encouragingly.

Our turn arrived and surprise, all the dino options remained. All the big dinosaurs would mean a huge delay to tier four. If we could build a solid tier three army… then yeah.

I selected Tyrannosaurus.

There was a giddy feeling. We had broken the mold by picking something different and yet, unique to us. Three more options down the chain. I saw something that left my jaw agape in disbelief.

Team No Mercy - Selects - Spinosaurus

Oh… Genghis Khan, but how. They… there…

“No Mercy as in the guys who won our first competition?” Beth said, asking the obvious question.

“Valance!” I shouted into the room creating an echo.

When he didn’t appear, I knew I’d be having a word with that little being as soon as I could.

“At least we didn’t input our name this time. Hurry and input random letters please,” I said to Beth who was already fiddling with our team name.

“2burn,” Beth said with a shrug.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

She shrugged, palms up.

The selections and the map generation finished. The moment of truth showed a ten-sided map that was a hundred plus miles between starting points. This time a smidge bigger than Noobi.

There were four hundred starting points. A normal variation in a bigger setting. Much like Noobi this had mountains, valleys, flatlands, and minor deserts. The difference was a massive lake adorned the middle with a river heading east to west across the map, flowing into and out of the lake.

This split the map at first glance. I zoomed on the map following the waterways.

“Good eye,” Beth said, playfully slugging my shoulder. “There are bridges pre-built every dozen miles or so.”

“Yeah… At first it looks great because you think oh, pick a spot near the river and you won’t have to worry. Now… the outer edge and the back sides of the lake will go quick. If I’m team No Mercy, I pick a central lake spot to utilize my aquatic dinosaurs. Genghis Khan will churn out troops to reach tier four regardless unless he suffers some unforeseen setback,” I said, folding my arms.

“Here we go,” Beth said, and it was exactly as I predicted. Outside spots were picked first.

“I have a different plan. I need you to trust me, Beth,” I said in a serious tone.

“Waifu is the best wife, just sayin,” Beth winked, and we shared a chuckle.

Teams were fairly quick to select and it was our turn. I picked a valley spot with no one around it. There was absolutely nothing bad or good about the spot. The only reason I picked it was in the hopes we’d be neighbor free.

We waited patiently. With our spot locked in I studied the map intently.

When I zoomed in there were indications of areas with % icons besides key resources. For instance, a section of woods a few miles north had 5.0% metal. Heading toward the mountain and that number went up. Around every starting point all the major resources had 100%.

I backed the map out a bit to see the actual rings we had theorized. The Archaics had a sense of earning information. In this case, I bet if we had done this last two times, we would have learned our theories were correct.

The initial mile ring from the starting point indicated three objectives: tiny 35%, small 60%, medium 5%. The next ring was 1-3 miles and was: 10% tiny 20% small, 50% medium, 20% large.

I wanted to study the next ring but understood the picture and the last selections were about to happen. I zoomed the map out. The center was packed with every slot picked. The river locations were filled beside a slot or two open. The outer edges were also completely gone. This left a lot of interior locations vacant.

“Memorize these spots,” I said to Beth.

The final buzz of a selection revealed our closest rival would be a full two starting points away. Our south had three blanks before a fourth enemy. We could face a rush, but I doubted it.

“Okay sixty seconds. What’s your crazy plan?” Beth asked.

I grunted with a slight laugh and said, “Nope, not saying it until we're on the ground.”

“Koobi work?” Beth asked and I nodded. Yes, yes it did. “Ready to take first?”

“Second and you know it,” I said with a smirk. “Second and we go to Qoobi!”

The timer on the wall counted down to zero and then there was blackness.

Chapter

Four

COMPETITION 3 DAY 1

A n early morning sunrise greeted Beth and I as we arrived in knee high wildflowers. I retrieved the tablet from my vest to orientate my directions. The sun was in the south with a scattering of high clouds on the beautiful day. I spun around this starting point, noticing it was much like the others I’d seen before.

There was a light forest of yellowwoods enclosing the starting location to hide objectives in. A creek ran through the valley, not far away from where a stronghold would likely go. The spot was cozy, the kind you would have a picnic in, and hope ants weren’t around.

“Can we keep it?” Beth asked pleasantly.

“Nope, we run south and build away from the starter zone,” I said confidently, knowing that was the right decision.

She cocked an eyebrow and said, “And the roaming monsters?”

“We don’t ever go down. Well… besides -” She swatted my arm, causing me to avoid her next playful hit. “Come on, trust me,” I said.

We headed south for the trees. While I walked, I handed her the tablet.

“And this amazing plan of yours? Why do I think I’m going to hate it,” Beth said, teasing.

“Look, if we get a tiny defender to surrender, then awesome. That puts us in an instant build mode without a key useful person going down, which I was getting around to.”

“I want you to go down for so long you need gills,” Beth jested, and I scrunched my face.

“Where did you hear that?”

“That was what I gleaned from walking in on Cecilia relaxing in the hot tub with her eyes closed. I thought she was sleep-talking, so imagine my surprise when my foot hit Zhang underwater,” she said, giggling in recollection.

We crossed the stream, heading for the trees.

“Too funny. Good times.” There was a long happy sigh. “That hot tub needs to be drained and burned before refilling. Hey, build two mining picks real quick,” I said, and she frowned.

“That eats up all our metal. It’ll mean no rusty sword from the barracks and no iron sword when the blacksmith comes up,” Beth said, and I shrugged.

“I can fight with a pick, if you want a spear, spawn a spear.”

When I heard her pause behind me, I waited. A mining pick and a spear populated on the field of grass.

I grabbed my starter weapon of choice and asked, “Are the inventory numbers looking correct? They were at half numbers last event.”

She caught up to walk at my side as we entered the trees. “Yeah, I think we're in the exact same scenario as in Noobi, just a touch bigger map.”

“Great, I was a bit peeved I never got to see the big epic 4x battles. Well besides Peak City and even that was a steamroll.”

The tablet buzzed. Beth pointed to the left, saying, “Umm… an animal farm and not sure on the defender. Noted as tiny.”

I walked in the direction she indicated. “I think Senna would hate this idea,” Beth said. “And for the record, the safe play is to at least get the stronghold built.”

“The attacking a tiny farm or totally abandoning her doctrine?” I asked with a chuckle. She rolled her eyes, not even bothering to answer. “I get it, I really do. This is risky. But… Team No Mercy. Think about it.”

“Yea, not following you?”

“They shouldn’t be here, under any circumstances. And yet… they are. Why, why would the big guys allow that? They literally achieved ten points,” I asked in frustration.

“There has to be a reason, but I think I get it. Since we picked dinosaurs, you want to hide our starting point in case they rush us?”

“Yeah, I mean, I got rushed last match. If I had moved the stronghold into a different area not with a giant, ‘Hey I’m here’, X on it. Then we probably would be at four or more points. Anyway, how far?”

“Few more feet,” Beth said quietly.

We headed for the location on the tablet map. Our chat had devolved into a hushed whispering as we progressed forward with light steps and vigilant eyes.

The lack of decaying leaves, bright vibrant undergrowth, and full limbs told me we were in a summer season. The temperature was warm, but a nice warm since it was without that Florida humidity that makes you swelter.

We crashed through thickets, powering through the thick underbrush. The tall grass that found footholds competed with weeds, causing the undergrowth to be a pain to walk through. We wanted to be quiet but doing so was just not possible.

A few minutes resulted in us on the outskirts of a small clearing. A small brown bear paced around a creature similar to a bunny. No long ears or tail. Instead of hopping it waddled, but same general size and fluffiness.

“Plan?” Beth opined.

“We don’t kill the bear. If it runs that is good. Pretty much is a long time surrender. All the objectives from Noobi tended to have fight or flight triggers. I have faster reflexes, not being smug just -”

“Darling, if you want to beat up the bear, by all means do,” Beth said, giving an underhand gesture.

I stepped out of the woods and into the small clearing, triggering the bear into action. Like a bull charging a cape I was rushed at. A simple hurried sidestep placed me free of the claws.

When the bear spun it gave Beth its back. She capitalized on the exposed target, wielding her wooden spear with a mighty overhead swing. There was a loud crack that sent nearby birds fluttering. Her spear broke, splitting down the center from the impact.

The bear stumbled before crashing in a panting huff.

“Made in Asia crap,” Beth muttered in the most adorable of ways.

“China! But close, loves ya.” I pretended to roll dice. “Give me a mohuma!”

She smiled at my excitement but shook her head. She showed me the tablet. Awe, no mohuma.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small krunnal farm. (YES) - (NO) the single defender has agreed to surrender to you. (YES) - (NO) You have ten minutes before the defender returns to hostile.

I tapped the yes button, watching the magic transition. The bear had the swirling magic around its torso and there was a brief blinding light. The air whooshed over us and a naked Asian man appeared.

Crap, we had no hide or sheep’s wool to clothe him with yet. Senna managed all that stuff. Two new spears spawned. The drone picked up the first stick, and then Beth discarded her busted spear for the new one.

“I set him to follow,” Beth said with a smile. “Yeah… not sure how we didn’t think of this in all our early game starts.”

“Because every early second adds so much down the line. An hour here getting this guy means an hour less of making a first baby, of producing a first stronghold and so forth. Anyway. Let's head south, find a clearing and build a stronghold,” I said, patting the new guy on the back.

Glazed eyes stared straight ahead uncaring. Ah, I didn't miss the zombie drones. They certainly were unnerving.

“That way,” Beth said, pointing south for me. “Tablet life is the best life. So, the neat thing about doing stuff like this is…”

I was handed the tablet.

Team 2burn: 31st

Survival: .1 (tied 100th)

eXplore: 0.2 (33rd)

eXpand: 0.0 (tied 100th)

eXploit: .9 (tied 2nd)

eXterminate: 0.5 (7th)

“To me this means that no one has built yet, true. We have traveled less than a lot of teams. So maybe they build and then run around to find everything?” I said, musing over the thoughts.

“Yeah, remember Roxie did that. She was the best actually. Her monkey feet had her almost silent on -”

“Roxie has monkey feet?” I asked with furled brows. How had I missed that one?

Beth shuddered and said, “Yeah, she was late for our simulator time… I figured she overslept. She was in bed alright. Two-foot hands stroking Pat’s penis. About as juicy as that story gets, she was more than a tad ashamed of her feet.”

“Ha!” I snickered, stepping over a root. “That is hilarious. The walking in during naughty time aspect. She has nothing to be concerned about, but I’m sure you stressed that.”

“Yeah, I was sworn to secrecy even though I assured her no one would care. Mohuma do have things to consider that we cannot fathom. Anyway, I reassured her, but it didn’t work. Her hands for feet kinda just came up now for which I'll ask forgiveness.”

“Shucks… well, that is good to know for scouting. Izzy seems to be better at understanding Senna’s wants anyway. Since Amelia is gone, I’d want Roxie scouting and Izzy as the sidekick. Huge map this time,” I said, thinking out my future plans. “Definitely will need a cartographer.”

“Back to this score, Darling. Seventh in exterminate tells me... we’re not the only team rotating around the map going for objectives right at the gong,” Beth said, and I gave her a puzzled look while navigating around a fallen tree. “At the start, the gong of a bell. Different times. Anyway, thoughts on second in exploit?”

“Well, statistically, you could run, find this bear, and then run to another object. I beat the bear and sit on him until you return with the tablet. I doubt that is it though. I bet some creature got a pure one point oh instead of a point nine. Maybe from doing a hypno gaze or something,” I said purely speculating.

Our walk shifted us from yellowwood trees to a pomegranate orchard. Beth shrugged when I glanced at her for a threat assessment. Orchards normally were not camped and were guarded by a rotating protector. The fact she shrugged said we just found a roaming defender area. There were a lot of unknown variables that had those types of defenders giving me the most concern.

“We can wait?” Beth said, partially reading my mind.

“We keep going, we should hit a bunch of objectives if we go easy west at this distance from the stronghold, but I want to start the builds, or Senna will rightfully be cross,” I said with a smirk.

“That’s new British, I did get the reference though. I found myself partial to British television,” Beth said, and we shared a light laugh.

I picked a fruit, and stared at the odd shape… “Not a pomegranate,” I muttered.

“Tablet calls them a smelon. Seems fitting,” she said, peeling a ripe melon to eat.

I joined her, devouring the fruit. The worker picked up one but fumbled the spear while trying to peel and walk.

“Just hold it, your body will eat it,” Beth ordered the drone.

The smelon trees transitioned into thick tall pines. These trees were alien in their size being at least two hundred feet tall. Also, after a thorough inspection I noticed there were no vines on this variation.

Beth cleared her throat for attention.

She pointed up high a few feet ahead. I changed our course, to view the area better. When we circled to the side, I saw walking hyenas about a foot taller than I was. There were at least three of them, guarding a mine or a quarry by the looks of it. Two had steel spears and a third had a bow and arrow. They all had loose chainmail on.

Beth and I drooled over the armor and the weapons.

“Momma wants that bow,” Beth said in a sly tone. “You want to -”

“No Beth, we keep going and come back to this. Those are killing weapons. We don't need to kill,” I said with a grunt and she pouted. Normally she wasn’t convincing, but I could fathom setting our base besides a quarry. It would certainly help long term. “Fine… lay your plan on me.”

“We sacrifice the worker to take out the archer and then turn to the goons. This is a small quarry, darling. Meaning…”

“They should be easy. Let me do it instead of sacrificing anyone. Run around to the back side. Hoot like an owl when you're ready. When the archer shoots, you club him; if you can’t disable him, run to me,” I said in a firm tone that caused her to stick her tongue out at me.

“Hey, look at the tits, and I got this. Anything else?”

I nodded before saying, “Yeah, spawn a second spear and stash it, in case the first one breaks.”

“Oh, good idea. Okay hoot at ya soon,” Beth said and darted off.

When she was gone, I saw the blank eyes of the drone.

“I sure hope you turn into Pat or Zhang later. I could use the help. Lay down right there,” I said, pointing to a spot behind a tree. “If I run by you, then you’re to get onto all fours.”

“Adam understands,” Adam said, heading for the spot I located. Interesting, the name suited the nude man.

I twirled my pickaxe looking at avenues to take into and out of the potential combat area. I certainly wanted a quarry early game, hopefully the assault would go smoothly.

Chapter

Five

COMPETITION 3 DAY 1

“H ooty! Hooty!” Beth tried to hoot from the south.

Yeah. All three guards turned for her noise, not fooling them a bit. I snickered, using her distraction to run while being as stealthy as possible.

There was a twang of a bow, followed by a shriek from Beth. “The gnolls shooting at me!” she clamored, only distracting the enemy more.

The archer was on top of the cavern that housed the quarry. I ran to the mouth of the dark entryway and set my pick down gently.

After crouching I leaped up high, grabbing the ankles of the hyena woman who was reloading.

She screamed out, suddenly being yanked six feet down. Her body slammed into the rocky terrain hard. I went to punch her into sleep, but she was already there.

I grabbed her arrows, scattering them in case she woke up while I dealt with the next two.

“They stopped chasing me!” Beth shouted from the south.

I had just picked up the mining tool when a growl emanated from the cave. This puzzled me… Maybe the cave entrance was a quarry and deeper down there was another objective.

Then I saw it was a wolf and realized that yeah… waiting to take on this challenge suddenly had merit. A hyena warrior jumped down to land between the wolves.

There was an evil cackling laugh from my foe as he stared at me menacingly. The warriors’ baying call sent the wolves for me.

Okay, I’d seen enough.

I turned, pumping my legs into a sprint. The wolves outpaced the hyena warrior, nipping at my heels. I had a feeling the wolves were a no surrender bunch as they had a warrior alpha. My decision to feed Adam to the literal wolves wasn’t hard. Getting workers was easy. Replacing me, not so much.

I ran right for his hiding spot. My jump over Adam had my feet skidding to a halt in a side slide. Adam slowly rose to all fours only to have three wolves smash into him.

There were yelps, groans, and cries of pain. I jumped for a wolf trying to recover, burying the fat edge of the tool into the skull. With a fluid motion I yanked the weapon free for a cross body swing. I connected with a hip, hearing a snap and a pop. Two wolves down, one to go.

“Adam, run for Beth!” I shouted.

He hobbled off the pine needles floor just in time to avoid a fancy spear being hurled in his direction. Uh…

My eyes shot to the stunned hyena who was certain of his throw. Then to the weapon. We both did this a few times before I sprinted for the nice spear.

The last uninjured wolf recovered, heading to cut me off. I did something I never do. I flung the pickaxe into the wolf’s face.

A loud whimpering drowned out the snarl of the hyena man. I reached the spear, snatching it off the ground. My feet never slowed, carrying me into a running curve. The warrior was fleeing. The wolf with the hind wound was limping for me. The wolf with my pick in its neck was dying.

Perfect. I sprinted for the hyena warrior, knowing I was quicker. I grasped the weapon in my hand, feeling its weight. The brown shaft wasn't wood. It was metal wrapped in leather. The tip was a crude metal point, and still ten times better than a wooden spear.

The hyena soldier saw its archer recovering with the other warrior helping her up. I caught up to the fleeing one, jabbing the weapon into a calf. The warrior spun instinctively, trying to claw me.

When it put weight on its bad leg it fell over in a tumble.

I bypassed the foe for the recovering archer. Beth arrived with Adam limping in tow. The archer vomited violently, showing signs of a concussion.

The last warrior did the unthinkable; he sidearm hurled his weapon from around the archer he was supporting.

Yeah, it was a money shot. Literally caught me so unprepared it buried into my hip.

I went into an immediate tumble, and not of my choosing.

The weapon tore free to land next to me. I scooped up the spare and pretended to throw it at the warrior. My toss was wide, landing at Beth’s feet. Using the first gnoll’s weapon, I pried myself off the ground with a long string of muttered curses.

“You’ve lost. Surrender,” I said, leveling my spear.

Beth approached from the rear. The big warrior spun to protect what was likely a lover. There was admitted defeat in his eyes, and yet…

He charged me. I may have been wounded but I was still Nathanael Immerson. I saw his motions clearly. I predicted his claw swipe, dropping myself to the ground, then I set the spear at a good angle, letting him impale himself.

The shaft of the spear dug into the rocky terrain, catching on a small stone. There was a yipping howl from the wounded warrior as his momentum carried him into the air, further entrenching the weapon into his gut.

A peripheral action caught my attention; I spun to see the archer stumbling for her bow. Beth was swiftly catching up to her, teeing up the archer with the metal spear.

Crack!

Beth nailed her in the back of the head.

Ouch… that was going to really mess with her brain. Hopefully, she converted instead of becoming a brain-dead zombie.

I saw Beth pull the tablet out. Her disappointment was evident. She tucked the tablet into her vest, heading for the bow.

My hand went over my hip while I dragged myself away from the wounded warrior growling on the ground.

“I need to hurt them more I guess,” Beth said, snatching the bow off the ground. “I take it you scattered the arrows?”

“Yup,” I managed to say through the pain.

“You going to be okay?”

“Yeah, call me crazy but I think there are two objectives here,” I said, noticing the first warrior I hobbled was limping for us with a wolf at his side.

Beth scooped an arrow off the forest floor. She slotted the weapon, aimed for the wolf, and fired.

The arrow whistled as it twirled. The tip drove into the shoulder of the wolf facing Beth. I watched the arrow vibrate as the tip lodged into some vital, coming to a sudden halt.

A partial howl of pain escaped the wolf before it fell over dead. The hyena warrior was enraged over his pet’s death. There was a cackling howl of frustration.

Another arrow zipped toward its target.

The arrow thunked into the femur of its good leg, causing the hyena to fall on his face. A wooden spear clattered beside me. I grabbed the glorious device to see a calm settle over the battlefield.

Skirmishfield, just didn’t sound right but it was certainly more appropriate.

“Alright… No second objective. I’m fairly certain the wolves were using the home as a roaming spot. We’re going to build a depot right here. Any objections to me using resources on the quarry?” Beth said.

I groaned in pain. “Just put me down right here and then drag me into the tunnel. Did they surrender?”

“Yeah, we beat them good enough I have six hours to make a decision.”

“All of them?” I said painfully, thumbing at the archer.

“Yup,” Beth carried a smack with the p. “All three. Score. Where’s your mining pick?”

I pointed for the area where I had Adam set his trip trap. “Over there with some bodies. Beth?”

“Yeah, Nate.”

“Sorry waifu, I apologize for getting hurt so early.”

“Nah, he used a competitor-type move on you. These challenges may be harder or something. We’ll find out together,” Beth said lovingly.

“Hey, what’s the healing time?”

She tapped at the tablet. A swirl of brown magic vortexed into the injured hyena soldiers. There was a bright light, and a push of air. The quarry sealed off the tunnel and a new section of stone filled in the slot.

Well, shit.

“Didn’t see that coming. Was going to use the -”

“Cavern to hide in,” I said, finishing her sentence. “This confirms it then. They were the roaming mob. Time?”

“Six hours on the depot. Adam will do that. Then seven for you to heal. The woman with the brain issues will be good as new in five hours, and the bad legs in five and a half. The guy pulling the pike out of his guts is two days. So, I’ll collect sticks while you heal, and the others do their thing.”

“Thanks Beth,” I groaned while she started putting the others to sleep.

“Yeah… so maybe do a tuck and roll or one of those sweet spin moves you seem so good at,” Beth said, looking down at my wound.

“Right, he hurled that spear like a boss,” I said, emphasizing boss.

She chuckled, walking over to me, kissing me tenderly. “I have a bow, arrows, and a tablet. I promise you’ll wake up.”

“I believe in you. If you see anywhere nearby you can start a stronghold. Do it, and let the workers finish healing later,” I said, seeing her nod.

“Hunky hubby, I shall not venture far. Have merry dreams.”

There was more tapping until sleep overwhelmed me.

Chapter

Six

COMPETITION 3 DAY 3

“H a! Finally, free drones we don’t have to smack into submission,” Beth said with an elbow nudge.

The magic of the stronghold going from a rendering to a reality changed in front of us. She had a valid point; we finally were at tier one. I was excited to see our fledgling little village succeed. We… had some growing pains.

“I wish we could talk to Senna,” I said with a smirk. “I don’t want to rub our success in, and she will probably be confused by all these workers. But she’d scold us. Without a doubt she’d give us an ‘I told you so.’”

We spun to take in all the drones cycling in raw materials. There were over two dozen before we even had a single worker produced from a stronghold. That was the power of the apparently well-known strategy of getting objectives to surrender. The score told us we clearly weren’t the only team using this strategy.

She waved me forward, holding the front door open. The interior of the stronghold was the exact same as the last tier one. There were a few candles on walls, a tiny bedroom, and a desk with a single chair.

“Have a seat first, my lady,” I gestured for the only chair.

“You’re the boss,” Beth said, kissing my cheek and plopping down into the chair in the main stronghold room.

Things were going smoothly enough that the stronghold finished midday on the third day. While I was healing in my sleep, Beth was able to use the clearing behind the quarry to start the most imperative building. Using that spot had some downsides.

It would be hard to expand here until we got a lumber mill up and proper tools because of all the trees we had to clear. The plus side was the stronghold was well hidden since the building was so deep inside the woods.

While we waited on build timers, we ventured inside the ring of the starter zone. We only did tiny and small objectives to secure a labor force. Our biggest issue was on the north side where we ran into a challenge.

The mine was a medium - which was great - but… it was a medium with a flock of eagles around it. There were two dozen big birds with keen eyes defending that yummy mine.

We may have tried to pull just one and lost Adam… Not going to point fingers, but Adam tripped on a root even though he was told not to. Drones tended to be clumsy. When he fell, his bloodcurdling screams still made me shudder.

Our simulator time always had us figuring out a strategy. So far, the eagles always swarmed. Even with Beth and her bow they were too much to tangle with. We had killed two with arrows and one with a spear. The problem was they had feasted on Adam and spawned eight more eagles. There was no retrieving our arrows and we decided to save the six remaining in case Beth got in a fight.

With an impasse at defeating the mine we put the challenge on hold while we tried to figure out other ideas.

Every strategy we came up with required arrows beyond tier one. But the catch was, even when we got the stronghold to two, and then built the archery range to two, we needed metal. Meaning we needed a new plan, or we had to find another mine to conquer.

“You sure,” Beth said, gesturing to the bedroom. “I don’t mind.”

I used the tablet to spawn a chair. After three hard days of work we were going to do an assessment period.

Our tireless work, and our strategy was paying off. We were doing so well we hinted that Beth should avoid getting pregnant. Yeah, Senna was going to be perplexed.

The situation said I should send Beth to the starting point to our south and I should go to the east. We go and secure a bunch of small and tiny objectives and bring home more workers. A day and half there, a day and a half back. Except that meant one wrong move and we lost the master tablet. The alternative was Beth stayed here and swelled her belly for the cause.

“I know, I know. Honestly, I think it just doesn’t make sense,” I said with a shrug. “For Senna sure.”

“Nate, me being chair-bound for two out of seven days isn’t too bad. I can still go to the quarry and swing a pick or pull a saw. Bending over is the real issue,” Beth said with a grunt.

“Yeah, I get it. The downhill effects are great, but really, so are your production abilities. Alright, I’ll let you pick. What’re your thoughts on leaving this starter area?” I asked Beth.

She shrugged, using a tiger tooth to carve a heart into the desk. “Fuck me, we’re behind. I can’t believe it, but we are.”

“We’re fine,” I said, reassuring myself as much as her. “Here is the score.”

Team 2burn: 17th

Survival: 3.5 (tied 98th)

eXplore: 1.2 (33rd)

eXpand: 2.3 (tied 30th)

eXploit: 3.9 (tied 22nd)

eXterminate: 9.5 (4th)

“I just thought we were doing something special,” Beth said, continuing to doodle with that awful scraping sound.

“Waifu, scratch the wood while I’m gone. So far, we’ve been having me taking the risk, and you holding the tablet. I think we play it safe,” I said sternly.

“Extrapolate, my liege,” Beth said, plopping her feet onto the desk and folding her arms. She brushed desk crumbs off her boots while eyeing me. “Uh… I know that look.”

“Huh?” I said, raising a brow with a smirk. “There hasn’t been much us time. Then again, these early days matter. At least we’re at the point where we can sleep together.”

“Yeah, just nestle in a bed of blankets. So. You going to start the upgrade?”

“Kinda have to,” I said, pulling up the stronghold two requirements.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 2:

3 - Tier 1 buildings (Adequate)

1 - Builder 60 hours (Adequate)

200 - Stone (Adequate)

1500 - Wood (Adequate)

40 - Food (Adequate)

I assigned Allison to the project and selected the outline right in the same spot we were. The building glowed orange when Allison entered the main door to lay down. I went into the build list to see what we should add. We had a barracks, three farms, a water well, a church, a stable in production, four huts, and a depot.

Stronghold

Depot

Hut

Small Farm

Church

Stable

Water well

Barracks

Wall

Tower

Having all these buildings was the power of all the surrendered workers. If I had to guess.

The fourteen-day timer for the record was likely another Archaic half answer.

What Valance really meant to say was it was fourteen days for a first team in their first competition. Since I thought we should be in first, and we were in seventeenth, we obviously were not the only skilled teams who knew you could convert defenders easily.

We needed stronghold two to finish to build tier two buildings… But we could build another stronghold or start placing depots around the map. I spied Beth twirling the tooth on her palm and an idea hit me.

“Bolas,” I blurted.

Beth let her boots clomp against the floor as she suddenly sat upright. “Like what the frogs used?”

“Yeah, we hurl a bola and run,” I said, wagging my finger as the idea grew on me. “It would be tedious. Run close, hurl a bola, run away. Do it enough times that the flock is thinned to the point I can beat them with the spear like a staff.”

“I like it, not your worst plan… unless.”

“They chase us further?” I asked.

“Yup!”

“I mean, I can go test it myself. After I build some bolas of course. Should just be stone and twine. We have plenty of stone, there were vines not far from the swan farm on the east side,” I said, recalling vines in that area. They were on another alien fruit tree we hadn’t bothered to send drones to collect from yet.

“Yeah… but there is also a roaming mob you haven’t found yet. We -”

“Hey!” I blurted. There was one thing you never did with the Archaics, and that was tempt fate by saying things out loud.

Beth snickered, covering her mouth. She knew I’d be triggered. “Sorry, I had to.”

I grumbled, tapping the table to check inventories.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 173 (+33 per hour)

Wood - 1120 (+25 per hour)

Stone - 683 (+103 per hour)

Metal - 1

Water - 177 (+3 per hour)

Hide - 303

Swans - 22 (+1.3 per day)

Chickens - 45 (+2.2 per day)

Krunnal - 8 (+.8 per day)

“Yeah we have no twine at all. Even if the bolas on the eagles are a bust, we know what we throw into the objective stays. The chucked spears are still sitting by the one dead body,” I said, mulling over the options.

“Why don’t you work on vines and get the bolas made. I saw a western spot where the tiger roamed where I could drop a second stronghold. That is probably what is holding us back on the score.”

“Crap, since we went south of the center point, we can build maybe three strongholds around the starter zone,” I said, thinking of our expansion layouts. “But that puts the next southern one right in the middle of tougher objectives.”

“I was thinking of food, still adding barracks, but food should be a priority. I just remember how bad it got on Noobi,” Beth said and groaned. The memory was painful to think about. We seriously almost ran out of the ability to keep producing workers. And that was with us not using a surrender only early game. “Food?”

Beth was great at reading my thoughts. The loving smile I flashed her said enough. I spawned two dual baskets with leather straps. After a few taps on the tablet, Bonny came into the stronghold from stone duty.

“Alright, Bonny, pick up a set of baskets and wait for me outside,” I said, and she did as I commanded. When the door closed, I towered over my lovely waifu who twisted cutely at my approach with mischievous eyes. “Tonight, my lovely waifu. Alright, here is the tablet. I shall be mindful of the roaming monster.”

Our lips locked for a tender moment. I handed her the tablet and headed for the wall where our inventory of weapons rested. I grabbed the sharper of the two spears. I wouldn’t be needing the bow for what I was doing. Beth grabbed the bow when I passed it up, just in case.

We said a final goodbye.

When I hoisted the dual buckets to meet up with Bonny, I felt ready to try out my crazy plan.

“Bonny,” I said, knowing better than to try to establish a conversation with her at this level. “If you see a threat shriek as loud as you can please.”

“Yes, competitor Nathanael,” she answered in that dry automated tone.

“Follow me, when we get to the vines, I chop and pull them down. You’re to spool them into the baskets,” I said.

“Yes, competitor Nathanael.”

Ugh. It was like talking to a home assistant.

“Bye, Beth!” I hollered before heading into the tall pines.

As imagined, Bonny was about as much fun to talk to as the spear I held, and my brief questions were all met with the same monotone answers.

I used the time to process the last three days. This competition was shaping up nicely for us to make it into the long haul. I was hoping that we would be left alone, everything relied on us unlocking the mighty tyrannosaurus rex.

While I walked between pines that opened up to a small lake, I twirled the spear. There was a part of me that had felt sluggish since I arrived on Koobi. Every little battle had my reflexes sharpening.

There were two ways for me to look at this. Either I could theorize I was leveling up as a manager slash competitor. Or I could think that I was merely getting back into the swing of combat that was not in a simulator.

“Hey, Bonny, am I growing as a person?” I asked, steering clear of the piranha type aliens in the lake we were trekking past.

She looked at me but said nothing.

“I… pushed women away for so long, and now I have two. Then there was Roxie; I pushed her away. Now there is Izzy. Same thing,” I said, kicking a stick. “I’ll end up having this conversation later… It’s just, I wish I knew what I wanted.”

My spear twirling let me move on from the thoughts only to drift back to my fighting. “You were the panda with four arms, Bonny. You were fast, faster than the lizard man Larry we defeated this morning. Or were you the same and I was quicker.”

I snickered, hoping to see her have a real reaction. Instead, when I glanced over my shoulder she was gone.

The buckets were abandoned immediately. I crouched, spear tip out. My ears thrummed with my increasing heart rate. I was desperately trying to hear what the hell snatched my worker out of the forest.

A piece of bark crashed down from where Bonny should have been. My neck craned to peer up. Well, I found our roaming monster. It should only be a small… yeah, this competition had different ideas.

There was a plant with a suckered base that was over twenty feet long. A tulip flower design for a mouth held a kicking Bonny. A red stem of a tongue was binding Bonny like a constrictor.

The plant monster was having issues consuming Bonny. The buckets on the front and back of her were sticking against the sucker parts of the internal petal. A quick run under Bonny showed there was only one way to get higher.

I sprinted to the next tree over, hopping onto a big root. The arduous process of climbing with a spear in my hand frustrated me. There was no belt or holder to use. Halfway up I ran out of options of getting higher while still holding the weapon. There was a tiger tooth wedged in my belt, meaning I wouldn’t be weaponless.

From the mid-tier branch, I lined up a throw. I tried to balance my hurl by using enough force to launch the spear while staying balanced. I really felt I did a great job. However, I sent myself off the branch, nutting myself on a limb one rung lower.

My spear soared for the plant trying to calm the woman into death. The weapon went higher than I had planned, diving right into the thick stalk with a squishing sound.

There was a loud hiss from the alien creature. A plume of yellow billowing pollen shot out of its mouth. The sucker fought to stay rooted to the tree but there was a loud pop, sending predator and prey down to the forest floor.

The crash caused the piled leaves of the forest floor to go flying. Bonny was still, the plant creature was still, and I was coping with the fact I’d probably cracked my balls.

With the manliest groan I could muster, I gently lifted myself off the limb to head down. The yellow toxin or defense mechanism was thinning from the cool breeze. My cowboy waltz was earned with me moseying on over to the outside of the cloud.

A closer study of the creature showed it was alive but either playing as injured or injured. I glanced up, yeah. That was a forty-foot fall.

The last of the pollen type substance vanished with a new whipping wind. I grabbed Bonny’s twitching foot, yanking her free of the petals. Her chest rose and fell but she was asleep with a panicked expression.

I glanced over at the creature trying to decide if I wanted to stick it on the stronghold porch or just kill it to eliminate the threat. We were only ten minutes away from the base and ten from the vines.

The extra effort would be worth it, probably. Maybe.

I went to my spear hesitantly, hoping some defense mechanism didn’t trigger. When I pulled the weapon, free there was no reaction. Okay, it was just as asleep as Bonny was because that should have caused a lot of pain.

I grunted when I hoisted Bonny over my shoulder. Yellow pollen gas escaped her when she farted and belched.

There was a light swoon in my step that recovered quickly. Yup, that was definitely a knockout gas.

She was awkward to carry, the baskets strapped to her caused me pain. When I was in a small clearing, I set her down. I went for my baskets, picking up my tempo. My goal required me to hurry.

I scooped up my baskets and ran recklessly for the vines. I darted between trees, leaped over roots, and found the smaller pines.

Using the spear tip like an axe I went about cutting vines at the base of tree trunks. When I had a dozen or so cleaved, I set the spear down to rip the invasive plants free of their hosts. After about fifteen minutes I had both my baskets full.

The ability to run was gone, but I could jog without spilling my collected vines. When I returned to Bonny, she was still asleep. That was the good news. The bad news was the flower creature was missing from where I had left it.

After depositing my vines by Bonny, I went hunting for the roaming threat. There was a clear trail of the creature dragging leaves as it tried to flee the area. I followed the route it created and saw the alien on the back side of a tree only a few feet up, struggling to get higher.

The center stem shot out at me, even though I was well beyond its reach.

“Whoa, whoa. Easy there,” I said to the wounded creature.

When it tried to go higher, there was oozing green blood from the wound I’d inflicted. A cough, or something close to it, emanated from the being.

“Can you surrender?” I asked, stepping closer.

I was putting myself at risk, but I wanted to test something. The inner stem part of the flower shot for me again. This time I was in range. While the motion wasn’t at a crawling speed, it was certainly easy enough to dodge.

A sidestep had the latching organ missing me, the pinky thing slithering back into the mouth. Another attack, this time it missed, or was trying to predict I’d move to that spot. Either way I stood still, leaning on my staff with a rude laugh. Alright, that had one theory checked. I felt less sluggish than the first day here.

“Surrender,” I said.

This was something that really perplexed me. I’d never gotten a roaming mob to convert. A worker was worth dragging this heavy guy to the stronghold to morph, meaning I wasn’t going to just let it die or run free. Sure, would be nice if it rolled over and became a drone though.

Another attack whipped out at me. I sidestepped, slashing the end of the organ off with a fluid maneuver. There was a wailing pain from the creature. A minor puff of yellow was ejected from the flowery plant.

Whatever that stuff was, it was defensive and something the alien wasn’t immune to. Probably more resilient, but certainly not immune. The alien hit the forest floor when the sucker plopped off the tree.

I got to test a few things. No, it wouldn’t surrender. And yes, I felt faster, but I would need to figure out why. Maybe asking Valance was the answer. He had dodged my questions so far about the issue. A part of me knew I was probably asking the wrong way.

I headed for the vines; not happy I was going to have to drag the big alien back home. At least when I got there, we’d have another worker and enough vines to make some bolas. Capturing that mine was everything right now. Without it we would stagnate, and I admitted to myself I was interested in a challenge.

Chapter

Seven

COMPETITION 3 DAY 4

T he evening of the third day was a torrential downpour. I didn’t exactly want to fling bolas in a situation where it was easy to slip.

That night we stayed up late, crafting bolas by hand and the rain finally stopped a few hours after dark. We were able to craft bolas at a blacksmith tier two which was still a few days off. There was a schematic we worked off, but the process became simple with a few poor initial creations to improve from.

While we worked, Beth let me know the expansion stronghold was started at the northwest. There was some light discussion about building farms and what came next once we got metal. The reality was, we just enjoyed each other's company while performing our simple task.

We discussed it in detail and Beth decided to wait until stronghold three to have a baby. That didn’t mean there wasn’t some hot passionate sex, because there certainly was. Following the fun times there was a romantic entwining that had us falling asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning rain was soaked into the soil and our baskets were filled with bolas. The plant that had gone into a quick conversion cycle was now a tall pasty guy we were using as a hauler. I had to look up his name to recall it was Parker.

Bonny slept for five hours then healed a few hours later. There was a mental note to myself to avoid the outsized plant aliens if possible.

When I stepped outside, I noticed our little village was growing quickly with upgrades, and workers were bustling around.

And yet… we were out of space. There were no new buildings besides random depots by our objects’ farms to help speed deposits. We needed metal, more metal, and then… Well, we both understood it was a priority.

If this failed, the plan was to abandon our current base as a duo and find a mine at the next start zone over. We would bring the mining pick, get enough metal to build some saws here, and waste the three-day trip just to get production started.

Yeah… Senna was going to say a tower guard in the open starting point would have been better because you never know what supply chain link might be broken. Building the woods was dumb, and another lesson that I thought was smart. Maybe it would be better in a small map.

“You okay?” Beth asked, tugging on my hand that she held.

We walked the stone path our workers were expanding. We had to divert off the path to avoid a section under construction as we headed for the medium mine to the north.

The sky was thick with scattered clouds, adding an extra gloom to the forest. The wind spoke of additional rain, and I was feeling down. I really shouldn’t be. But losing in competition two and dying in competition one was bothering me. When I added in the fact that we already were against a wall in this competition, it soured my mood.

“Probably time to have the talk,” I said, and she squeezed my hand a bit harder. “I know I’ve been avoiding the subject but maybe the one on one parts are better than the two on one debates.”

“What do you mean?” Beth asked in a pleasant tone. There was always the fact that embodied merriment.

The slimming pines came to an end and the starter fields opened up. There were farms on the southern tip of these fields. As in, every spot Beth could place them, and you could see where she hit the limiter. Only four fit for now, and it did help brighten my spirit to see the animals. Come stronghold two this space would be utilized better. Happy swans honked at us from their pen as we walked by.

I undid our hand holding to sling an arm around Beth and said, “So… Henry. I did a bit of research. He wanted his wives all to himself, and his mistresses to become his wives when his wives irritated him. You were different. Why?”

Beth smiled, looking up at me. She said, “Because I was friends with his wife. I told her everything. My goal was to be the mistress and the ally. Henry hated that; he wanted us to fight and have one be his worthy love. When he would tempt me with the title of Queen I would refuse. Mainly because of my fear of the church and well, it wasn’t fair.”

“Different times,” I muttered, and she shrugged.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Amelia.”

“The fact she betrayed you, yeah I get that. You decided to give her a tablet thinking you could trust her and she -”

“Brought about our ruin. I think about it. I try to compute her motivations. And -”

Beth chuckled. “Nate… you scorned her for me. She said she was willing to work with you, and you picked another. While I understand your reasoning, rejection is an immensely powerful motivation for revenge. Plus, obviously, Team No Mercy offered her something she found worth the treachery.”

“I know, which leads to Izzy.”

“Ah,” Beth said with a shake of her head. “You’re right, Senna would want to be here. Kinda why I haven’t brought it up. She gets glum when she talks about Izzy and us.”

“Well, I think it might be better to talk to you separately. What’s your thoughts?”

“That I want to win. That Qoobi sounds amazing as a fresh start, especially versus the alternative. And I’ll be proud of the hard work we put in,” Beth said in a proper haughty tone.

“You know what I meant,” I said, holding a hand out to help her over the creek.

Beth was more than capable of hopping the river but accepted the offer. “Izzy is unique. So, when it comes to our family, I have a confession to make. I was desperate when I picked you and Senna.”

I knew this. She was in a bind; the cards were definitely in my favor when I pulled her into those trees for that interview. There was never some shocked fact that she said yes to our offer out of self-preservation.

“You say this because?” I asked politely.

We neared the northern section of trees and I paused. The tall drone Parker halted with us. I grabbed a bola he was hauling, handing him my spear.

“Izzy is me, and now I’m you. While I may seem like this happy cheerful woman… I’m a ruthless calculating bitch when I need to be. With that said, I don’t fear Izzy. What I fear is her relationship with Senna. Senna is…”

She fidgeted, hesitating to speak her mind, and knowing this would be recorded for later.

“Senna likes women more than I do. To the point, where if you two never met. She’d have been completely comfortable marrying a woman in your society at the time and done that magic baby stuff,” Beth said, flicking her hand in a huff.

It was cute when she got flustered. “In Vitro Fertilization. The common term was IVF. Yeah, I can see that about Senna. Do me a favor. Pull up managers. Senna had some friends that might have gotten scooped up after we were.”

“Wait, I set up this big anxiety and you want me to go digging into the tablet.”

Beth slugged my arm, causing me to rub the tender spot.

“Fair point, that can wait. Are ya worried that Senna will replace you?” I asked.

She snickered at this one. “Have you ever considered it? Be honest.”

“Not once for either of you,” I said, crossing my heart with my index finger.

“Well, I’m stepping around this subject because I don’t like to plot behind people’s backs. Hence why every time Senna has tried to corner you about Izzy I’ve been there. The problem with Izzy is, she is only kissing the back of one hand and trying to woo you. I have been approached directly at least. With you, they skirt the issue every time you throw walls up. Izzy is trying to -”

“I think I get it. What about me though?” I asked, tapping my chest. “Shouldn’t what I want matter?”

“Nathanael Immerson. Are you saying two women who have your heart is more than enough?”

“Exactly. Why mess with a good thing?” I was getting a bit emotional, something rare for me.

Beth held her hands out and spun. “This, you tall handsome man. I love you, but this Koobi, Noobi, and Qoobi are more than enough for you to understand why we should mess with a good thing.

“This reality is our future. For our family and a select few. For the rest, they become brainwashed new residents of our Empire.

“Izzy is a doctor. There will be no tablet. Plow my fields, fuck me until I walk funny. But dear husband, I want a doctor for our wee ones.

“Qoobi will probably be savage. There was a hint the water produces an ageless factor. People still have to die, there are still needs for a doctor. Valance never said the water would make you immortal without health concerns. Correct?”

“Something like that. And what do you mean you were approached directly?”

Beth pulled me down, simmering my rising anger. She knew how to calm me, and in this case, I accepted her tender embrace.

“Izzy wants in, I was the first block she faced. I accepted, based on a few key provisions. Senna closes her heart. I realize, and you may not, but Izzy has been with Senna almost longer than you and they have never acted on their emotions. Hence why Izzy has been trying to get so much time with you.

“My stipulation was revolving around Amelia. If you spurn Izzy, then what? We find her a lover? Not likely. She likes a big cock just like me, but she yearns for a lover who understands her like Senna. Izzy is a great fit, is sexy as hell, and will help our family with her expertise. I voted yes, but again, Senna doesn’t get to keep adding side babes on us.”

I bit my lower lip, rubbing the back of my neck. “Shucks. You girls really want this?”

She nodded, hugging me.

“Fine, I don’t think with my dick and normally close off my heart. I’ll give it a try. No promises,” I said, kissing her hair.

“Alright, let me talk to Senna first when we hit stronghold two. She'll be ten types of confused she isn’t waking up in competition two, and if you bring her out first and throw this at her she will be super puzzled.”

I chuckled and said, “Got it. Oh, just ask her for the names of the smart friends of hers. Call it a hunch.”

“You think we might get some more Senna friends in our team?” Beth asked with furled brows.

“My mom isn’t on there, and the guys I respected around Miami aren’t either. Have you checked your past?”

She grew flustered. A rare sign for Beth. “I… No… Not sure if I should.”

“I love you, do it for me. Now, I want to get this mine. You ready with that bow?”

“You know it. Have a merry time with the eagles,” Beth said, shooting me a wink with a smack on my ass.

“Wait! So, what's the limit?” I asked and she shrugged. “I’m not bi.”

“No one said you were,” she said furling her brows. “Oh, hunky lover of mine. Look. Think of it this way. If harems were allowed during Henry’s time then there would have been a happy group of women, plopping out babies while working together to manage his court. Senna liked being dominated by you. You treat me like a Queen in the streets and then a King in the bed. I adore you, Nathanael Immerson. I want us, as a family, to be set to rule the entire planet. That means people we can trust. If we bind a few as lovers, then I’m okay with that within reason. Senna and Izzy feel you're mature enough to handle a bevy of beauties.”

When she winked at the end, I picked up on the subtle hints. “Ah… you girls had this in the works.”

She smirked and said, “Nate, you need to get me a mine. We need a mine, or we go into stasis. Worry about how many women warm your bed and cum on your cock during down times.”

“To be fair, this is new to me. I can grow and adapt. Alright, for the family then,” I said, kissing her cheek. I slung an extra bola over my shoulder before heading into the woods.

This medium mine was fairly close to the starting point. While we had tried a few tricks like climbing high in the trees - or sending in Adam - nothing had worked. So, I decided to take a second look around the pit the mine was in.

My pace was brisk and my eyes vigilant. Every little noise of the forest triggered my reflexes.

While there were no known threats here, and the roaming monster defeated, it didn’t mean a boar or bear couldn’t naturally wander in. At least that is what my mind told me while I looked for spiders and fresh tracks.

There were a few caves in these big yellowwoods - nothing compared to the massive reds of Noobi - and yet warranting a quick look. My trips in had me swatting a bola around and each time coming up empty.

Twenty minutes of inspecting the forest revealed very little. This was the big prize, so I felt that taking my time would be worth the effort.

I crept slowly toward the mine with my inspections completed. There was a pit in the ground with a ten foot drop all the way around. It was more oval in nature than circular and about the size of a doublewide.

The bottom held the start of the mine that led down to a spot where miners do miner things. At least I guessed as much, we’d only seen the entrance from a tree and never been close to the edge.

The big eagles built their nests and perched on the pit’s lip. These were maybe double the size of a bald eagle, definitely big enough to kill Adam in a minute.

The trees were fairly thick next to the objective, letting me sneak up. Each step was careful. I had practiced throwing these bolas all morning on a tree. They were tricky, even knocked a tooth out on one bad twirl. Even though I felt confident, I was nervous.

My palms started to sweat as I neared the hulking big birds of prey. I found my courage, standing while winding my throw up. There was a trail of the long end zipping out of my palms when I let go.

My throw was great. I wrapped an eagle up and the stone ends even twisted into a bind, locking the wings against the body. I fist pumped, reveling in my throw… Until every set of beady eyes went looking for me.

I spun, pumping my legs into a sprint. I knew this route back to Parker and Beth. When I crossed the mark on the forest floor indicating the general turn around area I kept going.

The eagles that were gaining on me did too. Well, shit.

“RUN! Drop the spear and run for the stronghold!” I shouted between breaths.

I pulled the extra bola off my shoulder whipping into a spin while I fled. Without looking I let it fly over my head and toward the eagles.

There was no time to look back. I reached the clearing quickly. Beth was standing with an arrow nocked. She released, the projectile flying dangerously close to my face. The sound of the arrow sinking into flesh was sweet music.

Parker threw the spear for me to catch. The moment I was in the clearing I caught the weapon, driving my feet down hard to turn my body in a U. My peripheral vision caught the flock easily gliding to stay right on my back. I had no idea how far they’d chase, but I knew they were gaining.

I raced for the first hidey hole I saw. When I neared, I skidded to a stop, desperately trying to slow enough to cram myself into the opening.

An eagle smacked into me with a jarring impact. I felt talons tearing into my shoulder. The second bird that slammed into me shoved me into the tree cave.

My back thunked against the wall of the interior. The gloomy daylight was blotted by the image of wings, beaks, and claws eager to inflict more damage.

There was an inner part of me that toiled in those first moments as I realized I was going to have to start killing.

From my spot I had reach and position on the big birds suddenly. Accepting that I wouldn’t be able to convert these assholes into workers was disheartening until I felt the inflicted damage they had dealt. My first thrust was a killing blow that caused a grin to spread on my face.

The next bird filled the first bird’s spot. I was forced to keep killing potential conversions, and, for once, it felt good to let out my inner thirst for a clean victory. This was the easiest way to stay alive.

As the fight unfolded it became clear I was in the superior position. The eagles would drag a dead body out, and then one would rush my opening. The first eagle to arrive would flare wings, give me a target, and then try to land to enter the narrow tree cave.

I never let them, the moment they flared, the tip of the spear was driven right into its chest. Most of my fights had been dynamic, in the sense the defenders had sentient thought at the very least.

Here, they hungered for violence without any considerations. They ignored the fact that I was going to kill them one at time.

Maybe binding the first one set them into some sort of mode where they needed to protect eggs or something. I’d never know really. I killed a large pile until the last two couldn’t move to get to me. There was a flapping of wings as the last of the eagles fled and then silence.

With the slaughter over, I panted. A few minutes of waiting let me collect my breath and thoughts. When there were no sounds of the eagles nearby, it felt safe to emerge.

“Nate!” I heard Beth call out.

“In here,” I shouted, trying to push the pile of the dead out of the way.

The sound of running footsteps told me Beth had found me.

“Hand me the spear, I’ll stick and pull them. A few look to be alive. Might be able to get them to surrender,” Beth said in an optimistic tone.

The bird I was pushing on shifted, causing my hand to slip. I cut my thumb open on a claw.

“Shit, these claws are sharper than knives,” I cursed. I saw there was enough space to get out. Beth gazed at me in concern. “What?”

My face and chest were warm from blood. That first eagle had gotten pecks in, scratching me while it shoved me into the small nook. I removed my shirt and saw it was ruined from talon punctures.

“You okay?” she asked, clearly concerned.

“The adrenaline is wearing off. I didn’t even realize I took this much damage. If only those gnoll armor sets fit and didn’t weigh eighty pounds,” I said in a bitter tone.

With the battle rage wearing off, the pain was starting to set in. Beth saw me putting on a brave face, giving me a half smile. There were only two eagles trying to stay living. One would be dead soon and the other might or might not make it.

“What happened?” Beth asked.

“Uh… I guess bolas really, really piss them off. After I turned, it was getting into the root cave and then they literally came at me one at a time.”

“Well, they never even glanced at us. The moment you whirled back into the forest me and the tall guy were forgotten about.”

“Parker. I remember his name because he was a pain in the ass to drag to the stronghold. How about we go check out the mine?” I said, using the spear like a walking stick with my good arm.

We walked to the pit slowly. Parker was still carrying the bolas I had spent all that time on. Looking at the haphazard construction resulted in me sighing. All that effort wasted, and yet another display of simple plans going to shit.

When we neared the pit the four eagles took flight, occupying trees not far away.

Uh… Would be interesting to see naked humans falling from up high.

I was handed the tablet. “You should do the honors,” Beth said.

A few quick taps to the map and I selected the mine.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned medium mine. The six defenders have agreed to surrender to you. Claiming this mine requires:

100 - Stone (Adequate)

1000 - Wood (Adequate)

Claim the medium mine. (YES) - (NO) You have three hours before the defenders return to hostile.

I selected yes. During the swirling magic of transformation my eyes went high. I was curious as to if the eagles would convert into falling humans. No. They teleported to the ground in a blinding light that made me flinch. Deep down I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or sad.

There was a boom that echoed in the pit, and then the rumble of earth shaking my feet. The blinding light faded, revealing a ramp going down to the pit where a single shaft shot down into the soil. There were support beams and a stone walkway leading to where the vital resources went. No smelter or cart were included, but it was a start.

The first two horns would be done right around the same time as stronghold two was. I think the carts were made out of the woodworking shop at tier two. I knew there was going to be a rude awakening here soon about build orders. I don’t think Senna was going to be able to help us either.

Beth snuggled into my side, asking for the tablet back. I let her send all the wounded to get healing. I knew where I was spending the next two days. In the mines.

Chapter

Eight

COMPETITION 3 DAY 9

F or five days I became nothing more than a high achieving worker. Where a drone could chisel out ten to twelve ore an hour, I could do five times that. Honestly, we had to have Beth and I balancing out our wonky supply numbers.

The first day was me singing off tune about working on the railroad while swinging a mining pick. Spoiler, my mining skills were zero in real life. In the competition, I just smashed a really hard rock with a steely color. When it broke into enough pieces a drone would haul it for the depot. When the reserves on the mine vanished, and the daily production started growing the rock, I shifted jobs. We had more than enough metal for our immediate needs. Which meant I could start helping our dwindling stone numbers.

I forgot how steep the tier one to tier two stone requirements were on most buildings. The second and for most of the third day, I literally cleaned out the quarry until it would need time to respawn. Then I would head to the local stone points around creeks or rivers to bust boulders and big rocks.

Stronghold two completed early morning on day three or day six of the competition. We wanted to rush every building. Except. There was no space besides in the farm fields. We sacrificed a bit of farm area for a blacksmith. It would be odd having a blacksmith in the middle of a field until tier four when we could reposition our structures. Luckily, the stone road to the farms brought a perfect trail to our stronghold.

The moment the first two-person saw finished, Beth and I became lumberjacks. Beth was the only one I could rely on to cut through the trees quickly. We knocked down more than planned simply by letting the trees fall into others. While there was a danger with letting the mighty trees topple, I sure as hell wasn’t climbing them to chop them in bits. We luckily never lost a drone, and only had to repair one partially smushed hut.

By day six there were a few key developments. We hit our seventh tier two structure. Because we had all the drones from objection submissions, we were going to be getting tier three by the early part of day ten; incredibly shorter than the fourteen-day first event record.

On day six we had dinosaurs on this dinosaur ride. A trio of two horns were born and another six were incubated as the stable hit tier two. By day seven, all three were helping clear space for expansions. With almost no sleep and insane amounts of work we achieved a circle of deforestation around the stronghold. Sort of.

The moment a space opened up we built so there was never much cleared space. Every one of our workers was trained as a warrior, but not an archer. We couldn’t even build an archery range until day eight.

Thankfully, the game cleared stumps when you went to build over them. The other bonus was, we went from two hundred foot yellowwoods to one-fifty. Others might think; oh, it's still a massive tree. There was a huge difference with the workers’ capabilities, meaning I’d saved the day and the jams of production were somewhat unclogged.

By day nine we were a booming little city. We needed more stone now - like for me to either defeat a few mediums or start expanding. The fifty plus workers were in a great spot to take over my duties. Which led to me being able to finally talk with Senna and take a small break.

I was sitting in the bedroom on the second floor of the orange glowing stronghold when I summoned her. Senna had spent two days already chatting with Beth for an hour each time. Beth let me know today was the day she was ready to talk with me.

My lovely wifey spawned on the bed. She immediately began jumping on the hard bed in happiness.

“I’m happy to see you too, wifey!” I said with a light laughter at her antics.

“Nate, only one point lost during an aggressive invasion! Fantastic. Phew, I hate small competitions. Before you dive into how you’re doing. Did Beth warn you?” Senna said, finishing her bouncing to sit on the edge of the bed.

“That you both tried ten different ways to say soon in a quantitative manner and they all failed. I mean, it's the Archaics, it makes sense to not have you affecting the competition until you’re actually in it,” I said, pretending to tuck her hair behind her ear. “I… it’s good to see you, my love.”

“I heard you missed me,” Senna said smiling brightly.

I sat on the bed by her before saying, “A whole lot. I saw you die, so we’re even on that front. The process… is painful. You ready to get to work?”

“Heck yeah I’m ready to join you guys. So… Nate… T-Rex in the room. Can you spend some time with Izzy?” Senna asked politely and yet directly.

“I can try. I’m about to head for a thorough scrub down before I journey to settle an outpost. Got my own tablet for a few days -”

“Nate, you froze after you said I can try,” Senna said sadly.

“Ah, yeah. Went right into competition stuff. Sorry. I have a lot to do, and.” I paused trying to think of how to say this next bit. “When time becomes available, I’ll gladly spend time with you and Izzy. No promises.”

“Thank you, now kiss these digital lips of mine my hunky husband,” Senna said, puckering her lips.

We shared a kiss, a dozen ‘I love you’, and I left to find Beth. While it tugged my feelings to keep it so brief, she would be here soon, and I could chat with her on the road. I was excited she would be here soon. We certainly needed Senna here and her advice would be a big boon to this competition.

“How did it go?” Beth said from the office when I clomped down the stairs.

She had two togas over her shoulder while standing there in her birthday suit. One could never say Beth was shy with nudity. I approached with a smirk and she held a hand out, halting me.

“You stink, I smell like my asshole is a rotten egg, and I really do want to know.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, and thick grime coated my hands. “Shucks, I’ll never get used to your odd saying, but Beth, never change. Alrighty then... shower first,” I said, thumbing for the door. “Senna was happy to see me. Asked for me to summon Izzy and I agreed to. I still hope to get Marius and Linia. Linia as a fourth would mean another rapid expansion that can really become a second city.”

“Senna isn’t going to lose for love, darling. She will pick Linia and then go for another duke type male to help run another expansion at five. Probably Pat or Harold. Izzy will be seventh or a cognizant repeat,” Beth said, exiting for the stone trail with me.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, heading for a magical waterfall that was at a small fish farm. We had talked about using the spot as an impromptu shower for both cleaning and fun.

Tomorrow, the tier three shower in the stronghold would very much be a welcome feature.

I would be gone though. We passed a tier two depot with a cart out front of it. No wagons yet, but enough supplies to build a stronghold rested on the bed of the cart. A single two horn relaxed nearby, curled up for a nap.

“She is going to be so happy when she gets to arrive tomorrow, and probably upset I’ll be gone when she gets here,” I said.

Beth swatted my ass playfully. “Senna is a big girl. She knows there will be times where you’re needed to venture forth and conquer. This is one of them. I’ll build an army; you build an expansion. In a week, we’ll link up for a merry time of smashing bigger objectives.”

“I agree with the plan, it's a good plan and -”

Beth interjected with a “Ha! It’s my plan, of course it’s good.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll miss you. I think we’re behind by a day or so from the big groups,” I said pulling my tablet out of my vest.

A few quick taps and I retrieved the score.

Team 2burn: 37th

Survival: 9.2 (tied 97th)

eXplore: 1.9 (73rd)

eXpand: 4.7 (38th)

eXploit: 15.9 (12th)

eXterminate: 29.5 (14th)

“How’s it looking?” Beth asked.

“Like the others are expanding and exploiting more. I would wager we snatched more surrenders than the others. They focused more on building massive bases right away where we stuck to getting converts and then clearing trees,” I said, trying my best to analyze the score to figure out how we were doing.

Beth turned off the path heading for the waterfall we had captured as a koi farm. She hung the togas meant as towels on branches before stepping into the cool water. I knew it was cool because she shuddered from the touch.

While I stripped, she said, “Yeah, I think if we had built in the starter area we would be doing better. But clearly a lot of teams use a member to explore early, that means they risk their tablet. I just don't think the five points is worth it. Especially since three teams are gone. There is so much logic in waiting for the second tablet that I find the current ranking more than okay.”

“We are going to hit some serious resource crunches soon. Getting to tier three is the point where you can stop the rush and build up infrastructure. We’ll find plenty of stuff soon enough,” I said in a positive tone.

Now that I was fully naked, I stepped into the frigid water, heading for Beth and the waterfall. She was wringing an undershirt, scrubbing her filthy body. We needed a bath badly, and a fun goodbye.

While I adjusted to the frigid temperature Beth scrubbed me down. The undershirt was thick with buildup from working so hard lately. I had to admit, I was looking forward to some time off to wander Koobi.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about,” Beth said with a wink.

“Sorry, I'm a bit distracted. Excited to get the expansion going,” I said, cupping her ass cheek.

“Meow!” Beth said, pointing at the fish watching us. The spotted fish were interested in whether we were there to feed them. “Give ‘em a merry show my hunky hubby.”

I smirked, walking her to the edge of the waterfall. My simple point to a rock had her bending over, shaking her ass for me. That firm toss sent water flinging off her delicious ass. The water running down her sleek curves enhanced her appeal.

I placed myself behind her. Lining up to enter her moist little slit. The waterfall lightly crashed over us as I slowly entered her. She shoved back onto my cock aggressively the moment she could.

“Such a pleaser,” I said with a snicker, increasing my thrusts.

My hips smacked into her ass and she said, “I happen to love this. Smack my ass and fuck me harder!”

A few extra deep slams later had her almost slipping. We toned it down, letting the tempo build. Beth squeezed her tiny slit against my engorged cock. The two of us found a rough rhythm to enjoy the setting.

As awesome as sex under a waterfall seems in concept, it was actually fairly risky with limited positions. I tried to lie down, but that didn’t work. I sat on the rock, and she scraped her knees. When I hoisted her to do it standing up, I almost fell.

So, she went back to her being bent over for the next ten minutes while I smacked her ass and she eyed me delightfully from over her shoulder. When she felt my balls starting to pulse the dirty talk sent me over the edge and spilling into her.

There was another brief waterfall cleaning that we giggled through. We were two lovers who enjoyed each other’s company. When it was over and I had a fresh cowboy set on, well, I knew I was going to miss Beth.

The two horn with the supplies was eager to get latched on and our journey underway. Bonny was the only drone heading with me on my adventure to conquer another starting zone. I just had to hope we made the hundred-mile trip south with minimal issues.

Chapter

Nine

COMPETITION 3 DAY 10

B onny walked quietly, never falling behind the creaky cart’s mild pace. I figured it would take a day and half to get far enough south to the next starting point. Yip, the two horn, was full of character, always groaning for a break or scratches. While Yip kept me grinning, Bonny was managing to be an invisible helper I rarely noticed.

Funny how you could entertain yourself with two companions who never spoke. The tablet was out every step of the way. I needed to be certain no roaming monster was going to destroy our hopes.

So far, the trip had been mundane with only minor interesting events. There was no well-defined path or waterway to lead me. I knew the sun was at our back since it was past the midday point, meaning I was heading south.

The route was mostly trees, endless tall yellowwoods with seldom a break. There were a few clearings, a random plum orchard, and an even better stronghold spot that I cursed at seeing.

I remembered - based on the big map - there were more fields east and west of the starting point I picked. The south should have trees for half the way. A minor ridge line, and then fields.

A few objectives pinged on my tablet, alerting me we were steadily getting into zones with greater challenges. There was a camp of gorillas three stories tall that saw us, I could swear we were inside the zone, but they let us pass. We gave their prized quarry all the space we could while avoiding getting too far off course.

We didn’t go aggressive and they didn’t care that we were on the move nearby and maybe that was a part of the equation.

When the sun faded below the northern horizon we pressed on for a while by tablet light. The pace slowed and Yip was becoming a tired butthead.

After we found the end of trees transitioning into tall, chest high grass, I called it a night. There was no fire, or evening talk to help transition into a peaceful sleep. Instead we just got comfy and off to sleep we went. The first day was very simple.

I awoke while the southern sunrise was cresting the horizon to beat back the dark. Bonny was asleep on the supplies and Yip was munching tall grass. There was a trail of his eating that caused me to smirk. That dinosaur sure could eat.

While I went to piss on a tree, my tablet buzzed. My first thought was maybe it’s a text, Senna should be arriving on Koobi soon. Then I realized we were too far.

My bladder was put on hold while I ran for my bow and arrows. I quickly strung the weapon, nocked an arrow, and sought a target.

“Yip, get back here!” I hissed the order out.

Bonny had standing orders to defend the cart. My urgent tone awoke her while alerting the dino. My peripheral saw her readying a spear while Yip headed for me slowly. In the tall grass there was a flick of a tail of an animal about to pounce.

I knew cattails, this was -

A raptor leaped fifteen feet and right onto the back of Yip. My first shot was merely a graze, the arrow not piecing the hide, running down the length of the raptor. If the predator felt anything, it didn’t show it. Teeth and claws savaged Yip’s back.

Yip panicked, bucking the raptor in a lucky jolt, freeing himself to sprint for my aid. Bonny ran forward spearing the dirt, missing the stunned and perfectly still raptor. My jaw grimaced as I readied another arrow.

All hell broke loose when a second and a third dinosaur attacked the two horns. Yip was scared, beyond terrified. I loaded another arrow, drew to my anchor point, and then let loose.

The first raptor’s skin didn’t deflect this arrow. I knew I hit a lung or the heart because the predator immediately stumbled.

I nocked another arrow, swiveling to try to help Yip. The herbivore was flailing on his side, the raptors had downed him somehow. The predators were clawing at his guts while biting at his neck.

My arrow flew true, sinking into the neck of one of the other dinosaurs. This triggered the last raptor to abandon mauling Yip. Snarled blood-soaked teeth sought Bonny, seeing her stabbing the first dying dinosaur.

“Hey!” I shouted.

Yeah… I instantly regretted that decision. There was no time to nock another arrow. The raptor leaped almost twenty feet to reach me. I jumped forward and to the right. The dinosaur soared over me, landing with ease.

I ran for my spear that was on the front of the wagon. The weapon came free of its hold just in time. My thrust checked the raptor into a halt before it could impale itself. We did the thing you saw in the movies, both of us growling but neither making the first move. When Bonny approached from the side, jabbing her weapon forward, the raptor came to a decision.

In a surprise turn of events the raptor spun, fleeing into the woods. Yip was groaning, obviously in a world of pain. Instead of trying to aid him I went onto the parked cart. My eyes spun, searching for more targets.

While the adrenaline started to fade, I was able to see one trail from the south split into the three. Hmm… Loose ends were exactly that. Seeing that the threat was momentarily stalled I grabbed my sword with its sheath off the front of the cart.

I pissed on the wheel quickly while equipping my belt. I should have slept with the damn thing on. We had a level two blacksmith now and weapons were no long cat’s teeth.

Feeling flustered, I headed to check on Yip. When I arrived, I noticed he had gone quiet and still.

There was a big tug of emotion. I liked Yip, but he had died a horrible death simply because he wanted some breakfast. His death at the hands of a trio of roaming raptures would hurt. Like a lot.

My hand shot into my vest to pull my tablet out. The map was selected for me to study and what I viewed puzzled me. The raptor icon was about two hundred feet into the woods, darting back and forth as if he was glitched.

With my sword on my hip, my bow in my hand, and my arrows in my quiver I decided to end the last raptor.

“Bonny, follow me. Stay back a few paces, and do not throw your spear. If I get into a close fight, charge and stab,” I said in a firm tone.

“I understand, Competitor Nathanael Immerson.”

There was a smartass quip I held in my back pocket because I’d be the only one enjoying it. When I strode confidently with an arrow at the half ready the tablet pinged.

Shit. I ducked behind a tree to figure out what all the buzz was about. Bonny, of course, stood in the open with a blank stare. I ignored her to see the raptor was fighting some alien creature over a tiny farm of slugs.

Roaming animals tended to ignore objectives. Then again, I had pushed the raptor this way indirectly. Maybe this was a byproduct, a simple cause and effect. Either way, another worker would be nice.

I saw the raptor trying to go around the tiny objective. A parrot type bird darted down aggressively every time the raptor tried to go left or right.

When it grew agitated, tiring of the game, it decided to fight me instead. When it spun… Bonny and I were spotted.

Beady eyes focused on me with hatred. The animalistic growling snarl sent a nervous wave through my body. The frightening predator roared in high-pitched anger that caused me to wince.

A flicker of movement showed the parrot raking claws down the tail of the distracted raptor. The dinosaur spun, giving me a broadside opportunity.

I didn’t hesitate, drawing immediately and releasing. The unfletched arrow stayed true, sinking into where its heart likely was. At fifty feet, I’d call that a bullseye, and yet, I was going to be certain.

I drew my sword, approaching the hacking raptor. It stumbled before collapsing hard against the forest floor. Glazed dead eye stared into the sky, telling me I had aimed true.

My sword went into its sheath. I nocked a new arrow before I cautiously stepped around the dead raptor.

The bird wasn’t dumb. It knew what I was doing and prevented my attempts from lining up a shot.

There was a ping on my tablet. Pulling the device out slowly, I kept my vision fixed on where I thought the hiding bird was.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned tiny slug farm. The one defender has agreed to surrender to you. (YES) selecting yes will convert the defender into a mohuma - (NO) selecting no will have the defender enter into an enraged mode which will result in a fight to the death. You have two seconds to select. One.

“Yes!” I said, tapping yes rapidly.

There was the magical swirl, blinding light, and a whoosh of air. What stood before me was not what I expected. Not at all.

A three-foot, small person with feathered fur… I guess it was just short feathers. They were red with blue tints, green trim bordered what was best described as a natural sleeve and collars.

The face had no beak but two eyes, a mouth, and an indented nose you could stick a finger into. There were four fingered hands, two skinny legs, and three clawed toes. I had no idea what I was looking at. Maybe someone cloned a parrot with a monkey? I was thoroughly confused.

“Master?” it said hesitantly.

Right, mohuma can talk. I kneeled before saying, “I’m Nathanael, a competitor. And you are?”

“I’m a Baaxi. My previous master called me Rori,” Rori said. There was an age to the voice. A wisdom you associated with experience. “Rori, first question. How old are you?”

“The Archaics gave me some data on you before I accepted to be the mohuma in this rare occurrence. One of the lacking conversions they provided was a common time reference. I’m old, to the point I was preserved when I should have died after a long and happy life.”

“That happens to be more than enough for now, Rori. Can I trust you not to harm me or my friend,” I said, gesturing to Bonny.

He went to speak, instead choosing to nod. His feet worried me, but… he was only three feet tall. I knew better than to drop my guard completely. When I gave him my back to walk to Bonny, he shuffled to keep pace.

I spun when I didn’t hear his feet. He was gently flying a few inches off the ground. He had flayed wings that opened from his hips to his wrists. When he landed, his wings folded into natural pockets in his armpits. So alien, and yet, it appeared natural.

“Everything okay?” he asked when my aggressive posture swapped to neutral.

“Habit. Lost the sound of your feet. Didn’t realize you could fly,” I said, figuring honestly was my best bet.

He thought this over and then said, “It would be nice if they gave you a briefing on me, like they gave me a briefing on you.”

I snickered and replied, “The Archaics do as they please. Come, we have a hard decision to make.”

“I excel at those, Master.”

“Nate.”

“Master Nate works splendidly,” Rori said and I wanted to rub my temples. At least Bonny was still a silent human popsicle.

I increased my pace with Bonny trailing me like a scorned wife. We returned to poor Yip, leaving me to sigh in frustration. These early game dinosaurs were huge time investments that paid dividends later. They would spawn with very little requirements after a few weeks of maturity. The death of Yip meant I got to live though, and I would honor his sacrifice. I closed his eyes before looking at the cart.

The chocks on the wheels held the device steady. If Bonny and I tried to move it… we could. Then again…

I gazed over the open fields. This could be a temporary farming expansion. A middle of the road stopping point. It’d probably have to be, and the more I thought about that the more I liked the idea. Food. Food was vital in the second stage of the early game. We could make lemonade out of lemons.

“I take it you’re trying to see if you can wheel this ancient device on your own?” Rori asked.

I shook my head, tilting my head to Bonny. “She and I could probably do it.”

“Ah… she is a drone, Master Nate. Moving this cart may seem like a common and simple task, but I assure you it is not.”

“Expand,” I replied in a snappy tone.

“If you pull too hard to avoid a stone underfoot, she will not adjust. If you turn to avoid a divot, she will not adjust. If she sees a snake about to kill her, she will not adjust,” Rori said, proving his point.

“How fast can you fly?” I asked.

“If I were to flee from say... a toothy dinosaur, faster than the dinosaur for a short burst. A long haul maybe a quarter of that,” Rori said, turning his head in puzzlement.

“How good is your memory?” I asked.

“Impeccable,” Rori replied with a bit of a snooty attitude.

I held back my desire to scold him, bragging about strengths was something worth being smug about in my books. I snickered at the tiny bird alien. The tablet was handed over with the map pulled up.

“Ah, I think I understand. I’m supposed to head to the main base to get a new dinosaur?” Rori asked, his little face scrunched in confusion.

“Yes and no. Do you want to try to deduce it?” I asked.

“Build here since the raptors are dead, then when I return, we drive on for your original goal?” Rori said and I folded my arms.

An impressed grin spread on my face. I think I was starting to figure out that Rori was an assistant of some kind. Good. I sure could use one.

“Alright Rori, it’s time we had a chat. Backstory, give me the short version.”

His feathers ruffled in annoyance and he said, “Afraid there is a history and it’s not short.”

I sighed. “Hurry to Beth, bring me back a new cart and a two horn. Don’t name it! Whenever I name the dinosaurs they tend to die,” I said with remorse.

“Understood. I hope to return before nightfall,” Rori said, taking flight to head north.

“Thanks, Rori, I look forward to your backstory tomorrow,” I said as the weird little alien flew away.

There was no answer. Only me being stuck with the corpse of poor Yip and silent Bonny. I pulled up the tablet. I found the furthest spot from the cart where I could build a stronghold and initiated the process. Bonny lay on the cart bed, falling asleep.

Since the roaming mob was dead, I decided to pass the time, waiting for Rori to return, by exploring. This was prime medium and large territory, so I was extra cautious as I ventured into the wood.

In a place like this there was no telling what I’d find, making that probably one of the best parts of this competition. Wandering into the unknown.

Chapter

Ten

COMPETITION 3 DAY 13

“M aster Nate, this is a terrible plan,” Roki said in a very concerned tone. His colorful feathers flared and tucked and his breathing was agitated.

I wanted to argue the merits of my awesome plan. Except the little parrot-monkey man was right. This plan sucked and the mediums in this zone were all that was left to conquer. Meaning either we tried some zany tricks, or we waited for an army later. In this case, potentially sacrificing the Baaxi was almost as bad as abandoning Bonny.

We had left Bonny to her fate while her building timer proceeded. If all had gone well, she had already finished the build and would be returning back to Senna and Beth for further orders. Sitting around for forty-four hours to watch her sleep seemed a waste.

Roki and I hiked through the night to get to the southern starter city on the morning of the competition’s eleventh day. I beat down a centipede with a snake head to claim a duck farm and get my surrendered worker. That British man was currently building a depot. I think.

Honestly, I learned I wasn’t huge on the tablets. While some probably loved to tap, rotate the map, and plot build orders, I preferred adventure. This was not a shocker to me, but to Roki, who I dragged along to every objective, he was miserable.

The problem was I didn’t fully trust the Baaxi yet. Not that he’d shown anything other than sound judgement without deceit. Every build I would pester him with questions of what he would do, and he normally came to the same conclusion I had or found one better.

Right then, we were outside of a medium grove. There was a section of bamboo trees in the yellowwoods. Unfortunately, a panda the size of a house guarded the objective. Perfect height to become a snack for a T-Rex.

However, it was me, some shitty arrows, a useless Baaxi and a sword. No dinosaur would save the day and devour this defender for us, leaving me mulling over ways to win.

While a grove wasn’t an ultra-priority, any medium we could defeat early would be awesome and this big panda was super slow. I was thinking of death by a thousand cuts. It would work better if I used Roki or a drone as bait, and I was weighing the pros and cons of taking such an action. Not willing to take the risk yet, I came to a conclusion. It was time to do what I had been procrastinating on.

“I… Ugh… Go collect stones by the river please. Or increase productivity on the small quarry. I kind of forgot to do something that will get me in trouble,” I said, remembering my promise to Senna.

“How long shall I be gone for, Master Nate?”

“An hour, did you learn our reference for -”

“All measurements… Yes, I did, Master Nate,” Roki said. He was so much like a proper professor in some ways.

When I groaned at the master tag, he left to carry out my wishes. Probably heading for the quarry where he could increase production more.

I backed up a dozen paces to climb a tall yellowwood. A few minutes later I was perched at perfect snatching height for the panda. All that thing did was eat. I figured it would have to shit at some time, in theory anyway. That was when I would strike if the opportunity arose.

I keyed up the tablet. Before I checked on Izzy, I wanted to scratch my itch to know the score.

Team lovebirds: 29th

Survival: 13.6 (tied 97th)

eXplore: 10.4 (53rd)

eXpand: 14.9 (38th)

eXploit: 45.9 (11th)

eXterminate: 49.5 (25th)

There was no doubt in my mind. We were going to have one hell of a fight later. There were some very talented teams in this competition. It’s not like I’d been sitting my ass… Well, besides now, but the point stood, we were facing a much greater challenge than before.

A few quick taps and I summoned Izzy to sit across from me. She teetered from the edge of the limb, darting for the trunk to avoid falling. Eh, oops. I never considered if she was scared of heights.

“Hey, sorry about that, I’m fairly certain if you fall you don’t get hurt,” I said in my most casual tone possible.

“As if I want to test that,” Izzy replied with a huff. It always seemed like her freckles grew darker and her red hair brighter when she was flustered.

I shrugged; she had a fair point.

“Senna has summoned me twice to ask if ya managed to talk to me yet,” Izzy said in that great Scottish accent. I never knew I’d be attracted to an accent until she came around.

I rubbed the back of my neck guiltily. “Shucks, Izzy, I’ve been busy. We finally cleared out -”

“Yer freezing. As in, you started talking about the competition. Senna does it too, just try to focus on why ya brought me here.”

I flashed a half smile in apology. “Ugh. I’m the worst at not talking about work. Do you love Senna?” I asked.

“Fairly direct, but absolutely,” she said in that thick Scottish accent that went heavier when she was serious.

It’s not like I didn’t know Izzy. We were friends. We’d spend a month in close proximity. Most of my meals were with her around. The evening few hours of movie time or drinks and chat had her there. I knew Izzy, I was fond of Izzy, and she was easy to get along with.

“Even though she is with Beth and I?”

“Yes,” she said, taking a seat beside me. “I’d ask why yer in a tree looking at special bamboo, but I can figure it out. Are you hurt by my affections?”

“No, not in the slightest. I want Senna to grow. Hell, I want to grow as a man. Sometimes that means bucking tradition and old norms and embracing slash creating new ones. Here is the rub though,” I said with her listening intently. “Beth can play the master court master person. Courtesan. Right? I think that's right?”

“Uh… no. Nate, a courtesan is a hooker. Well, a high class one anyway. Definitely not what Beth is, but peers of her time might have called her that. Master of the court applies. You were so close to making your point,” Izzy said, and I chuckled.

A bad habit of mine was diverting conversations. “Thanks. Would you prefer tact or direct?”

“If it were any other circumstance, I’d say tact. I’m an educated lady and deserve to be treated with respect. But I have ya alone, fer the first time in…”

I shrugged, realizing we never had been alone together. “Ever. And thank you for letting me be honest. I love Senna. I love Beth. I’m not weirded out or ashamed to say that. When my children run around the hearth, I’ll proudly say family is where the heart is at… That is what matters. Not the fact that other kids think your parents are weird or different. We have love and we have each other.”

“Well said. What were you thinking? In a direct way,” Izzy said, eyeing me hesitantly. Her light brown eyes told me she was ready. To prove it she tied her fiery red hair into a bun. “Hit me with it.”

“I’m so glad Ma never has to hear this,” I muttered looking up to the sky. “Do you ever sleep with men?”

“Did you not read my bio?” Izzy asked rhetorically.

“Uh… no, probably should have, but Izzy, I got to -”

“I had a daughter, in 1933…”

“Ah, fair enough. Apparently, there is more to learn. Then here is my offer. We make it work for Senna. There will be date nights, walks, and more family relaxing for us to improve us. We both let each other in closer and see what happens.”

“We were fairly cordial already. Friends I’d dare say,” she said confidently.

“Expect the thing that turns friends into lovers is sex. You want a good roll in the sheets, I’ll oblige, and if I want some freckles staring at me while I climax…”

Izzy smiled with a mischievous grin. “I’ve been summoned by a dozen competitors. Does that ring a bell?”

“Uh… not really.”

“Search doctor or brilliant or mother and I come up first. I had to ask because I was getting selected so much. I told myself I’d rather be a happy new version of myself than an unhappy version with my memories,” she said in spotless English. This woman sure could swap back and forth with her accent.

“Izzy, look I respect that. Honestly, I want everyone to be happy and -”

“Hear me out,” she interjected with a serious tone and a heavy sigh. “I randomly appeared on Noobi and while confused, I understood I was placed there for a reason. That reason was Senna, you, and even Beth. Tell me Nathanael, was the last month aboard the space station decent or awesome.”

“Awesome, even though we trained hard I don’t think I’ve ever laughed or smiled so much,” I said honestly.

“Exactly, and suddenly I find myself not wanting to lose those memories. Then Senna is pregnant, and I’ve bonded with you guys. So yeah, I’ll admit, ya could force me into a bad situation. We both be knowin’ that. I’m sexy, kind, and sweet. Most importantly a crazy good doctor.”

“I think you’re just a good person. I’m sure you have your flaws as we all do. Just know I’m compromising. I won’t resent you; I won’t blame you. I understand Senna is your first pick and she is mine. In this situation, we’re both making the most of the -”

“Situation. I’d want kids anyway, Nate. So, I accept. If we never grow that close, I’ll still only have your kids. Deal?”

“Aye, you foxy lass,” I said in a terrible Scottish accent.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Senna will be over the moon. I look forward to squeezing your cock until you explode in me and then having Senna lick the mess up.”

My jaw dropped and she roared in laughter. I gasped so loud that damn panda heard. Of all the times, he must have been mid-chew. Dammit!

I went from about to have a boner to drawing my sword. The fun was over. The ground shook as the massive defender pounded both feet and hands in its charge for me.

“Everything okay?” Izzy asked, her cute, freckled face was bunched in worry.

“Fret not, dear lady, I shall return,” I said in a dashing voice.

Actually, I was pretty flipping scared. My concept of having an advantage was gone.

I hurried out of the tree, leaving the tablet behind. I was on the bottom rung when a big paw swiped at me in a surprisingly fast motion.

The impending fist wanting to smush me forced me to jump. I tossed my sword ahead into the dirt, knowing I was going to tumble. There was a roll in the leaves with an ear ringing crack that sent birds fluttering.

I recovered quickly, scrambling for my weapon. When I grasped the hilt, I ran forward instinctively, knowing the pause to retrieve the weapon was an opening for my large opponent.

Its fist hit the dirt so hard I was bounced. My speed had me staggering, but I recovered. A quick shoulder check showed the panda holding her wrist as if she hurt herself. I dug the balls of my feet and my boots into the forest floor, allowing me to spin on a dime.

I waited, watching the big panda’s shoulders and the hips. There was more than a bit of shock at the fact it was ignoring me. Almost like a cat not fearing a mouse. This mouse had a sword, and I sliced my blade across white fur when I passed a leg.

There was an instinctive back-handed sweep from the panda that barely missed me before slamming into a tree. There was a crack of bone snapping and I grinned triumphantly because I expected this.

Suddenly a foot lashed out in a rear kick with such speed I was startled. I cursed at myself before I got hit because I didn’t see this coming at all.

The impact didn’t send me flying like I wished it had. Instead, I was thrown hard against the forest floor. My body bounced before tumbling down a long strip of dirt. My eyes blurred until I stopped next to a tree when I hit a root but I saw I had created a shallow divot.

My body was busted. I had a broken arm, shattered ribs, and my good arm had two fingers that looked like they were on the wrong hand.

I heard a groan of pain that was louder than mine. The panda’s broken arm and busted wrist had it wailing in torment. I coughed, spitting blood. Not good. Well. This was a fitting end. A death by panda was a fairly heroic way to go.

I relaxed and shut my eyes. Waiting for a death that never came. What felt like literal days went by without any reprieve. For the first time ever, I just wanted to die.

The sound of flapping wings put me at the mercy of my new friend. I guess this was Roki’s big test.

“Master Nate! My goodness. Are you okay?” Roki asked.

“In… that… tree… tablet…” I said, vomiting blood.

There was no further question asked. Roki went to the tree. I lay back down.

Ten minutes later I was being scooped up by a drone I’d converted.

“Master Nate, everything will be just fine. I’ll manage the new city. While you're recovering. Hmm… Maven City. Yes. Oh, and the panda surrendered. Huzzah!”

I wanted to say Maven City was a stupid name and hell to the no for the huzzah. But I passed out from the pain of the idiot drone not carrying me gently.

Chapter

Eleven

COMPETITION 3 DAY 17

“M aster Nate, I’m imploring you to build more stables in Maven City,” Roki said with a dry tone.

“Sure aren’t convincing me,” I said to my lackey. Ever since he saved me, our relationship had blossomed. Sorta, I picked on him more openly and he prodded me to do proper stuff. Like build stables. “If you come at me with half an intention, I’ll pay it half a mind.”

We were in the horribly named Maven City, the outpost about half a day's walk south from Yip’s Farms.

Roki had really turned into an amazing little helper. He fluttered onto the table to have my full attention. Instead of hearing him out, I shoved the tablet into his gut causing an ‘oof’ sound to escape him.

“Oh,” he said, and I let a grin cross my face. “It's that time.”

“It is.” I said in a grim tone. My elbows thunked onto the desk as I leaned forward to show I was serious. This spooked him a bit, but he recovered quickly.

He opened his odd mouth then closed it again. When the little guy was flustered his side plumes would flare and retract, exactly like they were doing right now.

“You want me to handle builds here?”

I grunted and said, “Maven City is doing fantastic under your recommendations, when I was out too, and no I will never admit that to -”

The stronghold tier two side door burst open. Senna strode in as if she knew I was about to say her name. Her darting eyes found me. Lush full lips parted in a huge smile. Her long blonde hair flowed down her back as she squealed in delight, running for me.

“Wifey!” I flung the chair backward to see her.

“Hubby!”

We raced into each other’s arms. Between her kisses, squeals from my pinches, and all around giggling it was a miracle Roki was able to get our attention.

“Queen Senna, I am always pleased to see you,” Roki said in a very formal tone.

Senna was thinking of trying to correct him for using a title in a private setting. There was zero chance he would just use a name. Maybe that rubbed off on her during their short meeting. “Dear Roki, I love the inputs you're applying around this place. Maven City… certainly not a Nathanael name.”

“Hey,” I said defensively, and she tucked her hair behind her ear with a blush. “Awe shucks, I sure did miss you. Is the road done?”

“Yes, Sire.” There was even a cheeky fake salute to go with her dazzling blues. “Which is what brings me here. We need -”

“Stone,” Roki and I said at the same time.

While we had conquered a tiny and a small stone quarry here at Maven, it was hardly enough for our Koobi Empire needs. I waited to see if Roki was going to interject and the tablet suddenly became more interesting than Senna.

“I got three stone mediums marked, two larges, and no extra-large, but I did find a giant,” I said proudly.

“Well…” Senna said, rotating her hand from giving me a hug to on her hips.

“I need arrows, and archers for at least two of them. The giant we can do if we get a few thousand -”

“Arrows?” she asked, and I nodded. “You’re kidding? I’m going to owe Beth a foot rub.”

I shrugged, clearly, I was not kidding. Senna twisted her jaw in contemplation before leaving the dimly lit stronghold interior to head out the door.

The bright midday sunlight blinded my eyes, forcing them to adjust. Maven City had wooden walls and a basic gate. Inside that gate I saw what Senna had arrived with from the capital.

There were three long sleds being pulled by packs of two horns. On the sleds stood rows of archers four wide. There were over sixty tier three archers standing in their neat formations. They must have been pulled instead of walking the journey from Koobi City to Maven.

“No duckies?” I blurted and she playfully slugged my arm.

“Duckies are coming soon. The rex eggs will be started we think on day twenty. Did you see the timer on them?” Senna asked and I shook my head. “Same as stegos, thank goodness… Hey, Roki swapped out the current workers of Maven for these fine archers,” Senna said and the colorful Baaxi went to work on my tablet.

“This will boost our production numbers, but I guess with the road, we’re tied in now,” Roki muttered.

“What’s your plan?” I asked Senna, arms folded. “Not sure I like the idea of Koobi City missing this much fighting power.”

“Well, start by telling me how this acquisition went?” Senna said, puckering her lips to my cheek, softly touching the two together. Her lips roamed to my ear to whisper. “Do a good job, and I’ll talk dirty until you don’t drip out of me.”

I blushed, almost always did when she put those sexy lips next to my ear. However, my frown was evident. “I’ll go over Maven and the last week on a nice tour. But… Why a baby?”

“I’m not Beth, who is doing great. She is just now setting Exxy City to tier two. The road to her isn’t even started because of -”

“Stone. Yeah. Alright, conversation is getting all over the place. Who is running home?” I asked.

Senna shrugged, saying, “I am. From here. That is how these roads work. No sense in not spending time with you. I can see everything happening in Koobi through the tablet. As long as I’m within range of this stronghold or the road I can be the planner.”

“Risky. And yet, it helps in case of a sudden siege. At least this way we’re together.”

“Exactly what I was thinking, and not any riskier than you coming into the plains to get attacked by raptors. The walls of Koobi City will hold any force off for long enough for us to get there in time to fight them. No one has a massive cavalry by day seventeen,” Senna said, and I couldn’t argue that fact.

The archers stepped off the long carts, jogging for the depot. I watched them swap out of combat gear to become workers. Maven workers loaded up onto the carts. A few minutes later and my forty or so workers were off for Koobi City to enter the military queues there.

“Progress,” Senna said with a smile. “The two horns will be able to run the whole way home. I need stables, Roki, like a few hundred.”

Roki didn’t scoff, snark, or smirk. That wasn’t his style in the slightest.

Instead he merely said, “Already planned. Since Yip’s Farms is generating excessive amounts of food, the fields south of here are going to be nothing but stables. The problem was we were short on wood here. Like a lot. Now that we’re tied into Koobi City there will be no issue creating stables.”

Senna smiled, turning her smile into a frown. “Yes and no. Yes, you can get lumber here now, which is what we have being produced up north. I have to set transportation teams. Which will be those long carts and two horns.”

“Ah! Quite easy to understand. I’ll use the extra drone power to try to manage what we can here without the capital’s help and then pull resources as needed. I’m going to assume since Master Nate has allocated me permissions that you do not mind if I also apply for a supply request?” Roki asked politely.

“Perfectly fine. Nate is an adventurer. I’m curious to see what a Baaxi can do for our team. I appreciate your help Roki. Now if you will excuse us,” Senna said.

“Yes, Queen Senna.” Roki retreated into the stronghold.

“I like him,” I muttered, heading for the depot. “Summon me and you a gear set please.”

“He was a nice find. Kinda surprised the Archaics didn’t give you Roxie again,” Senna said, tapping away on the tablet. “You need war supplies, like a lot. Did you not fight dwarves or kobold or any humanoids?”

I snickered, pinching her juicy booty. “Love, I need everything in this little corner. We’re only on small objectives. I can change that now, I think. And only a giant panda which, get this, converted into four humans… so odd.”

“I see you built four barracks and four archery ranges,” Senna said, inspecting Maven as we walked through it.

“Yeah, but none of the support buildings you get with a tier three. Ah…” I said, thinking off all the stuff we suddenly had access to.

“Instead of taking me through woods that are partially cleared… How about you take me onto the walls and gesture to what wonders this area holds?” Senna said without actually asking.

“Of course,” I said, and we both held that loving longing look for each other.

“Then I can rush a supply run of pillows and blankets. Spruce up this place to be more of a home than a man’s fortress,” Senna said with a corner smile.

“Whaaa!? Such lack of faith,” I said, pretending to be offended. There was nothing besides a wooden bed and a spear in my room, maybe she had a point.

I walked up a ramp for the parapet. “Maven is another starter clearing with a small forest to tuck objectives inside. Meaning no natural stone boulders in excess for me to break down. When I arrived here with Roki, I left Bonny vulnerable during her build. It was a gamble, but it paid off.”

“I know, Beth was sent down to manage the farm expansion we suddenly had. We adjusted, making that stone road a priority. I was worried about you down here,” Senna said, tucking her hand into mine.

“So… about that. Roki is fast, faster than I am. We tamed the small objectives here with ease. Even got three medium farms and a medium grove between the two of us. The damn stone ones are more than a distracting Baaxi and me can defeat,” I grumbled.

“How do you want to expand from here?”

We were on the wall now. The path north was cleared for the road, outside of that we were encircled in trees with the walls enclosing the grassy sections. The interior of the city was filled with early contest structures with space saved for infrastructure later. Mostly huts, I had enough huts to sustain a huge population.

The blacksmith billowed smoke, the workers crank sawed in the lumber mill, and our woodworking shop hammered out carts. We weren’t a beacon of productivity. But we were getting there. Leather was going to be our next big issue. There were some large leather farms to conquer but the defenders were all going to be a challenge.

“Thinking about stone?” Senna asked and I grinned.

“Leather, and there needs to be balance. Honestly, we should go closer to the fighting. I know it holds more risk but what about going north of Koobi City. There was the start of the elevation toward a mountain line. That would have more stone and ore. All the better objectives are in the woods by Yip’s Farms. Around here most of the mediums are done.”

“Tell me about this giant quarry and what is likely a risky plan to capture it,” Senna said, and I held back my scoff.

“Look, almost all of these will be easy when we have the T-Rexes. The giant quarry is half pit, half cliff. A dozen T-Rexes would be able to chomp the thousands of goblins with time. Without them -”

“Thousands?” Senna asked, slightly astonished.

“Oh yeah, and they aren’t exactly a goblin. As if a gremlin, a gnome, and a goblin had a baby. The plan is for Roki to taunt them while he gets high in a tree. While they try to kill him, we fire arrows into the mob,” I said.

Her stare was unimpressed. “Roki will hate that plan.”

“Oh, yeah. Super hates it,” I said with a smirking shrug.

“Nate, don’t shrug this one off. Assistants are tough to get. Stick a tier three archer in a tree and just fire around him,” Senna said, improving my plan.

“Well, thank you very much. There was no tier three archer until today. A two would probably miss a dozen shots. I bet Marius becomes the archer if it survives,” I said, liking the idea. “How many arrows did you bring?”

“Not enough. Beth was adamant I bring more but this was all we could carry. If you need me to, I can march a dozen infantry to Yip with extra arrows,” Senna said.

“Okay, that’ll work since the object is there anyway. Let me keep them, tier three, right?” I asked.

She nodded and replied, “With proper armor and shields. The onslaught of expansions every mile or so has started. Soon we will be in that huge food crunch. Which means we need more roads to link our blossoming empire. Get me that quarry, Dearest. After you show me the bedroom in this stronghold.”

“They're all the same.”

She tossed hands up in the air. “Duh. I want sex, Nate.” Senna left the walls, popping her hips to increase her saunter and I giggled.

“Oh… I knew that,” I said with a winning smile. “Hey, so… now that business is settled. Wanna hear about Izzy?”

She paused halfway down the ramp. “She said you’ve been distracted.”

“That is true, doesn’t mean there wasn’t progress. It’s been abundantly clear that this is what you girls want,” I said with a shrug. I scooped up Senna, carrying her like a groom does a bride. “I’d swear you lost weight.”

“Quit trying to charm me… kidding, never stop being you. I love you. Nate, if I told you I don’t like the Archaics what’d you say?”

I sighed, walking for the stronghold, passing between huts.

“That I get it. If we were at home, we’d have had a happy life. Now there are key people desperate to find a future. Beth said as much. I think she let us pick her and teased us because she was in a bad situation that would hopefully get better. I don’t think it’s fair. Nor do I think it’s a nice thing by the Archaics. Then again. I rationalize we died on that reef,” I said somberly.

“Nate, if we did - then you’re right - we were given a gift. Beth wouldn’t exist if the Archaics didn’t save her. That is where I view them favorably. I really do. Then I see Izzy and I -”

“Shit,” I said, rolling my head in frustration. “Thor, and your old girlfriend…”

“Nathanael Immersion, I love you, but I was in the middle of something.”

“Sorry, I just remembered. Izzy and I were waiting to tell you in person, but our family is adding a plus one.” Senna wormed out of my arm to stuff her tits in my face with about the best hug a man could ask for. “Choking… Better. Love, check your past contacts to see if the Archaics saved anyone else. The smart ones from the boat.”

“You mean Amelia?” Senna asked and I frowned. She put together that I was lost. “Nate… Amelia was my ex-lover’s name too. Coincidence or maybe not. Shit. Fine, I’ll look. I’m so flipping happy that I -”

She paused, tapping. More tapping, and then she frowned.

“Fuck me,” Senna blurted.

“Happily,” I said with a smirk.

“Not funny. Beth is going to shit a brick,” Senna said.

It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Amelia, the ex-lover was on the list. The way she bit her inner cheek said it all. If it was Erik with a K, she probably would have been happy. Hell, I would have, he seemed like a nice enough guy.

“You okay?” I asked, pulling her into an embrace. I knew shifting the topic would help. Not a lot, but some. “Izzy and I are getting along to the point she talked dirty to me. She is a character, and I could see myself as having dated her in my mid-thirties. You know, the point where I was planning on settling down. She is just so…”

“Soothing and attentive. Ugh… And this is why I hate the Archaics after praising them earlier. Amelia is clever and when she was incorrect in judging you; that was the few times I’d ever seen her apologize in public,” Senna said.

“Whatcha thinking?”

“That I don’t know how I’d feel if I saw her without a memory on Qoobi. I -”

I grabbed the tablet. Senna frowned at me. “Go wait in our bedroom please.”

“You asking or telling?” she said in a tone that normally came with snapping sassy fingers.

I merely pointed to the stronghold. After darting between the huts, I ran up a ramp and hopped off the parapet to tumble against the tall grass. I walked into the woods, leaving Senna on the wall fuming at me.

Amelia Breken, I selected an interview and waited for her to populate.

When she rendered, I gave her a moment. I was curious whether she would recognize me. The plastic tits, ass injections, and lip enhancements were gone. A normal college girl with a decent runner’s body was curious about where she was. She spun, absorbing her surroundings.

“Is this some weird cosplay simulation?” Amelia asked, judging my awesome cowboy attire.

“Hi, Amelia,” I said waving. Her mind was catching up.

“It’s just Amy.”

“Hi, Amy.”

Then I removed the hat, which did the trick as her eyes flared wide.

“I was at your funeral fifteen years ago. Not sure why I went, but I felt… guilty. I may have wished you’d get eaten by a shark,” Amy said, trying to kick a pinecone. “Da faq?”

“If I didn’t die then…”

“You’re shitting me,” Amy said.

“You sure swear a lot,” I said.

Amy rolled her eyes, following me for a walk when I stepped off to head deeper into the woods.

“Senna was abducted,” Amy muttered, piecing together our demise. I nodded confirming her suspicion. “Why isn’t she here?”

“Should she be?”

“Right, that’s fair. I dumped her, avoided her for months, and then went jealous ex when you two met.” Amy tapped her chin. Processing these revelations. “So, why did you bring me here, Nate?”

“To hear your side of the story. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. I still need… never mind. Tell me about your abduction please,” I said, ensuring not to go too far into the woods.

“Well, when you guys died, there were no bodies. We saw fins, blood, and then remnants of life jackets. I spent months grieving. There may have been a key lesson you instilled in me and I’ll never give you credit for.”

“Huh? I’m just a simple AC guy.”

“Exactly, Nate. Simple hard work breeds success if you do it right. The next fifteen years trying to build an empire that I promised Senna I would. I sorta did. I went into the trenches to help remodels succeed. I found if I sat on my ass, well, workers would sit on theirs. If you're on site, they tend to do as they should. That is where my sailor mouth comes from.

“Which helped when I got big enough to be in the boardroom. Bracken Enterprises went from flipping to building to dabbling in everything that generated recurring income. I was so focused I never gave myself time to build my own family.

“There was a private jet taking me to Tokyo. Bells, whistles, and the captain telling me to buckle up for an emergency landing was my demise. Mid-flight engine failure over the Pacific Ocean tends to lead to bad things. We entered a spin, crashing so hard I lost consciousness.

“When I woke up, I was in a capsule soaking wet. Alive and underwater. I watched the plane sinking, the crew going down with it. I was lifted into outer space where I met Helen. She was some weird orb robot that explained preserving the best of the best. There were a few weeks of orientations and then I was given a biography of you. You're the second competitor I met.”

I almost stuttered my step at this part. “Wait, someone else summoned you already?”

“Some fat Russian oligarch who wanted butt sex. Hard pass. Lesbians are like the bottom of the list since most of the competitors are from the past,” Amy said with a sigh.

“Do you want to start over, or have to be something you don’t want to be?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. How is Senna?”

“Good. Pregnant. Her real body is anyway. She loves the competitions; her competitive nature really shines here. She has a problem being bossy, but it’s not a big deal. I snuck off to talk to you because she was so torn over finding out you're on that list.”

Amy paused to look at me. “You brought me here to just talk, didn’t you?”

“Amy, I’m going to Qoobi. In my team’s mind that is a given. I’ve been betrayed by an Amelia no less. I like having people I can rely on and know we can use more help. Senna loved you at one point, maybe she still does in her own way. So yes, I wanted to talk to you,” I said slightly agitated. She went to talk but I held a hand up. “I can’t pretend to know what it’s like to be in your shoes. You’re literally either going to have to compromise who you are or become someone new. I’m sorry.”

Amy sighed, tucking her hands behind her back, walking so that I would have to follow.

“I get what she sees in you. Handsome, tall, charming, and a good person. Has she lost her temper on you?”

“Hasn’t needed to,” I admitted.

“Touché. Thank you for talking to me Nate. I cried at your funeral. I’ll cry for you and Senna’s happiness too. I don’t get emotional much, but when you die yourself, well, things tend to have perspective,” Amy said sadly.

“You want me to have her talk with you?” I asked.

“She’s moved on.”

“So.”

“What’re you after, Nate.”

“Amy, I told you. People I can trust and rely on. Remember medieval times?” She nodded. “Well. There is going to be land partitioned and I’m a King. I need Dukes.”

“You want to make your lover’s ex-scissor partner a noble? Sounds dumb.”

“What is it with powerful women and brash talk? Beth would love you. Yeah, she is my other wife and -”

“Shut the fuck up,” Amy blurted.

“Uh... no.”

“You throupled!?”

“Yup. Four soon, and no I don’t do guys. So, three babes and I was more than okay with just Senna.”

“But… you’re you… I mean sure even I think you're cute but three girls. Sheesh.”

I chuckled and said, “Thanks. I think. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. Beth compromised. She figured being in a throuple was worth not losing her mind and giving new love a chance. Izzy is playing it slow but if she doesn’t like where things go, into the bin of awakening on Qoobi with no memory she goes. She won’t admit that, but I hear sadness in her voice. She is coming around to liking me, but she is more like you.”

“Yeah… I think I can relate to the beard thing.”

“I’m nobody's beard.”

“Ah,” Amy said, understanding. “So… What of it then? Not exactly a dick loving kinda lesbian.”

“Can you be friendly with Senna? I’d love for you to find happiness with your memories intact. If not, I can soften the blow for her and tell her you’re considering a nice Brazilian leader,” I said with a shrug.

“She got lucky with you.”

“I got lucky with her, but I understand. And thank you,” I said, pretending to pat her back. “You want to think about it?”

“No, I’ve matured. Like a lot. Fifteen years is a long time, and the jealous bitch phase of breaking up with Senna is ancient history to me. I’d love to be able to see a friendly face. Did anyone else make it from our group?”

“I’m sure Senna has stolen Roki’s tablet to check. As far as I know, the answer is just you and her. This part is just a hunch, but my guess, you were added to that list when Senna was offered to be a full competitor.”

“You mean, as in, she’d have ditched you to do her own thing?” Amy asked and I bobbed my head to confirm. “And yet, she is pregnant and not in the competition running herself. Thank you for being good to her and thank you for talking with me.”

“No problem. I’ll talk with Senna, just know… It hasn’t been fifteen years for her.”

“She’s a smart woman. I expect she’ll talk to me soon enough. I’d be happy to be a Duchess.”

“Duke, no sexes to the titles,” I said, and she rolled her eyes. “I know, then I should make all new names, just… If you get a Duke title, you’re Duke Amy.”

“And if I do really well and get my own offer?”

“Ah, the hypotheticals. Then we’d be proud of you, assuming you didn’t betray us. There are other human teams you can join. Oligarch anal sex for example. If you did make it to be your own boss, I’d hope our kingdoms or queendoms would be neighbors and we’d be inseparable allies,” I said honestly.

“Good answer. I will await a chat with Senna or a summons to help. Thank you, Nate.”

“Amy… You’re much prettier this way,” I said, and she beamed a smile.

“That was nice to hear since it was sincere.”

I returned her to stasis with a sigh. Now… to talk to Senna before I ran north to slay some goobins.

Chapter

Twelve

COMPETITION 3 DAY 18

I  looked hesitantly at the tablet, feeling this was the right decision, I input the commands for the perched archer to fire. I watched from a few hundred feet nervously. Less about the random person in the tree and more about our large army in the field.

Senna convinced me to wait a day before coming to the goobin quarry. While maybe… just maybe it was a play for baby making. The reality was a duckie could be given to me for security if we gave it a day. When weighing the fact we could lose the whole army, the idea held merit to give myself an escape route.

Well, me and Roki. The poor fella was forced to be my adventuring partner now that Senna had Maven and Koobi under her command. I gave him an arrow as a spear, arguing incessantly that it was useless. I told him if he tried to save me and didn’t have the arrow then he’d feel bad. Surprisingly, he got excited by the concept of being an ordinary hero and began flinging the dart into the back of the saddle with about the same power as a toddler.

There may have been some cute photos sent to the girls as I enjoyed his efforts.

I was hoping Beth was having some luck at Exxy with the eastern expansion. I sure missed her. Was weird to experience the other side of the equation of wonder with anxiety.

While I contemplated killing a few thousand goobins, I was starting to realize I had been avoiding using low tier warriors. We simply hadn’t needed them up to this point but going forward it would make sense to have more Bonny types around. With all that girl had been through I was surprised she wasn’t a cognizant yet.

My army was outside a small village inside a large basin. The flat land was butting up against sloping walls on the left and the right. Against the backside was a forty-foot cliff with some expansion huts up top. A ten-foot cave led to something mysterious.

The Goobins so far, were just going about their day. An army of knee-high warriors and workers living in peace on an objective that’d help so much I was excited.

Sixty archers, a dozen infantry, a duckie, and two managers. It was going to be a long day of slaying orange-haired green-beings.

That first arrow sailed forth with an eerie whistle over the quiet forest. The flight of the arrow had it aiming for a scout. The goobin was picking its nose, rotating the perimeter of the half-moon shaped pit.

There was a thunk, and then a collapse of the scout as the arrow sunk into the goobin’s neck, killing the isolated minion. The archer shook her head, spinning around as if…

I nudged the duckie forward, waving for whoever it was to come down. And this is why I should be taking tier two warriors and archers with me.

When I arrived back at the infantry line they parted. While we waited patiently for the archer to leave the perch. I decided to check the score.

Team lovebirds: 33rd

Survival: 18.2 (tied 95th)

eXplore: 18.4 (63rd)

eXpand: 35.9 (33rd)

eXploit: 55.9 (18th)

eXterminate: 59.5 (29th)

Crap, I forgot to give Senna a hard time for changing our name. Eh, it was cute, and she earned it last night. I tried to think back to competition one and realized we were doing better. We had to be… We would hit tier four so much sooner than we did in that competition.

“Hey you, ugly lug!” Cecilia said, careful not to shout too loud as she approached.

While secretly I’d been hoping for Marius, I was okay with another archer I could rely on and gave her a friendly wave.

“Cecilia, this is Roki, Roki this is Cecilia. She is a noble of mine, and Roki is… Well what are you to me?” I asked.

“I told you my backstory and -”

Cecilia interjected in her brash New Yorker way. “I bet it was tragic.”

“Ha!” I scoffed. “He was a helper to some super scientist who was trying to save their planet. It was about the two of them against the tide of idiots destroying their planet. They failed, and Roki was preserved for his dedication and his species was super not at fault.” I grunted looking at Cecilia who had climbed up the duckie’s ladder. “And that was the condensed ten-hour long version.”

“There were vital bits about my individuality in -”

“He reminds me of a butler. Impressive, King Nate, got a butler.”

“Royal Assistant should be my proper title,” Roki said with a haughty tone.

“Fine. Hey! So how smart are you?” I asked Cecilia.

She sat in the duckie’s saddle forcing Roki to perch behind us. “Oh, um… I feel fully cognizant. Maybe because I’m on your team now or something.”

We both shrugged. Cecilia looked at me with furled brows. She clearly was not happy about something and said, “You want to take on all those little guys with this small force?”

“We need the stone,” I said flatly. I sent another archer into the perch. “Short recap. We’re using T-Rexes, they should be online in a few weeks, and have up to three, maybe four expansions. The score is lackluster, but not really. We’ve been kicking butt in a big way. Our low rank is because there are some good competitors. Hmm… What else? Oh, I picked to be in the middle of nowhere on the map.”

“Is there an easier objective we can warm up on?” Cecilia asked, pointing to the infantry. “I’ve got a feeling that one of them will become Marius or Zhang.”

“Uh… I was getting that feeling too. I honestly don’t like soldiers until they are tier three so have been avoiding them. There were some elves on a large quarry about ten minutes that way. They will have deadly aim though,” I said thumbing to the woods to my right.

“Better than you and I?” Cecilia asked.

“Likely,” I said with a shrug. “There is a medium about thirty minutes to our left with two big trolls. I never did it solo because of the second one. I didn’t -”

“Boss, it is okay to be scared. Can we leave that archer to get set and run for the trolls?” Cecilia asked and I nodded.

“Roki, set the unit minus the one archer to follow us. They’ll have the energy to run and we’ve got spare food,” I said.

“Yes, Master Nate.”

I spun the duckie, snapping the reins. Our pace was rapid, gaining speed that the infantry struggled to keep up with. Cecilia asked what felt like a few hundred questions. She was wanting to get a firm grasp on Koobi and not only was I happy to acclimate her, chatting helped pass the time.

The medium quarry was two trolls sitting on a big clay rock. They had javelins for range, light armor, and huge double handed swords that rested on their backs. Even though they were relaxing in a slouched manner, it was clear these thin greenish-gray aliens were twice my height.

When I studied this objective earlier, I concluded a tier one bow with shitty arrows would put me into a melee fight.

They had far more reach than I did, so I passed on the risk. Now, I had a tier three bow, two skilled archers and troops!

“Alright, Cecilia. Organize the archers. I’m going to let the infantry engage to maybe trigger an awakening. Fire over the infantry when we clash into the lines,” I said in a confident tone.

“We?”

“Yeah, someone has to give quick commands. Else they will be hard of hearing. It is decent practice anyway,” I said with a grin of excitement.

“And me, Master Nate?”

“Uh… if I die, take my body to Senna. Other than that, keep the duckie calm.”

Roki did the ruffled feathers flare and tuck but decided not to quibble with my orders. I headed down the ladder until I hopped down the last few rungs.

The infantry was trotting in a loose formation. A soldier a few hundred feet back was going to be the last to arrive. That would be my tier one decoy I brought from Maven. Poor guy was hating life, but he wasn’t dead like a few of my plans called for.

“Infantry on me,” I said from within thin thirty-foot pines.

About a hundred paces away was the clearing with ankle-high white wildflowers. In the center of the clearing rested the two trolls. While they could physically see us, we weren’t triggering them into action yet.

When the tier one soldier arrived, I organized the men into a six-wide and two-deep formation. I stole the big door-sized shield from the tier one soldier and marched us forward. There was no overall command given. The infantry was on the warpath.

“Yeah, I guess we’re ready,” Cecilia said from my left with a snicker.

She had the archers dressed twenty-wide, three-deep. Both formations left Roki and the duckie behind as we navigated through the thin woods.

The sound of seventy soldiers nearing their comfy rock was enough for the big lanky trolls to become alert.

“Tighten the wall! Condense. Weapons at the ready!” I commanded.

I stood behind the two rows of infantry. A javelin whistled, racing for our formation. The first throw picked up so much speed it went high, thunking into a tree behind us.

The next javelin boomed when it clashed against a metal shield, shattering in a firework display of busted wood.

The soldier holding the shield fell with a loud cry of pain.

“Cover down! Front to rear. God dammit! Fill in the hole.” I shouted to the troops. The tier one soldier suddenly turned.

“Shield please, my liege,” Harold asked.

While he wasn’t who I was expecting, I handed him the shield.

The trolls crashed into the infantry, bowing the shield wall. Arrows whistled over us in a thick blanket of decently tight fire. The trolls were riddled with arrows, ending the fight before I even handed Harold the shield.

“Glad to see you, Harold. Dress these formations. With you here, I want a fancy bow. We’re heading right to -”

“Hey, Harold,” Cecilia said, interjecting to say hello.

“Well hello, Cecilia. Looks like we’re going to trickle in at random,” Harold said concluding the same thing I did. “At least I’m fully here, I think…”

“Roki get over here and toss down the drag lines,” I shouted to the duckie a few hundred feet back. “When he gets here, go introduce yourself.”

I headed to the bodies to see what they held. Once you started getting into the medium and especially the larges you could uncover neat things. While I picked over the corpses, I found a few gems and a small pouch of silver coins.

The weapons, armor, and the bodies would be dumped into a depot to be recycled. When Roki and Harold helped me sync up the bodies for removal I returned to what I was saying.

“So, Harold. We can fight a thousand goobins which are about knee high. Maybe two thousand, they guard a quarry that delves into the earth and there might even be a boss for all I know. Or we can do a large quarry with around a hundred trained elves. They all have shiny loot!” I said, excited about the new gear.

“Like long-eared handsome men?” Cecilia said.

Harold shrugged, saying, “What’s an elf?”

“In this case a ten-foot-tall alien with light yellow skin, delicate features, and nice gear. Did you claim the quarry?” I asked Roki.

“I don’t have permissions apparently,” Roki said, flying down to hand me the tablet.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned medium quarry. Claiming this quarry requires:

100 - Metal (Adequate)

100 - Stone (Adequate)

1000 - Wood (Adequate)

Claim the medium quarry. (YES) - (NO)

I claimed the quarry turning my back to the magic as it transformed the medium objective. After the bright light and the gush of air I saw the new quarry. The rock was now square in nature and three times bigger. Scaffolding surround the back side, and two small ramps went to the left and right.

Wahoo, a medium. While nice, is everything okay? Senna texted.

I handed the tablet back to Roki. “Ask her for permission to do things on your own. Then tell her we got Harold and Cecilia fully awakened.”

Probably was for the best to let the little guy do all the tippity tapping.

“As you command, Master Nate.”

Cecilia leaned against a pine at the edge of the clearing and said, “I saw the goobins. They have dart guns that were on the women further into the camp.”

I had missed this, probably because it was hard to see without climbing close like Cecilia had. A spy glass was tier five or maybe six stronghold. Hmm…

“Okay. Senna can buff our numbers by tonight. We have a dozen farms, mines, and groves we can hit in the area that are all medium and simple smalls with this force. Probably best to do this right,” I grumbled, rubbing the back of my neck at the fact I’d been wanting to skirt the hard work for an easy payday.

Before they could protest, I ran to the side of the duckie to tell Roki what I needed from Senna. We were four hours away from either city, so this should be manageable and a smooth fighting session.

∞∞∞

“I’m exhausted,” Harold said, wheezing from the exertion of our long run. “Bloody drones don’t get fatigued like a real human.”

I snickered and said, “Harold what did I say aboard the space station Gladium. Working out up there matters down here. It really does.”

There was the sound of heavy footfalls that kept him from agreeing with me.

“Is that the last of them?” Senna asked from up high. Her and Roki were in the saddle of the duckie. Both had tablets out working while they held a hushed conversation.

“Hey! Glad you made it,” I said enthusiastically to her. “Where is the cavalry?”

I looked around her and only saw a bunch of yellowwoods.

The shaking of the ground with noises of impacts from my left gave it away. In the distance were a dozen duckies all about a day too young. With them were another two-dozen infantry and a dozen archers. Fresh troops to add to the meat grinder. That was great because we had four infantry heading to the strongholds for healing. Triage centers were a way away.

Senna saw me trying to peer around the trees. “Behind those are the work crews. We’re going to be doing cleanup of all this wonderful progress. I’m so glad you went with guaranteed mediums for now.”

“Really?” I asked while twisting my neck to crane up at her.

“Hubby, it may seem like all we need is stone, but the moment we get enough stone, it's a grove. Then a farm and then it is -”

“Strongholds or hide or twine. I hear you. What’s your plan?” I asked, looking at all the materials and workings that were showing up on the back end.

“Starting the roads to these objectives to increase productivity. Then I plan to toss some depots down as the roads are built. If you take a wee six-hour break that would actually help me catch up,” Senna said from a simple wagon bed with no bench seat.

“After sunset, sure. Well part B of my plan was to start slowly capturing goobins,” I said with a shrug.

Senna frowned and said, “But they won’t surrender.”

“Abducting works,” I replied with a charming smile that had zero applied charm.

Roki cleared his throat to say, “Queen Senna is correct, Master Nate. A sour response should be met with the idea of converting thousands of objective prisoners through strongholds. We have the capital, Maven city at tier three. The seven other new or older strongholds fall in starter zones and are regulated to tier two at the moment. Total. Every eight hours we can convert sixty captures, give or take.”

“Awesome. Sixty every eight hours and we bind them up until space opens,” I said, not changing my mind a bit.

“Nate, that means I’ll be managing cart runs as each -” Senna paused when I pointed at Roki. Senna faced the beaming little Baaxi. “Can you handle it?” Roki nodded. “Fine. You win this round. Where is Cecilia?”

“At the objective, there was no sense in sending archers to fight golems at the last medium. Where’s the rope?” I asked, knowing Cecilia was already handling the goobin scouts.

“In a wagon on its way from Koobi City. I’ll have it right behind you when it arrives. You sure about this?” Senna asked, looking down her nose at me in concern. Those pretty blues always caught me right in the feels.

“What’s the score say?” I said, deflecting her attempts to have me wait. She may not have asked directly a second time, but you know a woman well enough and you pick up on their mannerisms. Sometimes. Okay, maybe I think she wants either a burrito or to fart like half the time. Still this signal was clear.

She stuck the tablet into a spot where I could see it. Getting surrenders was tougher on a bigger objective meaning more points in eXtermination. We achieved a one to three ratio of medium surrenders without being certain.

When we converted the golems, they literally became a mountain of chiseled stone blocks. When the big black bears surrendered, they were one and a half workers per - making exact number counting for these competitions impossible.

Team lovebirds: 23rd

Survival: 18.7 (tied 95th)

eXplore: 18.4 (64th)

eXpand: 38.9 (31st)

eXploit: 105.9 (8th)

eXterminate: 119.5 (19th)

Ten places from where we were this morning. Nice.

“Yeah I’m certain we should keep most of the army in the field until we conquer enough objects. Hell, once we finish this ring it’s another ring to tackle,” I said with a shrug.

“Alright, Nate. If you and Beth hadn’t clogged up Koobi City with a million barracks and archery ranges, I’d be a bit more worried. At least the workers can become defenders in a few minutes.”

I snapped my fingers and pointed at her as if I were cool. “Bonus is, if we get raiders, we can swivel fairly quickly to smash them against the walls. The T-Rexes wouldn’t be able to do what we are here, well… They might get surrenders quicker, but the point remains that at some point our specific dino is going to smash, smush, and chomp with very little diplomacy,” I said with a grin.

“Let me keep Roki. I have a million things to micro as we rapidly expand in this area,” I shrugged, not upset at all when Senna said this. “The duckie too.”

Eh… “Sure,” I said, not really meaning it. “I want the main herd for when we fight the elves anyway. I can -”

“They aren’t elves. More like tall yellow elves,” Senna said, and I rolled my eyes with us both giggling.

We said a few lovey dovey goodbyes and I was ready to go fight some goobins.

“Resources to the front, please and thank you.” I cupped my hands to my mouth. “New troops follow me and keep up.”

Harold had just caught his breath when I went racing into the yellowwoods, taunting him as he fell behind. Wasn’t my fault he spent so much time bedding his lover instead of using the treadmill.

The woods I ran by were a precursor of change. Trampled underbrush proved that we were here to claim the land and bend it to our will. As we ravaged the objectives, I couldn’t help but wonder what Genghis Khan and his spy network were up to.

We weren’t set up to stave off a sneaky assassination attempt at this stage. Soon though. Soon, Senna would be behind a bevy of guards and I would be surrounded by an army of dinosaurs.

“Damnit, Nate,” Cecilia blurted as I burst into their dug in position. “I coulda shot you.”

“Right, actually that was something I was thinking about anyway. We should start setting guards and scouts. If you run the archers and Harold runs the infantry, I’ll do overwatch.”

“I’ve got what, sixty archers, not exactly -”

“Uh… more. We got an actual combat line now, cavalry's here, but they’ll need to wait until tomorrow,” I said with Harold catching up.

The clang of running infantry was not far behind him, and I winced at the sheer racket they were making. Harold found a comfy looking log to plop down by. I watched him wheezing while the rest of the tier three drones arrived in neat formations.

“Where’s dill-bo?” Cecilia asked and I cringed at the name as well as the fact he’d been named. “Ha! Right…” She read me well. “You swore off naming animals. Roki said the same thing when I said he needed to haul those lizardkin bodies.”

“The duckie is with Senna. He is going to help clean up our mess. Probably haul stones or bodies for the next few hours. Over the last six hours we added fifty surrenders… so,” I said with a cocky shrug.

Harold caught his breath and said, “Excellent. So, the plan, Sire?”

“Darts are easy to protect against. I had Roki cut some troll clothing into strips. Should be -” Cecilia handed Harold a stack of makeshift scarfs. “There, hand that out to front liners.”

“So, we taunt a few,” Harold said. “Try to capture, and if not kill?”

I sighed heavily before saying, “Yeah I have this grand plan of converting a few thousand goobins, but in reality, plans rarely work out the way I intend. You both do what you think will work. The goal is fairly clear.”

“I’ve been in countless battles, your grace. A simple plan is normally the best. If you want to wait for more bolas or thicker animal hide then we can,” Harold said, standing again as his unit arrived.

“This will have stone and granite, or stone and something we need later. So, there are no two ways about it, we need this objective. Badly,” I said, patting Cecilia on the back. “We start slow and adjust.”

Cecilia strung her bow before saying, “My archers have picked off a dozen wandering scouts. Maybe we don’t want the workers?” She saw my puzzled expression. “T-Rexes will be in the not too distant future. These goobins may eat food that could go to -”

I waved her off such notions. “Let the bean counters deal with the acquisition requests. Senna and Roki found it worthy to try. We need more workers, which become soldiers. Enough talk, I want to get this going.”

Cecilia was used to direct orders and not offended in the slightest. She cawed out a poor imitation of a bird to her archer up high in the perch.

An arrow zoomed out a moment later, racing for the goobin main huts. There was a shriek of pain, telling me the archer found its target.

Harold’s men had finished donning their scarfs with the front line marching forward. I wished I could get on the duckie’s back to observe. Not willing to be useless, I ran to the left to be a flanking scout.

There was a level of trust both commanders had earned, leaving me somewhat useless without a cavalry to command.

To fix that I sprinted with my dozen arrows for a side angle. When I was a few hundred feet from the main force, I climbed up a tree until I was roughly thirty feet up.

There was a clash of wood smashing metal. My flank watching was momentarily abandoned to survey the conflict. Ranged goobin units were reinforcing the hundred tiny infantry.

As the goobins stacked, pushed, and flanked, the infantry line bowed ever so slightly. The enemy were using clubs with teeth in them that were making the worst sounds you could imagine as the metal shields repelled the attacks.

“Give!” Harold bellowed carrying the e in long sound off.

The front line of the infantry stayed locked, the second line peeling to cover the surge. There was a calm backpedal by my infantry while our archers hurled bolas into any audacious goobins trying to get around the wall. The other half were applying lethal damage to thin the mob. I watched, seeing more and more goobins come out from their huts.

Harold’s E stopped. This was a clear signal for -

“Ready!” The front line held the line, lowering their center of gravity to get good footing.

“Heave!” The front line burst forward. There was the crash of shields being thrust forward and up. Knee high aliens were sent up a short clip and down from the combined press of back lines the push from the front.

“Stomp!” The shields slammed down, locked into place, and created a new forward shield wall. It was clear that there were too many downed goobins for the back line to start binding or incapacitating the fallen.

Death, swift and sure. There were minimal shrieks or cries for help as short swords of the second row did quick work.

“Shift left!” The unit stepped left to get out of the bodies.

“Forward!” Infantry pushed back the enemy while darts and toothy clubs pinged off shields and light metal armor.

“Give!” The rinse and repeat had started.

You don’t tangle with a well-oiled infantry unit. Before I shifted to watch the flank, I saw archers securing prisoners. At some point that wall pressure would abate and there would be a lot of new workers to process.

I enjoyed the process. The ceding ground always had a push that was as loud as it was effective. The infantry would sidestep to run new sections of forest floor green with goobin blood. I noticed the back half of the village was completely unfazed by the slaughter occurring.

My observations were done from a point of comfort. For once I was that guy on the sidelines, observing and protecting. The battle entered a boring phase. I think even if the full horde of goobin had come rushing out from the huts we would have been okay.

An hour into the process and the first group’s assault was wrapping up. There were no goobin leaders, just an agitated mob that was eventually driven back. My troops were catching a breather when the enemy retreated.

I saw a few infantrymen lying on the ground. Harold went over to extract darts from the exposed part. Pulses were checked and based on his smile, I assumed they’d be okay.

When the retreating goobin fled into the village that was when I grew nervous. A war drum thrummed from deep inside the back cave.

The commotion had the goobin in the village cheering. Obviously, what had them excited had me less so. A goobin twice the size of the others was holding a banner with a flag. On the pennant was an image of tusks.

The drumbeat increased with the goobin chief brandishing his flag over and over with the beat of the drum. Goobins riding boars exited in the dozens until there were hundreds. I realized we should probably leave the field.

I caught movement out of both peripherals. On my right the army was falling back dragging what they could and abandoning the prisoners they couldn’t haul. On my left… Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.

Amelia flipping Earhart was cautiously checking out the noise from behind a tree, and more importantly snapping photos of my troops with her tablet.

Her grin was large. Obviously, she felt secure from where she was scouting my forces.

I was fluid in my rapid draw, my fletched arrow tickled my cheek as it reached my anchor point.

My aim was true, my target stationary, and I released knowing my shot would hurt - a lot.

The arrow went in the right side of her, and out the back so quickly she merely wobbled slightly. I smiled at the fact the arrows went clean through.

Her fingers ditched the tablet, letting it crash down with a bounce. Her hands traced her ruined outfit, finding a sudden small hole in her chest. I hurried out of the tree, desperate for that tablet and some sweet revenge.

I jumped the last ten feet down, sprinting hard for the confused woman. When I neared, I nocked another arrow, approaching with hesitant steps, bow aimed for a kill shot.

She hacked violently. Then again. Her control of her breathing was struggling.

Bubbly blood frothed from her mouth.

Her eyes were on her wound as I watched her fall to her knees. She saw me then, her hand fumbling a dart gun until the thin weapon crashed into the forest floor due to hands not obeying her.

The woman seethed with hatred for me.

I really didn’t understand why. I wasn’t into having a massive harem, and yet, I treated her with respect.

Same with the others, and they moved on.

“Kill me,” she said, breathing half decently for what was likely a punctured lung.

I took no pity on her, and sure as hell did not acquiescence her request. “Why did you try to have Senna raped?”

“No rape. He promised… a clean death. They convinced me... it was the right thing... to do. Genghis Khan stronger… you’re weak…”

When I neared to within an arm's length she lashed out.

A feeble cross hook that was in slow motion even if I wasn’t a bit faster than others.

I laughed when the punch was a decoy. Amelia tried to stab me with the very arrow I had likely mortally wounded her with.

I raised my boot, dodging the slow swipe.

The heel came down hard, cracking her hand while snapping the arrow.

Her cries of pain were ended when a lancing punch cratered her nose, snapping her head back.

She fell to the forest floor, groaning and coughing blood. I heard the war drums nearing with their increased thrums.

My sweet and lengthy revenge would have to wait. I picked up the front half of the busted arrow.

I half jumped so my knees crashed into her shoulders, pinning her down. My left hand locked her head in place by clenching the jaw.

She bucked her body to no avail. She was firmly pinned.

With the arrow tip, I slowly brought the metal point to her left eye. Her head fought me, but it was useless.

She cried out a blood curdling scream as the eyeball popped, leaking onto her face. I then finished the job by robbing her of sight by squishing the arrow tip into the right eye.

She cried, wailed, and was really annoying. I wanted to stab the arrow into her brain but held back.

“Tell Genghis Khan, he’ll always be hunted,” I said, keeping the message short and sweet. A boar charge was thundering our direction. They obviously weren’t deaf, and Amelia was so freaking loud.

I scooped her tablet up and ran as fast as I could to get away.

The tormented crying from Amelia never slowed until it changed in sound. I heard her pleading to a goobin that cared about as much as I did. The screams of a dying woman told me her competition was at an end.

There was no joy in the moment. I wasn’t some twisted evil man in my own heart. I was merely paying an eye for an eye, a life for a life.

After ten minutes of hard running, I swung to regroup with my army. When I saw forty something goobin prisoners being loaded onto carts I smiled. Senna and Roki were overseeing the loading from the back of Dill-bo. I groaned at the fact I actually liked the name.

“What has you grinning from ear to ear husband?” Senna said with a raised brow from up high.

“I caught a scout!” I said proudly, flashing the tablet.

“No prisoner?” Roki appropriately predicted that I’d normally not let a good worker go to waste.

“This one could never be trusted. I blinded her and left her to the goobin. How far out are we from pikes?” I asked, as if what I’d just said was completely normal.

“Is that a No Mercy tablet?” Senna asked with a gasp. When I nodded, her eyes flared. Senna was smart, Amelia was a scout. She put it together. “You blinded her and left her to become goobin shit! Oh Nate! I fucking love you!”

“Language,” I said, and she smirked. I had never seen this side of her, and I wasn’t sure what to think of it. Amelia was owed vengeance. I’d have to see how this affected my lovely lady latter. “This thing is loaded with intel too. She had the map and chat open. I’ll leave it to you.”

“Where are you going?” Senna asked.

“We’re up against a wall now. No Mercy knows where we are. This has to have been their third tablet. So… They will feel this loss and then come for vengeance. They went raptors. Meaning, they’ll be here before we probably have T-Rexes. So, I got work to do,” I said, shrugging. Not like that fact ever changed.

Roki tapped on the tablet. “Three days on pikes, weapon smith tier three is required, and it is just finished tier two upgrade in Koobi City. Why pikes?” Roki asked.

“Anti-cavalry. The goobins are a pass for now. Onto the elves maybe or I go north with the army and start smashing medium to giant objectives there while expanding. It’ll be dark in a few hours. We can battle plan then.”

“Aye, onto the sorta elves,” Cecilia said, and Harold formed his troops up to march east.

In the life of a Dinosaur Warlord there was never rest. Only more blood.

Chapter

Thirteen

COMPETITION 3 DAY 19

Y ip’s Farm was a basic tier two stronghold. Senna had adjusted to having us sleep there while we campaigned against these bigger objectives.

During its design, this outpost was intentionally left without walls. The idea behind an easy enemy capture was simple. We didn’t want to defend this farming outpost. If we let an army capture walls, then they would be used against us. At some point we might make this a majestic city with grand walls, but for now it was a few depots, a stronghold, and a whole lotta farms.

While I was certain a war was brewing with No Mercy, I felt we had at least until day fifty or so until they marched an army with raptors. That meant I would be heading north soon. If they rushed an infantry and duckie army, they could reach us in a few days. Trying to predict what Genghis Khan would do had my mind spinning until I realized I simply had to focus on me and mine.

This left me in a pickle for what to do today.

Last night, we learned that the yellow elves were assholes. They were lethal, killing three of my archers before we even launched a volley. The defenders had high ground as well as being superior marksmen or people because they were mostly sexy babes in bikini armor that barely covered anything. I had the duckies to consider using now, but the objective was a circle of trees around a quarry.

While there was a full dozen duckies available, there were zero pikes. I really wanted to beat down the elves, but it came down to the fact the goobins were our best bet. More slaughter was needed with hopefully some captures.

I had a plan.

Of course, no one liked my plan, leaving me questioning my own ideas.

There was a final question. Did I try my plan? Likely losing some troops for a giant quarry. Or did I move north preemptively, hoping a few mediums and larges would be enough for now.

“You okay?” Senna asked, shifting to look up from her tablet. I was gearing up while she sat at the desk. My sword belt was cinched down tightly before I picked a tier three bow off a hook.

“Yeah, crunch time. Goobins or go north,” I said with an indecisive sigh.

“Goobins, Master Nate,” Roki said, flapping over to join us.

This had both Senna and me startled. Roki almost never interjected or gave opinions without being asked. “Expand,” Senna said.

“There will be death and that is acceptable. Our stronghold expansions are ramping up with our daily worker production over sixty. The goobin converts are already being churned through our military industry, adding more to the mix. We can afford to exchange bodies for supplies… As barbaric as that may seem…” He paused with a sad face. “My previous master never willingly risked victory…” Roki let the sentence hang.

“Fine, I’m okay with that, you’re coming to be my adjunct,” I said, and he nodded. “Summon the formations and get Dill-bo.”

Senna snickered at the silly name. “Alright, you two have fun. I believe in you, Nate, and when you capture that objective, I’m coming to see the loot.”

There were about seven ‘I love you’. With another dozen goodbye kisses that were harder to break each time.

When I headed outside, I saw the key aspect of my plan. In a northern farm field rested the fifty plus two horns that ran Yip’s Farms. They reminded me of cows really, with their constant eating and random shitting.

This would put our food production at great risk if we didn’t win the day. But I was confident. Even since last night there were more troops waiting outside the goobin objective. Another ten more infantry and fifteen more archers had cycled through our improving war machine.

Our early game structure was really showing dividends and would only get better. Even the area around here had green farms under construction and orange upgrades showing the progress.

Cecilia walked Dill-bo over to us. I climbed the ladder while Roki flew up.

“Morning,” I said, tipping my hat.

“Morning, Harold is already in position. We just need to herd the stampede and then save the day,” Cecilia said, and I nodded.

“And the extra archers?”

Roki answered this one, “They are with Harold in perches. As is Harold. If the infantry is overrun -”

“Let’s not go to the worst-case scenarios yet. I’m still bitter over three deaths,” I muttered. “Start the push. Dill-bo, trumpet to Harold, let him know with those sweet toots to send the infantry forward.”

Duckbill dinosaur necks craned up high, and with a uniform blare they trumpeted loudly. Birds in the forest north of us fluttered into flight, seeking new trees. When we moved forward with a jarring jostle, I sighed; I hoped we didn’t lose too many infantrymen.

Beside our fluke on the epic with the dragon this would be a milestone for me. A giant stone objective would mean roads. All sorts of roads and no struggle to build tier four. Assuming we stayed out of first place we could really keep growing while fighting off invasions.

Cecilia whistled her duckie over, hopping onto its saddle before helping control the herding on the right flank. I guided Dill-bo over to the left side of the two horn herd and we pushed directly for the goobins.

The dozen mature duckies herded the two horns. There was a slight trot to the push that went into the treeline.

The slow trot picked up its pace, escalating into a slight run. Ten minutes of keeping the herd in a tight run resulted in me finally hearing the drums of the groobin. I strung my bow, ensured my quiver was ready, and had Roki hide low in the saddle.

When our small herd arrived, I saw the best-case scenario. The enemy was being slaughtered with every step forward being a shove, followed by a short sword thrust.

A few of my soldiers were downed from darts, but the wide line held firm at over thirty infantrymen.

In the back of the village, the clan chieftain was rallying the boar cavalry again. He stood with his banner held high in anger at our audacious presence. I could see the squinting eyes of hatred locking onto our herd.

“Send the infantry to the left. I want them out of our path, full retreat,” I told Roki sharply.

My adjunct typed rapidly on the tablet. I smiled in joy at seeing the infantry turning to get out of the way. Of course, there was a single soldier who shook their head in confusion. Ah, someone was awakening. Excellent, I hope -

“Die!” Nord shouted, leaving the retreating ranks to hop right into the middle of the goobin infantry. He tossed his shield, spinning his sword in a circle, cleaving short goobins with glee.

Man, I sure loved that Viking’s can-do attitude. He was too late to adjust to our charge, but he kept the enemy exactly where I wanted them.

The two horns were barreling forward in a full run. Noticing he was facing a stampede he ran directly for the two horn herd, jumping high over one, and rolling off the back of a second. That man was nuts.

The knee high goobin villagers… Yeah, there was no escaping with parkour maneuvers. The wee goobins were turned into literal paste in some instances. There were shrieks, cracks, pops, and then squishing noises as the six-foot-tall dinosaurs trampled the foes.

When the herd crashed in the hut section, thatch homes were busted into bits, the remnants strewn behind the dinosaur tide.

The enemy chieftain did something unexpected. His long staff with the pennant sizzled with electricity. There was a swirling in the skies as a storm growled overhead, suddenly forming thick enough to blot out the sun.

A lightning strike followed mere seconds later, bursting from the heavens above. The front few charging dinosaurs exploded into bits. Gore washed over the herd and the cohesion faltered.

They ran harder, uncertain of what was safe and terrified of that lightning strike.

Cecilia and I aimed for the chieftain as he prepared another spell. The clearing sky became an angry blanket again. The powerful totem in his hand flared with sizzling light, illuminating him.

The fletching reached my anchor point and I released.

Two arrows sunk into the chieftain near his heart. The largest goobin staggered before he collapsed. As sudden as the clouds arrived, they vanished, and the sky cleared.

Our two horn charge crashed into the enemy boars with a resounding smack of numerous impacts.

Dinosaurs and boars groaned in pain as they entwined. Even with the reduced herd the charge had the desired effects. The cavalry formation was a chaotic mess of dead, wounded, and frightened boars.

“They surrendering?” I asked Roki while I rapidly fired at goobin cavalry riders.

The herd had faltered in their charge, my own two horns becoming disorganized. “Not yet, ordering the zuniceratops home, Master Nate.”

When the duckies with archers thundered into the midst of short boars there was mayhem. Enemy cavalry were shooting darts into the thick-skinned duckies. Archers from up high were stripping riders from mounts with arrows.

The sheer weight of the enemy that survived our charge was messing with my plans of a swift victory.

A duckie fell, its leg broken from boar charges. The body squished some ranged goobins when it crashed down, and the archers were quickly swarmed with female goobins wielding short, jagged daggers.

Our dozen duckies were being pushed back. The archer fire was simply not enough. I was down to three arrows cursing the fact these little shits hadn’t surrendered yet. I was about to sound the retreat when Nord and Harold arrived with the infantry and spare archers.

A scrum ensued and the pressure on the duckies faded. An archer came up the side of Dill-bo with an extra quiver of arrows. Me and the tier three went, firing quickly in an effort to simply win. I was in a rhythm of slaying the orange haired green monsters when I felt a nudge.

“It’s Marius. Sitrep please,” my friends asked, returning to firing.

“Shoot the cavalry riders. They should break soon,” I said with a smirk.

“Yes, Sire.”

We became two archers on a mission. The sound of our bows twanging was overridden as men and goobins cried out in pain.

The infantry was tired of playing nice. Nord charged ahead and the uniform formation rushed forward in an attempt to scatter the enemy.

“Give us a charge, Roki, put the duckies right into the back line of the goobins!” I shouted while firing.

“Uh… They surrendered, Master Nate.”

My arrow soared out of my bow and into a cavalry rider trying to set down his dart gun. The shot went into his soft skull and the rider’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he crashed to the blood strewn ground. Oops.

The din of battle quieted as the slaughter paused. I was handed the tablet hesitantly by Roki.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned giant quarry 80% stone 20% granite. The seventy-two defenders have agreed to surrender to you. If you do not claim the quarry in six minutes the defenders will enrage and fight to the death. Claiming this quarry requires:

500 - Metal (Inadequate)

500 - Stone (Adequate)

5000 - Wood (Adequate)

Claim the giant quarry. (YES) - (NO) Unable to claim the quarry.

I sighed, pulling up the chat options. ‘Senna, we need 500 metal in six minutes or else we lose seventy workers.’

There was a bubble showing she was texting and then it went away. I went into raw resources to see where we were.

Empire Food - 73 (+71 per hour)

Livestock Food - 12350 (+595 per hour)

Wood - 7327 (+205 per hour)

Stone - 1104 (+917 per hour)

Metal - 475 (+1024 per hour)

While I waited, I decided to click on the information button for this giant quarry.

Small Quarry Management Requirements & Productivity

75 - Workers (Optimal)

5000 - Stone per hour (Optimal)

15000 - Reserves

17000 - Daily output (Maximum)

When I went back to raw resources, I saw there was a sudden jump of inventory in metal, giving me what I needed.

I canceled some weapons in queue. You should be good to go now. Senna texted.

I claimed the giant quarry with a smug grin.

There was a brown swirling power so intense it darkened the day into night. The magic was working overtime as the huts were removed, the defenders converted, and the quarry was built.

There was a blinding light and a wind so powerful I had to grasp Roki to keep him from flying away. When the dust settled, I peeked out to see a surprise.

Boars… they stayed… Those would be amazing for cavalry or farming. There were only fifty or so left alive but damn…

The quarry was flat space, ready for whatever we needed it to be. The entrance hadn’t changed except there was a mine cart track and a winch on the surface. Let the cart roll down, wind it up. The exterior was completely underwhelming.

Marius patted me on the back.

“Oh, right, welcome back. I’m going to inspect this. Your wife will be here soon, probably less than a month. Assuming she doesn’t become an awakened.” There was a throat clear from my adjunct. “Roki, Marius, Marius, Roki. Roki, this is one of my valued and trusted Dukes. Take him to see Senna for a briefing and orders,” I said.

Marius understood and I felt he probably wanted to get situated. “You sure you don’t need help here?” Okay, maybe I was wrong.

“No, my friend, but you both can join me to hunt for treasure if you -”

“Yes,” they both said enthusiastically. Ah, that explained it.

“Fine,” I said, smiling at the moment. “Roki, brief him while I say hello to Nord and talk with Harold and Cecilia.”

I left the saddle via the ladder. The two horns from the charge were already heading home minus a half dozen.

The converted goobin into humans were cleaning up the mess of our fight. Bodies were being piled to become meat, arrows were being stacked to be salvaged, and troops were gathering around Harold.

I was the last to arrive at the little meeting. Cecilia was wobbly on her feet with Nord helping her stay upright.

“Dart?” I asked and they nodded. “Nord, take her to get healed on that duckie. Boss’s orders.”

“I can run her,” Nord said, scooping her up, spinning to leave. I shrugged. Vikings.

They bolted off in a run for Senna.

“He swings battles, literally is a unit onto himself,” Harold said with a smirk.

“How did he die in the last competition?” I asked.

Harold chuckled and said, “He over-extended. An ape race flung him off a thousand-foot cliff. He screamed obscenities the whole way down. Quite impressive actually.”

I shuddered with a slight laugh. “Marius will run the archers. Line up the infantry behind the duckies. We’re dungeon diving,” I said.

“There are torture chambers under the water down there?” Harold asked and I winced.

“No, I don’t know what is down there. I should have said we’re going exploring, I apologize. Let’s stick the duckies in the front because they have a better sixth sense than I do,” I said, leaving him to organize the troops.

“Where do you need me to be?” Marius asked from up high on Dill-bo’s back.

“You can stay with me, just have Roki stick the archers not on duckies in the back. Roki I want -”

“Sorry to interject, Master Nate. The cavern narrows to only being wide enough for a single cart. A duckie won’t fit.”

I flung my hands up in the air. When I reached the tunnel entrance, I saw what he was talking about. The way down was narrow, to the point only two men abreast could fit down the path.

Flickering magical lanterns illuminated the way from the tunnels ceiling that I’d have to hunch to avoid.

“Alright, cognizant only, you're coming with me. Put the rest of the troops to work,” I said and waited for Marius, Roki, and Harold to join me.

“I won’t be fighting? Correct? Sire?” Roki said with a tucked neck, ruffling his feathers.

“Stay in the back and fly away if in trouble. King Nate is a warrior of great renown, he will take a while to kill before they can get you,” Marius said in a half-tease, half-truth.

“The tablet will say what is down here. I just expect some sort of bonus. Like maybe there is the dead bones of a whale that we need for tier six or something,” I said with a shrug. There was a big truth to the fact I had no idea what the later stages of the competitions required. “I don’t expect to get into another fight without that tablet buzzing.”

I led the way when Harold caught up. The tunnel was dry with the grit of loose stones crunching underfoot. There was an echo and a fresh air flushing up from some source down below.

“I thought quarries were above ground?” Harold asked.

“Uh…” I shrugged, not able to give a good answer.

Of course, Roki had one ready. In a tone only a professor lecturing a student would use, he said, “Stone comes from within the planet, unless you’re space mining.”

“Smartass,” Harold said, plucking a single colorful feather. “Don’t whine, you deserved that. For the competition... For this Archaics game, they’ve all been above ground.”

Roki rubbed the spot he had been plucked. His agitated ruffling went into full panic when the tablet buzzed. The little shit fluttered back up the tunnel before I could find out what the alert was.

He guiltily flew back a moment later. “Senna said congratulations.”

I laughed, like a lot at this. I had that happen myself where her text threw me for a loop and never forgot that fact.

“Thanks, silence the tablet except for alerts,” I said, and he gave me an odd look. “Yes, you can do that, but… You might end up turning off texts and forgetting to text people goodbye before you leave range. Which results in you getting into relationship trouble. Saying from experience.”

I continued down the tunnel, letting him figure it out himself. The downward sloping track for the mine cart hit a leveling off area. Where the stone floor went flat, I noticed a quarry on the right.

When I viewed this giant workspace I felt awesome. There was a rock the size of a long warehouse with about thirty points where multiple workers could harvest from it. Then I deflated a bit. It was literally a cart and a resource spot. This would give granite which needed a wet saw… but there was none here.

The single cart tunnel would mean there would be a non-stop exodus of stone to the surface. Then I noticed there was enough space for some huts and maybe a depot. “Can we build down here?” I asked, seeing Roki shaking with fear.

Off to the other side of the opening was a wooden wall stacked from floor to ceiling. The frame was sturdy with patchwork cross beams securing older sections. On the wall was goobin writing saying in what I would assume was Qoobi.

‘The monster inside hides the prize. Death awakes all who tries.’

“Easy, Roki, it’s not going to bust through the wall. Did the tablet alert you?” I asked and he shook his head.

“I can build a depot down here. I can also upgrade this quarry three times. One of them includes a dual tunnel creation,” Roki said, easing back for the entrance. He pointed at the small door that led into the monster’s den. “That has a question mark. No alert was sent to the tablet though.”

“Awesome. Look, I like a nice mystery myself but,” I paused, seeing Nord arriving down the tunnel in a run. He must have booked it to Yip’s farm and back in record time. “Hey Nord. Careful there is a monster back there.”

He pulled a big two-handed sword out of a sheath. Oh, he had time to grab a troll sword too. Damn, Vikings were impressive. My friendly smile was erased from my face when he darted to the door, flinging it open. “No!” I shouted but it was too late.

Shit.

“Fenrir! By Odin’s hair balls. I’ve been blessed with a worthy fight, to Valhalla we go!” Nord shouted, charging into the doorway.

“What is Fenrir?” I shouted at him, running to catch up.

The damn door was closing on its own, and I might not make it. I burst into the shutting door, rolling in. There was a needed moment to orientate myself.

When I gathered my composure, I nocked an arrow with my weapon half drawn.

What I saw startled me. There was a wolf the size of a bus, angrily missing a chomp on Nord.

There was a loud slam from behind me, telling me the door had slammed shut with magic.

Well, that wasn’t good.

Nord swiped with the massive sword, smacking a tooth free of the big wolf. The clattering canine broke me of my fixation. I sighted my arrow, letting the sinew slip off my fingertips, and unleashing the twang of the release.

While the first round was in flight, I yanked a second and final arrow out of my quiver. The first arrow sunk into a rear leg, having little effect besides spinning Fenrir to face me.

I held steady, knowing I was the target now. My arrow reached my anchor point and I hesitated on where to aim. The beast snarled, turning its head for a brief moment. I judged where the eye would be and fired.

Fenrir charged, all but forgetting Nord who was cursing at the massive wolf.

The arrow scored a glancing blow; it slid through the outside of the eye and shot out to clatter against the stone floor.

The massive wolf halted his charge to paw at the wound. Nord used the distraction to strike.

His sword clipped a testicle and there was a loud yip that was quickly followed by a growl so fierce I grew frightened.

As if a flip switched, the wolf shrugged off the pain, entering an enraged mode. Its tail swatted Nord as he stabbed the hind leg, knocking him against a wall with his weapon lodged in the beast.

I unsheathed my sword, running to save the valiant and foolhardy warrior.

When Fenrir neared Nord, the crazy Viking tried to punch the massive wolf. Yeah, not the best move. The neck of the wolf snapped with lightning speed as the jaws engulfed the man. A bloodcurdling scream erupted for all but a mere second.

Then there was the sound of teeth snapping bones. With each chew there were new pops and cracks.

I may have approached swiftly from a blinded eye, but I was heard. My diverted run kept me out of sight.

With a desperate leap I latched onto the wolf’s side. The long fur let my left hand cling tightly. A quick hoisting surge with my arm had me onto the wolf’s back.

Before the first buck could complete, I sunk the blade in deeply at a locking angle. The flesh parted and the blade became lodged with a howl from the wolf. With my right hand on the sword hilt and my left on the fur I held on for dear life.

Five minutes of bucking swapped to angry eyes glowering at me. Its neck tried to get the maw to bite me with the teeth snapping short every time. its back paw tried to scratch me, but I was in the golden spot a dog could never scratch on their own.

Fenrir, who was actually just a big ass wolf, decided to try to ram into the wall to dislodge me. There was an echoing snap when its shoulder slammed into the jutting stone wall.

A howl of anguish and the wolf collapsed onto its side.

I froze.

Unwilling to move an inch, I stayed lodged onto the large animal’s back. When Fenrir tried to rise again, there was a new deflated howl of defeat that transitioned into a whimper.

Brown swirling magic enveloped the arena. I was confused because I was still clinging to the wolf’s back and had not selected anything. Hell, Roki had my tablet. When I fell to the ground, I still clutched my sword tightly in my free hand.

Blinding light forced me to shield my eyes. A loud boom and trademark swoosh of air told me the competition had just transformed something.

With a hesitant peeling of my eyes I spied a tablet lying on the ground next to Nord’s body.

Before I neared the device, I inspected the cavern. There were no trinkets, gems, or armor for me to claim. Rightfully so if the tablet was the prize. I hefted the device and was puzzled when I read.

Earned through special conquest. This table comes with a manager unlock or revival. Current revivals - 1. Current managers - 9992.

Hmm… I’d never in a million years tell Nord… Actually, fuck that. I’d 100% tell that crazy Viking to cool his impulses. I loved a great warrior in battle, but recklessness was crazy. So no, as awesome as Nord was, he was not my summon. Also, this was super awesome and told me Beth was doing well in Exxy City.

I selected managers. Izzabella for Senna or Linia for Marius. The tablet buzzed.

You must select a manager in sixty seconds, or one will -

I closed the notification and selected Izzabella.

Why? Well, she was family now.

That and Marius wouldn’t have an army to lead on our southern border or eastern or wherever. Meaning he would be at my side until our second legion was online. Hell, the first one was barely up and running and only at company strength.

There was a shimmer of green, and then the rendering became reality. Izzy arrived in a toga that looked delightful on her. Her red hair and sensual curves were accented by actual undergarments. Izzy studied her surroundings and she shrieked in shock.

“Whoa,” I said, wrapping her up. “Shucks, thought you were used to the sight of blood?”

“Ya daft dense man. Yes, I’m acquainted with blood. A man with teeth marks the size of my head, not so much. How da hells yer holdin’ me?”

“I picked you after winning some hidden challenge. Come on, we need to go surprise Senna. Make your comment come true,” I said with a giggle.

Izzy fidgeted. “Sorry about that.” There was an asking for forgiveness tone that hit me hard.

“Uh… Izzy, you’re more than forgiven. I reacted sharply and paid the price. Won that fight anyway,” I said with a smug grin.

Her brown eyes twinkled in the cavernous light. “I heard ya lost.”

“Semantics,” I said in my best cowboy accent with a pinch of my hat.

“Quite the charmer. Is this the second competition?” Izzy asked.

“Uh… Yeah, I guess we couldn’t say that to you. No, it's the third and welcome to Koobi. The team is all arriving but you… you were never expected this early.” I paused. “Should throw the missuses fer a right loop,” I said, trying a cockney accent and failing.

“Ugh, just be you, Nate. You’re a good man. A charming fellow that keeps things simple. Now, threesome?” Izzy asked with bouncing eyebrows.

I headed for the door, saying, “Careful, not sure what they’ll do when -”

The door and wall disintegrated suddenly in a plume of sawdust. There was a clearing of the air until it was just me and Izzy looking at forty archers with drawn bows. I saw Harold and Marius relaxing their draws.

“Easy. Lower your weapons,” I said, and arrow points went to the ground.

With the situation diffused, I was eager to get up top. However…

There were two lady shrieks so loud I plugged my ears. Senna was at the tunnel entrance with Roki, waiting to see if I died apparently.

Yeah, surprise ruined. Shucks.

I let the girls have their moment while I explained to the guys how Nord would need discipline. I’d stick him on guard duty if not. There was no doubt I wanted him around, just not as a loose cannon.

While we talked, I went over the interface for build options. The arena pit was a worker expansion zone. We could build a bigger depot or add huts, basically making it a blank canvas of space.

I looked over the sight of workers already smacking away at stone with a smile. An orange glow told me this was getting an upgrade.

There was a deep seeded feeling of pride in this achievement. I was lost in the thoughts when Senna snuggled into me.

“Hey beautiful,” I said kissing her forehead. “I take it you're happy?”

“Probably the best two days ever, we found Amelia’s corpse… The goobins cooked her and her body was left on the spit. Her bones never converted,” Senna said, and I frowned. “Oh, get over it. I can relish in her demise for a few days. And yes, we have two new tablets and the output from this zone between Koobi and Maven will mean we're going to field one hell of an army here soon,” Senna said proudly.

Izzy snuggled under my left arm and we shared a brief hug. “What’s next and why did you pick me, Nate?”

I saw Marius perk an ear, so I waved him over. He deserved to hear the truth. Me bringing a third lover instead of his one wasn’t fair relationship-wise, but this was a competition thing.

“Linia is next, I wanted to pick her, but we got no army for you and her to conquer with yet,” I said.

“I’m going with you in the field, aren’t I?” Marius asked, deducing the real reason for the slight.

“Yup, sorry. You would have seen her, kissed her, and then said goodbye. Same as I’m doing. Then it would be thirty days of Senna wishing she had Izzy over Linia… Now that you’re here, I’ll do one better. You can have an hour with her every day,” I said, and he beamed a smile.

“This one I understand. Most of your decisions are rational. I’ll not groan over a few kisses missed and relish the serene hours I get with her in digital form. There was a promise made in the back of that wagon in the first event. Giving me Linia back means everything and I’ll never forget that you didn’t extort us when you could have. If we can survive a few thousand years apart, a month is nothing,” Marius said, and I nodded.

“You want to keep fighting until tonight or take a break?” I asked Marius and Harold.

Harold shrugged, saying, “What’s left around here?”

“Nothing really. You’d go north and I’d ride hard to meet you in a few hours,” I said with a smirk.

“Koobi City and we’ll study the map as we go. We taking the army then?” Harold asked and I confirmed. “Enjoy your few hours until you rush to catch up.”

∞∞∞

Growing up in the age of women’s rights meant you slowly eased into a situation. You asked if she was ready for the next step at least a dozen times, and then you asked again while presenting a condom.

Yeah…

We got back to the second story bedroom and clothes went flying. Before I realized what was happening, I was getting scrubbed down in the middle of the room. Since there was no shower in these tier two strongholds, I was getting the toga wash.

Not that I minded in the least. I’d seen Izzy nude before, using the shared hot tub meant most everyone was nude in that thing. She had full wide breasts with freckles around her nipples. Her areolas were large and at the moment her nips were rigid. Izzy had a slight stomach with extra wide hips. Even though she was a doctor, Izzy didn’t prescribe over fitness. A healthy weight was a few extra pounds to weather a bad streak of no food.

I didn’t mind, Senna was bigger when I met her, and Izzy was proud of her figure. She was also super into this moment. Both girls were giggling and having conversations about what they would do with this place when it hit tier three.

There was an itch in the back of my mind to tell them Koobi had tier three, but…

They might decide to postpone the fun until then, and I was already rock hard. My swaying penis was cleaned a few times. Then pulled down to bounce up like a diving board by both giggling ladies. They were having fun and like hell was I going to interrupt them.

With the scrubbing done I was led to the bed. Senna laid me down, snuggling into my armpit with her head on my chest.

I don’t think she was into cucking. She pretty much said she enjoyed the view. Seeing a cock going into a vagina from a man’s perspective was hot for her. I was about to ask if everyone was okay with this when Izzy darted onto the bed playfully, landing between my legs. She winked before hungrily sucking my cock.

The fiery redhead’s big tits swayed with her up and down motion. Her firm, rotating grip matched her twirling tongue, resulting in an amazing sensation of pleasure. The thought of teeth and a bad lesbian blowjob instantly vanished. She was working my cock like a pro. She even winked when she heard me moan, my hips thrusting on their own.

With the tip and shaft drenched, she plopped me out.

“I wanna ride your cock, cowboy,” Izzy said with an American drawl.

“Yes, yes, by all means,” I replied happily, and Senna chuckled.

Izzy repositioned herself until she straddled my cock. She teased the tip, only sliding the head of my cock in.

Red hair cascaded over my face as she leaned down to kiss me tenderly. Then she kissed Senna and I gave in to my impulses.

I pushed up with a hard thrust, diving into her tiny vagina. She fought my hilting at first because she was so tight.

As her lady lips adjusted and spread, she pushed me in deeper with each thrust. When her lips broke from Senna, she arched her back, biting her lip.

Izzy found a rhythm once I was fully inside her warm dripping vagina. I could tell she missed sex, her closed eyes and biting smile said it all.

Her eyes flared open, finding Senna’s clit to strum, causing my lovely blonde to get into the mood.

Senna rotated off the bed to put her ass into Izzy’s hips as if she had a dick. Her big tits floated over my face, smacking me lightly with their fluffiness. Izzy inserted fingers into Senna while she worked her hips over my cock.

The moaning increased with the intensity rising. Senna moved to watch, grasping her tits seductively for us. Izzy rotated her hips for the next five minutes with her moans reaching a final climax suddenly.

Both girls eyed me after she came. Izzy squished her tits against my chest, twerking her ass to pump my cum out. I cried out in pleasure; the squeeze was amazing.

Izzy went to my right ear, telling me how she wanted my jizz to drip out of her tight little pussy. Senna went to my right ear telling how she wanted to lick the cum that dripped out of Izzy.

With a winning grin, I shot my load into Izzy, giving both girls exactly what they desired. There were a few extra thrusts as I dumped into the sexy redhead.

It was safe to say, seeing Senna lick Izzy clean was super-hot. To the point we went for round two and three.

Eventually a knock on the door from Cecilia said she was healed from her poison dart and seeking orders. That meant it was time for me to say goodbye. We sent her downstairs.

The sex came to a conclusion with a tender wash down and lots of goodbyes. I left Izzy and Senna typing away on tablets in the bed. They snuggled into each other happily and I froze the image of them both topless for later.

When I headed downstairs. Roki and Cecilia waited for me. It was time to go north.

Chapter

Fourteen

COMPETITION 3 DAY 21

I  recalled the last two days while we waited for everyone to arrive at our departure meeting inside the Koobi stronghold.

My rapid departure to head north was interrupted not even ten minutes outside the farms. We pulled escort duty for Senna and Izzy so they could come to the capital as well. The four-hour trip became six when we had to detour to show Izzy the elves.

When we arrived at Koobi City the changes were drastic. I left Koobi as a tier two that was a home in the woods. The small city was desperately trying to beat back trees to expand. Not anymore. There was an entire deforestation and trees were even falling as we arrived.

If I had to guess, the ladies decided to never slow the tree clearing. When I thought about the destruction and creation, I realized there was no moral wrong here. Building our empire forced us to knock trees over and toss them into lumber mills or depots.

The city itself was massive, at least a square mile with fifteen-foot-tall wooden walls. The thatched roofs of depot warehouses peeked over the edge, and the tier three stronghold towered over the city. The stone mini fortress was the highest building in the center of the city.

When I tried to compare Koobi to Noobi I… I just couldn't because this was not segregated housing to start and the infrastructure was so overdone. There were a dozen barracks already here with more being built. I saw a depot at every corner of the city, and extra buildings were green or orange with upgrades that seemed to serve no purpose yet.

When I asked Senna what was going on she simply pulled up the tablet interface to show me all the tier three building.

Stronghold

Depot

Hut

Small Farm

Church

Stable

Water well

Barracks

Wall

Tower

Archery Range

Hunters Hut

Blacksmith

Mine Upgrade

Quarry Upgrade

Grove Upgrade

Farm Upgrade

Lumber mill

Medium Farm

Bakery

Butcher Shop

Tannery

Leatherworking Shop

Weaver

Textile Shop

Woodworking Shop

Smelter

Warehouse

Community home

Cartographer’s Office

Cavalry Stable

Soap Maker

Candle Maker

Inn

Brewery

Dungeon

Seamstress Shop

Armor smith

Weapon smith

Bowyer

School

Advanced School

Triage Center

There was a lengthy discussion about later game build requirements during a briefing aboard the Gladium space station. Beth may have been distracting me, and the subject extremely dry.

Basically, all these buildings were required with at least three of them needing to be constructed. Senna explained - gently - that a soap maker would be a base building for hair cleaner, liquid soap, and cleaning agents. All of them increased happiness later in the game, which decreased strife from the growing populace, and increased effectiveness.

I went to argue that they could wait but she informed me building everything now meant no rush to do it later. The T-Rexes had us stuck anyway and I let the discussion drop. That was on day nineteen.

On day twenty we went out and secured all the tougher mediums in the surrounding area and used the army to help lay stone to the east. We needed to stall a few days to get wagons ready to convoy north and build a new settlement.

The delays were helpful because on the morning of the twenty first day, there was an unexpected visitor when I was viewing military productivity from the meeting table.

Beth herself arrived with disheveled hair, flush cheeks, and anger in her eyes.

“Hey handsome, did you miss me?” Beth said, bursting into the stronghold.

I smirked at seeing her change from sour to joyful by being among friends. She was set upon by those of us waiting.

“Beth!” There was a unison of cries, kisses, and friendly greetings.

The cognizant were all gathered for the big meeting before the march north. After saying hello, Beth grabbed a seat at the meeting table. Roki was the last to arrive, grabbing a chair beside me to stand in.

“I’ve got bad news,” Beth said, folding her hand into her lap. “Exxy is under siege and likely fallen. A team of ten duckies picked off my outer workers and there was a highly skilled archer who killed my tier two archers in the guard towers.

“I left late last night.” Beth paused, slamming her back into the chair with a bristling anger. “I simply didn’t have a counter during the day. That night, I decided to flee because I didn’t want to get caught with the tablet. Well, I stashed the device and crept on the camp when I figured the manager was asleep.”

“How’d ya do?” Harold asked.

“Pretty good. I snuck between two tier three archers. I killed four duckies they had tied up to trees, creating nice targets for me. They thought I was a big attack and went defensive, allowing me to flee. I set tracks back to the Exxy but bolted for here instead. Ran the whole way. Sure glad I stayed on the treadmill during our downtime.”

I smirked and Harold sunk in his chair a bit. When I saw Beth frowning at my smile I said, “Inside joke. Alright. Duckies means it's probably No Mercy. Hey, Roki, inside the office is a map. Roll it out on the table please.”

“What are you thinking?” Marius said, looking at me.

Senna knew this was my wheelhouse and yet she wanted to speak so I inclined my head for her to go first.

“Beth what did Exxy have when you left?” Senna asked, returning to tapping on the tablet.

“Uh… not much. Stronghold tier two, four barracks, two archer ranges, and like nine farms. I conquered all the smalls and tinies in the area. There was… forty something workers left behind with fight to the death orders. Though, I don’t expect those to hold up,” Beth said, and I agreed. They would surrender if they started to die.

Roki arrived and unrolled the map. The drawing reflected not only what we had explored but also what No Mercy had uncovered. The No Mercy capital was to our northeast by about ten starting points.

Hmm… That would mean a full day of hard running the duckies.

“Were there infantry or ground troops?” I asked, fairly certain of the answer already.

“No, just the duckies with archers and the manager. And before you ask, no, I didn’t see a tablet.”

“That is Leon, a sixteenth century Dutch archer. That was all the information I got about him,” Izzy said with a sigh. “The tablet from Amelia only allowed so much snooping and then forced a conversion.”

Roki raised a hand. “If I may,” he said, and I nodded. “While a drawn map from what the tablet shows is possible. I do not think that is the case. I actually would presume Leon has a tablet to track for Amelia. I would wager he has already left Exxy.”

My fingertips danced over the table while I thought about this. “You’re thinking Genghis Khan sent him for Amelia?”

“Precisely. They were only there for a half day and a night correct?” Roki asked and Beth shrugged.

I grunted and said, “Half dozen duckies left. Maybe they were sent to rescue Amelia… Or maybe to find all our expansions. Harassing has far more potential damage than conquering. They’d be cut off and vulnerable if they sacked and occupied our holdings. No…”

With an abrupt gesture I stood, running my hand over the smooth parchment. I ‘hmphed’ while thinking. All eyes were on me as this was a pivotal moment. My mind went over probabilities, and I came to a conclusion.

“They’ll run from anything. Literally anything and they flee. Especially since they’re down duckies and can’t lose a tablet or the manager. Marius, take six duckies, track and harass. That will keep them from being able to do more than a quick hit and run. You’re to push them all the way until they die or get to their home,” I ordered Marius. He stood to leave. “Any questions?”

“I’ll send them packing, your grace,” Marius said sharply, leaving to carry out his mission.

Senna cleared her throat for attention. “I’ll start building watchtowers over key objectives. The redistribution of archers will slow our legions forming, but not by much,” Senna said, snapping at Roki who nodded that he’d handle the task.

“What about Exxy?” Beth asked.

“We leave it as is. It will churn out workers who sit on the stronghold porch for the time being. We rush the road east and then reinforce the expansion with tier three tower archers. Which even I know can manage to shoot decently,” I said with folded arms. “Harold. You’re going to go east. Cecilia you set up a garrison in Maven for now. We can’t afford for Maven to fall with all the stables there. You two take a third of our army each. Harold, conquer what you can while building the road. Senna, Harold gets a tablet.”

“I should go with Marius so he can get alerts,” Beth said, rising to catch him before he could depart.

I waved to her to sit down. “No. Here is why. That Leon fellow will not fight Marius. I don’t think we have an invasion on our hands.”

“Yeah, but he could at least chat to us,” Cecilia said with a valid point.

I turned to Beth. “How good was the archer?”

“Decent, on par with me, worse than Marius, but that is a guess.”

“Anyone can get a lucky shot. Most importantly, Marius will find Leon. You’re not hiding a half dozen duckie trails. Trust in him, he’ll be fine.”

Beth sighed and said, “So I don’t hunt Leon or go to Exxy. Where to then?”

“You and I are going north with a third of our army. We rush to start the stronghold and then backtrack down the road to the larger objectives,” I said, tapping the starter point to the north then running my hand down south.

“Wait, you just want to let No Mercy hit us and not retaliate?” Senna asked aggressively. She really was letting her emotions override her thoughts when it came to No Mercy.

“Senna, we’re a team. A team that has to focus on us first, and vengeance second. If I send a dozen duckies into hostile territory, they need a manager. I want Marius at the head of an army, not some skirmish. We bide our time because we have flipping T-Rexes to wait for. They have raptors. They will be coming, and our best bet is to let them run circles around us while forcing them to wait for siege engines. When they get siege engines, we’ll -”

“Have T-Rexes and siege engines. Got it. So, you want us to expand and turtle?” Izzy asked, patting Senna’s arm.

I stared at the map, concluding this was the right way. “Yeah. I mean. We conquer objectives that will likely fall later, but…”

“We get the resources now and the converts,” Senna said with a smile. “I like this plan, shocker.”

“Hey,” I said with a smirk.

“And tablets?” Roki asked.

“We have five tablets. Three stay here. One north with my team and one east with Harold’s team. I’m okay with Cecilia getting one if she expands a road to say the south. If Senna and Izzy find a worthy cartographer, they assign a tablet. While I don’t want to overly risk them, having them sit on a desk doesn’t help much. We could really use Roxie right now,” I said with a sigh. “Any questions?”

A few minor details were discussed before we dispersed into our grouping. When I headed outside to start organizing the army to move north, I saw Marius heading out the gate with duckies charging east. We exchanged a salute and I hoped we’d both have success.

Chapter

Fifteen

COMPETITION 3 DAY 43

“A re you sure?” I asked Beth with a deflated sigh. I knew she was certain, deep down I was hoping she was playing a joke.

“Yes, we need to bust butt south to Yip’s farms. At least that is what Senna is saying. She is calling for a show of force to push these horse raiders out of our territory,” Beth said enthusiastically.

I could understand where her energy was coming from. Things had been grindy for the last twenty days. There was a rinse and repeat effect. Get up early, head out of Northstar and smash objectives.

There’d be constant complaining about the lack of combat and how T-Rexes were needed in just about every encounter we won without them.

Today was no different. We sat in a duckie’s saddle at the head of the first legion in front of a hydra creature guarding an extra-large silicate objective. Just five minutes ago Beth was braiding her hair into a ponytail while talking about how a dozen T-Rexes would eat this hydra for lunch. I told her first legion was up to the task.

When I mentioned first legion, I meant it was a name only; our actual unit being too small to qualify even with the recent gains. Over the last twenty-two days we boomed in size with our military industry coming online.

While I was mulling over what to do about this invasion, I realized No Mercy were not the culprits. This was horses. Meaning their double defeat might have left Genghis Khan placated for now.

He had been slipping in the ranks from what I could tell, and he certainly wasn’t bothering us, which was a blessing for now. I started to wonder if he had lost a second tablet to us and we never recovered it.

Before I even left to found Northstar, Marius and Leon fought not far outside of Exxy. The battle resulted in a minor win for our side. Leon lost two more duckies and Marius lost a duckie and three archers.

When Marius wounded Leon - with an arrow to the gut - he fled for home at full speed. Exxy was reestablished immediately by Harold and the city not only recovered but thrived as another farming colony.

Every day that went by we produced archers, infantry, duckies, and T-Rexes. The little toothy dinos were already growing up safely inside the tall walls of Koobi City. While they were maturing, the rest of our forces were expanding.

Cecilia ran the third legion in the south. The weakest of the three, because we figured she’d have the least action. She was relentless in her pursuit of capturing points and expanding the roads.

She had two hundred archers, a hundred infantry, fifty pikes, and fifty duckbills for cavalry. Most importantly, she had Zhang now. He awakened during a beach objective and was helping her carve up more territory for us.

Harold commanded the second legion in the east. He was constantly pushing scouts out that were probing from the north. The crowded center of the map was definitely arriving in his area the most.

Luckily, there were no armies as he was growing the second legion. Exxy was an expected frontier for fighting and therefore heavily fortified. His forces consisted of four hundred archers, three hundred infantry, three hundred pikes, and a hundred duckbills.

Our empire grew as Harold was expanding north, east, and west with the second legion smashing objectives every day.

I managed the first legion in the north and the west with the largest army since I was operating right outside of Koobi city.

We were planning on splitting my forces into the first and fourth with Marius at the helm of the new unit, but that was planned for tier four. I commanded five hundred infantry, two hundred pikes, four hundred archers along with two hundred duckies.

Defense wise our quick reaction force was Marius who was inside Koobi with the twenty boars, a hundred duckies, and a few hundred archers. Yet… The invading force was too much for him.

I sighed staring at the tablet with Beth. “No… we should do nothing,” I said, and Beth cringed.

“Senna is going to be furious,” Beth replied with a stunned expression.

“Look, the horse archers are using fire arrows to burn barns at Yip’s Farms. Based on this it's a slow process. We’re running a surplus with Exxy, right?” I asked and she bobbed her head reluctantly.

“If we don’t challenge them, then they keep harassing our objectives,” Beth said, letting the sentence fade.

I sighed, plopping in the bench seat of the saddle. “And if we do start a long running engagement, we conquer less objectives.”

“Senna wants only our duckies. I’m to keep on mission, same with the majority of Cecilia's forces. Only the duckies are being sent to harass.”

I jostled my head side to side as I thought this over. There was no love of the idea from me, but I could rationalize the decision.

“Fine, you stay here. They won't breach Northstar and it's got a workforce of archers. Set formations in the woods to break cavalry charges and guard these objectives. I’ll go get in a running archer fight. We should be able to outshoot archers on horses.”

“That was what Marius was asking for. The cavalry units to condense on this invading army,” Beth said, and I grunted.

“Alright, out ya go then,” I said, pretending to playfully shoo her.

There was a hug, some frisky kisses, and she sadly left to get down from Dill-bo.

“Am I going or staying?” Roki asked.

“Assume you’re always going with me unless I specify otherwise. Order a run of all duckbills for Koobi City,” I said, getting as comfortable as I could.

After we raced south for a few minutes, I held a hand out for the tablet.

‘Omw.’

Senna gave me a tablet for this. We’re staged to the west of the city. They are dropping a barn every five minutes or so. I was thinking we sacrifice a few barns to have the animals ready to sprint when we show up. Marius texted.

The bubble text for Cecilia said, OMW with screening force. We already got into ranged fights with scouts. I caught one for the dungeons.

‘Do we have a number count?’

Senna texted. Four hundred, but closer to five. That is the power of the quick turnaround with unique creatures.

I was going to say they would mean little to a charging horde of T-Rexes… but we didn’t have those yet. More importantly, this army was doing what mine maybe could have been doing; raiding foes with fast moving formations meant you got in, did damage, and fled.

Alternatively, this army could be conquering so many objectives. I had to remind myself this competition wasn’t about objectives though. Sure, they added points, but nothing compared to tangling with a foe. Even a two-sided brawl was more points than claiming a dozen larges.

The jostling ride on Dill-bo’s saddle was a pain in the literal ass. The formation running at a good speed down the road was somewhat deafening, leaving me stewing in the vibrations.

An hour and a half later we were swarming the outside of Koobi City. When we linked up with Marius, we slowed to a slight trot to let the animals recover.

Our three hundred approximate duckies were triple the weight of a horse and faster apparently. The tablets said a sprinting duckbill was quicker than a sprinting horse. While I’d seen the two tangle before, I had never seen them race.

If anything, I was going to wager the enemy would flee when we arrived, and our sprinting speed advantage would only let us get so close.

Two hours. Two hours at a slow trot had us on the yellowwoods’ edge. We spooked at least a dozen scouts on our journey south to meet the foe. There was no real way to keep a competent commander from finding a bunch of ten-foot-tall dinosaurs.

The enemy had pulled back to the middle of an expansive field. There was a myriad of colorful horses loosely formed. Probably just shy of five hundred archers sat on the animal’s backs. These were something akin to an ork, with a blue skin, not as bulky, and certainly just as ugly.

I surveyed the damage to Yip’s Farms while we staged to leave the treeline. Forty plus tier two barns were smoldering wrecks. Rebuilding them would be easy enough, but this would affect our food numbers long term.

Marius walked his duckie next to Dill-bo. In a gruff tone the grizzly veteran said, “Thoughts?”

“They have us at a disadvantage.”

“Not really,” Marius replied with a grunt.

I pointed to the agitated group of horses, “I don’t think they want to brawl.”

“You never know,” he said with a smirk, as if he had some inside information I didn’t.

“My guess is they flee, and we chase. We’re going to have to follow them around for days if not weeks, hoping we catch them unaware,” I said, refusing to give a solid plan.

“You want to keep up on their trail for potentially weeks?” Marius said with an astonished tone. I yupped him with a puckered p. “Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.”

I shrugged. “Who knows? Either way, we're going to give them a three-quarter charge and either send them to Cecilia or send them out of our territory,” I said, giving Roki the signal. “Maybe a giant worm comes out of the ground, creating a wall, and forcing them to fight. Either way, we’re going to show we’re not scared.”

“On your command,” Roki said.

“Forward!” I bellowed.

Three hundred plus dinosaurs stomped out of the treeline in lock step. Loose stones shook as the formation pounded front feet into the dirt.

I plugged my ears as duckbills craned their necks, rearing onto their hinds. In unison they belted out an ear ringing trumpeting call.

The moment the noise died down and the front legs dug into the tall oats we charged. The duckies outpaced the boars in our formation until I knew they’d struggle to keep up.

We trampled crops in our dash. There was an extra jostle to the determined duckbill herd; I could feel their eagerness for battle. The left flank fell back. Roki adjusted our line with the tablet that shined bright as it reflected the sun.

An enemy general atop a large white horse had a small greenish blue alien blow a horn. His or her eyes fixated on the shiny tablet. I quickly grabbed the device to look at the screen; it showed the enemy were less than a thousand feet away.

The icon for these aliens had their names labeled as storks. Well, I guess that worked, even though there was an English word for storks already, and there was zero resemblance.

A nudge from my side had me handing the tablet back and my jaw dropping. The enemy was charging to meet us head on. I wanted to grumble that Marius was right. Instead I smirked, at the fact that things were going my way.

“Order free fire!” I shouted, fumbling my own arrow.

I fixed my momentary malfunction, arched the bow back, and fired. There was no shortage of arrows in my saddle with a dozen full quivers resting against the front wall of the platform. As soon as the first arrow was gone, I was grabbing a second.

Roki slid into something akin to a doghouse to manage the battle via tablet while the enemy readied their own volley.

My second arrow was in the air before the first landed. The enemy charged right into our fire. Three hundred well aimed arrows devastated the enemy charge. Especially a dead tumbling horse has a domino effect of tripping those behind them.

I kept firing, curious as to why the enemy general was -

The enemy shifted rapidly. Suddenly the cavalry wedged into a lance formation, with me as the target.

I half fired the bow, tossing it to the ground.

I yanked a hard turn on Dill-bo, almost clipping the charging duckbill beside us.

“Everything okay, Master Nate?” Roki asked from his box.

The enemy was coming for me and the tablet. I grunted in frustration, seeing the tip adjusting to follow my turn.

These storks had insane vision. They must have seen Roki with the tablet.

Then an idea came to me. I spun, fleeing the battle. The enemy archers immediately reacted to this tactic.

Their volley launched for me. Our only saving factor was Dill-bo was faster than they anticipated.

The main unit's charge had been three quarters speed until we were certain. Now that I needed space Dill-bo turned on his racing speed and we shot north for Koobi.

Marius and our troops were untouched as they collided with the horses. To see and hear what transpired was beyond belief.

A horse is underappreciated for its power. Even when I’m by a horse, I feel small and weak. A duckbill dinosaur required a ladder, was twice as tall, and three times as long, meaning it was going to easily win a collision.

The duckies reared, bunching their back legs. I saw the strained muscles ripple as they launched into the air in astonishing arching jumps. I winced when they landed on the horses. Their massive frames smashed down with such force that spines were snapped, and riders were crushed.

The whinnying of so many horses was frightening. Of the five hundred that charged maybe fifty got through.

I picked up my bow to fire into the horses that were trying to catch me. I saw us gaining, but those horses on my tail were outpacing the rest of my army that was slaughtering the main force.

I fired an arrow with a smirk, knowing we’d won the fight here. I was maybe a hundred feet from the trees, outpacing the horses when they fired a charging volley.

The whistling arrows calculated for our speed this time. An arrow tip smacked into my shoulder and I cried out in pain.

I yelled out in frustration when Dill-bo collapsed into the farm fields, spraying dirt high, and sending me flying.

While I flailed, not wanting to impact the dirt, I saw that a lucky arrow had landed behind the reliable mount’s horn, digging into his brain. The desire to curse my luck was overridden by the fact I was probably going to get badly hurt, if not die.

My arms shot out to absorb my impending crash, the oats growing in size as I neared the terrain. There was a signal from my brain to tuck my elbows at the last moment.

The hit was jarring, to the point I somersaulted into the air, flipping in a few times before landing on my back roughly. A forced exhale vacated oxygen from my lungs. My left shoulder screamed, and my left wrist was at a horrid angle.

“Run!” Roki said, flying by me. As he left me, he shouted. “Your hand!”

“Don’t feel it. Trust me, get high. You ain’t outrunning a horse,” I said, groaning with an exertion to stand.

My run was pathetic. I couldn’t help it; my body was awash in pain. Every step had my ankle flaring in agony.

Thankfully, I was at the edge of the farm fields and near the trees.

The cavalry was close, though, with the sound of coming hooves growing louder. I realized the enemy would either crush my tablet that went flying into the tall oats or they’d never get the time to find it.

A glance over my shoulder told me I had at most a half minute before I’d be ridden down.

Then, there was hope. Arrows from my duckies rained into the enemy horses with precision. The enemy general slumped, before falling with an arrow in his neck.

There was no sudden calm. The thirty or so remaining archers raised bows. I saw Roki get into a tree, and I was grateful he was going to live at least.

The twang of bows snapping had me wincing, expecting death. Instead the arrows smacked, ricochet and dug into the tree Roki had flown up.

Then it dawned on me. Roki had the tablet. It wasn’t missing when I went flying. The enemy general must have set his troops to fire on Roki to get the tablet.

Taking an exit stage right, I gave the little colorful target space in the hopes of not being murdered.

I wanted to live, and he was high in a tree. When I reached a yellowwood, I learned it’s flipping hard to climb with one arm. To make matters worse the charging duckies were rattling the ground so violently that I struggled to balance.

When I saw I was being ignored, I settled myself against the tree trunk, taking a well-earned breather.

There was so much noise from Marius and the duckbill cavalry. I heard death cries of the storks, and the cheers of Marius, crashing over the din of battle. The twang of bows told me the fight was wrapping up because our duckies had stopped running.

I leaned my head against the tree, the flare of pain erupting from my arm as the adrenaline wore off. There were a few moments for me to reflect on my decision. If I had stayed with the formation, I felt the enemy would have stopped their reckless charge.

There was no logical answer to what the commander was doing beside going for the tablet. If… if my theory was right, that commander had the tablet frenzy.

I could see ordering Zhang to capture tablets with a few hundred horses. Him seeing one and sacrificing his troops for an attempt at the golden prize.

While I stewed in thoughts of how things could have gone better, I heard Roki calling out my name. He fluttered in a shallow flight to me.

“You okay, Master?” Roki asked and I smiled.

“Thanks to you, ya, I’ll be okay with some sleep,” I groaned.

“You left me,” Roki said in a flustered tone.

I shook my head. “My friend, you flew away from me, and got up that tree while I was still exposed… So… can we call it even?” I asked, showing my busted wrist.

He grimaced, nodding that we were even.

“There you are. I think a dozen dead, six duckies. We got a whole bunch of meat. Fifty or so prisoners, and sixty horses, maybe. Can I have the horses?” Marius asked with a smirk. He reached down to pat -

“Ouch!” I yelped as he pulled out an arrow. “Forgot about that arrow actually.”

“You’re fine. How about the horses?” Marius repeated with a smirk.

“Probably. That’ll be up to Senna. I need to go heal,” I said, extracting myself from the less than comfy seat. I hobbled for the stronghold that was close but so far away. “Roki, fix my farms. And Marius, clean up the battlefield. Oh! Don’t name the next duckie we ride Roki!”

“Yes, Sire,” he said in a serious tone.

Marius ducked under my good arm to help me to the stronghold. Roki said he’d handle both tasks.

“Tablet fever?” Marius grunted.

I wanted to shrug and instead said, “I mean, nothing else makes sense. Whoever his boss was is probably a major asshole.”

“I get tablet fever, sort of. I don’t like not having one,” he said, adjusting as I slowed.

“Soon my friend, soon. When your wife is here you will get to fight the storks to your heart’s content and with a tablet and T-Rexes. At least that is the plan.”

“I think we’re going to do better this time,” Marius said confidently.

We walked past a burned barn, and into the stronghold. Maybe putting walls up would hold merit now. I lay down on the bed when Marius grabbed a loaner tablet from his satchel. He leaned over to show me something.

“The score?” I asked rhetorically, and he nodded anyway. I definitely liked what I saw.

Team Dinosaur Warlords: 7th

Survival: 43.7 (tied 90th)

eXplore: 78.4 (69th)

eXpand: 385.9 (3rd)

eXploit: 2955.9 (1st)

eXterminate: 1259.5 (9th)

We had changed the name back since there was no point in hiding who we were anymore. Conquering endless objectives with little actual fighting meant our eXploit was sky high. We also went from twenty something in eXterminate to ninth. Apparently, these storks feed us a bunch of points for a tablet we never coughed up.

“It gets better,” Marius said, rotating the tablet away from where I could see so he could tap some information up.

57th - Team: Competitor 331232

58th - Team: No Mercy

59th - Team: Competitor 453298

I smirked at this. “Thanks Marius. Linia will be here in less than two weeks. You did great work out there.”

“Shoot, thanks for sacrificing yourself for the win. If you never would have spun there would have been a brawl. You saved hundreds of archers and duckies probably,” Marius said proudly but I didn’t smile.

“Senna will scalp me.”

“Aye, so would Linia. But… that is what makes us great soldiers. We fight to win, not because we worry about a tongue lashing. Losing costs far more than the scorn of a wife or crying of a widow.”

He left with those words of wisdom or foolishness. When I went to sleep, I couldn’t decide which they were.

Chapter

Sixteen

COMPETITION 3 DAY 46

W hen I woke up during an early morning sunrise, I saw Roki nearby, sleeping in a ball of fur blankets. I walked over to the corner of the room to see him relaxing in his little nest. When I picked up the tablet the healing report notified me that I had actually cracked the length of my tibia. I spent two and a half days healing. Yikes. It was already day forty-six of the competition.

There was some grumpy yawning as I roused my little helper. When his eyes fluttered open, I asked, “What did I miss?”

“Glad to see you at peak health, Master Nate. You missed very little. Beth is running Northstar City. Marius has been given leave to venture west to establish a fortification or see if the enemy already have one there. Harold captured a scout, and Senna sent more troops to Cecilia,” Roki said, stretching his wings as he talked.

I smiled at the news, and said, “Great, so… Where am I needed?”

He just stared at me blankly, not sure how to answer. Eh, that was an answer in itself.

“Text Senna, see if she has any problems with us running baby T-Rexes up to Koobi City?” I ordered, handing over the tablet.

Roki ruffled his feathers and said, “As in we mingle with energetic toothy babies that frighten me?”

“Yeah, I’m going to ready a wagon and some two horns,” I said, not letting him have a say in the matter.

I left the second-floor bedroom, finding my gear in the bottom office. A few minutes later and I was outside, greeting the rising southern sun. There were wagons always cycling supplies as the needs of the empire forced food to be moved.

When I went to the storage lot of reserve wagons, I found a chariot with a duckie on the front. Senna probably staged it for me to ride home in. While it looked awesome, and I wanted to use it, I moved further into the staging area.

I meandered around mostly long flatbeds until I found quad two horns attached to a boxy animal hauler. There was a stench of shit, and no real place for a human to sit. This was the reality of commanding by tablet. Even two horns could be given simple commands and execute them on their own.

The boxy animal hauler had no roof. Meaning, I was forced to either ride in the shit or use the chariot; chariot it was.

Roki showed up when I was standing in the half cabin platform. There were hand grips and tied down points for me to strap into if I felt like it. The front hand quiver holders that reminded me of golf cart carrying spots.

“Senna said to hurry home to her. You can enjoy your time with the babies in Koobi. There’s an animal hauler with hatchlings already en route that is no more than ten minutes south of us, Master Nate,” Roki said.

“Awesome, let’s have some fun on this chariot first, and then we will head to Koobi City. Attend court for a day, see Senna, and then continue to capture objectives,” I said with a smile.

Roki handed me the tablet without saying anything in reply. He left in a hurry into the stronghold. When he flew out, he had his shelter box he must have salvaged from Dill-bo.

The arrow shelter barely fit on the chariot platform and thankfully there was a back-end lip. When it was on the best it could be, a hand stuck out from the shelter.

I chuckled, handing the Baaxi the tablet. There was a light snap of the reins and we went to exit the thin wooden walls that had been erected while I recovered.

Expansive barns surrounded endless fields of oats, hays, vegetables, and even animal farms. As we rode south, I saw the first stronghold that was a mile away from Yip’s Farms.

I hadn’t been to Maven in a while and knew if I did keep going, I would see far more of the same: barns, strongholds, and farms. This whole area was a wide expanse of generating food. There were so many buildings I was surprised Senna hadn’t slowed down on producing them.

The road was busy: carting teams moving things between cities or sending items to depots. I enjoyed the sunny day, waving at the drones as we passed each other. There was a slim hope Roxie would wake up and wave back.

When there was a whining roar from a blocky transport, we found our baby T-Rexes. If you thought an angsty baby dinosaur crying was cute… it was not. The image of them, however was adorable.

When the four two horns passed us, I executed a swift U-turn, and was surprised by how well the chariot handled. Roki stopped the hauler in front of us while I yanked on the duckie to stop.

My boots smacked against the stone road as I ran to see the baby dinosaurs. When I peered in, I was flustered.

There were T-rexes in here packed so tightly they might as well have been chickens. My eyes bulged at the sight of dozens of three-foot-tall, big-headed creatures that were unable to move more than a few inches. A shoulder check told me Roki was hiding.

“Hey, I need the tablet or you to get over here,” I commanded, inspecting the baby T-Rexes.

Most of the little toothy hatchlings were brown with black stripes. A few were green and one was black with a shade lighter of black stripes. I wish I could say that unique one cried for attention… But they all were whining to the point it was getting fairly loud.

In a rare occurrence, I heard a slight grumbling from my adjunct. “Coming, Master Nate.”

The moment he left the safety of the chariot, the baby T-Rexes shifted noses into the air, deeply inhaling.

Oh, yeah.

Now I got it.

These were probably too young to know right from wrong, or Roki smelt like a tasty bird. I could see why he was so hesitant.

“I’ll play with the little guys in Koobi, instead. Why don’t -”

“Master Nate, what a wonderful idea. And done, they will be heading at an increased speed for the city,” Roki said, retreating back to his little box of safety.

The pulling two horns jerked the babies into motion, taking them away at an increasing speed.

“Are they gone Master Nate?” Roki said, clearly knowing the answer.

“Roki, tell me about Maven’s production numbers,” I said, my boots crunching over the gritty stone road.

The brisk wind wafted a nasty smell from a nearby farm. A few birds were up high, watching those of us stuck on the ground, and there was the sound of another wagon approaching from behind.

I hurried onto the chariot, sending this duckie into a run. We passed the whining baby T-Rexes, heading for home at a fast clip.

“Maven has stopped hatching T-Rexes. This is the last batch scheduled for at least a few weeks. Over two hundred young are growing. Since I see you eager to ask, Master. The issue is they will eat more than we can feed them in about thirty days even with predictions of increased food generation,” Roki said, reverting to his professor's tone.

“They eat that much?” I said with a grunt.

He shook his head and shrugged. “There is balance involved. The needs of the empire are more than a giant food sink for T-Rexes. We would have to cull hundreds of duckies to feed the T-Rexes. You see, we would need to raise more poultry and bovines to feed them. That would mean less agricultural food for the duckies and -”

“I’m getting the picture. Two hundred is more than enough to start. We’re not even at tier four yet. I have no doubt we’ll be able to use them effectively,” I said with a grin.

“Oh, very interesting news just came in, your Grace,” Roki said with a pause. He rarely used that title, except when there was a question or comment he didn’t want to say.

“Out with it.”

“Marius just returned to within tablet range. The storks have an outpost to our west over that starting point. Senna wants to go on the offensive,” Roki said, tucking deep within his box.

“Roki, you have to realize, I’m not going to strike you over news that might upset me,” I said. Over the last few weeks, it had become clear that he was afraid of violence, even to the point when he should know I’d never do so. “Hand me the tablet.”

A hand shot out of the box, allowing me to gently peel the device out of his grasp.

I scrolled over the texts. The cavalry we destroyed was a small recon unit. The storks had lots of horses; the animals were so much easier to produce than a flipping T-Rex.

Marius was confident that we had a superior ranged cavalry. Meaning if we ransacked their lands, they would be in a bad position, and we would have our repairs conducted in peace.

While my face was buried in the report there was a roar so loud, I jolted, dropping the tablet.

Roki’s deft hands kept the device from falling over the chariot's back end.

My eyes spun to the right. Out of the trees burst a forest green dragon I had seen snuggled in a giant grove objective.

“What the -” I muttered

The mighty beast flapped rapidly until it hovered over a farm. Plumes of green gas belched over a flock of sheep.

I gulped, seeing the behemoth settling in over the herd.

When it touched down the smoke obscured all sight of the dragon. I heard bones snapping and cracking from this distance, knowing the dragon was feasting.

A part of me wanted to fire a few arrows into the smoke, but I thought better of it. The old adage of I hope you choke on my bones would probably be not true and a very painful death.

Before we crossed the treeline the dragon fled; its clawed paws were filled with sheep. I sighed at the sight, typing up my own report. Senna replied that this was rare but heard of. Big objectives would poke and prod expansive empires.

She told me that we were going to need to notate which aggressive objectives were causing problems and react according.

Another thing to add to the task list. I sighed at the fact we had missed briefing this. With the interface pulled up, and me out for three days, I decided to check the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlords: 12th

Survival: 46.3 (tied 87th)

eXplore: 148.4 (57th)

eXpand: 422.2 (8th)

eXploit: 3455.9 (3rd)

eXterminate: 1399.5 (19th)

Falling five places may not seem like a lot, but we took a big hit to our eXterminate ranking. This was telling me expansions were getting soaked up and that fighting was intensifying for vital resources so empires could continue to expand.

With only thirteen teams eliminated, I was shocked. There was going to be some bloody fights ahead.

After an hour of deep thought we rolled into Koobi City, passing under a portcullis and four archer towers stuffed with soldiers. Troops walked the parapets, scanning for signs of invaders. Inside I noticed immediately that the trees had been pushed back again in a new expansion.

The farm fields of the north that used to be outside the trees were now enclosed in the stone walls. The barns and poultry coops were removed to give medium-sized T-Rexes the ability to run. There were only a dozen that stood as tall as a duckie, those having to be our first batch that would unlock the ability to move to tier four.

At that moment, I knew love at first sight. A big red girl with bristling teeth saw my chariot and roared at our hasty approach. I may have been riding fast enough to send drones ducking between buildings to avoid being run over.

I slowed the chariot, hearing a wheel shaking, sending fear into me -

“Is that you, Roki?” I asked, realizing the wheel was fine. “What has made you so frightened of the animals? They don’t attack our own.”

Okay, I wasn’t a hundred percent telling the truth and the brainiac probably knew that. I stopped the chariot a few hundred feet from the T-Rex fields.

“Master Nate, they are not ready to be acclimated yet. There… have been accidents?”

I sighed, “Expand please.”

“A set of zuniceratops were bringing in meat to feed the larger ones. There hadn’t been a problem until the two horns as you call them… became the meal,” Roki said with a shudder.

“Eh, maybe you’re right. You’re bite-sized. They’re well fed so they should be fine with me.” I rubbed the back of my neck. The big red girl was eyeing me intently. “Have they eaten any humans yet?”

“Welcome home my love!” Senna shouted from a balcony of the stronghold that wasn’t too far. I spun and waved enthusiastically at her and Izzy who joined her a moment later. The bombshell blonde and redhead were all smiles.

“The T-Rexes eat any humans yet?” I shouted to the girls on the third floor.

“Nope,” Izzy yelled back.

I patted Roki, leaving him to cower. My brisk pace excited the T-Rex. When she jumped the fence, I froze.

The immediate thought was who the flip built a six-foot fence to pen in dinosaurs that could already walk over them. I gained my composure realizing I could flee, stand still, or greet my new friend.

I walked forward confidently, swallowing any fear I had from the big teeth that bristled. Dinosaurs weren’t the hardest to read. You could tell by posture, mannerisms, and the eyes what they intended. She wanted to play, or eat me, but my money was on the first one because getting eaten would really suck.

The big animal arrived, tucking her head down apprehensively. I gave her scratches on her nose and she returned the love with requests for more.

The sounds of running feet told me someone was coming. The adolescent T-Rex sniffed, turned an eye, and relaxed.

“Scarlett! I won’t tell you again. You get your butt back in that pen right now!” Izzy said in a motherly tone that came standard with a foot stomp.

Scarlett spun, returning to hop the fence.

Uh…

“Impressive,” I said, a bit bewildered.

Izzy ran and jumped on my back. “Welcome home you handsome hunk. Come, Senna is preparing a shower. We built a custom water heater on the roof because cold showers are the worst.”

I snickered. “Hell yea, a warm shower is exactly what I want, but Izzy. Scarlett. What’s her story?”

“She’s a sweetheart and attention lover. That girl, well, the open road is what she needs, not a pen.”

“Awesome, I’ll take her on the invasion,” I said, loving the idea.

Izzy chuckled, leaning into my ear to say, “Probably a bad idea but you’d help us. For that you can make this pussy purr until I squirt. Now giddy up buttercup, momma always wanted a pony.”

I had no idea what she was talking about besides sex. The man part of my brain focused on the incoming shower threesome and I ran with a giggling Izzy clinging to my back. I knew some fun times were going to be had and then I’d do something new.

Raiding an opponent with a T-Rex.

Chapter

Seventeen

COMPETITION 3 DAY 46

I  kissed Senna goodbye for the fourth time, setting her down and not letting her pout. I patted Roki on the shoulder next who assured me things would go well here in my absence. He was staying to fill Izzy’s role as tablet sidekick, and Izzy was coming with me to help with Scarlett and Daniel.

We needed nine T-Rexes to reach maturity. So, Senna only let me take two while keeping ten behind.

With the final farewells over, Izzy let out a loud whistle. Scarlett hopped the pen, eager to join us and Daniel was staying put. The green with black striped dino stared at the fence as if it were a mountain.

The sassy red dino jumped back into the pen, nipping at him until he was forced to jump the fence. I snickered, seeing the two were coming with us.

Our duckie led a precession out of Koobi. The pace was calm, with both juvenile T-Rexes catching up quickly to flank us. For the first few minutes Izzy and Scarlett talked.

Well, Izzy would say nice things and the dinosaur would give slight roars of happiness, until she went for scratches, sending our duckie into a run. Eventually they headed to the outside of the herd and I had Izzy’s attention.

“You sure about this?” I asked her.

“Yes. Oh, shit. Keep forgetting. I want a wife title. Not wifette, how does wifie sound? It’s actually Scottish,” she asked in a cheerful tone.

“Uh… I… I love it. Wifie, why did you avoid my question?”

Izzy smirked with a sassy sway of her hair. “Roki has been requesting to stay inside the walls for weeks, privately, mind you. Senna needed to get him a replacement. So… I’ve been bonding with Beth via tablet teachings. I can now do this.”

She held her tablet up, tapping a few times.

We were outside the city walking through farm fields with our forces headed west. The evening setting sun highlighted three hundred and fifty duckies, each held two archers and a pike-carrying soldier. The two dozen converted horses and boars were spread way out to help scout as well as screen for us.

A section of duckies responded to Izzy’s inputs by forming a triangle. A second later they darted forward in a charge. I watched, Izzy quickly inputting commands to have them rejoin the formation.

“Impressive. I struggle to box them appropriately for quick references,” I said, seating myself into a relaxed posture.

“The key is to spend the time before you go out. If you properly set your formations it certainly helps. I’m managing the whole unit with Marius allowed to countermand my commands if something urgent arises. He’s mainly focused on the scouts though,” Izzy said.

I grunted, saying, “That can’t be fun.”

“No, the scouts trigger objectives, and because of the extra roaming defenders it’s prudent to get alerts. So, I imagine he is getting tablet vibrations non-stop.”

I thumbed at Scarlett and Daniel. “They seem to be doing well. Sure are sniffing a lot.”

“First time since coming to Koobi from Maven that they’ve been outside. It’s not too different from myself. I feel we haven’t had much time together,” Izzy said.

She certainly wasn’t wrong. I’d spent most of the competition with Roki at my side, and for a few weeks Beth. There really wasn’t much of me sitting around holding court.

This go around, most of the issues Senna encountered with unruly awakenings were handled by preemptive building.

There was a clear chain of command and Senna was running things with my input. I wasn’t controlling tablets or cities. I was expanding our empire and thankfully the citizens were less of a hassle.

I slung an arm around the wide-hipped redhead, pulling her into my lap with an oof sound. She had intentionally plopped down heavily on my somewhat sore cock from our shower fun.

“I’m glad you’re here. I take it you weren’t the stay at home type on Earth?” I asked.

She shook her head, saying, “I was a touring doctor. Yes, when I had Harriot, I slowed down traveling. After she was old enough to not kill herself, I went back to traveling to apply my medicine.”

“Like being outside?”

She smiled, ingesting the view of the farm fields, distant trees, and the mountains to the north. “Adore it. Visiting new places to treat the ill was… well, a treat in itself.”

“How do you reflect on doctoring with what you know now?” I asked, intrigued by the thought.

Marius for instance was amazed at how fast warfare transitioned with the invention of the engine. I could only imagine what I would think of air conditioning a few thousand years later, assuming humanity would survive that long.

“I… I feel small, yes, small works.” She paused, shifting to sit beside me. A serious tone replaced the light mood. “Nate, my entire life’s work was based on clean water, exercise, and eating enough. If I would have been born a hundred years later… it would have been based around blood testing, imaging, and patient feedback. There was so little we knew, and then so much the future held.”

“You seem to be handling your removal well,” I said with a smile.

Izzy shrugged, saying, “I have to wonder if the Archaic converted us all. In the sense, we’re programmed to accept our new fate, do our best, and try to achieve their goals.”

“I can see that. Changing gears, combat skills? Whatcha got so I know how to help slash fight with you,” I asked.

Izzy covered her mouth with her laugh. “Sorry, you brought up a funny thought.”

“Do tell.”

“Senna’s been trying the bow, and she is flipping the worst at it. Oh, jeez, look at me copying her ladylike swears.”

“It’s cute, shucks, you both are adorable. I see you have a long dagger,” I said, gesturing to the weapon that hung from a loop on the saddle.

“I’m fast, accurate, and decent against a training dummy with it. There haven’t been many sparring partners so I could certainly use more work,” Izzy said.

I patted her thigh and replied, “We can work on that. How about archery?”

“I brought a small bow. I can hit from close and that’s about it. I tried a medium, finding it too tough. I’m no Beth for sure,” Izzy said, spawning two fur blankets.

There was just enough room if you lay on your side and curled up to take a nap in the saddle. I kicked my legs up to let her settle in.

“Plan?” I asked her while being handed the tablet.

“We arrive in the middle of the night. Even if I just get a half hour it’ll leave me sharper for the fighting. I’d offer fer ya ta join this sexy lass,” Izzy said the last line in a thick Scottish accent, adding a wink. “But -”

“I crashed for a nap after three rounds of sex. I hear you. I’ll wake you if we see anything,” I said with a smile. “Have a good nap, wifie.”

She curled up, nuzzled until she was comfy, and out she went.

The night sky was still young, a looming scattered cloud cover told me there might be a light rain.

While we marched west, I soaked in the view of a moonlit dinosaur army. This was something majestic, a sight unseen, and probably part of the reason why these competitions were held in the first place.

At our casual walk, three hours went by before we found a stork-held objective. I brought the duckie to a quiet spot to have a meeting with Marius. The T-Rexes followed, curling into a ball when we let the duckies take a rest.

Izzy stirred from the movement, heading to the field to meet Marius with me with a walking stretch. Where both Senna and Beth held a regal presence with their mannerism and gestures, Izzy was carefree. Her cowgirl outfit with the long dagger and short bow gave her the look of an outdoorswoman.

The night stars shined brightly, illuminating the fields nicely. I went into the map, seeing what we had exposed.

“Well, what do you think, Sire?” Marius said when we grouped up.

“They stopped here?” I said rhetorically, wondering why they didn’t push into these fields.

Marius still said, “Yeah, I mean, I killed a stronghold expansion team heading toward us. Then we killed their scout army to the southeast of here. We have no idea what they have pressuring them from the other sides, but that tier three stronghold on the starting point; it’s already glowing orange to go to four.”

Izzy stood on her tippy toes to peer down onto the tablet.

“This is an expansion to feed their horses. Yes, yes it has to be. I don’t see a single meat farm. Is the goal to conquer, capture, or raze?” Izzy said, looking to me for the answer.

“I chatted with Senna before we left the boundary while you were sleeping, Marius is in the loop too. We have a road being built this direction. If we capture stuff, we can just start stacking it between Cornerstore and Koobi,” I said.

“Cornerstore?” Izzy asked with a funny look.

“Inside joke,” I said with a shrug. “Personally, we need food. So… We’re going to capture horses moving supplies. We slaughter the horses and stockpile the hay or oats. This forces the enemy off a key supply while we get more ourselves.”

“Alright, want to wait for a southern sunrise?” Marius asked in a gruff tone.

“Yes, and no. I say we find the busiest road, find ambush points, and build a small defense,” I said confidently. “If that takes two days then so be it.”

Izzy nodded, catching on to my plan. “Hey, that one isn’t too bad.”

“Shucks, wifie, all my plans have worked… sort of.”

“Alright, give me an hour to find a good spot. I’ll send a ping when the scouts have a place,” Marius said, heading for his duckie.

Scarlett and Daniel were given attention while we waited.

A half hour went by before Izzy mentioned, “Scarlett slept in our bed. She was the only unique T-Rex of the first hatchlings. Even Senna was enthralled with her.”

“I think this story goes down a familiar path,” I said, sitting beside Scarlett to lean against her.

“Well, she shit in our bedroom, and…”

I chuckled until Izzy rolled her eyes.

“Bet that was fun,” I quipped.

“Sure, everything was fun until she removed three fingers,” Izzy said, and my eyes shot between the two rapidly. “Don’t look so shocked. We were playing with a bone. Here’s the thing, your hand slips on a drool covered bone and those teeth are so sharp my fingers were hitting the floor before I knew it-”

“That fast?”

“That fast,” she replied with a sigh. “Healed up with this,” she waved her hands, indicating the competition, “magic. But by the holy trinity did I lay into her. She’s been frightened and careful of me. Besides Roki, I wanted to be here. For her. And for you.”

“Shucks Izzy,” I said, picking a trampled oat stalk off from the ground with a snap. “I’m glad you're here. I bet Roki would be in his hiding box with anxiety if you didn’t swap with him.”

“I don’t get Roki,” Izzy said. When I bunched my brows she continued, “What is his motivation?”

“To have a life,” I told her.

“With what purpose,” Izzy said, slightly frustrated.

I shrugged, saying, “Maybe he is looking for one. Or just likes having people around he can help who are nice. You think he needs some ulterior motives?”

“Would be easier to understand. Harold wants power and prestige, but not the hassle of ruling it all. Cecilia is content managing her little sections of her empire. Beth, Senna, and I are eager for Qoobi, and you…”

She was setting me up with a softball semi-question.

“I’m here to make everything the best I can. My motivation is to bounce wee ones on my knees and ensure people live in a just and fair society,” I said with a charming smile that worked.

Her pacing stopped and she tucked herself into my lap to snuggle. “Just be mindful of those close to you. I don’t distrust Roki. I just… he… is different. I worry, and I’d rather be certain.”

“Shucks, Izzy. It’s almost like you’ve grown soft on me,” I said, kissing her hair. She snuggled tighter into me.

Another hour went by. The early morning dawn of an eventual sunrise lit the distant horizon. The early birds getting the worms were flocking around and I may have dozed off when Marius returned.

His gentle shakes caught my attention.

When he saw me alert, he flopped onto the compacted oats to sit shoulder to shoulder. “You want the good or the bad?”

“Obviously, both,” I said with a chuckle.

“They know we’re here and are amassing an army. If we take the field, we might lose. The good is, if we win or lose there will be tons of food on the ground,” Marius said.

“How big?”

He shrugged.

“Send a scout to Beth. If -”

Izzy cleared her throat. “Senna will not want Northstar without an army. This is not a long-term invasion. Unless you plan on dragging them into our territory,” Izzy interjected.

“They massing in Cornerstore?” I asked.

“No outside it, in the lettuce fields.”

“We have the speed advantage. Let’s go pick a fight,” I said, removing Izzy from my lap.

The chill of the night whisked away the warm from her embrace. When I neared an inquisitive eye of Scarlett’s I pointed around the area.

“Go kill. Don’t die. Destroy everything they don’t have properly guarded and avoid any major -”

There was a tearing sound and suddenly I was covered in dirt mixed with hay. I was stunned. She’d gone from lounging to hunting in less than a second. They were so big and yet so rapid. Those damn T-Rexes were already into the tree lines.

“And, she’s gone,” Izzy said as the T-Rexes bolted out of sight.

“Uh… boss, was that your plan?” Marius asked and I frowned.

“Hmm… I had a plan… I swear, it was to pick a running fight for home. I just… Maybe telling the super aggressive dinos to go kill was a bad idea,” I mumbled.

“Ya think,” Izzy chimed in with a smirk.

Marius said, “We can tail them and hit the force sent to stop them. Or just -”

Izzy waved the tablet at us. “I can track them on the tablet pretty easily,” Izzy said and that sealed it for me.

“Fine, let’s see what damage two juveniles can do to blue-skinned orks,” I said, loading up onto the duckie’s saddle. When I hefted Izzy on, Marius waited.

“I’ll keep us updated. I’d like to command the scouts and a company of duckies. To divert for targets of opportunity,” Marius said, stepping back as our duckie stood.

“A hundred?” I asked and he nodded.

Izzy gave him a thumbs up, telling him the command was swapped. That left us - for the moment - in two fighting forces, and not wanting a big tussle. I was okay with that.

A tablet was flashed in my face. The map showed the T-Rexes were already fighting with flaring red around an objective. I snapped the reins, increasing our speed.

A sudden loud roar sent birds into flight. Trees passed by in a blur as we raced for the objective.

Our arrival showed dead ogres. A glance at the tablet revealed they had cleared a large mine for the damn storks and that Izzy was learning how to claim something.

“Just tap yes to claim, and no to build. I guess I should have been more specific with my orders. Not like I even got to finish,” I grumbled.

“They’re teenagers, and dinosaur teenagers. You literally said kill, and don’t die,” Izzy said with a chuckle.

“Oh, oh… Shit!” Izzy said, wincing as the tablet vibrated with a whole bunch of alerts.

“What?” I said, for once wishing I was holding the damn tablet.

“They’re inside Cornerstore City. I don’t know -”

“The gate is open?” I muttered, spurring the duckie into a sprint. Roars of angry T-Rexes reverberated over the land. “Duckie trumpet. Prioritize tower archers when we’re near. Why are the others falling behind?”

“Shit, Nate, hold on,” Izzy said in a flustered tone.

I strung my bow, the duckie heading the right direction to the sound of chaos. I had an arrow in the quiver when the duckies trumpeted their arrival.

While I wished I had free hands to cover my ears, I instead focused on the city we called Cornerstore.

This was a farming outpost. There were stone walls with an open gate. The little I could see of the inside had the place loaded with stables. Nothing but stables. On the exterior was cleared forest and expansive farms. To my right, away from the gate was an enemy formation of a thousand horses.

The gathered cavalry archers were in a state of confusion, uncertain of what to do or how to react. I had no idea where their boss was, but he clearly wasn’t giving orders.

The sprint for the gate reached a crescendo of anxiousness.

I spied a manager running for the portcullis control room.

My eyes shot from them, to the distance we needed. The dinosaurs behind me trumpeted and the roar of the T-Rexes was followed by crying horses ahead.

The commotion was overwhelming and there was a split second to make a decision.

I used a free hand to snap the reins, urging the mount forward.

We were now committed in our attempts to get inside the gate.

Before we crossed under the wall, I fired an arrow into an archer tower up high, nailing a soldier in the back of the head.

Every single archer on the walls and in the towers were trying to down Scarlett and Daniel who were safely inside a stable eating young horses. The entirety of the defenses was focused on the first threat. This inept manager was losing the fight for them.

My eyes were focused on the teeth of the iron gate. I was so nervous we wouldn’t make it. Sweaty palms flushed with a twisted stomach.

The moment we neared the portcullis I heard the rattling of a chain free spooling.

The spiked teeth of the bottom of the metal gate were coming down fast. My craned neck was certain I was about to be impaled. I was cursing myself as I knew I was -

The gate missed, and yet, Izzy and I went flying. The hips of the duckie didn’t get inside the city in time and were crushed under the sheer weight of the gate.

With the mount pinned we were ejected. A taught yank from my tie down screamed against my vest, but I finally learned my lesson to secure myself to my mount.

Sort of.

The leather snapped from the sheer force, allowing me to land with a run.

The rest of the duckies were swarming around the gate, firing into sentries that were focused on the T-Rexes inside the stables.

I ran for a quiver, seeing Izzy in a daze. She was struggling to breathe, her hands clutching her chest. Probably had a few broken ribs from crashing into the front of the saddle.

It was clear that I had to leave her to open this gate. She’d be fine, I had to tell myself that while kissing her forehead goodbye.

I pumped my legs ferociously, eager to reach the gate wheel. I exited the entrance tunnel, running left.

The arrow slotted into the sinew was half drawn, at the semi-ready for a quick shot. Stork drones spooked at my sudden approach, fleeing from me as I raced for a ramp to get above the gate.

The sound of clanging metal from my right neared on an intercept. I knew that had to be a soldier running in heavy armor.

I raised the bow, running while holding the shot, predicting my target's reveal point.

There was a loud twang when I fired into a snarling face with tusks.

The reaction time was near instant, the flight of the arrow arrived before the stork even realized I’d fired. There was the widening of eyes as the head snapped back, leaving the soldier clattering to the stone path.

I hopped onto the ramp, my calves burning as I sprinted up the inclines for the gate controls. A new arrow slotted into my bow, allowing me to be ready to fire as I crested onto the parapet.

A manager handling a tablet grinned, solely focused on the tablet. Her face was so happy I almost felt bad.

I lined up and fired, my arrow zipping through her chest cleanly to the point it clattered against the stone behind her.

The archers above us spun to engage my duckies. I saw my pikemen raising shields to wither the fire. I immediately realized she must have been excited to figure out how to fix her tablet commands.

The manager touched her chest where a hole oozed blood.

I tossed my bow around her neck, letting it distract her as it spun.

While the stork manager dealt with a hole in her chest and a bow around her neck, I drew my sword.

A quick chop to her knee sent her crying out; her face was awash in confusion. I ruined a perfectly good bow when I lopped her head off.

I snatched the tablet that clattered against the thick stone wall, quickly tucking it into my vest.

I ran into the doubled wheeled room with the chain for the portcullis. Two guards in heavy armor defended the prized mechanical contraption.

A spear was thrust for my eyes, narrowly missing me, and clipping my hat off my head. My free left hand shot to rapidly clasp the weapon. I yanked, pulling myself forward, and into his guard.

The tip of my sword slid into the blue neck. A shield from the guard wielding a pike sent me into a stumble.

I managed to free my weapon, ensuring the first guard's death.

A haymaker cross swing from the long pike hit my stomach. There was not enough force to do much damage. The room was too small for the guard’s weapons, meaning whoever was on assignments screwed up.

My free arm came down, trapping the pike against my body. The guard struggled to free his weapon.

I screamed a battle cry with my sword racing down, chopping off his two hands that held the pike.

The guard yelled at his stumps that pumped green blood with the beat of his heart. A dash forward with my sword aimed for the neck missed.

Unexpectedly the guard dropped into a fetal ball weeping.

Ignoring my foe, I spun the portcullis up, racing to get the device to the locking point. I saw guards running for me as I waited for the click to secure the chain and the gate up high. That sweet snap sound had me darting to the pike, hand still attached. I shoved the device into the wheel with just enough time to face and run for the door.

While I didn’t get out of the gate room quick enough, I made it to the point I was fighting a one on one.

An overhand swing of a battle-axe had me sidestepping. A flick of my wrist was quicker than my foe or I anticipated.

The blade dove deep enough into his exposed neck, ruining the flesh. Like the good soldier I needed him to be, the stock clutched his neck, clogging the doorway.

I used the few seconds to kill the crying guard on the floor I had left alone earlier, because I didn’t want him ruining my defense.

There was a trumpeting signal followed by dual roars that rose over the crescendo of the battle.

The soldier standing before me collapsed to his knees with an arrow in his thigh. With lightning speed, I buried my sword in the soldier behind him.

Arrows whistled into the group trying to get over the two dying storks. The pack of angry tier three soldiers was thinned in half.

“Fire!” I heard Marius shout.

A volley of zipping arrows found homes in stork soldiers that were focused on me. There was a clatter of the dead falling, some tumbling off the walls with loud screams that ended with sudden thumps.

When it was just two left, I still held my position. The last thing I needed was to be rushing these two only to -

“Fire!”

The last two died, their bodies riddled with arrows.

“Are we inside?” I shouted out the doorway.

Marius exclaimed, “Ha! Great work. Yes! Close the portcullis.”

I removed the pike and kicked quick release. The metal gate closed with a resounding bang as it locked into the ground.

Retrieving the tablet, I got a command that I needed to pair for control. So… There was a learned lesson here that I’d be sharing in a safety meeting if I worked for a big A/C firm. I ran for Izzy, a shit-eating grin on my face.

Blood… Well, it's slippery when it's thickly coated on stone. My feet shot out and I rode the ramp down on a slick of green fluid. My ass bounced the whole way, and Marius was eyeing my slide with delight.

I recovered at the bottom of the slide without my dignity. Izzy rested against a building, wheezing for breath.

“Can I conquer it?” Marius asked.

“Yes, hurry please. We need -”

The magical transformation was brief and yet astonishing. The buildings went from horse barns to dinosaur stables. The upgrade on the stronghold halted, and the hundreds of interior workers twirled brown magic.

I slammed my eyes shut just in time and there was a massive boom of magic completing the transformation.

When I peeked open, I saw Izzy groaning in pain. I ran for her tablet, adjusted the interface, and found the option we needed.

Competitor Izzabella is injured. A 2.4-day rest period is required to heal her wound and consume thirty-three food. Do you accept? (YES) - (NO)

I selected yes and she went to sleep with a relaxed smile.

After I quickly tucked her into the nearest hut, I headed for Marius.

“What the hell, Sire!” Marius said, not questioning but instead he was shocked at the turn of events. “You okay?”

I patted my body. A quick check and I realized I was fine.

“Shit, my hat!” I said, looking at the battlements and not seeing my prized possession. I continued my inspection for wounds. “Uh… this time I think I’m fine. Why are there not -?”

“Arrows raining onto us?” Marius said in a gruff tone. He shrugged and said, “Let’s go look.”

“I think I know what happened,” I said, heading for a ramp that should show me the enemy army. “I found a Senna.”

“Excuse me?”

“So… just a theory, but I would guess the team for this expansion was a duet. The male -”

“I shot at the battle of Yip’s Farms. Meaning that the female half was here?” Marius said, in an amused tone.

“Yeah, I musta missed her heart, or maybe I hit it, and they take a while to die. Either way she was fumbling with the tablet battle commands when I sent her head rolling,” I said with a snicker. “Big thing here is, she had archers set to first attack, inadequate gate room guards, and wrong types stationed inside. All things we need to ensure our defenses avoid.”

We arrived at the parapet, seeing the horse army fleeing north for the main base. I frowned and Marius sighed.

“Are we staying or going?” Marius asked. I saw him peek over his shoulder, yelling. “Hey, Scarlett, stop killing good horses!”

I groaned. “Crap, I bet they decimated the horses that were maturing.”

“Time will tell, unless we pillage and flee,” Marius said.

The sun had barely risen on the new day. We were not far off from tier four. The enemy was probably on tier four and in a week would have siege engines. Still. This was a new stronghold we could use to keep the fight out of our turf. Marius’s holding now that I thought about it.

“You want Cornerstore?” I asked.

He folded his arms, eyeing me intently. “Carthage.”

He stuck out his hand, I clasped his forearm. “Carthage it is. Linia is going to be excited that you have a city of stables we don’t need on a frontier loaded with bad guys,” I said with a smirk.

“She’ll love it. The old lady enjoys a challenge. We just need to survive long enough for her to get here.”

Chapter

Eighteen

COMPETITION 3 DAY 49

I zzy’s head lay gently in my lap, my hand stroking her hair. The tablet at the foot of the bed beeped an alert.

Her eyes fluttered open right on time. I kept running my fingers through her hair as her senses and surroundings caught up to her.

“Hey handsome,” Izzy said, turning her neck to smile up at me. Her freckles and lovely browns went well with her flashy smile. Not the horrid breath though. “Collapsed lungs suck. So…”

“So…” I said, grinning down at her, happy she was awake.

“You killed another duckie,” Izzy said in a snicker and my grin became a frown.

I wanted to quibble the fact and instead shrugged. The worst part was I never named the male duckie. So maybe it wasn’t a naming curse, and I was the curse.

“What did I miss?” Izzy asked.

I handed her the tablet, letting her sit up. “We conquered Cornerstore. Hurray! Uh the city is now called Carthage. The blue orks are sending scouts, like a lot. Something is wrong though,” I said in a huff.

“What’s that?”

“Well, we’re building the road east as Senna builds west. Will be done in an hour or two. The issue is they aren’t stopping us,” I said with frustration. “They come close, peek, and if an arrow is aimed their direction they flee. It’s as if they’re terrified.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Izzy asked, her brows furled.

She left the bed with a big stretch. My eyes focused on her shedding her toga gown. I sure loved curves on a woman. When she headed for a shower, I trailed her. That cold water was turned on and when she waved me in, I shook my head.

“Shucks, my dashing man is denying me,” Izzy said with a cute laugh.

“I just don’t want to get cold, and you need to be quick,” I said.

She fake pouted, saying, “Fine, keep the briefing going then.”

“The storks… We think they’re out of tablets. Probably just got their fourth from tier four. Think about Genghis Khan. He lost Amelia and her tablet. That set him back. If these storks lost an explorer, and then we conquered tablet three. Well, that means they have the master and tablet four. My guess is those final tablets are probably on lock down,” I said, explaining the situation.

“Okay, and how does that apply? OH! There’s soap here,” Izzy said, lathering her hair.

“Yeah, Senna sent a care package in a wagon. Look, I think the storks are borked. There are eighty plus teams left. If they turtle and reduce their risks, they might win out. Another hunch, one that Marius shares, is the scouts are on basic scan without combat orders,” I said with a sigh.

“That would make sense,” she said, scrubbing her teeth with her index finger. I may have zoned out on her tits shaking with the rapid back and forth motion of her arm. She noticed I’d gone quiet. “Anything else?”

“We’ve encountered scouts from a cat humanoid race called the tigran and a three-legged purple tentacle alien race called the lilings,” I said with a sigh.

“And the other dukes?”

“Quiet!” I said in an exacerbated tone. “It’s almost like there is a big war brewing and this Carthage is going to be the right royal location.”

“Wait, isn’t it day forty-nine?”

“Yup, was waiting for when you’d ask about Scarlett,” I said with a smirk.

“And.”

“Huge! Her and Daniel went to sleep and then went from a ten-foot adolescent to a twenty-foot monster. Daniel is only seventeen or so, but still, they’re fully matured. Senna started tier four construction in Koobi this morning. That care package… it had two T-rex saddles,” I said, and Izzy hurriedly rinsed her hair out.

When she finished flicking the water off, she exited the shower in a jog, drying off while on the go. Her wet hair smacked her soft skin in her excitement. I may have relished the view of her juicy booty and supple tits bouncing. Yeah, her body was fantastic. She caught me staring. I smirked, and she went on her tippy toes and back to her heels quickly to make her ass shake.

She winked and when I didn’t tackle her onto the bed she said, “Fine.” There was a huff and like a switch was flicked she went into a chipper mode. “I can’t believe she is fully grown. Oh, this is going to be amazing!”

“I even have her harness on, and I never got on her back… I wanted to save the first time for you. Her momma. That is the good news,” I said with a smile.

“Wait,” she paused. Her hair wringing was put on hold to gaze at me intently. “You’re saying things get worse than there is a mega battle about to happen and the lady who sucks at table commands and fighting in general is -”

“Sheesh. You did fine. Calm those…” I was about to say tits and instead dropped my pants. My growing boner clearly revealed my intent.

“Thought you’d never ask, just be quick,” Izzy said with a brow bounce.

She licked her fingers, wet her slit, and bent over with her hands on the bed. With my pants around my ankles I fucked her from behind while smacking her round ass until it was beet red. When I finished, I spilled into her to the point my three-day backup was going to leak for an hour.

She giggled, kissing me deeply after I got my pants on.

“You were saying?” Izzy said, donning her cowgirl outfit.

“Uh… I got sidetracked,” I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck.

“The bad news, silly.”

“Oh, there were stables inside these walls. Those two dinosaurs killed probably four hundred young horses we could have used,” I said with a sigh. “Save a few dozen and besides the few stables, the interior is nothing besides cleared space. Apparently demolishing buildings with stone takes more than the press of a button. I had to assign workers in rotations, and it was tedious.”

She wiggled the tablet and said, “You amuse me. Why do you hate this so?”

“I don’t. I just get bored tapping a screen. Oh, speaking of which, this stronghold is being upgraded to tier four. Carthage is going to be our siege engine place… Err… factory works better.”

“Why here?” she asked, handing me her belt and weapon.

I strapped the dagger around her waist before saying, “Well, if it falls so be it. The less vital this place is, the better. That and siege engine buildings take a ton of space. We had zero need for more stables, and there is plenty of timber in this area. Kind of a win all the way around situation.”

“Awesome let’s -”

The blaring of war horns from Marius’s scouts reached our ears. Izzy immediately was busy tapping away. A second set of horns fired off after the first.

“What is it?” I asked.

“An army is slow marching this way from the west. Lions are the unique animal, and the species is called the lilings. Initial scouting is saying… over two thousand with siege engines,” Izzy said, and we went to the bed to sit.

“We can beat it. Just not here. Shit… this sucks, and the road will help them get to Koobi but -”

Izzy patted my shoulder, reading good news it seemed. “We’re going to be fine. They have a few hundred scouts snatching up a few boars. The lions can outrun them but not the duckies. Marius is pulling in all forces now,” Izzy said in a comforting tone.

“Okay, is he wanting to fallback too?” I asked, fidgeting from the sudden onset of drastic decisions.

“He is coming into the gate now. How about -”

I interrupted, saying, “Perfect idea. Ready everything of value that we can haul out to be extracted.”

My pace had me darting in front of her, heading down the stairs first. The stronghold wasn’t far from the gate and when I exited the building to the overcast day, I saw Marius riding Daniel.

“We need to retreat,” Marius said, removing the silvery helm he’d acquired during a dwarven objective.

“That bad?” I asked.

“The lilings make the storks look like idiots, which they were or are. Anyway. They’re risking nothing, gaining everything,” Marius grumbled. I rolled my wrist to get him to continue. “They’re building a double road, yup, two lanes. Their siege lines are swarming with troops, their archers are thick, and the lions are lancer cavalry mainly. They’ll chew through duckies.”

“And the T-Rexes?”

“Eh, they saw this big boy and the lions flinched so… not sure. But when that army arrives in two days then -”

“Two days!” I blurted, flustering him.

“Yeah, they could abandon the road to quickly surround us, but those engines are prebuilt. Why bother hauling them on carts when you have a nice road,” Marius said.

“We could get even numbers here in two days!” I said scratching my chin in thought. He was shaking his head. “What?”

“This army… they’d do a number to our defenses. Could we win… yeah, and being a good general means winning. But…” he paused when Izzy came out. They exchanged waves while she whistled for Scarlett. “You give it a week and you can get a good fifty T-Rex charge.”

The variables along with the odds were running through my mind. Then the fact we’d be exposed if I summoned all the armies here. Not worth the risk… waiting had merit.

“Beating the storks was almost too easy. Okay, if we have two days, we need to take what we can and go. We can always make siege engines outside the walls of Koobi,” I said, my feet bouncing from Scarlett approaching.

The red dinosaur’s feet smacked loudly against the stone road. When she arrived, she lowered her head for Izzy to rub her snout. She was huge, getting that saddle on her had been painful.

“Lie down,” Izzy said in a commanding tone.

When Scarlett found a street spot, Izzy giggled with glee getting into the saddle. I heard her heaping a whole bunch of praises onto that T-Rex as if she were a dog. I giggled at the sight of the two of them.

“Time to go home,” I said, turning to Marius.

Marius nodded and Izzy frowned. “You okay?”

“Yeah, to be honest, I tried to avoid fighting as a kid. This time… running feels right. Not sure why,” I said with a shrug, hopping into the saddle beside Izzy.

“Carthage is my responsibility. Head home and I’ll clean this up,” Marius said with confidence.

“I don’t mind helping.”

“You’ve been complaining that you have a shitty bow and no proper helmet. Go kill those elves and properly gear up,” Marius said with a boisterous laugh.

I wanted to grumble but his contagious smile won. Indeed, I had been sour about wanting to upgrade my gear. It was only fitting. And not far away from those elves was a forest dragon guarding a giant green tree grove. Conquering that would be some nice points, and maybe some good loot.

“Ha! Fair point. Alright, Scarlett, to Northstar,” I said with a hint of excitement in my voice.

The T-rex walked around a set of archers to line up for the gate. Almost akin to a plane taking off, she ducked her low, tail high, to spring into a fast run.

The bouncing was actually not too bad as we went faster than a duckie. When we were a few miles from Carthage she slowed to a fast walk, catching her breath now that she was done showing off. These dinosaurs had so much personality.

“So why Northstar?”

“If Linia is here soon, we take Beth to Koobi. Marius holds the north while we firm up the reaction force. Us consolidating helps and if we scout properly, we will be able to open field crush any extended force.”

“You mean if they leave Carthage?” Izzy asked curiously.

“Precisely. We have almost two hundred T-Rexes waiting to grow, no siege engines, and no tier four archers. But the moment we do, they’ll be hard pressed to win. I think anyway,” I said in an optimistic tone.

“And you want to conquer objectives in the meantime, again, not sure why Senna and Beth bust your balls about plans. This one isn’t too bad.”

I chuckled at her kind words. “The tall yellow elves will have some awesome bows to help at least. The women’s armor is nice too,” I said.

Izzy had a giggle and said, “That’s because it barely covers anything. What if the lilings push further east, into our lands before we’re ready?”

“Then we adjust. Gotta ask yourself. Do they want a brawl, or a win?”

She shrugged, and said, “If it were me in charge, I’d hold while exploring.”

“Smart. If they look north. Well, north probably, and I’m guessing here, holds the rest of the storks. Meaning their armies are turtled. Reports from the south of Carthage said it was a cat humanoid outpost called the tigran. Or they can come into our lands. Last I checked the score we were doing pretty awesome at eXpand, which might deter an invasion,” I said, and Izzy pulled up the score for me

Team Dinosaur Warlords: 9th

Survival: 49.4 (tied 81st)

eXplore: 188.4 (55th)

eXpand: 539.1 (4th)

eXploit: 4255.9 (1st)

eXterminate: 1879.5 (17th)

“Yikes. Three teams have died since I checked this yesterday. This means we have the most resources out of the entire game,” I said with a grin.

“Yeah, but we’re behind on fighting because… we’re not fighting.”

“We jumped a lot, sacking Carthage and then, yeah, it seems like we're being avoided,” I said.

“Probably because we have four armies. Sometimes it’s hard to rationalize we’re only five percent of the way in,” Izzy said, catching me off guard.

“You wanted to fight? Didn’t you? “I asked.

She slid over to nuzzle into my side. “I got hurt taking Carthage; you risked your life. We can beat that army.”

“Ha! I like your style,” I said, pulling her in tighter. “The longer we wait to fight, the harder it will be to beat us. If we were desperate, sure, I’d say take more risks.”

“I get it. I’ve seen it in war before. The conquering team is stuck dealing with the aftermath. That destroyed city will take resources and troops to defend. Meaning fewer marching east for us.”

I let that sentence hang for a minute while we enjoyed the overcast day along the forest road. Deep down, yeah, I felt warranted in fleeing before the lilings. And yet, I also felt as if I left my man card behind in that stronghold we ran from.

Coping with that fact, I knew there was only one way to feel better. We were going to make the lilings pay… in seven to ten business days.

Chapter

Nineteen

COMPETITION 3 DAY 57

M y tablet buzzed. Again, then again, and finally another time.

I wanted to smash the device with a fervor. A few calming breaths and I pulled the tablet out. For eight days I had been glued to Scarlett.

My stench was atrocious, my boots were covered in blood, and my back ache seemed to persist even through night healings. Add on that any chance of farming elves or slaying dragons was dashed. All of this because of the blasted gallimimus!

Those little shits were fast. I’d seen the movies. The T-Rex comes roaring out, snatching the gallimimus. Reality was a cruel, cruel bitch. A gallimimus would dart off, pause to let you catch up, and then be gone again. And the worst part was the riders knew our bow range. Yeah, for the entirety of the eight days I wondered what things would be like if we’d just fought in that damn city.

The moment we left Carthage, the lilings broke formation, abandoning their siege and secured the city. They let us go, unconcerned with our retreating caravan of supplies and forces.

When their scouts explored, they probed Northstar, triggering me to chase lions instead of visiting Koobi. Then the purple tentacle aliens went south, stirring up the tiger humanoids. Well, shocker, when they didn’t want to fight each other they spread into our turf looking for targets of opportunity.

We owned hundreds and hundreds of objectives, almost a hundred strongholds, and expansive farms in every free location you could see. Meaning, for a team of fast lions and gallimimus we were easy pickings.

Except we worked tirelessly to ensure we weren’t. The first thing we did was build wooden spike fences, the kind you saw around villages to detract cavalry. Yeah, a few lions impaled themselves, but the gallimimus could hop a single section. So, we built a second and third row, slowing their progress.

Then they adapted by pulling fences out of alignment to dart between breaks. That was countered with towers. A tier four archer in a tower is hard to kill.

While I stewed over the developments, I came to the conclusion there was a tigran manager that was trying to prove something, because they were relentless in harassing us. The only thing keeping them from doing damage was Marius, Beth, Cecilia, and I.

You stick four expert archers on intercepts with T-Rexes to ride, and you can do some damage. Not nearly as much as we wanted, but the effort to hound them in our zone became worth it because the damage rendered to our side became minimal. We no longer needed more workers without more land, resulting in the fact that everyone they killed was easy to replace.

While I wanted to just say screw it, and go visit their territory, we were almost done with an army's worth of siege engines. That simple fact had me breathing calmly when I saw the latest alert was from Senna.

The lilings sent a diplomat to the western roadblock that leads to Carthage. I can go if you decide not to. Be safe. Senna texted.

‘Omw.’ I replied.

I was five minutes from the road towers. “Up, you lovely lady, we get to meet some nobility,” I said, and Scarlett didn’t grumble.

The girl was the best to deal with. Her temperament was equally cheerful for me or Izzy and I couldn’t have asked for a finer mount.

The two of us had caught a break for the last twelve hours and were both a bit antsy to get going. The tigran were annoyingly sending scouts to trip alerts and running away without any intent of raiding.

I let the five-minute trot for the road help me decipher what these purple three-legged aliens wanted. An initial thought was trade. Maybe they needed wood, we certainly had enough, evident by our building miles of spiked fencing. Or maybe a soldier exchange. We had been snatching each other's scouts for over a week now. I dropped the what-if type thoughts when I arrived at the camp.

The area around the checkpoint was swarming with soldiers in new fancy gear. Over the last eight days we went to tier four on everything we could. I had no idea what the new buildings looked like, but the archers had nicer bows, better arrows, and slightly thicker armor.

Infantry had the most changes. A tier four infantry soldier could come out one of four ways: heavy armored pike, medium armored shield and sword, light armored spear, and no armor two-handed berserker.

At first, I thought the last option was the dumbest thing in the world. Until I saw them run. There simply was no competition to a quick reaction force of berserkers. Would they die? Yeah, sure. But… they would get to where you needed them quickly, distract the foe, and deal some damage. After all that, we still relied on the medium sword with shield more than anything else.

A full legion was here, and not as a show of strength to impress some diplomat. The fighting first was here to push west at a moment's notice. A friendly reminder that if you thought Carthage was yours, you were wrong.

When Scarlett stomped her way between the formations, a half dozen T-Rexes bowed their heads to her dominance. She was the biggest, baddest bitch, and everyone in team Dinosaur Warlord knew it. Scarlett had hundreds of confirmed kills, and for whatever reason she stood a foot taller than the other females of her kind.

Marius stood next to a tent just off the road talking with the alien diplomat. The being had three legs, two tentacle arms with eight or nine digits - it was hard to tell because the arms were fluid, constantly in motion - three eyes, and a sucker type mouth. My guess, this was an amphibian that became acclimated to land more than water at some evolutionary point.

Scarlett growled, a warning that even made my arm hairs rise. I patted her neck to calm her before being lowered to the ground. When I was free of her saddle, she immediately went to bullying the other T-Rexes before heading into a hay patch.

“Ambassador Igwan, this is manager Nathanael. A personal advisor to the king himself. Nathanael, this is Ambassador Igwan, a personal advisor to their equivalent,” Marius said with a fake smile. “If you both will follow me, I have assured Igwan’s safety while discussing matters in private.”

There was a command tent not far away. Crossing the threshold revealed a candlelit enclosure with a table for two. Marius stood behind the alien’s seat, gesturing the chair. It was clear the liling was being guarded.

After we sat, I said, “Welcome, Igwan. What brings you to this part of the competition?”

“The city you left, Carthage… it was the storks wasn’t it?” Igwan asked, likely already knowing the answer.

I saw no sense in hiding that fact. “Yes, yes it was.”

“We want to trade to you the city for the tablet it lost, and a non-aggression treaty,” Igwan said in a flat tone.

My immediate reaction to frown in confusion. Yeah, I was never a poker player, not that this alien speaking perfectly could read my cue, but I was thoroughly perplexed.

“You can do that?” I blurted.

“Trade tablets?” Igwan asked, the three eyes crossing in what I assumed was deep thought.

“Peace treaties,” I said, my fingers dancing on the table. “Like we don’t attack each other for the entirety of the competition?”

“Oh, impressive, it's your first competition and you’ve amassed such an army,” the alien said in what I assumed was a sincere tone.

“Uh… No, third. We just kill our way until we die,” I said with a shrug. “Lots of points that way.”

The circular mouth tightened until it was clenched like a butthole. Gross. A nervous twitch radiated down the wobbly arms.

“You assured my safety,” Igwan said, slowly looking at Marius.

“Huh? We will not harm you in this setting. I guarantee it,” I said confidently. “Now how would this non-aggression pact work?”

“You cannot attack us or our allies, and we cannot attack you. If you do violate the agreement, the contract will deduct massive point penalties and -”

“What!? Allies,” I interjected. “How many allies do you have?”

“Three, we thought that was why you gave up the Kobi,” Igwan said. “To negotiate and cede to our empire’s might.”

I deduced Kobi was Carthage. “And if your allies attack us?” I asked, and he fidgeted uncomfortably.

“They would hold no agreement to not attack you,” Igwan said cautiously. “You would have to negotiate with each of them individually.”

I smiled, saying, “That sounds wonderful. Bring your alliance delegations to the table and we will happily discuss matters. Until then have a nice day.”

Marius gestured for the alien to leave but they didn’t.

“That won’t happen, and we both know it. We can do a deal just between the two of us. I was honor bound to include them first, surely you understand,” the diplomat said.

Ah, politics. How I didn’t miss hearing this kind of bullshit on the radio or the television.

“Yes, of course, I do understand. We actually are short on tablets - as most are,” I said, not lying and not telling the truth. We had more than we needed, but not enough to give everyone one.

“The city for the tablet and say… we turn our fight to the south, leaving you the north,” Igwan said and I realized at that moment there was no winning here.

“I’ll bring the offer to my king. I will say this, if you approached these towers, as you did today, you will see no harm from me or mine,” I stood, and this time he went to leave as well. I snapped my fingers as if some epiphany had struck me. “Oh, if we kill the tigran. Then what would you offer?”

There was something humorous in this statement to the alien. As if he would love this idea. “Then we would be most grateful and could easily bring our allies to the table.”

When he left, I sat back down. While I pondered on the meeting, Marius escorted the diplomat out, sharing small talk about the weather.

My tablet buzzed while I mused.

When I pulled it out and set it on the table, I saw there were more perimeter trips being triggered. Nothing major. I was really getting sick of those tigran idiots.

“What did you think?” Marius said, entering the tent to take the alien’s seat.

I slid him the tablet and he frowned. “I think he is not the problem, and he is here to get us to also deal with his problem. Sorry, I feel the politics oozing off me. The tigran are beating the lilings. Likely in a skirmish war.”

“Well they have miles and miles of four lane road to defend. We were able to guard our space and not harass the invaders,” Marius said.

There was a pause while I tapped the table. “I think they want to pull back themselves. Carthage is useless. My guess is the tigran got tired of gaining so little from us and shifted to raiding the lilings.”

“Seeing as how we stopped losing farms to fire arrows and workers to drive-by arrowing I’d agree. What do you intend to do?”

“Kill flipping elves!” I exclaimed. My tablet was handed back, and I tapped a message to Senna, Beth, and Izzy. I was coming home for a bath!

“And then?” Marius asked.

Linia walked into the tent a moment later. “What my astute husband is too barbaric to ask is when do we get a holding?”

“Shucks. Damnit Marius, I’m a pretty easy-going guy and I feel bad for losing Carthage but it was a strategically sound withdrawal. Do you want Northstar?” I asked, and Linia put a hand on his shoulder. And this is why saying women ruled the world was an accurate statement.

“No thank you. That is Beth’s corner. We want Carthage back.”

I grumbled and she grinned. “We have half our army at tier four. Every day that goes by more T-Rexes are added, and it’s easiest to expand to the south east.”

“I’m with the King on this one,” Marius said, crossing his arms. “Now if you said that city north of Carthage, the one with the -”

I held up a hand pausing him. Marius was the closest thing to a guy friend I had. I was able to read him sometimes.

“What’s the report say?” I asked, knowing he’d have one ready. He went to get his tablet out of a pouch. “Just tell it to me.”

“The storks have been eating their horses. After we fled, a few days later there was a brawl, both sides losing, but the storks were cowed into their base. The lilings are smashing everything not protected and it's obviously having an impact,” Marius said, and I smirked, which got him smiling.

“Tomorrow. Assuming the raids from the tigran stay down, and there is no new development,” I said, and he gave a happy half nod.

Linia folded her arms, saying, “There are two teams fighting each other and you want to kill the weakest one that is inside thin walls?”

“Easy points,” I said with a nonchalant shrug.

Marius stuck a finger at me, indicating he agreed with my reasoning without actually talking.

“It will be at a higher ground than Northstar, making it likely our mining capital part two. You could do great things up there, but that was where everyone started. So, expect towers, walls, and troop guarded defenses,” I said.

“Thank you, my King, for hearing our complaints,” Linia said with a curtsy.

“Anytime,” I said, heading for the exit. “You two are family. See you tomorrow.” My hands cupped my mouth when I shouted for Scarlett. “Come here you big beauty.”

Scarlett bumped, nipped, and growled her way to me. Those other T-Rexes needed to just stay the hell away from my sassy dinosaur. She stooped low and I hopped onto her saddle.

“Take us home, Scarlett. A little break, some fun dragon hunting, and then we will go bully some weaklings. Assuming nothing interrupts me… again,” I said with a smile.

Deciding to show off, Scarlett bolted into a run so suddenly my stupid hat flew off. When I started typing a message to Marius, he beat me to it, letting me know it’d be heading to Koobi City on the wagon.

There was a smile with some pretend grumbling. Who was I kidding? Riding on the back of a dinosaur to my wifey, waifu, and wifie was about as good as life got.

Chapter

Twenty

COMPETITION 3 DAY 57

“R ight now!” I groaned with a pout.

Granted I never pouted, but my hopes for a break were thoroughly dashed. I had returned to Koobi to be greeted by a secondary quick reaction force staged outside the gates and ready to go. Beth and Izzy were atop a T-Rex eager for battle and thrilled to see me.

“Yes, what’s another hour or two,” Beth said, her hazels twinkling to match her smirk.

“Bliss. The difference is bliss.”

Izzy patted Beth’s shoulder and said, “You’ve kept us secure and bored, waiting for your return. Now you return. Come handsome hubby, a wee adventure for the morning. And then we get clean in the warm shower.”

“I take it there’s no point in arguing?” I said with a playful sigh.

When the girls spurred their mount forward, I gave a longing stare at the stronghold’s fourth floor. I grumbled that I didn’t even get to see the upgraded inside of the city yet. Turning Scarlett, we trotted for the half hour ride south.

My tablet didn’t vibrate the whole trip, leaving me to study our forces. We had four T-Rexes with archers, twenty duckies with archers, two long wagon beds loaded with medium infantry totaling in the thirties, and a third flatbed with a dozen archers. There were a half dozen two horns without carts that had me a bit confused and instead of pestering the girls, I relaxed, figuring they had a plan.

When a sudden light rain shower hit us, I smirked, enjoying the cool feeling. The girls were frustrated, huffing to each other in agitation, and leaving me feeling vindicated. If we’d waited, we might not have gotten wet.

I let the gloomy weather wash over me, unaffected by the dour setting. Our small army left the road, jostling over the rough but softening terrain.

The yellow elves were a few minutes off the beaten, and the wildlife here was fleeing the ruckus we created. The quarry they guarded was deep inside the yellowwoods. The actual objective was yew wood, something needed for tier six bows and arrows. An excellent large that was extremely hard to defeat because of the tree village's height. Leaving it as one of the few objectives not cleared besides that toxic dragon that evaded our towers.

I was savoring the moment, and when my tablet buzzed, I almost ignored the alert.

A few taps later and I was sitting upright in excitement.

The alert was certainly not what I expected; it was for a tiny grove of plain bamboo. A grove that hadn’t been in this area the ten other times I passed through. Hell, the girls didn’t even notice I’d stopped Scarlett. This screamed of the Archaics meddling.

While they grumbled about the rain, I diverted Scarlett. Not a chance I was passing this up. A few long steps later and I saw a monkey sitting in the bamboo.

Yes! This had to be Roxie.

Okay, my excitement may have overridden my judgement of taking a vicious dinosaur close to an objective. Yes, Scarlett was training to disable a defender, and in most scenarios with big monsters that was great.

Here… I should have realized she would react quickly.

Scarlett snatched the monkey, tearing off legs, and setting the defender down. Her head tilted, listening to tormented shrieks of the adorable monkey.

“No!” I yelled; everything was happening so quickly. “Go passive, set me down.”

Shit, not good.

Hopefully, Roxie didn’t die. I jumped from the saddle to the slick mud, slipping in my rush for the crumpled monkey.

When I saw blood flowing freely from the severed legs, I hastily removed the strings from my boots.

My haphazard tourniquets halted the flow of blood, but the monkey was deathly pale. Fearful she’d die before I opened my tablet, walking for the bamboo trees. I was just about to claim the objective when my tablet was snatched out of my hands.

Argh… My face had been buried in the device and not alert at all. When I glanced up in shock from my empty hands, I was furious.

An alien insect with pretty wings struggled to carry the device, hauling both its body and the tablet into the thin, tall trees. I darted after the bug to no avail, its getaway was clean. My frustrations were building, and I was fed up with today.

Like an ape, I leapt high into the bamboo trees. Using the thinner top halves to navigate my way into the clump, I walked deeper into the tight trees.

The insect was fascinated by the glowing light. When I was noticed it tried to skitter away.

With a tripping jump I caught the wings, ripping them off as I twisted sideways. The tablet flew into the air, my hands barely grasping the device as we fell.

There was the creak of trees moving and then silence. I was thoroughly lodged between the bamboo stalk and never getting free on my own.

There was no pain, no real issue, well, besides the fact that without help I was going to die, wedged into this mini-prison. While I wanted to scream for a few minutes in sheer frustration, I instead decided to save Roxie.

I focused on the tablet, knowing every second might mean she lived.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned tiny grove. The two defenders have agreed to surrender to you. (YES) selecting yes will convert the defenders into a mohuma - (NO) selecting no will convert the workers into empire food.

I selected yes.

There was the same standard swirling of brown magic… except this time I grew dizzy. There was a flash of magical transformation, an out of body experience, and finally a whoosh of air.

When I peeled my eyes open, Scarlett’s big snout loomed in largely in my view. She was sniffing me intently, probably curious about the magic that transported my body.

Beside me was Roxie who groaned in displeasure.

Her calves were bound just above the knee with my boot laces. Blood leaked out of her legs. I quickly realized I’d been teleported out of the bamboo trees by magic. Another groan of pain from my left revealed a blueish woman. There was a pretty face with fine features flustered in pain. I noticed antennas flickering while she roiled in agony.

Feeling sorry for them both I input a few quick taps to send them under to recover.

The ground shook with the heavy footfalls of another T-Rex nearing.

“Why are you on the ground?” Beth asked, partly hollering. “And where’s your hat?”

Ugh…

“I lost the hat,” I grumbled. “Like an hour ago.”

“Like for good?” Izzy asked. “I got a female version that never fits right because I have thick hair. You can have it if you want.”

They were clearly enjoying teasing me.

“Ya hurt?” Beth asked when I just groaned from the dirt.

“No, no, and no thank you,” I replied.

My hand slid over the muddy terrain from the increasing rain. Roxie was getting a shade of color back. I went over to the alien insect woman who was sleeping on her side. She was nude, of course with a divine body, just like Roxie. Her back had two damaged attach points. Wings were ever so slowly re-growing from where I had removed them earlier.

Hmm…

I wondered what this mohuma’s story was, and why she was stuck with Roxie. There was a lesson here, expect the unexpected. After months of competing, things seemed fairly standard. For instance, after Roki I just figured we’d found our one per competition mohuma. Three was good, and maybe because I felt that way the Archaics would be sending the discarded species in need of protectors to us more often.

“What were their timers?” Beth asked, getting serious.

“She was twelve hours, Roxie was three days,” I said, finally rising to stand.

Beth chuckled and said, “Which one put you on your ass?”

Izzy joined her in laughing. I wiped the mud off my ass, collecting it into my hands. “No!” Beth went scurrying to hide behind a dinosaur leg. When her foot slipped and she crashed into the mud, even she was laughing.

The situation simmered down, and Izzy said, “I’ll take them home. There’s only a few minutes’ walk to the elves. Plus, I’m scared of the crazy ass plan Beth has.”

“Whaaa!? You don’t like a Beth plan?” I blurted and the girls giggled at me.

I helped Izzy by picking up Roxie. Beth tapped on her tablet. The infantry on one of the long wagons walked off, marching for the objective. With the space cleared I laid Roxie down. Beth and Izzy carried the insect humanoid girl, gently laying her on the wooden deck.

“She has huge tits,” Izzy said randomly.

I snickered, replying, “Mohuma are modified. I think Roki was built to be an assistant you praised when good. When bad, he was used as a beating tool… her, her design says she is a breeding tool. Maybe. Should be an interesting story.

Well, again.

Maybe.

Roki’s story was super interesting to him and super dry to me.”

“Can’t you just send this home without an escort? We’re deep within our empire and there are flipping towers everywhere,” Beth said in a tone that was almost pleading

The two of them were new to each other. Beth was an easy-going lady once she let you in, and Izzy shared an adventurous side with her. The two weren’t inseparable, but it was clear that Beth wanted her to stay.

“Why don’t you both set the armies, have the plan waiting, and I’ll run them home with Scarlett. When they’re safe, Scarlett can run this way back in six or seven minutes probably,” I said, settling the matter.

Any counter argument was removed when I set the two horns for home. Watching the two ladies healing while we followed their two horns and the long cart, I smiled knowing things were going to get interesting.

Senna sent a text telling me Roki was heading to meet me part way to help the escort the rest of the way and ensure the ladies were safe.

The boring trip was handed off to my former assistant I rarely saw as of late. From what I understood, Senna and him were the glue that held this empire together. At least the part that financed the massive armies I desired. He tried to draw me into a long conversation, but I spun Scarlett, hurrying back to the action.

The T-Rex, well, riding on her back in a full run never got old. She loved to pour on the speed, tucking her head down to shoot forward like an arrow.

Even with the rain whipping me in the face the ride ended too soon. For the last bit she casually walked to our forces who were setting up a few hundred paces outside of bow range from the elves.

Scarlett lowered herself, letting me get down with a full quiver and my tier four bow. There were three rows of infantry - ten wide - that stood rigid, waiting patiently for orders. Behind them stood a dozen archers on foot.

The duckies were off to the side and the small T-Rex group was taking a few steps back from a snarling Scarlett.

“Play nice!” Warning Scarlett was a waste, she was already intimidating the smaller dinosaurs.

I joined Beth and Izzy as the two were giggling about something.

“Hey, so the plan is crazy. Instead of having you talk me out of it, we’re just going to give it a shot. Do you trust me?” Beth asked.

There were a few ways to answer such a question. Me, well, I turned back around, waving an arm until my companion dinosaur eyed me. I used an index finger to point down, returning into her saddle when she lowered herself.

Using the floorboard as a vertical arrow holder, I drove tips of arrows down for quick retrieval. When that was done, I saw the half dozen two horns being herded into the objective. Beth cracked a whip, lashing the rear dino, and sending them into a run.

Uh… Where the hell did she get a whip?

Oh man...

The sound of arrows whistling for the charging dinosaurs was drowned out by the running of infantry in armor. Her plan suddenly made sense, and yeah, it was crazy. Sacrificing soldiers and dinosaurs to win was not something we would do earlier.

I waited until the infantry were being fired upon to let Scarlett get closer.

The elves were on their balconies high up in the trees, perching and precision firing. Three of the six two horns were already dead, and four infantry soldiers were motionless on the ground.

Duckies ran in, holding back their desire to trumpet, the foot archers not far behind them. When the natural forest met the yew woods there was roughly twenty feet of no trees. This is where our archers went to work, circling the objective.

I stayed back watching the scene unfold. Beth completed some final taps before stuffing her tablet away. At the base of the yew trees were circle ramps. Since the elven archers shifted, returning fire on the duckies, the infantry made it to the tree ramps.

So, far the plan was going well. The defenders were losing archers quickly while the infantry was stomping up ramps, drawing forces away from the edges.

“Our turn,” Beth shouted over to me, charging her T-Rex into the battle.

The rational thought was, she would be firing her bow for victory. Nope. She clutched to her saddle with Izzy’s knuckles blaring white as she too clung to the saddle. My mind tried to conclude what they were doing, and I understood eventually.

Their T-Rex lowered her head, aligning her spine, and ramming into a tree without infantry on it. Right, yeah, I’m not doing that. Even Scarlett huffed, letting me know that was bullshit.

Elven archers fell from perches. The enemy shifted their fire, but the tree homes were being overrun. The battle was still in full swing with the cries of the dying covering the sounds of battle. By this point the tide was heavily in our favor and I may have enjoyed watching the situation unfold.

“Alright, Scarlett, that tree on the far left. I want you to tear down that anchor point,” I said.

Wanting to let her foes know she was coming Scarlett gave a bone rattling roar before charging in. Her run quaked the ground. The sassy badass was slamming her feet on purpose, a tactic she liked to use for intimidation.

She bunched her legs as we neared the leftmost tree. I fired arrows into the backs of elven soldiers, dicing into my infantry. There was a grunt from Scarlett, telling me to sit. Gravity along with momentum stuck me hard into the saddle seat.

Like a shark breaching the water, the two-story tall dinosaur leaped up for a wooden support limb that was at least forty feet off the ground. Her teeth chomped into the branch, almost severing it.

Scarlett was undeterred. Her jaw clenched onto the branch, her feet clawing into the tree trunk for leverage.

She found a spot to apply the insane amount of force her legs held. There was a mighty snap when the support shattered, sending us both careening to the forest floor.

The first tree home was sent tumbling in a chain reaction. The sky bridges connecting the first platform to the other collapsed which resulted in disaster for the elves. As the weight pulled, more supports snapped until the entirety of the structures came crashing down.

As awesome as the total destruction was… I was unhappy. Both Scarlett and I crashed on our sides with such force I saw stars. My back harness threatened to snap but held.

Scarlett.

She huffed, her lungs vacated. While we rested, the battle raged. Sort of.

A few elves still fought valiantly while the duckbill archers and the reinforcement T-Rexes entered the fray.

“You need a breather,” I said with a groan.

My shoulders and chest ached to the point there was going to be harness bruises for certain. Nothing to do about it right now though.

Scarlett inhaled a big gulp of air, growling through the pain.

When she roared out, I became puzzled. Except that wasn’t her roar.

A torrent of air washed over me with the sound of flapping wings. Scarlett jolted onto her feet, causing the arrow I was trying to load to go flying.

A quick snatch of a new arrow had me ready, sliding the projectile into place. Apparently, Beth and Izzy had planned for this contingency. The duckies scattered, the archers firing into the descending dragon. Beth and Izzy’s T-Rex rushed by us.

There was a drive-by shout of, “Run!” from both ladies.

Small problem. Scarlett, and the dragon entered a roaring contest while I fired. Green thick toxins enveloped my infantry and the struggling elven forces amidst the rubble.

Scarlett charged around the billowing cloud of green smoke. She weaved between trees, seeking clean air while hunting for a flank. Her head tracked low, her left eye focused on where the dragon should be, and her right on the trees she narrowly avoided. Each of her steps were gentle, and fairly quiet. This was her hunting mode.

I was firing into the back end of the smoke, predicting where the dragon should be. The light rain was dampening the rising cloud, clearing our vision faster than it had been during the sheep attack.

An arrow I zipped for the dragon parted a hole through the smoke, sinking into the dragon’s neck. That fraction of clearance was enough for Scarlett to deduce where to attack.

Her head aligned, and her body became a rigid rod. The tree directly in our path - a small yellowwood - was shattered so Scarlett could get a clear route.

The green toxins were seeping low, encasing her feet as we charged forward.

Arrow after arrow sunk into my target with little effect. That green four-legged lizard turned to address the closing noise and arrow pain at the wrong moment. When those yellow eyes spun it exposed the dragon’s neck.

Scarlett’s head snapped down, jagged teeth embedding deeply into the dragon’s neck behind its head.

I fired an arrow into its ear. My next short cracked, deflecting off the skull. I never slowed, even if my arrows mattered very little.

Scarlett was growling for her prey to submit and seeing the power of a pissed off T-Rex was frightening.

Like a dog playing tug, she dragged that massive dragon out of the smoke. The titans in an odd sort of war.

The dragon was at a huge disadvantage. Fighting against the T-Rex’s teeth wrapped around its neck was perilous.

When the dragon’s wings flapped, it doomed any chance there was. The dragon’s body rose into the air.

Scarlett merely dug in her position, dragging the dragon further from the plume of thinning gas. There was a contest of who could move the other as we neared the trees and Scarlett’s hips hit thick trunks.

The dragon was scared, visibly shaking by this point, and clearly not wanting to die.

The entrenched teeth that dug into its neck were spilling blue blood. The thick liquid ran down the sides of Scarlett’s jaws.

I sighted an arrow for the dragon’s eyes.

When the flight or fight triggered. The dragon decided on flight. Instead of cautiously trying to take off. The dragon pumped its wings with all the power it could, causing my arrow to horribly miss, and the dragon to shoot into the air.

Scarlett predicted this, crashing herself to the ground. A loud snap reverberated through the forest, ringing my ears. The dragon’s body twitched.

Scarlett released her grip on the dragon whose eyes flickered and then glazed. The chest of the dragon stopped rising and a big foot stomped onto its neck before a victorious roar escaped the matriarch. When she stopped screaming, I went into the options on the tablet to claim the objective.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned large yew-wood quarry. (YES) - (NO)

Huh, I guess there was no one left to surrender to me. I selected yes and it prompted me for some basic resources that I confirmed. There was a swirling of magic - far smaller than a large mine or quarry would generate - that danced around a fallen hut. After a blinding light, and a wash of magic, I peeked out.

I observed very few changes. A saw table was where a half-destroyed hut used to be and that was about it.

Nice. This objective would really help us keep growing. Conquering it certainly felt good, with the dragon’s grove being another bonus.

The tablet vibrated.

Did you survive? Beth texted.

I pffted out a snickering bit of air at the audacious statement.

‘No.’ I texted.

Ha! Good job hubby, we’re on the way to claim the Moonwoods. Beth texted.

The moonwoods were a tier five wood needed for furniture. In order to go from tier five to tier six you needed special interior items. I remembered that briefing as not only being dry, but odd. I guess odd is what made it stick in my memory.

Like having actual candles, interior furniture, and by tier seven you needed shale stone for tiling on roofs. Stuff like that meant getting further upgrades would be harder and harder. We rationalized - while safely aboard the space station - that the goal past tier four was merely to give you something to focus on during stalemates.

Sure, a tier eight archer would outshoot a tier four, but… not by much, and a dozen tier four archers would win. Still, we were in this competition for the long haul. We really wanted to get the most points possible and win the match.

Thinking of winning, I browsed the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlords: 19th

Survival: 57.6 (tied 71st)

eXplore: 228.7 (56th)

eXpand: 939.1 (8th)

eXploit: 5855.9 (4th)

eXterminate: 2479.5 (37th)

While other teams had hit their mid-tier four stride we were still lagging behind. It was frustrating that we were waiting on siege engines while other teams were smashing each other. Even losing sides were getting kills in droves and passing our scores. At the same time, I knew we were in the perfect spot for the long haul. Our sheer infrastructure was going to be hard to stop once we fully took to the field of battle.

There was certainly something to be said about going on the offensive, versus playing it safe, and waiting for the perfect moment. While I wished for an army power score or something along those lines, I’d have to settle for this and know that once the ball got rolling our fighting would really launch us into the ranking.

I felt the tingle of someone one watching me. Hairs rose on the back of my neck as I spun to scan the trees behind me. A lion darted away, spurring Scarlett into a new side adventure.

An arrow was slotted as the T-Rex didn’t hesitate, bursting into a sprint. These lions could outrun her after a few minutes, but she’d close the gap.

There were snorting sniffs as her nose guided her through the trees. Scarlett was eager for the kill.

Whomever this rider was, they were good. They jumped two trees Scarlett couldn’t fit between.

For a brief moment I saw a human, flipping me the bird. Scarlett was not deterred, finding a detoured path. After five minutes of sniffing out the trail without another sighting, we went back to the dead dragon to survey the battle.

The dead were strewn between smashed lavish architecture. The once great mini-tree city was scattered in a widening pile of rubble. Our thirty tier four infantry were all dead besides a single man that had been wounded on the march in.

Elven dead were mixed in the mess, and we saw no stirring of life. That didn’t mean I was going to manually go down there and shift debris.

Hell no.

I typed in some commands and the archers began sorting the dead, the loot, and the salvageable materials into piles.

After ten minutes passed, Beth and Izzy arrived with grins.

“Told you the plan was awesome?” Beth said energetically.

I wanted to say us bringing down the literal roof saved the day, or us killing the dragon won, but instead, I smiled with a thumbs up.

“The moonwoods are pretty. The dragon had a horde of…” She paused for affect. “Gems. He…” Izzy said, pausing again to inspect the dragon. “She was a gem collector. You need a crown with eight gems to go from stronghold eight to nine. At least we have that and maybe something to trade.”

“There haven't been any competition-controlled cities so far. Not sure if that was a Noobi thing or what,” I said with a shrug.

“You going to pick a new bow and a new helmet,” Beth said, having her T-Rex lower them.

“Yeah, I claimed the grove, said it was abandoned, but… I kinda wanted to let the drones find the trapped gas or whatever,” I said, errantly gesturing at the rubble.

“The piles are decent enough now,” Izzy said with a chipper tone. She caught up to Beth to inspect the loot pile. “This is a dashing helm.”

Beth snickered as Izzy held up a female’s crown helm that obviously was for decoration. The girls tried to set the crown on, only to have it easily pass over their heads.

The elven were just an alien race designed to guard this spot. I knew most of this stuff was going to be too big for us but the female tier six bows would be nice, and the male ones would be nice for when I wanted to long range fire without caring about aim so much.

A few pats on Scarlett’s neck told her that I desired to get down. When I waltzed over to the weapons, I saw they were all identical. I pulled my bow off my back and set it onto the loot pile for a drone to handle later.

The female version was slightly bigger than a medium bow, and when it was in my hands, the weapon felt right. This wasn’t as nice as the bow from the epic mine in competition one, but it was darn close. I found a few arrows, test firing them into the dead dragon’s neck.

There was a self-nod, sealing the approval of the weapon.

“I don’t think much of this will fit. We had a smith awaken though. From some German tribe during the fourth century. Creates quality stuff and would be the smart option for a quality helm. With this metal smelted down he can do something worthy of replacing your cowboy hat,” Izzy said playfully at the end.

I ran my hand through my hair, the grime from not washing for eight days left my fingers clogged in the mat.

“Could use a nice shower and a bath. If you’d ladies oblige,” I said, trying the male bow and hating the draw requirements. Everything else was too big in the pile and would be converted.

“We noticed you got a ping after the dragon died,” Beth said, letting the statement hang without prodding in a direct question.

“Shucks, there was a lion, with a human rider. Figure it was No Mercy with a stolen mount. The who, what, when, and why are a mystery,” I said with a shrug.

Beth tapped away on the tablet. “They’re in seventieth place. Damn… They’re only one away from getting knocked out. My guess is they lost already, and you saw Genghis Khan or Genghis Khan’s sidekick trying his best to hang on for more points.”

“Yeah, it's probably exactly that. You can finish third and place in the eighties. It really matters about making things happen,” I said with a sigh.

“You alright?” Izzy asked.

“Nothing a thorough cleaning, some sex, and a nap can’t cure. Would you lovely ladies care to join me?” I said, extending two hands.

I was met with smiles and gentle palms. A quick twist of my wrists resulted in entwined fingers.

Leaving this objective battlefield was painful and yet rewarding.

Tomorrow would be the real test. Taking the T-Rexes and siege engines into the field was something new and while I wanted to wait... There was no perfect time, so you assaulted with what you had before you were on the back foot. Or that was how I was choosing to think about the coming fight.

Intermission

Genghis Khan

Competition 3 day 58

Being on the run was the worst, evident when there was a loud splash.

Genghis Khan’s foot sunk into muck, removing all chances of him being stealthy.

Being stealthy at night was not his defining achievement, clearly. Swapping to speed he darted for cover, hoping the dimly lit dark sky would help him stay undetected.

His chest pounded, adrenaline thrumming in his ears. He watched the road from behind a large stack of cut wood. Enemy workers walked down the street he crossed less than a minute ago, oblivious to his presence.

Genghis Khan cursed himself as his thoughts overwhelmed him, causing the error. He needed to focus. Deciding to let his mind run through the competition was probably for the best. Finding a nice spot, he hunkered down to listen for Hattori while he reflected.

When you decide to pick a late game creature like the spinosaurus, you really wanted to limit your exposure in the early phases. Hence why he logically deduced a competitive high resources spot would be best for this competition.

The fewer spots to protect allowed Genghis Khan to extract more riches with less exposure. The nearby neighbors opened opportunities for skirmishes to convert some easy points while keeping battles to a smaller scale. The day the competition started he felt more confident than in any other.

There would always be outside factors he couldn’t control, this was expected. A string of bad luck was not. The first setback was simply the fact of an aggressive neighbor with natural capabilities humans lacked.

Recalling the aliens with the humanoid torso, suckered hands, and camouflage abilities was painful. He had to give their name credit; the warini were excellent ambush predators. Stick a sword in their slime and they could bend the light around the metal.

Their slime was useless in a prolonged engagement, but…

The damn warini were masters at capturing drones.

Even workers converted to warriors were snatched with relative ease. Eventually team No Mercy found a work around.

Every worker was given daggers on their body so they could quickly stab the warini who caught them. That finally evened the odds after losing too many.

Then the biggest blow possible hit him.

Amelia failed, again.

While he understood humans made mistakes, especially in war, she’d been less receptive to his desires than he wished, and now she was gone.

There were thousands of new toys to mold, regardless of how well she was at playacting her desire for conquest by his side.

A few strategic losses piled on top of each other.

When he tried to retrieve Amelia’s tablet, Team Dinosaur Warlord was ready. The report he got was Leon became wounded and would try to make it home.

He may have tortured a warini prisoner to death when Leon died in hostile territory. It was less than an hour when he succumbed to his wounds.

With bad luck abounding, the drone team he sent never found the tablet and were captured themselves. Down two tablets early left him in a really bad spot.

To make matters worse was the fact he needed a few early game victories or at the very least a boring beginning to convert his spinosaurus into a useful army. When the others were converting to tier four, he was nowhere close.

Being the tactical thinker he was, this left him adapting a whole new strategy. Exploitation. Team No Mercy abandoned their city when enemies encircled the gates, forfeiting all the earlier work for the hope of an easy prey.

Now he was huddled behind stacked wood inside a city filled with enemies. His only remaining thinking teammate should be -

Hoot!

The fake bird sound caught his attention. Genghis Khan looked up to see Hattori above him about thirty feet to his left. The man waved him over

He waited for a set of drones shifting supplies with harnessed bears to pass by. Darting from his cover he went to an exposed area, hoping to stay undetected.

Hattori was a ninja who gave him some pointers but generally frowned when the clunky tactician did things like step in muck instead of floating over it like an assassin would.

Genghis Khan was desperate, and Hattori had a moral compass of kill them all and you win - meaning they got along great.

A spool of rope unwound from atop the third floor of a fourth-floor stronghold. Genghis Khan clutched the rope, running up the wall while Hattori assisted him by hauling the rope up.

When they were on the third floor, Genghis Khan caught his breath, taking a moment to overlook the city.

They were in Noxfar. A well-established city owned by a species of bipedal bird aliens called the korvie. After weeks of trying to find the best target, they settled on these korvie as their last-ditch target.

Hattori was a master assassin. Meaning the outposts these teams held were infiltrated by a ninja with a sharp blade. Buried in the wood about a mile north of Noxfar rested the three tablets Hattori had obtained from the korvie.

Realizing something was wrong, the main korvie competitor sent their armies into the field to battle this new threat. He or she would never find some army smashing at their gates.

Hattori moved silently to another dangling rope. Whoever was on guard duty either was dead or needed to be dead for their incompetence. Genghis Khan followed his assassin to the next way up.

He waited while the man expertly scurried up the stone wall. When he reached the top Genghis Khan awkwardly climbed up the wall while Hattori pulled.

The duo were smooth and stealthy. Each step was carefully placed by both men.

This was it, the defining moment for Genghis Khan.

They were on a balcony with doors open, allowing a gentle breeze in. The dead body of a korvie rested on the stone floor. Its neck was slit forming a puddle of blood that Hattori gestured to him to avoid.

The sound of two birds snoring from within told him they were still undetected. He gazed into a room seeing very little.

Another side balcony had a different dead guard in another pool of blood. The limited moonlight illuminated them both having them head into the main room.

Hattori had already scouted this target out and he felt extremely confident in this selection, telling him this was by far going to be one of his easiest wins.

In order to conquer another opponent's capital - yes you could smash down the gates, slaughter the defenders, and push their leader out. Pretty standard stuff. If you wanted to absorb all their structures, military, and economy without a fight.

Well… that meant capturing the master tablet and killing the competitor the team followed. All the other targets they scouted, including Team Dinosaur Warlord, had far too many defenses for a single assassin to penetrate.

The korvie were different. They were honor duelers, and their society didn’t believe in killing each other under the cover of darkness with trickery.

Too bad for them. Khan was all about victory. The steps to achieving your success matter less than the final results. In this case, he was desperate and in luck. These foolish competitors were a prime target, unworthy of Qoobi.

Hattori snuck upon the two big humanoid birds sleeping in a large nest of twigs.

As if by magic he walked across the nest without a sound.

His blackened katana did not gleam in the night when it sliced across the neck of the first bird.

A spurt of blood shot so violently it splattered against the ceiling.

The next movement was him rapidly stabbing the heart of the remaining competitor. They were horribly violent deaths with an excess of noise.

Fortunately, there were no immediate guards to challenge them.

The kicking of the first ended quickly, allowing him to snicker at the dead bodies. That is why you had more than one guard on your balconies.

Genghis Khan went to an end table of sorts where the master tablet rested. It was time to see if the korvie competitor had died. Picking up the tablet it recognized he was not the original owner.

You have eliminated Team: 323499. Do you wish to convert or demolish the previous owner’s productions? Warning all negative numbers or previous shortfalls will be on the new owner to fix. (Convert) or (Demolish)

Genghis Khan frowned, hoping the korvie had decent numbers.

He ran into this problem in the first competition. If the korvie were negative ten thousand food already with a massive army, and then he converted this army, Team NO Mercy would suddenly be in the red.

Meaning the chances of revolt would bounce higher, especially if he already had shortcomings.

The problem was trivial because he had nothing. Probably a benefit in this scenario.

He tapped convert with bated breath.

There was a five-minute process of the world swirling brown.

During his first-place finish this had been the best strategy. Claim the master tablet and the capital. It was shocking how many cities were susceptible to assassins.

He let the magic of the Archaics whirl around him.

The moonlit sight was a delight. There was so much magic enveloping the city that the stars were blotted out. He relished in the moment and Khan let out a long hard sigh.

Yes, this was almost too easy. And yet, he came so close to losing. A single patrol would have eliminated Team No Mercy with a negative point.

An ear-ringing boom rang with a rage over the city and the outposts that was so loud it cracked the air. Genghis Khan let the whoosh of air send his hair vertical. There was glee in his heart of having a second chance.

He couldn’t help but wonder how many other competitors would notice the noise that probably sent a signal across the entire map.

In the end he didn’t care. He reveled in the euphoric turn of events.

There was only one team he wanted to know he was back in the competition, and that was the other humans. Team Dinosaur Warlord had stayed ahead of him with their cowardly strategy of picking an isolated medium resource area.

Now, he would bring the war to them, ensuring they knew who the superior strategist was. These minor setbacks were merely that. Setbacks.

He tapped the screen to see the score.

Team No Mercy: 65th

Survival: 58.1 (tied 68th)

eXplore: 288.4 (45th)

eXpand: 139.1 (65th)

eXploit: 355.9 (68th)

eXterminate:479.5 (68th)

“Great work Hattori,” Genghis Khan said watching the numbers already start to creep up. He knew their expanded points didn’t become his. These numbers would skyrocket here soon, taking him out of last place.

“Where to next?” Hattori asked.

Genghis Khan smiled. “Grab the tablets, we need to start awakening our army. For now, we’ll secure what we have. Then the enemy will never know what hit them.”

“I have a plan? Something even a great general such as yourself will enjoy,” Hattori said with a wicked grin.

After he listened to the diabolical plan, there was a quiet evil laugh from him as his eyes glared at the tablet. He feasted in those sweet numbers climbing higher. They’d get first again, and the blood of Dinosaur Warlords would get them there.

Chapter

Twenty-One

COMPETITION 3 DAY 58

S carlett led us to the top of a grassy hill around rolling farm fields. The serene morning was bright with a clear cloudless sky that stretched endlessly. The rising southern sun brought a new day’s warmth to eviscerate the dew collected on the yellow knee-high grass.

A long exhale escaped my lips at the beauty of the moment. If only I could retire, kick my feet up, and watch my children chase the dog in such a setting. Instead, I was stuck reflecting on the last day.

We marched for a full day at a hard push to get eyes on the enemies. Yup, the reports said two enemies awaited us.

“Well, shit,” I muttered under my breath. I smirked, adding a swagger to my voice. “I win one for once.”

Beth tapped away on the tablet beside me with a snicker. Of course, she had figured I was wrong when I predicted this. Maybe her old days in the King’s Court gave her insight I lacked but she expected the two to fight instead of ally.

Ahead of me was the combined armies of lilings and tigran, working side by side. The tigran were closer and immediately stirred when we arrived, continuing their siege but definitely adjusting. We arrived on their right flank, and I could only imagine the view Scarlett gave the foes from atop the knoll.

The assault was well underway with the walls of the stork city we called Jinsla being hammered by siege engines. Stone balls were in a constant arc, launching out of catapults with every echoing snap. There were over thirty fast-firing catapults in each army. Based on the wall damage the separate enemy armies were trying to punch two different holes.

My best guess was each army held under a thousand and half troops each. Meaning we were greatly outnumbered if they combined forces to repel our assault.

Marius’s scouts had told us to expect this, but seeing it was something different. The armies were segregated with the tigran on their gallimimus fully turning their cavalry to face us.

Our forces were over a thousand infantry mixed with archers in column formations. They stretched behind us in blocks of three deep and fifty wide. Complementing each unit's flanks were two duckbill dinosaurs with archers and a commander. Then there were three full units of a hundred duckies each and finally there were about four dozen T-Rexes.

This was the first legion with a combined strength of under 1.4k units. An untested army seeking its first victories and clearly this legion was not a force you could hide from scouts. The enemy seemed unfazed by our approach, continuing their siege.

The issue was the siege engines. Once you built and set them on the ground, they were hard to move quickly.

Defending them would probably be worth the fight, assuming you were willing to get into a brawl.

That was the second biggest question. Were the tigran and liling armies going to fight side by side, and if yes or no, would they fight to defend their positions.

The legions of Team Dinosaur Warlord were tearing through our food reserves now that our armies were on three corners of the map and up to five legions. Not all of our legions were fighting at the moment.

Harold was getting probed by scouts around Exxy. Harold and the third legion were doing fine. Fifth legion was in Northstar, ready as a quick reaction force. That legion would bounce between Koobi City and Northstar often.

Then there was Cecilia and the fourth in the Southwest based out of Maven. They were still expanding with a few enemies probing for skirmishes. All these armies and no one fighting left our food issues becoming a problem.

I decided to check the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlords: 29th

Survival: 58.4 (tied 65th)

eXplore: 280.7 (50th)

eXpand: 1032.2 (10th)

eXploit: 6455.9 (2nd)

eXterminate: 2499.8 (43rd)

My sigh from seeing our eXterminate score resulted in Beth rubbing my back.

“You did good seeing this coming,” Beth said with swagger.

She was awesome. Honestly, I was missing our family time. I’d been in the field too long. Probably why I pulled her off of the second legion to be at my side. That damn Roki was determined not to aid me in battle. Not after he got used to the sweet life of Koobi City with Senna. I wanted to complain but was happy for them and knew this is where I needed to be.

Beth pinched my butt. “I told you last night that diplomacy was a trick.”

I scoffed, rubbing my stinging butt while she smirked. While I wanted to tackle her, strip her naked, and bounce her tits I restrained myself. We were on the battlefield after all.

“That tentacle freak was convincing. If I see that Igwan again I’ll throttle him, assuming I could choke him,” I said with a slight hesitation. The thoughts of trying to strangle the diplomat gave me joy. “And it matters little.”

“Why’s that?” Beth said.

I cupped my hands to yell, “Marius.”

“You can just text him you know,” Beth said. She eyed me inquisitively, likely guessing at what my next call would be.

Marius sat in the saddle of a green female T-Rex only slightly smaller than Scarlett. The dinosaur under us had been relatively passive, an unusual trait for her.

Of course, when another awakened general named Finegan brought up his smaller male beside her… Scarlett snapped at the dinosaur, causing the rider to grumble.

“Oye, whatcha needin’?” Finegan asked.

I looked up his history. It was a mix of me judging his past lifestyle choices and results on the battlefield. The man could win battles, and when I prodded him briefly on his past, he said he understood he was not in the early 1800s anymore. Unfortunately, we were on the go before I could get to know him better.

Marius arrived to say, “He called me. You know, we get it. You were a great fighter and -”

I held a hand up, stopping Marius. “We need a fighter. Advance the center with the infantry and archers. Straight for the enemy siege engines. I want your archers on free fire as soon as you can shoot. Finegan, I believe in you.”

“Ya serious?” the Irishman said with a surprised chin tuck.

Beth slapped the tablet against her palm. “Go Finegan, before we have problems.”

I smiled down at Beth while glaring at Finegan. He needed to prove himself. It wasn’t often you were given a second chance at life.

“Me first day here and yer sendin’ me ta die.” He saw my resolve, turning his dinosaur to lead the infantry. “I sure ta gods hope yer got da plan to save me!”

“I love the Irish,” I said with the other two giggling.

“Is this a hope for the best? You wanting to brawl? Or do you have a plan?” Marius asked, watching Finegan return to the central formations.

I shrugged. “Senna said we're in trouble. We have too many food sinks and not enough points. Our expansions are still going south west but -”

“Wait you’re really sending him in to die?” Marius asked with a chuckle.

When I folded my arms, he raised a confused eyebrow. Finegan was moving about a third of our infantry and archers forward. The enemy had stopped firing with their siege weapons, prepping to turn on us.

That wouldn’t do, not at all. I need to make them commit.

“Signal a full march forward of all forces. Include the duckie teams,” I said to Beth. Her and Marius dropped their jaws, instantly wanting to protest. When I sternly gazed at her she input the commands quickly. “Scarlett, take us on the left flank.”

The dinosaur roared out a battle cry, each step reverberating as she stomped away so the main army could catch up to Finegan.

“Alright I’m interested. What’s the plan?” Beth asked loudly enough that Marius was still in the conversation as his dinosaur kept pace.

“We’re dressing our formation to the point of not being able to easily call off our attack,” Marius said with concern.

“When you fought enemies with fragile alliances -”

He interjected. “That is not applicable here. Everyone hated Rome to the point they’d almost never betray each other. I’d defer to your judgment and take the right flank. I got my tablet handy if you need me,” Marius shouted this last bit as he headed the opposite direction.

I held up a hand pausing him. “Good luck, Marius.”

“And to you, Nathanael.”

Beth watched him ride away, eyeing me speculatively. “Is there an actual plan? We’re outnumbered two to one.”

“Are we though?” I asked with a smug tone.

“Hey, I’m on your side here,” Beth said with a smile. “Senna was right, we’re up to five legions. My only objection is Marius. We can’t afford to lose him. He is our most talented archer and a gifted general.”

“Marius is lacking a purpose. He needs the fighting first as his own. Which it will be after this. If we lose then he gets the next expansion. Either way we really need to up production or thin the herd so to speak,” I said with a sigh.

“I know it was chaotic when we got home from the elves… but side topic, Lacy, the insect girl recovered,” Beth said with a hint of wanting to talk about the new mohuma find.

I saw the enemy still not properly reacting to our commitment. Our forces were set now, the long formation was slightly smaller than either enemy alone.

Numbers weren’t everything. I knew Scarlett was not going to let any mere lion take her down.

If these two armies were true allies, they would need to abandon their siege engines to face us as a single unit. They would need to hurry to meet us ahead of the Tigran catapults or insure their right wing fighting there.

Except they didn’t combine or advance. Time was running out for them as the length of our army marched forward as one unit. Team Dinosaur Warlord would be within charging range of the tigran army in five minutes and that left me nervous.

A liling group of important looking soldiers rapidly approached a tigran on a big gallimimus. That would be the two armies talking about what to do. There would be no instant decision and I was a bit baffled they hadn’t discussed our arrival.

Or they had and their prearranged plan wasn’t working out as intended. Likely with both armies not wanting to commit to fighting the first legion.

So maybe it was better to have small talk. “Tell me about Lacy,” I said, taking a seat next to Beth who appeared so at ease it was reassuring. At least I could see the battlefield developing from here.

“Oh, I was hoping you were given -”

“No, we got home, showered, and didn’t even get to have sex. The army was in the field,” I muttered.

I decided to go, I wanted to be here with Scarlett for our first big battle.

“Ah, yeah. Well, Marius was right. If you hadn’t come, then I’m not sure what would happen.”

I chuckled. “Senna was adamant, the point of the game is to cycle new troops as old troops fade. If old troops don’t disappear then we need more land. If we win here, we push for Carthage and add -”

There were horns blaring around the battlefield in front of us. Enemy banners rose giving signals.

“Ha! There they go,” Beth said excitedly as the armies stirred.

The meeting was breaking apart with the liling lions in a full sprint to reach friendly lines. Arrows erupted from the tigran side, raining into the liling leadership as they withdrew. Bodies tumbled in a mess and not a single lion or purple tentacle alien made it halfway.

“About what I figured,” I said. Beth gave me a side glare.

“You knew?”

“Yeah, Igwan seemed sincere in the fact he wanted the tigran dead. I like to consider myself a good judge of character. He also seemed like an opportunist. I still want to strangle him. I bet Igwan and the liling empire do have allies. However, we’ve never seen them,” I said, watching the scene unfold.

The left side of the forces of all three armies were on the south side of the battlefield and the right side was north. Both armies watched as the leaderships for the lilings were decimated, reacting differently.

The troops from the lilings didn’t charge or force a fight with the tigran. They stepped back to the west, heading for whatever holdings they held that direction.

Both armies were abandoning their siege engines as our troops closed the gap slowly. The city defenders were not leaving their walls, merely watching the developing situation.

The closer tigran were going to my left as they headed south.

“I need you to order the ranged cavalry to start dropping long ranged harassing arrows from the duckies,” I said to Beth.

I stood again, ingesting the view before me. My eyes were fixated on the liling army. They could technically capture the siege engines and hold the line to fight over the prizes the tigran were abandoning. Yet, they were playing it cautious.

There was a trumpeting call from the duckies as they surged forward after the tigran army.

“My King,” Beth said, watching the battle develop from her tablet. “Permission to send the siege units to capture the abandoned catapults.”

Our siege parts and supply lines were never going to keep up. Either we abandoned them for a potential enemy flank, or we slowed to consolidate our gains.

“I was hoping they would have fought us. We go too far south, and we give up this city. We push west after the lilings and we give up harassing the tigran. We have the slight range advantage with the duckies…” I was thinking out loud.

“Marius is recommending taking the siege engines and holding the field,” Beth said in a happy tone.

I grumbled. I wanted a fight. However, the moment they started briefly killing each other they robbed me of my wishes.

“Do it, order all haste to secure and consolidate our gains. Makes this cleaner anyway. We add their siege to ours. When we’re set our catapults and trebuchets can focus on one point of Jinsla. I doubt either general has the courage to try to fight us while the other is around,” I said, and Beth nodded.

“Marius was saying the same thing. We’ll get a fight, but it looks like for now we got about a week of free siege engines if we charge what they left behind.”

“Do it. It’ll be interesting to see what the battle of the four armies devolves into,” I said, sitting again.

Our army spun from facing south to orient to where the dual armies had just vacated. Troops marched in robotic precision. They spun without a single soldier breaking the nice lines over the grass.

The duckies sounded a second trumpeting when they entered bow range. A few enemy archer units spun to address our threat. The twang of arrows from both sides sounded when the trumpeting died down.

I saw a few tigran archers crumble under three hundred arrows flying early. For the most part, our arrows were shy of reaching the trailing tigran on foot. Their return volley sunk into the rolling fields, falling short of the duckies.

The front lines of our troops raised charge flags, bursting across the last distance as tier four infantry rattled with the run. The precision was excellent, and those flying pennants were a delight to see.

“That’s enough. Send the duckies to run protection on the supplies and the wagons,” I ordered.

“Yes, your grace. I must admit, this is a bold strategy.”

I shrugged. “We can’t lose here even if we do. We want to brawl, we want the city, and we have no allies to shoot our delegation in the backs as they head home. Speaking of which, secure the loot and feed the T-Rexes some purple aliens. They were nice enough to help with our food issues too.”

I watched the thousand plus troops pick up a run to capture the siege weapons. The enemy probably disabled some, but we were carrying spare parts for ours. I knew it wouldn’t take long to smash the walls ahead of us.

The issue was: would we fight the storks alone or have to deal with harassment the whole time.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

COMPETITION 3 DAY 60

I  sat on the edge of the desk with an amused smile. Our expansive tent doubled as the command room, and right now, it reeked of sex.

Beth and I had a connection that I adored. The woman was easy going, fun to be around, and my oh my, was she a pleaser.

It didn’t hurt that she was lethal with a bow, didn’t complain, and held my interest. Not to downplay the other lovely ladies, just we all had our own separate relationships we built on. For Beth and I, that meant an excess of animalistic sex instead of sleep.

Wanting a fifth helping, I tossed her onto the grassy ground of our tent floor. She was confused at first, eyeing with a flare of anger. I normally was fairly gentle and we were getting ready for the day.

However, I had watched her shimmy into her pants. The way the leather plopped of her tight runner’s ass had me revving for more.

She saw the fire in my eyes, lusting for her little vagina. “Again?”

I loomed over her, clutching her pants at the hips, yanking them down to her knees. I smacked her tight ass hard enough to leave an imprint.

She chuckled, loving the desire in my eyes. Beth was insatiable as I was. I saw her spit on her fingers, wetting her slit.

“Wrong hole,” I said and her eyes flared wide. “Yup, I’ll be gentle.”

“If there wasn’t healing, I’d tell ya to fuck off. Serious, you got a huge dick, Nate, and this isn’t the bloody space station. There is only spit for lube,” she grumbled.

I wet her backdoor, sticking a thumb in. She opened up, wiggling her hips.

I knew she didn’t love anal, but she was moaning from my thumb. Her slick entry backed up with her knees scooting closer to me.

Beth lined up my tip, teasing my head with her yearning pussy.

I… lost a bit of my focus. I drove my cock in deep to her small vagina while continuing to expand her butt. She was loving the double penetration.

Her pussy clamped against my dick. The woman knew how to please my cock just right. It felt so good I kept my cock in her dripping vagina.

I could feel her moistening, enjoying each hip thrust. She moaned out, matching my pleasure cues.

“I love you, Nate,” Beth said in a lusty tone.

Her hair flipped, allowing her to eye me from over her shoulder. She bit her lip, thrusting back against my gentle pushes that were increasing in tempo.

I became a bit more animalistic.

I pulled her hair, slamming into her with hip smacking goodness. We reached a crescendo, matching our fast paced sex in a way only two lovers could.

Five minutes became ten with us creating a loud scene in our private tent.

When I was nearing a climax I withdrew my large cock. Her little pussy pleaded for more with her pinkness pulsing.

My dribbling precum helped my engorged cock replace my thumb.

“Easy… easy…” She warned as I went deeper and deeper. “Huh, you’re fitting. Nice and slow lover boy. Reward your little slut and fill me with your cum.”

I blushed at her naughty talk, letting my smirk grow wide. Each stroke was smooth, gliding in with that wondrous feeling. I added spit a few times to help.

The tightness was all I needed though. She was into the anal, pushing me in deeper while clamping down with incredible tightness.

I was already on the edge when I entered and she knew it. Beth went back to staring at me and said, “Cum for me. That’s it. Fill me. I want to feel my man’s love dripping out. Harder… It’s a good hurt. Harder. Cum. For. Me!”

I exploded into her, unable to hold it back any longer. I pumped and pumped until I softly exited her backdoor.

When we separated with light panting she eyed me with a grin. “Special occasions. I happen to be in a very good mood, sexy lover of mine,” Beth said, coming over with a towel.

We dressed again, with me seeing her fine form looking exquisite once again. This time I let her get ready without interruption. Even if I was tempted.

“You done?” I heard Roxie on the other side of the tent flap indirectly asking for permission to enter, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Come on in,” I said with a swagger.

In came the bombshell mohuma looking fit for adventuring. She wore a few daggers on her thighs and a bow on her back. She was in earth tones to blend in for scouting. Only a few places in her face scrunched.

“Ugh, open the flap after,” Roxie said, waving her hand in front of her nose. “Can we talk outside?”

“Probably need to be ready outside anyway. We have enough of the walls down,” I said with a smile. “Glad to see you back with us. How ya feeling?”

She held the flap open for us, allowing me to step out into the gloomy rain. The overcast sky was hanging low and the lightning was sharp.

Not that it stopped us from keeping the siege going. There was little to but continue even after I lost an infantry soldier to a strike about an hour ago. First casualty of the campaign, death by lightning strike.

We stomped through muck to a makeshift barn building with three sides. Scarlett dominated the spot, curled in the middle.

There was room for another seven dinosaurs inside the shelter. Being the asshole se was she only let Marius’s male lay down with her.

Beth was tapping away on the tablet, and a moment later the chairs and desk from our tent were hauled under the cover. The roof had a few leaky spots, but it was dry enough for us to have a meeting.

The continuous snaps of the catapults were loud but surprisingly soothing. They’d been firing non-stop for two days, becoming a background noise I grown used to.

The whole southern wall of Jinsla was torn down besides the extra thick gate. It was due to come down soon and then the entry would be clear. I figured if that was gone, they would lack any true defense as we charged for the stronghold.

When the chairs and table were set, we had a seat. Marius saw the commotion, deciding to jog to us under the cover. The man was drenched. Hell, even I was soaked from the short walk. At least it wasn’t cold.

“Hey, Roxie,” Marius said, standing at the table while Beth tapped away. “How ya doing?”

“Now that I have my legs back, I’m fine,” Roxie said, squinting as she eyed Scarlett with contempt.

“She won’t apologize.” Scarlett huffed as if to say, ‘damn straight’. “You come for a tablet?” I asked.

We were the only sector with two at the moment besides in Koobi City itself. “Ya, Senna sent me. She is building the road and it should connect in a few hours. Makes riding a duckie in the rain so much easier. You ready for an update?”

Beth nodded and said, “Yes, please.”

“Second Legion was staged at the border road to Carthage. They caught wind that the tigran were racing south after you pushed them from this siege. Oh, Pat is leading them at the moment. Anyway, they were in a rush home, not expecting a full legion to be waiting in ambush in the middle of the forest.

“The slaughter was decent, but the leadership and the cavalry were able to escape. The lilings harassed them all the way home from what we can tell. The battlefield held enough protein to stave off going negative for another week, but Senna is antsy.

“Harold is probing a foe called the hexin. They are a three-foot-tall scorpion type creature. The eye is where a tail spike would be. The good news is he is marching the tireless third legion to lay siege to an outpost. The rest of the news is fairly bland.

“Food production is increasing. Senna shifted to creating a whole new generation of T-Rexes just in case, and additional land is being cleared for more farms. Soon there will be no natural woods besides the groves.”

I tapped my fingers on the desk. “Glad to hear Pat is here, the second was supposed to just defend. However, capitalizing on ripe targets is exactly the kind of thing we need, so good for us that he awoke.”

“Yeah, Senna is cycling through a lot of folks on her rush to five. Because she was prepared this time it’s already under construction,” Roxie said, and I had to remember she had been around a lot longer than I had in competition one.

“Anything else?” Marius asked.

Roxie sighed, asking for a tablet. “Roki noticed something with No Mercy. Here check it out.”

A tablet slid in my direction with the screen showing the scoreboard. Team No Mercy had gone from almost being kicked out at seventy something to mid-forties now.

“Hmm… How?” I asked.

“Part of why I’m here. We need to see if Genghis Khan survived at his old spot or if he rebuilt enough to start conquering again. Hence why I need a tablet. I got a fast duckie who minds well. It should be a quick trip, and hopefully I glean some answers while unlocking some points. We were kinda hoping you would have this guy’s tablet by now,” Roxie said pointing to the city with the crumbled walls.

They were doomed and holding out. Our scouts were hunting for the stronghold exit but not finding it. Either they tried to run, or they fought us. My guess was they held a last stand in the city.

If they were lacking the points to finish strong, we might be the ones keeping them from being in the top fifty. While I felt kinda bad, there was only the briefest flicker of the sensation. Everyone was here to compete. Mercy was not a thing many teams gave each other.

“Keep Beth’s tablet for now, which is mine. This will be Marius’s city so we let him run the siege that should kick off any minute,” I said, and Roxie grabbed the tablet.

Marius chuckled and Beth ran a hand down my arm tenderly.

Roxie smirked. “They both know you’re just wanting to fight, and that’s why Marius is taking command. I get it. I get it. Let me get out of here because that gate is about to crumble and it's not like the rain is going to stop anytime soon,” Roxie said, heading out to start racking up our exploration points.

We bid her farewell while Marius readied the troops into formation.

“Latest on the lilings?” I asked, wishing I was dry.

He showed me the map. Their forces had dwindled as they retreated to Carthage. “Half a thousand, mostly infantry. Hmm…” I paused with a loud sigh. “You think they’ll hit us from behind?”

“Not if I keep the duckies protecting our rear. If we go south, I expect a challenge for Carthage,” Marius said, pointing to the two thousand plus troops outside the city. Our scouts were doing great work apparently.

“I’ll hold the left,” I said, and he grunted in reply.

Beth headed into our tent to grab weapons while I went over to Scarlett to pick at her teeth. The process was a rather nasty endeavor that she loved. Keeping the big badass dinosaur happy was part of my routine. After dislodging a few bone fragments from her gums, I went to a section of the roof where water was spilling off.

The rain was coming down in buckets, turning these nice farm fields into pure mud and our troops into soggy soldiers. I headed to Beth to gear up after cleaning my hands. The snap of siege engines kept going with distant booms as the stones landed.

Big fissures were evident on the last standing structure, telling me -

There was a poof of brown competition magic that obscured my vision. Finally. When the last bastion of the defense disappeared, there was a slight shock. No army waited to defend the main stronghold.

I grumbled. My money had been on them using the buildings the fight in. So much for that idea.

A duckie trumpeted from the left, not far from where the remaining liling forces awaited. Was this another twist or just a bad place to exit. Probably the latter, what choice did the storks have but to try a last-minute flight via secret tunnel.

Marius was a pro on the tablet while also shouting out. He ordered a full cavalry race for the scout who found the foes. The infantry marched with their armor clanking to form a massive box around the siege engines with archers in the middle.

Hmm...

That tablet was worth risking the fight and I knew Scarlett could get the hell outta there if we needed to. I was heading for the saddle when Beth placed a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m going to stick around to manage the defense.” Her head shot over her shoulder to where the infantry was assembling. “I want to protect the siege while keeping an eye on Finegan. Assuming you're okay with that?” Beth asked, and I huffed.

The sheer amount of awakened to be cautious about was worrisome. I understood her hesitation. We gave a clear warning to those who were brought to consciousness. Betray us and we will discard you.

“I’ll be fine, I’m a big girl,” she reassured me. We shared a brief kiss before I raced onto Scarlett’s back.

I could hear her cackling laugh at my desperate urge to stay in the saddle I’d barely gotten into.

Scarlett had a bad habit. A thirst for battle. Yes, she could be tamed to not charge into an ambush or run over a cliff. But… if there were other dinosaurs ahead of her, hell no. She had to be at the front of the pack.

The second I was in the saddle I knew she would fly out of the shed recklessly. She bolted without caring if I was secure, racing to get to the front of the assembling battle lines.

Marius was sending more scouts but abandoned caution when Scarlett led the charge. The duckies were able to keep up and before I knew it, she slowed down to let the others join our triangle formation. There were almost forty T-Rexes behind us flanked by three hundred duckies.

The sight of our dinosaur army tearing up farm fields was amazing to watch. The trumpeting duckbill in the distance spurred us on at a greater speed. Whatever that scout saw he wanted us there yesterday.

My entire body was jarred by the lunging steps of the mighty dinosaur to the point I was holding on tight and had a clenched jaw. Scarlett loved to announce she was coming with an ear-ringing roar, but not this time.

While I could hear the slight clash of battle, she sniffed intently, letting her nose guide us. We entered a section of thin pines that appeared to be a large grove. Instead of circling the objective she slammed right through it.

Turtling the best I could, I tried to avoid dying before we even got there. A thick section of wood hit my hip from the side, causing me to grunt.

A few of these chunks pelted me, each raising my concern. Thankfully, the snap and booms of the smashed trees faded.

I peeked over my forearm, praying nothing was going to crash into me. I glanced back to see the other T-Rexes clearing a wider path. The pines were literally shattering as the dinosaurs powered through them.

I readied my bow while we crossed a clearing. Ahead of us there was a clump of bamboo, getting dangerously big. Scarlett leaned left, then pivoted right to curve around the thin trees.

Finally, I could see the foe a half mile ahead of us.

The stronghold exit was inside a basin quarry a bit to my right. The blue orks were in a solid formation with their backs pressed against the cliff, enemy troops were trying to contain them while additional troops were coming out of the tunnel.

The storks all had glistening pikes in the formation, telling me their range was pinned inside. The lilings capitalized on this by using their cavalry archers to rain arrows into the basin. With the reins in my hands, I was about to yank for the soft archery targets when Scarlett licked her lips in a turn.

The liling army had three units of infantry, each fifty soldiers long with rows two deep. The front line was sword and shield bearing anti-infantry with the back line being pikes we would have to avoid.

The clang of swords and spears from infantry killing each other was a constant din. The properly armed lilings were holding the advancing storks in place, trapping them in the basin.

While the purple tentacled aliens clashed against the orcs there were two units of ranged archers on mounts. Taking all this in quickly told me the lilings would win this engagement until the storks’ archers came out, but… we showed up.

I slotted an arrow, knowing the momentum of our run would help carry the range. The fletching was drawn to my cheek.

Twang.

I let the arrow dart forward. While that first projectile twirled for the two sides of competing infantry, I saw the mounted cavalry react to our impending charge.

They were forced with a tough choice, support their infantry or abandon them.

“Finally, Scarlett!” I shouted to the fearsome girl when I saw the cavalry hold. The back-line pike troops peeled off the infantry. I grinned, ecstatic that the lilings on their lions were going to brawl with us. “Let em -”

She roared, closing the distance, clods of soil flung high behind us when she tucked down for a final sprint. I’d been so accustomed to fighting alone with her that when the other T-Rexes roared I was startled.

I smoothly drew an arrow, firing into the infantry’s backs as we neared the archers on mounts. When I saw a single pike-carrying alien shouting orders to the liling infantry it all made sense. They had stayed to protect a tablet or an important manager.

The whistle of an arrow had me ducking low in the saddle. The sharp tip smacked into my armored collarbone. A lucky deflection meant I’d be sore with a big bruise later.

My eyes scanned the purple tentacled archers to find the culprit.

You could easily tell the drones for the awakened aliens. There was a precision archer about thirty feet ahead. A fast tug on the reins to divert for the target wasn’t fought by Scarlett, we trusted each other, and she knew there was a reason for my input.

The last few feet were closed by a jumping leap into the lions. Cats reared, arrows were shot into her underbelly, and Scarlett didn’t care. She landed next to the enemy archer commander, chomping down the wrong lion.

Cracks.

Snap.

Stomps.

The fighting was a mix of Scarlett hunting while the lion riders were trying to get space. While she was killing swiftly, I was drawing arrows as quickly as possible. I fired for the enemy commander and missed, sinking the arrow into the lion's back thigh.

Chaos erupted when the thundering charge of the T-Rexes slammed into the bodies of the lions.

Punted bodies went flying, causing me to giggle as tentacles flayed with the rider not able to correct itself. A lion gave a dying roar that was drowned out by the arrival of the duckies. From up high the T-Rex archers were able to fire on riders struggling to control their mounts.

A T-Rex had an arrow go into its eye, there was a half roar of registered pain before it collapsed in death. The lions were holding fairly well, buying time for the piked infantry to reach us.

There was a loud trumpeting of the ducks. Shortly after the twang of bows barely registered as a volley of arrows soared into the charging infantry coming to rescue the lion archers.

At the scrum for the basin, the storks were now heaving back the liling infantry. It wouldn’t be long before we would be facing arrows on both sides.

Scarlett, deciding she was taking too many arrows, retreated. While she stomped through the mess of lions, I fired rapidly at every target I could. The other T-Rexes were snatching bodies off mounts.

My ears rang with a thousand different screams of the courageous and the dying.

Marius had to have input a command because suddenly the rest of the T-Rexes peeled back in a sprint for the duckies who were on the edge of firing range. I kept shooting, surveying the damage as I tried to net more kills.

There had been roughly two hundred mounted archers and we killed about half of them. I was frustrated when I saw their two leaders holding the formation with a mix of pikes and mounted cavalry.

A duckie volley arced high with neither of the forces having shields. There was a return countering fire I couldn’t hide from. I’ll never admit this, but I tucked into my arms in fright.

There was a blinding sensation of pain. A metal tip crashed through my left foot pinning me to the saddle’s floorboard.

Additional arrows zipped down, causing Scarlett to roar out in pain. She drifted her walk to get out of arrow range and avoid the next volley. Her pace was slowing to the point I became concerned.

With a frustrated grunt, I snapped the arrow’s shaft below the fletching. With a sudden jerk I pulled my foot out of the shaft. The pain radiated with throbs, thankfully the adrenaline let it fade as I focused.

The battle entered a lull of sorts. I walked Scarlett out of their archers’ range with her groaning the whole way.

Marius headed over to join us. The duckies and other T-Rexes were firing from a range advantage in a harassing manner.

“The stork army will pop archers free. My guess is this is where they hold for now to get the most points. Especially since the lilings have to secede the battlefield,” Marius shouted.

“Probably time to pull the main army out?” I asked.

“Yeah, those pikes need to be whittled down with numerous volleys before we go crashing in. We can only do so much with a practical force,” he said, bringing his male beside Scarlett. “Tablet says she’ll live but needs to sleep.”

“Did you set her to recover?” I asked and he confirmed. “I’ll send Finegan and everything besides a unit of archers and pikes.”

“We’ll keep up the harass,” Marius said, peeling off to get himself back in the fight.

Scarlett was not happy. Her body was covered in arrows stuck into her thick muscles. At least she was going to live. I was super sick of dinosaurs that I grew attached to dying.

The fifteen-minute walk home was without incident until I found Beth and Finegan arguing.

“Hey, calm down!” I shouted over them.

“He wants to occupy the city,” Beth said, folding her arms.

I glanced up at the empty city and grumbled. “Finegan. Lead first and second cohort at a double time march to reinforce Marius. Go, now! Third cohort! Siege engines! Into the city!”

My shout was heard with the orders being followed. Beth didn’t grumble or pout, instead she went to carry out my orders by helping the engines head for the city.

With our pace slowed, I started plucking arrows out of Scarlett while walking over her back. There was a nasty sucking sound as each one came free with the rain quickly washing the blood down her coarse skin. As my hands filled with arrow shafts, I tossed them into the saddle.

She groaned a weird moan each time I did this. I wasn’t sure if she was mad or happy. I was, however, certain she was getting sluggish.

The sound of running infantry in the distance distracted me. Finegan kept the hundreds of rectangular formations trotting for the pines with flags raised. The ranks neatly parted to enter the trees and we were almost to the ruined walls when they completely vanished from sight.

Once I was inside Jinsla there was a quiet that I wasn’t expecting. The trip of a hundred archers, seventy or so siege, and a hundred pikemen was slow to cross the busted walls. Jinsla was a ghost town, with the only thing missing was tumbleweeds rolling in the rain.

There wasn’t a piece of metal anywhere in the abandoned capital. Iron doors were removed, decoration outlined, and the city itself partially disassembled to keep producing as their gathering dried up. Hell, I didn’t see a single worker ready for conquering.

This made sense in its own way. The enemy had converted all their workers into soldiers, stripped everything to gear them, and those were all at the battle.

Scarlett and I found a big horse barn where it looked like the animals were slaughtered. I opened huge double doors that she stumbled into. Less than a minute later, Scarlett curled up into a ball in the riding ring, snoring loud enough that I was grateful to close the barn doors.

I left her in the stable to recover while heading to find Beth. The last of the siege engines were rolling across where the old wall had been when we linked up.

“Your orders my liege?” Beth asked.

“Stop the rain.”

She danced. Her arms spread wide while twirling. This was delightful, and equally awesome. Except it didn’t stop the rain.

“Shucks,” she said with a smirk.

“Hey, that’s my line,” I said, pulling her in for a kiss. “Do me a favor while I clear the stronghold. Spread the infantry and archers around the stronghold. It is the best chance for us to defend. If we’re set upon by another force, we stall and maybe clog the tunnels ourselves.”

Her smile diminished when I huffed with irritation.

“She’ll be fine. The competition allows healing,” Beth said, reading the worry on my face I didn’t realize I was exposing.

“Send the infantry to occupy the entrance to the hidden stairwell. Don’t give the storks an avenue to flood up. I am going to the fourth floor to be on lookout after my sweep. When you’re done setting the troops, meet me there,” I ordered.

“Of course, my warrior King,” Beth said, kissing my cheek.

I left her side to find a pikeman. They all had tier four swords on their hips, and I was in desperate need of one. When I stole that soldier’s weapon, I felt better.

Walking up to the stronghold, I had to wonder. Would Jinsla be worth the effort?

Chapter

Twenty-Three

COMPETITION 3 DAY 61

M y vigilant guard duty was boring for a while. Eventually, I saw what looked like an ant trail in the distance. The road construction was a procession of wagons, workers, and a protection detail.

I tried not to fixate on their road building, but it was interesting to see. Senna must have a thousand wagons going back and forth to connect Jinsla to our network.

The crews worked day and night. Beth and I swapped to get a few hours of sleep while we waited for an attack, reinforcements, or the road to finish. As they finished it was easier to make out the size of the construction escort. There were a few T-Rexes and duckies for harassment, circling the forces while some went to cover the supply lines running back to the base.

There was tension in the air when the road neared completion. The digging and leveling crews left the even drop points. Bulky warriors lugged the final stones, inserting them into the spot where the gate should be.

An excessively loud snap echoed off the buildings, forcing me to instinctively cover my ears. A huge swirl of magic enveloped the entirety of the abandoned town. Jinsla boomed with a whoosh of spreading air as the tablet magic converted the stronghold into buildings that would produce items we needed. As quick as it started, it finished.

The town instantly underwent changes. Broken wall slots glowed green. An orange coloration glowed on all the buildings that had been stripped for parts or were not tier four yet. My guess, it was Roki on the controls managing all the micro transactions.

I was sure he was wondering why this city had not been claimed.

The answer to that was simple. The battle for Jinsla’s Quarry still raged. There were no reports sent from the front, only the assumption the army still lived because of the roars and trumpets from duckbills.

Almost a full day of fighting and skirmishing probably meant they were reusing recovered arrows by this point.

An hour ago, the guards posted at the top of the stronghold’s secret exit were reporting sounds from the bottom of the stairwell, telling me the storks were still in the fight.

Beth was watching the stairwell at the moment due to the heightened concern. We feared if they lost the quarry fight, they would push for -

“Nate!” Beth shouted from the descending stairwell that led to the master bedroom. “There’s commotion.”

“In a second,” I shouted to her. I patted the shoulder of the tier four pikeman standing beside me.

His head shook, his body convulsed, and he gasped in a breath as if breaching water from drowning.

Great… About standard timing really.

“Easy,” I said, trying to calm the man.

“Nate! I need you,” Beth shouted desperately.

“Of course,” I muttered. “Follow me. You!” I shouted to a different pikeman down on a third-floor balcony. “Watch for another army, if anyone beside our team shows up scream like your balls have been cut off.”

I guided the stunned man for the stairwell.

“Where am I, mate?” the awakened man answered.

The clash of weapons made my army hairs rise. They should be holding the stairwell to the tunnel, not fighting in the bedroom. I grimaced, knowing this was not good and the timing of everything was going to shit.

“In the middle of a flipping battle apparently,” I said, racing for the narrow defense point.

“I - I - I - was at the pub and -”

We left the top floor balcony, rounding into the building at the bottom of the curved stairwell to the master suite. Beth was in the bedroom, clashing swords with a snarling blue ork that towered over her.

The half dozen guards we had posted here were partially clogging the room’s entrance as they lay in different poses. The big brute clearly made quick work of the tier four soldiers. Additional enemy warriors with a myriad of weapons were navigating the corpses to enter the fray.

Gotta love when a situation goes from bad to worse.

I had to react quickly. A swift tug of my sword sent it free of its sheath. I was fluid in my sword twirl with my movements feeling smoother than normal.

An enemy ork who stood a head taller than me burst forward before I could aid Beth, forcing me into a fight. I sidestepped a quick slash of his wood axe which almost killed the awaken who was standing there in shock.

I thrust the tip of my sword through the enemy’s neck, flicking my wrist to bring the weapon over his head. Hands clutched his ruined throat, with me moving on.

A female ork was lining a shot up for Beth, her bow almost to the release point. I hurled my sword, having no other option. The weapon buried itself into her abdomen at the last moment, forcing her aim to shift.

The bruiser Beth fought received an arrow in his ass, causing him to shift his focus for a brief moment. Beth slashed a thigh with her sword.

There was only a fraction of a second for me to adjust to my now weaponless situation. A new drone with a mining pick slashed at me clumsily.

I stepped back, retrieved an arrow from my quiver, and jammed the tip into its eye socket. The movement was so fast I don’t think the drone ever understood how it died.

There was a battle cry from the female archer with my weapon in her guts. She shouldered another drone out of the way to reach me. Internally, I wanted to scream at the fact I was weaponless, especially since the dunce at the stairwell was just standing there.

“Stab this guy you idiot,” Beth hollered at the man, breaking him off his fixation.

While I wanted to see how he did, I was forced to react to this archer’s attack. The other soldier she nudged aside to reach me thrust a spear with a stretching lunge.

I jerked right.

My torso dodged his attack, but it placed me right in front of the archer.

Spittle flew from her bluish green lips as she swung with all her might. My left palm shot up to clasp her wrist, initiating a tug of war between death and life.

My right hand shot forward to wrap the hilt of the blade in her guts. I yanked my sword free, seeing her eyes widen from the pain.

“Thanks for bringing me this,” I snarled at her.

The exchange was short-lived because a spear from behind erupted through her neck.

I was shocked.

The brazen attack was only partly dodged as the spear’s metallic tip ripped across my cheek.

My face was on fire with agony. The female’s wrist I clutched for dominance went limp and I let her dangle off the spear. With a quick spin I rotated around the dead body impaled on the weapon.

The warrior was desperate to get his spear unstuck, struggling because the limp body was at a terrible angle. I swung in slow motion, letting him react.

Sure enough, he instinctively raised his arms to protect his exposed neck.

Thump. Thump.

Hands rolled across the floor with a bloodcurdling scream. I left him there, bleeding and confused. The hope was he would clog up the room, stalling those behind him from entering the scrum.

I spun, digging my foot into the carpet, and lunging for the fight Beth was involved in.

What I saw was not good. Beth was on the ground missing an arm at the shoulder. The newly awakened guy was staring at a long clever weapon lodged into his hip while screaming and with wide eyes.

The stork snarled at the human to give him its weapon back. A headbutt snapped the new guys head back, sending him into a stumble. The English sure could take a beating, leaving me stunned he didn’t get knocked the hell out.

All this transpired in a second or two while I was on the hunt.

I was on top of the big bastard before he realized I was near.

My backhand sliced across the front of his thigh as I came in from his side. The weapon separated flesh easily sliding to the back side of his body.

I shot past him, hacking at his other leg, and rented a massive gash into the calf. My speed carried me beyond him, forcing a roll over the massive bed to deal with my momentum.

The big hulking brute turned with a hobble. I watched him give a loud battle cry with arms spread. This wasn’t a duel.

I chuckled when a pike smashed into the side of his neck, almost decapitating him.

Newly awakened guy dealt a mortal blow while mortally wounded. Kinda wishing that I had a chance to learn his name, but I had to move on. I raced back across the bed.

The warrior missing his hands had a sword erupt out his chest from an ally he was in the way of. Poetic really.

A warrior met me in the middle of the room. His swing was slow, giving me ample time to react. I ducked under his sword, jabbing my blade into his arm pit. I knew he was dead, but he didn't.

The bleeding foe went to tackle me. I sidestepped, cracking an elbow into his jaw. A wooden club with spikes descended for me.

I leapt into the middle of the enemy who were struggling to get into the room.

My thought process was that I should try that super awesome spin move where you cut everyone's guts open in a single swipe.

Nope.

My blade became stuck in chainmail armor on the very first target.

The good news was, when I yanked my blade free it sent my target into a stumble. A mining pick buried in his skull that had been aimed for me.

Bonus.

I jabbed a weapon into a thigh, tumbling out of the close quarters in a desperation dive.

The clang of armor told me my defenders were finally arriving. The pikemen dropped their long weapons to draw swords.

“Push them back into the choke point!” I commanded.

The flow was steady from below and the room quickly became clogged with too many bodies and not enough space. Swords were dropped for daggers as the press tightened.

I ran behind the fighting checking on awakened guy and Beth. Both were sleeping while likely healing. Meaning Senna or Roki was helping with tablet duty. I threw Beth on top of the guy with the massive gash on his side.

Underhand scooping the stacked duo, I heaved with a grunt. Each stair up for the top balcony was a laborious pain. At the last step I set them down, jumping over both of them. A quick drag to separate corners on the balcony had them in the best position for now.

I quickly inspected the horizon to see nothing besides more bloody rain. Not dwelling on the fact, I was careful going down the blood-soaked stairs. A battle of epic proportions awaited me.

One thing was certain, I was going to need to cleave an army of blue orks to find a tablet.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

COMPETITION 3 DAY 61

B efore heading down to aid my troops, I retrieved my fancy new elven bow. The weapon seemed to mold with me. It was an odd experience that was hard to explain, leaving me welcoming the fancy grip in my palm.

The grunts, cries, and sounds of two armies jammed together told me the fight was still in full swing when I stomped down the stairs for the master bedroom.

I saw both sides, clashing over the dead in the confined area. The bed had been moved aside and was now on its edge from the sheer mass of bodies. I spied the four-foot clearance, feeling it was my best option.

“Soldiers!” I shouted and my troops swiveled to my call. “Carry me to that bed.”

I leapt above my troops, landing on extended hands. I never imagined I’d be crowd surfing for the upper edge of a bed but here I was.

The feel was… unique. I pulled myself onto the frame, barely able to fit without my head hitting the ceiling.

I removed my quiver, so it rested between my knees. To be sure it didn’t fall randomly I attached the sling into my belt.

Slotting an arrow in this position was awkward. Not as awkward as firing in a side arm style like a gangster. I may have forgotten to sternly glare with my killer face when the arrow whistled forward.

Yeah, I was grinning like a fool.

The first arrow went high, clattering off stone, and breaking in a showering display. So much for salvaging that arrow.

I added a second arrow, this time adjusting my fire. Pulling back just slightly further, the sliding sinew rolled off my fingertips, releasing the projectile.

My aim was perfect. The arrow smacked into a forehead, scraping off hard bone, and creating a massive gash. I gasped that the arrow deflected without puncturing the skull.

“Oh, come on!” I shouted out in frustration.

I was loading a third arrow when I heard. “Sire!”

“Roki!?” I shouted out in confusion.

“Here! Sire,” my former assistant said. His voice echoed to reach me, telling me he was far within the stronghold. The guy hated battle, so this was a bit of a surprise.

I let him get closer while focusing on this third shot. The string was pulled back to the point I almost fell off the bed frame.

Twang!

The arrow shot forward, darting through a stork’s neck, and into the enemy’s chest behind him.

“Hell yeah! Much better,” I shouted in joy.

Roki was trying to fly over the clog of allied soldiers. “What is better, your grace?”

“Roki. Fly or climb up to the top balcony then fly down. Bring arrows, it's like shooting fish in a barrel,” I said with glee.

“You lost me, Sire. Why would fish be in a barrel?” Roki said, his voice fading as he went down to climb up the exterior of the building.

A quick ass scoot had my seat in a better position. I nocked another arrow with about a dozen targets squashed into an easy kill zone.

The arrow burst forward, soaring into the jaw of a stork. A cry of pain erupted, and my target wanted to reach his jaw to free the offensive weapon stuck in his face but couldn’t raise his arms.

This is what the battle for Jinsla stronghold deteriorated into. Two sides locked in a struggle neither could win. Death by dehydration would be a horrible way to win a battle.

While I thought of better ways to win this battle, I killed three more enemies.

There was a fluttering of colorful wings off to my right telling me the parrot monkey man had arrived.

“Sire, I have a report,” Roki said, flying over the press of bodies to perch beside me.

The twang of my bow resulted in another dead body added to the press.

“And?” I said as his feathers flustered in agitation.

“Oh, right. Um… is it safe here?” he asked, clearly knowing it was not.

“Roki, give the report. The enemy is too cramped to fire arrows, so you’re fine,” I said in mild irritation. “And where are my arrows.”

“Oh, right. About those…” I saw him scanning the troops looking for archers with arrows and huffing when he couldn’t find any. “Later, I guess. Good news!”

“Excellent. I like good news,” I said with snark. I was down to five arrows.

I unleashed a shot and finally got an eye socket. My cheer of joy caused the little mohuma to wince.

“The lilings have left the quarry with sustained losses. They kept trying to harass Marius as he fought the storks. The duckies won every engagement by a wide margin. Their speed, height, and micromanaging were the difference.

“Second legion sent resupplies and minor reinforcements to Marius. They have quelled the storks with endless volleys. The problem is they are now -”

“All stuck inside the tunnel?” I asked, figuring it out.

“Indeed, Sire. I’m here to relay a warning. That hidden passageway will fill with smoke soon if not already. You should -”

“Shit. Dammit, Roki! Lead with the death by asphyxiation next time,” I said, restraining myself to angry words.

I was livid. There wasn’t enough fresh air in this confined room and the smoke went high, meaning I’d be screwed if -

Tendrils of rising grey and black were enough of a cue.

“Soldiers, use your hands to carry me to that stairwell,” I ordered.

My crowd surfing thankfully was smooth, taking me into the stairwell. I fell awkwardly, crashing into the inclining stairs. I wanted to grumble at the drones but instead headed for the top floor of the stronghold.

“Sire, are you not going to tell your soldier to flee?” Roki asked in horror.

“No, Roki.” I sighed, not turning back to look at him. “Those blocking the exit will die a noble death. I wish it were different, but they will -”

“They just saved you,” he retorted.

“This is a competition, Roki. Not real life. And that is the crux of the matter. Winning in real life means good people have to die. Sacrifices are hard to justify,” I said, heading over to check on Beth.

“But, Sire -”

“Roki, save your grandstanding.” Once I was on the landing pad, I went to move Beth and the new guy further from where the smoke was trailing out. “Tell me what else you have to report.”

He cleared his throat and nodded. “The second legion reports the lilings true allies are trickling in to defend Carthage. There is a chance they are preparing to invade. Senna is sending the fifth, second, and backfilling the first.”

“You’re kidding right?” I exclaimed.

“Not one bit, your grace. The enemy are going to march for Jinsla or Koobi city itself with ten thousand or more. We will field five to six thousand,” Roki said sadly. “Marius, Pat, and you need to control the legions. Hence why I’m here to give you this and secure the fort in your absence. Beth was supposed to but…”

“I understand, Roki. Scarlett needs another three hours to heal,” I said with a huff.

“This is not a battle that will happen in the next few hours. The enemy has a trail of troops arriving from the west. Fifth legion was still departing when I left, so they’ll take a day to arrive,” Roki said.

We paused our conversation as thick smoke billowed in gushes from out of the stairwell. There must have been a big fire. I scanned the horizon to see a massive plume going into the sky. Yeah that would signal the end of their competition.

While I expected to hear screams of panicked soldiers wanting to survive, it was mostly the grunts of two sides pushing each other. With time, the smoke reduced the noise until the sounds of the stalemate vanished.

We sat in silence for an hour or two. The entire stronghold became something you’d see at a smoke show. Thick black sooty air billowed out of every opening. Whomever was pushing smoke into the tunnel knew what they were doing.

“I’m sorry you had to be here for this,” I said to Roki, stirring him from his thoughts.

He ruffled his feather, releasing a sad sigh. “Me too. I… I struggle with this moral dilemma,” Roki said.

I had nothing but time to kill, waiting for Scarlett to heal. At least we were well away from the exiting smoke and relatively safe. Normally, I would shut down his angst, but I felt he needed to vent.

“I feel it too, Roki. I’m not some soulless bastard.”

“Do you think the drones are alive?” he asked directly with a scrunched face. Based on his conflicted tone I could tell he was struggling with the concept.

“No, I don’t. I don’t lose sleep when they die,” I admitted.

He frowned. “I think they’re converting you.”

“The Archaics?”

“Indeed. They are stripping your sense of life having worth,” Roki said, pleading for my soul in a way.

“Eh, so, Roki. Humanity killed animals they deemed a pest. Cockroaches, ants, snakes, and more. If the species was in the way or a nuisance, they were eradicated,” I said, and he blanched.

“All life should be cherished,” he replied, and while not incorrect I let the statement hang.

We sat there for another hour. I didn’t want to debate the morality of a competition generated drone that puffed into existence.

“Hand me the tablet, I’m going to climb down the stronghold to get to Scarlett,” I said, and he gave me the device.

“Good luck, Sire. When the smoke stops, I’ll send the troops to toss the dead into the depots and clean this place up for Duke Marius,” Roki said.

You could see the pain in the statement. I simply nodded to him in thanks.

A few taps of the tablet told me Beth and Horis, the new guy, were going to be right as rain in a few days each. While I’d miss Beth at my side, I was glad she was okay. I brought up the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlords: 15th

Survival: 61.6 (tied 61st)

eXplore: 480.7 (40th)

eXpand: 1232.2 (7th)

eXploit: 7855.9 (2nd)

eXterminate: 3636.8 (23rd)

Very nice. I liked this number. There were still sixty teams left but we were only on day sixty-one. From here on out, the battles would be bigger and the fighting intense.

I obviously had to see where No Mercy was. They hovered in the mid-forties still. If I were to guess it was harder to suddenly earn massive points to sink down in the rankings. Our eXploit numbers proved that.

“Hey, Roki,” I said, before heading down the ledge. His face perked up with that ruffling of nervous feathers. “Thanks for the talk and thanks for the hard work. I’ll try to find you something like an animal shelter to run on Qoobi. Or try to focus on that. Yeah… An occupation you can be proud of.”

“You missed my point, Master Nate. I’m proud of my work for you, Senna, and Team Dinosaur Warlord. I just hope the Archaics aren’t up to nefarious things,” he said with a sigh. “I know you’re not some being that exposes perfection and can come to terms with that… Fight well, Master Nate. If you don’t, we die. A fact not lost to me.”

“Right. I think I can see your point,” I said in a stern tone. “Keep up the great work. Apparently, I have an epic battle to attend.”

I lowered myself over the edge, heading down to prepare Scarlett so we could take over the second legion.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

COMPETITION 3 DAY 62

“I ’m not liking this,” Pat said with a grimace.

The man was the size of a linebacker and yet he looked visibly concerned. There was a good reason too. Our two legions were assembling into three and they were not even close to enough.

The plan had been simple. I would take the center, Marius the right, and Pat the left. The issue was the lilings had not lied about having allies and ended our plan before it ever began.

After Marius dealt them defeat after small scale defeat, they roused a coalition army. An army that was bent on focusing on my forces. Honestly, I kinda thought he was bluffing on his alliance. I certainly wasn’t expecting a full army on my doorsteps when we challenged them.

Now there was a very real chance we could lose and lose soon.

While this concerned me, I was fairly certain we would place in the top fifty. The score never showed the total score of the competitions, just their ranking, but I was certain we would eke out at least one point.

That was reassuring. The concerning part was the swelling army of six races that bloomed to over fifteen thousand troops. The sheer size of their army was terrifying. Partially because they had mammoths on their side, which were a T-Rex semi-counter.

The worst part was, there was little we could about it. There was no seismic super weapon, or ultimate summon of a thousand-foot tree god, or whatever would normally save the day. There was only hard fighting ahead and we were severely outnumbered.

When we thought of finding our own allies, we realized the tigran were certainly not going to come to our aid in a losing battle. No one would join our side right now.

Another blow to morale was Harold had pulled off his offensive siege and was racing his legion for Koobi City. He had been winning too, almost capturing another tablet.

The problem was they were at least four days out and even then, they wouldn’t be near enough. Cecilia was seven days out with the fourth legion and Senna decided to have her position as the fall back new capital.

Extra supplies were already being chained to the south east to help her ready more defenses.

“I can’t believe we’re giving up Jinsla,” Marius said from my side. I went to quibble, but he held a hand up. “I know, I’m bitter. It is the right call. This competition has been me wanting to govern while needing to fight. I’m coming around to accepting that fact.”

Linia sat beside him at the commanders table, leaning against his shoulder in support. On my left was Pat, Lucy, Finegan. On the right side of the table was Marius, Linia, and Izzy.

Senna made the trip out, a fact I was spoiled by. Seeing her made me realize how much I flipping missed my blonde bombshell. She was equally happy to see me. Before this meeting we may have had a private tussle with Izzy guarding the tent.

Izzy was looking dashing in her adventuring gear and caught me up on how she was perfecting her archery while trying to learn the sword. It was great to see them both. This competition had really robbed me of time with the lovely ladies.

“The retreat is going smoothly, and we canceled all the upgrades,” Senna said from the foot of the table. “Last report we have is there were a few arrows lobbed from harassing archers atop lions, but not many casualties. Beth… and -”

“Horis,” I said.

“Horis, thank you. They are home and in a recovery ward with a reduced recovery time. Oh, and the best news if we weren’t about to fight a massive fight; Roki found the Stork tablet! Huzzah!” Senna waved a tablet proudly. “It also happens to be a master tablet. I can certainly say the storks should have been an ally from the get-go. Assuming they would. Maybe next competition we start diplomacy.”

“Aye, a wee bit of talkin goes a long way,” Finegan said.

There was silence with everyone gazing at me for a response.

I broke the quiet by tapping my fingers on the counter. “Shucks… I kinda feel bad now. Maybe allying is the way to go,” I said with a shrug. “I’d like to think that allies will play a role in the real world of Qoobi so why not here. Then again, there clearly is betrayal and loose agreements easily broken.”

“The alliance could break to the point they turn on each other. Unfortunately, I doubt they will this early,” Izzy said, sticking both elbows on the table as she leaned forward. A loose curly red hair was huffed out of her face. “The competition doesn’t have that… uh, I need to stab my ally in the back feel to it yet. They probably have marched that army over a few competitors already.”

“Retrograde,” Pat said with certainty. “We fall back to Maven and then the new spot Cecilia holds…” He snapped his fingers over and over trying to recall the name.

“Juniper,” Senna said, helping him.

“We’d face rebellion after having to secede all our farms,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “There are a few ways to fix our food problems should they arise.”

“I don’t want to feed my two horns to your T-Rexes,” Senna said with a challenging brow raise.

“I’m open to other options,” I said.

Marius went to slam a fist into the table but gently set it down. “I’m all about decisive fights. The enemy will have to either garrison conquered cities or raze and move on. Both mean time and troops.”

“Husband, hint less, say more,” Linia said. “I vote we abandon our cities, flank around Carthage and ruin their infrastructure. Demolish every objective they hold, raze every small settlement, and remove their food supplies.”

“You volunteering?” Senna asked. Then her face soured. “We were knocked out last round and our points carried us forward. They will do so here again. It is a valid idea.”

Marius grumbled, muttered, and calmed. He kissed his wife’s cheek. “The duckies are the fastest animals we have. I can take a thousand of them and outpace most of what the enemy can chase me with. Anything that gets close will face my archers which they know are deadly. Hmm… Give me two per duckie and I can seriously do a lot of damage.”

I frowned. That would be more than half of our archers. “Here is what I propose,” I said, catching everyone's attention.

“Marius will leave with every last duckie we can spare. He will get the archers he needs too and plenty of arrows. The rest of us will go to Koobi City. It has stout walls that will improve in four days with tier five and -”

“Three days,” Senna corrected.

“Thanks, three. We stall this army from reaching Cecilia, and hopefully Izzy can hold out while Harold marches. We’d be two to one infantry to archers, but we have a ton of archery ranges at tier four. Plus, the food burden will drastically shift once Marius is gone,” I said to nodding heads.

“And me?” Linia asked.

I eyed her and Marius. “Pick, die at his side, or go to Cecilia with Roki.”

“We will discuss in private. I assume you will allow both?” Linia asked and I nodded.

Izzy cleared her throat to say, “Are you leaving the plan vague on purpose? This seems like it's a go with the flow concept.”

“I noticed that too,” Finegan said.

The Irish American had been exemplary in combat with Marius and earned high praise. It was good to hear that he was fitting in.

“The plan has to be flexible,” Senna said. She tapped away at her tablet rapidly. “We still don’t even know what Genghis Khan is up to. Roxie will need time to get her report to us. If we overcommit, we lose options.”

“Plus, we can really start cycling new troops. The question is whether Marius’s side force draws off anything or not,” I said with a grunt. “Shit, maybe the tigran will see an opening as well.”

“Against us. Pickin’ on a losing side isn’t easy,” Finegan said.

Pat raised a hand and said, “I’ll run the T-Rexes on the tigran border. Not like they’ll do much inside Koobi anyway.”

Izzy frowned and said, “While the idea has merit, you can end up losing those vital defenders. If the enemy cavalry -”

“Half. Okay. We have more of a plan now,” I said, smacking my hands together in a clap. “Let’s head to Koobi City. Build a moat, high catapult slots, and every bit of defense we can. Marius goes on a long trip into enemy territory which he will hopefully return from. Pat goes to ensure our flank is secured. Finegan, you go to Northstar.”

“Northstar?” he asked in that thick accent.

“Yeah, take a T-Rex. Beth is healing in Koobi so that leaves you. I need a person able to give commands. There are five hundred workers there trained as archers. Use them and hold out. You have a tier three stronghold or four?” Senna held up three fingers for me. “If your forces are doomed, flee out the back door,” I said.

It was clear he wanted to say something but thought better of it.

“Anything else?” Senna said, eyeing the table. When we all shook our heads, I closed the meeting.

Hopefully the liling alliance would think better of marching into Dinosaur Warlord territory with their massive army. Somehow, I didn’t think Marius would get them to stop their attack from occurring.

We were going to be in a fight for our very survival and I’d make them bleed for their attack.

Chapter

Twenty-Six

COMPETITION 3 DAY 70

E ight flipping days! I groaned, burying the shovel into the mound of dirt. After eight days of tireless work I triumphantly shouted, “We’re done!”

“Break the well?” Beth asked from atop the wall.

“Break the well!” I commanded like I was some messiah with arms outstretched.

A roar from a team of T-Rexes sent the city birds into flight. I heard the creaking of a tightening rope. Loud grunts of dinosaurs struggling to break stone construction gave me concern this plan might not work.

Crack!

The sound of stone bursting followed by a team of T-Rexes tumbling informed me we had victory.

From inside the city I heard the whooshing of water as it filled a tunnel that went under a wall and into the moat. I grinned emphatically with joy. There were defining moments on a job where you could bask in the glory of your work, and this certainly was one of them.

While I watched the clean blue water turn a mucky brown, I gazed over at the approaching army. The sheer number of troops left me curious as to how Marius was doing.

When he finally departed, Marius pulled off a big fat zero troops to chase him into their territory. We were so deflated by this that there was a lull in production. However, he circled back after reducing supply lines. He spent two days firing into every exposed part of the enemy. The damage was minimal near the end because the enemy commanders were adapting to his tactics.

While Marius slowed their advance, he also led them north to buy us time. As quickly as he reappeared, he vanished, with Linia returning to help run Juniper. She let us know Marius was off on a crusade to rack up points.

There was mixed news when Northstar fell three days ago. Finegan’s paper reports he miraculously got to us, finally stopped arriving.

By all that is holy, that man made them suffer. He built bunkers under the city stone and a whole tunnel network that popped up in dozens if not hundreds of different locations.

He even built vents to keep from getting smoked out. Honestly, he could still be alive, but his forces were gone.

The only downside to the initial days of the invasion was Marius stopped hitting the supply lines and reinforcements. The enemy was replenishing whatever forces they lost, and we needed to focus on ensuring our supplies were safe.

Why not both? Yeah, it was a big debate that always went back to the fact we needed everything for our defense.

After the stalling mixed with fighting for Northstar, the time those two bought us was everything we needed.

We were up to nearly ten thousand troops at Koobi City. The long string of strongholds spread between the capital and the expansion cities were sending workers by the hundreds at all hours. We built so many barracks and archery ranges, we had to move some outside the city walls on the southern side.

Dinosaurs were lacking. There was another cohort of ducks that arrived from Maven with more trickling in every day. While we wanted more, they had to mature, and there just wasn’t time for us. So, we stole Cecilia’s ranged cavalry and hoped we could stall another few days for the next hatching to get here.

Obviously with the massive amounts of supplies funneling into the capital the enemy tried to skirt our lines to harass our farming and roads.

Nope. Pat was super aggressive to any skirmishes, securing our east and southern roadways. With the tier five stronghold done, we continued to improve fortifications while generating additional troops.

So many troops we were in a bind.

There was the first hunger protest last night and of all places, the church was burned down. Eh, it was odd when you first thought about it, and devastating when you realized that the darn church had huge happiness factors.

Regardless of the internal turmoil, our forces were ready. With the odds somewhat closer, a bruising fight would be to our benefit.

If food numbers increased due to lost troops, then the string of strongholds could keep feeding new troops. Assuming the enemy couldn’t siege a full circle or cut off supplies from Juniper, Exxy, and Maven.

That is where the situation stood on the morning of the seventieth day of the competition. Our defenses were bolstered, our troops were surging, and our population was protesting. Most importantly, here in a few hours, there would be a fight for the record books.

I smiled, heading for the drawbridge. I needed to bathe before the battle and say some tender goodbyes. My boots clomped over the wooden planks of the dropped bridge.

Gazing upon the walls I couldn’t help but be proud. We created an incline of dirt that would add buffering protection.

Hopefully, the majority of catapult stones flung from afar would sink into the piled soil, keeping the rounds from reaching the walls. Sure, you could climb the incline with troops. But…

The invaders had to cross a moat, scale an incline, and there were caltrops at the top of the incline. A prolonged siege would destroy most of this with time, which was the entire point.

“You stink!” Beth said, joining my side as I entered the city.

I slung an arm around her waist, showering her cheek in kisses. When she frowned, I pinched her ass to talk. Normally she’d smirk or flirt back but, in this case, she kept the sour expression.

“Roxie is about five days overdue,” Beth said, showing me on the tablet that Roxie was not showing as eliminated.

Deciding to turn her frown upside down, I snatched her mid-stride, flinging her over my shoulder. She gave a cute huff as if she were irritated. I knew her well enough to know Beth loved these kinds of interactions.

“Could mean a million things. If we fret, we waste energy. If she got captured and is being tortured, that sucks and I wish I could help her, but I can’t. And more importantly, neither can you.”

“I know, I just worry,” Beth said.

I snickered. “Save that for Roki. Now, I get turned around in this place even after being here for a week. I hate how the Archaics let you rearrange everything after the upgrades.”

“The private bathhouse is straight ahead for a few more blocks. Before we go and have fun, you sure you want to take Izzy into this battle,” Beth said, grunting with each jostling step.

I smacked her tight ass, letting the whap echo across the wide street.

Koobi City was bursting with soldiers. Most of them were flowing between the three-story buildings for the city exit. The formations for the coming battle were slowly forming as workers walked into warehouses to gear for war. All these preparations would take time to get ready, allowing me a bit of leisure time.

The new tier five cobbled road had sidewalks with sewer drains and sidewalks. The buildings had window shutters, clay roofs, and metal doors. As a whole, the upgrade from four to five was fairly basic with the biggest difference being the wood roofs were gone. The less chance of fire the better.

“Turn right. No left. Dammit…” Beth giggled from behind me while being upside down. “I love you.”

“Awe,” I said, rotating her down my torso so she was upright, straddling my hips.

Of course, she blocked my view when she hungrily kissed my lips. The front of her riding pants sought my rising erection, forcing me to set her down when our kissing ended.

“Hey I -”

“Wanted more, and you’ll get it. Look Beth, about Izzy,” I said, having to pause. A troop of T-Rexes were being marched out of the city, forcing us to the sidewalk. “She wants to prove herself. She really has been working hard on being a soldier.” I rubbed the back of my neck, hesitant to say this next part. “I didn’t think you’d be jealous.”

Beth pulled me in close, snaking a hand down my pants to clamp onto my half hard cock.

Her hazel eyes fixated to mine. “I’m never jealous. You love me, and I love you. I don’t care if she goes out riddled with arrows while trying to ensure we get to Qoobi. I’m saying this because of -”

“Senna… I should have connected the dots earlier. Uh, that’s not something we should get involved in.”

“Dear husband, I couldn’t agree more. Doesn’t mean Senna isn’t concerned,” she said, spinning her braid. She walked in front of me with an extended hand that I clutched. I let her pull me forward. “I want you to know. That as crazy as this… this… future is. I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

“You like being the queen?” I asked in a confident manner.

“No. Well, yes. But no. Ugh… Basically, I’ve changed,” she said with a happy sigh, turning for a big building that was all stone. It reminded me of those covered public pools. “Haven’t we all changed? Izzy was never a group family person and now she is thriving in it. Anyway, I wanted to take this pause to say thank you.”

I rubbed the back of my neck when she stopped outside the bathhouse doors. “Shucks Beth. You’re the dream girl. Understanding, caring, and fun. I’m happy you’re in my life and it makes me feel better when you -”

I was silenced by a kiss. “I think the game, Archaic, or whatever are pushing women toward you. That Lucy girl has been asking for an audience non-stop, and not about a tablet. She wants to thank you for saving her.”

“Where has she been fitting in?” I asked.

As if she had amazing hearing a woman with small ladybug wings fluttered closer. Ah, she’d been following us.

“I heard my name, your Grace” Lucy said.

Lucy was enhanced, her breasts extra-large, her hips double wide, and her lips thicker than any humanoid should have. There was too much fakeness for me. Honestly, I liked Roxie's figure more for a mohuma. When Lucy hurried closer, I saw sadness in her eyes.

“Hello, Lucy, I apologize for not having time. Why don’t you join us, for the subtle parts anyway?” I said, gesturing for the door.

Beth glared sternly at me but opened the door for us.

“I was hoping to thank you. Rumors abound that you can… remove us,” Lucy said with concern.

“True and false. I think… and mind you, this is a guess, that if we don’t pair you can go to be another mohuma for a different competitor. Honestly, Lucy. You awoke, what ten days ago?” I asked and she nodded. “I’ve heard no issues with you. That tells me -”

“That you’re doing fine,” Beth said in a motherly tone. “What bothers you?”

“I… I was a nanny. An engineered servant with clipped wings. My… wings are better now, no collar is around my neck, and I… I lack a purpose. There are no children here,” Lucy said while we walked to a stripping station before the baths.

Beth and I stripped down while Lucy spun in shock.

“There will be children later. Why don’t you work the stables? The little T-Rexes are like children,” I said, giggling at the thought.

Those little stinkers were indeed much like terrible two-year-olds. I tossed my grime covered clothes into a pile.

The tablet sucked them up and a moment later they came out sparkling clean. I’d miss that bit.

“I’ve been working a duck coup. That has boosted food production. Something trivial -”

“Not trivial in the slightest,” I told her, heading for the bathing rooms. “I appreciate all efforts. Yours included.”

Beth entered first. I heard the sound of Senna and Izzy giggling over the splashing of water.

“Hubby brought work with him,” Beth told the ladies.

“I can go your Grace if -”

“Lucy?” Senna said with a huff as she heard the voice. “I swear, get in here girl.”

I could see Lucy blushing with trepidation. The mohuma clearly had self-esteem issues. “My Queen, is that a bathing order or -”

“Just in the room. At least you got your audience,” Senna said with a scoff. “Look, I don’t even see my husband. Tell him he works too much.”

“I’d rather not.” Lucy admitted.

I chuckled, holding the door open for her. I crossed into a private room smaller than our bedroom. There was something akin to a hot tub in here. Off to the side was a waterfall cascading down into a drain that Beth walked under. There was always something so alluring to me about a sexy woman getting wet.

I joined her to remove the grime before getting in the bubbly waters.

My attempts to get the soap were dashed when Beth played defense on the bar. We had the cute keep away game going until I gave up. She clearly wanted to do the lathering.

I saw Izzy hop out of the water to join us, smirking. Just needed to get rid of Lucy so we could have some family time.

Senna rotated in the water, so her elbows were on the edge and her juicy booty floated. I was wanting to get hard, but Lucy was killing the vibe.

“Lucy are you here because you’re worried,” I said, wishing to get to the bottom of the issue.

“Yes,” she said, facing the wall.

“What is your ideal happiness?” I asked.

“A home full of babies and then a school room,” Lucy said, and Beth smirked. She clearly felt the same way.

Senna gave a hmm… “Babies of others… or your babies too?”

“Would you allow that?” she asked in shock.

“Horis is his name, right?” I whispered to Beth. She curled her brows in confusion then nodded in understanding. I raised my voice. “You will be taken to Qoobi.”

“You mean it?” she asked shyly.

“We clearly see you fit in here. I’d like for you to meet Horis. He is… A personal friend of mine. He is a British man missing his drinking problem. He also is in need of help in finding his new place post our home worlds. You’re to report to him for three days and help him in his needs.”

“Um, are you telling me to have babies with Horis?” Lucy said and we chuckled.

“No, see if you like him. I want you to be happy. If Horis is a good fit, great. If not, figure out what makes you happy and then approach Roki. Roki is the better gatekeeper as times get busy,” Senna said. “Leave us Lucy.”

“Lucy,” I said, pausing her exit. “Welcome to the team and I’m glad you're here. No collar, clipped wings, or harsh restrictions. We need good people here, regardless of their past or origins.”

“It sounds like my prayers have been answered. Thank you, my King and Queens.”

The heavy door closed with an echo when she departed. “She isn’t the only one,” Senna said with a flustered sigh.

“You mean more of the people realizing they survived Earth are wanting to talk?” I asked.

Beth was intently cleaning my penis, even though it was fully cleaned. I was getting into the mood now with Izzy rubbing her big breasts over my back.

“That. Yes, and I sense a pattern here. Obviously, the dependent co-species need a partnership. It just seems the Archaics pegged us as their -”

“Phrasing,” I said with a tease. There was light laughter before I continued. “I agree though. Why save these species. There has to be a group of Archaics with a heart.”

“To be fair,” Izzy said, scrubbing my back. “They’re saving humanity. I actually believe them when they say that our species was doomed by its own ineptitude.”

“I happen to agree. They expounded sound logic,” Beth said, jerking my cock until I let out a moan. “Okay, ladies. Enough side talk. He’s ready!”

My dick was rock hard, each tug adding to my desire for a tight warm slit.

Beth bit her lip, watching Senna’s ass bobbing in the water. Senna patted the spot in front of her, inviting all of us. I smacked Beth’s firm booty when she accepted the proposal.

Izzy went to join them, pausing when my grip closed around her wrist. I gave her a ballerina twirl, catching her within my arm. She lightly giggled at the playful gesture.

Her palms went to the wall, turning the water off, and bending over to expose her little pink pussy with red trimmed hairs.

I kneeled down to lick her opening, wetting her entry. She added a glob of wetness to her butthole.

Oh, it was one of those adventures.

Once I was standing again, I teased her pussy with the tip of my stiff penis. A few thumb twirls around her rim had her softly moaning. I could feel her desire. Both openings pulsed, craving more than simple teases.

The sound of moaning from behind me had me stealing a glance to see Senna’s face buried in Beth’s pussy. The distraction was delightful to watch.

Izzy and I grew eager for something more. I pushed in while she pushed back. I slowly slid into her slit feeling the intense squeezing she was so good at. A hand came off the wall so she could squeeze her dangling breast.

I controlled her hips with one hand while thumbing her asshole with the other. We found a groove that worked us into a moaning duet. Extracting my thumb resulted in an over the shoulder pout.

Izzy was big on clit stimulation and she also liked -

Smack!

My palm left a red imprint on her ass cheek. Yeah… she pushed back harder against my cock.

Smack!

The sound of Beth climaxing told me the girls were scoring a homerun. I felt like I was still on first base. I increased my tempo while laying into her round butt cheeks.

My hips clapped against her ass, sending echoes of pleasure across the small bathing room.

Five minutes of rough thrusting left me panting.

“Damn, Nate, your cock is divine. I wish I could, but I can’t cum this way,” Izzy said.

I pulled my cock out to let her adjust. A stolen glance over my shoulder revealed Beth was buried into Senna’s crotch, licking with abandon. Senna’s big tits were pressed out as she arched back.

Izzy raced over to the edge of the water, spreading her legs to strum her pearl. I stepped into the water to watch her.

The motion of her spreading her pink for me with a lip bite was so hot. I raced forward to slide my cock into her. She lay on her back, with her hips on the edge of the water.

While she played with her pleasure spot, I thrust with smooth deep strokes. This was exactly what she needed. Her hips twirled with her fingers. I could feel her working up for a big finish.

From my peripheral I saw her toes curling, telling me what I suspected.

“Cum in her, my love,” Senna said between moans. Her hands were buried in Beth’s hair. “I want to clean it. Please.”

It was hard to argue with that request. I increased my tempo, bringing myself into a near orgasm.

When Izzy started to shudder with her pussy pulsing, I kept hilting my cock. Her tits shot up as she arched her head back against the stone flooring.

I exploded into her with a week’s worth of jizz. My grunts of pleasure were paired with my desire to empty my balls. I overfilled her tight little pussy as she shuddered.

Senna came while I was still pumping seed into Izzy. I went to pull out when Senna raced over. My cock spilled white sex out of the little ginger’s slit.

I was amused and aroused when two fingers were swiped up to collect my seed and applied to Izzy’s butt hole. Her fingers slid in while she lapped at the dribbling gouts of cum that leaked out.

Beth stood beside me and noticed I’d never softened.

“Round two?” she asked with a raised brow of desire.

Before I could answer she bent over, teasing me with her toned ass and exposed vagina.

“Hell, yes,” I said, lining up for an entry.

The next hour was a lust filled sexcapades. At the end of the foursome, we relaxed at the edge of the pool, and reveled in the moment with small talk. The light conversation was wide ranging with giggles and smiles.

This would be a fond memory I could always hold onto. Not once did we mention that three of us would likely die in the next few hours.

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

COMPETITION 3 DAY 70

T hunder crashed overhead as the skies opened up to a torrential downpour. Even though I grimaced at getting wet, I wasn’t surprised by this in the slightest.

Our plan revolved around exploiting the fact that the enemy was trying to coordinate six armies into a single fighting force. While they arrayed three armies wide two deep, we formed into four legions spread out.

Pat led the left flank, mingled with the infantry while riding a T-Rex. Beth, Izzy, and I controlled the middle two legions and Harold commanded the right flank.

I had Beth managing the tablet for the second legion and Izzy was managing the newly formed sixth legion.

Our forces were north of Koobi City, facing the enemy. The front lines were a long single row of T-Rexes. Over two hundred of the massive animals were arrayed left to right. Behind them were duckies and an excess of two-horns.

Behind those were infantry with a pike front row, a spear second, and sword third row. Finally, in the far back were the archers. This formation was heavy on the ranged troops. If we were defeated, I figured those archers who survived could help repel the siege.

All our resources, time, and efforts were poured into this battle. The odds swayed in the enemy’s favor, but if they lived with dwindled numbers, there would be a low chance they could continue a prolonged siege.

“Signal the advance,” I said to my lovely ladies.

“Yes, Sire,” they replied in unison.

I stood in Scarlett’s saddle with a sword on my hip. My bow and countless arrows were anchored to the T-Rex’s harness.

The ladies tapped at tablets, unaffected by the rain. I spun, blowing a goodbye kiss to Senna who watched from a catapult rampart with Roki.

She blew a kiss back, following the gesture with a wave. I could only hope I would get to see her again in this competition.

A drum thrummed loudly over the formations, setting a beat to our march. I welcomed the loud noise spewing from a tier five battle master that was a unique spawn from a barracks.

My hands cinched the front of the large saddle while I gazed intently at the invading forces. The enemy was going to have to run or fight with us closing the distance.

The blocky formations were stoic as the rain crashed down. I had to give it to the enemy. This would leave them in a bind if -

A roar from the distant north drowned out the drumbeat. The enemy formation stirred with activity.

“What the hell is that?” Izzy asked.

The ladies stood, with the three of us covering our brows with free hands to try to see what that noise was. I grew flustered by the thick rain obscuring my vision.

“I can barely even see the enemy,” I said with a grunt.

Realizing Senna had stuffed a spyglass into my bag, I fished the device out.

“Halt the formations,” I commanded.

There were a few taps from Beth and Izzy. “Might take a moment, but… done,” Beth said. The left and right flank realized the center had paused and came to a halt.

I whipped the spyglass out, extending the length. The damn rain was soaking the lens and obscuring the visibility.

“Here,” Beth said, standing on her tippy toes to block the rain with the tablet.

My eye went to the peephole and I groaned at what I saw. In the distance, a few miles behind the six armies was a new army heading south. There were at least a few thousand soldiers marching in formation. This new force was small in comparison, but a very real and surprising threat.

At first glance, I was sure the liling alliance figured we had allies showing up. There were duckbill dinosaurs with archers in the front. A single spinosaurus rested in the back of the formation.

I inspected a man with a tablet in the saddle of the large dinosaurs with the colorful spine. His complexion was dark, his attitude sour, and I saw him halt his formation. Who this was, I had no idea. Regardless of his origins, this was a human leading a No Mercy army and that fact sent shivers down my spine.

My line of sight lowered to the liling alliance, it appeared they wanted to flee. I sighed, collapsing the eyepiece.

“What is it?” Izzy asked.

“No Mercy is here. They’re lacking spinos. Unless they have a second army nearby,” I grumbled.

Beth huffed, saying, “How big?”

“Either army can crush them, and this is a great distraction.”

“Your orders?” Izzy asked.

“Double time! March!” I shouted with a bellowing war cry. Scarlett decided my order was far too timid.

A roar resonated through my bones as she challenged the field to battle.

As planned, the front-line T-Rexes peeled off the formation, thundering to create a fifth rank on the far left flank.

Duckies ran forward to get in orderly narrow lines and the infantry pushed the two-horns forward.

This was no grand strategy. The duckies would step out of the way. The two-horns would smash into enemy lines, and infantry would engage as arrows arched over them. The T-Rexes would be on standby to adjust as needed.

My infantry was marching in a trot, allowing the clang of their armor to create a symphony of sounds.

I watched the nearest foe, knowing the six armies were stuck. I bet there was an argument at this point if they should run or fight. My money was on fighting.

They simply were out flanked now with No Mercy on their back side. The infantry closed the gap to a thousand yards or so.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Trebuchets unleashed massive rocks, sending their bulky projectiles for our infantry. I grimaced at the boulders arcing through the air. Thankfully, they weren’t circular, and the ground was turning to mud.

The first two landed short but the next seven cratered holes into formations. With the dirt this soft, the stones dug holes after they instantly crushed troops. The front rank of pikemen were our lowest tiered soldiers. Calling them fodder was harsh, and yet, accurate.

Soldiers flowed around divots with some crawling out of the sunken holes they fell into. The snap of catapults triggered as the front line of infantry neared five hundred yards. The pikemen spread out, widening the formations.

“Initiating the spread,” Beth said. “Izzy, tuck the beast masters in tight. This is going to hurt.”

Round balls crashed down upon my troops at the four fifty mark. Whoever was on the catapults knew their ranges. Dozens died, the only saving factor was the rain sinking the round objects and killing their momentum.

By having the pikes in the front, it kept the cavalry from a direct charge. The downside was the wave of arrows that swarmed out, darkening the already gloomy sky.

“Holy shit,” Izzy exclaimed, rightfully so. The sight was terrifying to behold.

Hundreds of infantry were decimated from that salvo. Watching my running troops crumble under the barrage was sickening.

And yet, this was part of the plan. The enemy did exactly as we predicted. They focused on the soldiers, not the two-horns in front of them.

“Start the stampede,” I ordered.

There was the sound of whips from the beast masters mingled among the two-horns. They cracked the back ends of the working dinosaurs, spurring the herd into a frenzy. A second volley crashed down at the spot where the two-horns were moments earlier.

I shot a fist into the air excitedly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. A missed enemy volley was a really big deal.

The smaller dinosaur growled out in anger. Watching the herd stampeding for the enemy with pikes in front of them had me on edge.

Bodies flew high into the air, screams erupted from the aliens trying to hold the line, and the thousand two-horn crashed deep into the infantry lines. There was a slight push back, making me fear our initial push would get squashed right away.

First a single two-horn cracked the shield wall. Then the herd burst the dam as the infantry was unable to hold the line, breaking from the sheer impactful force of the two-horns.

“Everything besides the cavalry, full charge,” I commanded. “Take us to the left flank Scarlett. May fortune favor the bold.”

I saw Pat with the left flank of the third rank of infantry. He was dressing his lines to have the most impact from his charge. Harold was sending out small duckbill units to harass a section of lions trying to enable a small flank.

The battle was coming to a point where the initial salvos would convert into a pitched fight and the enemy was motionless. They still held the back three armies in reserves. That was overly cautious, giving us an advantage.

Scarlett turned left, increasing her speed to a run to join the other T-Rexes.

Observing the battle on this epic scale was amazing. Seeing thousands of troops positioning for what could be our defining battle left me… proud.

The second row of infantry was in a full sprint, capitalizing on the broken lines and wounded infantry. The two-horns hit a wall of cavalry they couldn’t push past. I watched in sadness as they became victims of a slaughter.

Loud cries of anguish from the dying dinosaurs tugged at my emotions.

This battle was a rollercoaster of emotions.

I grinned when the spear rank managed to speed past the next volley. The shield rank held shields high as they withered under the rain of water and arrows.

“How is it looking ladies,” I said, waiting for the key element of the fight to become active.

“Five hundred and twelve dead so far. We estimate around the same on the opposing side. Our points are skyrocketing, especially since the spearmen are finishing off what the two-horns started,” Izzy said excitedly.

Both women were glued to their devices, barely afforded the time to watch the battle unfold before us.

Enemy shields in the infantry shot up. However, our counter arrows never arrived because our archers were slower than the infantry, and still trying to get set. They ran to get in range in an awkward way. Flat shields were raised over their heads, two archers per board.

They trudged slowly through the muck to get to within range of the enemy archers. The soil was a soupy mess after dinosaurs, infantry, and arrows stirred the ground.

Our cavalry sat on the sidelines, as did theirs. Both sections of mounted units were waiting for the other to make a move and watching the battle unfold.

I watched our spearmen massacre those the two-horns sent into disarray. The majority of the front infantry with spears made it to the enemy pikemen without harm. Two sides collided and my side came out ahead.

After the initial impact, the enemy lines bowed, and broke in some sections. Spearmen pierced deeply into the enemy. I knew right away this was an error on the enemy commander’s part.

The back three rectangular armies stayed in position, bracing for a No Mercy attack that was not coming.

Lilings fell to my heavy infantry in droves. The other front species were a bird variation and a four-armed five-foot yellow species. All three of those races were meant to be on mounts against bigger species like a human.

The clash of battle rang loud, breaking only when a roar or thunder drowned all else out.

“This is going well,” Beth shouted loudly. “This was my favorite part of the plan. We just crossed a one to one point five casualty ratio.”

I chuckled. Knowing this was not a plan. It was a push for an engagement and hope we killed enough to reach the siege engines or halt their offensive.

“Any second and the true damage unlocks,” Izzy informed me.

The archers arrived right behind the infantry, slamming shields into the soil. The sword wielders turned and secured the newer larger shield. They tossed their circle shield forward to the spear wielders locked in melee.

With the new shields the back line of infantry positioned themselves among my archers.

You could see the heavy armored troops strategically placed among the mass of archers. Bows angled high above heads in perfect unison.

I tensed as there was a silent snap. Only the revealing sign of thousands of arrows arching into the sky told me the first volley launched.

The shield holders created a ceiling while archers nocked new arrows.

My breathing stopped as I watched with trepidation. The volley was immense and far thicker than what the invaders had unleashed. We had so many archers that their first round of coordinated fire was marvelous to watch descend.

The arrows soared over the infantry, the enemy archers, and right into the unexpecting cavalry.

By the hundreds, soldiers and mounts fell as the thick darkness darted down.

“Initiate the cavalry charge. Right flank. Duckies too,” I commanded with stern words. “Give me a battle damage assessment.”

“That killed at least a thousand cavalry units. The - the - the - well… I think we won,” Beth said. “Yeah, we're at even numbers total now and our ratios are only increasing.”

The enemy cavalry had not been expecting to receive fire. These engagements normally were infantry smashing each other, archers trading arrows, and then cavalry exploiting weaknesses. Except we brought our archers right up to the fight.

A return volley blotted the dark sky, a lightning strike in the distance highlighted the thousand arrows that hungered for my archers. There were only so many shields raised, causing screams of the wounded to cover the sounds of the dying.

Those who survived fired a second round, scattering the cavalry that were too slow to leave the middle zone. A few riders panicked, spurring mammoths into archers, furthering our cause as chaos continued with the invaders ranks. Most of the cavalry died after that second volley, and I had to agree with Beth. The battle was over.

When thousands of arrows rain from above there really is nowhere to go. To make matters worse for the enemy, the whole back half of the six armies were inactive as the front rows were defeated. Waiting for Genghis Khan’s troops to do something had cost them the fight.

I saw in the far distance, thousands of humans just waited. They were content to let us thin each other's numbers.

The invader commander got off his or her ass at this point. A trumpet blared and the back three armies spun slowly to orient the infantry toward my battle lines.

Well, at least they waited this long. The archers shielded another incoming volley, and the enemy commander had at least half a brain. He sent a second reduced volley staggered from the normal rotation.

“Target the archers,” I commanded, keeping my balance.

Scarlett and the T-Rexes were looping from the left side of the battle to the right. The enemy pikemen from the back formations were adjusting to counter our charge.

Infantry spearmen were winning against a line of enemy warriors with shields and swords. The human lines outnumbered the foes by two to one, but that was changing soon as the enemy formed into a solid mass.

Casualties were starting to stack up by this point with the two sides of archers unleashing on each other. I saw a full volley or ours decimate the archer lines with no infantry devoted to covering.

“I’m surprised they haven’t routed yet,” Izzy said with a scoff.

Beth scoffed and said, “Four to one casualty numbers with a steadying ratio. We’re down a thousand.”

Deep in the enemy center there was a commotion that caught my eye. I needed to get there to turn this battle before that back half turned the tide into an even fight again.

“Dammit, it’s been going so well,” I said, honestly shocked at the results.

“They know you want to push them and are forming a right flank of pikemen,” Beth said, eyes rising up from her tablet.

Indeed, they were. And they’d be set before we arrived. I looked from the pike soldier to the commanders. Back and forth my eyes went.

Decisions, decisions. I ground my teeth before shouting, “Order a charge through our center. Now.” They hesitated. I’d be killing our own troops to break the spine of the enemy. “Do it!”

Both ladies jolted, typing commands to execute this sudden change.

Scarlett lifted her head high into the sky to bellow out the command for me with a roar that left me deaf. The mass of T-Rexes and duckies spun left, heading directly for the backs of our archers.

“Keep the archers firing. We can suffer the casualties,” I said, not looking to see how the ladies reacted.

“The No Mercy troops are on the move, your grace,” Izzy said with concern.

“Issue general commands to kill the enemy. I want both of you targeting war leaders with your bows. Scarlett! Don’t slow until we reach the enemy commanders!” I shouted.

“And what of the No Mercy?” Beth asked before setting her tablet down.

“Beth, they have no siege, are deep inside hostile territory and we’re still at eight or nine thousand troops. We add them to the brawl for the points at the very least,” I said.

Yeah, I was bothered they were here, and slightly worried they might mow down my exposed archers. Even if they did, it wouldn’t gain them Koobi City and Maven could defeat them with time. They should have brought more troops.

Our cavalry charge up the middle of the formation was risky. Luckily, the archers were able to clear a path at our fast approach. The infantry troops locked in melee… well, they died underfoot.

At least it was quick.

I could hear the screams and crunch as the front of the T-Rex line smashed into the sword and shield infantry of the invaders.

Unlike when we fought the lions, there was no bending down to chomp victims. The charge was in a full sprint squishing, kicking, and trampling our foes while racing for the enemy commanders.

A smirk crested my face when the two hundred T-Rexes in front of me gave loud bellowing roars, making it clear we were here to win.

I was not idle while our mighty cavalry crashed through the infantry. I fired quickly, and each arrow was rapidly nocked with a smooth pull. The enemy was so thick I aimed into the archer mass, knowing I would get a kill.

Arrows whistled from above and behind me. Suddenly, I regretted telling my own troops I was expendable.

I may have let out an eek, expecting to be riddled with friendly fire. It was the very small kind that you hardly wince from.

Droves of alien archers to my left and right collapsed with two-foot-long shafts zipping right through their armor-less bodies. Someone had set our archers to fire to the cavalry’s sides… thankfully.

A quick shoulder glance revealed the enemy shield line busted from our charge and friendly infantry was pouring into the back lines. This was the start of the win for our side, and both armies knew it.

Two hundred T-Rexes with a thousand duckbill dinosaurs right behind us was too much. The front three armies had their shield lines collapse under pressure. Whatever command presence the competition granted them evaporated.

There was a flight of troops fleeing for safety. My brows raised as they crashed into the hastily arranged back three armies. Those forces had to pick between killing friendlies or breaking formations to let the retreating troops through.

When they decided to kill allies, the likely victory turned into a guaranteed one.

The three invader armies turned on each other in a revelation we hoped for but didn’t expect. The entirety of the enemy alliance became a chaotic mess.

Even the commanders I charged for were killing each other. I figured they had developed the Marius principle.

Earn points anyway possible before your demise. I would need to thank that man and Finegan with kegs of whiskey next time I saw them.

I fired high, launching my arrow over the charging dinosaurs, and into the commander scrum. Beth’s arrows killed troops off to our left with Izzy just a tad slower on her releases.

By the time Scarlett arrived, the command section was gone. The T-Rexes ahead of us stomped and chewed them, or the archers zipped arrows through those fleeing.

My neck swiveled to inspect the No Mercy team. They halted inside arrow range of the scrumming back three armies. Archers were in the front with pikemen behind them ready to halt a charge.

The competition points from our rout were simply too good to stop what we were doing.

“Ten to one ratio and climbing,” Beth said proudly.

I hadn't even noticed she had set her bow down for the tablet. We entered a sort of lull in the fight. The T-Rex charge slowed, and I growled.

“Keep these T-Rexes running. They do far more damage with stomps and kicks than biting one at a time,” I commanded.

“Harold is requesting to push the back-right army for No Mercy,” Izzy said sharply.

I nodded. “Granted, tell him to stay out of engagement range for now. I want to reap these points before we fight No Mercy.”

“Okay, he confirmed he is good to herd the fractured enemy in that direction,” Izzy said.

The back-left army hadn’t turned to shambles yet. I saw them forming a square shield wall. This is what one army under one commander could do. Pull off wise tactics for the situation. They immediately shuffled northwest toward Northstar. That army had fared the best of the six and were going to get away or cost a lot of resources to defeat.

“Tell troops to avoid that formation too,” I said, indicating that group with a nod.

I slotted an arrow, smoothly firing it into the chest of a fleeing mammoth. There was a trumpeting bellow of shock as my arrow likely sunk into a lung.

Scarlett was gleefully stomping regular alien infantry that were humanoids with boar tusks. These were taller and bigger than a human, leaving me confused as to why they were set aside as backup.

There really was no reason to give it any more thought than to see how many I could arrow down. While we had a dungeon, it would never hold these troops.

By the time my first quiver emptied, the enemy formations were running west. A loud trumpeting of duckbills erupted in the far distance to the west.

“Who the hell is that?” I blurted with concern.

I set my bow down, retrieving my spyglass. Beth had to help me again so I could see through the damn rain. When I realized what I saw, I smirked like a kid opening a Christmas present.

Marius was on the horizon, blocking the retreat of the cavalry who dashed out of the battle. This sealed the fate of the invading army that had overextended into our territory.

“Pat is requesting orders, No Mercy is leaving the field, and the rout is going to take hours,” Beth said, forcing me to make a call.

I sighed when I inspected the damage. The dead were strewn everywhere. The last invader unit was using their box formation to retreat. I saw them break formation to sprint away.

I could hound them. I could hound team No Mercy. Or…

“Order all troops to kill those foes besides that unit and No Mercy. When soldiers find no more enemies to run down, they are to protect the captured siege engines and start piling the dead,” I said sternly.

“Inputting that now,” Beth said.

“Scarlett, take us to the enemy catapults. It’s time to set up a command station so we can start consolidating our units and figuring out how to deal with our losses.”

“I’ll start restructuring the sixth legion to backfill casualties,” Izzy said.

I smiled at her with a nod of approval. At this juncture, I sat in the saddle and let out a long sigh of relief.

There was little for me to do besides monitor the other forces and soak in the victory. The dead were littered everywhere, and the clash of weapons still rang in the air.

It was sobering to see so much death. And yet, I was happy with the results. If this enemy had been a single fighting force, I bet we would have lost. Not by a lot, but definitely a much closer engagement.

There was certainly merit in allies. No Mercy sort of acted like one, and I concluded, when we reviewed this fight, they’d be the deciding factor in our favor.

Scarlett sauntered when arriving at the siege engines. I saw ropes cut, winches disassembled, and sections broken. Nothing a few hours of simulated work by drones couldn’t fix with proper materials.

The moment we were settled around the collection point, I relaxed. Apparently, propping my feet up meant something had to happen.

“Nate! Roki is sending a call for help,” Izzy said in a confused tone.

“Oh shit!” Beth blurted. She stood and ordered. “All cavalry to Koobi!”

Scarlett was all about racing for home, bolting into a dead sprint. We outpaced the others with the jostling almost unseating me.

“What is it?” I demanded.

“Senna has been abducted and Roki is tailing them,” Izzy said. “Okay, they didn’t notice him in a side room, and he is trailing them in our secret tunnel. Turn left Scarlett.”

Scarlett bounded left; her breathing was heavy as she ran with all she had. “Full units are clogging the exit back into the city. If we arrive first, they're trapped,” Beth said confidently.

The running gait of a T-Rex was hard to grow accustomed to. Yet, I lived in this saddle when I wasn’t working. Not to mention my dexterity was beyond what I ever thought fathomable, meaning I was able to strap a full quiver onto my back during the bouncy ride.

The exit for our stronghold was under a massive yellowwood root in the middle of a large grove. I only knew this because Roki said I should see where it went in case we had to flee.

As much as I loved giving the colorful alien a hard time for his angst, I wanted to kiss the little fella at the moment.

“Tell Roki to fall back. I don’t want him getting trapped or captured also,” I ordered, and Beth handled my inputs.

I noticed Izzy was gearing up for a fight. “Don’t try to dissuade me,” Izzy said.

“Wasn’t going to try,” I said, telling a white lie. I super didn’t want her to go fight an elite team who managed to defeat Senna’s guards and nab her.

We entered a yellow forest at a breakneck speed. Scarlett was in the lead of the full T-Rex cavalry. She wormed between trees with tight turns.

An enemy duckie scout was caught flat-footed. Both rider and dino were startled by our sudden arrival. I could see the whites of their eyes as Scarlett diverted. I tried to line up a shot, but it was pointless.

T-Rexes can lunge surprisingly far. Scarlett’s jaws clamped down around the duckie’s neck, creating a tearing, popping sound. An over the shoulder look showed a headless duckbill teetering to the ground.

Scarlett executed the duckbill while never slowing. She raced for the exit point, intent on saving Senna.

Trees zoomed by us until a clearing near the tree exit left me stunned, furious, and somewhat concerned. A dozen spinosaurus dinosaurs roared at Scarlett’s arrival.

Izzy and I instinctively unleashed arrows. Enemy archers zipped arrows at us, causing Scarlett to bank, tearing clods of dirt as she shifted directions. The roar of the spinosaurus was drowned out when two hundred T-Rexes announced they were here.

The battle of the dinosaurs in the grove of yellowwoods began with Scarlett slowing down.

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

COMPETITION 3 DAY 70

S carlett did the unthinkable. She stepped away from the battle to cover the secret exit. Her sniffing led her to the right tree cave.

I froze.

I’d seen the movies. I remembered clutching the armchair while two titanic dinosaurs battled it out. What I witnessed was insane and very different.

The spinosaurus were lacking in color variations with patterns only in blues, black, and a few shades of green. They stood taller than a T-Rex with a longer jaw and a big fan spine. All of them turned, roaring out as the T-Rex pack never slowed.

There was no square off or circling of two mighty beasts. T-Rexes lunged, snapping jaws onto any exposed part of a spinosaurus.

Cries for help escaped a few before they were bitten, slammed into, and kicked by the predators on our side.

I was witnessing a pack swarming its prey. Much like a nat-geo video of lions dragging down a gazelle. The difference was… there was so much blood.

I unfroze, seeing a set of five T-Rexes ripping chunks of flesh off a fallen spino.

Scarlett lowered herself while I watched. She somehow managed the feat without me noticing. Shaking myself from the scene I grew focused. I nocked an arrow keeping the weapon at the half ready.

“Scarlett… listen to Beth,” I said, kissing my lovely lady’s cheek.

There was an odd kind of meow Scarlett did when she was sad. Scarlett wanted to fight with us, and for that I patted her side before hopping down.

“Nate,” Beth said, pausing our entry. “Good luck.”

“I changed my mind on those No Mercy assholes we gave space. Hound them to their capital and sack it. If I don’t make it out and put Genghis Khan’s head on a pike,” I said, leaving before she could respond.

“You really miss cues sometimes,” Izzy said softly, following close behind. “That was your chance to confess how much you love her.”

“Shucks, Izzy. She knows. Me telling her I trust her to lead the empire is a really big step in our relationship,” I said with a huff.

Izzy went to talk. My hand shot up to pause.

The sound of footsteps echoed from the exit. The tunnel opening went down and then toward Koobi City. Staying here would give us the uphill advantage and we could surprise them as they tried to get out. One slight problem with that plan.

A blaring of duckies trumpeting was so loud I couldn’t hear. A second force of duckbills had come to the sound of their dying allies. Yeah… that wouldn’t go well for them.

The dirt underfoot bounced, causing us both to jostle. That would be the victorious T-Rexes going to devour some duckies.

I could already guess what happened. A tablet holder requested help before they started being digested in T-Rex stomach acid.

A flicker from a torch caught my attention from below. While I wanted to go into the tunnel, this point was key. The flame illuminated the bottom of the incline, growing brighter with each second.

I still couldn’t flipping hear anything. A shadow cast from behind told me someone was nearing. I figured those folks stuck in the tunnel -

A dagger shot up the ramp. I was on edge already, shoving Izzy out of the way just in time.

The blade twirled in flight almost in slow motion. I yanked back on the string, rapidly releasing an arrow. The blade missed me by inches, embedding into the tree behind me.

The twirl of the arrow was lost to me when the asshole with the torch extinguished the flame. Now I couldn’t see or hear. Not ideal at all.

I left the exit’s opening not a moment too soon. Three daggers shot up and out the tunnel.

There was commotion outside the tree. Reinforcements had arrived and I noticed about a hundred friendly archers were swarming the exit to help seal in the enemy. This was a checkmate move for whoever captured Senna.

Which sadly meant Senna was probably going to die. I unhinged my jaw to pop my ears. I walked to the incoming troops to dig into a soldier's backpack, finding a standard fire starter.

My hearing improved while I started a fire. I lit a few sticks until they were glowing. Making sure I didn’t expose myself I tossed the flaming pieces of wood into the tunnel.

“I have your competitor,” an Asian accent hissed.

“Okay,” I replied. “What do you want?”

“An exchange. Her life for my team's life.”

I sighed. “Senna are you alive?”

There was muffled screaming. She definitely didn’t sound happy.

“Ungag her,” I said with a bored tone.

“Sorry, no,” the man said.

At least he was nice about it.

There was the sound of troops running from the Koobi side. The man who captured Senna’s time was up.

A crack sounded, followed by what I had to guess was a body hitting the floor.

“Infantry go,” I said, sealing Senna’s fate. There was no chance some tier four goons with spears would cleanly save the day.

Izzy’s eyes flared in shock. “No!”

My hand barred her from going forward as a warning. She ducked my gesture, rushing in first.

Izzy rounded the corner with her bow drawn. Her eyes sought a target. There was a gasp, but I couldn’t see from what.

“They’re wearing -”

Her bow twanged, releasing her arrow to clatter nearby. I sighed hearing the sound of a body crashing down. Izzy’s hand spilled out of the tunnel.

I grabbed her hand, pulling her corpse out of the way. She died with a dagger in her forehead, not even three steps into the tunnel.

A wave of emotions roiled over me that I had to tamp down. I closed her opened eyes, absorbing her death, and knowing it was not forever.

Emotions should not override rational decisions. I told myself that after dying last time, and I hoped it was a lesson I could learn from.

Just a guess, but she was trying to warn me about them blending in. Logic dictated if you were going to infiltrate an enemy base during the day, you should dress the part.

I wanted to control my emotion at seeing Izzy’s death and knowing Senna was in danger… but I couldn’t.

A scream of primal rage escaped my lips. I dashed ahead of my soldiers, taking the lead. A dagger shot out from above.

I tucked and rolled under a man in a ninja suit that clung to the ceiling mysteriously. Dodging his dagger helped escape that death.

The roll forced me to abandon my bow. I whipped my sword out after my tumble. I tried to spin out of another dagger.

That damn ninja flung two, one for both spots of where I could go. I felt the sharp blade sink into my side.

Blades from my soldiers shot up, stabbing the ninja who was stuck to the roof. His dying move had been to likely poison me.

Senna was curled in a ball on the ground, only the slightest chest movements gave me hope.

Four men dressed like our soldiers stood over her with hands up. They each held the blank stares of a surrendered drone soldier.

I sliced at neck height, sending the two closest heads tumbling against the tunnel’s stone floor. My blade dove into the neck of the third surrendered foe.

The blade in my side flared pain and what was likely poison, caused me to stumble. My eyes darted down to see Senna no longer breathing. A dagger was stuck into her back that looked exactly like the one in me.

Well shit.

The fourth soldier was a blur of motion. His hand shot forward. A long dagger sank into my ribcage.

I hugged him, getting an angle to counterattack.

“Die, you fucking scum!” I dove my blade into his lungs.

We fought each other, locked in a close-quarters push and shove. He tripped over a body, pulling me down with him until we smacked into the floor together.

The way we landed had us facing each other, two foes snarling with red teeth. Blood bubbled from our lips, both of us struggling to breathe. I tried to punch the asshole, but my arm only moved a few inches.

The last thing I saw was a blade diving into the face of my opponent. My eyes were open and yet, my vision went black.

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

DATE UNKNOWN - GLADIUM SPACE STATION

I  gasped, inhaling air greedily.

Dying was the flipping worst. Coming back to life though, that certainly had its perks.

Valance hummed happily, and I could barely make out the orb in his light green coloration. This was no time to be happy, I was furious.

I sure hope we made it into the top fifty. If Genghis Khan got first again I’m going to shit down his throat.

My hands curled into balls, reflecting my anger.

“No violence aboard the space station,” Valance said in a calming tone.

“I trigger some alert or something,” I managed from between clenched teeth.

The vision of blackness was starting to clear. The faint lime green glow was all I could make out at this juncture. I controlled my anger while my eyes revealed I was in a small white room atop a pedestal.

Valance hovered in front of me, his eye scanning my body.

“Only seven warnings and three recommendations to put you back into stasis. Welcome back, Nathanael,” Valance said.

I gave in to his wishes and let my anger fade. There was going to be a long lengthy talk with Senna and Izzy.

Making mistakes was human, it was… something everyone did. And yet, I was resenting myself to an unhealthy point at the moment.

How was I supposed to know there was a ninja hanging from a ceiling? It was super badass of him though.

A few calming breaths allowed me to unball my fists. I went into a fight against a superior foe and lost. I was not a god. I was a man. Sure, I had amazing reflexes, but I was still just a man. A knowledge I seemed to have lost.

The lesson was to let drones die instead of charging in like a fool. Saving loved ones was noble, and yet foolish.

There was a long sigh of acceptance.

The next competition, I knew I’d be on the backline. Maybe learning about how to effectively build a city was what I needed.

Yeah, I really think less risks by me would mean more chance of a victory by the team.

Assuming we didn’t place first this time…

“Excuse my need for violence. I erred in my judgement and am bitter about it,” I admitted to the floating ancient orb.

“Your team did exceedingly well without you. Your extreme hard work built a foundation so strong it smashed even veteran teams.

“You’ve chosen wisely, to the point we can safely assume, based on statistics, that you will win your spot even with mistakes,” Valance said in a proud tone.

“Oh yeah,” I said, smirking at this news.

“Indeed. I’ll let the others regale you in the tales of the competition parts that you missed. Needless to say…”

Valance triggered my belt interface by overriding the controls. A display popped up at chest height.

Competitor 334599 - Nathanael Immersion = +8

Competition 1 - Rank 11th + 3

Competition 2 - Rank 67th - 1

Competition 3 - Rank 3rd + 6

“Wow! Third is fantastic,” I exclaimed.

“Exactly. I will add a small spoiler. Beth crushed Team No Mercy, then allied the other teams in the fifties to help them survive. Team No Mercy finished fifty first!” Valance said with a laugh.

“How did Genghis Khan die?” I asked.

Valance snickered. “Suicide, costing him more points. The coward.”

His orb thrummed a bright green, and his happiness was contagious.

“Incredible. Oh man. I’m so ready to kick their asses…” I paused when he swapped to a yellow lighting. “From afar. From very far and with a sealed secret entrance, and dinosaur guards. Or whatever animal that can sniff assassins.”

“You learned valuable lessons, Nathanael Immerson. It pleases me for you to recognize them as such. Senna asked for you to have the big welcome again. Your family, team members, and friends await you to prepare for the next competition,” Valance said in a jovial tone.

“Valance, nothing in this universe would make me happier than thirty days of seeing family and friends. We learned a lot these last two competitions. A whole lot. Some proper planning will have us ready for the final adventure,” I said in a proud confident tone.

“Final adventure?” Valance thrummed.

“Of course, Valance. We’re going to Qoobi. All we need is two points. How hard can that be?” I asked, and he flared red.

“Silly human, there are controllers that monitor everything. Talking out -”

“Ha! I knew it! You guys tamper with simulators,” I said wagging a finger at him.

“I may or may not have a fetish for seeing competitors dying to cats. You’ve grown beyond their skills though. Which leads me to agreeing. Your next adventure will probably be your final one, I do have faith in your abilities.” He paused. “Now that you know they’ll likely not interfere but do not be surprised if you end up in a short or extra-long competition for your snide prediction.”

“Thank you for the warning, and for believing in me. Now, good sir. Take me to my family and friends. We got a competition to win and a preserve to retire on!”

Epilogue

PARTINVI – ANCIENTS CAPITAL

Irshar

I rshar rubbed his fingers together in agitation. He sat at a table with a spotlight on him, monitors were displaying the facts of the case he was being judged for. This was a pivotal moment in his long life. Tampering with a human’s genetic code to hide his hybrid child was a mistake.

The council he sat in front of were eyeing him intently, letting him sweat out his answer. There was another faction at play here, one he didn’t understand the why to.

Figuring out their rationale to back Genghis Khan and this Team No Mercy was irrelevant in this setting. If he survived this interrogation, then yes. The rumors of this Lericon Faction would be fully researched.

“We ask again, esteemed Irshar, did you tamper with any human’s code while you studied Earth?” the head councilman asked.

There was zero good answer here. Only the easiest out and half-truth. He was resigned to the fact that his would mean retiring to private life. Not that he needed the government’s coins with the recurring gambling wins he’d been achieving lately.

“I have the files prepared in my estate. I… I erred. A human woman stumbled onto me during a slug collection. I have everything documented to the fullest.” That was a lie, but the council didn’t track the minor details of a failing species to prove otherwise. “Her mental state was horrendous… I… I know, taking pity, is allowed. Helping to fix the lower species is not.

“I do not know this Nathanael Immerson that is competing, or how he came to be, but I do know his mother. Her neurological dependence on enhancing substances was fixed and she was made… better.

“She has since passed and been cremated. That is her son. How she -”

There were no gasps, no smashing of furniture, or fits of fury. A simple single hand was raised.

“Thank you for being honest,” the chairman said. His raised hand waved in a young ancient carrying a box with Irshar’s name on it.

Good, this was always his fall back plan. Sure, it would get him fired, and a fine, but those were nothing compared to implanting a new genetic species into sub-species.

“This court finds you guilty. You’re to be fined three galactic expansion’s worth of coins. You’re never to step onto a sub species planet again. Is that understood?”

While he wanted to shout for joy at the light punishment, he kept a frown on his face, nodding his head. “And the competitor?”

“Merely a better version of his species than should be possible. It is not his fault who his mother was. His code is within the realm of possibility of being born in such a manner naturally. Sure, in a few thousand human years, but it is within the regulations. No matter how much other members of this council wish it weren’t.”

Irshar saw a council member become shocked at the allegation. Interesting. A Lericon council member.

“I humbly accept my punishment and will retire to my armada in private,” Irshar said in a warning tone to the council member.

That old male frowned, breaking protocol to say, “Yes… Imagine our surprise when a half dozen ghost accounts bet big on a human committing suicide! When competitors never commit suicide! This farce is over. Your time of fleecing the gambling council and betting against Lericon is at an end. There is no safe place in this universe to hide.”

This time there was a reaction. The council member was seized in an electric suspension.

“His remarks are struck from the record. His vote removed on this matter. Another such outburst and you’ll be removed,” the leader said.

Irshar ducked out of the council room to avoid any further confrontation. The time and place for battle was not here. It was going to be in two places.

His space fleet likely repelling attempts to seize his wealth, and the best place of all. In a proxy war. Team Dinosaur Warlord versus Team No Mercy in competition four.

He knew his son was gifted, and this next war would prove it to the universe.

Dinosaur Warlord 3

AN EPIC LITRPG 4X

Chapter

One

GLADIUM SPACE STATION - DATE UNKNOWN

39 days post Competition 3

S weat dripped off my brow, splashing onto the treadmill tracks I tore across. I was on mile seven of ten when there suddenly was an orb in front of me.

Frowning at Valance’s appearance, I dialed back the speed with a huff.

I ignored Valance, heading for a towel and water. I was a mess and since he didn’t start chatting, I cleaned off.

My muscles stretched my workout clothing. Due to a tireless effort, I’d bulked up with endurance training. Every morning, and evening was fitness training. I didn’t miss a single day since I had been granted this break.

My mind was set right and I was ready to earn my spot onto Qoobi. We all were dedicated to the cause... when we weren’t defiling that hot tub. I… I was a lucky man. Senna had brought Amy out of stasis, increasing our bed warmers by one.

I hadn’t fought adding another lady for some fun. There were plenty of moans and groans, all the best kind. The ladies were kinks, enjoying the shows I would put on. Another activity to keep the cardio going. Of course, running, lifting, training, and simulators all took precedence.

Honestly, I was ready. I was ready to get back into the action and kick some ass. After a few days I had mostly shaken off feeling like a fool for dying. I died killing an assassin, worse ways to go.

Feeling ready to address Valance, I quickly dried off, expecting him to have news of our next competition.

A hologram rendered on the side wall, flickering just enough to catch my peripheral. The shimmering green display was an image of me and I stepped one step off the wall to rotate.

Um… I look amazing.

Months of hard work had decimated my spare tire for a lean hulking body.

Another human who looked… plain materialized beside my hologram. This was an image of me in my SouthernCool outfit. It… was so different.

“Shucks Valance, ya lost me,” I admitted. He vibrated in a slow dejected manner, his color a dark purple next to black. “You okay?”

“No, Nathanael Immerson, I am not okay. I have news for you, and then for the group. Do you wish to stand or sit?”

I ignored his sad tone, fixating on the man on the left.

Was this really me?

The other version was shorter, less handsome, chunky, and uglier. The face… was more of my mother’s and a mix of a man I’d never known.

“Clearly one is superior to the other.” I pointed at the inferior version of myself. “Why show me this?” I asked.

Valance hovered over, turning the other version off. “I’ve watched over humanity as far back as your history goes. The species of human is a unique variation of aliens, with as many flaws as advantages.

“In all that time, my goal was simple. Observe and report. Capture and isolate prime targets, while compiling an extinction timeline. The invention of the nuclear bomb altered the date. Changed your demise so drastically that they sent a scientist to salvage what they could.

“Now, Nate. We’re talking a five thousand year difference, it was that bad. I… I have reason to suspect foul play but cannot prove it. Regardless, to an immortal Archaic, it is not that much and yet, still a big shift.”

I nodded. “Okay, so a scientist visited Earth in the fifties.” I wiped the back of my neck, going for water. A few gulps later, I asked, “What did the scientist find?”

“He was sent to study what subspecies were worth preserving. Regardless of his findings, samples were needed. Samples even on city mice, lizards, toads, stray cats, and -”

I caught on. “Just about all the wild animals Florida has in the suburbs. Gotcha. Following so far, please continue.”

“He found a drunk woman who was loopy. Archaics are… different. They stuck my race into these devices. For them, death is not only avoided by not aging, their minds can supersede death and arrive in a new body.

“Or in the case of our scientist, a human form to use for blending in. The woman needed money, the scientist wanted pleasure. A baby was going to be born.”

“Can’t be my dad, the -”

“It is your dad. The Archaics heard my request and spent decades to answer my call. That version you saw was you. You may not understand but…” He returned the image. “This was you when I picked you up from Earth. This is you now.”

“I’ve changed so much,” I muttered.

“Yeah, the moment you went into stasis the first time, I unlocked the genetic inhibitors your father instilled on you,” Valance said.

I was a fairly calm person. I liked to think rage was for when people died. However, I clenched my jaw and punched the wall. Just hard enough to feel good, and not hard enough to break my hand.

The dots connected and I understood. “This is why I’m faster, taller, fluid, and graceful? Because I’m modified?”

“Partially. You were altered with your Archaic sides cut out. You’re human, just the best version of it that you’d ever achieve. Your father is an idiot and a brilliant mind. His… urges placed him in this predicament and thereby stuck you and humans into a bind,” Valance said.

“And who is this Archaic, and why tell me?” I said between clenched teeth.

“I say this… in the best way that I can. Your ability to lose and die helped. Alas, there are other factors in play than just the noble idea of the aliens saving the pitiful. Archaic society has its own issues, factions, politics, and problems. Khan has supporters, easy to see. He was a legend on your planet and quite the character.

“That faction was less than pleased that Team Dinosaur Warlord defeated their darling competitor so handily. So they dug into your files for dirt. Especially when someone with insider knowledge, placed a long bet on Khan killing himself, instead of giving up points,” Valance said in irritation.

I sighed, sitting on the workout bench. “Archaics aren’t perfect. There are good and bad apples. My father is in the middle of the road and his interactions have come to light?”

“Yes, sort of. I’ve caught you up now. The rest the others need to hear,” Valance said patiently.

“Fair enough. Thank you for your honesty. It is a lot to process. Let’s hear what else you have to say,” I said, indenting the door to leave the gym.

There was a chime in our luxurious prison.

“Meeting room, please hurry,” a robot voice echoed through our suite in the space station.

“Why’d the simulator shut off,” Beth hollered.

“Meeting room,” Izzy shouted from down the hall.

Beth shouted for joy. “Finally! Going to kick some No Mercy ass.”

Senna butted up against me, leaving the kitchen with a piece of cake in her hand and a mischievous smile on her face. “What!? Don’t judge me, it's delightful.”

She hip checked me. I bounced her off my hip by locking it in place.

“When you’d get so boney,” Senna said.

Izzy had a reply ready. “Every two hours when we should be sleeping!”

I giggled. “I said we can get separate beds,” I replied, feeling bad. I had urges and all the lovely flesh to delight in. Toss a bunch of sexy ladies beside a man at night and there was bound to be bed bouncing good times.

“Gross,” Roxie said, arriving with Pat. “I hear enough about how insane your bedroom gets.”

“I could hear more,” Marius said with a chuckle. Linia punched his arm. “What!?”

“Ha!” Carina said with a snicker, taking the seat Zhang pulled out for her. “Careful what you wish for.”

Harold arrived with Cecilia quickly taking a seat. Roki arrived with Lucy, Finegan, and Horis. That left Amy and Emily. Emily was from the end of competition one. Never saw her at all in competition three where she performed admirably. She was friendly and she roomed with Amy mostly.

The ladies were part of the night crew for simulator time. They both arrived looking half asleep in pajamas.

“Cold out?” Beth asked a nipply Emily.

“Fuck off…” she retorted playfully, eyeing her chest. “There coffee ready?”

Valance killed the positive mood with a horn sound.

“Nathanael Immerson has something he wants to share,” Valance said, spotlighting me with his words and an actual light.

I grumbled, standing to walk to the front of the room. “Beth, when I fight, what do you see?”

“Uh… something unnatural. It is freaky how good you are.”

“Yes well, he is not alone anymore in that regard. Other human competitors are able to achieve the same things Nathanael can now,” Valance said.

Senna leaned forward, tucking a blonde lock behind her ear and said, “Nate is good at fighting and others will have the same advantage. Why didn’t they before?”

I folded my arms. Pacing in front of my team. “I’m… modified. Basically my father is an Archaic who adjusted his seed to make me a slightly better human. Valance removed any inhibitors.

“Meaning, I’ve changed. Likely, quite a lot since Senna and I met on a vacation. I’ve kinda noticed I bulked up inhumanly fast along with my battle prowess being odd while in close fights. As to what the hell is going on? I’m not sure.”

I headed back to my seat. There were stunned looks and silence from the group. You could see them calculating these words.

Valance said, “Mentally, he hasn’t changed. Physically he has. Two very adverse occurrences happened recently and hence the delay in your competition.”

“Such as,” Senna prodded when he paused.

“Right. How to say this.” Valance had that sour hum radiating through his orb. “The Arginox, Hope, and Don’t Tread on Me were apprehended.”

Amy slammed a hand onto the table. “Those were humanity's first colonization ships. What about…?” She snapped a few times, trying to recall. “The India ship?”

“The Ganga was the name. Sad tale that one. Left Earth, never got very far. Reactor was sabotaged. A boom in space doesn’t leave survivors,” Valance said.

Throughout the room there were concerned looks, mixed with confusion. Izzy said, “So… you intercepted three of Earth's best chances of continuing our species. Why?”

“A war has broken out. Minor in the greater scheme of the Archaics’ might and power. Major because it is being fought around a species. Humans. Irshar is Nathanael’s father. He has amassed a significant amount of wealth, power, and a decent military over the years.

“The Lericon Faction recently made a declaration of war against the Norvinian Faction which Irshar leads. The former is vastly more powerful than the latter,” Valance told us.

I held up a hand. “So this Archaic, pissed off another Archaic. How and why?”

“Wealth, gambling, and Qoobi to an extent. Qoobi is the key, and why I have this area jammed through bribes to tell you this information. There is a lot to cover and only so much to tell at the same time. Earth is no longer inhabitable by humans... As in a thirty thousand year freeze has beset the surface -”

“What!?” Senna blurted.

“Mom…” I muttered. “I’m sorry, Mom.”

Valance gave us some time to cope. For most of the gathered members of my team this didn’t bother them. They had long ago said goodbye to those they loved.

Linia cleared her throat and asked, “Qoobi won’t have a hundred thousand subjects to rule, will it?”

“No. There was a breach of the Earth’s atmosphere. We rushed to save what we could… but Earth’s continent on Qoobi will be fairly spread out. Which could be a good thing,” Valance said, trying to be positive.

I shook my head. “The other races with their own continents will outproduce us if we start at a disadvantage.”

“I’m afraid that is the best option you have. So… there has been a change. Tomorrow I will come to your door with a group of representatives. We will offer your team a spot. As of today, there are only 72 slots for humanity on its continent.

“If Khan would have accepted his win in your first competition then he would be getting first pick in starter locations on Qoobi. Your final home selection spot is merit based, so there is a reason to compete again. There is also another catch. There are only fourteen slots filled for humanity so far. You would be fifteen.

“Offers will go to all members of this team to try to win a fraction of humanity. That means Senna, Beth, Izzy, Harold, Finegan, Horis, Linia, Marius, Carina, Zhang, Pat, Roxie, and the rest will have to pick from them to tag along with. If you stay as a unit, there may be reduced teams. As it is right now, this puts you at ten thousand members.”

I held up a hand. “So if we compete again, and say we get 37th. That means we reach ten points at 4 competitions. Placing us probably decently in the standings,” I said with a huff.

“Top five of all humanity. Which means you would have the option of a premium slot for your Qoobi sanctuary. If you accept now. You could get bottom five. But you’ll go either way. Finish the competition, Nate. It’ll reduce the time you’re in storage. More funds means more species are saved and Qoobi starts sooner,” Valance said.

“Alright, Valance, thank you for your time,” Senna said in a sassy tone. “Assuming you’re telling our team we can split up, humanity is dead, and Nate is half human was enough, or do you have more bombshells to drop?”

The orb blinked out of sight instead of answering her confrontational question.

“He brought us that news when he didn’t have to. Thank you, Valance.” There was a pause as I stood in front of my team… This was a hard thing to say but needed. “If you want to run your own empire, go and I’ll not be upset one bit. Ten thousand people will be needing you or they might get Khan,” I said.

Marius and Linia shook their heads. Marius went to talk but Linia stuck a hand on his shoulder. “We like having the freedom and power of sub leaders. It makes life far more enjoyable. We will be staying with you, Nate.”

“Zhang and I will try our own,” Carina said.

Finegan raised a hand. “Lucy, Horis, and I have bonded. We’ll be our own team and allies with ya on Qoobi.”

“As will we,” Pat and Roxie said. “Roki will be joining us. Unless you object.”

“Nope, you guys will be a fine ally and excellent leaders,” I said earnestly.

I looked to Harold and Cecilia. “Aye, we’ll be good trade partners and we appreciate what ya’ve done fer us,” Harold said earnestly.

I grinned in happiness. “Team Dinosaur Warlord lived and died off being a unit. There are a whole lot of fantastic names on that list for you guys to pull from. I believe in all of you and when we get to Qoobi, I’ll pick a big water port we can all trade around hopefully.”

Senna grumbled, nestling into my side. “I wish I had asked when the next competition is.”

“For those who split into new teams, tomorrow. For those who stay, a month later,” Valance said through the speakers.

The room emptied besides Izzy, Senna, and Beth. The four of us sat in silence for a moment. “Family?”

“Family.” There were nods of certainty as each lady repeated the word.

There was a knock on the door.

Amy and Emily entered. “So… we asked Valance, not because we don’t love you, but we weren’t offered. Both of us have competed for long stretches of time after you have died in previous battles, Nate. Since Marius and Linia are staying, we got an offer and would like to take it.”

I nodded, hugging them both. The girls had a bit of sappy tears but I was all smiles.

“An alien huh? No wonder you're so hot,” Beth said with a dismayed headshake.

Izzy scoffed, “Our babies are going to be flipping adorable.”

“Speaking of which, I got a month to breed you two, no pearl necklaces or titty creaming,” I said, receiving scrunched faces.

This converted into giggling from the ladies. Thankfully my boorish humor landed. This was a major change to our system.

“Well, what are you thinking?” Senna asked and I smirked. “Besides a month of sex in the hot tub.”

“That we finish this the right way. I want Qoobi to be the best it can be for our children. With that said, I was thinking raptors.” My words received ooh’s.

“I love it,” Izzy said.

Beth was tossing her head in thought. “Yeah, it’d be a good choice. Assuming we can get them. So, Nate… Just putting this out there.” There was hesitation in her tone. My heart clenched.

I said, “You can speak freely. Are you wanting to -?”

“No, this is my family. I’m an Immerson. Also, not because I’m a few days late. Test still says negative but I’m fairly certain they’re wrong. Sidetracking. I vote to skip the next competition,” Beth said.

Izzy bit her lip and Senna humpfhed. “Exhausted from the grind?” I asked.

“What if we get a ten thousand day competition?” Beth asked.

“Then we get ten thousand days of free life. That is my only reason to stick my foot down. It’s not torture, and we have no idea if Qoobi will be some hellhole. At least in the competition we have each other. Also, I worry we’d get stuck in stasis as soon we declined,” I said with a sigh.

Izzy wagged her finger, her red locks dancing with her movement. “I vote competition because it might be a test. This all might be a ruse. Us declining may have some point impact or something. If no official team comes by tomorrow…”

Her words hung heavy. Our team would be splintered forever. I had no choice but to trust Valance.

“We have to stay focused and on task. I got three miles more to run,” I said.

Beth hooked an arm around Izzy and replied, “We’re off to the simulations. Chat more after dinner.”

I leaned down, kissing Senna. Her luscious lips smacked against mine, allowing things to get heated. She parted our tender embrace and said, “I’m going to study your genetics. As much as an economist can anyway. Have a good run. I’ll let you know what I learn at our after dinner and during our movie time.”

I watched her hurry away, emotions roiling her face. I wanted to chase after her, but I’d hold her extra tight tonight.

The mission mattered. Training mattered, and we were going to do our best to build a better life on Qoobi. That started with being prepared. I was motivated to compete again. I had to. Humanity was gone. My wives needed me to be strong more than ever.

With that thought in mind, I knew the next month would be grueling.

Chapter

Two

GLADIUM SPACE STATION - DATE UNKNOWN

69 days post Competition 3

T he day after Valance delivered the big news, his predictions came true. With an internal shock my team had shed almost all of its members so suddenly. The parting was full of grateful goodbyes and best wishes. I really did want to see them succeed.

Our evening date night turned into a video watching session where we analyzed our friends competing in their own events.

There were a few rough patches. Amy and Emily got rushed and lost within the third day. The aliens were huge and… even I would have died from their ambush tactics.

Something similar happened with Pat and Roxie. Pat died on day six to a duo of panther humanoids. The battle was epic, and while he died, he defeated the attackers. The duo won extra tablets and Roxie finished in the forties with Roki’s help later in the match.

Harold led his team to a top ten slot using horses and harassing tactics. He was truly a gifted commander that could manage troops smoothly. His city manager was new, a Greek philosopher named Thales who adapted to the competition with ease.

Carina chose elephants, picked a quiet spot to start, and claimed third. Her time as a region manager for us helped her excel. Zhang was a calm tactician and the process went smoothly.

So… The last was a bit of a shock and sad at the same time. Finegan went with lions. He started with Horis. Lucy… had been summoned and the lads were both dipping their ink in the same honey jar.

Except Lucy wasn’t getting sandwiched, she was playing them both for pleasure. This ended poorly with Horis killing Finegan in his sleep. The team lost a point when they finished at fifty-third and we were removed as friends to view further matches.

Even with the betrayal, there were a lot of other points to learn from watching them compete.

Most of the lessons gained were from the start of the separate competitions. I… I fumed. I still wanted to be in a late game scenario, but everything was pointing to how well the match began.

Outside of watching our friends take on their own challenges, we had focused on improving our training.

There was a second delegation from Valance and a team of orbs. I could never remember their names because of how alien they were… So, I named them one through four instead.

I stood at the door with Marius as we had shifted to night simulator training. Valance had brought us out of mounted archery to chat with these… officials.

“In seven days you go into your next competition,” Two said, the pink color odd for the baritone voice.

“We want you to review mohuma compatible genetically with humans. Your data tablets will now have access to such information. The Archaics, in their infinite wisdom, have offered humans a chance of becoming something different on Qoobi,” One said with a forest green colorations and melodic voice.

The orange orb I called Three said, “Others have refused to add mohuma. Those small nations will face genetic issues if not handled properly. Here… you have the option to increase your starting pool of citizens.”

“Choose wisely. Those you pick may be selected as managers or may awaken. Your limit is one thousand mohuma,” Four said with a happy purple hum.

I was flabbergasted. This was wonderful news. Our reduced number of survivors was going to lead to many challenges. I favored the idea of saving anyone we could that wouldn’t stab us in the back.

Marius said, “Why limit us if they need homes?”

“Yeah,” I blurted. “He has a point.”

The four drifted away, uninterested in discussing anything further. I folded my arms and frowned. Valance shut the door, leading us into the simulator room.

“Not perfect, but most can’t hear us in here. Irshar is on the run and winning. Not a big surprise, because he can afford to spend ages on the go. He is still pulling off incredible bets through his proxies too,” Valance said.

I frowned. “While, go Dad, sorta deal. I don’t get the relevance.”

“Why limit us?” Marius asked.

“Qoobi is indeed happening sooner than expected. The next salvation planet - Serafain - is already being pulled into a perfect orbit because Qoobi has suddenly been fully funded by an anonymous donor. You catching on yet?” Valance asked.

I nodded. “Okay, send a card or something. I… don’t know the guy.”

“He’s bold. Archaics favor winning teams, and right now Irshar is winning a losing fight. Instead of giving his foes a chance to potentially capture his vast wealth…” Valance said, letting the sentence hang.

Marius chuckled. “Donating to charity. I guess there is a public relations battle happening too.”

Valance hummed happily. “Indeed. The estimates have your statis being only a thousand years. That means constant competitions and the Archaics are loving the overload. It is a rare treat for a big donor to fund such a charity project.

“As for the mohuma, the answer is simple. When the final leaders for the planets are selected there will be leftover mohuma. At that point every winning competitor will get rotation picks beyond the first thousand. So fret not about obtaining more in need of compassionate rulers. However, the rules on mohuma are different on Qoobi.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Well, it is complicated. A lot of mohuma were in essence slaves. We save them for the same reasons as other species. To give them another chance. Accepting mohuma in your new settlement will come with rules,” Valance said with a pause.

Marius shook his head. “Yer telling me that there will be policing from above?”

“Depends. Basically, treat the mohuma well. We’re getting sidetracked. You’re going to Qoobi. Do well here and you earn a port city of your choosing. Khan and No Mercy will be in your competition. A lot of his supporters split too. They will not be in this fight. I can tell you it will be the standard thousand day event,” Valance said.

“Thank you, Valance. And thank my father,” I said.

“He cursed me with a smile recently. He’ll be watching from afar, as I suspect he always has. Good luck, Nate, and I’ll see you again in a week,” Valance said.

∞∞∞

Picking over mohuma species was akin to shopping for sexy aliens. If we wanted to mix the species… well we needed the busty cowgirls or the hunky wolfmen. Yes, I had enough self-confidence to not feel bad when I asked the ladies to help with what other women would want.

There was a lot of fun picking through mostly augmented species. In the end, if the alien was calm and easygoing we added them to our lists.

It wasn’t always about looks, as we sincerely tried to help those we could. The casually saving people was fun but not a priority, training was.

On the final day Valance materialized in the meeting room. We were ready for him, sitting at the table, facing his appearance. The six of us had plenty of time to prepare for this moment.

“Who are you taking?” Valance asked.

I thumbed Marius. “Marius.”

“Not a spouse?” he asked with hesitation.

I shook my head. “Never saw a rule that said I had to pick a wife. Is this allowed?”

“Uh… it is. Not too uncommon. Only three percent of gamblers picked that you’d select Marius. One of them with a substantial bet. Was he able to get a message to you?”

“Huh?” I blurted. “No message or hidden note under the door. There is a reason for picking Marius.”

“I had to ask. Your vitals indicate you’re telling the truth. Why him, on the record?” Valance said with a light flickering on to shine on me.

“Really,” I said with a huff, sticking a hand out to block the beam. He turned the intensity down. “Look, Beth would prefer to not sleep in the mud and worry if she dies while she sleeps. Senna is tier three manager material. Izzy is decent with a bow but Marius is a legend. We don’t do early pregnancies anymore since they inhibit the ladies too much early game. So… logically Marius is the wise choice. Oh, and shucks, no offense, Linia,” I said, covering my bases.

“None taken, I don’t fight much,” Linia said.

“Very well, gentlemen, follow me then,” Valance said and a platform in the corner materialized.

I bid my lovely ladies a final farewell and stepped onto the platform after Marius. We were going to competition four and I was giggidy inside about it.

∞∞∞

“You roll,” I said, not wanting to jinx our luck.

Marius headed over to the dice pit, scooped up the five dice, and dropped them into the bowl. The pit swirled a bit to compensate for his less than enthusiastic roll.

“Take it you’re not into dicing?” I asked with a chuckle.

He shook his head. “Nope, I was a right asshole to my guards who diced on duty. I just happen to believe whatever we roll to be less about blessings, or luck, and more about what the Archaics let the dice land on.”

I grunted with a shrug. He had a point. The bowl literally spun to roll the dice for us. Our number populated on the screen as a 43.

“Well, doubt we’ll get raptors. I love duckies and using two horns to stampede is effective,” I said.

“Loved the T-Rexes, but boy oh boy, they were a food sink. You saw the replays. A storm of arrows kills a T-Rex the same as a raptor. Difference is you get ten to one on consumption intake and the raptors will have us on the move early,” Marius said in a gruff tone. “I’d favor mobility.”

The final dice were rolled and we were picking sixty-fifth. T-Rex went first. Spinosaurus went second.

“Would ya look at that,” Marius grumbled. “War elephants… those ice cats…” The options fell off the screen.

I checked the ratio log. “Oh, raptors are down a bit. Probably why. Big seems to be in at the moment,” I said.

Marius peeled his eyes off the big selection board to inspect the ratios. “It’s those damn alliances. You get these big arse groups helping each other play defense while they get to build up. Honestly, if you hadn’t picked such a smart starter spot last time, we woulda been in trouble. Well more trouble.”

“Yeah, I can see the alliances being an issue. Makes introducing yourself important,” I said with a smirk.

“Hell, there went stegosaurus,” Marius said.

“Rather be a bear than a gallimimus. Sure are fast though,” I said.

He nodded. “Gotta run in, fire and retreat. Not much else to them besides one fast charge for melee.”

“There goes mammoths… plain horses… camels… large-tusked boars… last one, and it’s rhinos,” Marius said in a jovial tone.

“Raptors it is!” I said happily. “Nice. Now do we want a large map or a small map.”

We waited for the final pick. The timer gave ten minutes for the last team to pick their spot. A map generated. I named it Moobi in the legend.

I smacked the table. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I broke into a laugh at this point. “Twenty flipping islands. Ha! This is great. Raptors on ships. There is some sweet irony here.”

“Like the name. Map is kinda big for my taste,” Marius said.

I shook my head in dismay. “Islands! Ahoy matey…” I regretted the words the moment they were out.

“So, Nate, this isn’t bad. I can sail, but the competition has never mentioned ships,” Marius said with a shrug. “I bet we have to train sailors or something.”

“Likely. We’ll study everything when we can.”

I glanced at the locations. Each island had ten slots. There was no uniformity, meaning the top team could pick the outer edge of the biggest island. Each starting point was atop a shore line with each having rivers. There were so many rivers that the twenty islands were akin to hundreds.

“Hurry up and start zooming in. Somewhere near the middle but not in the dead center,” Marius said.

I enhanced the starting points at a few boring spots. In this case… the designs were identical.

“Oh,” he said.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “Two nearby mines, three groves, two stone quarries, two farms, and each have a fishing spot. There is no advantage on the outskirts. This island seems to be more jungly, this one more mountainous, and this one more cavernous. Wood. I mean wood for ships, and thick trees to kill foes with raptors…”

There was a pause before he pointed between two islands. The zoom in showed question marks in the middle of trees. Meaning epic quarries and more tree objectives in greater concentration. The problem was they weren’t ideal locations other than for the jungle theme.

Marius said, “We picked whichever of these two islands has the least teams on them.”

“Inside or outside?” I asked, leaning over the map.

“Uh… so I don’t think it matters. We fight on our island and then sail to the next. I’d have to imagine not many teams will be leaving their strongholds for a new island at the start,” Marius replied.

“Could you imagine,” I said with a snicker, “we set off for another island on a raft and some sea monster eats us.”

“Exactly. Like I said, I can sail. Far too often wise men are so preoccupied with whether or not they could… they don’t stop to think if they should,” Marius said with a finger wag.

I chuckled. “Got it, no early raft. Alright, we’re up next. Both islands have one so you get to pick.”

“I’m a good sailor. Back side of this island puts us the furthest from the center. If we win the island then it matters little where we start, but yes. Right here,” Marius said, indenting the holographic map.

I selected the spot when it was our turn and we waited. The central islands became packed as time shifted. Our island finished with three teams.

“Alright, let’s hope not much changed besides boats,” I said as a timer counted down from ten.

“Should be a fun adventure,” Marius said with a friendly pat on the back.

I was going to respond in likeness when the time hit zero and my vision swam to black.

Chapter

Three

COMPETITION 4 DAY 1

M y vision blinked in and out, clearing in a few seconds. I felt the early morning southern sun bringing a humid start to the day. My long sigh of contentment was overridden by the cacophony of birds cawing from a nearby forest.

In front of me were palms, fronds, and thick jungle. The kind of jungle you wanted to wear a sealed suit inside with some sweet, sweet air conditioning. A few birds darted out, and a few sets of harmless looking eyes peered out.

I turned to take in my surroundings. I stood about a thousand feet away from a lovely beach. Orange sands battled lapping waves. A river on my left rushed murky water into the shallows. On the horizon a bright blue sea reflected when whitecaps weren’t crashing their foam.

Jungle battled to claim the land all the way to the beach and lost. The starting point was encompassed in a big wide clearing with plenty of room to build within. At least for the first tiers. Sooner or later our deforestation would be paramount to continue growth.

My inspects were positive. I saw… hope around me. There certainly was lots of work to do.

Marius stretched beside me, observing the area. I patted my chest, finding a tablet inside my vest that I removed.

My body was wicking sweat onto my skin. Wherever we were on Qoobi, if this was Qoobi, it was significantly hotter. A full cowboy outfit was fine for crashing through the brush, but for now it was too much.

A few taps into my inventory had me selecting an airy Roman outfit with a kilt. The ocean breeze felt significantly better in the lighter garb. I set my cowboy clothes in a pile, even flicked off the boots, and sent them into digital storage. I kept the hat on though… because it's a cowboy hat.

Marius shifted to a lighter outfit when I handed him the tablet. “Humid. The jungle… looked like a forest on the map. Was expecting evergreens honestly.”

“Yeah, I guess we live on jungle island now. Alright, wanna rush duckies or rush bases?” I asked.

Marius snickered. “Best to set up at least to give the gals a chance in case we die. But yeah, less than two weeks and Senna will be here. I would like to think this dense forest will prohibit one of the other two teams from rushing us.”

“I want to use a captured defender as our builder to start,” I said.

“Just looked at the map, we might have to go exploring. I remember there being something on the beach that didn’t make sense in the map room…” Marius squished a flower while he thought. “Quarry. Yeah there should be a quarry to the west. Small if I remember right.”

I accepted the tablet back. First thing I did was build two shovels. This was something we had debated during our planning phases.

What was the best knockout tool?

Mining picks were harder to knock defenders into submission. I chuckled, thinking about the poor competition drones I’d killed on accident. The shovel had more reach than a stone wood axe, and honestly, a shovel was argued as the winner with relative ease. The handle, metal head, and solid shaft were…

“Aw, dammit,” I grumbled.

“Everything okay?”

I chuckled. “When we were debating what tool to use the girls were talking about a penis weren’t they?”

“Ouch, just now catching on?” Marius laughed joyfully. “Yea you really got into how well a shovel can bury into dirt. Surprised you didn’t catch on when the girls started talking about having to wet the dirt first. Or how hard the surface was. Then there was the wordplay with wood. It all went over your head.”

“Yeah, well… I was in the zone. Winning matters more than sex.”

Marius nodded with a smirk. “No argument from me. By the way, I like the mining pick more.”

There was a joke there… He set me up to hit a homerun, but I let it drop. We could bullshit more on the walk. I returned my attention to the tablet, going into the interface.

INVENTORY

BUILD

SCORE

I selected build.

Stronghold

Depot

Hut

Small Farm

Church

Stable

Water well

Barracks

Wall

Tower

Docks

Docks Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 44 hours (Adequate)

100 - Stone (Adequate)

1000 - Wood (Adequate)

20 - Food (Adequate)

Would you like to build this structure? (YES) - (NO)

“Alright dock is tier one and is the price of a freaking stronghold. Damn... I’m sure it’ll open all new interfaces for shipbuilding,” I said with a frown.

“Yeah, seems odd they changed the layout. Still not sure why they added ships.”

I shrugged. “Make the most of the situation. I do get it though. We need to build ships on Qoobi and this is part of that. At least for economic planning. How to build an actual ship is beyond me.”

“We built them as part of our downtime to cross into Africa. I mostly supervised but the process is basic enough that if ancient Greeks could do it, I’m sure we can too. What’s the plan?”

“I see two mermen over there where you said they should be, figure that is a great start,” I said, pointing down the beach.

“Nate, that's like a speck on the horizon.” Marius shook his head in dismay. “Shouldn’t I have gotten upgrades?”

“Let me check.” I input a bunch of taps until I found the elusive option of selecting help from an officiator.

I typed in my question and there was this as the reply.

…

I was sure they were having a merry time laughing at us humans. I showed Marius the response and he rolled his eyes.

Instead of starting a build and one person going for an objective, we went in unison for a stroll on the beach.

“I’ve been waiting on ya to ask. Why did we not start our own team,” Marius said, probing a topic I had avoided.

The crash of the waves off our left resulted at the bottom of a sandy beach we avoided. Our walk was along a clearing of shin-high bluegrass. The pace was a fast walk because every early second mattered.

“Linia said enough to give me a solid answer,” I replied with a shrug. “I’d still support you if you went it alone after this.”

“No, no. Not in the slightest. Linia did say it pretty well. I like being a boss, just not the boss. I wanted to clear that up now that we’re down here,” Marius said.

“So the shovels. Going to take about a week to get bows. You confident on clobbering some defenders?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Shovels are the smarter choice. More reach, less lethality. You think Valance was right? That we’re doomed as a species.”

“Doomed?” I grumbled. “I think humanity will do what it always has done. Even on a frigid tundra of Earth, life will find a way. Life always finds a way. Barriers be damned. Doomed might be a bit much, I’d say.”

He scoffed, adding in a grunt. “Look, Nate. I understand everyone I loved is dead. I checked my children, trying to trace last names. Even uncles and cousins. Nothing. By the gods, I even did searches on Romans from my era. None were anyone I’d like.

“Watching humanity evolve made me feel like it was going backwards. I… I literally had a full belly, healthy children, and a happy wife in a big home. We were lean, and prosperous from the land, not machines. Still, humanity was inevitably on a decline. That is not what has triggered my pessimism. The doom comes from the fact that… that…”

I eyed him speculatively. “Shucks, Marius. What has you so concerned?”

“Linia sees how happy you all are. We may have gone mohuma shopping. For our family,” Marius said.

“Oh…” I was hesitant about this conversation. “Look, I - I - I - I’m not certain they need a lover to succeed. Like Roki won’t be shaggin Ms. Davis three homes over. Will he maybe have a female mohuma, sure.”

This earned a chuckle from us both.

“So that is the doomed portion. I doubt Khan will add mohuma. For us though, I think it’s the right call. There are more female mohuma than males… This all means that the normal… as in the average human, will not be two brown eyes, brown hair, and ten digits.

“Roxie and Pat will be having a baby. It will have some oddities to what a human would have. In real life anyway. I know the competition works differently. Linia was lining up potential women based on what our babies would look like.”

I didn’t pause our walk but I did eye him like he was crazy. “Give in, man. If she wants another set of milkers to help with babies and you find a good fit, go crazy. I sure as hell have.”

“Ha! No, you haven’t. There was supposed to be a review session by the four ladies that they canceled because you were hyper focused. They decided to stick a pin in it. At least that’s what I heard from Linia. Remember when I had to get a second snack that few nights ago during simulators. Yeah… Linia wasn’t the only one making projected baby images,” Marius said.

“Was there a baby with the cat ears? God those women are spicy,” I said, licking my lips.

He chuckled. “Fine, fine. I get it. I come from a time when orgies were normal. Just… never thought Linia would want another woman in our marriage.”

I shrugged and said, “She might just want more children and keep the mohuma as a subservient wife. She is a pretty bossy woman.”

“Did your ladies ever ask for another man in your harem?” Marius asked, almost causing me to stumble.

“Er… no. Now… I’m not into men so that is an easy out for me.”

He nodded, inspecting the mermen as we approached. “Pretty much how that conversation went for me too. Thankfully she was prepared for this. Maybe because of how well you and the girls have made it work. She remembers how hard it was raising our children without help. She doesn’t want another round of struggles and thinks you and your family are delightful.”

“We certainly have our moments. Look, if you want relationship advice. Ask Beth. She is the best at that stuff. Senna is easy to attach. Beth is the logical thinker. She knew Izzy would be a great fit and I trusted her,” I said, pausing as we arrived.

“A beach quarry. Look at that. What’s the tablet saying?” Marius asked.

I tapped away, pulling up the objective. “Dual defender icons atop a small quarry. Should be fairly straightforward.”

“I sure hope they don’t dive into the water,” Marius said. “Got a plan?”

To answer his question, I kicked off my sandals, and entered the warm water. Yeah, the beach and shallows could have additional predators, but I figured not this close to an objective.

I waded through the hip-high water while Marius stalked from land.

The objective itself was a pile of rocks that built into a rocky shoreline. I had to navigate increasing rocks protruding in the substrate, breaking the waves.

When I aligned with the objective directly onshore, I switched to head for the merman with waving arms.

They saw me at this point. Two bluish green humanoids waddling on fishtails, carrying tridents. There was no armor, and since this was a small objective, I doubted their weapons were even sharp.

They shouted at me in some language I couldn’t understand. Their jabbing tridents attempting to spook me spoke volumes.

“Hey, save yourselves a bunch of pain and surrender now,” I said. This angered them.

Marius crept behind the first one.

I splashed my shovel down, creating waves, and fountains of water. My distractions had them fixated on me.

“Right here. Which of you will accept a challenge!” I shouted.

Marius picked his timing to match a crashing wave.

The man darted forward, sand flinging behind him as his sandaled feet sped his body across the beach.

I rushed through the water to ensure my distraction was complete. Marius wound up, swinging his shovel into the back of a merman's head.

Pang!

The ring echoed and the target collapsed into the water. Ouch, that sounded like it hurt.

The defender shot forward, splashing into the water facedown. I fished the merman out of the waves, tossing him over my shoulder.

On shore, Marius parried a few lazy thrusts by the remaining defender. The battle was… never a fair fight.

I saw him reach out with lightning quickness, snatching the trident from the defender.

“Hey! You did it!” I shouted triumphantly.

The defender was distracted by my voice, giving Marius an opening with his shovel. The cross swing was brutal.

Pang!

The second defender collapsed from the blow he tried to avoid. Marius sneered at the merman. “He tried to skewer me.”

“You got the enhancements!” I said happily.

“Felt like he was slow,” Marius said.

“Well he was. Compared to you that is. I’m sure all these easy objectives will be a breeze,” I said with a huff, tossing the unconscious merman onto the beach. “Water was lovely. Kinda like the beach scene for this competition.”

“Until some leviathan comes out and eats us, sure. It is nice though. Did they surrender?” he asked.

“Getting to that.”

I pulled out the tablet, tapping through the options until I was on the map. I clicked this object, then the claim button near the image.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small quarry. (YES) - (NO) The two defenders have agreed to surrender to you. (YES) - (NO) You have three hours before the defender returns to hostile.

“Damn, Marius, you hit em hard,” I said with a scoff. “Three hours for them to awake.”

He shrugged, backing up from the objective. I selected yes.

Brown magic swirled around the rocks, sucking in magic as the transformation began. The swirls increased in intensity to the point the area darkened.

There was a boom and whoosh of powerful air that pushed me back. In place of the rocks was a quarry. A slab of stone rested in the cliff face ready to be chiseled at.

“You messed up,” Marius said, pointing to the mermen who didn’t change.

“Like hell I did… this time anyway.”

Muttering under my breath, I dove into the tablet interface to figure out what was wrong.

INVENTORY

BUILD

SCORE

MANAGE

I selected inventory.

Personnel

Captured Workers

Materials & Supplies

I tapped ‘Captured Workers’.

Automatically set to instant conversions. Requirements not met.

Captured Worker conversion Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Stronghold conversion slot - 1 - Instant - (Inadequate)

5 - Food (Adequate)

This will produce a -human worker- who has a 50 percent chance of fleeing when stressed. Every day after conversion, the chance is reduced by an additional 10 percent.

“Well that answers that one. We need a stronghold first,” I told him.

He furled his brows and eyed me curiously. “That short competition. Your second one you lost in. It didn’t work that way… did it?”

I tapped my chin. “Hey, you’re right. Same with competition three. Hmm… Well… Best to accept it as is and do our best with new rules.”

Marius hoisted a prisoner, not fretting over the matter. I tucked in the tablet, picking up the other unconscious defender.

I grunted, adjusting for the weight. “Not surprised there are changes. I mean, this is a water themed event. Maybe they want us stuck on the islands longer.”

“Right,” Marius said as he trekked the body off the sand and onto the grass. “You wanna go down for the storage shed or the stronghold.”

“I can pull the longer stretch one. We’ll start the shed. Let's complete that and then I’ll camp on the shed roof,” I said.

“That paranoid?” he asked and I nodded.

“I guess if there is one thing I understand about Khan and No Mercy is that winning matters. How you win matters too. I… I am paranoid. Probably a half a percent chance some other team treks through the woods to kill us early game… But it happened once,” I said with a sigh. “At the very least we can do busywork by each other without getting too far. I just fret with angst.”

“Gotta let that go. Senna doesn’t blame you. You clearly tried to save her or the event every time. Anyway. What’s the plan with these two?” he asked about the ones we were hauling.

“Said three hours for them to become hostile. Figure that is when they’ll heal from the epic bashing you gave them. I guess we bind them tight and then wait for the stronghold. Worst case we kill them and turn them into meat,” I said, not liking how far the walk was.

Marius and I spent the rest of the ten minute journey back to our start point in silence. I was fit, and ready for hard labor… However, carrying unconscious prisoners in jungle heat was not on my training regimen.

I slung the body to the ground, picking a decent spot. With that lump of fishiness on the grass I went into the tablet’s interface.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 199

Wood - 1000

Stone - 200

Metal - 0

Water - ∞

I swapped into the build menu, seeing those numbers were what they should be.

Stronghold

Depot

Hut

Small Farm

Church

Stable

Water well

Barracks

Wall

Tower

Docks

I selected Depot.

Depot Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 4 hours (Adequate)

10 - Stone (Adequate)

100 - Wood (Adequate)

5 - Food (Adequate)

Would you like to build this structure? (YES) - (NO)

“The Depot is cheaper,” I said, handing my friend the tablet. “More stuff to research while we wait for this starting phase to be over.”

I made myself as comfortable as I could on the ground. “See you in four hours,” Marius said, hitting a button.

As the dizziness pulled me into sleep I was content with the start. This island jungle seemed like a nice place to earn a lot of points.

Chapter

Four

COMPETITION 4 DAY 1

I  woke, rushed to let out a pee, and then joined Marius around a dancing illumination of the flames. The two prisoners were awake but silent. They appeared grumpy in the setting light.

“I don’t mind pulling watch again,” Marius said, poking the evening fire. “Make sure you're getting the same options I am. I spent ten minutes trying to give them orders, or figure out why things are different. Never know if you have some special abilities with that thing.”

A few minutes of checking the tablet confirmed the prisoners were useless until we built a stronghold.

“I see the stronghold is twenty-two hours. Not bad. Really irked these guys can’t do it. Wonder how long we can have them bound for,” I muttered.

“I checked the food consumption, we’re on par for ingesting food for one or two people, not four. So I had them sip water. They shouldn’t die… hopefully.”

I pointed to the flickering flames that brightened the serene evening sunset. “Why the flames?”

“It’s the jungle, Nate. I get it, there are very few things besides roaming protectors, but fires tend to work wonders at night.”

“You’re worried about the jungle?” I asked.

“It’s a new competition, Nate. The tablet pinged not even a hundred feet into the underbrush when I was collecting stuff. There are snakes, monkeys, and cats in there, and only a few of them signaled as defenders,” he said.

“Oh… Shucks. I guess this competition will be a mix of wilds and capturables. Should make it interesting. That made the other events a bit simple. Wait for a trigger and then boom, fight it off,” I said, swinging a stick like a sword.

“Going on a theory here. But I think this event is more catered to those closer to winning. Which would mean there is a more natural progression. For example. You can have a gator come out of that water and eat these two,” Marius said with a grumble.

“Keep us on our toes. I wonder if they’ll make us build or if everything will be all magic,” I said.

“Time will tell. The depot was magic at least.” Marius rose from his stump by the fire, brushing off forest dirt. “I kept myself busy. Lots to do around here. Besides giving them water I drew an island map in that cleared section. We have a close opponent directly across from us. The other should be far off to the right side of the island.

“I spent an hour getting this fire, and then stacked that wood. There isn’t much fallen stuff so that should be a fairly smoky fire. The jungle is actually fairly healthy.”

“I didn’t mess with rocks along the riverbanks until we could build a cart or something. Especially since we got a quarry. Wood is likely the best thing for now. So there are four hours of it.”

I nodded, seeing his pile. “I’ll toss this on your sleeping body.” My chuckle was earnest and I really meant it.

He snickered. “Yup, you should be able to stay busy without getting too far from the depot. Figure we can start bashing the objectives when there is a stronghold,” Marius said, heading for the supply depot.

“Thanks, Marius, I appreciate watching over me.”

He shut himself into the shed and I closed the doors.

I brought up the stronghold requirements and saw they were the same as before.

Stronghold Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 44 hours (Adequate)

100 - Stone (Adequate)

1000 - Wood (Adequate)

20 - Food (Adequate)

Would you like to build this structure? (YES) - (NO)

“Odd… Why are there other changes then?” I grumbled to myself. I hit yes on the build now option and four green spots illuminated.

I walked all the potential locations.

There was the river spot that tempted me, but I didn’t trust their lurking depths.

The forest spot that would probably be where a later upgrade would take the structure.

A spot in the middle was decent but I liked the idea of being near the docks, which was the last choice. Not sure why it called to me as a location but it did.

A minute later and the twenty-two hours of semi-solitude began to count down. Well, not like the two mermen were going to keep me company.

The first thing I did was run through the requirements list. Everything was slightly cheaper than before minus the stronghold. The only logical explanation I could come up with was that the docks were being offset as a necessary upgrade.

Wood. Everything early required wood. I toured the treeline to see what populated on the tablet. There was a large snake nearby on the map but that was almost two thousand feet into the woods.

I saw small eyes. A lot of small beady eyes. So many that it really sank in this was not just a fixed competition. It was different in a myriad of ways so far and it left me puzzled. I didn’t see any threats, hear any challenges, or sense any danger.

Feeling somewhat secure, I grabbed my trusty shovel and went to the palms at the closest jungle to the fire.

The undergrowth was thick and intimidating. This… was different from the other competitions. The gloomy forest setting was eradicated and changed for a blanketing darkness with encroaching plantlife.

I sure preferred light underbrush so you could see into the trees I was stomping through.

I knew twenty-two hours was going to be a long time. I wasn’t even that tired either. My plan was to rotate between jungle clearing and vine collecting. Maybe if I got bored I’d toss stones into the depot.

I knew what I was about to endure could easily be done later by drones and was excited to get to work.

That wasn’t my only motivation though. I had time to kill, a city to build, and an ally to protect. A smile spread on my face, accepting the challenge.

I tucked the tablet into my vest, heading for the first bush to dig free of the soft jungle floor.

Spoiler, digging under the bush was tougher than I thought it would be. The roots were everywhere and in the end I just yanked the damn thing out.

Pulling them out was going to be easier. So, I quickly swapped to knocking down vines. Thankfully there was an excess of thin stalks to rip off trees.

When I opened the storage shed, Marius snoozed peacefully. I walked into the depot, giving a relieved sigh when the vines in my hands disappeared.

A few jungle critters fell down, being robbed of their home. I frowned, not sure if I should be stomping bugs. I kicked them out of the shed and closed the door.

The brisk evening breeze allowed a cooling sensation to wash over me. Deciding it was probably best to clear the jungle in pants and long sleeves - I summoned my cowboy outfit.

When I changed clothes… I scoffed.

“Bullshit!” I shouted, louder than I realized.

There was a stench on my clothes, as if they hadn’t been cleaned. I stuck them closer to my sniffer and realized the reality of the situation.

No!

The last thing I wanted to be responsible for was flipping laundry. Like damn… no thank you.

I tucked my inner whining away and spawned rope created from bound twine. The sun had just set and I had work to do.

The first order of business was creating a second fire by where I wanted to work. I went to the river and collected stones to create a pit near the jungle. The river was fast flowing and… intimidating.

I no longer felt that safe sense of security I had confidently exuded in the shallows. There were dangers lurking in natural ways.

By the tenth stone I had a circle. The problem was… my stomach growled. And not in need of relief.

Wait…

I flipped through the help section, finding information on competitors. I then swapped to daily intake.

All food and water must be naturally ingested. Only incapacitated citizens will be allocated automatic resources. You can check your status under your management tab.

I tilted my head back, groaning to the sky. First laundry, now cooking! I’d have to boil water too. I bet I could get sick, not enjoying that thought in the slightest.

Navigating the tablet, I went to manage. I saw four names.

Nathanael Immerson

Marius Corixi

Prisoner 1

Prisoner 2

Uh… I selected myself.

Nathanael Immerson

Condition = Wounded - Possible infection

Food = -3

Water = -2

Vitamins = -2

Energy = +72

Sleep = +7

Strength = 18

Stamina = 27

Coordination = 19

Health = +11

Well… shit. These are going to increase the amount of micromanaging.

Thinking over the situation, I frowned. “I don’t even have a pot to cook from or a container to boil. I bet this river is brackish too,” I said to myself.

I decided to take this as a boon. I was insanely fit, healthy, and able. A competitor without training would struggle to maintain these levels.

I went into the build options and pulled up tools. Sure enough there was a metal cooking pot and metal roasting stand…

Both would be great for surviving. However, we were all out of metal. I weighed my options and decided I wanted to work. I headed back to the river, scooping up a palmful of water.

I tasted the murky water and it was gross.

Nope. Not taking the risk. I let the water drop onto the rocky bank.

I headed back to the first fire and built up the second set of flames. I lit the end of a long stick, waving it into the jungle. A few sets of eyes followed the flickering illumination while I was hunting.

I didn’t have to wonder far to find a coconut tree that was only a few paces into the jungle. I set the no fire end of the branch into the jungle floor, ensuring it wouldn’t tip over.

Was I creeped out by heading into the insect-filled dark void of a jungle? Yeah, I certainly was.

I shimmied up the tree the best I could. My upper arm strength helped with my leg latching. Getting high enough, I used the shovel with one hand, and smacked at a coconut.

Twack!

Twack!

Twack!

I grinned, knocking all three brown orbs down with clean hits.

That grin faded when I heard snorting from a few feet away.

I slid down quickly and jumped out of the tree, racing for the clearing.

A shriek with a growling oink sounded from behind me. The snap of underbrush breaking told me there was an animal coming.

I spun with my shovel out to see a boar as tall as a deer charging. This beast had two muck covered massive tusks and must have weighed a thousand pounds. It was… a monster and wanted to gore me.

“We can be friends!” I shouted.

With a brandished shovel I waited. My words only spurred the beast on. The big wild boar ducked its head, waiting for the right moment.

A twitch was all the warning I received.

Two additional legs dropped down from the belly, allowing the alien animal to leap so high it was chest level.

My original plan was to go high and jump over the boar. I had to alter, resulting in my tumbling for safety.

The hell is this thing!

The six legged boar grunted an oink in anger. I was so fixated on its new set of legs that I missed the secondary attack. The beast whipped a tail into my shoulder, catching me off guard.

I grunted, feeling searing pain and warmth trickling down from the blow.

Blood dripped from a serrated tail.

Whoa! Time to stop underestimating this boar.

The boar spun quickly, barely affording me an opportunity to ready for its next charge. For a brief moment I caught a flicker of intelligence in the beast’s eyes.

“Are you a competitor?” I asked, receiving a snort in reply.

That was a no. The Qoobi language was universal to competitors… I sure hoped it was.

I spun, heading for the flames of the big fire. The beast chased me, tearing grass as it sped with readied tusks.

I knew the creature liked to jump. My thoughts were wondering if flames scared it. When I hopped the large fire, I dug my feet in, and spun to face my foe.

It was not afraid of flames, and did enjoy jumping. When the boar leaped over the fire I grinned.

My muscles tensed, waiting for the perfect moment. The boar was on a trajectory that was fixed, giving me -

A shriek of surprise belted out of the startled boar. The eyes… those damn fiery yellows.

They told a story.

A story of a creature realizing its error would result in death.

There was an oinking plea.

I slammed the shovel down at the perfect moment, ignoring the call for mercy. All my training unleashed an arching swing so powerful it almost split the air.

The shovel head tore down and into the boar, embedding itself on the side of the neck. There was a crack in the air as I severed the head from the spine.

The momentum of the jump fought the impact of the shovel, shoving the animal down. Half the beast landed inside the flames, fireworking the logs inside the pit into a showering display.

There was no oink or groan of complaint. The boar was dead. The blow that severed the spine went deep enough to likely remove the ability to breathe too.

I panted until the smell of cooking flesh assaulted my nostrils.

Grunting from the effort, I yanked the body, trying to wrest it out of the flames. I noticed the fire had lost significant illumination from the boar’s large frame squashing embers.

Even with my intense strength I struggled to get the body free from the coals. Once I felt it was safe to do so, I inspected my bleeding arm.

There was a deep cut that would need stitches across the outside of my left arm. My cowboy jerkin was soaked in blood from the wound down.

I pulled the tablet out, cycling through the options until I found healing. I gulped at what I read.

Competitor Nathanael is injured. A 27 hour rest period will heal his wound and consume 39 food. Do you accept? (YES) - (NO)

Ugh… Fine. This was about ten times what it should be. I grumbled, selecting no, and stripped off my leather top. I ripped the blood soaked sleeve free to create a wrap for my wound.

This healing was going to suck.

I went over to the boar and inspected the tail. The tip was knife-like, go figure.

A quick whack with the shovel’s edge and I acquired a new tool. I buried the blade into the corpse for now.

Walking for the forest, I found my flaming stick still flickering illumination. I retrieved my three coconuts and headed for the fire.

I headed for the stump Marius had pulled over. Setting each coconut down, I retrieved the tail spike.

Using the spike with the shovel, I banged a hole in each coconut with resounding clangs. A few minutes later, I tipped the coconuts back, and was quenching my thirst.

I checked our inventory list.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 172

Wood - 725

Stone - 83

Metal - 0

Water - ∞

Twine - 143’

I walked over and chucked the three drained coconuts into the depot. I went back to check the inventory again. At this point I was wanting to learn the intricacies of this competition.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 174

Wood - 725

Stone - 83

Metal - 0

Water - ∞

Twine - 143’

Okay, we added two food. Good.

I went and inspected my sheet now.

Nathanael Immerson

Condition = Wounded - Possible infection

Food = -4

Water = +5

Vitamins = +2

Energy = +68

Sleep = +6

Strength = 16

Stamina = 24

Coordination = 13

Health = +9

Whoa! Coconut milk had vitamins. Also, damn, this injury impaired my core attributes. I sighed. Alright time to eat something. My stomach was a whiny pain at the moment.

I headed to the dead six-legged boar.

Using my good arm, I chopped the head off. It was already partially severed.

I tossed the head into the depot, expecting it to land next to Marius. I thanked the Archaics when it vanished upon crossing the threshold.

My left arm was starting to flare pain, bringing discomfort when I used it. I powered through, removing a single hind quarter. With the hunk of flesh severed, I dragged the headless, five-legged corpse into the depot.

I checked the inventory again.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 174

Wood - 725

Stone - 83

Metal - 0

Water - ∞

Twine - 143’

Bone - 18 pounds

Hide - 14 sqr feet

Interesting. Never seen a bone option before.

I dove into the build options, selected tools, and was pleasantly surprised by the new options.

Mining Pick

Wood Axe

Spear

Shovel

Basket

Chair

Bed

Cooking Pot

Cooking Stand

Fishing Pole

Fishing Twine

Bone Hook

Fishing Netting

Rope

Okay, I could work with this. I had no purpose for any of the fishing items yet. Instead of worrying about how I would handle these new tools, I adjusted the fire to rebuild the output of flames.

Marius’s four hours of labor was dwindling quickly. I could use my left arm… it just flared with pain to do so. Leaving me wanting to bind it in a carrying case.

I still felt blood seeping out, albeit slower than before.

A teepee type formation of sticks let me set the boar’s leg above most of the flame.

With the single limb roasting over the open fire, I went into the tool selection and created as much rope as I could.

My next order of business was wrapping bushes from the nearest section of jungle with my rope. One by one, over the next hour, I yanked out shrubs. They were dragged into the depot, adding to our twine and wood numbers.

The fat on the cooking leg popped, telling me it was probably time to let it cool. I set the meat onto the stump before heading back to tear out more bushes.

Another hour went by and my left arm stopped bleeding. The pain was there, it was residual with a numb tingling.

A quick inspection of my personal stats told me I was doing okay. My hunger was a -8 but the rest seemed to be somewhat stabilized.

When the meat was cool to the touch, I cooked the tail-blade on the shovel, hoping to sterilize the tool.

A few slices into the leg found juicy delicious meat. It was fairly gamey. I didn’t mind in the slightest and ate quickly, listening to the noises of the jungle.

About halfway through my sated hunger there was an eerie silence and a startling crash from the jungle. A set of glowing orange eyes peered out from the canopy.

I heard sniffing. Lots of sniffing. Something didn’t care if it was being loud. Those… those were normally more deadly than the stealthy predators.

When a cute black bear cub sauntered out of the jungle I flung the leg toward the animal. I ran like hell for the depot with my shovel.

I tossed the tool onto the roof, letting it clang until it rested on the wooden flat slats. Using the door handle, and my grasp on the roof as leverage, I hauled myself up.

A relieved sigh escaped my lips when I found relative safety. I watched the cub with trepidation.

Sure, the cub was not scary or making me cower. The fact that the jungle had gone silent warned me that there was likely a momma around.

Like hell I was going to get caught in the open by a bear defending her cub. So I gave up my dinner and watched the little guy eat with abandon.

A half hour or so later and the cub headed for the water. It drank enough liquid until it let out an epic belch that was followed by a gassy fart.

The cub went right back to the limb it was cleaning.

The jungle had returned to a cacophony of critters making noises. I decided there was little I could do at this point. If the momma was around, the jungle ceased caring.

I… felt she wasn’t though. Only because the cub had wandered out of sight and not far from me with no head poking out to follow the wee one.

Deciding not to risk any more strenuous activities, I went into a half sleep of sorts. The gnawing of teeth against bone was enough for me to clock out for a few hours.

Chapter

Five

COMPETITION 4 DAY 2

A  mewing sound stirred me from my light slumber. The bear cub was groaning in complaint by the fire. The flames had died down and the southern sun was fighting the horizon to reveal itself.

I smiled at the sight of night losing and the bear… The little guy looked hilarious.

The belly on the small black bear was double the size it should be. Sure enough the entire limb bones were picked clean.

I chuckled at its pain. That’s what overeating does to you. That and the gas I kept hearing.

Psst! Then a groan.

My amusement was cut short when a flock of parrots burst into the morning sky. I ducked down, pressing my body tight against the roof. I was expecting momma to finally reveal herself.

“I smell cooking.” The faintest of voices reached my ears.

There was a commotion in the bushes and silence.

Oh shit! Competitors. They’re insane! What!?

I rolled onto my side, extracting the tablet. When I went to cancel the build I saw a new message.

Buildings can only be manually destroyed.

What the hell did that mean?

I tucked the device back in. So much for bringing Marius out of his building slumber to even the score.

The jungle undergrowth rustled, calling for my attention. The loud critters had gone completely silent minus the movements the invaders couldn’t conceal.

My vision fixated on the growing noise.

A female’s face peered through the foliage. She had long ears that folded back against the side of her head. So long they jutted out behind her head. She was very human but those ears were not. Her nose came out a bit longer as did her jawline.

I saw a necklace of canines around her neck and the rest was a mystery, hidden in the dense jungle. She was… exquisite for an alien. Her eyes focused on the complaining cub.

The cub caught her scent. A low growl sent my hairs tingling. The little cub flipped onto his legs, darting to hide behind the shed. Well, darting was a bit much… running with limitations from a filled belly was a better description.

I… there was nowhere for me to hide. I had the high ground and was on the only structure they could destroy.

I waved when her eyes fixated on me.

She saw me, giving me a shocked expression. Not sure why her eyes flared white. Before I could ask, she backpedaled, sinking between vegetation until she was lost from sight.

Well… Not much to do besides to prepare the best I could. I extracted the tablet, spawning a half dozen spears onto the flat roof.

Not a moment later and a wobbly spear crashed into the side of the depot.

I realized something as I looked at the failed throw.

That was a crafted stick.

They were too far from their starter zone to craft more. Me… I had my depot under my feet and hundreds of wood. I spawned every bit of twine I could and mass produced spears until I was worried they might collapse the roof.

While the foes were likely crafting more crude weapons I had mine being turning into a pyramid wall. I had the high ground, the resources, but lacked the numbers.

Staying where I was for another ten hours would unlock Marius and the two bozos that were -

A spear crashed out of the bushes, slamming into one of the docile captured workers. The weapon lodged in the back of a shoulder blade with a crack.

The merman screamed in agony. Another smaller stick was flung out and missed.

A third spear hit the merman in the gut.

As much as I wanted that crying to stop, there was no reprieve. I didn’t mind that they shifted focus.

The bear cub had retreated to the riverbank to hide in the rocks and I was building up my defense.

The surviving prisoner hid behind the dead prisoner, ending the game of trying to kill that one too.

I waited patiently.

“Come out, you coward!” a gruff voice bellowed. “Or are you a cockless male!?”

I smirked, feeling the frustration that oozed out of the voice. That was a decent insult for an alien too. I politely responded with, “Hi, how was the trek over here?”

Two hastily crafted spears landed short. One far shorter. If I had to guess, the journey through the jungle was less than perfect.

As if on cue, a mighty cat shrieking meow pierced the jungle.

It was distant but proved a point of mine. They were in the inferior position. The same young woman from before stepped out of the bushes, hands up.

She wore the trademark amazonian skimpy bikini on a busty body.

I now understood why her ears were longer and tighter to her body. She had a tail with clawed feet. Those three things were what made her alien… the rest was deliciously human. Big supple breasts rested on her small frame that widened at the hips.

I saw that she took notice of my inspection.

“I challenge you to a duel,” the woman said with a meek voice that didn’t lead to an ounce of intimidation.

I scratched my head. “You didn’t call me a coward. That was someone else,” I said.

Her eyes darted to the bushes, likely seeking help from her husband or mate or whatever. She was likely not the competitor but the meek thing could be a ruse to make me extra confident.

“Are you refusing?”

I stood, readying myself for a spear throw from the jungle that never came. “I have no incentive to fight you. I think that your lover is wounded, and that a big cat or snake will eat him given time. They are the true coward, sending you out to fight.”

She gasped. Her eyes shot into the woods. There was a silence that lingered.

After five minutes of nothing the jungle grew accustomed to our stalemate, flicking back on the ambient noise of the early morning residents.

I sat back down mostly behind cover.

“If I come out will you accept my challenge?” a feminine voice asked in a dejected tone.

I scoffed and replied, “I can wait up here, there is no benefit to me risking myself.”

“What about honor!?” the voice from within the jungle hissed back. The tone was filled with venom.

“I have some of it. But honor is not what wins battlefields. Patience and wisdom is. Something I have promised myself I must exude,” I said.

While I knew I was potentially revealing too much, I wanted to make it clear - I wasn’t about to suicide for anyone.

The younger woman stayed silent, sitting precariously on the edge of the fire on the stump.

I might have been able to toss a spear into her. It was an option I had weighed a few times. Part of my advantage was I had the best weapons.

Throwing a spear and missing would only provide my opponents with a new tool that may cause my demise.

Caution, I told myself.

There was wisdom in caution here.

“I hate these mohuma competitions. The absolute worst,” the voice in the woods said.

“Err… Not sure what you’re saying, lady.”

“A rookie… Impressive. This is the top tier of competitors too. Not worth the hassle though. Can’t stand mohuma personally,” the voice said from the bushes.

“Why are you bringing up mohuma so much?” I asked inquisitively.

“If one of your party has a hankering for mohuma… then you can get slotted into a mohuma competition. It changes the rules… No drones at all. Forces you to convert mohuma and only summon mohuma. Did you not read this during your training?” the voice said.

I wanted to fold my forehead into my palms when the realization washed over me.

We had read about this. It… was a one percent chance… It altered the entire match to speed up protectors aligning with aliens unable to sustain on their own. I… should have seen this coming given all the changes.

“Give me a moment,” I said between deep breaths.

It was sinking in now. There’d be no Senna, Beth, or Izzy. For a thousand days I would be trapped with nothing but mohuma. The ladies, Linia included, were going to be pissed.

I tried to keep my swearing down. A practice that slipped.

“Fuck,” I muttered about a million times.

The only thing that kept me from losing in a heedless charge was my future mattered here. I really wanted that prime Qoobi slot.

I’d make it up to my lovely ladies the moment I got out of the competition. Judging by my track record… that’d be less than a hundred days.

“Will you accept my challenge,” the voice said, wheezing.

“Even with this new turn of events I cannot. Why would you purposely lose?” I asked.

There was a slight snicker from the bush.

An older version of the alien stepped into the clearing. Her right ankle was purple, her calf bloated to the size of a thigh. She was equally attractive in her unique alien ways.

However, she was pale and unsteady on her feet. “Not the plan at all. We defeat you, then the other team, and then tell the mohuma to flick off. Gemia would pick a male to let dominate her and be my breeder. I just need you to come down. Controlling this island is simple. Just need to defeat you and then heal before assaulting the last group.”

I could see Gemia glare daggers at her mother… maybe older sister. “You clearly are injured.”

A roar in the distance was answered by a ball of flame. Both ladies flinched, eyeing the growing smoke and licking orange fire.

When they were distracted, I cheated.

I snatched a spear off the roof, hurling it with enough force that I left my feet. The leader never saw it, she was cursing at what the flames represented.

The spear dove into her guts, knocking her down. There was a string of useless curses and she flailed unhappily. The spear had her pinned against the soft terrain as half the weapon buried itself.

Eventually the cursing stopped.

“That was a dragon!” she exclaimed, her eyes were terrified.

“Killed two of them now,” I boasted.

Gemia shot eyes of wonderment at my direction. “Swear it!”

“Uh… clearly I’m above honor dueling, so you shouldn’t trust me. But I swear it,” I proclaimed. “Also, to be fair, we had help.”

“Our ways are… different, alien fool,” the leader said with disdain. “You bested me in an outnumbered match.”

“Huh?” I blurted.

“Since there was no challenge accepted, the fight was us two, versus you. Which…” Gemia said, halting when the older woman shot her a glare.

For having a spear in her guts she didn’t seem that bad. Proving my point, she said, “I… our planet was overridden by a dragon infestation. Barter with me before I pass.”

“For what?” I asked.

“If Gemia survives until the end, our team may get 74th or lower. I want to lose less points now that I’m mortally wounded.” She coughed blood, pain etched on her face. Okay, she was strong but it was clear the damage was taking its toll.

I nodded. “Keeping a competitor as a prisoner goes against my ways. I apologize.”

“What if she became a team member?”

I shook my head. “I fail to understand what you are offering or why I would accept.”

“I have a master tablet that I hid when I sent Gemia out to challenge you. If you take her in, on your honor, I’ll let her retrieve the tablet before I die,” she said.

It was at this point I noticed the screaming merman was dead. I sighed. I was down a competitor already.

All my workers going forward would not be humans. My curiosity as to what that merman would become would never be sated.

This upset me, and at the same time I was flustered with what to do. I willed in deep breaths, controlling my emotions.

“I’m sorry, I do not accept prisoners and I cannot trust your… sister,” I said.

“Ha, she is no such thing and likely will be my downfall. I could have selected steely strong werfaves to give me pups. This time I wanted a start without a constant waddle. Had to pick a female.

“A weak bitch to make my breeder. Do what you want with her? Just keep her alive for the tablet. We can handle going minus one point. Three and we may... be... doomed,” she said and passed out.

“I’ll find the tablet,” Gemia said.

“Wait.” I waved her over. She eyed me with hands up. “Who is she to you?”

“A distant relative from ancient times. For now, my matriarch.”

“Is that how your society operates?” I asked.

She scoffed. “All societies have a leader. Or else they are restricted from competing for Qoobi. Surly you studied this,” Gemia said.

She, of course, was correct. A pure shared mind was not afforded the same opportunity. There were history lessons on how such societal structures were doomed to failure. Even an ant colony had a leader.

“That was not what I meant. Do you only respect females and why are you not willing to be a matriarch?” I asked.

“I'm a runt of my litter. I was -”

“Litter?” I said, all but licking my lips.

“We birth in fours, one will always be bigger, two average, one smaller. I was deemed exceptional by the Archaics for my breeding abilities even with my small frame,” Gemia said. “That and my ability to defuse situations, not instigate them.”

“May I call you Gem?” I asked.

She looked to her dead or dying master and said, “I loathe being called bitch. It is the greatest insult to us possible. Can you swear to never call me such a word?”

“Easily,” I told her. “I also find the word distasteful.”

“And what shall I call you? Dragon Slayer? Master?” Gem asked in a teasing tone.

I shook my head. “Nate for now. Take that spear, go try to find the tablet,” I ordered.

I was uncertain what to do with her. She picked up the spear, not making a single hostile move in my direction.

When she crept into the jungle it dawned on me. I could make her a builder without ever taking any risk. Prison to building to prison. It’d be heartless. But…

When I watched the matriarch she either was extremely gifted at playing dead… or extremely dead. If I had killed her, I didn’t feel bad. I was fairly certain she had been bitten by a snake and was almost dead as it was.

Had to give it those… what did they call themselves… werfaves. Yes, it was werfaves. They were tough. Making it through that jungle probably was perilous. I heard a whining bear before I heard Gem.

If she grabbed the tablet and vanished… with a spear… well, she’d owe us one and I knew we’d be far ahead of her if she was able to develop.

Except I could tell. I always was a decent judge of character. Or so I told myself. Her mannerism, her meekness.

It wasn’t a facade for a dark assassin. She was truly a breeder.

Beth was a master of court and a breeder. Maybe just getting males to breed with the runt in werfave society was an accomplishment. Somehow I imagined their males were much like human males. If it was pretty and welcoming, you would have fun with her.

The cub scratched at the depot wall. What the hell for, I had no idea. Honestly, I was still shocked I didn’t have to kill a momma bear.

Oh… Oh…

The realization hit me. A bear type roar, a dragon gout of flame, and now a baby cub was asking for love. I started to piece it together.

The little stinker probably snuck off while momma was sleeping. She went roaming to find her baby… dying from the search when she ran into a dragon. I sighed, deciding to adopt the little bugger. I had already fed him, breaking the first rule of dealing with wildlife.

My left arm burned getting down, and it hurt lifting the little cub. I hauled myself onto the roof and waited.

Hours went by without me willing to risk anything. Call me silly, but I was content snuggling up with a bear.

I did review the help section of the tablet while I waited to see if Gem would return before Marius awoke. There was a nifty disclaimer about the Mohuma themed competitions.

Mohuma Competition: Mohuma are there to aid a protector species. Bathing, rearing of children, cooking, cleaning, manual tasks, and general chores are all some of the great things regarding mohuma. During this type of competition, drones will only become mohuma - both surrendered and created. Breeding rules change. To encourage bonding between competitors and mohuma there are delays in natural mohuma breeding unless the competitor is involved. Only competitors who’ve shown an affinity for mohuma will be allowed to compete in these events.

I frowned, petting my new bear friend.

These competitions had a baby stage.

Yeah. A real life baby stage that Senna was going to be begging to watch for hours. Beth was going to be furious she couldn’t be a mom.

Maybe Valance would pull some strings and stick her in one of those foxgirl bodies. Yumm…

I was daydreaming about my lovely ladies in augmented toy bodies when I heard a whole lot of rustling. The bear grew scared, growling, and frightened because he couldn’t flee.

Zooming out of the woods was Gem with a thirty foot snake slithering on her heels.

She was faster, but that would change in the sand and the water. I… I… hesitated. There was an emotional tug at my heart to save the damsel.

She was an enemy though, and I saw no tablet. The only thing keeping me from enjoying watching her die was her trying to lead the snake away, not towards me.

The snake hesitated near the water. Gem noticed this too, turning to run down the beach.

The snake had zero aversion to the river, hopping in with a splash. Gem luckily didn’t dive into the river for safety.

She spun running the other way. Her eyes connected to mine for a fleeting moment.

I saw panic, resignation, and most of all determination. The woman may be meek, but she wasn't a quitter.

“Life is about hard choices, little friend. I guess it’s time I man up and make one myself,” I said, patting the bear.

The situation grew grim when a croc the size of a ship raced onto the shore. In its eagerness to eat the wolfgal, the snout crashed under her feet, and flicked her further onto land.

I watched her soar through the air and came to a decision.

Chapter

Six

COMPETITION 4 DAY 2

I  hopped down from the depot, leaving a whining cub behind. As soon as my feet hit the grass I ran for a throw.

“Arrggg…” I grunted out.

I snatched my shovel I had embedded into the dirt and ran for the matriarch who I had gutted. While there were other pressing matters, she was my thorn I refused to leave idle.

There was an odd roar as the crocodile felt my spear, telling me I hit even though I didn’t see the weapon land.

I was fixated on the likely dead competitor.

I saw the faintest of movements from my rapid approach. Nope, I wasn’t giving her an opening. I jumped to throw her hearing off, and launched the shovel with blinding speed mid-flight.

Her eyes peeked slightly open to figure out where I was.

Too late did the matriarch realize I had just killed her. The shovel dove into her neck, severing three quarters of it. Her eyes flared open, staying like that as she died.

Her ploys at deception left me doubting I’d ever be able to trust Gem. I had no time to worry about that though, I needed to keep these behemoths off my land, and away from the depot.

I yanked the shovel out of her gory mess and turned to see the snake and the croc were heading for me. The croc had a small graze on its snout that leaked blood freely.

The snake wanted none of the fight and fled the other way for the river.

I wasn’t going to entice it back. One monster was enough for me. I was certain I was the target, and yet the croc hesitated near the treeline.

A single thought raced through my mind as I stared at the slowing saltwater reptile. For a starting zone this place was savage.

I had another tough choice to make as the croc abandoned making me a snack for the likely unconscious Gem.

I ran back for the bundle of spears I’d tossed down from the roof.

The bear cried for me from up high, the snake hissed from the other side of the river, and the croc shook the grit underfoot with its massive frame.

With additional ammunition, I came up with a plan. Painfully, I stuffed the spears under my left arm running for the croc that was sniffing the grass for Gem.

I saw her sit up, jabbing a spear at the croc.

Massive jaws snapped shut, eating the weapon, and giving her time to escape.

She had no idea where to run unless she came towards me. I could see her tensing at the thought of the jungle.

I groaned. “This way! Protect the bear,” I shouted, pointing at the depot. “If you do anything other than stand atop the depot. I feed you to the snake.”

She didn’t listen past my order to hide with the bear. Gem rushed by with a giant croc hot on her heels.

I charged for the beast who lined me up with squinting eyes. I spun out of its insanely fast snap by inches.

The air rushed by me as the jaws clapped together with a gush of rancid breath. The croc had closed its eyes for the attack. I kept running until I was near the left eye.

When the lids opened I flung a spear.

Squish! The weapon dove into the eye.

The head shook with a shrieking roar of pain.

I ran for the jungle.

Another rush of air behind me.

Snap!

Jaws again barely missed me. Spittle soaked the jungle without me even giving the slightest of glances back.

I weaved between trees, powering through the underbrush. I managed to get through a thick section of trees, cutting a hard right as the croc lost speed.

There was a point where it couldn’t crash through trees like twigs.

I circled around while it was trying to backpedal out of the jungle.

My grin was ear to ear when I arrived at the side of the croc, who was unable to turn its head. I jabbed the soft bottom half of a belly and it shrieked with a roar.

Blood ejected from the wound freely.

Out of desperation the mighty beast rolled, trying to crush me as it smashed the jungle.

I deftly dodged a falling tree and hopped out of the way when a claw from a back leg tried to snag me. The second roll was slower and I was ready for it.

I rammed a spear into the underside, hoping to hit a heart or lung.

The croc completed its roll and shoved the spear out its back from the maneuver.

I heard a hiss and a scream in the distance. There was also a raspy wet cough from the croc.

The excitement wasn't over. My legs burst into a sprint, charging back for the depot. I felt the power of my rigorous training kicking in.

I zoomed across the distance to see Gem jabbing at an angry snake.

I was down to a single spear, but my shovel rested against the depot not even a hundred paces away.

As the snake reared back to strike, I hurled my weapon. It zipped across the grassy terrain, climbing with incredible speed.

The weapon whipped by Gem, close enough to send her long black lock into a whirl.

The snake saw the spear just in time, snapping its head down, and only taking a glancing blow.

This was enough of a wound to spook the large predator. It didn’t rear again and I saw the back end of the snake heading down for the river.

When I reached the depot, I tossed the shovel onto the roof before I leveraged myself up. I felt my left arm bleeding… again.

The moment I was on the structure there was an alien boar tail inches from my face.

“Why did you help me!?” Gem seethed between clenched teeth.

I could have played it calm, but I wasn’t in the mood.

With lightning quickness my left hand clenched her wrist and my right fist lanced forward, busting her nose.

I wasn’t one to beat a woman, or one to abuse a lady either. She deserved a proper response for sticking a weapon in my face after saving her life… twice.

“Drop the blade or I kill you. Only warning,” I told her with an even, measured tone.

The blade clattered against the roof.

“When I release your hand, re break your nose, and tilt your head to the sky. I’m in command, is that clear?”

“Yes Alpha,” she managed between wheezes.

The bear cub was glaring daggers at me. I used the flipping quarter of a second break to see the croc had made it about halfway to the water.

“How did you know?” she asked.

I saw the croc trying to move. Its legs were pawing at the grass, not capable of moving the collapsed body.

“Hope that’ll be some points,” I said.

She spit out blood, aiming it clear of me and the bear who continued to give me dirty looks. The little traitor bear cuddled into her lap.

“Matriarch Kessi is… yes… is still works here. She is known for her deception. She doesn’t hate mohuma. They’re all she breeds with. Our males… have rough… it’s embarrassing to say to an alien.”

“Huh?” I blurted, not understanding.

She shook her head in shame. “I apologize. Our society is predicated around dominance and battle. Kessi is a battle queen. Both in solo skills and tactical abilities. She has the patience of an ancient matriarch with earned wisdom.”

“So everything was a ploy to get me close?” I asked.

“You… you’re faster than any alien I’ve seen besides the neruni, and the neruni are weak. Nothing compared to your immense strength and intensely large muscles. You even make werfaves seem small. She would have captured you and made you a sex toy to win the event,” Gem told me.

I chuckled. “Uh… Shucks.”

“Exactly what she said when I told her you waved with a goofy grin on your face.”

“How did she get the swollen ankle and calf?” I asked.

Her forearm wiped across her face, cleaning the upper part of her lip, and soaking her fine arm hair.

With my jerkin ruined, I peeled the sweat soaked leather off, and handed it to her.

“Why did you save me?” I tisked her. She didn’t see my finger wag as her head was pointed to the sky. “You hit like a demon.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I… at some point hope I can summon one of my wives to tell you I… Actually, I do hit and kill women. Without remorse if the situation calls for it. None of my lovers feel pain when we argue, which in and of itself is rare.”

Her eyes came down to give me a speculative look. She must have felt the blood rushing down so she returned to staring at the cloudless blue sky. I peered over at the croc who was still breathing, but not moving.

“Sorry,” she muttered.

“Better. Now answer me,” I commanded with a slight growl.

This had the opposite effect. Her grin revealed blood soaked teeth as her lips peeled back. “Yes, my mighty Alpha,” she said with a lusty tone. “May I rinse the blood off?”

I scratched the back of my neck in confusion. I then remembered. “So. Gem. I… really don’t want to kill you. You’re a mouse caught by a lion, try me and -”

“I promise on the little bear's life.” She flipped the fat cub over who protested. She saw the sex and let him relax. “Rolly. Rolly our little male protector. I promise not on his life actually.”

Gem eyed me intently, her brown eyes with orange flecks flaring with an intensity. She continued, “I swear on my life and soul I will be a faithful beta and never stray nor do anything to harm the pack on pain of an icing in space. By the Archaics and the great werfave gods, I am yours to command.”

I froze. “Whoa. Gem, you realize they listen right,” I said, taken aback by her oath. “What happens if… the snake forces you to kill me?”

“I’d die instead. You silly brute. When we find her tablet, her score will have stopped. I’m no longer on her team with that oath,” she said and my jaw dropped. “Managers can swap teams. You're a worthy competitor to serve and clearly have no qualms about aliens. Don’t act stunned.”

“But I am,” I blurted.

“Alpha… Nate. I’m soaked in blood from you smashing my nose. Can you do a dainty werrie like me a favor? Please help me get clean. Assuming the snake is gone,” she asked.

I scoffed, spawning a bucket on the roof, and saw that it didn’t fill. Before I went down I checked the map.

No snake icon was on display.

Hell there wasn’t a croc icon either but it sure as shit was still alive and nearby. On a hunch I checked the score.

I input Team Dinosaur Warlord. When I saw our score, I gulped.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 83rd

Survival: 2.5 (tied 90th)

eXplore: 0.1 (90th)

eXpand: 0.3 (tied 87th)

eXploit: 1.9 (72nd)

eXterminate: 0.5 (54th)

“Whoa! Ten teams gone in one day.”

She came over to glance at the score. I let her get close. If anything she was fearless around me, and I was tense around her. The stench of iron was thick on her.

I sighed, tucking the tablet away.

I was about to hop down when she placed a hand on my left arm to say, “Wait, you’re bleeding.”

“I know. I don’t have a way to sew it up yet,” I said with a frown.

She shook her head, grabbing the bucket, and hopping down. She carried the wooden container for the river. There was no magical filling of the bucket.

I watched nervously as Gem dumped water over her sleek and petite form. My eyes were constantly flickering between her, the water, and the jungle.

When she stripped nude she did so with her back to me and I smiled mischievously. Her fine form held the right kind of curves. Her garments were dunked clean and then carried up to the depot to dry.

Her alien breasts… had four nipples. This oddly made sense given their litter size. She held a tuft of fur over her vagina and had no issues being nude.

Gem jumped back up to the roof, letting Rolly curl up in her lap. “Going forward I will be mindful of your wound. I appreciate you considering helping me with something so trivial. Why are you staring at my milkers?”

“Oh… umm… They’re great boobs. Very different,” I admitted. My original question had been dodged for long enough. “Tell me about the trip from your starting point to here.”

“Very well,” she said, stroking the bear. “Werfaves hate water but can sail. Hmm… We have time. That snake will wait for us to separate and you need to let that bleeding stop.” She nodded to herself, agreeing with her own words.

Her alien mannerisms were… alien. Her ear twitched, her eyebrows rolled with each emotion, tightening, raising, or frowning. She seemed at ease, stroking the black fur of the gassy cub. Gem gave a final look over her shoulder, ensuring we were not about to be attacked.

“Kessi, as I mentioned earlier, is a battle master. I’m a long distant relative of hers. She pulled me into an interview, feeling the Archaics had made a mistake by selecting me after studying my file.

“Kessi failed to recognize that the selection process was diverse in its ways. She complained constantly during my interview about how a descendant of hers was too weak and a disappointment. She scoffed at my zero confirmed kills in combat. That was my first introduction to her.”

She sighed, emotions rippling across her delicate features. Her brown eyes flecked sparks of orange. There was… pain. Her pause was brief and I decided not to push her.

“She was my only interview. I studied the demise of my species. The fading lands once controlled by our advanced civilization, turned to ruin by intelligent dragon invaders. I… in my being, I knew she was my only hope. I was given an option to bind myself to Kessi before I went back to stasis.” She shook her head in sadness.

She unhappily continued, “Last two competitions I awoke early in the competition when a drone would receive an education. I… favor knowledge, as do most runts. Learning I was awake, Kessi assigned me to become a breeder for her empire.

“The process was less than savory. A confined room, sex with a male, and then twenty-eight days later four new workers.

“For two rotations I did little more than sew clothing and give birth. Each rotation I would die during a horrific battle as fodder.” She shuddered, hating death. “Finally, during our downtime I was summoned. Kessi had a new plan, and it involved me unfortunately.”

I paused her to summon a spare toga. I handed the outfit to her. Mostly because her talking was making her heavy breasts jiggle. While delightful to watch, I was fairly certain my lovely ladies in stasis would scold me for not being kind to my… newest team member.

Gem accepted the outfit, stirring the little guy in her lap as she became clothed.

“So you have no love for Kessi. Easy to understand why you swapped leaders. Why did she take you to this competition then?” I asked.

She pulled her wet hair over her shoulder to braid as she talked. “I… Qoobi is a great option for all of us. I’d love to go. Even if it means compromises. Especially if it means compromises. Kessi is different. Like I mentioned, she thrives on combat. These competitions are a second home to her.

“She relishes the events and hates the downtimes. She even expects Qoobi to be too docile. Her goal is to stay at nine points until the Archaics tell her that she should win,” Gem said.

I let out an “Ah.”

“Exactly. I don’t think the Archaics care because she brings excitement. Kessi is a base rusher and then she builds up multiple cities, with multiple tablets she’s earned. This works really well… assuming you can get to your opponents unscathed.

“I was told, before the event, that I would be bred by a captured competitor. Someone similar to you.” She smirked, revealing her larger than normal canines. “The concept was simple. Kessi doesn’t need a male to win her fights. She can win on her own. By bringing me she could avoid having to get a swollen belly and still increase her numbers.

“Pregnancies for us are… tenuous and painful near the fifth trimester. As a breeder… it is the least fun phase and I understood why Kessi desired to put early drone gain onto someone else.

“The fact we got a mohuma event didn’t bother her in the slightest because she always rushes. Mohuma competitions mean that your subservient species will always be under threat from natural predation. Which is why there are wild beasts galore on all these islands.

“You have to earn your protector status to your mohuma. Well, Kessi still wanted to rush you. The other team was too far, or so she said. The first creature we fought was a ten foot tall parrot.

“She broke her ankle in that fight because its last dying effort hoisted her into the air dozens of feet. Not willing to turn back, I crafted a makeshift crutch. This morning about an hour from your spot, a spider bit her leg. I was blazing the path and had no idea.

“When I heard a crash, I saw large fangs buried into her leg. Her ankle’s swelling probably hid the spider's touch. There was certainly a poison factor. She would have healed in time but was clearly in no shape for a decent fight. I pleaded for her to turn back, instead she wanted to keep going.

“The first plan was for me to fight you and lose. She’d come out, surrender, and you’d be killed in your sleep eventually. She also would never make the same kind of guarantees I did. She would deceive and kill her way to victory.

“We really are terrified of dragons though. That is very real and that roar triggered haunting memories that led to her downfall. You were wise to kill her.”

I grumbled. “I didn’t enjoy killing her as she was pinned to the dirt. Do you think her tablet is in there and working?” I pointed to the jungle.

“Likely. She’d never destroy it. Honestly, my guess is, it might be on her body. I checked a lot of spots before the snake came for me,” Gem said. “Is that a sufficient answer?”

I nodded. My turn for clarity. “I had no intention of saving you at first. I… misjudge people at times but I can’t let my overwhelming success get bogged down by a single failure. I knew it was never about you, and more about one point loss versus three.

“When the croc and the big snake were after you, I had to act. When that monstrosity dies, we’ll have a lot of meat, hide, bone, and hopefully points. So, it wasn’t all about you. I saved you because that was also a threat to Marius and I.”

“Is that your beta?” she asked.

I shook my head. “We operate less like a pack. I’m the competitor, and the boss, but Marius is as close to an equal as they get. More importantly, he’s my friend. Can you watch the bear. I’m going to check her body and see if the snake is lurking.”

Ensuring I only used my right arm, I lowered myself to the ground. “Are you going to burn her?”

“Is that your way?” I asked.

“Yes, but I understand if you throw her in the depot. She does that to those she kills,” Gem said from the roof.

“She is barely wearing an outfit. Why were you both so exposed?” I asked.

She blushed slightly. “We… we wanted to entice you. We have full outfits in the jungle. That was just my undergarments. I know it worked too, so don’t deny it.”

I saw a glint of sun reflecting on metal not even two paces into the jungle. She had tucked the tablet into a bush before exposing herself in the clearing. I retrieved the device, dusting it off.

When I tapped the screen I was given this message.

Competitor 334019 has been eliminated. Both members are no longer able to operate this device for their team. Would you like to claim this master tablet as a backup tablet. (YES) - (NO)

Well... Damn. I was hoping this was going to happen. I harbored thoughts that Gem was playing a long con. Maybe she was. Maybe she was the Kessi of the two and the lady I killed was her minion.

Except this message, from the system itself, proved that theory wrong.

I… I just didn’t see Gem as being an evil mastermind.

She was loving that cub like it was her own baby. I saw her fight, she sucked at it even when it was life or death.

No… She wasn’t the villain. That was the dead lady I dragged into the depot.

When her body vanished inside, I stayed on the ground. I strategically set up spears point first into the grass. I wanted to be ready if that snake showed again.

I put our conversation on hold, and went back to work.

A few minutes later Gem hopped down in a tumble.

Rolly groaned at having to leave the depot roof. Gem vanished into the woods, quickly returning in adventuring garb. I returned my toga outfit and then kept working.

I felt calm and at one with my new friends. Most of my edge was gone.

Except for the thoughts of that damn snake. Soon enough we’d try to kill that beast. For now, there were simple tasks. Endless amounts of mundane work.

Chapter

Seven

COMPETITION 4 DAY 2

“U h… what the hell is that?” Marius asked when he left the depot.

I walked over to his side. My shrub collecting had been placed on pause due to the stronghold rumbling in completion and me handling the newest conversion.

When the stronghold finished I waited by the depot while Rolly and Gem started slicing up the croc corpse.

“Which one?” I asked.

He shook his head in dismay. “So much for a quiet twenty-two hours. A bear, a pretty alien, and a massive croc… interesting indeed.”

“Well, let me catch you up,” I said. I spent the next five minutes doing exactly that. “And now you’re up to speed.”

“Crazy night. Alright, thanks for this tablet. What’s next?” Marius asked, tapping away at some options. “Hey the score is looking good.”

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 42nd

Survival: 2.8 (tied 90th)

eXplore: 0.1 (90th)

eXpand: 0.8 (tied 55th)

eXploit: 2.3 (62nd)

eXterminate: 50.5 (5th)

I glanced at the score myself. If there were four teams ahead of us that meant they probably defeated two big local threats.

“Metal,” I said flashing him our inventory numbers.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 212

Wood - 977

Stone - 113

Metal - 0

Water - ∞

Twine - 373’

Bone - 19 lbs

Hide - 21 sqr feet

He nodded, walking for his dirt map by the fire that I may or may not have destroyed. He simply scrubbed the dirt with a boot and began drawing a new map.

There were two mines. One was up the river toward the dragon. The other was into the jungle to the east. The snake had fled across the water and to the east.

That beast was actually on the tracker though. My tablet showed the creature stationary to the north. My guess was the snake was recovering from the big cut I delivered.

“East one is only ten minutes away… Crap, the prisoner,” Marius said, remembering.

“Right, sorry about that. Meant to mention. The moment the stronghold converted, so did the merman. He converted into an amphibian. A seahorse with legs at about hip height. Was not happy to be alive again and was shrieking incessantly. I occupied him by building a hut. Should be snoozing in the stronghold,” I said.

Marius groaned. I could already tell what my friend was worried about. “I don’t want to play psychologist to all the damaged goods.”

“I think that is part of this, Marius. There might be a species that the segrin - what the tablet called the seahorse species - bind well to. We can replace them. There is also the ordeal of arriving into the competition. I’ll give them all a fair shake,” I said.

Marius folded his arms, nodding for his response. The sound of giggling and a grunting bear split the somber scene.

“Hi, I’m Gemia, or you can call me Gem,” she said, introducing herself with a hunk of crocodile meat that went over the flames. “I have amazing hearing. Um… should I help with the mine or keep working on harvesting the kill?”

I frowned, realizing private conversations around her ears were going to be tough. Marius introduced himself in a friendly manner while Rolly came to sit and watch the cooking meat. That bear was fixated on the food, licking his lips, and I didn’t blame him. The wafting smells were delightful.

“How does that work for this competition?” I asked. “The harvesting of food, that is.”

Marius leaned on his shovel. “Can we take meat out and cook it?”

“Yes and no. Early stages of the competition. Yes. Toss meat into the depot and it stores it in units. Need to cook something, pull it out by units. Cooking fresh in a mohuma competition means a world of difference. The depot stuff is bland and gross, but you can always feed it to your animals.

“Tier three will have a freezer, salter, and smoker building option. Basically you have to preserve meat. And no more workers magically not needing to poop. Hence why every starting point was near a river.”

Marius nodded with a grunt. “What about training warriors?”

She looked up at me with a frown.

I shrugged. “Gem. We didn’t study much about the 1% chance.”

“Well. I did. Even watched videos about it. The trick with these competitions is to take them slow. I know… not a single competitor likes to hear that. But your resources will be under constant assault until you properly defend,” Gem said, flipping the big chunk of meat.

“Ugh... we need water,” I grumbled with dry lips and a rumbling stomach. “Sorry, keep going. My to-do list is piling up.”

“This is about competing. Clearly. There are still points, Archaic wizardry stuff and whatnot,” Gem said, showing a new side of her personality. “However, this is about mohuma. You cannot wage war without your mohuma. There are no drones. There are only mohuma… and then warriors, archers, or cavalry.”

“Ah… So I convert mohuma and they become something better?” I asked. “Kinda goes against them needing a protector species.”

“Um… no. Not a correct assessment. You should read this all when you find time. But, basically. A mohuma goes into training to be a warrior. At the point of graduation or completion or whatever, a warrior will spawn as a human. Random, unique, and just like a drone. The difference is they can only fight or help with fighting tasks.

“If you ask a soldier to go dig a trench, yes, they’ll do it. Ask them to clear stones to make a field of fire for archers, again, since it is a fighting task, they’ll do it. Ask them to gather stone to help the walls be built and that is the line where they fail to work. They are soldiers, not gatherers. Or that is how I remember it.

“I mentioned this to Alpha Nate, I like to study things. Sorta was a librarian in my society. I don’t know everything so I’ll be learning with you.”

“Shucks, Gem… it’s just Nate.”

When I mentioned this, she simply tucked her hands behind her back, twisted her torso and batted her eyelashes. I was able to understand her hints.

“Okay, well, I have a mohuma being generated for the next three slots on the stronghold. Before we need to worry about more huts or meeting the requirements for stronghold two we need clean water. So metal,” I said, eyeing Marius.

“I can try to do it solo. After hearing of the dangers, I’m just happy that big-ass thing didn’t eat you with the mermen,” Marius said, gesturing to the dead croc. “And I do think, going solo is not smart.”

I patted him on the shoulder, taking my shovel out of the dirt by the fire. I would need to tell him we were splitting sleep schedules and Gem would be monitored. While she had weapons and opportunity without any attempts, I still didn’t trust her fully.

“How do we cross the river?” I said.

Gem pulled the steaming white-hot meat out from above the flames. We put that question on hold while we ate. After a filling meal I checked my personal stats.

Nathanael Immerson

Condition = Wounded - Possible infection

Food = 7

Water = +1

Vitamins = +1

Energy = +48

Sleep = +3

Strength = 16

Stamina = 24

Coordination = 13

Health = +1

“Says I’m wounded now. I think I’m supposed to see a medical tent or something but we don’t have one. I guess I should go down for a healing after the mine,” I grumbled, deciding to check my healing requirements.

Competitor Nathanael is injured. A 25 hour rest period will heal his wound and consume 35 food. Do you accept? (YES) - (NO)

“At least my timer to heal has gone down, but not as much as it should have. Means the arm is improving. Albeit slowly,” I said. “Mine and then healing.”

Marius summoned an excess of rope with a plan in mind. “Time to build a raft, seems like we can recycle these spears. I’ll tie if you guys can haul them to the river’s bank.”

“Guys?” Gem said, adjusting her supple bust under her thick adventuring outfit.

I snickered, there was no denying she was a female. Marius was not mistaken because she was simply covered.

“Figure of speech,” Marius said. “Means you’re on the team. So… I’ll meet ya over there.”

I went about collecting spears. I may have built way more than we needed. Gem neared my side and said, “I’d rather mate with you.”

Now… if I wasn’t an oversexed man this would have likely triggered a response that would have been more than a smirk. The old me would have tripped, drooled, or at the very least missed a step. Not anymore.

“I understand you are a breeder. I do. I want you to pick. I already have a… pack of wives. I do not stray from my pack,” I said and she beamed a smile.

“That is admirable and very nice to hear. Humans may be the perfect fit for me. I look forward to meeting them after the competition and I guess I can stay infertile for the duration,” Gem said.

I was confused. Then I realized two things. She wanted me… shocker. Saw that coming. The other was that a mohuma competition meant changes.

“I don’t pick my managers, do I?”

Her face dropped, expressing concern. “How about we focus on the mine? I’m sure after you heal while building the docks you’ll find time to… review the way this competition works.”

Marius was on the edge of the riverbank. A triple braid rope was tied off around the biggest rock below. He set out ten smaller ropes on the slope for the raft.

“Dump them there, then place them one at a time where I tell you to,” Marius said.

We removed our spears and I went into an overwatch. Gem set down one spear at a time that Marius weaved ropes around. By the fourth spear I understood he was staggering the knots.

The first layer was as wide as the spears were long, so about six feet. He bound a second layer on top of the first. Ten minutes later a third layer completed the stack. There was a lot of wood three high in a neat box.

He then grabbed a single thick rope with a rock at the end. His first throw of the rock splashed into the water, unable to cross the thirty foot wide river.

Marius retrieved the rock, coiling the rope in his arm.

“Best if you throw it, while I control the unspooling,” he said.

I headed to the water’s edge, still hating how dark and dreary the river was. The flow was fast, enough to suck a man under and carry him out to sea.

I edged closer to the water, noticing the sloping terrain helped the water slosh down the exposed rocks. While there were a few spots that rocks jutted out of the river, for the most part the depth was hidden.

Trying my best to not rip open my left arm, I gave the stone in my hand a three quarter throw.

I groaned with pain when the minor healing ripped open. Blood trailed down my arm.

My throw… well… it only went halfway.

I checked my personal stats because I felt light headed and feverish.

Nathanael Immerson

Condition = Wounded (Infection)

Food = 7

Water = +1

Vitamins = +1

Energy = +48

Sleep = +3

Strength = 16

Stamina = 24

Coordination = 13

Health = -3 (fever)

“So… yeah… I need to heal,” I admitted. “I got a fever and an infection. Fuck.”

“Easy, Nate. How about this. You go lie down in the stronghold and use yourself to build the docks. Then when you wake up we will see how the arm looks and if we need to set you into healing,” Marius said.

“You sure?”

“Yes, she can do the spool, me the throw. If you're feverish, best to rest. Not like you’re making some excuse, the game is telling you to heal… so go heal,” Marius said, turning to Gem.

I watched them work in tandem to get the rock across the river. Seeing the stone lodge on the opposite bank for a pull point gave me closure.

I… I wasn’t a quitter. However, this situation called for me to take a break. This competition was very much lifelike. Shrugging off wounds wouldn’t work.

I wished them luck and headed into the stronghold.

Rolly crawled onto the bed I crafted the moment it generated. I created a second bed, giving the bear angst over which one was better. I chuckled at the silly animal.

I spawned winter cloaks for bedding that I had to defend from Rolly occupying.

When I lay down and became comfortable I saw my healing amounted to thirty hours now. Where was Izzy when you needed her? Before I went into the options to build a dock, I selected managers.

The screen was blank. Not until stronghold two did it unlock. We still needed another building before that could happen. The docks made sense. I was certainly interested in what they held.

Heading to the build order, I pulled up the docks.

Docks Requirements Tier 1:

1 - Builder 44 hours (Adequate)

100 - Stone (Adequate)

1000 - Wood (Adequate)

20 - Food (Adequate)

Would you like to build this structure? (YES) - (NO

I assigned myself as the builder, scoffing at the construction timer.

If I didn’t have the chills with a bear at my feet and a heater blanket on, I would have never selected yes. My shivering frame was feeling too weak to even get up and select where the docks went.

I selected yes, feeling the blackness wash over me.

Chapter

Eight

COMPETITION 4 DAY UNKNOWN

A  waking yawn popped my jaw. Feeling amazing, I savored the moment, and let out a roaring stretch. When I sat up, my movements caused my ass to slide down the frame of the bed in a bumpy ride.

I peeked an eye open to see the bed was broken. At the end of the frame rested a bear about twice the size he should be.

Um…

I found the tablet in my vest, checking the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 33rd

Survival: 8.3 (tied 85th)

eXplore: 3.3 (40th)

eXpand: 3.8 (tied 35th)

eXploit: 6.3 (22nd)

eXterminate: 121.1 (4th)

“Whoa! Day eight. Six days!” I blurted.

A guttural noise of a voice clearing caused me to turn. I saw the stairs to the second floor and an office room. Wait… the stronghold had upgraded. “Welcome back to the living,” Marius said. “You finished the docks and never woke up.”

“What!?” I exclaimed in shock.

“Fever was bad to the point you almost died. You needed four days to heal. So… lesson learned, natural healing doesn’t happen while you’re designated as a builder. Gotta heal first before anything. Get in here when you can so we don’t have to shout,” Marius said from the office.

I rose from the slanted bed, stretching. I felt amazing. My muscles complained from lack of use, but I was feeling energized.

Inspecting myself, I saw I happened to be in a toga. Not sure how that happened. I checked my arm and found a scar seam over the boar wound.

Interesting. No constantly smooth skin this competition.

A few leg pumps and I headed for the office.

When I crossed the doorway I saw Marius looked like shit. Utter exhaustion spread across his face.

“Thirty-third, fantastic work,” I said and he grumbled.

He stood, aiming his tablet for the bed in the office. A moment later he spawned enough outfits for bedding.

“I… I hate these new rules. I have to sleep, Nate. Let me say these things first though. When the stronghold tier two completed, I gambled.”

I raised my brows and blurted, “You gave Gem a tablet?”

“Yeah. She is great by the way. Here is what you have to know. The archery building finishes today. Mass produce bows and we need archers more than anything else. There is a change here. No soldier first then archer. Just send a mohuma to the archery range.

“We’re limited on how many we can produce. It goes by per stronghold and per stronghold level. Ya following?”

I checked the tablet. For each tier one stronghold you could have 5 soldiers. Tier two 30. Tier three 180. Tier four 1080.

“Yeah, okay. Makes sense. It is an issue early, but once we get a few strongholds it's a nonstarter. Shucks, I feel bad for sleeping for so long,” I said.

He shrugged. “Just happy you’re here to relieve me. Alright, next. Do not. I repeat. Do not, go out at night,” he said with venom in his voice.

“That bad?”

“Worse. There is a nocturnal spider invasion. They are harmless if you're stuck inside. Well not harmless. They disrupt sleep which actually is a fairly big deal. Just know that if you leave the door, they’re flipping ghosts with their camouflage. They shine during the daylight… but it is even bad during the day when the queen roams. Gem and I drove her away from the clearing with a scare.

“Tier three… it is going to be rough if the island keeps adding challenges. We have to secure supply lines. As in build roads with guards or tunnels or something. In the six days, at three mohuma a day, and we only have nine mohuma active.” I blanched at his words. “Yeah…”

“You’ve lost nine workers!?” I asked with shock.

He lay down, shaking his head. “I didn’t lose any. The competition stole them. I… Do not go out at night,” Marius said with a shudder.

He held up a hand, keeping me from talking, and said, “We have converted five from surrenders and created eighteen. That puts us at twenty-three mohuma. Seven are in the netting of the spider queen, being pumped for blood, and the tablet says they are still alive. Three are malnourished and healing. Four are sick or wounded and healing. So nine are out there working. Ten when you add Gem.”

“Okay. So we slowed down on making progress. How many lost since you added the curfew?”

“None, thankfully. We have a quarry, a grove, a mine, and are just starting to upgrade buildings. Farms… produce next to nothing in food and these mohuma have stomachs that are so sensitive.

“We need to clear the forest to reclaim our grove, but that means fighting spiders, boars, and apes. Also, if we don’t capture a fruit farm soon our vitamin woes will persist.

“Without a bow… I’m not as good at melee as you. Anyway, I… need to sleep. Keep everyone inside -”

“Everyone in at night,” I said and he yawned.

A moment later he was snoring soundly.

Marius Crixi -

Condition = Extreme fatigue

Food = 7

Water = +8

Vitamins = +6

Energy = -98

Sleep = -10

Strength = 16

Stamina = 24

Coordination = 13

Health = -4

I checked my stats.

Nathanael Immerson

Condition = Nominal

Food = +9

Water = +9

Vitamins = +9

Energy = +99

Sleep = +9

Strength = 19

Stamina = 27

Coordination = 16

Health = +9

This told me a lot. Healing returned me to a near perfect state. If only it didn’t take so long. Well, no time like today to fix the problems of tomorrow. I set out of the office and noticed no other wounded healing in the stronghold.

I exited the stronghold to see the sun over the southern horizon, beaming down to shine on a beautiful day. Thick billowy clouds rested over the choppy ocean waters.

Inside the village, every free inch of land was farms. Mostly tier one farms with vegetables growing. There was a church, a barracks, an archery range in construction, and four watchtowers that stood empty.

I counted seven workers in the fields. Gem came out of the church waving me over. I paused to take in the sight of the docks. I had set them at the corner of the river and the ocean. A single dinghy rocked in the ocean sway.

The seahorse mohuma was casting a net for fish. The silvery reflection of his catch surprised me. There was no shipyard or construction zone. Just docks, a rope leading to a tethered dinghy, and the single fisher alien.

I walked for Gem who was radiant in the early morning sun. “Just got done checking on those healing, they’ll all recover. Our vitamins in storage will be enough, for now. They refused to eat coconuts. So… we have them ingest it through healing. Sad, but it works.” She smiled up at me. “Glad to see you back on your feet.”

“Thanks, Gem. Marius said you’ve been amazing.”

“Sheesh, he let me sleep last night. Poor guy pulled forty-eight straight hours. I had to sleep as my health was taking a hit. Was a rough few days.”

Her face furled, rippling in a way that conveyed painful memories. Werfaves would make terrible poker players.

“Snakey, our friend to the north, has been battling the spider infestation with us. So at least he is occupied,” Gem said. “We find snake and spider bodies in piles on occasions. They both are increasing in power from what we can tell. The mohuma are saying it’s demons reborn, or some nonsense.”

“I only count eight mohuma,” I said and she nodded.

“Ninth is in the church because of that archery building. Speaking of which. Come to the barracks. We can get you a sword!”

“Yes. I have work to do,” I said with an edge of violence in my voice.

“Well, defeating the queen should be done when Marius recovers tomorrow. But… there is a farm of grooapples not even two hundred feet into the woods. A family of four apes defeated a trio of black and white bears. Anyway, we fought them once, and they just grabbed our spears.

“Marius and I lack the same throwing strength as you. Every time we tried to sneak up, we failed. The apes have amazing eyesight and great hearing. When the barracks finished and we finally had weapons besides spears, Marius was too tired to do more than micro manage the new arrivals. So… about them.”

I followed Gem to the barracks. It was empty inside besides a rack of swords at the back. They were all identical, sharp, and were plain. There were no sheaths or belts for these weapons. I grabbed three of them in a stack, tucking them under an arm.

“Three?”

I nodded. “Yeah, three.”

I checked the map before leaving. Directly north was a farm icon with a pineapple for the image. Four ape icons indicated the defenders. This was close. I was guessing clearing trees would be on my agenda.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. We needed space for new buildings and killing hostiles in openings made sense.

Next thing I did was check the building list that this competition allowed at tier two.

Stronghold

Depot

Hut

Small Farm

Church

Stable

Water well

Barracks

Wall

Tower

Archery Range

Hunter’s Hut

Blacksmith

Mine

Quarry

Lumber Mill

Medium Farm

Bakery

Butcher Shop

Salt Station

Smoker

Tannery

Leatherworking Shop

Weaver

Textile Shop

Woodworking Shop

Docks

Outhouse

Sewer

Sanitation Station

Aqueduct

Well, at least the preserving stations were at tier two. Though none of them were built.

“Are you ready for my story?” she asked and I shook my head.

“Almost.”

I checked the inventory. Something was clearly missing.

INVENTORY

Materials & Supplies

Food - 1712

Wood - 17 (+0 an hour)

Stone - 3 (+0 an hour)

Metal - 318 (+0 an hour)

Water - ∞

Twine - 173’

Bone - 219 lbs

Hide - 421 sqr feet

Vitamins - 7

“Okay, let me take a stab at this. We’re high on food but everyone is working farms. They’re doing that because not everyone can eat meat. The high food number is meat. I don’t see a breakdown of the food,” I said.

Gem peered over my forearm, tapping food.

Food - 1712

Industrial - 0

Vegetables - 0

Fruits - 0

Grains - 0

Dairy - 0

Meat - 1712

I mumbled with disdain. “Got it. So… Shit. No wonder there are sick and malnourished mohuma. It will correct in time. Guessing once those farms start producing.

“I can’t gather wood to build new buildings without making my workers healthy first. The paradigm of the problem is you can’t do one without the other and need both,” I scoffed. “Leaving the competitor to fix the problem themselves. Kinda get it.”

She patted my shoulder. “Right. Well, the mohuma are grateful, but dying. So are we. Vitamins and a balanced diet matters. Even I need fresh meat and fruit,” Gem said. “Getting this farm will help. Like a lot. Then we can clear the forest to that farm. Should help considerably with resources and building space. That was the plan with Marius until he hit exhaustion.”

“What weapon are you going to use?” I asked.

“Shovel. Here is the thing with the mohuma. They… can panic if not protected well. I’ll follow you around for support, but if the mohuma become threatened I have to calm them,” she said, heading out of the barracks.

I watched her go, seeing her hips sway. A pang of longing crashed into me. A thousand thoughts of my wives dominated my mind.

I navigated to the Managers option. I selected the interview tab. A groan escaped my lips at what I saw.

Telia Orins - a banking mohuma

Parka Messina - an engineering mohuma

Igiz Porba - a hauling mohuma

All three gave me options to find out more. I selected none of them. Gem knocked on the door, pulling my eyes up from the device.

“You get one videocall per stronghold upgrade. It's in the help section. I met Linia, nice gal. I highly recommend you talk to your pack wives during dark because there is so little to do,” Gem said.

I grimaced, slid the device away, and headed for the door.

She was right, of course.

A video call would… it’d be wonderful.

Having more to brag about, even better. I was determined to succeed and pouting about my wives not being here wasn’t going to help. A longing for violence settled over me. The competition had challenged Team Dinosaur Warlord.

The competition pitted us against two nests of aggressors to capture and torment my defenseless mohuma. There was a clear goal in my mind - reclaim my jungle through bloodshed.

“You okay?” Gem asked as I stomped by.

A mohuma tried to talk to me but I cruised through our little village for the trees. That had the gerbil mohuma abandoning their pursuit quickly.

I flicked a blade down into the dirt at the jungle’s edge. A moment later two others joined the first. There was a light stretching and my back popped with a twist.

With a killer’s grin, I clenched a hilt in each hand and pulled my blades out of the ground. I entered the jungle with a stalking crouch.

Three steps in I heard an oink less than a dozen feet away. Power surged through my legs, allowing me to bolt forward.

Speed was my ally, surprise my goal.

I crashed through the underbrush to find a pig scrambling out of its nest. Piglets squealed at their mother’s rise, missing her warmth.

She turned to charge me, but I burst through the underbrush into her trampled clearing.

My first blade strike sunk into her neck and the next went into her ribs. There was a lot of oinking, and one loud and long shriek.

I yanked the sunken blades free and plunged three times, killing the mother before she could even put up a fight.

“Holy moonbeams! You… you… you’re so fast you make Marius look like a werfave ancient,” Gem said, picking up two piglets. She muttered incoherently for a second in astonishment. “Grab the others please. These are vital for later. They’ll eat scraps and help keep plagues down by properly recycling.”

I scooped up two piglets, stepping a dozen paces to reach the opening. A snake humanoid with scale skin awaited us. I handed him the piglets.

“What do you need?” I asked in a tense tone. He was intimidated and hesitated asking. “What do you need!?”

This really didn’t help his anxiety but it did spur him into talking. “The carrot patch is planted, Lord Nathanael. I require a new task.”

“Can you carry heavy things?” I asked with a smile, helping his fears.

“I can.”

“Perfect. I’m going on a murder rampage. Please clean up behind me. Hey Gem, that pig’s milk. It has vitamins, right?”

“On it,” she said.

Good enough.

I headed back into the wood. Four spiders with shimmering coats of fur were feasting on the dead mother.

What the!? I’d been gone for what. Thirty seconds.

My rush triggered their senses to notice me. Fangs flared in anger at my audacious approach.

The nearest spider leaped for my face. With an overhand strike I sliced it down the center. The second spider jumped high, and I ducked under it.

Three and four were under the impression the first two would stop me. They had returned to eating without a worry.

A swift slash scored a slice across their backs, ending the pumpkin sized creatures that curled into balls as they tried to defy their deaths.

The one I ducked under fled into the underbrush, not wanting a further fight.

I did the rational thing, giving chase because there wasn’t enough green ichor to appease my desire for death.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I sped for the eight legged abomination. It jumped into a web, seeking safety in the trees.

It was too slow, far too slow.

I leaped high, cutting through both web and spider as I finished slaying the final spider. Or so I thought.

Within the dark covering of the forest canopy, a dozen beady eyes popped open. Stalking from the top of trees came a half dozen spiders.

Two jumped, dying to well-timed strikes that carved chunks out of their bodies. Green ichor splashed into the jungle, coating the area. Shrieks faded as the spiders curled into death balls.

The remaining four eyed me from their perch. Nope… I wasn’t playing this game. I stepped back, summoning a metal wood axe.

The tool thunked to the jungle floor upon creation. Pretending to pick it up, provided the courage for a fresh attack.

I leaped back seeing three of the four spiders crash down onto the spot I’d just been.

I’d never feared spiders. Hated them, sure. Feared them, no. Even three on one and with a fourth shooting webbing at me, I rushed in.

Dual blades covered anticipated angles of attacks. Two of the spiders sprung for me, dying to a sharp edge as I cut them smoothly.

Their carapace was like butter to my swings.

I was feeling the battle flow. Blood, ichor, and spider bits soaked my outfit.

My heart throbbed loudly in my ears, the beat a constant rhythm that spurred me into action.

I jumped, flicking my left blade high, sending the weapon in a spin that dove into the spider in the web. At the same time I stomped onto the last spider with a squish.

The balls of my feet compressed the body until green ichor blasted out. I trampled with glee.

My extra blade wobbled in the tree up high. The spider I pinned with my epic throw, pulled itself free, and killed itself in the process. I smiled at its final shriek as it balled up in death.

Wanting my blade back, I did the logical thing. I picked up the axe, smacking the sharp edge into the tree.

Chop down, chop up. Chop down, chop up. Chop down, chop up.

And so it went until I yelled a triumphant, “Timber.”

Boom!

The crash of the tree sent distant birds into flight. I swapped my axe for the sword, ready to bring more death to the jungle.

When a silence stilled over the area, I bellowed out a war cry. I felt my vocals straining as I screamed in rage.

“I am Nathanael Immerson. Come! Come fight me!” I commanded.

I twirled both blades that dripped slimy ichor, readying for a coming fight.

An ape crashed through the dense underbrush to stop a dozen feet away. The big silvery male beat his chest.

I answered in kind. With fists full of iron, I pounded my chest, and then charged.

The big ape that had to weigh twice what I did, hesitated.

“Coward!” I cried out.

The ape’s cross hook was clumsy, slow, and I simply braked my charge for a fraction of a second.

The arm passed in front of my face harmlessly. A hard chop severed the appendage at the elbow without even slowing on the bone.

I kept going, passing the beast who clutched at the ruined limb.

A backhanded arc sliced a calf as I sped by.

There was a loud hiss from where the fruit farm should be. Sounds of a scuffle grew loud. I burst through the jungle to arrive in a clearing of orange pineapples.

Fighting over the ground fruit was my nemesis. The snake was partially exposed out of the jungle. An ape in its jaws struggled to keep from going down the gullet. The bulky body tried to get into the farm so it could wrap its prey but trees blocked its girth.

I didn’t slow, bursting into the open with a war cry. The snake panicked. The body whipped to retreat. Either the snake feared me or it feared the sudden change in the fight.

As the head spun to retreat its mass became a prime target. Slithering swiftly in the small space proved hard. Using the chaos, and the lack of a quick exit to my advantage, I leaped onto the back half of the body.

My blades sunk into the soft scales. I released the higher blade, flipping my body onto the one sword, and riding the beast with both hands, clutched to the one anchor point.

Gravity pulled me and the weapon from high on the snake’s back to its side.

The sharp iron sliced tense muscles that slithered the snake away. I buried my heels into the jungle underbrush and let the panicking snake do the work for me.

A long seam opened as the snake sped up its retreat. I stood there, letting the wound widen in length. By the time the tip of the tail reached me I was fairly certain my attack was mortal.

Even if it wasn’t, I didn’t care because this would put the beast out of the fight for a long while.

I slid my blade free of the snake tail tip and turned for the apes.

Without a doubt I was in the zone, a fire flared inside me and I grinned madly, seeking more blood.

I fixated on the two apes helping their other member with big fang holes in his body. That one was dead, they just didn’t know it yet.

My grin crest into a smirk that fell into a frown when I paused.

A cascading of noises told me an army was on the move. Bushes crumpled, birds fluttered, and the crack of trees toppling told me I was in trouble.

Yeah, that was a whole lot of something rushing for my position.

There were only seconds to react. I crouched for a good sprint angle and lunged into a run. I zoomed beyond the apes, and weaved between the trees.

I heard a fight break out behind me and the sound of whatever army was coming faded slightly.

Within seconds I was back inside my village. So many death traps so close to huts.

Holy shit this competition was savage.

I plucked the sword out of the dirt and spun. What I saw was terrifying.

Spiders! Hundreds of spiders were coming.

“Inside! Get inside the church!” Gem cried out, heeding her own advice.

I raced to the nearest hut. Instead of going inside, I jumped onto the roof. If things went bad on this rooftop, there was another hut, and then the second floor of the stronghold. All within jumping range… or so I hoped.

The first wave of spiders crashed out of the forest, flinging foliage with ferociously flared fangs. I clanged my blades against the roof, demanding their attention.

All those spider eyes turned to me, speeding for my hut in an uncoordinated wave. There was no sense in asking what I’d done to offend them. I killed their sibling and issued a challenge.

They answered with hisses, shrieks, and odd guttural noises.

I waited patiently as they coalesced around my hut. When they were within striking range I unleashed wide sweeping swings, killing the large spiders in twos and threes.

I worked the edge of the hut’s roof, prohibiting any from rising onto the platform.

Each strike brought death with two handed strokes. Each blade dripped red mixed with green.

I clamored out a mad cackle as I reaped death with fluid strikes. I killed without a care of how many I slew.

I was death: the edge was my sanctum, the edge was their doom. I didn’t slow, but the spiders did.

A clacking sound of mandibles pulled the spiders back into the jungle. At least thirty lay curled up in death or near death.

A tree careened over a hundred feet into the jungle, crashing down. Additional clacking sent the spiders at me in a second wave.

I had a feeling that they had rushed to get to me and were tired. They were ambush predators after all.

Further into the jungle, and coming closer by each second, something big was toppling trees for me. Fronds would erupt over the canopy with each thud of a fallen tree.

I didn’t mind, the big gal was clearing a path to my new farm for me. And she brought all these sweet spider parts for my depot.

Spiders scurried up my hut, this time with additional coordination. To thwart their efforts I left the moment they were near the edge.

My run-up and jump had me soaring through the air. My feet scrambled on the second hut, almost overshooting as I teetered on the roof.

This simple maneuver denied the spiders any cohesion.

A few leaped, trying to mimic my flight and failed to cross the distance. The mass was swarming my new perch and I swiped, stabbed, and carved the spiders into a growing pile.

There was no retreat and regroup call this time.

However, after five minutes the queen spider exited the jungle and I was almost done with her large spiderlings.

Maybe a dozen survived and they tried to abandon their attack. As they raced away from the wounded - I ran to the edge of the roof, jumping into their midst.

Flicks of my wrists severed limbs. I jabbed, kicked, and slashed. These spiders were mine for the slaying and I tore into their soft hides while their mother shrieked in horror.

A thick webbing spat my direction with a speed I struggled to track. I had to let three of the little shits go when the webbing forced me into a spin.

I felt the powerful glob of spider silk narrowly miss me.

Smack! The webbing slammed into the sidewall of a hut.

The massive spider pulled her webbing back to her torso.

Crack!

The sound of wood being torn asunder exploded into the air. Bits of debris crashed into me while I covered my eyes instinctively with a forearm.

A whole wall section was dragged into the jungle. I was shocked. The big spider was fleeing.

A new small wave of spiderlings burst out of the forest, preventing me from following. I charged and deviated when the wave grew to over ten. I ran for the nearest roof and the spiders paused.

It didn’t take a genius to realize they were stalling for their leader’s escape. The door to the church opened and Gem’s head peered out.

That brief look back was all the spiders needed. They fled after their leader.

“What happened?” Gem asked in confusion.

“The big one broke that hut, accidentally latching itself to a heavy section of wall… I - I - think it used a big wad on me and when it missed decided the fight wasn’t a sure thing. Doesn't matter. What happened to you?”

Gem rolled her eyes. “If no one protects the mohuma during an attack, they are prone to suicide and other debuffs. I protected the sheep as Marius would say. We're chasing?”

I shook my head. “Nope. Everyone out. Toss spiders into the depot, and we start clearing trees. That farm is undefended now. I think. Call this your first trust exercise with the boss.”

Gem went into the church, issuing orders. I created a half dozen saws that required a team to operate.

The morning sun was brighter inside the jungle canopy since the big spider had knocked down trees.

“She’s gotten bigger. Was half that size the first time we fought her,” Gem said with a grimace.

“Damn… Well, Marius will have a bow and arrows here soon. Tomorrow we will dive into the jungle. First… we need this objective,” I said with determination.

I had a fairly clear path to follow for the fruit farm. Noticeably absent were spiders and any signs of life.

The twirl of my blades whistled through the air. Those were the only noises of the jungle. The short walk resulted in me finding the blood trail of the first ape. That blood headed for the objective, before suddenly disappearing. Likely hauled away for further consumption.

I stopped my flamboyant display of skill and brought my blades to the ready. I stalked forward with Gem confidently clutching her shovel behind me.

A lot of the fruit was ruined, trampled from the recent fighting.

The signs of a big scrum were evident everywhere in the clearing.

A rustling from up high revealed two frightened apes at the top of a tree. The spot where the snake victim had rested was nothing but a pool of blood now. I figured that body had also been hauled away by the spiders.

I canvassed the area, nothing besides the two terrified apes. Even the snake's blood had grown cold. Another mission for later.

“If they flinch from that tree, you tell me.”

Gem nodded, her head on a swivel while she inspected the area while keeping an eye on the treed defenders.

I pulled my tablet out. Went through the map feature and clicked on the fruit farm icon.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned small grooapple farm. (YES) - (NO) The two defenders have agreed to surrender to you. (YES) - (NO) You have thirty hours before the defender returns to hostile.

Damn… they were terrified. I selected yes.

The brown magic swirled over the area, creating a dazzling display. The field added a swirl, hiding a hut, and in the tree the two apes vanished behind the cover of magic.

A boom erupted and air washed over me.

Four-legged antmen that went up to my belly button, gracefully exited the tree. They seemed confident and certain of their movements.

“I’m Trince, this is Tronce. We are here to work for a better tomorrow,” Trince said in a pleasant tone.

I smiled, burying both blades into the forest floor. I greeted them with wide arms splayed open as if we were going to hug. “Welcome to Team Dinosaur Warlord. Do you want to collect bodies, saw trees, mind farms, or gather stone?”

“Options… delightful, and rare. We have much to tell you of Orinbia, the greatest city of the universe. It was a calm winter’s day with a sheet of ice on the blades of grass. Such wondrous times… You see... dew coated our -”

I held up a hand. “Trince. We have a feast at dusk. Assuming we can get a stable built in time. Should only be eight hours and tonight you can tell me all about Orinbia.”

“We can speed the timer up. We had infinite time to study the rules of the competition. None want us without our queen. We cannot reproduce as we are brothers. You see... we were born as -”

My hand went up again. “Which task did you choose and I promise when night arrives and it's time for talk you will get a turn.”

“Stone then. Right, Tronce?”

“Indubiously,” Tronce said in a pretentious tone.

“My brother is not much of a talker. Me, well I’m different. You see... back when I was… Hey where are you going?” Trince asked.

“The snake’s lair?”

That shut him up.

I grinned, whistling a tune while I followed the blood trail. At the time all I wondered was… What harm was there in following a wounded snake?

Chapter

Nine

COMPETITION 4 DAY 8

T here was a lot of blood that increased in puddle size as my foe clearly slowed. My fight with the spiders lasted long enough that flies swarmed the floor, birds ate insects, and I saw a panther eyeing me from up in a tree.

I was silent, or so I thought, but that big cat was not fooled by my dainty footfalls. Eyeing the panther, I paused, and ensured my back was cleared.

In the distance the thud of trees being harvested told me my mohuma were hard at work. That farm was ours and securing it would be ten times easier without an encroaching canopy of thick fronds and palms.

The panther licked its front paws as if she were bored. I studied her mannerism while she occasionally eyed me.

This was a wild animal.

Could I kill it? Yeah, likely.

Cutting down the jungle would probably provoke the beast to move into trees that a dragon lived in though.

As the saying went, I had bigger fish to fry. A snake in this case.

I crept forward following the trail of blood that was thicker. There was a slight stirring from behind me.

The panther was surprised I noticed it. The cat stretched two trees over, eyeing something in the distance. For whatever reason, I was not feared.

My interested follower likely was watching the snake’s den from its superior height.

I understood why it didn’t care if I trekked toward danger. I was the fool to test if the brown beast was dead.

My murdering spree probably messed up any hope of the score telling me if the snake died. There was one way to be certain. Inspecting the lair.

I followed the crushed undergrowth until it turned into a worn game trail. Stones rested on the edges of the trail and the spilled blood was everywhere.

Each step was carefully placed with my muscles tensed. My damn feet squished in the drenched jungle floor and my -

A ten foot snake struck from a nearby bush, its fangs dripping with lethal intent.

The body was in mid-flight when I pivoted, slicing down to decapitate the head. Fangs still tried to get me but were uselessly closing against a leaf.

This snake was vibrant green, definitely not related to the big brown beast I had injured. I was a bit shocked by its sudden attack. Thankfully I had been on edge.

I continued forward. A thump from a few paces back had me spinning. The panther sat, eyeing me intently. When I brandished my blades, she snarled her teeth.

Interesting.

I slid the tip of my blade under the writhing snake body. With a quick flick that she managed to track, I sent the headless corpse flying. The panther side stepped the corpse, sniffing the body before scooping it up, and taking off.

I guess I was feeling bad for my earlier…

No, I didn’t regret my killing spree at all.

I did like the idea of a panther wanting free food over wanting to automatically fight me to the death though.

Focusing on my mission, I stepped into a clearing, and immediately regretted my decision.

There was a medium quarry, devoid of trees. Big rocks, a rock face against a cave, and small stones littered the area. That was the normal part.

The frightening revelation was hundreds of snakes lounged on rocks, hung from nearby trees, and nested in pits by the big brown monster snake. This was a snake haven of sorts.

I saw the big snake shaking its head with blinking eyes. The brown coloration was about three shades paler than it should be. A big ball of snakes orgied in the pool of blood as if there was something divine happening.

Well, my arrival let me have about three seconds to take the sight in. A hundred hisses in anger resulted in flared fangs. My intrusion was noticed and I was rushed.

Yet again I took off in a run.

So… Some might call me a coward, but I had no hut to perch on. Fighting a hundred snakes in melee combat sounded dumb to me.

I fled… mostly with my balls intact.

I didn’t scream in fright as I bolted away in fear.

I did retreat though, and quickly.

Those damn snakes sure were fast for not having feet. Eventually, my pace outstripped them and when I was certain they stopped I slowed to a walk.

There was only a flash of seeing the big snake, curled up against the rock in its alcove. If I had to guess… it was still alive, but barely.

That huge guarding force left me puzzled as to how to clear that medium quarry. A few scenarios played out in my head, none of them favorable besides stripping the jungle.

That seemed to be the one way to defeat the monsters of this tropical island - slaying the trees that gave them life.

If it wasn’t a competition I might feel bad for the mass deforestation.

I arrived at the fruit farm to see the field had been harvested. New plantings were set and the spot was abandoned for now.

Heading for our village, I found two turtle type creatures sawing away at a tree. They paused, dancing at me in greeting.

With a smirk, I displayed a similar gesture that had them laughing. Not far into the trees Gem cracked a woodaxe into the base of a coconut tree.

“Hey,” I said, taking out the tablet to spawn a saw. “Duo?”

“Why, alpha Nate, you spoil a werfave,” Gem said, the oranges in her brown eye sparkling.

“You know what I mean. Tonight I’ll talk to the ladies. If I only get a few video calls then you might have to wait for the next one,” I said.

“It is okay.”

“Oh, speaking of which, is there anyone you want to call?” I asked.

She handed me the other end of the saw, shaking her head. “I had a few mates during my prime… They have since died off. Saying goodbye to them and moving on aboard an alien spaceship, while hard, had a finality to it.”

“Lost my mom. She… she was my everything. I swear I got to say a goodbye, but no idea if it was real or fake.”

We slid the teeth of the saw into the v she had carved out. The blade ripped back and forth, tearing through the tree with ease.

I may have over sawed, pinching the blade. Gem let go, angled herself, and with a big push sent the tree toppling.

“You okay?”

I dusted my hands off with a shrug. “I… it's not am I okay, or am I not okay. I’m still amped up a bit. That snake and that spider… they both have nests. Going to need Marius, and I’ll need a bow too.”

“We stemmed the downturn of Moobi Village as Marius called it. The malnourished are already feeling better. In a few hours we will be at full strength again plus two new workers,” Gem said in a positive tone.

I could feel her happiness exuding from her facial gestures.

Just a guess, but she was able to be herself in this kind of society, far more so than as a sex tool. We headed to the next tree.

A female gerbil woman meekly approached. I halted us before we started.

“Yes?” I said to her in a questioning way.

Her shaky hands delivered a note. I didn’t even have the tree bark in hand when she fled into a hut.

I groaned, snatching her message off the ground.

I am a cook. May I prepare a mid-day meal?

Lisa

“Yes, please and thank you! Also nothing to fear by -”

Gem stuck a hand on my arm. “Do not finish that sentence.”

“Huh?”

“Nate. These are worried, concerned, and frightened mohuma. The moment you show empathy to their plight, they’ll give you a million new problems. Be stern, tough, and find a mohuma manager… No… take that look out of your eyes. I’m not that kind of female. I save my patience and love for my children,” Gem said with her hands on her hips.

“Fair enough, and thanks for the warning. How about we speed clear some trees. We need a flipping stable, a dock upgrade, more huts, and probably time to build some sanitation items,” I said.

I retrieved the tablet to see our numbers already going up significantly. I selected a recovering mohuma named Brenty. I sent him to build the stables in a freshly cleared area. A Charma built our outhouse by the docks.

“And we’re out of wood again. No time like the present. Where is the quarry at anyway?”

Gem pointed to the other side of the river and I groaned. “Marius was saving to stick a depot over there. Clearing to the farm will be more than enough. Check out the docks when you get a chance.”

“Probably wait until nightfall. Let’s see how many trees we can chop down before lunch,” I said, slapping my hands together in excitement.

She grinned and we went to work.

While the time zipped by, trees crashed down.

I thought I saw the panther when Rolly joined us, but they were so hard to spot from outside the jungle. There was angst about the two big threats in the area. Hopefully our city grew to rise to the challenge.

Midday meal rang and I checked the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 19th

Survival: 8.6 (tied 85th)

eXplore: 3.6 (40th)

eXpand: 3.8 (37th)

eXploit: 7.3 (11th)

eXterminate: 233.1 (2nd)

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the snake had succumbed to its wounds. The points clearly said as much. I hadn’t ripped open the queen spider and it was almost dead when I saw it.

I ate a fish stew in silence. All those snakes protected by a monster. Would it have babies? What came from that nest next? It was a medium quarry, so… did a new defender spawn given time?

I mulled over these thoughts while I ate. The small talk helped me from getting too fixated. I still had a city to run, and so far I had been winging the buildings. Probably best to stockpile resources, build mandatory structures, and then talk to Senna.

Living for a thousand days without my wives was going to suck.

To make the most of our conversation, I decided to take a break post lunch to study our city, write down all the questions I came up with, and prepare for our conversation tonight.

When I headed back to work, I had hope. Hope that our trip to Qoobi would be set with a prime location because of our hard efforts.

∞∞∞

“You gotta be shitting me,” I said to Valance.

The orb hovered over the bed. We were on the second floor of the stronghold. I had a whole list of notes jotted into my tablet. All of which, Valance had just said were off limits.

“Competitor Nathanael Immerson. I’m afraid there are strict rules I must enforce. These communications are intensely monitored. Assume nothing is private, say nothing of the competition, and you have limited time. There will be a delay. No other option is available. You will speak. We filter, then send the video. They return a message. Do you wish to continue?”

I nodded. “I do. Do I go first?”

He thrummed a happy green.

“Dear Senna, Beth, and Izzy. For a while I hoped you would become mohuma, helping me charge through the jungles at my side. I realize now that I’ll be without you for this competition. In body only.

“My lovely ladies hold a spot right here,” I said, tapping my chest. I tilted my head in shame when I had to tap the correct spot over my heart. “Mom used to bust my chops for forgetting which side my own heart is on.

“Have no fear, I find it on the enemy just fine… Hey, so, Beth… I love you. Try not to take it too roughly that you decided to pass on joining me for the start. Izzy, I hope you’re monitoring everyone and ensuring you guys stay sane.

“Senna. Oh, my lovely Senna. Have mercy on my build orders and city management. It… will never be the same without you. Last thing before I hit send. I see three minutes left. I kinda wanna be there for the babies being born. Assuming I make it past day three hundred or whatever.”

I smashed the off button on the record. Valance vanished with a happy hum. Apparently my message was fairly clean.

A few minutes later Valance returned and my tablet vibrated, displaying a notification.

I felt cheated when the time counted down from three to two minutes when three lovely ladies appeared on the screen.

“We’re time limited so…” Senna said quickly. Her words were rapid. “We believe in you and love you. We’ve been a mess. Like the three of us have been crying. Their monitors tell us exactly when we are due. I’ll be the first and go into stasis so you’re there.

“It has been a bit crazy here. We’re pregnant, moody, and Beth is really gassy.”

Beth shrugged with a smirk. Izzy continued, “We watch the competition, then we watch old videos and or movies. We are doing fine health wise… I may be overeating due to the stress.”

Izzy patted Beth who said, “I beat myself up for three days. I then went in the simulator and had a virtual threesome with two of you. Was pretty epic and I felt better. For a bit. I miss you, Nate. Like more than I can explain. We all do. Love you and miss you.”

“Love you and miss you,” Izzy said.

“Oddest line ever, love you and miss you, and we all look forward to seeing half human half werfave babies. Do what it takes to win. We believe in you. And time is out. Hit em, girls.”

In the last three seconds of the timer, I was flashed three sets of swelling boobies. I cheered. Like a lot.

When the video cut out I couldn’t help but wag a finger with a smile. Those ladies were the best.

Yummy boobies.

I heard knocking on my door. It was likely another complaint or some mohuma trying to get preferential treatment from work.

I ignored the soft knocking, lay in the bed, and went to sleep with thoughts of Senna, Beth, and Izzy dancing in my head… naked.

Chapter

Ten

COMPETITION 4 DAY 9

A  soft knock on the door stirred me from a restful sleep.

“Come in,” I hollered, smacking my lips. A cup of water rested on an end table that someone had delivered. I thought about the chances of poison and realized they were low. I gulped down the glass hungrily.

The door creaked open and Gem entered wearing a robe. I propped myself up on my elbow, confused. “Whatcha doing?” A morning yawn escaped my control.

“I watched the video replay of your conversation. Valance said… he said… Senna wanted me to see it. I must admit, the show was worth the watch. Making human werfave babies sounded delightful,” she said, letting her robe crash down to the floor.

I heard a tablet hit the floor and winced, for only the slightest of moments. Because, of course, she was exposing her glorious body to me.

My early morning boner elevated the tent in the fur cloak to a new height. Her big supple breasts bounced with each step. Those four purple nipples almost mesmerized me.

The snap of her thick curvy hips accentuated her sexy saunter. I spied a glint of eagerness in her moist lady lips.

There was a small inkling where I was tempted to deny her. Mainly because I was still heartbroken I’d be missing my wives.

Well, the naked bombshell in front of me removed any self-doubt I had. She was short and compact, kneeling at the bedside.

I expected hesitation and instead she flung my makeshift blanket off. Her eyes shined with delight when she fixated on my engorged cock. I bounced the boner, giggling like the adolescent I was during times like these.

My smirk was contagious as she beamed a smile. I danced my dick left and right. Two hands shot out, wrapping the shaft, and stroking in a slow tight motion.

“It’s so big!” she said joyfully, biting her lower lip.

She pumped my cock with twisting squeezes.

I smirked. “Shucks, you sure know the right words.”

“Oh, you like that. This… this is going to be fun.”

Her tugs were playful at first. A few minutes of teasing my cock and she was eager. Her lip biting swapped to lip licking. Gem shot forward, slurping a dripping of precum that had seeped out.

Gem was ready. I could see her face ripple emotions of excitement. She hopped onto the bed, straddling my hips.

I felt her tuck my penis down, folding it down against my groin so only the underside was exposed. She lowered herself so the outside of her vagina was slick against the shaft of my penis.

Hands went flat onto my stomach with her gliding up and down my shaft. The slow movement felt wondrous. I grabbed her soft supple breasts. Pulling them down to suckle. I twirled my tongue around each bud first. My lips clamped down, she moaned out while I sucked. I… I tasted milk and… slowed the release of the unique tasting liquid.

Gem rubbed her vagina faster over my cock, teasing my tip and spurring me on. She arched her back, sliding my hands to squeeze her tits. She eeked out when I grabbed too roughly.

Instead of apologizing I plucked her off my lap. Sex with a girl who had a tail was meant to… be inclusive.

I put her face down ass up.

“Go easy,” she said, arching her back down and scooting her knees together.

I lined up behind her welcoming entry. I smirked, seeing her vagina was a replica of a woman’s entry with a cute little button for a clit. The difference was… the glistening slits were purple.

Taking my time, I gently slid the tip in. A light pull on her tail drove her hips back, sinking my cock into her tiny opening. Her walls didn’t clench; they were trying to open.

My size resulted in her vagina stretching, I could literally feel her tearing as I went deeper.

We moaned out in unison. She was… certainly smaller than I was used to. There were breaths of panted pleasure as I slowly went in and out. In and out, resulting in gasps, moans, and groans.

Each new thrust was just slightly deeper than the last. I felt her relaxing, her opening drenching and yearning for more.

“Not a talker are you?” she asked.

She groaned out a moan, hilting my cock until my balls smacked into her clit.

“No, I normally just enjoy the sex.”

She flipped her hair to eye me over the shoulder. Her orange speckles danced over her brown eyes. “Mate me, my Alpha,” she said in a sultry tone.

I stuck a finger over my lips. “Bite your lip, things are about to get rough.”

My command was perfectly timed. She clamped down on her bottom lip, burying her face into the makeshift pillow.

I released her tail, clamping her juicy hips with my big hands. Deep, ball-smacking thrusts had her crying out in a mix of shock, pleasure, and pain.

For me… it was so, so good. I hammered home. Now that she was dripping wet, somewhat used to my girth… well, I stuffed her little purple pussy.

My tempo increased, each thrust digging deeper. She squeezed her tits while muffling a cry into the pillow. I rocked the bed, slamming the frame into the wall.

There was no hiding what we were doing. I was driving my cock into her tiny entry so intensely I became one with the motions. I felt my body, full of energy unleashing raw power into my hip thrusts.

I was pulled from my intense fucking when she howled out in ecstasy. Normally ladies didn’t reach a climax from behind, but there was no doubting Gem was orgasming.

A gush of wetness soaked my balls and then the bed.

“Harder, my Alpha. Harder! Make this little pussy juice!”

I was a bit shocked by this request because I’d been laying my cock into her at a fairly intense rate.

Picking her up by the hips, I lifted her off the bed to stand her up. Because of my height advantage I drove my cock down along her g-spot. She slapped a hand down to brace herself while the other hand went to strum her clit.

I smacked her ass with my hips, holding nothing back. The tempo went from tender to savage in a flash. I pounded at her tight little pussy with determination. She clamped onto my cock, climaxing for a second time.

When she orgasmed, she tried to fly off my cock for a reprieve. Nope. I clutched her hips tighter, dominating her curvy sexy frame.

Her bouncy ass jiggled with each pump. I reveled in the motion. Instead of going faster, I stabbed harder. I was nearing a finish when she urgently paused me.

There was a bit of tease in her eyes, and I almost didn’t give in.

“I feel it, I need you to confirm.” She hurried to her tablet in her dropped robe. I was given a prompt to confirm our four babies. I selected yes. I frowned when it said mating was complete. Somehow she was pregnant without me finishing. “You obviously leaked out enough. I’m a super fertile breeder.”

“While that is great I want to finish. I was -”

She dropped to her knees, two handing my cock, and stroked while she sucked. Her hands were soft, but stronger than I was used to.

Her longer tongue licked the underside of my tip. She continued to flick the tip of her tongue against that money spot even when she fit half my cock in her mouth.

I saw her face contorting expressions of joy and happiness. Her heavy breasts bounced with her arms pumping my cock.

My balls tensed and she went overzealous, driving my cock deep into her throat and gagging. She pulled my dick out at the wrong or right time… depending on your viewpoint.

From my angle, a massive nine-day load of jizz coated her face in huge spurts. The gout of white jizz continued to burst out, shooting up her nose, onto her eyelids, and even into her hair.

After she recovered from her gag, she was a champion. She covered my tip with her mouth quickly.

With closed eyes filled with cum, and her face covered in seed, she pumped my cock to completion.

When she wiped the jizz off her face to lick it off her fingers seductively, I may have gone a bit crazy.

I bent her over for another round that was just as intense as the first. She loved every moment of it. Even the rough tail pulling had her howling.

A half hour later my pearly cream was oozing out of her purple pulsing pussy. Gem sighed with a long breath of happiness.

“That is one hell of a way to start our day. Never had a breeding after it was already finished. Amazing… just amazing. When the others come up, go easy on them. I’ll walk funny until I get a healing.”

I frowned. “Others.”

“Yes, silly. Faster babies if the competitor is involved. Duh. Your wives want you to win. I’ll help you and them. Maybe a mohuma manager is what I’ll be after all,” she said, heading to a bucket and cloth.

I opened my mouth and shut it.

It was for a single competition only.

Having fun might be the right answer. We would hit tier three stronghold in about another week and either I’d be in trouble or not. If they gave me one proverbial hall pass, it was safe to assume I’d get more.

When we were cleaned up, I headed off to find Marius and start another adventure.

Chapter

Eleven

COMPETITION 4 DAY 71

I  reviewed the progress on the tablet. Today was the big day. The day the thirty raptors matured and we could start stronghold four.

The last two months had been rather eventful, and yet… boringly simple.

We arrowed down spiders for a week, hunting all the new queens the mother spawned. Then we killed the big queen… The process felt like I was cheating. Arrows from afar rained into her body until she withered and died.

We rescued three survivors, unable to save the others. Being methodical meant there were sacrifices, something I had to live with.

To defeat the snake’s nest we used the same strategy. We were slow, efficient, and cautious. The big brown snake had laid eggs, likely regrowing the quarry into a new defender with time. That never happened because we shot arrows until I had to heal my bleeding fingers.

Once we had stables producing two horns and carts, our inventory ramped up and clear cutting went into full swing. To our east, was the last team on the island, and they had been silent. To our west was the open expanse of starter locations. Logically, as we grew, we expanded west.

Smashing small and medium objectives was simple with no real challenges. We saved the interior large objectives for when we had raptors. There simply weren't many reasons to attack these harder challenges without our main weapon.

Which, even though we were getting full grown raptors today, we weren’t suiciding into dragons for epic quarries… yet. Even with the new troops we still planned on being very thorough and safe until we had full armies. This island was ours to exploit, well, at least half of it was. Especially now that we were growing so quickly in population.

We… we struggled to get the right crop rotations down. It was a painful learning process. Once we had a wide array of food, including milk from some sea cows we caught, we conquered the vitamin and malnourishment issues. This had an adverse effect on happiness and suddenly mohuma were breeding.

If I was to summarize my last two months, it would be farming. Exploring the wilds for new fruits, animals, and vegetables to plant them in Moobi Village. The farms were expansive, always wanting more land. We had so many farms. At this point, we actually had a massive surplus of food, but that is what it took for mohuma.

While I could have, I didn’t endlessly breed mohuma, they were pairing up on their own, and it made them happy. I guess that's another matter where this competition varied. Appeasing the whines and cries of the mohuma.

I shook the thoughts of their incessant needs to focus on what happened when Gem gave birth. The competition threw us for a loop with what came out of her vagina… It was odd. The biggest was an amphibious squid humanoid, a cat girl, an ostrich baby that we had to assume would be smart, and then a small human with winged arms.

The revelation that there was not going to be werfave mixed with human babies was a bit soul crushing. Gem had to raise these mohuma as babies. My hall pass with her hadn’t been restricted to her by Senna, Izzy, and Beth, but I was happy I kept it that way.

Our tier three conversation had been saved until those babies were born. We reached a consensus that there was little incentive for me to strain our relationships by breeding the entire village.

My three lovely ladies were showing - Senna the most. They were happy, proud of our progress, and cheered us on from the space station.

I was given a bare booty shake at the end of the video and loved it. They said to have fun being a dad…

So…

Yeah…

I was the worst dad ever to those alien babies. I hid in my office and managed build orders.

Poor Gem. I just had no emotional connection. Luckily there were mohuma who thrived on caring for alien children and stepped in for this deadbeat dad. There was nothing cute about changing out squid shit for me. My own kids yeah, that’d be different.

Marius had expanded west, converting that starting point into its own settlement. He left with half our army since we pacified this area. The road connected two days ago and he was here to pick out his own raptor squad.

We figured we would work in tandem to remove threats between Moobi and Port Rome as he called his bustling city. After those were cleared, we planned for an invasion to cleanse the island.

Or at least barter an alliance with whatever competitor was left with us. As we grew, we didn’t want a long battle at our doorstep. Our fleet was… non-existent. Tier four dock was the first level where you could build something bigger than a raft.

While others could expand to our island I was highly doubting they did so. The sea had killed four mohuma already. Every time we let our fishing teams go off tether… they would vanish and never return. The tablet just said they were dead. This left me to rationalize the ocean was a fearsome place for mid-competition ships only.

The device buzzed on the desk in the office, ripping me out of my thoughts. Marius was coming into the city and sent a text for me to join him. I pulled up the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 17th

Survival: 71.1 (tied 70th)

eXplore: 63.6 (50th)

eXpand: 143.8 (9th)

eXploit: 122.3 (8th)

eXterminate: 477.2 (14th)

We were sitting pretty. Our constant progress was exactly that. We were mainly growing our workforce. That didn’t really show yet. It would soon though. Our ability to generate mohuma was starting to really increase.

With a massive workforce I was able to cap out our soldier numbers, which was all archers atop duckies. New strongholds between our cities were being constructed and with raptors unlocked, tier four was starting today.

There was one major problem though. Our prolific number of mohuma had hit a snag. We stopped losing mohuma. So we crossed a thousand citizens fairly easily between breeding, capturing, and naturally generating. Citizen 1001 had come out of the stronghold as a drone.

This wasn’t a problem to me personally, but it angered the mohuma to no end. They converted their church into worshipping centers to the Archaics, demanding to unlock more mohuma for the great leaders of Team Dinosaur Warlord.

This movement was led by Parka Messina. The engineer I’d unlocked. She was a gerbil… Yeah an eight foot long, lanky gerbil on two legs sometimes, mostly four. The great news was she could decrease build times, construct bridges, and helped a lot to make our tiny empire grow.

The bad news was she led séance chants and burned stakes of straw men in the image of Archaics.

Honestly, maybe it wasn’t so bad because it meant I wasn’t the issue.

And that thought… was another reason why I should even keep my internal grumblings from seeing the light of day.

I had been recollecting the past two months while messing with the tablet. The second I had that thought, there was blackness, and my face slammed into the desk.

I tried to hold onto my bearing but a dizziness consumed me.

∞∞∞

I awoke at a new desk, my butt was in a chair, and besides the fact I was in an alien courtroom of sorts - I couldn’t breathe.

My eyes scanned the dangers of the room. Five purple skinned Archaics perched in front of me. Behind were a hundred Archaics sat, almost all were shimmering with signs they were holograms.

Next to me, that fucking orb who’d almost killed me once before… Sheila was hovering dangerously close. A happy hum emanated from the device. The eye gave me a cursory glance before pretending everything was okay.

Everything was not okay.

I was dying. No two ways about it.

There was a statue on the desk. It was a globe, a planet on a stick with a wide base. It was within reach, and more importantly, it was heavy and metal.

There was talking, Sheila spoke to the judges while I choked. Her language was beyond my comprehension. Not that I could talk if I wanted to.

I snatched the orb off the desk with lightning quickness. An overhand swing caught Sheila off guard.

The bludgeon attack smashed the orb down and onto the granite floor.

I sucked in breath, likely releasing whatever hold she had on my ability to breathe along with her disorientation.

“Fucking try to kill me twice. You fucking psycho robot,” I said, bludgeoning the planet into her casing.

The top cracked open, and a yellowish flesh oozed out. I cracked the globe against that spot in the orb. The brains of the orb splattered out.

Zing!

A tearing pain lanced against the back of my left arm. Heat cooked flesh and while there was pain, it subsided.

Across from the judges were elevated seating for visitors. My outburst of aggression was met by the vast majority of the room vanishing. Holographic renderings merely winked out of existence when I spun with murder in my eyes.

Except for a few purple aliens with gills on their necks, I had the room to myself.

A second salvo blasted out of handheld weapons. I dove down, closer to my foes.

Now, I didn’t know who these aliens were, or why they’d shot at me.

I didn’t care.

Their aim sucked and their ability to put me down deteriorated when I ducked into cover. A second volley of shooting erupted.

A voice boomed for calm.

I timed the firing from behind the desk. There was a ten second recharge.

Another rain of laser beams scorched into the desk I hid behind.

I leaped out from cover and flung the metal globe statue at the nearest Archaic.

Things were starting to add up. I was in an Archaics courtroom, Sheila had tried to kill me, and now this asshole who shot me had to dive to avoid my throw.

I burst forward, using the distraction to cross the distance.

Wide eyes filled with shock from my target. I lunged to tackle the shooter who was recovering to stand again.

Something snapped from the impact. I didn’t care about anything other than the weapon that had dropped.

I snatched the small laser pistol off the floor. My foe was holding a broken arm. The laser pistol swiveled to aim at his face and I squeezed the trigger.

Zip!

Blue blood blasted out of the back of the alien’s skull. Other assailants fired at me from over their desks.

I ran for cover, taking a hit in my ass cheek. I stood, carefully aiming. Three quick zaps of the weapon left three dead Archaics.

After diving behind a planter at the side of the room, I caught my breath.

There was no one left in the room besides four dead Archaics, the main judge, and a clapping Archaic seated at the other side of the room.

“Wowzers! They’re going to be the laughing stock of the verse!” the clapping hologram said. “Way to go, son.”

I groaned. “What the hell is going on?”

“Return to your seat, Competitor 334599,” the head judge said. “Explain your actions.”

“She… that orb tried to kill me once. I was mid-competition. Then I was here and my throat was constricted and my lungs deflated. Not wanting to die, I reacted. Then reacted again,” I said, returning to my seat.

The wounds I suffered caused me to wince but they were somewhat numb. Maybe the sheer power of the lasers helped keep the pain down. While I obeyed the judge, I did keep the weapon in my lap.

The judge was a young looking Archaic but spoke with wisdom. His expressions contained no surprise or shock. He also wasn’t scared in the slightest. He tapped at a screen.

A drone of some type drifted above the cracked case and stuck a probe into the yellow slime. There was a quiver of movement from Sheila.

“Interesting. Here it is. Ah… you’ve been dragged into a personal feud. The fact that this species integration specialist was corrupt is disturbing. Not a first, but a last for this variation.

“Judina Ordinious has been stricken from this court and will retire to private life. How interesting that the Lericon Faction decided to conduct an assassination attempt in my courtroom. I’m Head Judina Prax, welcome to the Qoobi room of deliberation,” Prax said in a pleasant tone.

I pointed to the dead Archaics, and set my weapon onto the desk. “Am I in trouble?”

“Yes and no. There will be an investigation. I’m in charge of determining the findings of wrongdoing brought before me. I’ve studied the data that I also witnessed. Charges will be applied, and I’ll find you acted in self-defense. These deaths are merely temporary, unlike yours would have been. So no, you’re not in trouble, not in the slightest. Do you know why you were brought here today?” Prax asked.

I shook my head. I went to talk but he continued.

“A petition has been requested for you to have access to over a thousand mohuma. Let me see… yes, an adjustment to ten thousand mohuma. A one for one mix. Interesting. Even more amusing is this was requested by Archaic Irshar who is sitting right there. The proper forms were filed on day one of the competition, the fees for the extension are in order, and here we are,” Prax said.

I smiled. Mohuma were a headache for sure. They also were amazing producers. I didn’t see the two or three times difference until we started producing mindless drones. Well, that and we had their happiness level at maximum.

Increasing their numbers in the competition would be a boon. Increasing their numbers on Qoobi, might not be.

“Interesting, and why was I summoned if everything is in order?”

Prax gave an odd alien smile that revealed rows of molar only teeth. “A proceeding like this requires an oath from the competitor. As predicted this is a rare occurrence. Not often do species want to take on extra burdens. Then again, with Earth a frozen wasteland, beggars can't be choosers as the saying goes.”

“You studied Earth?”

He nodded. “Visited during Alexander's time. Was… a unique adventure for a vacation. So. Your sponsor recommended you to accept ten thousand mohuma. A straight one for one.”

I shot Irshar a look over my shoulder. He sat there with his hands in his lap. His holographic form shimmered. He was mute on the point, probably adhering to some rule.

“I would gladly welcome them into my society with open arms and do my best to ensure they were well cared for and maintained. This event has taught me a lot about the needs for these… unique aliens needing homes,” I said in a proud tone.

“There is a downside before you imprint your DNA on the record for approval. Your citizens… they will believe they are different from other humans. They will awake on Qoobi with imprinted memories.

“Memories that tell them they were an offshoot of humanity that lived aboard a space station that lost power for good. They were rescued with a big collection of aliens who will not be subservient. Instead the mohuma and the humans will recall a time of equality.

“This has worked in the past for Archaics rehoming large numbers of mixed species. Let them believe they were already a group before. Other humans will decry this as false. Other mohuma will see your section of Qoobi as a haven. This will be peaceful and wondrous at first but the raw truths will become exposed.

“Non-warriors will not become warriors. Meek small species will be dominated. Alas this is the best option. Just know that when you select this… gift or curse. You’ll be approving altering all these survivors. Your conscience will never be clean for the altercations you approve.”

I slumped in my chair. Out of the desk rose two palm prints. One for yes, one for no.

“My help is at an end. Thank you, Nathanael. I wish you the best life possible and you’ll never hear from me again,” Irshar said.

“Thank you… I -”

He vanished.

I stared at the two options… I hit yes, not sure if it was the right answer. One thing was certain. Good or bad, I’d try my best to save as many Mohuma as I could on Qoobi.

A drone hovered above my head and like a switch was flipped, I lost consciousness.

Chapter

Twelve

COMPETITION 4 DAY 71

“W elcome back,” I said to Marius in a manly back-patting hug. We stood outside the raptor stables where I found him waiting.

“Good to be back. I checked everywhere for you and the damn tablet said you were here. Figured you were sexing Gem in a hidden wall or something,” Marius said with a chuckle.

He received my best shit eating grin. I showed off the holes in my pants and shirt with custom laser marks. Both wounds were gone, but the damage to my decaying cowboy outfits remained.

“Uh…” Marius muttered in confusion. I caught him up and he shrugged. “Good, we can get down to winning. After meeting the main groups of the mohuma, I find them worthy of adding.”

“Yeah, so do I. I thought there would be thousands of species but a few dozen with their own quirks and clique makes it easier,” I said.

A group of deer centaur type creatures that went only waist high galloped by hauling fish. We waved and they smiled. The early morning catch had come in and it was looking like a bountiful sunny day.

Marius patted my shoulder. “So… tell me. What’s the plan you’ve cooked up since you had weeks behind a desk.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sheesh. I’ll admit, you had it rougher at Port Rome. I got to dig into the nitty gritty of base building. It… was,” I grumbled with a sigh, “lackluster. I mean I destroyed a few out of order builds.

“Most of the time was spent managing inventory, shuffling workers, and then holding court. The amazing news is, we started tier four about an hour ago. For now. We pick out our mounts, say goodbye to Gem, and head to the eastern startpoint.”

“Changed yer mind on the large objectives already?”

“Yeah, I mean we can do them, but something is eating at me. I want to own this island. If we eliminate the last team… then there is almost no pressure.

“Plus we got raptors and a mean herd of duckies. Let’s call it a dinosaur rush. They should have their mount ready unless they’re a big breeder but we will have thirty raptors and a hundred archers on top for fifty duckies.

“With you and me firing, we can defeat short walls and at the very least capture loose workers to tip the scales,” I said.

“Well, we can ditch the wagons. It’ll be a bit of effort, not too bad though. Shift wagons goods onto duckies and live off the land,” Marius said with me rapidly nodding in agreement.

I gestured for us to go in. Marius jolted the creaky door open, leading the way into the stables. The interior was dimly lit with minimal window slats opened. A busty humanoid woman with cow horns scolded the raptors.

“You’ve already been fed!” she scolded the raptors who chirped and called.

What a sight these fine predators were. So many teeth shined in the gloomy building. Their eyes were yellow, green, black, brown, and even a few had red dancing with potential violence. Those eyes… they spoke of intelligence. Our arrival snapped intrigued heads our way until they grew bored.

I saw their colorations were blended in random colors meant for jungle camouflage. They held stripes down the torso. Clacks of large claws tapping the wood echoed as the thirty raptors were agitated with an eagerness to get out. They were so lethal looking that it warmed my heart to know they were finally on my side.

I smirked, knowing very soon this pack would be on the hunt.

“Tolinda, Tolinda, what a pleasure,” Marius said in a boisterous tone. The busty woman blushed. She was smitten with Marius, pestering me to tell him what she was too shy to admit. “We’re here to take these fine animals into battle. Which two did you saddle?”

She smoothed her long locks, twisting her torso with beating eyelashes. I couldn’t help but grin.

Inside the stable there were eggs hatching on the shelf to my left. On my right was a growing pen. These raptors had come from five stables and were our oldest clutch… Pack was probably a better term.

A big female jumped the fence, walking around Tolinda. Memories of Scarlett came crashing home when I saw her olive skin and red stripes. I… I missed my friend. Such was the way of the competition. This big girl went to Marius, nuzzling into his extended hand.

I was about to say something when the biggest raptor headed forward. Anyone who got in his way was nipped at. When a female was nuzzling another female for affection, she bumped the male.

There was a snarl, and a snipping fight. This was common in -

Um… He mounted her, clamping onto the back of their neck. I went to intervene when Tolinda stopped me.

“Don’t bother. Let him finish, this helps with his aggression. All the smaller females have bite marks. The damage calms them oddly enough. It's a win - win. There are like four females in here already nesting,” Tolinda said.

I gulped. “They can be brutal,” I said.

“To each other, sure. To us, they are as docile as a fish. You want Brawn?” Tolinda said, thumbing the raptor who dropped his mount. He was still coupled, just facing away from his partner. “Five minutes works.”

“Five minutes it is,” I said.

“And the saddles?” Marius asked a second time.

Tolinda nervously rubbed a horn. “In the depot, I… I didn’t know when you were coming and they chew them off if put on and left unattended.”

Marius nudged his head for the exit. I followed him and so did the big female. “What’s her name?” I asked before we left.

“Nommi. She is the biggest gal. No one mounts her, not even Brawn,” Tolinda said proudly.

We waved a friendly goodbye for now, heading out of the stables.

Moobi City was massive in scale as there was endless exposed land. As far as the eye could see there were animal barns next to specialty farms. So many farms. The main city, which we were in, was located on top of the river. The roads ran to the ocean and met the docks.

The docks themselves stretched from the river’s exit to the small quarry. There were three massive ship building frames outside the water, and another two wet docks in the shallows. They sat empty, awaiting upgrades to start timers for building our invasion fleets.

The main cluster of homes and industrial buildings had a small stone wall encircling the city. The river cut through the heart of our industrial section while residential was three story homes on the left. That was another mohuma thing that… altered this competition.

The mohuma could select custom homes at tier three, breaking the monotonous look of the city. There were nests, metal apartments, regular homes, round homes, caves, and dens. Rather interesting and something our engineers - led by Parka, my tier three manager - helped meet individual mohuma needs.

Those crafty smart mohuma modified all our buildings and helped increase outputs with extra water mills, aqueducts, and bathhouses.

In the skyline, steam whistled out of chimneys, and smoke stacks billowed plumes of black soot. Birds darted between perches while a bear tugged on a bone versus a panther.

Yeah… our adopt a pet foundation was working. If you asked me, it was awesome. We had two spiderling invasions since the queen was destroyed, old nests we missed were growing again. The animals, including the duckies, were quick to detect the predators.

That was a big goal of mine this match. Let the animals be free. Confining them meant limiting their waste, which had merits, but it also kept them from becoming staunch defenders.

Gem found us before we arrived at the depot. Marius went in with Nommi while I waited for a waving Gem.

“Wanted to wish ya luck. So, Nate… we had a few conversions. Citizens 1001 to 1032 all -”

I held up a hand, and explained the situation to her. “We shouldn’t be gone for more than a month. The moment tier four finishes what are you to focus on?”

“Expansions, ships, and siege engines. Oh, and tier five,” Gem said, tapping at her tablet.

“Perfect. Tier five has longbows, and we need those for ship combat. Well, that and dragon scales can be punctured with that much power. You sure you got this?” I asked.

She kissed my cheek. “Of course. Was going to try to convince you to give me some human babies…”

“But they’d come out mohuma. It won’t be like this on Qoobi.”

“I’m just happy our babies are grown up. When I feel like I’m deprived I go to the nursery and get to pick which cute ones I help raise.”

Those damn nurseries. We had to dismantle six barns to build baby raising places. Yeah… another minor hurdle Moobi hit us with.

“I’m glad you’re happy. Last I checked the town happiness was stellar,” I said.

Her face radiated a wave of contentment. I’d grown accustomed to her changing expressions. Gem flipped the tablet for me to see.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: Happiness - 96%

“The inclusion of new mohuma shifted it up nine points. The church is now looking for a new cause. Any recommendations?”

“Is Parka still wanting to lead the church?” I asked about our engineer.

“Yeah, she is and she said to ask our alpha for guidance.”

I rolled my eyes. “Tell her to pick an overwatching god that reveals stealth and deception.”

“Love it. Alright. I have like thirty-two new mohuma, so thirty-two new problems. Good luck on your invasion and I’ll keep building west until we loop around. If I find trouble -”

“Retreat,” I said and she kissed my cheek again before heading to deal with a humanoid ladybug creature who was groaning in despair as if the world were ending.

Marius snuck up on me, shoving a saddle into my gut. “The wagon teams are assembled and on the east gate. I’ll meet ya there. Got a lot of work to do anyway.”

“Right, I need to make some stops anyway,” I muttered, giving him a nod goodbye.

I accepted the rudely delivered saddle, and smirked when he mounted his dinosaur.

The big female croaked out a call before the duo shot off. Spooked mohuma shook fists as the raptor and rider zoomed through the city streets.

I marveled in how fast and agile the combo was. Even this small display had me looking forward to this expedition.

Deciding to give Brawn some time, I headed over to the barn and left Tolinda the saddle. Weaving into traffic, I walked for the central bridge. I still stared down at those murky river waters that turned out to be harmless so far.

The blacksmithy was on the east side of town and we had a gnome type species that occupied a little portion of our city.

They were crafters and poor warriors, meaning there was always some tinkering going on. I did learn that some mohuma could fight but it was like Roxie. They weren’t capable of assembling armies to thwart invasions. They would never, as a species, rise up and defeat challenges, making them great additions.

About a week ago I’d asked for a new sword and shield. Curious as to what the head-smith Locket conjured up, I diverted off the main busy road for the largest smokestack in the city.

Locket was an unusual fellow. The kind you tended to avoid strictly to not get caught up in crazy work. Every time I saw the gnomes… there were sidequests. I could help them find twelve bumblebees with pink wings and we would be able to get a boon to honey production.

The how and why was always explained. In details I never quite cared for. Find pink winged bees, get a bonus. Got it. How they could pollinate at x ratios with y reductions in drag… I groaned, surprised I even recalled the details now.

Marius loved the gnomes. Me… love was such a strong word. So was hate. I was lukewarm if there ever was a classification for our relationship.

I crossed the stone road, avoiding a set of two horns carting raw metal. I hid behind the cart, entering gnome central.

Hammers clanged, water splashed, wood crackled, and someone played a flute. I ducked into a piping hot building, keeping a low profile. My stealth was immediately ruined by a baby crying.

Momma Semsti, Locket’s wife, glared daggers at me. She pointed to a shelving unit while rocking her baby. I hurried over hoping -

“Did ye git ma leenspar?” Locket asked.

The little shit had hidden behind a shield, ambushing me with his question.

“The flip, Locket. I’m a killer.”

“Ain’t a miner. T’ certain bout that. I need my leenspar. Or neilspar at the least,” he grumbled.

I tossed my hands up. “I’m about to voyage and conquer. Whatcha got for me?”

He never cared that my tone was snippy. The knee high gnome held goggles on his head, a shirtless apron, and wild curly hair. He was also half a mouthful of teeth short from a full smile. Dental was tier seven apparently.

He waved me forward, pressing a finger to his lips. The baby had stopped squealing. That little bundle was cute as a button. There was a twinge of jealousy, just a bit.

We left the storefront for his back office. A different gnome I didn’t know was adding leather onto a pommel.

“Not a shortsword, not a longsword. Tis just right,” Locket said with a gleam of pride in his eye.

The last of the wrap was finished and I was handed the blade. It felt balanced. Not as fine as the elven blades I’d used, but this was… meatier. A cleaver in sword form. It required strength to lift, something I had more than enough of.

A simple buckler with pointy spikes on it was the matching shield. I wasn’t sure if I liked that. Mostly because I did a lot of duck and rolling. The spikes would catch on things.

“Got a solid smooth shield?” I asked with a raised brow.

He grumbled with a nod, waving me back to the front of the store. Locket paused at a closet, handing me a belt with a sheath.

I wrapped my waist, tightening the weapon holder down excessively. The sword slid smoothly into its home.

I was led to the shields where I found a simple buckler about twice the size of my head. It was metal with a wooden raised edge to catch arrows from sliding off.

“Tis basic,” Locket grumbled. I hoisted the shield and he held out a palm. “Tip.”

“Locket, this is flipping Moobi. We ain’t even got a currency,” I said, sighing at the fact I was talking like him. “What do you want?”

He smirked mischievously. “Glad that ya asked. Twelve drums of fish oil.”

“Done, bug Gem for em,” I said with a chuckle.

His face fell then went into a smile.

Momma Semsti waved bye and Locket led me out.

All I was missing was a quiver and bow. I knew there were tier three bows in the wagons, so I had done my special shopping for today.

The dryad creatures - our bowyers - were just setting up their custom shop. By the time I got home from the campaign maybe they’d have some superior stuff made.

The trip to Brawn was quick as I weaved between wagons laden with goods.

Tolinda had the massive raptor waiting outside with his saddle on. A travel pouch was on the back hips and offered minor protection. Outside of that he was a naked, seven-foot-tall raptor. Long toe claws clacked against stone when he approached.

His coloration would go great in the forest with an undertone of green. His stripes were subtle hues of black and brown, creating something that definitely stood out in a city. In the jungle, well, we would see.

“You want to go hunting?” I asked.

He called out in his hooting sound synonymous with raptors. The rest of the pack called out in reply.

“I’ll take that as a yes, release the rest,” I said with a nod to Tolinda. “Let the mothers stay and roam free. They’ll leave the local critters who live with us alone.”

She smiled with a nod. Then she fidgeted, angsting over telling me something. I rolled my eyes.

I said, “Tolinda, I hear you. Ask Marius, don’t ask me to ask Marius.”

She left in a huff, opening the big barn doors so the raptor pack could flood out.

She was smitten with Marius. Marius was open to the idea and so was Linia. Honestly there was nothing holding them back from becoming happy besides Marius wanted Linia here. That one I understood.

The twenty-something raptors bolted for the eastern gate, ecstatic to be free. I hopped into Brawn’s saddle, situating myself.

When he bolted to catch up I felt that exhilarating sensation of wind whipping my face. I was riding a dinosaur into battle again and I couldn’t be happier. I yipped in joy, knowing this was going to be a fun campaign.

Chapter

Thirteen

COMPETITION 4 DAY 74

B oom!

The jungle shook violently.  Lightning flashed, illuminating the jungle brightly. Wind snapped fronds and branches until a few broke free of their homes - joining the swirling ferocity of the storm.

Rain defeated the canopy above us to drench our small army, whipped by the howling fury of the wing.

I… I grimaced. Being soaked for the last two days was miserable. The first day was great. We sped off, letting the raptors corral wild animals for breeding, conquer small and medium objectives, and we had a steady stream of duckies hauling home our prizes.

Then the rain hit. We… we didn’t have a weather alert. There was only the dinosaurs detouring of the main path for a clearing when a stormwall approached quickly from the south. If I had to guess, we were getting hit by a hurricane.

It was almost impossible to even see five feet in front of us. While I knew the distant enemy was likely hunkered down, just like we were, there was little I could do.

We sat in a clearing, bundled against duckies, wishing for somewhere warm and dry when there was a sudden cessation of the storm.

I groaned, realizing the abrupt calm meant this was the eye, and rain was likely going to continue for days when this passed.

Marius jabbed me with an elbow, breaking my internal complaints.

I whistled loudly, seeing the already alert troops focus on me. “Get up, we follow this eye to the north. There is a mine we can conquer while we wait for the tail end to -”

Boom!

Lightning crashed down, only a few miles away. Nothing else needed to be said. That bolt spoke volumes when the thunder reached us.

I ran on foot, carrying Brawn’s saddle. Nommi and him were relentless in getting the others to chew them off if we weren’t riding.

A short notice reprieve meant I was beating my feet against the forest floor. Good thing Marius and I were in shape, because we broke into sprints even while soaked.

The mine had only blimped on the radar when I tried to find a way north after the first few hours of the storm. I found out there were ravines consumed by flash floods. I… I almost fell into one and decided to wait for a break in the weather to travel across such arduous terrain.

Duckies trumpeted turns ahead of time with the pack swerving to adjust. Our pace was ruthless. The dinosaurs, they could think, and feel, and socialize. They wanted to get out of the rain as much as I did.

Fronds smacked my face, applying new layers of moisture to my body.

My determination carried me swiftly over the mudding terrain. The only thing keeping my feet from sinking was Marius and I were on a clean trail.

We crossed a natural landbridge, having to go up a rocky slope.

The winds at our backs began to pick up again. The calm of the eye quickly dissipated as the storm surged ahead. We were on solid terrain now, capable of arriving at the mine alive.

“Prepare for a fight!” I bellowed between panted breaths.

I pulled out the tablet. “Crap… it’s a massive mine.”

That was one below epic. I’d only ever attempted this with legions. Even when I used a legion I’d lose a lot of troops. The gains were phenomenal, but… one did not beat these challenges without trickery or a big fight.

Before I could scout the mine, torrential rain soaked us again. I quickly tapped away at the tablet. I saw the defenders were dwarves with some icon I couldn’t make out as the water soaked the screen.

A flipping mine with an army. Massive would be… suicide.

I halted those thoughts, tucking the tablet away. Marius slogged through the downpour, knowing we didn’t have a choice. He ineffectively shouted back to me.

I grimaced at the deteriorating situation.

The hurricane force winds were picking up small rocks. A fist-sized rock clocked an archer out of a duckie saddle. The human form was not meant to land face down from ten feet up. The body never moved, being left behind.

I pushed on with Marius, slowly at first until the formation broke into a hazardous run. It was hard to notice in the blinding rain, but I saw a crossbow bolt skitter by my feet. There were barely audible screams from up ahead.

Everything was so dark and murky as the thick rain obscured my vision. I followed the pack, running uphill. The screams stopped as quickly as they started.

I felt the wind reducing and the rain thinned. I grunted from the run to find myself in a cavernous opening at least a hundred feet wide and fifty feet tall.

Torches of the defenders fought the raging hurricane.

A stone wall that rested twenty feet high beat back the storm and kept us from advancing. Archers from atop the duckies were pointing at the wall where defenders hid.

A few dead duckies lay collapsed on the cave’s floor, their bodies riddled with crossbow bolts.

We luckily had the enemy pinned down. Marius was calling duckies to stack against the wall and I instantly knew what he intended. I found Brawn, slapping the harness onto his back.

The wind and rain whipped angrily, but drastically died down. While Marius worked the wall, I saddled the dinosaur that was eager for blood.

Hell, the whole pack was. The moment Marius arrayed duckies from kneeling to standing raptors went for it without orders. They bolted up the dinosaurs stacked like a ramp, leaping over the wall and onto the parapet.

Twangs rang loud as raptors shrieked in death. A club the size of my body bashed the dying dinosaurs sending them flying. That first wave paid the ultimate price.

The second wave was up and over. Dwarves cried out, begging for mercy as raptors tore into them from above the gates. I cinched the final strap down, leaped into the saddle, and Brawn was gone with me clenching my thighs to hold on.

Ripping my shield off my back, I hurried to be ready. I barely had my sword out of the sheath when we soared up and over the wall.

Brawn and I gave out two different battle cries.

I thought I was going to die.

The raptor knew what he was doing.

We arced over that wall and dove down for a fifteen-foot-tall grime covered, olive-skinned giant. The immensely fat stinky creature was chasing after a wounded raptor.

I… I never expected Brawn to be able to leap over a wall, fall with my weight carrying us down, and suddenly arrest all movements. However the bruiser did, the motion jarred my body and left me believing the beast capable of magic.

The impact was jarring, the claws buried into the giant's back, and instead of sliding down - he walked up the greenish flesh. His teeth and front claws sunk into the shoulder of the giant.

“Perfect!” I shouted with glee.

My eyes flared wide in excitement when I sliced my blade at an angle, cracking the thick steel into the spine. Flesh parted and there was a pinch on the weapon.

A rapid jarring wiggle and I was able to rip the blade free.

A hand was instinctively reaching for us when it turned off. The body fell, collapsing under our weight.

Two more giants were waddling for us. Their massive fat girth was hideous as they ran nude. The skin was cracked in covered dirt that the hurricane whipped at with wetting rain.

Using the brief pause I inspected this side of the wall. In the distance there was a dropoff where the wide cavern went downhill.

On the left was some sort of housing unit for the giants. On the right was a small barracks.

The wall itself was simple. There was no portcullis or fancy defenses. Only a gate that a bar secured. To get to the wall were two ramps that hugged the stone fortification.

Knowing I needed to get the duckies into the fight, I spun Brawn, the other raptors playing keep away to distract the larger foes.

Pack hunters were great at isolating and kiting targets. I had to trust they could stay alive.

We spun, heading for the big gate the three dwarves defended. The dwarves knew they were doomed as more and more raptors joined the fray. Marius arrived, an arrow whizzing over my shoulder.

The leader of the dwarves had his head snap back. An arrow was firmly lodged in his forehead.

That was the opening we needed, we charged forward. I felt bad. The dwarf I raced for dropped her weapon, flinching in fear. My swing was… committed. The intensity of my strike was massive and the weight of the sword heavy.

A long scream ended when the blade rent the metal helm and tore into her skull. At least her end was quick.

Brawn leaped to tackle the last dwarf, but another raptor was already there.

I yanked his reins, halting him so I could hop out of the saddle.

The gate held a slide bar, sealing the two large metallic doors. When I removed the block, the doors didn’t budge. Giant rods secured the gate by diving into the cavern floor.

I hoisted those up, locked them in place so they were out of the ground, and pulled the loud creaking doors open.

The winds from the hurricane helped beat the rusty flakes off the ancient, unused hinges.

There was an immense trumpeting so loud I had to cover my ears. Duckies streamed through the opening. Arrows whistled from perches.

The giants roared as their bodies were riddled with arrows.

Distant drums echoed through the long cavern that dove down answering our call for battle and only spurred our duck billed dinosaurs to toot louder.

I had to focus on the first issue, defeating these -

Marius cried out triumphantly. I saw an arrow zip into an eyeball at an amazing angle, changing the dynamic of the fight quickly when a giant crashed down.

The last foe was easy enough to stay away from while we slowed his chasing with damage.

A hundred arrows later and the constant raining led to a collapse.

“No!” I shouted to the raptors who were eager to pounce on the twitching body. “Archers off duckies, take to the wall. Duckies outside the gate and to the mouth of the cave. Raptors, wait at the gate.”

The drum tempo increased from down that darkening tunnel. The resonating thrums through my body were ominous.

While I certainly enjoyed being out of the storm, I wasn’t sure I wanted to fight an army to hold this place though.

Archers hopped off duckies who went to a spot they could charge.

“You three, collect the loot real quick, and stay in your saddles,” I ordered.

Marius rode over, slowing his trot to a walk. Brawn eyed Nommi with interest. Both mounts gave each other space.

“That is probably an army down there,” Marius grumbled.

I nodded. “Let’s hope they do something dumb or hold their attack. We need sanctuary.”

“Looks like the dwarves are ruled by the giants,” Marius said, thumbing a dead giant.

I scoffed. “Good point, they clearly aren’t working excessive manual labor. Then again, I was overweight while working seven days a week.”

The drums stopped. Our archers locked into position atop the parapet, facing the tunnel. There was nothing beside the heavy breathing of animals echoing off walls.

“Raptors, guard the duckies,” I ordered with a frown. We had left with twenty-six. We were down to twenty already. I hopped off Brawn, snatched his jaw, and eyed him seriously. “This harness stays on so we can retreat quickly. I promise to take it off if the situation calms.”

He chirped in annoyance but nodded.

“Great, you get to guard the left ramp,” I said and he ran up the ramp, turning at the top.

Marius set himself on the right, dismounting as well. I walked over to a dead human archer. While I wanted to try a crossbow, I figured a regular bow was good enough for now.

After stripping a few dead of their quivers, I dumped the salvaged weapons onto the growing loot pile. The crossbows seemed unusually small. The only logical deduction I could arrive at was they were underpowered on purpose.

“Marius, check this out.” I waved him over.

He inspected the weapons and inferior armor. “Shit, shit, and… shit. These troops died because they were undergeared. Odd. I mean we would have won regardless, but still.”

“Locket can smelt it down later. Thoughts on the halting drums?”

“They assembled and are at a second gate. It is what I’d do.”

“Really?” I asked.

He nodded. “Natural defenses, no need to rush into enemy troops when they have to rush to you to get to the riches. This is all junk at an outer gate to them. Hell, I bet it’s junk to us too.”

“Guess, we can remove the saddles. Time to bust into these storage rooms, light a fire, and relax a bit,” I said with a content sigh.

There was a shuffling noise from the tunnel.

“You had to say something,” Marius said in a teasing way.

I chuckled, nocking an arrow. He certainly had a point.

A lone dwarf exited the downslope about a thousand feet away with their hands up. They walked slowly, hesitant in their movements. I was hoping they would open negotiations.

That hope was dashed when the scout decided they had seen enough and fled from whence they came. Instead of fretting, I headed for the guard house beside the gate.

“I’ll provide overwatch,” Marius told me.

The door creaked open and a small candle flickered inside the room. Their small space reeked of foul body odor and unwashed clothes. Two sets of double bunks rested on the back and right wall. The female guard had a sheet separating her area on the left.

I poked blankets, under beds, and the normal hiding spots with my swords. Nothing squeaked so I considered the small space clear of danger.

This wasn’t the time for me to sort the stuff, I just gave a cursory glance to ensure there was no chest of wonders or hiding foes. Nope, these dwarves were poor.

I exited the stuffy room and ordered the drones to toss the room and build a fire. We were heading to the big giant’s outpost along the left wall when a young dwarf arrived at the declining lip.

“Whatcha bet he or she tells us to leave,” Marius said with a chuckle and a light hearted pat.

He left my side to inspect the giant's building. I waited patiently for the courier to near. They were clearly out of breath by the time they reached fifty feet or so.

I raised a hand out, palm exposed.

The female dwarf stopped.

Her face was a flustered red from running. She placed hands on her knees with panting breaths, attempting to calm her flustered appearance.

My right arm twirled my blade and my left held my shield at the ready. I paced slightly, not taking my eyes off her or the gloomy horizon where the others would come from.

“Yer… Yer, needin ta vacate, now,” she said after a few minutes.

The toe of my foot played with the grit on the worn cavern floor. “Where’s your weapons?” I asked.

“I’ma a courier fer ta city, tay nottin allowin us ta arm erselves. T’ kinda question tis that?” she said in a thick dwarven accent.

Marius exited the giant’s building, waving his nose. “By the demons below. Why is there a trough of shit!”

“Hishrooms, ta sooo yumminess,” she said, licking her lips. “Tis sell fer grabbin golds.”

I shook my head, only partially understanding what she was saying.

Marius groaned, heading back into the building. He came back out a moment later with a chunk of mushroom on the end of his sword.

“What is down the ramp?” he asked.

Her eyes lit up at the sight.

“You got this?” I asked and he nodded.

She glanced from the mushroom bit to me and said, “Gert whaat?”

I ignored her. I was shivering, damp, and wanting to get near the fire the archers had built. I spawned a fresh set of clothes from the tablet.

I checked the score out of habit before changing.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 19th

Survival: 74.5 (tied 70th)

eXplore: 83.6 (44th)

eXpand: 149.9 (11th)

eXploit: 142.7 (11th)

eXterminate: 607.0 (11th)

I then checked my personal stats. This had been vital in ensuring I wasn’t sick, infected, or…

Nathanael Immerson

Condition = Infected - Parasite

Food = +8

Water = +3

Vitamins = +8

Energy = +57

Sleep = +2

Strength = 18

Stamina = 27

Coordination = 19

Health = +9

And this was why I checked the information. Unreal. I wondered…

Marius Crixi

Condition = Infected - Parasite

Food = +6

Water = +3

Vitamins = +6

Energy = +47

Sleep = +1

Strength = 14

Stamina = 22

Coordination = 22

Health = +7

Well shit. Even with two days of rest, we weren’t very rested. More importantly, we were infected with parasites.

“Brawn, come here,” I ordered. “You too, Nommi.”

The raptors ran to me, Marius shot our commotion a glance, but continued to talk to the dwarfette. I was hoping they had educated versions. This one gave me a headache.

I stripped naked, ignoring the two raptors at the moment. When I had my boots off, I said, “Find the parasite.”

A sniffing contest erupted. I’ll be the first to admit. A raptor’s nose near my junk was terrifying. I swallowed my fears and almost jumped for joy when both of the raptors sniffed my right armpit. Score. Was super not wanting a butt or balls pest.

After a thorough conclusive sniff down, we isolated the problem. A tail was sticking out of my armpit. The creature was maybe two inches long and… I figured it’d be best if Marius dealt with the critter with his two hands rather than trying with my single one.

As a reward, I removed their harnesses and then ordered them to relax. I ordered the entire force to relax and to only go back to their positions if we were attacked.

In fresh garb minus a top, I headed over to Marius.

When I lifted my armpit, the dwarf looked at me like I was crazy.

“Fine, go cook your mushroom. I’ll give you more for more answers,” Marius said. The dwarfette darted to the fire. I guessed it needed to burn the stench of shit off or something. “Da demons is that?”

“What’s with you and demons. Also, how the hell should I know. You’re infected too…” I said.

Nommi came over, sniffing at Marius’s boot. “Score, alright, before we go to the fire to do this, there’s a few things I learned.”

“Like?”

“The girl is an idiot. We capture her, and send her home to Moobi village. Let her run ale, not a counter though,” Marius said. I went to chuckle but he shook his head. “They’ll send another and another. They’re not dumb but the dwarves are fodder. Eventually the giants will send a unit. Probably have to kill them.”

“What’s down there?” I asked.

“Like ten more gates. Each more challenging than the last. There is a flipping mega city tied to a chain of objectives around here. Not certain but based on her answers....”

I smirked. “Well, something for later right.”

“Exactly, we can’t beat this objective unless we bring siege weapons. The room has some raw ores in it and some fancy armor that is big, nice, and shoulda been worn. Locket can smelt it down for sure,” Marius said.

I spun to holler at the drones by the fire. “Archers, ten of you go into that room and empty everything out. Dump it by the fire and load the good stuff in the saddle nets,” I said, waving Marius to join me at the fire. “So how long until they send a unit do you think?”

“My guess? Not sure. They know we’re here. Telling us to go away might just be a societal thing that we wouldn’t ever do. They don’t want to fight us here where we have a decent position. That doesn’t mean they won’t send fodder or fine folk like Krissen to visit,” Marius said, being nice to our guest who was a prisoner.

She didn’t give a hoot. She was fixated on the mushroom sizzling on the fire. “Yer tinkin sherd be liken the handsome,” Krissen told me while pointing at Marius.

I lifted my armpit for Marius. He grabbed the tail of the parasite and yanked it out. There was a slurp, followed by blood running down my arm.

“Excuse me,” a voice shouted out. “I have a message.”

Marius tossed the creature onto the fire. It shrieked as the flames consumed the flesh. I glanced over to the declining slope to see another dwarfette. This one had two dwarven guards.

Deciding to say hello, I tossed my shirt on quickly, removed my sword from its sheath, and walked over to the fire.

“You got this?” Marius asked.

“Oye, ta sent der envoys wee in. He dun urpset ta lords,” Krissen said.

I almost ignored her. “The daughter is valuable?”

“Ta ma dweren ya, greatbibbins, no.”

I had to connect some dots in her talk but got the gist.

Leaving the fire, I studied the approaching lady… Yeah, I guess the spoiled daughter of a downtrodden sub lord was a lady.

She had fire orange hair that gleamed off the minor flickering firelight that reached her. This dwarven lady wore three braids, had round cheeks, and a nice summer dress that accented her figure.

I’d been teased by flesh lately, and this lady was trying to conceal hers. However, there was no denying she was a beautiful lady with enhanced features. That is where the positives ended.

My keen eyes saw her fake smile and constant glances at her guards. The guards themselves were trying to keep calm faces but held sneers. The objectives could trade, talk, negotiate, and deceive. This was technically a city objective too.

There was every hint I was likely about to be attacked. The question I had to myself as I stopped walking was… Did I save the damsel caught in the middle?

Chapter

Fourteen

COMPETITION 4 DAY 74

“T hat’s far enough,” I commanded.

My shield was at the ready and my sword was slowly twirling in my hand. My pause had me about a hundred feet away from the dwarfette and her escort.

She cleared her throat, straightened her back, and said, “The Gribbin Empire would like to open negotiations with Moobi Village.”

My jaw almost dropped. I was not expecting this.

“Shucks. I’m afraid you find me on the precipice of battle. I don’t do well in hosting such hostile diplomats,” I said, gesturing to the guards with my sword tip.

She winced. This was not what she wanted to hear. The guards were stoic, refusing to leave her side.

“I’m Esteemed Delphina. I simply cannot be without my guards. I hope you understand,” she said diplomatically.

I huffed. “Then we can talk from this distance. A shouting match works for me,” I replied.

“We need you to leave or this misunderstanding will mean war against our two sides,” Delphina said with a cautious tone.

I shrugged. “Uh… I will soon. There is a storm out there. We came seeking shelter and instead of being given permission to rest, we were attacked.”

The guards were done with the conversation. Before the lady could respond, they picked her up by each arm, and dragged her for their defenses.

I didn’t care until she yelled for help and something akin to they’ll kill me.

My mind raced over our conversation. “I refused to leave. That had to be it,” I muttered to myself.

Well, just so happens I like killing bad guys and she was desperate to be free of their grip.

A quick crouch and I bunched my legs like a sprinter. I shot forward, leaping into long strides. I needed to catch them before they hit the decline.

I could… yeah.

Probably.

They hadn’t turned or sped up. She was putting up one hell of a fight. I saw a flash of a blade. The right guard shoved his fist into her guts.

Who does that!?

A hundred feet became fifty as I was tearing across the cavern floor. Delphina was raising a whole lot of ruckus, covering my feet. The one guard managed to look as she started to go limp.

They dropped her, halting further stabs so they could face me. The quicker guard on the left hoisted his big impressive crossbow. These must be trusted elites but that bolt -

SNAP!

I instantly rolled. That bolt would crash through my shield and the wake of its power whooshed air over the back of my neck.

Exiting my tumble, I lurched back onto my feet with a spin. The second guard waited, not buying my fancy footwork.

SNAP!

I was caught somewhat flat footed and only fifteen feet away. My shield shot up and the bolt cracked through the metal.

There was a tiny deflection, allowing the tip of the projectile to tear across the top of my forearm.

I flinched when the rest of its flight went between my elbow and ribs.

While I didn’t remain unscathed, I arrived at two stunned dwarfs.

The rightmost foe pulled a hatchet off his belt, swinging in a slow, easily timed arc.

He wore intense heavy armor and there were only a few openings for me to exploit.

I avoided fighting him, diverting for the other dwarf who was reloading slowly.

There were curses as they both realized what I was doing. I was in a sprint again and too fast for the hatchet dwarf to catch me.

The dwarf reloading his mighty crossbow sneered with spittle flying from his mouth as he attempted to hastily draw his string back in time. A mad laughter escaped my lips as I knew there’d be no such luck.

An intense horizontal swing cracked his neck guard, punching through the metal, carving through his neck, and ejecting out the back of his body.

The head tumbled down the incline, leaving just me and the hatchet dwarf. He looked between me and the decline. Then he looked at the crawling dwarfette. He was torn.

I was not. I charged, causing him to flee downhill.

I halted my run, scooped up the heavy crossbow, and hammered the string back until it clicked. I plucked a bolt from the dead dwarf’s bandolier and slid it into the crossbow.

With the weapon reloaded, I ran to the decline.

Yeah… bad idea.

The moment I showed myself to the army below, there were hundreds of snaps.

The fleeing dwarf laughed as I was forced to take cover. He cleanly got away and there was shit I could do about it.

I grumbled. At least I got to see gate two’s defenses.

There were towers, ballistas, and a full company of crossbow operators. I didn’t see any Gribbins as they called themselves. Figuring this was the best I’d get I ran to the damsel.

Her belly leaked blood and she was pale. Her eyelids fluttered with painful breathing. She slipped into a shock of sorts. I pulled out the tablet, finding my management tab.

Prisoner Delphina of the Gribbin Empire is injured. A 17 hour rest period will heal her wound and consume 49 food (Adequate). Do you accept? (YES) - (NO)

I selected yes, knowing both the time and the food consumption would go down once we had stitches binding her wound.

Marius came running over at this point.

“Demons you’re fast.”

I set the crossbow on the corpse. “Don’t look over the edge, at least they sent us plenty of spare ammo. As to the situation, I think you’re right. They’ll send a unit eventually, but I sent a head rolling and an elite running. Might be half a day or two.”

“Nate… You gotta stop giving voice to positive thinking.”

I chuckled. “Right, hey, fate didn’t send an army up yet.”

He rolled his eyes. “So you save her? To what end?”

“Shucks… Wasn’t much thought other than helping a pretty lady.”

Marius shook his head. “I heard her say they were going to kill her. You wanted her alive. Hell, even I would want to save her. Mainly so we can barter her with the poor dwarves.”

“Whaa! No, there weren't ulterior motives. Or the fact she has curves for days. Just being a concerned citizen of this gloomy cave,” I said with a bantering snicker. “She’ll need stitches though.”

“Oh… I had the drones tie up and gag Krissen. She went to flee when I took off after you. She’ll be angry until we can indoctrinate her. Assuming we can. Not sure how that works with talking captures,” Marius said.

“Yeah, she actually isn’t an objective defender. We’ll find out, I don’t plan on giving them up,” I said. “If we get a chance, set her free.”

“And the fact they knew about our village?”

“Likely they know of every village. I have a feeling this is a massive city. As in, it owns the underground of the island. While it might be smart not to anger them, not sure what else to do,” I said, scooping Delphina up.

She groaned in my arms, blood spilling freely to the point I realized our blood was likely mixing on my wounded arm.

I kept the pace slow, deliberate, and cautious. When I arrived at the fire, Marius stitched my arm wound. I checked my status to see that I was wounded but not infected by her blood. Well, that was good. Last thing I needed was a blood virus.

Marius went to work on her wound while I stoked the fire up. We may be forced to leave so I’d rather the troops dried out the best they could. All around the fire was excessive gear and clothing set to dry.

I wasn’t going to go into a healing sleep, but I was going to get some rest while the enemy strategized.

I summoned my sleeping cloaks; Marius merely nodded in understanding. I was focused on healing the most I could and would be easy to wake.

After getting comfortable, I was out for a recovery nap.

∞∞∞

A gentle boot nudge interrupted my slumber.

I pried my eyes open to see the fire roared brightly, and most of the troops were asleep. Roaming guards kept lookout with duckies balled up in a perimeter. An old dwarf sat around the fire, staring down at me.

His beard was white, his braid holders silver. He had triple earrings and wore plain robes with a walking stick. His butt was resting on a keg a few other dwarves were lined up behind. I watched them pour mugs of ale, taking seats at the fire.

“Uh…” I grumbled.

Marius patted a bench seat that was likely built for the giants. The howl of the exterior winds crashing against the stout wall told me the hurricane was still in full swing. A small pile of wood dwindled, leaving me to guess we had at most a few hours’ worth left.

I rose from my bed, seeing Delphina sweating under a travel blanket from one of the archers. Her eyelids flickered and when I stared down at her soft features I saw a resemblance to the old dwarf.

Taking my seat, I accepted a warm brew from Marius. This was just heated water, leaving me wishing for ale. I felt pain in my arm, soreness too. More importantly I was rested.

“This is Gralador, Gralador, this is Nathanael. The human who saved your daughter,” Marius said, patting my shoulder.

“Nice to meet you,” I said.

He tugged on his beard, giving a grunt with a nod.

Marius said, “They could have killed a few of us. They exited from under the wall, and out of that storage room. The raptors noticed but they came unarmed and wanted to chat.”

“About?” I asked.

Marius left our seat to recover. He knew I could update him later and sleep was vital. More so in this competition.

“We heard Delphina wers dead. The gribbin loyalist shouted that yer force was mighty, yer warriors were supreme, and yer ways t’wer vile. Ting is, notorious liar that twone is,” Gralador said gruffly.

“Yeah, I get it. Wanted to verify yourself. She…” I pulled out the tablet to check. “Six more hours and she’ll be like new.”

“Magic healin?”

“Only for those I control, but yes,” I said. I went over to her body, letting air cool her fever, and exposing the stitches. She was healing nicely. “Magic and some common sewing.”

“Aye, we patchen em up much ta same. Can I barter fer her release?” Gralador said and I frowned. “I… I love her. A bright star on a dark night.”

“Poetic, and while I adore love. She said they’d kill her.”

“Aye. I’ll hide her,” Gralador admitted.

I shook my head at the notion. “Let her live with me and mine. She will be free and happy.”

He eyed me speculatively. “Not as a prisoner?”

I shrugged. “Where could she go? Would she betray me to get into your giant’s good graces?”

“No… no she’d die first. Also might die fightin the Gribbin Empire when they assault your city,” he said, extracting a pipe from his robes.

He bent over, grabbing a flaming stick to light the contents of the pipe. He blew big blue billowing bubbles that burst brilliantly. I watched in amazement.

“Special stuff this smecklecaster weed. What tis yer goal here?”

I jostled my head from side to side, giving myself a moment to think. “With this Gribbin Empire? To avoid them until I’m ready to fight them. For when that rain stops, to defeat the other invaders on this island,” I said.

“The Ursway Empire. They stand on two legs, about twice my height, at least that in mass, and have long snouts with horns on the end. They are in a really bad position,” Gralador said.

I had somehow managed to keep my jaw from dropping. This was amazing news and not expected.

“If you don’t mind me asking what kind of bad position?”

He shook his head. “Help us and I’ll tell ya.”

“Umm…. Hmm… Help you how?”

“We need ta merder ta giants as yer callin em,” Gralador said.

I scratched at my beard. There was no way I was committing to something like that just yet.

“How many are we talking?” I asked.

He started counting fingers and said, “7,234 giants.”

Marius snorted from his bed roll. Apparently he wasn’t asleep and also found this number amusing.

“Umm… Well, Gralador. What else could we offer…” I snapped my fingers, an idea coming to me. “Can we supply you with secret weapons?”

The rest of the dwarves who’d been carrying on with polite side conversations scooted to the edge of their seats. All eyes were on Gralador and me.

“Would ya trust me ta go inta that hidden entrance?” Gralador asked.

I shrugged.

“Would ya trust me ta go inta that hidden entrance?” Gralador asked in the exact same tone.

I scrunched my face, confused.

“Would ya trust me ta go inta that hidden entrance?” Gralador asked a third time.

Then it hit me. He was scripting. Or something was scripting. I was being tested maybe. Or I had hit a point in the dialogue that triggered a defined response from him. Odd, and yet, intriguing.

“Yes,” I said hesitantly.

“That is excellent news, unfortunately the big dinosaurs would not be able to go with us,” he said with a somber tone.

Marius propped himself up on his elbows and asked, “Go where?”

The old dwarf’s eyes became hazy. His movements shifted to being robotic. “The tunnels lead to many, many destinations on this island. In exchange for your weapons, which we struggle to acquire in our rebellion, we can take you to the Ursway Empire, to Moobi Village, or to fight the giants,” Gralador said in perfect Qoobi.

There wasn’t a single flaw in his tone; he shook his eyes, his vision refocusing.

Instead of messing with whatever was going on in his programming, I said, “If we provide weapons, can we have guides for the tunnels?”

“Indeed. They are too small for the gribbin to enter besides in a crawl. Be warned, they do branch off to bigger tunnels that will lead to invasion points when the empire decides to attack you,” Gralador said. Again he used a special tone and his eyes glazed over.

Marius eyed me speculatively. I saw his nod, assuming what it meant. If there were tunnels connecting this island from one point to another… we could branch out to every starting point. This… if we could navigate what was likely mazes, would be a competition changer.

Assuming a few things: it wasn’t a trick or trap, the Gribbin Empire didn’t attack before we were ready, and we could defeat this Ursway group.

“What would it take for us to scout the Ursway via these tunnels?” I asked.

A random dwarf walked over to the loot pile and pointed at all the dwarven weapons I was going to repurpose, including the heavy crossbow. While I really wanted that weapon, a direct access to our enemy was… about a hundred times better.

Gralador’s eyes lost focus. “If you trade with us, in any capacity, your status will convert to at war with the Gribbin Empire. Right now your status is - hostile.”

If I use the tunnels with Gralador’s help, I all but guarantee a war with tens of thousands. If I decline, there is still likely a war. If I… My thoughts turned dark. If I kill this unarmed party and use the tunnels, or force them to show me the ways…

My foot danced in agitation.

No.

While I did find a way to sleep easily at night regardless of how intense my murder sprees were, I’d rather unlock the dwarves as allies.

“Gralador, may I know how many dwarves are subjects to the Gribbin Empire?”

“26,213. We only have fourteen weapons secured. With these twenty-nine,” Gralador said.

I furled my brows with my mind racing.

So… That was more than our population in competition three. We couldn’t sustain those numbers unless… More importantly there would be hell to pay if they brought their full might to our walls.

A long sigh escaped my lips. We could try to go into the tunnels when Gralador and his friends left. We’d stand a high chance of getting lost and would have to abandon our duckies. I shook my head, coming to an answer.

“We choose to stay here and defend the gate. The storm is too strong to have the duckies flee into, even if I wanted a shortcut,” I said resolutely.

“Staying here will declare war on the Gribbin Empire.” That haunted voice spooked me.

Just like that I was back to the undecided. I… could replace the duckies. Marius left his seat, and if on cue the drums beat the call to war.

“That’ll be ta assembly call. Half er day and ta dwarves come ta reclaim ta gate. Yer force might be able ta defeat em. Heavy price,” Gralador said.

“Fine. We will accept no help officially. Take the weapons though as a token of our appreciation for coming in peace, not in trade. Delphina will recover, and we’ll vanish. I’ll order the duckies to try to make it home,” I said.

“This would fulfill your neutral position with the dwarves. It will keep you at hostile with the Gribbin Empire. Be warned there are dangers everywhere on this island. May we meet again under terms of peace,” Gralador said, leaving his seat.

His team drowned their drinks, hefted the keg, and followed the leader out of the cavern of the hidden tunnels in the small room.

When they were almost gone, Marius shot to his feet to release Krissen. She grumbled about being a captive, but followed Gralador to leave the area.

He sat beside me and I said, “She might have been able to help…”

Marius chuckled. “As if. She’ll walk into walls with someone holding her hand.”

“Savage.”

“Truth.”

We shared a chuckle and I said, “So, we get some rest in, then abandon the duckies, hopefully they make it home.”

He nodded. “Wake me when it’s time to go.”

“Will do, my friend,” I said, walking to the loot pile.

All the valuable stuff would either get lost on the duckies as they fled for home or would make it safely. I hated the thought of abandoning them to the fate of a hurricane, but they led us to that clearing we hunkered down in, and to this cave. They were survivors.

Yeah, I had to hope they would be fine. For us, diving into a secret tunnel system to avoid a fight sounded awful, but given the options, it was the best one. Or so I hoped.

Chapter

Fifteen

COMPETITION 4 DAY 76

“T his is it,” Delphina said in a dejected tone.

The golden rays of a warming sun crested into a tunnel exit. I stared at them with glee, her mopey mood deflecting off my excitement.

Two nights and a full day underground had messed with my senses. I was ready to get back into the open air again and conquer these last islanders. I really wanted a clean win.

“Scout, not fight,” I said to Brawn and Nommi.

I stepped to the side of the tunnel and twenty raptors bolted out of the tunnel. While I waited a proud smile crept across my face. These animals were so magnificent.

There… there was a chirp from each raptor that raced by me. As if they were saying hello in passing. If they didn’t have wicked front claws I’d try a high five.

My exuberance was not shared by miss grumpy pants Delphina. When she healed we sent the duckies out of the cave, abandoned the wall, and dove into the tunnels. I deduced she was basically a spoiled princess, used to the finer things in life.

Trekking through tunnels was not something she wanted to do. Leaving her home had her sad.

I assumed having her dad not rescue her, furthered her sour spirit. However, I didn’t ask and she rarely talked. Taking her on campaign was not ideal, but I needed her help.

While deep underground, Delphina was able to tell directions, and lead us to the east side of the island.

A week long trip was done in a little less than that even with delays from a major storm. The last raptor sped by and we headed out. Marius was protecting the troops in the rear while I led from the front.

“Why don’t you go sulk with Marius, if we take archer fire…”

I knew she was attached to me. Saving her life was a big deal to her, and she clung to me since awakening.

I was conflicted.

We needed a tunnel guide. Sure, she didn’t know which passage was the right one, but she had a compass sense, which I could work with. The fact she was my small spoon while sleeping didn’t hurt either.

She shook her head. “You’ll protect me.”

“Er… Delph, I… I may not be able to. These soldiers are not like highly trained dwarves. They’re merely tier three drone archers. Marius and I have to do the heavy lifting,” I said.

She fixed her orange braid, nocked an arrow to the bow she’d inherited, and steeled herself. Good enough for me. Not much else to do besides lead the way.

The aged smooth floor entered a rougher patch that clacked under our feet. If I were to guess, the storm blew loose grit into the tunnel.

Nearing the exit, we shifted beyond the rubble. I held my arm up, halting the formation and hearing an eerie quiet.

No raptors called to each other or cried out in distress.

If they were staying silent and stalking, then I would too. I crouched, striding forward with a low silhouette. When I crossed into a mid-day stormless exterior, I smirked. Even the sight of carrion birds brought a relieved sigh. I never realized how much I preferred the outdoors.

Using a quick pause, I surveyed the area.

Behind me a plateau rocketed into the sky with the cavern opening at the base of the epic structure. Further away were a series of corridors and another dozen spires.

Directly in front of the cavern exit was a downhill trail with sporadic rock covering and that familiar jungle with its dense underbrush and gloomy canopy. The jungle stretched for about a mile until it hit a fairly large clearing that led to the ocean.

From this height advantage I saw the Ursway Empire and was confused. There were no farms.

Well the clearing was almost farmless. The docks were tier one. The stronghold was tier three, however, it was minimally done. Everything was minimal. Then it hit me. Our expansive city and massive clearing were achieved by pleasing mohuma.

We literally overproduced nonsense, placated whining, built excessive homes that drained supplies, and broke our backs to get our workforce happy. This… this was achievable by two or three competitors. Or maybe they kept killing the mohuma because I saw workers in the village, little more than moving dots from this distance.

I headed down the hill with minimal cover for the jungle. When we hit the treeline I came to a halt, waiting for Marius to catch up. Brawn poked his face out of foliage with blood on his lips.

Uh…

A moment later the pack returned with a few kills of wild animals. I guess it wasn’t fighting when you were killing prey. They even dragged a boar back. While this was awesome, I… I didn’t want to start a fire until we could hide it at night.

The trail of archers set up a perimeter and Marius walked for me.

“Well, I doubt it will be that hard,” he said.

“Depends on what animal they have. I doubt they would have ten T-Rexes down there if that is what they selected,” I said and he nodded. “We can scout today, use darkness to cover our fire. Eat a good meal, sleep a few hours and attack before dawn.”

“Getting ahead of ourselves. How about we go inspect what they have?” Marius said.

Delphina grumbled. “I can watch the camp.”

We both were taken aback by this. She refused to talk around Marius. She also never volunteered. I didn’t actually need to worry. The raptors wouldn’t let her leave, nor would the archers.

“I… Thank you,” I said and she shrugged.

“You brutes eat your food in the bushes. We don’t want flies around camp, and save a leg on the boar,” she commanded and the animals obeyed.

Er…

Hmm…

Marius wasn’t bothered in the slightest, waving me into the jungle. The game trail was soaked in blood. Half the raptor pack fanned out, following us at a close distance. Try as I might, I could never get as quiet as those predators.

To me, it seemed like they had a magical ability to move fronds and bushes. Honestly, my love of being outside again hit a wall of dense jungle that reminded me how wet I could get in an instant.

After becoming one with the jungle the best I could, our trek progressed slowly, even on a partially cut path.

“So… you made a new friend.” Marius chuckled.

I shrugged. “She’s been through a lot. I’m sure I’ll get some scripted back story. I doubt she is a real dwarf put into the position. The fact she speaks clean Qoobi makes me think she’s different. So you never know. Honestly, I don’t have much to go on.”

Marius held a branch back for me so I could stop it from whacking me. He said, “I don’t think we're going to like the Ursway team.”

“Eh, they’re likely hard workers,” I said.

He shook his head. “It's a mohuma competition. You… saw what I saw.”

“Indeed I did, just not going to sweat it. This is not a city we fear and should ally.”

We left the beaten path, heading directly for the sounds of trees being sawed. I held the raptors back at this point.

The attack at night plan had a lot more merit than charging out during the day. Each step was careful from this point. We tried to be silent, and to us we were loud. I just had to hope whoever was sawing a tree off to our left didn’t notice us.

We picked a direction that avoided direct conflict.  When I saw partially through the jungle and into the Ursway Village I grew slightly concerned. They too were having to combat mighty predators.

Three massive skeletons rested atop the third floor of the stronghold. A mighty cat, bear, and mole. I found it interesting they defeated these large predators without sentry towers. There wasn’t a single tower in the clearing. There were a few ruined buildings though, smashed into bits with frames still exposed.

I saw only a dozen workers; each one was rail thin and extremely frightened.

They kept darting eyes to a single rhino humanoid patrolling the village. Okay the ursway were massive. Twelve feet tall, bigger than an ogre, and clearly in shape as this one was carrying a tree at a time to a sawmill.

Eventually I saw a few drone warriors doing a loop around the stronghold. I deduced they were there to protect the sleeping ursway. Or maybe even healing. I only counted three of the rotating guards and I saw zero archers.

Marius tapped my shoulder for attention. He drew a half circle on his palm, indicating he wanted to see the village from the other side. I nodded.

After the quick inspection I realized these competitors were screwed. I could camp the raptors here, have them pick off workers and the city would stagnate. A week or two later I could return with a full legion and make this an expansion in less than a day.

What this team was doing, wasn’t a winning strategy. This was a get to top fifty if you could.

The journey through the jungle was tedious and slow. I literally tripped over a hiding raptor. He squealed to ask if I was okay. While nice of him, I grumbled and stayed on the ground for the moment.

I checked the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 9th

Survival: 76.4 (tied 67th)

eXplore: 123.6 (24th)

eXpand: 229.9 (4th)

eXploit: 312.7 (5th)

eXterminate: 897.0 (6th)

My eyes shot open with dismay. We had jumped ten ranks and this was far more than I anticipated.

Gem was doing work. Our production must have hit a whole new level because our numbers were soaring.

This also meant Team Ursway would only take a single point loss. Not that I’d cry if they lost more but based on so many teams already out, the mohuma competition was tougher than a normal one.

Tucking the tablet away, I caught up to Marius. We arrived at a river spot with decent rocks obscuring our spying. My stinky outfit was drenched from wicking the moisture off the jungle.

“Where’s the animals?” he hissed in annoyance.

I frowned. In a whisper I said, “Haven’t seen a single one. Not even…”

My pause revealed a shriek from the north and out our left. A bell rang and the workers dropped what they were doing to run into wooden palisades. My worry lines deepened as we waited.

A wave of four-foot-tall ants came out of the woodline. There were fifty or so. The antennae of the ants flicked and searched. When the entire horde looked at Marius and me, we groaned.

“Honestly, we don’t need some giant strategy here anyway,” Marius said, breaking into a run.

“We should fight them in the tunnel,” I said, keeping pace.

We zoomed out of our spying point, hustling for the raptors so we could return to camp. The ten minute run had us startling Delphina. She fumbled her bow, trying to prepare for an attack. I hid my reaction, knowing it wouldn’t help.

“Up to the cavern mouth, now. Hustle!” I bellowed.

There was a crash of jungle that spurred us on. We used the rocky open terrain to get distance and an uphill advantage.

The ants were relentless and fast. They burst through the jungle before we could fully set. “Single raptor! Distract!” I cried out.

Brawn spun, racing for the enemy. His front arms splayed and he shrieked out a battle call.

The ants replied in kind, charging to meet him in the middle of the rough terrain. The eight legged alien ants pivoted as quickly as Brawn did, tracking him as he led the army off to our right.

I reached the cavern’s mouth and grabbed a spare bow off an archer’s ditched bag. The ninety surviving archers spun to create a firing line.

When I skidded to a halt to join the line, I gulped.

There were at least two hundred ants and more were coming.

“Aim!” Marius shouted, already ready to fire. “Fire!”

I was late as I had to grab a bow. I held my arrow.

The skittering conga line behind Brawn didn’t care about us. They were fixated on following the leader. Maybe it was the hive mind at work. I saw their heads tucked down, their eyes staring blankly at the ant butt in front of them. There was no swiveling to be aware of their surroundings, giving me hope.

I watched the first volley drop out of its arc and slam into the middle of the line. Over twenty ants shrieked, cried, and tumbled as our arrows cracked through their chitin armor.

There was a break in the line, the survivors following Brawn, continued to do so. The lead ant behind the break fixated on us, not the raptor the others would never catch. This new ant ran right for the cavern.

I exhaled, drew, aimed, and fired.

My arrow whizzed forward, swirling in perfect flight. The tip dove into the face of the new leader until it shot out the bottom.

“Focus on the second section,” I commanded.

“Ready!” Marius shouted. “Fire!”

Arrows whistled. Down in the village I saw the Ursway watching our fight. Good, they would see swarms of archers doing glorious work.

The rain of arrows smashed into the clumping enemy as they needed a new leader. Another thirty or so perished under the second volley. The ants were skittering, looking for an ant to follow.

Brawn obliged by pivoting, leading his trailing followers to gain new steam.

“This is too easy,” I said cheerfully, sinking another arrow into a drone.

Marius scoffed from down the line. “Damnit, Nate, I heard -”

The ground rumbled at the treeline. We kept firing while the tremors reached our defensive spot. I saw trees flip over, and fresh soil come to a point that rose out of the jungle floor in a volcano shape.

That point burst, sending dirt in a firework display as a massive ant head breached. I grumbled, not kicking the rock I wanted to.

“Ready! Fire!” Marius called out.

Arrows sunk into the clump of ants that had joined Brawn’s wake.

I fired another arrow, killing another ant. The two to three hundred were dwindling fast. Our arrows were having a decent impact and the fighting hadn’t really started.

However, the battle was shifting. The big monster ant was struggling to exit the earth. When it was noticed, the other ants paused.

“Fire!” Marius ordered and I joined this volley.

With the foe standing still, this was decimating. Over sixty worker ants collapsed in death with another ten or so injured.

There was a clacking call for the smaller ants to help clear the exit. I realized this was a queen and her back end was stuck.

“Rush forward! Advance. Raptors full attack! Do not let her unburrow. All arrows onto the queen,” I commanded.

The firing line rushed forward to get within range. The raptors shrieked out their calls, running for Brawn and the half dozen or so ants who trailed him.

They smashed into the ants, tearing apart the insects by hitting them from the sides or behind.

The rapid raptors were never giving the ant pincers an opportunity. I shifted to seeing the hundred or so remaining ants quickly working to free their leader.

It was going to be close as the behemoth ant yanked on her lower body. Tremors bounced loose rocks as she fought to free herself.

I whooped out a cry of joy when we reached adequate range in time.

She realized this, giving a brutal ear covering cry. Even though my ears rang, the firing line raised bows with nocked arrows.

I imagined there was whistling after twangs, but I was deaf at the moment. My vision though, it saw something of wonder.

The queen retreated trying to get into the hole for cover.

She was too slow.

Ninety arrows riddled her body and those around her. An eye burst and the massive body swayed, slamming down onto drones.

Something triggered. The drones fled when the queen’s body gave a final cry. I noticed too late my raptors were gone, diving into the jungle after the drones.

“Back to the cavern’s mouth,” I ordered.

Marius shifted to join my side. “Umm…”

“Right,” I grunted with a gruff laugh. “Me and my big mouth.”

“Think we’ll see them again?” he asked.

It did feel eerily quiet all of a sudden. The odd shriek of a raptor would break the silence. Calls would go out. There were cries of death from the drones.

We both shivered.

“They’re so brutal. I’d hate to have a pack hunting me. Yeah, we’ll see all twenty of them again is my guess.”

“Seemed adequately challenging,” Marius said in a snarky tone.

“Whaaa! Not going to call it too…” I paused and he grinned. “Perfectly difficult.”

“I shot four!” Delphina said with a fist pump.

We let her join our conversation. “Nice shooting.”

“Plan?” Marius said.

“I figure we camp for two days,” I replied.

“Two days!” Marius exclaimed.

I nodded, plucking a spare arrow off the ground. “We sleep good for two days while picking off workers and keeping them on constant guard. Maybe even longer. Have you checked the score?”

“Yeah, Gem is doing wonders. We’ll be sailing soon and have a chance of defeating the Gribbin Empire in a month or so,” Marius said.

“Exactly. We’re doing great things. We have a shortcut home too. A few days of whittling down whatever defenses they have, and strangling their production will be amazing. Honestly, I would just retreat if I were the competitors. Take a raft on the water and risk it, or go north to live off the land,” I said.

“Maybe. If they leave, the warriors and mohuma will surrender. Either way, they saw what we brought. Near a hundred archers and raptors. I doubt they’ll be very happy with their predicament,” Marius said.

I smirked. “Then we make it even worse for them.”

Chapter

Sixteen

COMPETITION 4 DAY 79

“L et me come with you,” Delphina said confidently.

Three days had gone by. Each day she had grown assertive of herself while in my presence. Her pessimistic attitude converted into a happy outlook. This morning was her final turning point, and I was interested in the why.

I smiled, seeing her brown eyes locking to mine with amusement. “I’d like that, but I’m in charge. The pack is in charge if I die. Hopefully, they’ll get you to safety if something happens. Got it?”

She nodded. Brawn chirped his call out, letting her know who was second boss, and Delphina rolled her eyes.

Marius was sleeping in the camp when we left for our rotation.

There was a worn trail with the jungle hacked back from our constant use. Our raptors were the alpha predators of the area, keeping any wildlife away, and allowing me to enjoy the nice morning day.

The rhino humanoids were on the defensive, extremely entrenched to the point I was frustrated by the lack of simple progress. There was little more we could do, meaning today would be the day when they fell.

I was simply waiting for Marius to get about four hours of sleep before we pushed into the city and defeated the hiding competitors.

Since our siege began, we had captured six workers. We used the raptors and their sniffing skills to secure nutrients. For those we saved, their malnourished health was already on the mend.

The rhino humanoids were out of options. Tier three technically gave them a secret tunnel.

The bad news for them was… that tunnel came out on the back side of the spire we camped at. The raptors found it and we blocked the exit. Simple as that, we trapped our foes. Could they run north or flee via the sea, of course. Except they didn’t.

I guess a final battle was brewing. A hundred versus two. Last night Marius had picked off the last guard and almost hit one of the competitors. It was my turn to track them if they fled. Raptors were staged around the city and we had a makeshift archer tower I was heading to.

“I’m ready to talk,” Delphina said.

“Uh… okay.”

It was just us and she was at ease. “I’m not Delphina.”

“Shucks,” I blurted. I… didn’t stumble but I was shocked. “Had me fooled.”

“Yes, well, you're not a simpleton, but you’re direct. A natural born leader of a different mold,” she said. She lightly touched my wrist. “Thank you for being kind to me. I… I needed that more than ever. Even from a stranger.”

“Lady, we're not exactly strangers. My boner pokes you in the morning,” I said with a shrug and a winning smirk. “Especially when you nuzzled into it this morning.”

She blushed, her freckles and orange hair radiated an interesting crimson.

A tug on her braid had her calming her nerves. “I’m Queen Seph. My true dwarven name is much more unique. However,” she tilted her nose up slightly, increasing her royal tone, “I was saved by the Archaics after my husband…”

I waited. “Your husband what?”

“Destroyed our planet.”

I rubbed the back of my neck.

Talk about an epic line. How did I respond to that?

Obviously this conversation was going to take time, so I started walking to the sentry tower. There was only a drone archer there and we could chat while providing overwatch.

“Did you not hear me?”

“Seph, I heard you fine. The question is, do I want to stop in the jungle? Even if you lifted your dress and asked for a quickie, I’d not want to stop,” I said with a tease.

“Pfft, as if. Your penis cries to find its home, which apparently is my vagina,” she scoffed in a cute way. “Trust me, I feel his wet tears.”

“Drooling in excitement. My penis is a mighty vagina slayer, not a weeping weakling. And Seph, if you woulda told me you were married then -”

She covered her mouth to contain her laughter. “Sorry, I was in an arranged marriage about ten thousand Qoobi years ago. I’ve been single and with other dwarves while waiting for Qoobi to come to fruition.”

“You’re losing me,” I admitted.

“And your long legs are carrying you so damn fast,” she complained. “What’s ta issue?”

“You suddenly are vibrant and full of energy.”

“Indeed.” She paused.

Instead of letting her halt the conversation a few hundred feet shy of the sentry tower, I lunged at her. She squealed, naturally flinching but showed no fear. I slung her over my shoulder, both of us grunting.

“Yes, this will do nicely,” she said and I rolled my eyes.

“What’s gotten into you?”

She snickered. “Not you... yet.”

I rolled my eyes, carrying her with a chuckle. At least this observation session wasn’t going to be boring.

“Out with it,” I said.

“It's a sad tale, you sure you don’t wanna have fun while I’m in a good mood?” she said.

I set her down, arriving at a tower in the trees. It was a platform we built where four trees naturally grew around each other. We cleared back the excess blockage of vegetation and then had a nice spot to keep watch on the village.

I hurried up the notched ladder in the tree back to take over the spot of the archer. He scurried down and Seph hurried up.

Taking care of business first, I inspected the view. The walls were mostly down, raptors had gone in, trying to draw out a fight. They simply let them destroy sections at will. It was only when we went for the stronghold that they started flinging spears.

When one of our raptors died, we decided to siege for a bit and see what they did. Turtle. They clammed right up and stopped defending anything besides the stronghold. So when I looked at the village, I saw something hardly worth the effort.

Honestly, we only bothered sieging to not have the risk. I needed to get back to Moobi Village though.

We should be near a legion soon. Tier four should be done too.

The plan was to openly expand, conquer resource objectives, and take first place by dominating our island.

All that could start in a few hours.

For now I had a sexy dwarf to keep me company in my tree fort. And yeah, stick a juicy booty, thin stomach, and big tits in my bed… Well, there was sexual tension galore.

I let that slide, we’d been adults about it to this point. While my lovely wives were away, they did say I could do what was needed to win. It’d be worth the potential scolding if I turned Seph into a sex toy.

A head shake brought me out of my horniness.

“Okay, the enemy is tucked inside their shell and you came out of yours. Please, Seph, tell me your not so tragic backstory,” I said. About the only thing we talked about was my past and those were stories to help her get to sleep.

“I know so much about you. I… I fell into a pit. Dwarves dig. Being a Queen dwarf to the mightiest hold on Arvon meant I was extremely fortunate. I used my power, wealth, and prestige to preach… teach about the value of our home. I tried to explain that we needed to revitalize and repair Arvon.

“My husband, King Larzo - and that is just generalizing his name in Qoobi - was about exploitation. The natural reason for the planet was to have the inhabitants use its wonders for gain. His argument had merit. We did dwell in mighty halls, have gems bigger than my head, and the planet gave me ten wonderful children.

“Well the mines grew deeper and deeper. The problem with digging towards a planet’s core is you run into hot pockets. And -”

I snickered.

She frowned, shaking her head. “I tell you I had ten children and hot pockets triggered you?”

“Yeah, name of a food. Joke from my planet. Please continue and you don’t look a day over twenty,” I said and she curtsied.

“Such a worthy male. The story is fairly straightforward from here. The Archaics informed me I was a wise leader, a compassionate female, and capable of great things. I happened to think I was a fool. I was removed from my planet on that fateful day.

“There was a long science lesson on a planet's crust and how plates cover lava. Basically we broke a plate causing it to shatter. Yeah us dwarves dug that much. There was a planet wide rebalancing on the surface that is likely still happening.

“We killed ourselves and I was spared. So were a lot of my people. Enough to restart on Qoobi. I wasn’t the only dwarven leader though and my husband died, left behind on purpose, making me a widow. I was told of the competition and able to select from any dwarf I wanted as my competition partner.

“As you can imagine, I had some fun. I was young, vibrant, and full of life. I also -”

“Hold up,” I said, raising a hand. “You were a competitor?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I… didn’t know you could generate as an awakened soul,” I said with a shrug.

She leaned into me, wrapping me in a hug. While she was a stranger, she was also my current bed partner. I didn’t fear her and we both knew I was on edge still. No, she really needed to be held.

“Back to waiting for my first competition. One of my sons made it onto the manager list. When I finished having fun, my choice was always going to be Kerin. My son was everything I could want from a man. Strong, resolute, courageous, empathetic, understanding, and confident.

“We went into competition one and I… died to a snake bite on the fourth day trying to collect wood. My son went on to place thirtieth. I earned two points but lost my son as he earned his own spot. There were tearful goodbyes and as a parent, it was so hard to let him go. But I got to not only see him succeed, but to flourish. Something I’ll always be grateful for.

“I… I went into the selection process again. Male dwarves love ale, sex, butt sex, warhammers, armor, and their rams - not sexually, just as a war status thing. What they detest is a female leader. To be fair, I never led. I never adventured, I had no idea what the hell to do in a competition the Archaics built.

“I asked for a pause. To study in the simulator for a few years. Nope, denied. I picked Porvon, the most receptive of those I dalliances with. Yeah, he was scum. Denied my orders the moment we were in the competition. When I fled with the master tablet... I fell into a cave and was eaten alive by a bear.”

“Ouch,” I said.

She sighed. “Finally my luck turned. I was given six months, since I was negative on the points after that showing, to learn about survival. I really got into the simulator,” she said. She whipped an arrow out of her quiver, loaded it swiftly, and hit the tree she aimed at a hundred feet away. “That took a year of training. I dedicated myself to being a warrior of the forge.”

“Sounds good so far. Like you're a winner,” I said.

Her hand traced over my abs. She paused from her storytelling to bend down to fix her boot. Except she went to her knees. When she glared up at me I knew those eyes. She bit her lip and I was tempted.

I wagged a finger. “Not yet. In due time. I see my wives… well I should be able to see them now. So I’ll ask first.” I extended a hand that she accepted.

She snuggled into my side again. “Unbelievable, and I’m honored at the same time. I shall continue.

“I learned to start fires, shoot a bow, and how to track animals. The greatest challenge I failed at. Taming males.

“Next competition I… I made it to tier three. When I spawned a prettier dwarfette the male picked her over me in only a few days’ time; I should have known. My partner, whose name is too vile to speak, killed me in my sleep.

“This time the competition didn’t allocate the points he earned. I went from negative one to negative four. Having enough after three males abandoned me, I selected another female. Timisha. Timisha was flipping useless but… she never killed me. Snakemen did, in a base rush and we finished 98th.

“Down seven points, I picked her again and even trained Timisha up to a decent standard. We bred with mohuma or not at all, picked an all female team, and finished 12th. To my dismay, they offered Timisha a slot and she accepted. I picked another lady, Meetin.

“She stabbed me in the back at the start. Then it was Yosandra who died to a cougar on day one and let me get eaten while I was mid-build.”

“Talk about a series of bad luck,” I muttered.

She nodded. “The Archaics figured it out fairly quickly. I was never going to be a ruler of my own kind. I was offered a mohuma slot.

“There was a distant chance that I might get pulled into a competition. If I never did, I’d never know I didn’t make the cut. So I didn’t step on that stasis platform.

“I kicked, I bit metal, and I screamed for life. It wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair. I had only ever been good, trying my best. I was shocked with an electrical charge, stunned until I pissed myself, and stuck on stasis. When I awoke in a dwarven cavern of old I was dismayed.

“A human, a slave race on my planet, was in charge. Not only was he in charge, he was tender and caring. I helped him through tunnels. Many times I could have ended him and he was so… different.

“At night, I was rewarded when he held me like no one ever held me before. I went to a dark place, reflecting on my failures. This morning your desire for me spurred me out of my rut of gloom, seeing a brighter future. Helping. That is where I always should have been. Helping with someone who wanted my help.”

I stroked her hair. “Aye, I understand. The ladies will love to meet you. Here,” I said, handing my tablet off to Seph. It was the tablet from the tier three unlock. The master was buried under a secret slot under the docks. “Hit help. Type in wife. Then hit call. Go to the base of the tree. Oh, and, Seph. I get to watch it all later.”

Before she could do that a war horn blew. Seph startled, dropping the tablet. She plucked it off the platform, and stuffed it into my vest.

“Later.”

There was a commotion in the city. Four zebras burst forth out of the double doors of the stronghold. The two ursway competitors stood in a chariot of sorts and they were coming right for me.

Well… Damn.

Chapter

Seventeen

COMPETITION 4 DAY 79

W e had about a hundred contingencies for what happened if these idiots suddenly grew balls and charged us. None of them involved a chariot reaching us in minutes. I could run away… but that would mean Seph would have to hide, like this instant.

“To arms!” I shouted.

Raptors chirped loudly to let the others know to come. Their cries echoed and sent birds into flight over the canopy of the jungle.

“Lie down,” I said, throwing my body down to the platform.

Seph was slower, barely getting down in time.

Two spears whistled with the ferocity of an angry god. They cracked with an echoing boom when the wooden spears slammed into trees below us.

I gasped; the ursway had thrown them from impossible distances, catching me off guard.

A quick heave had me picking myself off the decking to peek over. Sure enough two more crudely made spears were unleashed by the enemy.

I did get a good look at the big gray skinned humanoid. They wore thick leather armor with metal plating over vital areas. Their long snouts had armor of some kind and piercing blue eyes glared with determination. Their pointy horns were bone white with a sharp point.

The chariot was longer than a Roman chariot. This had four wheels with a back section. That extra space was occupied by barrels that were stuffed with spears. Due to their leather armor and intense frames of bulging muscles, they were able to hurl their crude sharp weapons with ease.

The zebras were the kicker. All four of them were in prime health, happy to be running. In that quick glance, I knew… they had to have been raised in the secret tunnel. They were fast and didn’t look like they’d tire anytime soon.

This was going to be a battle of range, something they held the advantage to. If I were them -

Two new spears launched our direction and smashed into the trees below us. Splintered fragments shot up and into the bottom of the makeshift decking. Violent vibrations sent trembles through my body.

“What’s the plan?'' Seph asked. Her voice was calm, her eyes were uncertain. My smile calmed her even though she was holding it together really well.

I stayed down, not wanting to give them a shot. “Honestly, if I were them I wouldn’t get in range of our arrows. They can tablet respawn spears.”

“And?”

“Oh, yeah. The plan. We rush them in the open when everyone arrives and sacrifice archers,” I said bluntly.

This had the opposite effect I thought it would. I expected her to love my plan, and instead, her eyes went wide. “You’d do that?”

I furled my brows.

“Come out, you anal lickers!” an ursway taunted.

“As if! You’ll make nice boots!” I shouted back.

Seph shook her head. “Lame. They obviously think butts are gross. And again, you’d sacrifice troops?”

“Of course. We make probably fifteen archers a day. They may look human. They aren’t. Well, we think they are citizens for Qoobi, but they’ll never remember going into a fight to appease the enemy,” I said.

“Appease them!”

I scoffed, starting to understand why she had lost so many competitions. “Why are they out there taunting us with pristine mounts and unlimited ammo?”

“To kill you, obviously -”

Crack! Boom!

That spear landed close. With my bow in my hand and an arrow nocked, I lifted onto my knees. In a fraction of a second I saw the ursway chariot about four hundred feet out, moving fast from my left to right.

I adjusted, aimed, and fired.

Twang!

Another spear screamed my direction, lifting from too much force and flying for probably a mile or more beyond us.

Since I knew that spear was off, I readied another arrow.

The driver saw this and peeled back for additional space, slowing his mounts. My first arrow was easily avoided, but it was at least noticed.

Any minute Marius and the archers should be here. The raptor calls had gone quiet, telling me they were staging on the edge of the jungle.

I merely had to give the call.

They could win this fight. However… they were worth substantially more than fodder troops.

Two spears cracked into trees away from us. A cry of pain from a dinosaur told me shrapnel had injured the raptor because those spears, if they hit you... you were dead.

“Alright that is our cue, hurry down.” My tone was urgent and I all but shoved her down the backside of the trees.

“Why sacrifice the troops!?” Seph hissed, frustrated at her short legs.

I jumped onto a nearby tree and slid down when I heard a whistling coming right for me.

Boom!

A direct hit from a spear broke the little platform so violently that sections showered down. Seph was hit by a chunk of wood and sent off the stairs. She tried to catch her fall with an awkwardly placed arm.

“Tuck your -”

Snap!

Bone jutted out of her arm at a nasty angle. I tried to warn her.

There was a bit of chaos at the moment. I yanked out the tablet the second my feet touched down.

Navigating the menus, I saw she had twelve days for recovery time. I didn’t hit accept and she glared at me from between clenched teeth.

“It’s just the forearm,” I said.

Her eyes widened. “Just a forearm,” she grimaced between grunts of pain. “First time I’ve seen your vile side.”

“Err… no. The moment we finish this battle you’re guiding us home. Else I’d put you to sleep right away. Sorry,” I said, running a hand through her hair.

She clutched her arm tightly. “So much pain. I’m going to lie down.”

“Be back soon.”

We could splint it and treat it later, but that would hurt, as would the trip home. I’d make it up to her later, or so I told myself that.

Marius came bounding down the trail with the whole unit of archers. I ran to meet him to let Seph roil in pain on her own. While harsh, I had a fight to win and she was safeish there.

“She okay?” he asked.

“Fine. Here’s the plan. We let them go down in a blaze of glory.”

He nodded, not even questioning the call. I saw him ready an arrow and I did the same.

I raised my voice. “Archers, run until you can fire on the chariot. If it gets further away, run closer. Do not stop trying to kill the enemy. Raptors, hold on the outskirts of the fight!”

The archers diverted off the trail, slithering through the woods to get into the clearing. Two spears cracked into the canopy, going high.

“Damn, they’re almost fifteen hundred feet away,” Marius said, peeking from behind a tree.

I nocked an arrow, heading for the clearing. The sight I saw from behind my tree was awesome. The archers fanned out, running for the chariot.

The two ursway spun their zebras, aligning in a direct charge. So much power from those mounts. Even though they were impressive, I knew they were blunt weapons of war.

I grinned. “Raptors! Encircle!”

I ran from the treeline with Marius and eighteen raptors. The ursway were undeterred, knowing this was it for them. Those charging zebras were fast even as they tugged that chariot.

Two spears rocketed across what was once farm fields.

The tips of the weapons went into and out of archers in a flash.

Blood and gore sprayed out their backs as they were lifted off their feet and sent flying.

The distance was close enough for the archers to plant feet, take aim, and fire.

A blanket of arrows whizzed at the four zebras.

Seeing what was coming, the ursway jumped off the back of their ride, tumbling over the dirt to bleed off momentum.

Arrows sunk into the striped creatures in a blanketing mass. Only the slightest of dying noises escaped them.

The four bodies crashed down and the chariot shot high before crashing atop the dead zebras.

A plume of debris shot out from the crash. There was no time to focus on that. The ursawy were back on their hooved feet, heads down in a charge.

They wielded bone weapons that reminded me of scythes that reapers carried. Except they were twelve feet tall with snarling lips peeled back revealing massive molars.

Their charge was thunderous in its might; however, they were slower than a raptor.

Their bulky frames were ripe targets. Angry raptors charged forward, leaping in massive jumps to close the distance.

My legs were in a dead sprint, trying to get into the fight. I groaned when the ursways’ wrists rotated in an unhinged manner.

Their bone scythes cut in sweeps that were impossible to rationalize.

Their flicks, twists, and slices were so fast I was stunned. As was the first wave of raptors. All six who jumped first, were cut down before they could land. Blood showered the warriors who only became more brazen.

“Kite!” Marius and I shouted as one.

That was it for the raptors. They didn’t get close again.

I was within range and so was Marius. This had gone on for too long. We joined the second volley, firing at the hard to miss targets.

In a last ditch, desperate effort, they flung their weapons. The scythes soared in circles reaping big chunks of archers.

Twang!

I saw my arrow whistle forward with a tight twirl. The ursway stood resolute, deciding they’d die on their feet with courage.

My arrow sliced into the neck and out the back to keep flying.

Their bodies became riddled with arrows. Their thin armor was no match for the speed of the projectiles.

They both fell to their knees, the right one collapsed. The left one stood, shakingly on his legs.

“Anal… licker… no… master tablet…”

Brawn and Nommi leapt onto the dying ursway. The rhino humanoid collapsed under their weight. I watched as the raptors swarmed him. He screamed, like a lot.

Then again, I think I would scream too if I was being eaten while still alive. Normally I’d tell them to stop and give him a clean death. He was insulting me, wasted my time, killed more troops than I wanted, and he was going to die in a minute or two anyway.

When the pleas for help ended, I retrieved my tablet.

You have activated the ability to claim an abandoned stronghold. (YES) - (NO) There are no defenders.

I selected yes. A massive storm of brown magic rolled over the shamble of a settlement. The death of the Ursway nation was complete. They were out of the competition as the brown magic finished the minor transformations to make the stronghold human sized.

A flash of light had me glancing down. The expectant boom echoed through the forest and a big wash of air fluttered my outfit, threatening to take my cowboy hat off.

“Time to go,” I ordered sternly. I was disappointed by this outcome and overjoyed we fought this team on such an uneven setting.

Marius went to try to retrieve one of the bone weapons and struggled to lift it. “Well damn. You wanna loot this place?”

“Nope, it’ll be here for when our roads reach it. Until then, we rush home for this Gribbin battle. I want to get Delphina or Seph, who was a competitor, home. I -”

“A competitor,” Marius exclaimed.

I nodded. “She’s a manager. Imagine Senna running a team without a trustworthy ally.” He winced at the thought. “Exactly. She can learn a bit of survival but her wheelhouse is managing. Anyway, she has a busted arm. Three days and I can get her to Moobi Village and put her into a healing,” I said happily.

“And the wounded?” he asked. There were a few who hadn’t died from the scythe attack. “Can we make stretchers?”

“Yeah, works for me. Not going to be running home with her having a broken arm anyway. Shucks, she is the guide after all.”

That was it. All this time and we were going home with a hollow victory.

While we conquered the island from other competitors, there was still one threat left before we set sail for a different island. Those jiggly giants were going to be a much tougher challenge than this pathetic village was.

Chapter

Eighteen

COMPETITION 4 DAY 89

“W ell that went smoothly,” Gem said, plopping her butt into my lap.

We had retired for the evening after a hard day of defeating large and extra-large objectives. Tomorrow would be us clearing a grove of dryads.

The objective was a step up from extra-large and would be tough. The defenders had poison gas, aggressive plants, and about five hundred defenders. They had layered fortifications and we had lost three archers simply from probing the defense.

Even though this challenge had us at a standstill, there was good news. We moved into third place. The how was simple. Due to Gem and now with the help of Seph we created a circle road around the island. Every stronghold that was able to be built in a starter zone was.

Doing so gave us a population, resources, and points boom. While the roads were hastily laid down, and supply lines connected. Marius and I went on a killing and capture spree that left me feeling bad.

Gem had a point, it was going too easily. I was wanting to say this was too easy but feared even uttering the words. Hell, I tamped down such thoughts as quickly as I could.

Not everything was great though. Sails… There are numerous ways to create a material that can get wet with saltwater and survive brutal winds. They just weren’t easy.

Then there was the wood. We needed oars. The docks created sailors. Which we hadn’t made any yet because they were a food sink. Shocker… our excess food depleted quickly and our wood constantly hovered at zero.

Hence the need to tackle the dryad grove and increase output significantly.

Finally there was the ‘no news’. The Gribbin Empire and Gralador had gone silent. Not a peep from them. Which obviously had me concerned. Even if we were up to a legion and a half, it would be a slogging defensive fight if they left their tunnels.

“Showers ready,” Seph said, and I moaned at her amazing words.

I was caked in mud. The poor mohuma who was going to have to clean this chair had no easy task. Alas, fighting snarltooth mud worms was on the agenda and they didn’t expose themselves to arrows.

“Did you get a chance to watch the video?” Gem asked.

I tried to find the laces under the muck. “Ya. I mean, not much to say. Wifey, waifu, and wifie said I need to grow my harem to manage mohuma. You don’t get cutesy names and we grow our family while solidifying our nation.”

“Alpha, we’re about to go into a shower. You haven’t had a release in almost two weeks and Seph said there were tensions,” Gem said and I grunted, plopping my boot off.

I struggled with the second one. Gem bent over, her supple cleavage spilling out of her robes. Yumm… “Let me do this one. Check on stats. You should be proud.”

“The proudest,” I fired off quickly.

I did check the score though.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 3rd

Survival: 89.8 (tied 53rd)

eXplore: 1123.6 (4th)

eXpand: 1229.9 (1st)

eXploit: 2312.7 (1st)

eXterminate: 1393.1 (9th)

This told me a few things. Teams were dropping fast. Noticeably fast, to the point I was somewhat surprised, again. Having our island mapped out on the surface, and most of the secret tunnels, I was sure we should be in first.

However, there was likely a team that raced tier four and was sailing around. Honestly, that was what I was about to send some intrepid crew out to do. The goal wasn’t to eliminate all the other teams, just to get first place.

Our eXterminate score was fairly clear. Killing a competition opponent earned far more than killing objectives. Again emphasis on ships and bring the fight to the enemy. Soon enough.

I checked my personal statistics.

Nathanael Immerson

Condition = Exhausted

Food = +8

Water = +8

Vitamins = +8

Energy = +3

Sleep = -6

Strength = 18

Stamina = 27

Coordination = 19

Health = +2

Nothing some sleep wouldn’t fix. Sex certainly seemed like the right thing to help that along. Gem got my boot off after some effort.

“Sometimes I wish my smelling was less acute,” Gem said.

I left my seat, kissed her forehead, and headed for the shower. “Gem, darling. You're perfectly cute.”

“Hey!” Seph said, poking her head out of the shower. “I got the ladies all hard and soaped up.”

Her tits came out of the shower in her lean. Two hard nipples protruded through a casing of suds. I chuckled, removing my top. Gem smacked my ass on her way into the shower.

So… with my other ladies, things tended to start with soft kissing, lead to roaming hands, and finish in sex.

Gem walked behind Seph, pushing her roughly against the top of her back. This forced her to bend over. There was an echoing booty slap. Gem began bunching hair with desire etched on her fluid facial features.

“Oye, I love it rough, but let's clean… Alpha first,” Seph said, deferring to my needs.

I chuckled, happy I was able to get cleaned without having to intervene. I wanted sex, but my balls were literally caked to my penis in worm shit. Best get clean.

I winked at both the ladies, entered the water like a shower hog and gave them the da Vinci spread. Water cascaded down my body as a sexy dwarf and a curvaceous alien with a tail cleaned the muck off me.

The ladies hummed, lulling me into a half sleep as I stood there in enjoyment. It was hard not to soak in the situation. When there was a gap in the scrubbing, I peered down, and saw I was finally clean.

My penis was being used like a diving board. The ladies enjoyed watching it bounce with fingers pressing my boner down until it rebounded.

I was a bit surprised when Gem smirked and left the shower. She returned with my muddy chair, sticking the seat into the back side where the water soaked it.

She sat down, using a finger wave to draw Seph closer. “Bend over for our hunky savior,” Gem ordered.

Seph giggled happily, wiggling her plump booty for me. Water rolled down her ass and over her fleshy pink lips. After a few licks of Gem’s pearl Seph said, “This is delicious. Scoot forward a smidge.”

Finding myself interested in what a dwarven pussy tastes like, I went to my knees. While I was exhausted, I wasn’t in a rush. My inner deviant wanted to savor this moment.

I ran a finger around her small vagina lips. Each rotation was a bit more of a tease, prying open her alabaster lips, I revealed a bright pink.

Her little pussy pulsed with desire, asking for attention. I moved the glistening eagerness from her opening to her small button. My finger twirled circles.

I felt her hips swaying with my tease. She certainly was wanting more. I slid two fingers in and chuckled when I struggled against her tightness.

“Don’t laugh,” she said, taking a break from eating Gem’s pussy. “This is a virgin body.”

Yeah… that was the truth. I enjoyed the sensation of her clamping onto my fingers as she went back to pleasing Gem.

Deciding not to break her I felt… giving. I wanted her to climax first. “Outta the chair, Gem. Get on all fours, tuck your body below the seat between the legs.”

“And me?” Seph asked.

I smirked. “Ass on the end of the chair, legs wide. I’ll use my tongue and finger to get you over the -”

The moment Gem left the chair, Seph plopped down, opening herself to me eagerly. I don’t think she got offers like this often. Gem did as instructed, leaving me with her ass up back end.

From Seph’s earlier licking she was just the right amount of ready for my big cock. I pierced her slit with a solid slide in. When I hilted, I pressed a smidge deeper, and adjusted. Gem would need to do the rest of the work.

I bent over, my left armpit bracing my weight over Seph’s right thigh. Adjusting so I was in the perfect place, I had to pause.

“Hey, what's the plan here?” Gem asked in confusion.

There was validity to what she was asking. I had my dick in her but was unable to do much else while I prepped for pleasing Seph’s pink.

“Slide me in and out, I’ll bring her to climax with finger and tongue,” I replied.

Without needing more guidance I felt Gem clench onto my cock and pull away, then push back. The feeling was great, but I doubted we could climax this way. I could tell she was enjoying the uniqueness of the moment.

Seph though. I buried my lips to her pussy, licking her little pearl with a grin. An index finger slid in, finding her g-spot.

With much enthusiasm I pleased her little pussy. I could feel her hands running through my hair with excitement. She mentioned male dwarfs were greedy.

Giving her something she yearned for, would put me in her good graces for a while. I didn’t mind, I enjoyed licking a tight little opening and a delightful pearl.

I tested to see what she liked. The whole time Gem pumped my cock slowly.

My tongue flicked, earning a faceful of hip thrusts. I spun circles around her clit next. Her hips swayed as if in unison. A hand came out of my hair to squeeze a breast. My lips blew out in a hum…

Yeah, this did the trick. Both hands shot to my hair as she held on for the amazing ride. I quickened the lip vibrations, but that was too much, causing excess tension. Too slow and she relaxed.

Finding the middle resulted in her moans and groans increasing. “Make this little pussy purr. This is amazing, Nate. So perfect. So, so, so, purrrrfecct.”

She was losing control to the pleasure.

“That’s amazing! Um… fuck me with your finger. Hard, Nate. Harder!”

Her groin was thrust up and into my face. I struggled to breathe, but didn’t let up. I saw from the top of my vision her supple breasts protrude out as her back instinctively arched.

“I’m cumming, Nate! Oh, Nate!”

Seph climaxed so hard, she continued to moan out my name, and fell off the chair.

Gem pulled out while Seph lay there panting.

She stole her seat in a flash before I realized what had happened.

“My turn!” Gem said with excited emotions rippling over her face.

I grinned, happily working on her unique pussy. My exploratory testing revealed she loved the flicking.

I had two fingers curled up inside her when she said, “One in the back too. She wasn’t kiddin, yer a pleaser. Lick my clit, you beautiful man.”

My fourth finger entered an open butthole that clenched down. I found a pattern she liked and only paused when I heard a choking Seph. She was trying to set up to give me a blowjob. The water running down my body went to my penis and spilled down.

“Stay over there for now, let me get her to cum,” I ordered.

Seph obeyed and I went back to work. My tongue flicking and finger thrusting put her into a growing amount of pleasure. My intense efforts had her hips digging into my face.

My tempo was controlled by her hands in my hair. She was loving this and not five minutes later she reared back.

“By the gods! You hunky man! Don’t stop. Don’t stop! I’m cumming! OH SHIT!” She climaxed.

She climaxed so hard her toenails scraped across the shower floor and -

I was gushed. She literally squirted suddenly onto my face. For the first time in my life, the roles were reversed. I was… thankful we were in the shower.

“My turn!” I proclaimed with a mischievous laugh.

Gem went to recover while I bent Seph over the chair.

I had to go slowly at first, until I got frustrated by the lack of progress. I’d figured it would -

She screamed out as I shoved down hard, splitting her little pussy. I eased in and out. She flipped her hair to eye me. Seph nodded with her lower lip clutched between her teeth. “Fuck me. Fuck me until you fill this tiny pussy. Be the man I know you are.”

That was all the encouragement I needed. My hips slapped into her ass, jettisoning water up high. Gem watched on, twirling her pussy and squeezing a titty for me with a playful wink.

My tempo and thrust increased in both pace and ferocity. After ten minutes Seph was crying out in ecstasy, pleading for my jizz to fill her.

I delighted in the moment when I burst into her. Her pussy was so swollen and tight there was no space for the gouts of cum to leak out. I shuddered and moaned out in my climax as I continued to pump into her.

A few minutes later, a wash of tiredness cascaded over me. I pulled out, her little opening pulsing out cum in small ejections that leaked down. The white trail soaked her clit until it dripped to the floor.

“Alright, I’m so flipping tired. I need to get a really good rest before we take on these dryads,” I said with a yawn.

My cock was cleaned… again, before I was led to a snuggle session in bed. Within a few minutes I was out for a wonderful sleep, feeling amazing.

Chapter

Nineteen

COMPETITION 4 DAY 90

“M y Lord! Urgent news from the north,” a mohuma mouseman shouted as he barreled toward my command position while on his raptor.

Brawn flared with aggression, forcing the rider and his mount to slow. Hell, he was coming so fast even I whipped my sword out and raised my shield. Call me paranoid, because I was.

“Out with it, and I’ll kill you next time you charge me,” I said in a sour tone.

To be fair to the messenger, he was merely that.

I may have also been threatening because these flipping dryads were giving me a headache. They built about a thousand traps that we never saw. I’d lost twenty raptors today already from their devious ways. I was tempted to do a bull horn stampede to thin my working dinosaurs and remove these awful pits, spiked logs, and plants that could eat dino and rider.

The mouseman flinched and said, “The Gribbin Empire marches. A thousand poorly armed dwarves ahead of three hundred giants.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. We could defeat that fairly easily, assuming I was willing to commit heavily. I shook my head, playing out scenarios. “And?”

“And what?” he replied.

“They have far more forces than that. There is going to be an and,” I said with a huff.

We were so close to breaching the defensive lines of the dryads and cracking this objective open. This is just how fate worked though. While I was thinking over what to do a second rider came barreling in from the west.

His message never reached me because the idiot rode through a flipping dryad nest. A thousand darts flew from inside the treeline he cut through. His body was pelted, both rider and mount staggered until they fell over.

I sighed in disgust as they died. I needed to not set direct returns on scouts. Then again, those dryads were wizards of camouflage.

I retrieved my tablet and saw there were the alerts. I was expecting this, there had to be more than a single army and I was right.

This was a four pronged attack.

Four armies at four locations.

A challenge by the competition more than likely. The Gribbin Empire was going to give me a fight, my needs for timber be damned.

Being the decisive guy I was, I came to an immediate decision. Marius brought Nommi over. I said, “Any objections to turning north and hitting them hard.”

“Like full force?” Marius said with a chin tuck as he processed the outcomes. I nodded, but he knew me well enough to know my answer. “Saw the alerts. The east is fairly barren, same with the north. If we hit this and then the west army hard it’d clean the map I think.”

“They might -”

I paused when a scout came trotting from the east with a bundled dwarf atop the duckie. Gralador was here, bound and gagged.

“Interesting. Release his binds,” I commanded. “Back the army up for now.”

Across the legion, commanders leapt into action to carry out my orders. We had three companies of infantry behind two long lines of archers. On the flanks were duckies to knock the enemy down and raptors to finish the job.

I went to the duckie where Gralador was being freed of his bindings.

“I couldn’t get out. They blocked all our exits into ta tunnels. Emperor Seev tis normally not tis crafty. I promise, I tried ta warn ya,” Gralador pleaded.

“Four armies. We can handle this. Unless there is a surprise I don’t know about?” I asked.

“A final army is waiting for where you hit the hardest to ensure the island stays under the control of the Gribbin Empire. That force is the last of the warriors of the capital,” Gralador said.

“Wait… there is more than one city?” I asked and he nodded.

I frowned deep enough my side cheek puffed. Marius was also pacing, considering this new development.

“Smash north, flee west, smash that army and hope we have enough to withstand a siege?” I said, jumping into theorycrafting the problem.

Marius shook his head. “Check the score.”

I went into the options and saw the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 12th

Survival: 90.4 (tied 47th)

eXplore: 1192.2 (4th)

eXpand: 1233.7 (1st)

eXploit: 2399.6 (1st)

eXterminate: 1595.5 (19th)

“Holy shit. This is happening on every island. We’re into earning points and it’s not even day one hundred. Wow!” I exclaimed.

I saw Gralador’s eyes glaze over in confusion. Marius patted the old dwarf and said, “The jump from ninth to nineteenth is big. That means there are fights breaking out. Now… for multiple owners of an island. Let’s game out what is happening.”

I rubbed the back of my neck then snapped my finger. “Shucks! Their most aggressive armies are getting a second fight. Those who play it slow are getting a one and done. This would alter the balance of an island dynamic by a lot.”

“This is why we’re first in exploit and expand,” Marius said with a shrug. “We own the island and we have mohuma at…” He glanced at his tablet. “94% happiness.”

“Alright, so what were you thinking?” I asked my friend.

“Everything can fall besides our capital. Even Rome Port can fall, but it won’t. The exterior sure, the walls there are sturdy, well defended and they produce almost as many archers a day as we do here…”

“Ugh… I never check our production numbers.”

I tapped until I was into management. Then I selected the military option.

Infantry: +121 a day

Archers: + 81 a day

Cavalry: + 30 a day

Scouts: + 10 a day

Duckies: + 8 a day

Raptors: + 12 a day

Siege: + 5 a day

Ships: + 1 a week

This was good. In a few days I could build another legion. In a few weeks we would be fielding a massive army. However, our expansions were losing production numbers by the minute. I’d need to downsize my army.

My mind was bogging down in macroeconomics when Marius snapped his fingers.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Send Gem west with half the legion. Let me go east with the other half,” Marius said with a mischievous grin.

“Uh… say what? Didn’t you just say Moobi City can’t fall?” I said, folding my arms.

“What is their ETA to arrival?” Marius asked with that big grin.

I pulled out my tablet. The armies were digging in, setting up fortifications while damaging outposts and objective holdings. Their main forces were somewhat stationary. I sighed, seeing his strategy.

“I don’t like it,” I grumbled.

Gralador cleared his throat to speak in perfect Qoobi. “The Gribbin armies are here to reclaim objective and set defensive positions. They want you to bleed troops against their might.”

I shook my head.

Marius shrugged. He was smug like that sometimes. “Winning is all that matters. Man the walls, out-skirmish the enemy and we turtle for a few weeks.” Marius tapped his chin, eyeing Gralador. “What are the breeding rates for the Gribbin Empire?”

“How’d da hell I’d be knowin that. Giants breed slower than dragons.”

“So slow?” he asked and Gralador nodded. “Any chance the dwarves rebel?”

That glazed over look returned. “Save the dwarves, defeat the five armies.”

With a heavy sigh, I started tapping out orders. The battle for this island against the Gribbin Empire was officially underway.

Chapter

Twenty

COMPETITION 4 DAY 97

A  week. Gone in what felt like a flash. I returned back to ruling Moobi City after the big news.

The first order of business was killing their scouts.

They rode rams, we rode raptors. I giggled delightfully at the reports I received.

The raptors would send a single raptor forward and pause to give a clean shot to the enemy. When they unleashed their crossbows the decoy would jump ten feet into the air.

Dwarves, being the stubborn lot they were, just had to fire. The moment they were needing to reload, the mainforce would rush in and decimate the enemy scouts.

These mini battles were played out with me acting as a general from a desk with a tablet. I would have raptor parties around key areas at the ready.

My attention would be on inventory and build items… or happiness. Then, boom. An alert would tell me the dwarves, who normally were without their overlord, were making a move.

A few taps later and I would watch a squad or two pincer onto the objective, set the trap, and gain loot as well as points.

To lure in the foes, I used soldiers to stand in for mohuma. They wouldn’t work, but they would bring the dwarves like bees to nectar.

That stopped the raiding within two days. By day three, I returned my mohuma back to work with oversight. Our new legion was being directed to nothing else than filling towers, providing escort work, and fighting minimal skirmishes.

This was great because the enemy sat there on their haunches for those three days. The third night was different though. Vastly different.

The enemy moved at night, robbing me of my sleep and forcing me to change from a day shift to a night shift. By the fourth day, the enemy was outside the city gates on the north side.

Due to the river, our siege weapons, and our fighting strength they couldn’t circle us and lay a proper siege. My east and west roads still flowed freely with the enemy simply moving up with their siege weapons at night.

Their tactics were simulated; no brilliant strategy had unfolded from our foe. On that fourth day, Marius sent word since he was technically behind enemy lines without a connecting road.

The ursway village was sacked and razed. His constant harassment triggered the fifth army to come out of the eastern tunnels. He estimated that the army was at least five thousand strong, making the totals at nearly five and a half.

He reported killing vast amounts of the first army in hit and runs, whittling their numbers and drawing out the supposedly hidden fifth army.

Gem let me know what the tablet already told me. The north side of the island, behind the mountains, was lost to us. We were just expanding there so I wasn’t too worried.

Rome City was holding strong. Now that I knew where the fifth army was, my armchair general fun was changing.

I ordered Gem to engage…

Cautiously.

I made it clear. I wanted an attrition exchange.

In the last seven days we had bumped up troop production and had generated a whole new legion.

We could afford some losses. Hell, we needed some.

And yet, I wanted to take this slowly.

While our shipbuilding was operating at a crawl, it was still operating. I would be launching a sea invasion here soon. There was also the fact that this fight would be swapping from defense to offense soon.

Needlessly sacrificing troops may help our food inventory, but would hamper my war efforts.

While Gem was handling the left… Well, I was whittling the middle.

Trebuchets had the right reach for the fourth night of both sides. Mine were assembled atop stone towers, slinging their loads far across the no man's land.

That resulted in the main enemy base camp backing up. However, every night they would come closer and we would have a siege exchange.

We lobbed stones short of each, making for a process that was really boring. The enemy refused to lose more troops unnecessarily. For once I saw signs of intelligence. Maybe the commander wasn’t a pushover.

After a night of fighting, my walls would undergo repairs during the day while the enemy slept. I could happily say, I had taken out a decent chunk of the enemy’s numbers.

Duckies with archers tried to keep the enemy from sleeping. Speeding in and out of arrow range.

The dwarves, being the diggers they were, entrenched themselves, and covered their heads to try to sleep.

I knew they were exhausted, both from a lack of rest and the constant harassment. By day seven of the siege I had to act though.

On the night of the sixth, I slept during our siege exchange so I would be well rested.

Marius sent word to me last night that his harassments were doing decimating work against the combined armies… This good news came with a caveat.

They were able to out maneuver, and out range the foes with arrows, because the enemy eastern army was coming to Moobi City. His distractions were being ignored, the troops losses considered inconsequential.

The prize was set, the costs not worried about. The main enemy commander wanted our capital at all costs.

I had twelve hours to drive the six to seven hundred entrenched troops out before four thousand new ones arrived. So easy a Roman could do it, or so the saying went.

That is what the rational plan said to do. Except this was me and Marius. We weren’t a simulation.

I sat atop Brawn waiting for my troops to marshal.

This… this conflict was going to get ugly.

I commanded a legion and a half.

My entire cavalry stood at my right flank. Archers in the front, infantry behind them, and commanders atop duckies.

Seph was at my side and frustrating me. “I really wish you’d have picked a bigger raptor.”

She pffted out a scoff, “Don’t blame me because Brawn lacks impulse control around beautiful ladies. Krissy is just the best.” Seph’s tone turned cutesy, eliciting a coo from the raptor.

Brawn went to nip at Krissy. I steered him away. “Seph, are we ready?” I asked, taking out my spyglass.

I shifted to see the enemy siege force stirring. They obviously noticed we were staging our formations for action. Our numbers tallied over four hundred archers, five hundred infantry, and four hundred cavalry. This was about half the city’s defenses.

“I believe you’re ready. I’ll hold the fort… literally.” Seph said, spinning her mount to return to within our walls.

Brawn grumbled when she left. He may like being a bully but I knew he was sweet on Krissy.

These animals… I really hated the competition for making them so unique and life-like. At least tools like Gralador were clearly tools.

“Quick time! March!” I bellowed.

The three hundred duckies with archers raced forward, cutting east.

The hundred raptors with lanced cavalry troops mixed with archers split into ten groups. They were going to screen for us in case Marius missed something.

The main body of the regimented army picked up a jog, heading for a west-east road. I was stuck in the middle, intentionally.

While I was our most lethal asset, that wouldn’t matter at this juncture.

Duckies surrounded Brawn and I, ensuring any stray dwarven bolts didn’t reach us. Reports from the screening forces started to come in.

The enemy in the trenches was pulling out about fifty troops. The rest seemed to think that this was another feint. Let them, because the longer they slept the better it was for us.

Ten minutes of a decent trot had us crossing the river. An hour later the back end of the formation was now on the road.

It was a joy to see the army, and yet gave me angst. The long trail of troops left us vulnerable if the enemy were quick enough to react.

I enjoyed the bright sunny day mixed with a refreshing cool breeze. My tablet fixation ceased when the army outside of Moobi lost its chance to strike our moving lines.

This had me smiling. However, I didn’t enjoy the stench of animal shit that was clogging the road, but hey, can’t win them all.

The journey east had us passing farm fields. All this area had been cleared, with most of these farms still producing.

Mohuma tilling, planting, plucking, and irrigating the farm waved eagerly. Owning the skirmishes allowed them to freely operate.

That and there were tower guards every few hundred feet. The archers in here came down at dusk with the mohuma retreating for the interior walls.

Three hours later and we reached the end of the farms.

Sure there were objectives in between the rolling hills of farm fields, but for the most part the jungle itself had been decimated to make way for agriculture.

Entering the treeline, we skirted challenging objectives. Another hour of crashing an army through brush and my scouts pinged my tablet that we had run into Marius’s half legion.

The combining of troops would take time, so I urged Brawn forward to get a meal in and his saddle off after a long right.

The midday sun meant we had a while until night, giving us plenty of time to execute our plan.

Marius was around a fire that roasted a massive snake over a large fire. He whittled an arrow shaft while waiting for me.

His mohuma contingent were cutting up sections and handing out meat atop wooden plates. A lot of the braver species, like the gnomes, came along to help prepare battle camps or set siege weapons.

After removing Brawn’s harness, I headed for my friend.

“Ya miss me?” Marius said with a chuckle.

“Shucks, you had the fun. I poked at a tablet commanding troops,” I said. I accepted a plate from a shy gerbil woman who I recognized from earlier. Golden tipped ears above dark red fur. “Thank you.”

She dashed off while I sat beside the fire on a log.

“How did you find commanding from the desk?” he asked.

“Uh… so, it was different. Far less exciting. We won. Like easily and often. I really think this is a mediocre challenge if approached the right way,” I said, taking my first bite of charred snake.

The tough outer layer gave way to a succulent juicy white meat. I was four bites in when a snorting sniffer blew hotly on my neck.

Brawn’s sniffing increased until I flung the meat high and over my shoulder. Brawn… he was ready.

The raptor jolted straight up, snapping his jaws to catch the delicious morsel. A goblin type mohuma brought me a fresh plate, taking the old one.

Marius waited to speak, letting me wolf down some food first. Archers didn’t get to rest like I did. They were flowing in and heading to form a thick frontal battleline.

“There are challenges here. But, Nate, these… armies are not meant to combat a giant island leader. They’re meant to break stalemates. Last I checked we were still doing exceedingly well in the rankings for eXpand and eXploit,” Marius said, sending flecks of wood to a pile at his feet.

I didn’t need to check. Even with the skirmishes and losses we still held first. A fact I was keenly aware of.

“What’s waiting for us?” I asked.

“Four thousand dwarves, seven hundred giants. We’ve killed so many,” he said with a tired sigh.

“You get enough sleep?” I asked and he nodded. We watch the supply wagons bolster the camp. Thousands of arrows were replenishing his units’ ammunition numbers. “The supplies you requested.”

“Did tier five finish?” Marius asked, standing to pop his back.

I was done eating so I handed off my plate.

Brawn came over, eager for his saddle. Nommi had been snipping his butt into order while we chatted. They both were rearing for a fight.

“It’s done, but it’s the only building we can’t upgrade. We need twenty-four hours of no siege. It's an odd stipulation. If we were under siege by a competitor no problem. An event and yeah, we’re stuck. Excited to see the new docks,” I said, tightening down Brawn’s saddle.

I hopped onto his back and he chirped out a quiet call. A pack of raptors and even duckies answered with muted noises.

We rode out beyond the fire, weaved through the trees and found the front lines neatly arrayed.

There was no clearing that the enemy sat in. Thick palms littered the area, congesting the space. Without an open ground to camp, the Gribbin army was scattered, creating hundreds of mini camps.

Much like the foes we fought, Marius gave them no reprieve - hiding at night, harassing by day. My guess was they would be weary and exhausted by this point.

When we arrived at the center there were unit commanders forming a half circle for a briefing. A few were Mohuma tacticians who were unable to win on their own. They’d need our troops, something I felt we had more than enough of.

“We’re outnumbered two to one,” I said, addressing the thirty or so men, women, and mohuma. Okay, maybe we needed more troops. “If we let this army dig in, it’ll be months of siege warfare.”

I paused when a rear scout came riding up. He triple pumped his fist, telling me the back end of my legion was locked into place.

“The plan is simple. Shield wall, two thick on the front. Commanders…” I eyed them intently. “You stay behind the second line. Have a running fill hole from casualties. Got it?”

When they all nodded I continued, “We double time into the enemy until we meet resistance. Keep the line straight... Say it with me.”

“Keep the…” Blinking, lots of blinking and blank stares. “Okay you missed my intent. Follow my words,” I said and Marius concealed his smirk.

“Keep the line straight. Better. Okay, no cries for war, no trumpets nor drums until I say so. When the drums start then be heard. Until then the din of battle will be all I’m allowing.

“Behind the front rank will be the mass of archers. Behind them the rest of the infantry. If the two deep rank falters, the infantry at the back is to advance. This is anywhere down our lines.”

Marius grunted with a nod. “And the cavalry?”

I pushed back the group, pulling my sword out. I drew a wide circle into the dirt. At the bottom was a rectangle pointing up.

I smirked, knowing he knew the answer and was merely giving a segue for me to talk. “This rectangle will be the core. We march methodically until we make contact. Marius will lead the cavalry on flanking hit and runs. If or when we get bogged down, he will peel for us.”

A mean spirited fairy mohuma about the size of my forearm said, “Oye, so wera running?”

“Unless we get a resounding victory, yes. We smash camps, thin numbers, and fall back. When the enemy groups we pull them away from their reinforcements. So they have to pick. Us or them. If they pick them we harass. If they commit to us, at some point it will be a fight to the death,” I said sternly.

“You have your orders,” Marius said and the camp split. “Have fun playing the general in the back.”

I shook his head at his tease.

“Front of the archers in the middle. Plenty of shooting will happen. May the foe fear your bow, brother,” I said and he gave a terse nod.

“And yours, brother.” He strapped on his helm, spun Nommi and raced to the right flank where the majority of our cavalry awaited.

I dug into my satchel bag on Brawn’s hindquarters, retrieving an eagle helm. Away went the cowboy hat.

I slotted the custom crafted helm that Trinket created, smirking at the soft interior leather. It fit like a glove.

“Quick time!” My loud hiss shot over the silence.

The army tensed. Twelve hundred soldiers were arrayed along the line of troops with their sneers.

They could smell the victory.

“March!”

Quick time: I had learned that it was a fast walk. Double time was a jog that would get cadenced into a run.

There was no cadence call, no smashed swords against shields, and the drummers to control the tempo on the duckies rested in their seats. Brawn could hear the cavalry peeling off to do their mission.

I felt him stirring under my saddle in agitation.

When he shot me a look, I knew he was pissed.

The raptor was an alpha fighter, not a general. I could feel his desire. The raptor wanted to keep a pack under his control, fighting in the front.

I had hoped he would understand I needed him to be a calm butterfly. Nope, he was an agitated hornet griping because he wanted to kill.

I leaped off his back, walking quickly to keep pace with the dinosaur and the formation around us. With a few deft fingers working their magic, I had his saddle off and -

Zoom!

My mount sped off with my satchel still attached. He leaped over the two lines of infantry like they were a simple hurdle.

All I could think about was that I hoped I got my hat back. If he died in battle I’d understand it was what he wanted.

The nearest duckie’s rope-ladder unspooled. I climbed up to sit beside Issac, the fairy. He held the most adorable little crossbow. His face was steeled with squinted eyes of determination.

I unslung my quiver, placing it next to the drone tier four archer’s quiver. It was probably best for me to be up here anyway.

My tablet buzzed. Ah, texts.

‘Nate, your raptor shot between camps with a dozen raptors hot on his heels. What’s he doing?’ Marius texted.

I looked into the thick trees as the formations broke and reformed. I knew deep into the jungle, my raptor was being an asshole.

‘Hunting. I guess.’ I chuckled as I typed.

It should be -

A cry split the jungle. A human cry.

“Traps!” a commander yelled down the line.

The lines buckled as they slowed.

“Double time! March!” I shouted.

My commands were no louder than the soldier who was hobbling on a foot a few hundred paces to the right.

The infantry picked up into a run, triggering a few more traps. I sighed in relief when they were minimal. The thing about the jungle is it's flipping dense.

One moment the soldiers in the front are hacking fronds, ferns, and underbrush, and the next they’re slaying dwarves trying to get into battle gear.

There was no push back as our wide line progressed forward.

The dying cried for mothers, lovers, and help that would never come. I didn’t savor their demise, steeling myself to the reality that today would be bloody.

The infantry at the front was ordered to be thorough. The archers behind them cleaned up what remained while we swept aside the camp.

I got to see very little at this juncture, even with my height advantage. The command duckies followed behind the two rows of infantry.

The enemy we beset here was unprepared to face formations, falling swiftly like wheat to a farmer’s scythe.

A long look down showed dozens of dead dwarves. A commotion erupted down our right line.

I spun, arrow at the ready. For a brief glimmer I saw a giant clubbing infantry, sending the soldiers flying.

Before I could get a line of sight we were obscured. My arrow was drawn and tense.

Seconds later the infantry was marching as if there were never a giant there. A few rear soldiers replaced those fallen at the front.

I gently released the tension.

The left and right flank buckled while the middle had to march in place. I watched a few red blimps on my overlay.

That was it.

The flanks picked up speed killing two more small units of enemy.

A dwarven war drum beat over the sound of my marching troops. Someone in the enemy command realized we weren’t simply a skirmishing force poking defenses.

The quick pace had the middle formation in front of me bowing this time.

Finally, action!

The thick jungle gave way to a small clearing.

A dozen giants were literally throwing dwarves into our marching lines. They were geared, but not set yet.

My bow rapidly aligned as I drew back to my anchor point in a fluid motion.

Twang.

The sound rang loud in my ears.

The death spiral the arrow entered was exactly that. My projectile zoomed over the infantry and into a giant’s eyeball, sinking in deep.

The flabby target wavered and slapped at his eye before collapsing on a fellow giant.

I rapidly nocked another arrow, releasing it for a different giant.

I watched the battle deteriorating in our favor as my arrow clipped an ear. I didn’t stomp a foot, or pout that my foe had a lucky dodge.

Another arrow whistled forward a few seconds later. This time I aimed for a stout dwarf bellowing commands to his troops. The arrow sunk in at the collarbone above the armor line.

The warrior crumpled, dying swiftly.

The meager battleline they formed broke, my troops stayed solid as they slew. The enemy, giants included, fled. While I wanted to cheer, the battle line simply dove deeper into the thick jungle.

This was a great start. The enemy war drums beat in a frenzy, the commanders were likely desperate to raise their troops to give us a fight instead of a slaughter.

That feeling of despair. I had it. As if I knew that the drums weren’t a cry to arms, but instead a signal for something else.

Something that worried me.

A cry from behind our lines had me furling my brows. Another cry, and then another. With nothing ahead of us, there must be a hidden unit smacking our back.

“Drummers. Reverse course. Spin formation,” I commanded.

Our drums belted out the signal for a reforming to the rear. I scoffed and cursed this thick jungle, frustrated because I was deprived of any notion of what we faced.

There was a sudden loud shriek from an unknown creature. I covered my ears.

In the distance, trees fell near our rear infantry. I was thoroughly perplexed until the new threat revealed itself.

Massive wingless wurms reared over the canopy. Atop their back were metal pavilions of a sort. Inside those were giants that cheered.

The wurms were over a hundred feet tall, each of them vomiting some sort of foamy acid into my troops. Their thick hides were draconic in nature with thousands of stone gray scales. The heads were a vortex of teeth.

Inspecting their saddles, I counted four giants in each. Except for the biggest wurm of them all, which held a massively hideous giant with golden armor that was covered in filth. This was someone important.

The largest wurm spewed extra bubbles of its yellowish foam. A foam that was causing my troops to scream horrendously.

I was in dismay. A hidden cavalry unit was in our midst, probably sent to buy time for the main army. I went from expecting a rout, to maybe losing the fight.

These had to be worms kept in reserve. While our army spun to address this new threat, I couldn’t help but wonder how lucky we were they didn’t reveal themselves inside our capital.

The screams of the infantry had the hairs on my arm standing. Okay, maybe not too lucky.

There was little I could do from back here and we clearly needed to defeat the threat quickly.

Coming out of my daze, I dashed forward, snatching the reins from the front of the harness.

“Boss!” Issac exclaimed. He clearly didn’t want to go into the belly of the beast. “This crossbow won’t hurt those goliaths.”

“I only see five, and I got this,” I said confidently.

He shook his head in dismay, lifting into a flight to extract himself from the saddle. We sped away and he went to another duckie to command archers. Smart fairy if you asked me.

“Make way!” I shouted to the six rows of archers who were nocking arrows. We barely made it beyond them when they released.

Snap!

A rain of arrows went after the two worms who were currently reared up. The worms were so big, the arrows almost all hit… and deflected off the tough hide.

Uh-oh!

Only a few of the arrows found cracks, where a pink blood oozed from the wounds. The shrieks of the injured behemoths was deafening, returning my hearing back to ringing.

I arrived at the front line to see the wurms had flattened an entire section of jungle. Distant unearthed holes told me they had burrowed from underground, went high, and then slammed into the trees.

Their sheer mass unbothered by the thick palms. My anti-cavalry infantry were using their tier four pikes to impale the beasts if they got too close. The sharp spikes were sliding up scales, finding weaknesses.

There were about a million thoughts of how to win racing through my head. Almost none of them involved the drone tier four archer at my side surviving.

I sighed, knowing Brawn wouldn’t join me on my suicide mission. I sure could use his claws to scale some wurm’s back.

My thoughts shifted as a soldier fled, his flesh bubbling as it was consumed. Nearing the front lines, I saw dozens, if not hundreds of soldiers writhing in pain.

To kill my troops while avoiding the pikes, the wurms belched out their corrosive foam.

The uninjured fought on valiantly. I saw the five wurms being stabbed, jabbed, and scaled upon. The saddle giants shot massive bows that sent out spear sized arrows at speeds that were hard to track.

A single projectile tore through six of my men and only stopped because it became embedded into the soil.

I bared my teeth in a grimace, spurring the duckie on. We had walked right into an ambush, and it was all my fault.

The nearest wurm noticed us blazing a trail for the enemy leader. The bottom half of the body twitched ever so slightly to propel the upper torso.

The immense wurm snapped for us at astonishing speeds. There was nowhere to run and I had only a second or two to react. With a last ditch effort, I jumped.

As I lifted off the duckie, the frame barely missed me and I heard...

Boom! Splat!

With the briefest of glances I saw the duckie and the tier four archer were smushed to paste. Bits of gore squirted out from the impact point in a horrid display.

As the wurm came down, I slammed into the enemy saddle that was filled with stunned giants.

The only good news was they were down to two defenders with their massive bows. The other two had flown out of the carriage sized saddle from the wurm’s sudden movement.

The bigger of the two giants glared at me as I clung to the outside frame of the carrier. The wind that escaped me came rushing back.

This wasn’t the leader of the enemy army, but it was a smart giant who eyed me cunningly. The boss gripped a joystick of sorts, plotting my demise.

The device was sunk below the saddle and into the wurm itself. I hopped into the saddle, raised my bow…

“Fuck!” I blurted as the bow snapped in two from the draw.

A massive club from the non driver giant came crashing down.

Ring!

The metal club clattered against the metal frame.

My hearing was already shit, but I did take joy in the fact I was able to get my heavy one hander out of my sheath.

The club wielder’s eyes were crossed as she stared down at vibrating hands.

“Yeah, you big idiot,” I taunted.

The female ignored her pain, taking a massive leap that I avoided by fleeing out of the saddle. When she smashed into the edge of the metal container, I struggled to hold onto the edge.

Her head split from her dive to catch me. She hit so hard it gave a jarring crack that I felt it in my hands and bones. The wurm boss, he piloted the beast to shake me free.

Problem was the wurm hated this command, rearing in pain as it obeyed.

The stunned female slid down, and then flailed out of the harness, screaming the fifty feet to her likely demise. Me… I was a flipping spider monkey.

I clung to the frame with my armpits, my hands, and even snug thighs.

The boss gave up trying to tip me out, righting the wurm to a level position.

The moment he could, he charged, and I ducked into the harness. A bellowing war cry soaked me in spittle.

A sideways swing had me diving forward. This crafty giant checked his swing, and kicked his foot out.

I was punted, skidding across the floor of the nasty carriage. I rolled in what was likely giant shit, vomit, and piss.

Stars swarmed my vision when I collided with a wall. I went to jump forward, except I slipped, saving my life as the club that predicted my movement hit flooring instead.

I gagged, happy to be saved, and feeling violated by the sludge that covered me.

A foot the size of my torso went to stomp me. I rotated, slammed the sword pommel down against the metal floor, and held on for dear life.

My aim was true; the foot stomped onto the blade at the heel. I really, really wanted to kill the son of a bitch. Instead he hopped once, lost his footing, and flew over the side… with my sword.

I groaned and rolled on the shit covered decking for a few seconds. I was weaponless, on an enemy mount, and probably infected with a fever.

No time like now to turn this fight around. Heading for the joystick was like walking on ice. I slid carefully to the wurm control mechanism.

The stick… yea, it was about as gruesome as one would imagine. The shaft of the big stick went down into the spine of the wurm. At the base there were spikes that drove into vital regions.

Pus boiled from where the metal controlled the beast.

I shook off the hideous image and the nasty smell.

Scanning the horizon, I saw a few things. Two of the wurms were on the ground, my troops swarming them.

The wurm I was on was stationary. The leftmost wurm was fleeing, and the nearest wurm to my left was the commander who shouted at his ally for running.

I slowly input my command. I turned the head of the wurm until it lined up on the massive slob of a boss. A slight nudge forward had the mighty beast slithering forward.

Our speed was miniscule. Pressing forward broke our alignment. I adjusted the head, this time pushing the vile device down. There was a shriek and instant reactions from the beast.

We shot forward, racing for the enemy commander on his giant wurm. I could feel the beast I abused screaming out. My hearing was gone but it did warn its allies.

The enemy was fixated on the retreating ally. At the last second they noticed me and slightly reared back their mount.

Two massive beasts collided with such a force, I was sent flying. My attempts to hold the controller were dashed in a flash.

I shot off the wurm like I’d been shot out of a cannon.

The impact sent the enemy commander soaring a few dozen feet in front of me with his entourage.

To my army below, we were five specks in the sky about to die. An arrow from the commander whipped by me, missing by inches.

“Screw you!” I taunted as we continued our flight.

Both my shoulders screamed in pain, and I was fairly certain they were dislocated. Not that would matter much as I was about to splat into…

I shifted my eyes to see a lake. A likely infested lake. The giants taunted me as we began our descent. They saw my trajectory was going to overshoot the lake. I had been flung with a greater force, already passing the big warriors.

Well, shit.

Not much to do besides hope the forest canopy broke my flight gently and someone found me.

The first three giants cannonballed into the water ahead of me, sending gouts of water into the air.

The enemy commander. He went face first into a rock and exploded in a glorious spray of gore.

My time of being a bird came to a conclusion.

I smacked into palms that serrated and whipped my leather armor. My helmet spared my face, somewhat.

I crashed down through the canopy, welcoming death as I rushed to greet the jungle floor. Except… I crashed into something sticky with a ton of give.

There was an immense tension and for a fraction of a section I gently touched the jungle floor.

I had landed in webbing.

A thick, sticky, and impressive webbing.

Finally something gave before I was rocketed out of my latest twist of events.

Crack!

A tree shattered, not the web.

Um…

Shit.

I was wrapped up in a cocoon mere seconds before a tree limb smashed into my helmet. It was an epic way to die. Blackness consumed me.

Or so I thought.

Chapter

Twenty-One

COMPETITION 4 DAY UNKNOWN

I  awoke in a haze. A drained, weary confusion roiled through my body with a wracking of pain.

Everything was so… sore, my body fatigued, and weak. I figured that Valance was having an error taking me out of stasis.

No.

That would have been ideal, because when the blur faded, I learned I was in a spider’s nest. Except… I had been moved.

The spot I was in was colder, devoid of all trees and signs of jungle. I was cocooned between mountain rocks where a stiff breeze was nearly constant.

The bitter chill told me only my face and right leg were exposed.

I craned my neck to see my boot was gone and two holes were festering on my right foot. A green pus seeped from my foot.

How long was I out?

My body was weak, to the point I was surprised I was alive. Even the process of moving my head had me exhausted. I was probably dehydrated, feverish, infected with some sort of bacteria from the giants, and poisoned by the spider.

Which… where was the spider?

When a rock tumbled down below the web, I realized I was deaf.

Well, shit.

I couldn’t move anything besides my neck and right ankle. I groaned, then called out, uncaring if I made noises. That was a mistake. My parched throat screamed in pain.

Okay, I had seen better days.

I was alive at least.

That thought faded when I started to bounce. Something was with me on the web. Then a lot of somethings were on the web.

The simple bobbing caused me to get intense vertigo. My vision dimmed. I reeled as darkness blotted out what I could see.

My head swooned; a tingle of pain flared in my foot. I was being fed on. What a horrible way to die. The tiny bits of energy I had, fled with my blood.

My vision completely blurred.

I felt a tablet vibrating in my vest right before I blacked out.

∞∞∞

I awoke in a groggy haze, yet again I was shocked to be alive. A dampness coated my forehead.

When I squirmed I… I realized I was still bound. I opened my eyes and saw…

Blankets.

“Yes!” I shouted.

An actual shout too. That I heard, and it didn’t hurt. I flung a blurry towel off my forehead in excitement.

When my vision cleared, I realized I was in an opulent room. There were chairs and couches around a hearth with a crackling fire, two sets of balcony doors, a private privy, an open bathtub, a place to eat, and this big bed that could fit five.

“Uh…” I muttered. Everything was custom crafted.

Tier… six, maybe seven?

“You're awake,” a voice from behind the door said. “Let me get someone. I’m not the right person to update you. Only your doctor.”

“Hold on,” I said, seeing a tablet on the end table.

I flipped through the options until I located the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 1st

Survival: 240.4 (tied 41st)

eXplore: 8332.2 (1st)

eXpand: 3116.7 (1st)

eXploit: 15399.6 (1st)

eXterminate: 11393.5 (2nd)

“A hundred and fifty fucking days!” I yelled.

Things were adding up quickly. This was likely a tier seven room. We had won the fight, the numbers clearly showed that. I had been rescued, but… I missed so much.

“Come in, doctor,” I ordered.

I spawned a roman toga with a waist band.

“Competitor Nathaneal. I’m a mohuma combat medic. I also have attributes that may startle you. Hence why I’d -”

“Come in, doctor,” I said, heading to a jug of water.

There were two balconies with shades drawn. Glass windows let in moonlight, telling me it was late at night.

I peeled back a curtain to see Brawn curled up on the balcony. Four guards paced around him.

Further into the city, the changes were drastic.

The door behind me creaked and I heard a lot of footsteps, enough that I turned to greet my doctor instead of ingesting the sight.

I saw a female mohuma. She was young appearing in the face with a busty human torso and a cute face. Large bunny ears and big rabbit feet were her modifications. She seemed perfectly normal to me otherwise.

She struggled to walk to the point it was painful to watch. Each one of her toes were landing awkwardly, causing the reverberation of steps in the large master suite.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in a confused glance.

She eyed me with a sigh. “May I hop?”

“You may.”

A happy sigh. She hopped over in two bounds. Her tightly bound breasts almost smacked her in the face. She blushed and I chuckled.

“Why would I be startled?” I asked.

“Trauma comes in many forms. Most would rather see a familiar face, or at least a species they recognize.” She paused and I just stood there giving her my attention. “Forgive my manners, I’m Thena.”

“Hello, Thena. Nate.” I left her side to open a balcony door.

“I’d wait, Lord Nate.”

I frowned. “Because?”

She had baby blue eyes, delicate features, and her white hair was very orderly in a neat bun. Thena was very alien and smiling like a mother smiles at a child. There was no admiration or desire in her gaze.

“There have been assassins. A lot of them and some rules have been put in place with no casualties since. Battle Lord Marius is on his way, I sent a runner as soon as you awoke. Trinket should be here with your armor too,” Thena said.

“I take it he’ll update me on all things Team Dinosaur Warlord.”

She nodded and said, “Your health, I can update you on that. You were on death’s doorstep. Even the competition had your survival rates below twenty percent. My team of medics helped bring that number up one day at a time.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking a seat on the bed’s edge.

“Well the competition… It wouldn’t start a timer to let you slip into a healing until we stabilized you. You were in a coma for months. You’re about a day and half early on your awake timer. Hence the lack of a big greeting party. I need you to look at your personal stats,” Thena said.

I grabbed the tablet and tapped away.

Nathanael Immerson

Condition = Atrophy

Food = +1

Water = +3

Vitamins = +3

Energy = +9

Sleep = +9

Strength = 11

Stamina = 13

Coordination = 6

Health = +5

“Right, this is why I feel so weak walking. Makes sense,” I said, setting the tablet down. “Why is my food not auto filled like my last healing?”

“Maybe duration, maybe a mechanic. I honestly think now that you have a medical staff the competition wanted us to ensure your basic needs were met.

“Else we wouldn’t make very good doctors. You’ve been spoon fed with a tub into your stomach. Removed it myself a few hours ago,” Thena said, rocking on her big feet.

“Physical therapy?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ll be monitoring your recovery. This will be a process but I hope by week two you’ll have most of your dexterity back. Then it's building off a whole new foundation through hard work and lots of time.”

I groaned. She shook her head in a tisking way.

“You’ll be fine. Restricted, but fine,” Thena said. She noticed my confusion. “Marius will fill you in more.”

“Where are Gem and Seph?” I asked.

Thena opened her mouth and closed it. Her hesitation was not ideal. A knock on the door was coded.

“Enter,” Thena said.

Marius strode inside in full battle rattle. He even wore a neck protector, wrist guards, and most of his face was obscured.

“Nommi, is guarding the entrance. We’re safe in here,” Marius said to his entourage that accompanied him.

The others, of which there were six gnomes including a waving Trinket, delivered a training dummy, weapons, and armor. Marius set his armor and weapons into a pile by mine. A blade in the stack caught my attention.

“Hey, that’s my sword,” I blurted, getting off my feet to clasp forearms with Marius.

“Aye, it is. Can’t swing it anymore though.” He released my forearm, turning to Thena. “I got it from here, Doc. I’ll tap on your door when he is done being briefed,” Marius said.

Thena patted his shoulder, almost lovingly. Oh… “Yes, do visit,” Thena said, waiting for the gnomes to leave before closing the door.

Marius hoisted two balcony chairs over and then sealed the door. Brawn wanted to come in but Marius didn’t let him.

“That bad?” I asked.

He grunted, setting the chairs down. “Yes and no. Like most things in competitions, it’s complicated.”

“I take it I have some messages saved up?” I asked. “Tier seven?”

He shook his head. “Well yes to tier seven. You… Best to rip off the bandage, I suppose,” he said and I winced.

I sat in the chair, flipping through details of our empire as he talked.

Marius continued, “Senna, Beth, and Izzy went into stasis before tier six completed. They’re all healthy and awaiting their husband to have his children. They… may have grown tired of seeing you getting eaten on and wanted just to be with you when this is over.”

“Wonderful! That’s wonderful. Wish I could chat with them but to know they’re safe and content is great,” I said and he nodded. “I get it. Being on that web was easy for me. I missed most of it. For them… I’ll make it up to them.”

“Linia has been updating me on simple things that she’s learning about Qoobi. We can talk about the continent now,” Marius said.

“Wait! We know what our continent will look like!?”

He bobbed his head. “We get double slots too because of the mohuma. Linia has like ten picked out.”

“How does it look?”

“Well, all I can do is give you a description that she gave me. There’s no wildlife. That’s the odd part. But… There are basic mud structures for a hundred thousand in predefined cities. Wood docks and small shipyards. Enough for us to start something new.”

“Fabulous,” I exclaimed, albeit a bit bummed because I was without a visual.

“Oh, and our friends are still competing. Nate, we did it though. We… even with seven hundred more days left. We did it,” he said proudly.

“Losing me,” I admitted.

“We’re miles above number two in this competition. We’re going to be in the top five for human selection. Four competitions, that’s all we needed. This island is one hundred percent pacified and we own a second island,” he said.

“A second island!” I exclaimed.

He rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Are you ready for a long tale?”

I waved him down, slowly walking to go pee. After, I knocked on the door, asking for refreshments and snacks. A runner took off to get the items.

When I sat again, he started.

“You killed the Emperor of the Gribbin and his mighty wurm. Apparently, that is a really big deal. The second island, which I’ll get to later, mentioned that when they faced the wurms… they lost. Also their scouts who went to other islands, reported the same thing.

“The wurms would suicide to protect their leader, and he would flee or outright win. Our tier four pikes were a priority for us, and not so much for others. Anyway, he died. His crown was found among his splattered remains.”

I figured they would find his corpse. “How long was I missing for?”

He scratched his beard in sorrow. “I’m not a power hungry kinda guy, Nate. Never been one. So when I tell ya I searched, trust me I did. You were captured, fed water somehow, and used as a blood sack for thirty-eight days.”

I gulped with eyebrows high on my forehead. “Wow.”

“It took three days, but we found where you landed. I can track an army. Simple really. These spiders, they carried you from their trap and into the mountains.

“Mountains infested with dragons too powerful to beat. The tablet has a range where I can text you. I tried to get within that range and never found you. Yet… you were alive. I knew that.”

I shifted my hand left and right. “What about the Gribbin army?”

“The battle of the Flying Emperors!” Marius snickered. His hands went low to high from left to right, mocking my flight.

“Cheeky.”

He let out a joyful laugh. “I missed you, Nate. The mohuma have no spine for the most part.” He sighed. “The Gribbins didn’t surrender. Their main commander didn’t realize the Emperor was dead.”

“Shucks, I’m happy to see you and be alive. Did ya fall back?”

He nodded. “Had to. We lost half our infantry and a quarter of our archers to the wurms. I tucked the army around and fled for Moobi City. We harassed, but in hindsight I shouldn’t have. Gem won her fight. Then she decimated the northern army as it swung around the mountains. The giants tried to keep the news of the Emperor’s death a secret. But…”

“Rebellion?” I guessed.

“Yeah, we hit tier five, where crossbows are a thing. For a week we churned out thousands of crossbows, feeding them to Gralador. Well, that was it. Those new weapons downed many a giant. Without taking any more losses of our own we won the fight.”

The door creaked open. The gerbil maid I had seen before came in, bringing bowls of stew.

She wore an apron in a black and white outfit. I had to wonder if she knew this would trigger my attention. Maybe Seph or Gem said something. It was certainly a dashing little ensemble with stockings that went above the knee. She was petite with an average bust that was propped up nicely. Her ears and thin tail twitched nervously at my inspection.

This young mohuma reminded me of that innocent neighbor that had lived in 3C growing. The kind of gal who was proper, shy, and perfect… until the bedroom door closed.

I smiled and she blushed. Beside her an archer stood in tier six gear with the eyes of a drone. She set the bowl down on the end table and the archer ate some of our stew.

“Give him ten minutes. I hold the oaths of secrecy,” she said.

I furled my brows in confusion. I mean I got the taste tester. The oaths thing had me perplexed.

“Let me shift the conversation while we wait to see if he dies. The slow acting poisons give you notice and you can counter them. The fast ones kill you within ten minutes,” Marius said and I shrugged.

I turned to the cook who used to be so frightened of me. “What’s your name and where did your fear go?” She squeaked, causing me to not look at her unless she jumped off the balcony in fright. “Nevermind.”

I felt a tap on my shoulder. She gathered her courage and said, “I’m Lisa.” It came off Russian. Like a Visa almost.  “I’ve spoon fed yov fer months. Yov were in a delirious state for a while. I - I - I became used to your prox-imity. Especially when Ms. Seph left. That is my spot.”

She pointed to a crumpled pillow in the bed. I raised an eyebrow.

Marius chuckled and said, “One thing at a time, Nate. The rebellion was not swift. Our ability to expand was. While the civil war inside the Gribbin Empire raged, two key things took place.

“Tier five allowed us an ability to decimate the harder objectives. Meaning... I was able to start slaying dragons, massive bears, armies of skeletal crabs, and even the lake we figured you were at the bottom of.

“That was my going theory for a while. Something from the water dragged back a single giant who escaped. Four legged frogs. I figured they would have you at the bottom, down a long tunnel with an air pocket. You know, about as far as it was to get to you. I was wrong.

“So going around and smashing large, extra-large, giant, and massive objectives meant I was unlocking more and more of the island. That whole time, Gem and Seph wrapped our expansions around to all ten starting points.

“We may have overbuilt our defenses… I stand by the fact we didn’t know if the volcanos would spew lava golems or whatever. Our dominance on the island was inevitable the moment the sieges vanished and the Gribbins fought underground.”

“Awesome, you conquered the island!”

“Yes, sort of. This is where things grew complicated. Gem died,” Marius said. “Day twenty-five or so after you disappeared.”

He gave me a moment to check her status; indeed she was listed as in stasis. I was happy to see that she was going to Qoobi with us.

Marius said, “She was poisoned. Then a hundred mohuma died at the dryad quarry we cleared. The lunch rations there were poisoned.”

“No Mercy!?” I blurted questioningly.

He held a hand up to slow my anger. “It took me away from finding you, but eventually we located three ships. No Mercy ships. We know this because the sailing crews, which we create at the docks, were human.”

“Was it that asshole who killed me?” I asked.

“Likely. We had four hundred raptors at the time. While they protected cities, I’d never set them on full roam. I set them on full roam after finding those boats. I was brought a head, the body eaten. I mean… while uneventful, we relaxed,” Marius said. “I’m no fool, it could have been a decoy and he escaped on a different ship. But… it looked a lot like from Senna’s death.”

“Was it Brawn?” He shook his head. “Shucks. Still good he died.”

“Yeah, it was a risky move to send him here. Genghis sent a message a week ago, but I’ll get to that later. Okay, Gem dies, you're lost, we have happiness plummeting, and I’m a headless chicken being pulled thirty different ways.

“Into the mountains I go to challenge a dragon to clear my head with battle. Imagine my surprise when my tablet buzzes a few hundred feet from the serpent’s nest. I found you. Your health, which goes plus ten to minus ten, was negative twelve.

“The fight against a nest of alien spiders was easy, we were geared to kill a dragon after all. You… you were a shriveled mess.” He shuddered. “But alive. So I rushed you here. Thena, Lisa, and Seph kept you alive. Do you remember Tolinda?”

I raised a brow and asked, “The cowgirl with the crush, worked the stables… What about her?”

“Linia and I had our conversation. Lisa, you wanna pull up a seat?” Marius asked her. “Clearly not poisoned.”

“Uh… No. I will wait outside,” she said, her will coming off as vill.  “Master Nate will get sleepy after his soup, I’ve got orders from Ms. Seph for his bedtime routine.”

“Right…” Marius shook his head with a chuckle. Lisa and the archer left, leaving it just the two of us. “Linia said to take a mohuma as a wife. She liked Tolinda’s gentle nature, her looks, and while I could last without Linia around, I did find Tolinda attractive. Same with Thena… that one I’m taking slowly. Far more independent woman.”

“Oh… you made it happen, good for you guys,” I said, taking my soup into my hands.

The first bite was glorious. I had to be mindful to eat slowly as my stomach complained already.

“Assassins. By day one hundred we were solidly in first. Three full legions tested our food output capabilities, the Gribbin civil war ended, and we absorbed the forces. Meaning suddenly we were on everyone’s radar, not just No Mercy’s eye.

“An enemy fleet arrived during a hurricane. Yeah, cursed by the god's hurricane. The raptors were tucked inside, not roaming the city. One minute we were relaxing in the stronghold, waiting for the storm to pass, and the next we were fighting for this very city’s life,” Marius said

I was stunned. “Who was it?”

“A bear humanoid race. Big ones on four legs like a centaur. They were nigh unstoppable. Tolinda jumped off a balcony, and raced to unleash our raptors. I held them off in a narrow stairway. Hours of fighting resulted in Nommi and Brawn killing their way forward. Tolinda died on the very first stable door she opened. It was enough to save the city though,” Marius said sadly.

“And all the guards?”

“Precautions. Look, there have been another dozen landings since then. All coming for this city. Raptors are brutal. You know how cats bring you dead presents?”

I shrugged. “Never owned a cat.”

“Well, I have a suite a floor down with a larger balcony. I get brought dead assassins or enemies. If the raptors are feeling brutal, they claw the tongues, rip the hamstrings, chew off the hands, and then leave a dying body on my balcony,” he said with a shudder.

“Are there soldiers awakening?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, there are mohuma species who are, or were, created to be assassins. They cannot defend their own species because some don’t even have them. I guess a thousand assassins of one species could be competitors but most that we’ve found are different variations.”

“So… since we’re in first that means we’ve been busy. And the fleet?”

“Ah, yes. Well, there is more. The bear invasion netted us a colossal amount of points. I even got a master tablet out of it. I think they were content with being in the top fifty and wanted to go out in a bang. Well, they did.

“After we were forced with a decision. Either I led the trip across the sea to their island or Seph did. Seph wanted to prove she could be a leader and I was content with protecting you. Plus being here meant when you were ready I could sail with you to No Mercy or the next fight.”

“Where did she go?” I asked. “Seph that is?”

“She went to the bear island, which was dominated by giants ruling dwarves under a different name. Their wurms were alive too. She landed with two full legions, riding that pretty raptor she liked to joke about.

“Anyway, I get reports. Last one was that she had the entire island under her control. Promised a whole fleet and five legions in thirty days or so,” Marius said proudly.

“So we have two major producers, very nice,” I said, slurping my bowl. He handed me his untouched bowl. “Not hungry?”

“Nope, I was in the smithing shop. Er… May have had a few ales with bread. I get caught up in the ‘gnomes rule’ drinking games.”

“Gnomes and their drinking,” I said, enjoying the banter with a laugh.

“Gotten worse since more dwarves are around… Which leads me to the next point. This one may hurt your feelings and I hope it doesn’t. Linia and I were pulled up,” Marius said, placing both hands on his knees. “As in to a courtroom just like you described.”

“You… Shucks. Okay. Open ears, open mind kinda deal.”

“Finegan went into a second competition. Even with a new partner… he didn’t do well. He then went into a third and treated mohuma as slaves. Anyway, the Archaics sent him out an airlock. We were given a special offer,” Marius said.

I raised an eyebrow, setting his soup down.

“Umm…”

He laughed, then laughed some more. “You’re feeble at the moment, Nate. Plus, I don’t betray my friends, even for immortal aliens.”

I decided to trust him, eating the soup that was causing my belly to ache. I knew I needed the calories.

Marius stood, heading for the weapons. He picked up my sword. “Found this in the bottom of a troll foot. Quality steel. I look forward to you getting healthy and us going on campaign. I truly enjoy being a co leader of sorts and adventuring instead of ruling.”

“I agree. We both did more city management than normal this competition,” I said, giving him time to tell me the news.

“I was offered a slot. The special offer was to become a leader. A leader that picks my Qoobi nation right after you… I also could have ten thousand humans and ten thousand mohuma…”

An ‘Ah!’ escaped my lips. “I get it. They want to cycle more mohuma into our competition, giving us a bigger starter point. It’s not like Pat and Roxie won’t join our coalition anyway.”

“Exactly, we accepted. The difference is that I’ll arrive in a city without you when we immigrate. I’ll have ten thousand humans and mohuma looking at me for answers and I want them to complain to you. So we decided to become a vassal state,” Marius said.

I nodded. “I don’t mind if you're my neighboring ruler. King Marius works for me as much as Duke Marius.”

“Linia thought you’d say that. I agree. But no. This is what we want, if you’re unhappy, sorry,” Marius said.

“Not in the slightest. Okay, next. We’re first in explore…”

He set my sword back down and returned to his seat.

“The docks are massive, and our shipbuilding is our number one priority. Tier seven unlocked battleships with… cannonballs,” he said and I furled my brows. “Yup. The cannons are fixed but boy oh boy. Did we suddenly own about a hundred outdated ships when we learned that. So I sent mohuma led fleets with crews and tablets.”

“Nice. Alright, where is No Mercy and what did they select?” I asked.

“Well, we have a few varying reports. Our scouts have No Mercy on a central island with a foe. The note they sent said they were alone in need of a challenge and taunted us.

“They’re in second place. A distant second. And I’m fairly certain they aren’t even tier seven yet. They selected war elephants, meaning we’ve been focusing on heavy crossbows,” Marius said.

I set my second bowl of soup down. “When can we go?”

“Two weeks, but better to wait four and then another week of sailing. Plenty of time for you to get back onto your feet,” Marius said. He glanced back at the door. “Lisa, he’s in a stupor.”

Marius wasn’t wrong. The soup was kicking my ass, making me tired. Lisa came in, helping me to the privy. All that soup was running through me. Marius said a final goodbye, telling me he’d be around to help me train back up.

After he was gone, I was laid into the bed.

When it was just Lisa and I, she said, “Out of the outvit please. When yov sweat at night it givves me extra chores.”

I was a fan of sleeping in the nude anyway. Since she’d been taking care of me, and likely seen me naked a lot, I shifted to nude. Lisa helped me get comfy on my back, covering me.

She went about blowing out the candles and ensuring the doors were locked. There must be some pulley system to rotate guards or something. The fire was poked out until only embers dimly lit the space.

Lisa sat in the chair I had recently vacated and said, “Seph said I was your third.” She worked her stockings off. “I swore oaths to manage your estate. I’ll be your lower mohuma wife who cooks, cleans, and does the tasks beneath queens. Including managing the help, tasting food, and testing for poisons.”

I wanted to prop myself up and put up a smidge of a fight about adding another harem member but I was beat.

“There is a video of Gem and Seph talking to Izzy, Senna, and Beth. I have a slotted role none of the others want that I’d adore havving,” Lisa said. “They’ll know how attentive and caring I was. Waiting on yov day and night like a dutiful mistress.”

“Uh… Shucks, Lisa. I barely know you.”

She tisked, pointing at the door. “That changes tonight. I have the male of my dreams in bed, needing me right now. Let me show yov how much you need me.”

Lisa left the chair confidently. I was tired, and because it was dark, I didn’t get an instant boner from her sexy saunter. The moonlight and glowing embers still showed me sleek curves on her petite body.

She was the opposite of my voluptuous vixens besides Beth. This was another female who loved intense exercise.

Her little pussy was shaved bare and her pert tits weren't a jiggling mess when she walked. In the dim light she was very much a human woman who was extremely toned. My dick decided I wasn’t too tired when she slid under the covers.

Lisa’s mouth wrapped around my growing penis. She didn't talk or try to entice me with a tease.

She went right to work.

Both of her small hands wrapped my dick tugging with her sucking. I peeled the covers back to see her frowning with a blush.

Lisa was a mix of being tender, and being about business. I was exhausted. When she re-covered her body with a sheet, I let her.

I heard my cock come out of her mouth and her gasp for air.

So… Lisa was four foot ten, to five foot tops. When she rotated to ride me reverse cowgirl, I wasn’t expecting to slide in smoothly like I did.

That pussy was not only incredible and tight, it included a pumping squeeze. While she managed my girth, I literally poked her kidney or something. I knew that’s not how it works.

But that is what it felt like.

Lisa went into the motion of a booty dancer. I was hypnotized by the bouncing sheet and the sensational feeling. This young mohuma sure could twerk.

The covers continued to jump, shooting me with a breeze as she danced her hips.

She had to have a song or a beat in her head because her tight little pussy and pert ass pumped that cock like a goddess. I groaned and moaned, letting the euphoric feeling cascade over me.

There was the tingling sensation from her pussy’s intense pulse. Something akin to a vibrator being on the underside of my penis.

The vibrant hum increased in tempo with her dive that came to a sudden stop only to start again. Each smash of my penis tip spurred me on and she moaned out with pleasure.

If I wasn’t so damn exhausted and weak I would have dominated her. Instead, I tucked my hands behind my head.

“Good master. Let me please yov. Does my little pocket feel vonderful?” she asked.

“Yes… amazing,” I moaned out.

She spun around, placing her hands against my chest. Lisa squatted beside my hips and returned to stabbing my cock into her pussy.

The pulsing squeeze was tighter this time, thoroughly clenching my shaft in a perfect way. I let her do all the work and loved every minute of my little Russian Gerbil woman. She was incredible.

Ten minutes and I tensed, my balls starting to pump. She shot off my dick, diving her mouth to cover my tip.

I exploded into her mouth. There was so much that I was sure she would choke.

Nope. She deepthroated my cock.

Straight into her belly my cum went. I heard her snorting air while I continued to feed her my jizz. A minute or two later, she extracted my soft cock out.

I saw her form wiping the tears from deep throating me.

She finished, scurried out from under the covers, snatched a pillow into her little spoon, and went to sleep.

I was beat, drained, and in my own little slice of heaven. I dragged my degraded body the five feet over to snuggle into her back. I heard a long content sigh of happiness before I fell asleep.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

COMPETITION 4 DAY 291

“A gain?” Marius asked and I shook my head.

I was drenched in sweat with my hands on my knees as I caught my breath.

A warm summer’s day blistered its heat upon my tanned back. Over the last month, I rebuilt my muscles until I improved upon them. Something that had not gone unnoticed.

“Oye, my sexy man, come shower with me before we go to battle,” Seph said from the upper deck railing where the ship’s wheel rested.

I righted myself, feeling the gentle sway from the ocean’s current with minimal rocking. I peered into the sky with a hand blocking the sun, searching for any signs of clouds.

The damn winds had been dead for three days, forcing us to slowly row for our target. All I ever heard was the crash of oars slowly grinding us forward.

We had ten legions crammed aboard a fleet of over two hundred ships and we were moving at a snail's pace. I cracked my back, deciding to inspect the fleet.

There were warships like the one I was on. These were tall in the water, with soldiers crammed below decks in coffin-like bunks. Cannons bristled off the sides and the majority of our troops rested in these triple masted battleships.

Next were the haulers. These reminded me of freight ships from Earth. They were only a few decks out of the water and my goodness they were wide. The bulky ships were our fleet's major issue. Rowing them without wind was tedious at best.

The reason for their issue was clear. These freighters were laden with our siege engines, raptors, duckies, food, munitions, and general army supplies.

We had a few frigates, but this fleet wasn’t for fighting some epic battle at sea. Our entire formation was based around getting the invasion ships safely to shore. Hell, our scouts even had problems finding other navies.

This fleet was only a portion of our sea power. After thirty plus days of planning, we had our invasion fleet leading the charge with backup fleets guarding our islands. The plan was to get near a beach, drop ramps, and anchor the ships in a harbor.

“Oye, Nate. Shower, you and me!” Seph shouted again, clearly not loving that I was distracted by the beautiful ships and not her sailing outfit.

“After my time in the pits,” I said and Seph rolled her eyes. I chuckled at her. “What!?”

“Yer a King, Nathanael. Even Marius doesn’t go to the pits.”

Marius shook his head. “Don’t drag me into this.” He headed into the battleship’s captain’s quarters. “I’ll take the first seashower then.”

It was really just a pump that sucked up ocean water. Still better than nothing. I watched him disappear, allowing Seph to come over to playfully swat my ass.

“Yer not foolin anyone, Nate. Yer just wantin to have a longer shower time with me. I know -”

A crack split the air from behind us. A gust of wind felt wonderful and yet, terrifying. That was powerful, sudden, and stood the hairs on my arm.

On the horizon, a billowing blackness bloomed. An angry storm was rolling toward our fleet that materialized from nowhere. The sailors in the crow’s nest rang warning bells.

Marius burst out of the command quarters in the buff, scaling a ladder. Not even halfway there he bellowed, “Cease bells!”

Across the fleet a competition mechanism had all the drone sailors go silent.

Next he ordered, “Drop full sails, all hands row. Sprint for the island. Assemble banners.”

We were slated to be about eight hours from No Mercy’s shores. Not anywhere near where we should be assembling banners, which basically meant get into positions for a hasty exit. Then again, our eight hours was based on no wind.

I was stunned, feeling like this storm was… competition generated. This was a gift that was speeding us to our foes.

Marius ran into the command cabin under the bridge. There was a shared office slash relaxing area and we had rooms at opposite sides. I dashed into the open door that was propped ajar.

Across the fleet sailors sung, soldiers clanked, and sails zipped as they were unfurled. There was a jolt and a whipping noise as the sails were buffeted by the coming storm.

Thena was inside the common room, helping Marius gear for war. I trotted into the privy, giving myself a quick rinse.

Lisa stumbled out of my bedroom with parts of my armor, I went to help her, but Seph caught her poor footing. The ship was picking up incredible speed, causing a new motion to grow accustomed to.

“Marius,” I said, catching his attention when Thena paused. “This storm?”

“Powerful, angry, and blowing us right for our foe. With this wind, and hard rowing, we…” He paused, tossing his helmet on. “We should get most of the troops off before the storm scuttles ships... It’ll be close.”

I slid into light leathers with a metal plated kilt of sorts. The songs of the rowers below were belting out over the whipping wind. There was a rhythmic splash and jostle as we gained even more speed.

Seph and Lisa worked my armor’s side strings and straps while I attached my sword. Marius headed out, shouting about some obscure ship terms I hadn’t the foggiest about. I admitted that I never studied medieval sailing and his expertise in sailing had proved vital so far.

A light chainmail long shirt was handed to me by Seph. If I went into the water I was so screwed, not that I’d likely survive in an ocean during a storm. Lisa used the table to get high enough to plop my helmet on, completing my kit.

The ship’s jostling was getting rougher and the ladies scampered to prepare for our beaching.

I exited the cabin to feel the whipping wind whisking the water off the top of the ocean. The light spray was a welcome reprieve from the last few days.

To my surprise, the storm behind us was not gaining. Instead, the horizon ahead of us began to silhouette an island.

No Mercy’s island.

The scouts found a few landing points. Our plan was to get to the nearest one simply because the winds had been so… dead. Now that we were being sped forward, I had to wonder.

Was our delay a gift to No Mercy? I had to think it was.

Whatever they needed time for, was done, and now the gods of the competition deemed us ready to fight, aiding our advance without wrecking our fleet in a sudden hurricane.

The howling wind buffeted me, pushing me back as I slogged my way up to the captain's wheel. The upper deck was filled with gusts that propelled our fleet. On the wheel, Marius grunted as he focused on the rudder.

Marius started to shout to me, “The tablet lets me interface the entire fleet. The storm is turning though. It’s as if -”

“The gods are intervening…”

He nodded, returning to focus on the heading.

Marius still held onto his beliefs and I wasn’t going to judge him. He commanded the sailors to adjust sails, keeping us ripping across the water. The entire fleet was smashing its way forward.

I walked to the back deck to view our armada. Behind the trailing frigate a mighty rainbow burst to life.

On nearby ships, soldiers were streaming onto decks, glistening in their armor. Deck hatches were opened, large ramp sections were being lifted to the tops of decks to be assembled.

Sails were full, sailors giving quick adjustments. The tiny scout ships had to go to half sails to avoid outpacing our fleet. The mighty freighters were brute forcing their way across the white capped water, blasting giant sprays of water. I was glad I was not on those ships with their nearly flat bottoms.

As quick as it started, the storm faded back, no longer gaining on us. A distant black speck on the horizon.

When I spun to see the island we faced, a fleet a tenth of our size dropped sails. Two battleships, a few cruisers, and about fifteen frigates. They flew Khan’s flag, and I was not surprised.

New bells rang. Cannon crews shifted to prepping for a fight. The enemy fleet spun, using the new winds to flee. They dropped oars, increasing their speed.

I walked to Marius and said, “Should we engage?”

“We can harass them with the frigates, but if they counter them, we lose a great asset,” he said. “I wouldn’t recommend it because of those medium ships, called cruisers. Best to beach aggressively and then send the ships to siege Objective Hun.”

“Understood.” There wasn’t much more to say. I stuck my hands on the railing, eyeing the horizon.

The island that used to be a blimp was looming large. There was not much difference between this island and our starter island. At least that I could see from such a distance or had seen in reports.

There were ten starting points. Objective Hun was the best harbor city and our primary objective. It wasn’t Team No Mercy’s starter city, and the more reports we received, I was starting to think this wasn’t their starter island. Either way, that was our landing point.

We really couldn’t expand anymore without conquering a new island, might as well be where No Mercy had a foothold.

A gusting wind faltered over the next ten minutes, wafting us closer to the shores. We were but a mile off a gentle sloping sandy beach when the wind died.

“Permission to land,” Marius requested. “Best to make use of whatever momentum we have. Should get the raptors out in ten minutes.”

“Approved,” I said, heading for a dinghy.

Above the beach rested a dense jungle. Where our island was mostly stripped of trees to build this fleet, this island was still alive with nature.

I expected the enemy to have a defending force here. It would be hard to hide war elephants inside that jungle, especially long term.

My guess... was they would have archers raining arrows as we beached. However, it was so peaceful and serene at the moment.

Yeah, I would place archers in perches at a perfect level out of raptor height. There was nothing more to do than to dwell on what might face me. The front battleships spun, facing the treeline.

BOOM!

The initial volleys of cannonballs ripped into the front of the treeline. Splinters, fronds, and bushes went sky high. Birds near the shore darted for safety in rapid flights of panic.

Okay, the birds wouldn’t settle under a defensive army.

Hmm…

What were you up to, Genghis?

Our ship spun until the broadside faced the jungle. The rattle of the anchor dropping was loud in my ears.

I hopped into a dinghy. The creak of ropes gliding through winches was louder than the sounds of oars crashing in the distance.

I saw the freighters barrel forward, washing onto the beach. Those long ramps were slid forward and off the bow. The dinosaurs began stampeding off the ships, forming a beachhead.

BOOM!

A second volley of cannon fire dove deeper into the woods. When the cannonballs crashed into the jungle, there were cries of pain.

That was the answer I was expecting. He had troops, just deeper in waiting. Maybe a later ambush. Or he was -

Trumpets blared with the jungle canopy in the distance waving from what was likely elephants. We had stopped our dinghy’s descent.

BOOM!

Cannonfire below us belched flames that licked our small vessel. I never saw that round hit as we went into a mini freefall.

Splash!

The dinghy crashed into the busy sea, causing me to groan. Not the sailors though, they went into rowing aggressively for a landing.

Our fleet was massive, filling the area with wooden machines of death. Additional battleships spun, getting into firing positions. The crack and boom of cannonfire became deafening.

The jungle deteriorated into a ruined mess. I pitied the general who waited in that thick terrain. If they charged we would narrow down on their location.

If they fled, they ceded the field.

Along the shore, freighters continued to beach themselves. Ramps lowered and dinosaurs with cavalry and archers flooded onto our beachhead.

In my opinion, it was too late to counter us. The competition had given us too much momentum to land and land we did.

Hundreds of troops became thousands. Drums of war assembled formations, cannons shredded trees, dinghies rowed additional troops, and I soaked it all in with glee.

The enemy came crashing forward, the front of the lines were…

Stegos.

Pink aliens with four arms belted out war cries as they challenged our lines. These reminded me of a lanky space alien with big heads and noodle arms.

Sailors with heavy crossbows used their height advantage to snap bolts into the thirty or so large dinosaurs.

Additional cannon fire ripped into the jungle.

My confusion was short-lived because the enemy retreated, never even getting a charge off. Whoever staged this counter push clearly was not prepared for ten legions.

The cannons continued to decimate what they could. Marius was likely selecting areas on his tablet to focus fire into.

This was the power of an armada. I knew there were scouts cursing our might as we continued to land our legions. I frowned, expecting more and -

Archer fire burst from the canopy, soaring high and glinting off the sun.

“Cover!” infantry commanders called out.

The enemy arrows were not numerous, but they were deadly. I grimaced as troops collapsed and dinosaurs shrieked in pain.

Packs of raptors tore into the forest as cannon fire focused on where those arrows erupted from.

Our small boat crested onto the beach right as the screams of archers being mauled reached my ears. Leaving the ship, I noticed the beach was actually tiny pebbles, and not fine sand.

Each step was easy enough and I pulled out my tablet as the small beaching vessel headed back to get more troops.

The map on the device had flag icons for legions. The enemy legion was displayed as broken, just like mine were. Except, my icons were growing into units. It’d would be hours before -

Brawn strutted to me to deliver a dead archer at my feet.

“Gee. Thanks, boy,” I said, inspecting the dead alien.

I noticed the four armed warrior was fairly lean, his ribs showing under his leather. That could be because of raptor claws tearing both flesh and leather but no. His cheeks were also sunken.

“Allies? Sacrificial allies maybe? There were too many of them to be a mohuma unit,” I muttered.

Brawn cooed, asking for pets. I scratched the top of his bloody face.

He sped off, likely to keep the death toll rising.

There was a surge of activity and rowboats moving rocks from behind me. The cannons stopped firing, and besides the cries of the wounded, or the shouts of commanders, the battle had abated.

While I stepped further onto the beach to make room for new arrivals, I grinned. We arrived, and with our legions mostly whole. Out of all the scenarios, this was about as good as it got. Which had me wondering.

What was our enemy up to?

Chapter

Twenty-Three

COMPETITION 4 DAY 295

T he bombardment was relentless. We even started flinging trees out of catapults. There was something majestic about watching a flaming log soaring for your enemies.

Somehow Khan had conquered a competitor and converted them into a subject race. No idea how that worked, but these pink aliens were defending Hun Port as we called it.

Defending was also a bit of an exaggeration. I didn’t want their city. I had no desire to become an owner of their city. I wanted the points from the destruction.

A destruction that was taking time and lots of ammo. Thankfully, soldiers could exploit a quarry for ammunition, that was allowed.

While we had a support camp with mohuma, we didn’t bring a massive workforce. There were a few captured strongholds that were helping us further sink our teeth into this island.

Unfortunately, four days after we landed, we were visited by Issac the fairy. He was running our supply convoy with the frigates and came rushing into the command post, his little wings beating a mile a minute.

“I bear interesting news, my Lord,” Issac said so fast it was hard to track.

I was in my command tent that was in the middle of our sieging force. My feet were propped up on a desk while I monitored the stagnating battle. A full legion was doing nothing more than defending Marius, Seph, Lisa, and I. A bit excessive but we were killing spies like crazy.

“Take a few breaths. Get a drink if you need one. Should wait for Marius anyway,” I said, gesturing for Lisa to stir him.

He was training at the moment so it wouldn’t be too much of a hamper.

“How’s the weather?” I asked.

“Good, the winds seem to be in a favorable cross pattern going both ways,” Issac said.

He flew onto a chair, his little frame folding into the big seat.

Marius came in, heading for the water jug. “Welcome, Issac.”

“Howdy, Battle Lord. I’m afraid I bear news that is urgent. Trinket and the Mohuma Council are under siege, sorta,” Issac said.

I slammed my fist into the desk. A ruse. We had twenty thousand soldiers here and he leap frogged our advance. “Damn.”

“And define the sorta,” Marius said, taking a seat by me.

“Well, there seems to be an odd coincidence,” Issac said.

I removed my boots from the desk, sitting upright. “Such as?”

“The enemy made landfall at roughly the same time you did,” the small fairy replied.

I rubbed the back of my neck and said, “They wanted us to be committed… Interesting. Tell me of this No Mercy invasion.

“Yes, my lord. To start, they have a smaller navy. Not even half of our navy. They did beach on the north side of the island but as of three days ago, their fleet was taking a pounding in a losing fight. They were sieging Nimra and the fighting was stalled,” Issac said.

“Let me guess, the fleet was more troop oriented?” I asked and he nodded. I mulled over what to do. I turned to Marius and said, “Good call on leaving a battleship fleet at home. That is good news, my question is, what's the latest from our scouts here?”

“Eight out of ten slots have decent cities. This is no minor island, but it is not the capital we seek,” Marius told me.

I figured as much. “And how long to find them?”

Issac raised a small arm and said, “The other island is two days east of here. Winds favor that way at the moment.”

“They won’t once we load up,” Marius said with a grumble.

I wagged a finger at him. “Marius has a point. We were aimed here. Think about it.”

Marius scoffed. “How big was their invasion?”

“Six legions, is the estimate. They didn’t get a clean landing either. Not like you did here. Wasn’t too bad for the ground troops but the ships defending the freighters is where they lost the most,” Issac said.

While that was good news, I shook my head. “They can’t fight us toe to toe. Nor can they raid Moobi Island. Maybe Moobi 2.”

Seph entered and we caught her up on the situation. She said, “They probably saw how well defended Moobi 2 was. It is not cleared with intense fortifications. No, Moobi primary has all the ripe targets outside of walls.”

“Alright, we have to trust the ten legions on Moobi will consolidate with haste and fight losing battles that result in a winning war,” I said in a gruff tone.

“Are those your orders?” Issac said.

I forgot that he probably didn’t sail here and flew instead. “Yes, yes they are. Defeat that army and that navy at all costs. Even if we lose points in the short term. Continue to pump out replacement units. Oh, and wish them luck,” I said before turning to Marius. “Anything to add?”

He chewed on his thumb in thought. “We need to cut off the supplies between the two islands. Khan will start to abandon his holdings here when these legions don’t leave to go back home. Let me take a legion for boarding action and carry out a running sea battle.”

“You want to swing around and pincer the invading navy?” I suggested.

He shook his head with a frown. “No, too risky. Loading archers and a few hundred infantry will take hours not days. Stripping the seas of resources will start to strangle Khan. I know that you normally charge in and win the day.” A pause let the moment sink in. “Strategy. This is a strategy and resource competition.”

“Hmm…” I grunted, thinking about what Khan’s reaction would be. I muttered, “I think he knows he lost.”

“Say again,” Marius said.

I danced my fingers on the desk. “We had a simple start. One team gave us a free competitor, and the other team hated mohuma. Sure our island was challenging, and sure, it wasn’t a picnic, but we didn’t have an extended battle of attrition until now…”

“You’re thinking he is done?” Marius asked. “That wouldn’t be very fun.”

“Well, we’re in first place. Everything we have is tracked across the entire map. So yeah, I mean…” I said, not saying what I wanted to. “Look. Khan is a brilliant tactician. How many sea battles was he recorded for winning?”

“Uh… none that I recall from our studies,” Marius said.

“Yeah, it opens a new avenue of fighting, and not his strongest suit. And… And we are doing amazing. Think about it. If someone wants to fight us they need to cross oceans with hurricanes and sudden squalls. At any point your ten legions can get sunk to the bottom of the sea,” I mentioned.

“Well, so what’s the play?” Marius asked.

“This is a war, not some key battle that might turn the tide. We smash this island and make it a new expansion. Then leap over to the next island. I bet he starts funneling troops here in hopes he can slow our advance,” I said.

Issac raised a hand. “There are rumors he had more than six legions. That he had eight and two never disembarked.”

“Conjecture?” I asked and he shrugged. “Alright not the worst thing to take at face value. So this was a swap fight that went poorly for his invasion. Time to make him pay here and he will likely withdrawal and fortify his position on No Mercy main?”

There were nods from the others. I knew he would be up to something. Khan’s plot seemed like a winning strategy on land. Sack the enemy when they leave their cities undefended.

Except I didn’t do that, leaving armies behind due to our massive production numbers. And he had to sail in, land and sail out.

There was only one thing for me to do. Mop us this island at an accelerated pace. I left my chair to grab my helmet.

“So the Mohuma Council?” Issac asked.

I snapped the chin strap to my helmet and said, “When you’re ready to fly back, tell them to try to keep those armies on the island. I doubt they’ll stay but they might.”

“And our navy?” Marius asked.

I equipped my sword, Lisa coming from her station to help. I said, “Marius, I won’t pretend to be a naval commander. Wiping these cities will be tedious, but fulfilling for me. Better than saltwater baths and me screaming at wind gods.”

“Right, good luck, brother,” Marius told me, heading for his own gear stand.

I snickered. “I’m keeping nine legions on this small island. What can go wrong?”

“You never learn,” Marius said with a head shake. “Thena will be happy to have me back on the ships.”

“Right our mobile hospital. Who's the head doc once you leave?”

“Some fox guy named Roo,” Marius said with a shrug. “Triage tent is a few over. I’ll send flyers or scout ships with updates of the fleet. I’ll also keep the beaches monitored in your area.”

“Thanks.” We clasped forearms before I headed outside the command tent.

There were groups of soldiers cooking food everywhere in the clearing. Around those fires were the commanders awaiting orders. Up until now there was nothing to do except sit back and watch a city get pounded into dust.

“Sound the drums, align the formations, and cease the battery in ten minutes,” I ordered.

Dwarves who used to work for the Gribbin Empire immediately stood, pounding out the signals.

Thrum! Drum! Thrum! Drum!

The single beat became a dozen, and then a hundred. There was a hive of activity as resting units spilled out of tents and makeshift barracks.

While I couldn’t see the enemy because there was still a bit of jungle until our siege lines, our lookouts in towers could. Bells rung fiercely over our drums. The enemy was leaving their wrecked city.

I frowned, tilting my head in confusion. This made zero strategic sense.

Marius, who was planning on leaving, stopped short of heading for the fleet. He ran with me for the clearing where the front lines rested.

The distraction was exactly that. The moment I spied the meager enemy lines forming ranks, I heard a dozen roars from the mountain.

Our scouts had reported a lot of the epic objectives remained untouched. There was a logical conclusion to what was happening. When Brawn came trotting over with my saddle on, I dug into the satchel, finding my telescope.

When I opened the device to spy the distant threat, I wasn’t surprised.

That asshole assassin led behemoth stone ogres. The enemy was trying to cripple our forces with objective defenders. I actually should have seen this coming. There were other mohuma with him, leading separate large defenders down the mountainside for our army.

I saw dragons, an army of ten-foot-tall ants, and even a trio of harpy queens. They were all bounding down, trying to arrive in open farm fields meant to support Han Port. While I applauded their effort, it’d never work.

Hell, the poor saps trying to get the harpy trio to reach our lines were snatched one at a time. They flailed, not even halfway down the mountainside. Likely being flown to a roost somewhere.

The ants overwhelmed their targets, ripping the No Mercy soldiers apart in a gruesome display. When they finished they went back for their lair.

That left just a dragon and some stone ogres.

We would handle this. I knew it because the ballistae were already spinning. My commanders had killed dragons and stone ogres. While not easy, we certainly were set up for them.

I also knew I was hankering for a fight. To the point, I had to take controlled breaths. I closed my eyes, letting my urge to charge forward fade.

When I opened my eyes Brawn chirped at me to get in his saddle. I unlatched his saddle instead.

“Whatcha doing?” Marius asked.

I smirked. “I got this, old friend. Take to the seas. Take the archers too. Half that gaggle will never reach us.”

“What did ya see?”

“A ninja,” I said, dumping the saddle and satchel.

Brawn went to bolt, but he still had his bridle still on. Stopping him, I clenched Brawn’s lower jaw, letting him know I meant business.

“Are you smart?” I asked.

He chirped. Yeah, figured he would sass me with that question.

I shook my head. “That human tricked you once. Probably gave his buddy his clothes, or whatever. I don’t know, Brawn. I do know he killed Gem more than likely and he escaped you.”

He was getting riled up.

“Are you going to let him get away again?” I asked.

More chirping with a growl. This time another similar looking raptor rushed over after being called to. The slightly smaller new arrival nuzzled into my side. Brawn nudged his harness with claws raking the hard leather.

I hoisted it off the ground, setting my saddle on the new raptor’s back. Brawn went crazy, using his front paws to dig into the satchel until my hat was out. I stared at my hat, then at the raptor. Back to the hat… Aww.

I grumbled, “But the hat, Brawn.”

The raptor shook his head, not caring. Marius brought me over a tier six infantryman. I cinched down the saddle, and begrudgingly acquiesced to his request. I stuck my hat on the soldier's head, sad to see it go.

They bolted in an instant.

I really wondered what hunting would be like as a dinosaur.

Intermission

Competition 4 Day 295

Brawn

Brawn waited impatiently for the human to finish applying the saddle to sub beta Zeet. Zeet… was loyal. Loyal worked and sounded better than dumb.

When his human friend confirmed his theory that he had indeed been duped by the enemy, Brawn was ready for the challenge. Not again, he told himself.

The moment they were ready, Brawn sped for the mountains, cutting left to conceal his progress with the jungle. A quick chirp, followed by three caws was the signal.

His most trusted pack was on the move.

Brawn tempered his excitement, ensuring to not outpace his decoy too far. The jungle ferns and thick vines gave way to smooth run.

An inclined nose inhaled deeply, scenting the area for anything and everything.

Three tree snakes, two monkeys, and… something he didn’t recognize. The hidden threat was foul, more foul than his rider’s feet. A bog monster was his guess.

A caw, chirp, shriek were sounded. He informed a small detail to figure out what the scent was and then return to the pack.

As he ran his keen eyes shifted through the gloomy jungle canopy. His eyes could defeat trickery that might fool his nose.

He growled slightly. Brawn was ashamed of a memory that flooded his mind. Being outwitted by a human explained his capture of the other invader. That one had flung shiny objects he easily avoided. As if the human were clumsy, but under orders.

He may not know shapes but he understood words. That one didn’t scream while he mauled his throat, merely died to his wounds. The memory faded as fresh scents were brought in from the wind.

A single human shouted, calling for the attention of the stone ogres. He could smell and hear what was happening.

There were the sounds of the humans dispersing, peeling off to avoid the stone golems that followed a main human. He realized the fleeing man was leading the threat to the army.

Brawn waited for his pack. A single hoot, much like a bird would have made, brought his beta closer.

In a low tone he chirped to him. His message was clear. Prohibit the human leading the rock ogres from getting closer to their allies. A few coos, clicks, and caws said he would die before they reached the lines.

Zeet arrived and Brawn glared at him. He wasn’t used to a rider and somewhat fatigued. Maybe the assassin would notice, and Brawn growled away the notion.

He signaled in muted calls for Zeet to lead the charge. Attack those who were fleeing away from all the fighting. There would be a single deceptive human, that was the target.

Trickery was something a raptor could sense. Granted, a raptor loved an easy kill and normally bypassing a dumb prey for a smart one, made very little logical sense.

Zeet bounded forward.

The smells were… overwhelming his senses.

Brawn, bunched his legs, running to set a flank and ambush. His pack split, half following behind Zeet for the humans.

The sound of human bows firing was followed by two of his pack falling against the rocky mountainside.

Brawn had to push on, he kept to the cover of the jungle. He closed his eyes, letting his nose do the leading, and hearing determine his route.

His snorted breath sent out, and pinged back, replies. His sniffing painted a picture of the landscape. Not even ten raptor strides out of the jungle the main group of humans ran.

Brawn found the anomaly. He never even smelt him. And he wasn’t with the humans on his right… The oddity was on his left. The faintest flicker of a heartbeat in a tree.

Here’s the thing. Brawn knew animals. He could tell the difference between a rabbit’s chest pounding and a wolf’s calculated heartbeats.

No…

This beat was calm, even as a pack ran a few strides from him. Brawn stopped running, pretending to set an ambush for humans that Zeet and the rest of the pack were pushing this direction.

In a few seconds, the pack would enter a blood frenzy, and forget about any smidge of an anomaly.

Loud shrieks pierced this section of jungle when the ambush triggered the fleeing fools. The fight to kill the decoys was underway.

Brawn. He wasn’t tricked. He knew the image of the cowboy soldier atop Zeet was the best distraction he’d get.

Bounding deeper into the woods, he waited in a thick set of brush. He had to hope his prey didn’t see him relocate. He also had to hope his prey figured he was in the scrum.

His pack massacred the human soldiers Zeet drove into an ambush. He had heard the zip of a weapon, cutting through air, and smelling of poison. A moment later, Zeet and his rider died.

The pack mourned Zeet and his rider, failing to realize where he’d been attacked from. They forgot about him quickly, because the blood frenzy spurned them on. The pack picked a new alpha for the moment, as was the way with all packs when the alpha went missing.

His patience carried him through a waiting period. Fighting near the human settlement sounded off in the distance.

Brawn grew bored, but determined. Eventually, a thud nearby was followed by lightning quick feet.

This human was barely indenting his steps. However there was no avoiding the thick underbrush.

Brawn stalked forward like the clever male he was. He was a predator, a tier above the rest. His steps were silent, his pushing of fronds smooth.

He aligned to intercept his prey and waited.

The stealthy human scampered up a tree not even three paces away. Brawn paused, uncertain of what the human was doing.

He realized a short time later what was happening. A human force came trampling through the jungle. The dead were carried back to the main army’s camp ten minutes after a brief search of the area. The report would be an all-clear.

Except it wasn’t, two lethal predators were lurking, hidden from the common soldiers.

In the distance, the sounds of battle returned. The human drums were on the warpath. Horns blared and even from his hidden spot, Brawn felt the duckies’ charge.

The human used the covering noise to scurry from the tree.

Brawn bunched his muscles, readied his attack, and waited for the perfect moment. The assassin muttered hostile words filled with anger and resentment.

Those words swapped to shock when the assassin saw his form blended into the bushes.

Brawn’s prey was too slow. He leaped with astonishing speed, cutting the gap between them in a fraction of a second.

The raptor eyed his opponent’s movement. His left claw swiped out for a right hand going for a weapon. The human’s other arm shot up, sacrificing his limb to save his face.

There was a shrill cry.

Brawn realized the human was expecting his claw to go for a gut tear.

No. His claw found the flesh that controlled tendons to his enemy’s hand. Brawn knew to not underestimate his foe.

Instead of pushing his advantage, he backed up, and sat.

A boot was flung off a foot at him, he jumped over the first, and kicked off a tree to go even higher to avoid the second.

At this moment, his prey realized he had lost. Brawn watched the damaged human manage to get a neck adornment into his mouth. There was a pop sound, and traces of poison wafted into the air.

Brawn stayed patient. Winning mattered. Falling for tricks did not.

Except this was no trick. Vile words went in one ear and out the other. Brawn called out in loud raptor hoots. There was no mistaking what he was.

He was an alpha with a trapped prey.

The human he hunted, fell, twitched violently, and then stilled. He waited for ten minutes, not hearing a heartbeat. He cautiously approached.

When he loomed near, he lunged, ruining the human neck with his claws. It was a certainty now. He had won.

Brawn let out the loudest roar he could.

Chapter

Twenty-Four

COMPETITION 4 DAY 303

I  rode atop a duckie with Seph at my side. We had left behind Lisa in Hun Port. The city fell easily, leaving me with two choices.

Did I raze the city, or rebuild it?

Yes, I intended to smash it for points. But…

Having a safe port to use as a launching pad made strategic sense. So... I spent three days playing cleanup. The soldiers were able to clear debris and I left a Borink - a treeish mohuma - in charge with a spare tablet and a legion.

Taking my eight legions, I rotated around the map counterclockwise. I cut the island’s corner and sent two legions on separate missions to expedite the process. Mohuma commanders were able to get rotation as commanders while I remained heavily guarded.

Rightfully so. Brawn continued to bring me dead bodies. One of them… maybe was the ninja. The face was destroyed due to a corrosive poison so I had to guess. Still, nine, or was it eight bodies were dragged to me by chirping excited raptors.

The two legions smashed each city. I was determined to brute force our way in, troop losses be damned. We cracked three cities during the five days of progress and then staged for our fourth city to conquer.

To help our war efforts, the Mohuma council was sending aid. New arrivals were already pouring in from Moobi Islands 1 & 2. Our sea lanes were established and secured. Not only that, but the enemy fleet had tucked tail, abandoned their troops on Moobi 1, and returned home.

Team No Mercy was determined to not lose more ships, even at the cost of five thousand troops he let get massacred on our main island. At this point, the competition wasn’t even close. Assuming we made it to the end, we would have a commanding lead.

For this third island. Everything came down to a fight that I was itching for. The enemy had grown a spine and decided to meet us in a desperate battle. This startled me to the point I had extra scouts out, but everything was pointing to an us versus them brawl.

Across a long stretch of carrot fields two armies faced each other. I led my eight legions with a new half legion of reserves. My legions consisted of a thousand infantry and a thousand archers, or two thousand cavalry. I fielded only two cavalry legions for this fight, which probably would have been enough with the right tactics.

The enemy fielded roughly five thousand in the open and another thousand or two operating city defenses. This was a fight for the second best port on the island, Zoot Port.

Zoot was a tier five city and the fleet set to guard it was gone. Even from my spot atop a duckie I could see the ruins of cruisers and frigates that Marius trapped and slaughtered. Word from him was he needed cannonballs after numerous running engagements with the enemy. Those sea skirmishes were reported as decisive and one sided.

In good time he would get vital cannonballs. Supplies were moving, this island's productions were increasing and the might of Team Dinosaur Warlord was growing with each passing day.

Drums snapped me from my thoughts. The enemy was assembled like a horde of Gauls facing a Roman chariot.

The pink four armed aliens were called Yarinee and they surprised me as they marched to engage. The troops at the front began to peel ahead of their comrades, screaming war cries. Across the formation you could see the discipline failing.

Hmm… Odd.

I was planning on laying siege to this city and Marius would have cannonballs again soon. Meaning most of this army would die without seeing a fight. So maybe not too odd to attack and score some points before they were defeated.

They were a fairly peaceful race that dutifully followed their leaders off proverbial cliffs. In this case, literal. The enemy infantry was a mix of tier three through five. Simple shields, some metal most wooden, were small on their frames. They carried a shield on each side’s lower arm and short swords on upper arms.

The enemy cohesion broke apart even more as the young and the bold outpaced the thick army. Yes, we outnumbered them two to one, but killing thousands of soldiers was no simple task. Their charge also meant less time for organized firing.

“Siege! Free fire!” I commanded.

Snaps, twangs, and cracks sounded as the catapults, trebuchets, ballistae, and crossbows fired.

“Form shield wall!”

My infantry condensed, locking into place. Our reserves marched forward, projecting a left and right flank. A rain of death fell into the five or six thousand troops. Hundreds died while shields rose high, sparing most.

This was going to get bloody and I knew it.

“Seventh, right sweep, and charge!” I bellowed over my shoulder.

A raptor commander sprinted off, Brawn headed to join the charge with his pack. While I like using my mount for small combat, I was a general at the moment. Diving into the enemy ranks was not what I’d be doing.

Brawn was a commander all on his own, and he wouldn’t want to be bored being the general’s ride. This duckie though, it was eating carrots greedily.

“Foolish of them,” Seph said as the enemy heedless charged to their doom.

With my orders given, the battle was set. Unless there were surprises, the outcome was already determined. I could maybe save a dozen lives by getting into the scrum but we could afford to lose them.

“I get it, I would probably do the same thing,” I admitted.

A second volley whipped out and up from our archers. The arrows were so numerous and thick they created a cloud. The duckies staged in between the archers and infantry fired their crossbow bolts.

As the enemy infantry raised shields - that were mostly effective - to the archer fire, the crossbow bolts hammered home at a lower angle. Unready for this tactic, huge swaths of front line infantry collapsed from the timed firing.

My peripheral caught the seventh legion peeling off the main army’s body to get space.

“You think the rest of the island will concede after this?” Seph asked.

I nocked an arrow with my longbow. There was a clash of bodies smashing into each other. The enemy four armed aliens were desperate to get through the disciplined shield wall. A few gaps were quickly filled in our lines.

Wooden whistles called for the wall to backpedal slowly, allowing the sharp blunt from the enemy’s charge soften. The tactic was fairly common and it immediately tripped up the stagnating front ranks who were under pressure from behind.

I drew my bow to my anchor point and fired, adding my arrow to the others.

Setting my bow down, I pulled out the tablet. The map was showing five shrinking rectangles of the enemy. My rectangles were solid, simply moving away from the city. The seventh’s duckies blasted their duckbills in a trumpeting charge.

“I think this will be the only real fight until we land on Team No Mercy’s main island. Which…” I shifted to yell to my troops. “Archers halt!”

I paused to watch the carnage.

The enemy had no commander, or the commander was trying to fight their way to me and failing.

Either way, they didn’t ever turn their left flank to blunt our charge.

The duckies’ saddles vibrated as our cavalry picked up steam. This was…

There was a crash from two sides colliding. The impacts were so intense I heard bones cracking and pink bodies flew high into the air. The archers who rode in duckie saddles were firing rapidly. A few duckies succumbed to bolts or a lucky sword strike, but the charge was extremely one sided.

In moments the cavalry was in the middle of the enemy’s ranks. I saw a raptor unit darting around the back of the formation, corralling the ranks that seemed eager to retreat. Sure enough, every Yarinee that routed was leaped upon.

“Brutal,” Seph said with a shudder. The battle had my blood boiling and I used a spare glance at her large breasts tucked tightly into her outfit. “I never used to watch these battles. So… savage.”

“Shucks, I prefer to be in them,” I admitted. I shifted to yell at the drummers. “Steady advance, set a slow beat to start, and increase when the enemy budges.”

The drummers struck a rhythm that was steady. The infantry heaved, and stabbed. Heaved and stabbed. Over and over, they slowly gained ground.

There was a lot of fight left in the enemy, telling me the commanders were still on their feet. The duckies’ charge faltered, enemy crossbows downing them at a steady rate - to the point they pulled back, even though they were winning.

“Archers fire!” I commanded. “Signal the cavalry to stay at ranged or skirmishes at most.”

I could do the orders by tablet, but such verbal commands that sent runners explained my tactics to not only Seph, but the sub mohuma commanders.

“You excited to face this Genghis Khan?” Seph asked, concluding the rout would likely come soon.

A volley of arrows raced up in a high arc. When they rained down, the results were devastating. The first wavering of the enemy rippled through their mass, and if I had to guess, a leader probably died from an arrow.

I shrugged. “If I play it right, I’ll never even see him.”

“Not what I meant. You just… seem like you’re out on a vendetta,” Seph said.

“Maybe,” I said, keeping an eye on the faltering fight of the enemy. Another volley went up and I shouted. “Hold fire.”

This might break their spirit. There were probably seven thousand arrows landing among four thousand enemies. When hundreds collapsed or cried out it was another brutal display of archer power.

War horns blew from the bay. Marius was leading his ships into the port. Cannons blasted the harbor cannon emplacements. His orders were to knock down strategic towers.

Except…

My tablet buzzed. I pulled the device out to see a message.

Interesting.

The Yarinee are now without a leader. The last manager has fallen and their overlords have abandoned them. Will you like to absorb or sacrifice them? (Absorb) - (Sacrifice) You have one minute until -

I stopped reading and hit absorb. The entire sky darkened into a pitch brown. Seph shrieked and I patted her shoulder to calm her. This really was an impressive amount of magic. There was a mist - no a fog was a better description - that encompassed the entirety of the island.

The power of the magic, it raised my neck hairs when it swirled with an intensity that shocked me. A blinding light shot over the entire island with a massive gust of air from a thousand directions.

When I opened my eyes I saw the city was built for humans, the surrendered pink soldiers were humans, and the tablet buzzed.

‘Check out the score,’ Marius texted.

I flipped through the options. Checking the management tabs. Yeah, we added 3,653 new troops, 312 buildings, and 8,328 residents. Damn…

“I think… I think this was a feeder island he never cared about,” I muttered.

“What do you mean?” Seph asked.

I held off on checking the score for a minute, tapping my foot against the saddle floor. “You mentioned this was personal. Genghis Khan is, was, famous on Earth. He would extort his foes and let them rule in his stead. A few times he would tax his enemy, crush them, and then tax them again.”

“But not rule them?”

I nodded. “But not rule them. Vassal states made it easy to afford mercenaries. Why manage the headache when they provide for you?”

“Where are Khan's forces on the island?”

The dots connected. “That body that Brawn brought to us. The one bloated with the face melted from poison. That was the competitor Khan started with. Without orders from him. This Yarinee manager decided to fight to the death to restore his honor and likely earn his team points. He died.”

“And then the competition… what? Forced them to surrender? There was still a decent sized army on the field. While I thought they would concede, I expected… more. Like a leader to offer his warhammer or something,” Seph said with a scoff.

“With no one else to rule them besides probably mohuma, then yeah. If Marius and I die, I have no idea what happens. Maybe the council sticks. But that’s the thing, we have a chain of command if we die. Me, Marius, you, and then the council,” I said and she nodded.

I checked the score.

Team Dinosaur Warlord: 1st

Survival: 303.7 (tied 37th)

eXplore: 8634.1 (1st)

eXpand: 23818.7 (1st)

eXploit: 35327.6 (1st)

eXterminate: 80393.5 (1st)

Seph peeked over my shoulder. “Excellent. Going to be hard to beat those numbers.”

“I agree,” I said proudly.

“What’s next?” she asked.

I smirked. “We prepare for an invasion… again. Maybe a little celebratory sex!” I bounced my eyebrow and she forked her fingers, flicking her tongue between them. Her eyes went big when I nodded with a chuckle.

Tonight was going to be one hell of a celebration. There were twenty islands at the start of the competition. We now controlled three at over thirty percent into the competition.

For me, all that was left was defeating Khan and Team No Mercy.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

COMPETITION 4 DAY 357

O ver fifty days later I stood on the bow of a tier eight flagship. Called this beaut - Florida. Probably the only ship of its kind in the competition. A nice breeze pushed our armada of four fleets that spanned the horizon in every direction.

“Crazy, right,” Marius said, joining my side.

I held my hands behind my back, enjoying the view. “We have three islands completely conquered. I’d imagine achieving this much might is actually easier in this competition.”

“The islands or the mohuma?” Seph asked and I waved her over to put an arm around her. “What has you up so early?”

I had snuck out of bed earlier and was still in my robes. I was nervous, and wanted to let Seph get a full night's rest before we used each other for a morning workout. Sleep was vital after all, especially on the eve of a battle.

“I’m here to relieve Marius, and get an update. The view drew me in though. So many ships,” I said in awe. Seph hip checked me for failing to answer her other question. “So, the larger objects are condensed on the islands in the center.”

“Making it easier to take the same army and smash three in a day,” Marius said and I nodded. “Last competition we would travel decent distances to move the armies. As for today, the scouts are reporting Khan has achieved an alliance.”

“Oh yea?” I asked curiously. “I thought he was up to something.”

“Indeed he was. He sent a flying messenger with this,” Marius said with a smirk.

He unfolded a note with gloves on. In big writing was a challenge to a duel. I chuckled at the notion.

Shaking my head, I said, “Surprised it didn’t come with a dozen stipulations.”

“Nope, but it did come with a slow acting poison,” Marius said, crumbling the note. He tossed it into the ocean and carefully threw his gloves in too. “Ready to hear about his alliance?”

“Indeed,” I said.

I was enjoying the early morning sunrise, the soft breeze, and the sight of our armada. Our lead over the competition had only grown over the last fifty days and I could rest comfortably in the fact we were going to place extremely well. Hell, there were only thirty-one teams left and I had to assume a few of those were roaming the seas, holding on for points while exploring.

“This alliance is shaky at best. There are three enemy fleets helping guard No Mercy’s island. Just a guess here, but the rest of the competition is biding time to attack us,” Marius told me.

I had figured as much. If it took us - the number one team with three islands and an immense manufacturing operation - fifty days to assemble an armada, then it would take them longer. The issue for the enemy was, landing an army against a prepared defense that was larger than your invasion, was nearly impossible.

Every single dock we owned was focused on replacing this fleet that we sent out. When Marius said three fleets were waiting for us, it revealed a lot. There would be no counter invasion. Our semi-exposed islands were likely secure while we campaigned. At least I hoped.

“What makes you think they’re shaky?” I asked.

“We’ve been scouted. You don’t sail almost a thousand ships without getting spotted. Plus, we’re not the only ones with mohuma that can fly. There was a fourth fleet. They retreated during the night.

“As they were tucking their tails, the other fleets sank a few ships. Very one sided, and probably better for that fourth army. Ever since then, the remaining three fleets have spaced out a smidge,” Marius said.

“And their size?”

“Well, they have battleships, but mostly cruisers and frigates. We are heavy battleships on the outside,” Marius said, gesturing to the exterior of the fleet. “This… this will not be a fight. Here is my recommendation.

“We go right for a landing. Let them harass, poke, and muster their courage. The moment they extend too far, we pounce.”

“And the landing?”

He shrugged.

Seph said, “If you win the sea, you win the island.”

“She has a point. We will smash every dock and then No Mercy will be stuck on their island. We can even start sending out other fleets to contain our foes’ sea powers while expanding. This… this is a critical decision for you to make,” Marius said.

“Ah… I still want to do both,” I said to Marius who had his poker face on. Marius wanted to stick to the sea only. A land invasion would be cost prohibitive to our thousand day goals. Except… “I just don’t see the point of holding onto legions that are already being replaced. At some point soon, our food stores will deplete aboard this armada.”

“Aye, I just like that we’ve taken a more cautious approach this round. Hell, we’ll be at a full year soon. It probably is about time you died. Lasting this long is rare for you,” Marius said with a chuckle.

“I do miss my lovely ladies. Go get some rest,” I said and he patted my back before leaving.

“Are you excited for Qoobi?” Seph asked.

I tapped the railing. “I… I don’t know. I’m excited to have something I can hold onto that is not temporary. A fresh start is nice. I think we can do a lot of good for our citizens.”

“I agree… I… Thank you.”

“Huh?”

She nuzzled into me closer. “I’ve never felt happier. You’ve let me be me. You give me opportunities no male has ever given before.”

“Shucks. I like to think of all species deserving a fair chance, regardless of race, species, or sex. However, I’m a fiend for sex, and having multiple wives is sexist inherently, but I don’t see it that way.”

“I look forward to bouncing our children on my knee. Speaking of which, you need to get geared for the likely battle tonight,” Seph said, sliding a hand between my robes and over my hard body. She bounced her eyebrows.

I flung her over my shoulder. My little dwarfette was a kink and I was going to sate my desires with her flesh.

∞∞∞

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The distant eruption of skirmishing caused me to raise my spyglass. The enemy fleet was doing something unexpected.

Marius was up from his sleep and the evening sun was just starting to set, meaning a long fight would drag into the night.

“They have a species with night vision orienting their fleet,” Marius grumbled.

“Thoughts?”

“Let the cruisers in now,” Marius said.

I chuckled. “Hey, this morning you just said that -”

“I know, I know. But we both have valid arguments. Don’t expend lives needlessly, and at the same time what is the point of a military unit if it doesn’t fight,” Marius said with a grunt.

“Something is off. Has to be,” I said to him.

“You don’t think it's a get some points before we’re defeated?” Marius asked, lowering his own spyglass.

“When did Issac report last?”

Marius went to tapping on his tablet. The wind favored us and we could crash right into that enemy fleet if we dropped oars and unfurled full sails. Something was off. I… I could feel it.

“He is ten minutes overdue,” Marius said.

“So… we see the enemy here, doing something that defies logic,” I said.

“Trap?”

“Points to one. How though?” I replied.

We both mulled it over while our fleet kept sailing.

Seph joined us on the command deck near the wheel and said, “The skirmishing is stopping.”

“What are the screens reporting?” I asked.

“That’s the thing… either the tablet is broken, those commanders are dead, or someone is helping the enemy,” Marius said.

“Wait, are you saying you can’t communicate with our screening frigates?” I asked.

The master tablet was buried, hidden below Moobi City. I wished I had it right now because my tablet was giving me issues too.

“We have to do something unexpected,” I hissed.

“Huh?”

“Know your enemy. He knows we want to fight. He is giving us a fight. We have to change the dynamic. They have something planned. Obviously,” I said.

“In that case, let’s spin, pause our advance and reconnect with the left screen,” Marius said.

“Why would you do that?” Seph said. She added an “Ohh….” realizing we shouldn’t make that change.

“Do it,” I ordered, sticking my tablet into my vest.

Trumpets called out, drums beat fervently, and oars hit the water. Sails were pitched, rudders were turned, and the left side rowers spun the fleet.

I watched the enemy fleet.

They didn’t react at all. Interesting.

“Where is the nearest island?” I asked.

“Two days in this direction. Scouts say it’s underdeveloped and home to one of these allies,” Marius said.

I didn’t need to retrieve the tablet to know that we had two weeks of water and months of food. We could afford to shift targets.

“Uh… Nate,” Seph said, pulling on my arm, pointing to the frigates on the screen that we were heading to.

I put the scope to my eye and understood her concern when I saw what was happening.

We had lost our ten frigates meant to warn us if an enemy fleet was approaching. Aboard those smaller ships were mermen of some sort. Then it dawned on me.

“Marius, that fourth fleet, the one that fled and had a few ships sunk. They were…”

“Blue, gills on the neck, and webbed hands and feet. The aquin. Why?”

I scoffed. “They beat our left screen. Hmm…”

“Ah, that would make sense. Stage aquatics in a trap. Why risk it with -”

Bells rang out from crow’s nests on both exterior sides of the armada. The tablet buzzed angrily. I pulled the tablet out and went to the map screen.

Three ship icons in rectangular boxes showed Khan and his allies. That was expected. There were another five ships behind us. Indicating a larger armada than ours.

“Ah…” I said, feeling my gut sink. “Okay we have Khan’s Fleet. This new fleet that was supposed to hit us from behind is designated as Roger Fleet.”

Marius grumbled at the turn of events.

“How do we win?” I asked.

“If we go for No Mercy, we don’t win. If we run, I doubt they follow. I mean there could be another -”

The tablets buzzed, halting his reply. We watched, two ship icons appearing ahead of us in the new direction we were going.

“That is now Tango Fleet. Alright, Khan rallied the entire competition. That coalition will not last forever. This is their best chance to pin us down,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Amazing how they hid seven fleets.”

“Maybe Issac turned. Or… they had help. We’ll never know. We can win a running fight,” Marius said.

I raised my spyglass to see Khan’s Fleet dropping oars. He’d never catch us. The others… maybe. The two fleets in front, yeah. We would have to smash through them. The tablet buzzed again.

“They have minimal boarders on ships that were closest to No Mercy. There are likely a few legions under the water that we barely avoided,” I said with a smirk. Good thing I felt something was off.

“I recommend we rush into these two fleets, and withdraw to friendly waters,” Marius said.

“Approved,” I said, heading for the crow’s nest. “Good luck, I want to get high to watch the developments.”

“Aw, fine,” Seph grumbled, kissing my cheek before I left.

She hated heights. Technically we were over a hundred feet off the deck already, but she wouldn’t go up the ladder no matter how much I tried to bribe her.

While we escaped the main net, we likely pissed off the competition gods because our semi-favorable wind stopped.

Shocker.

Sails went slack for us... and mysteriously filled for the fleets trying to catch us.

Marius ordered all ships to head directly into the smallest fleet with a full rowing. I arrived at the crow’s nest and spun to assess the situation.

There was absolutely no surprise when I saw both enemy fleets taking sails to half. Neither wanted to fight us ahead of the other. They would struggle to come in at different angles as we fled.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Our captured frigates opened fire on us. The shots were short, but noted. Tango Fleet, the smallest of the three enemy fleets, tried to turn.

Deep down, this was to be expected. My mind spooled over the options to get this many enemies to work together. My guess, Khan promised to let his fleet, the largest single fleet, take the brunt of the fighting.

Yeah Tango Fleet had a wind pushing them to us, the moment they tried to turn… that wind dissipated. If there wasn’t going to be a brawl, there was going to be a fight. Tango Fleet was maybe a hundred and twenty ships, with only a dozen or so battleships.

A sudden wind whipped from our back. I cackled in delight.

Sails billowed, ships jerked forward, and we sped for the enemy. Cruisers closed on the captured frigates. Suddenly having a burst of speed.

Instead of turning, they bypassed our lost ships, heading for Tango. When they neared they started unleashing broadsides. The enemy were aquatic, and didn’t care for the small ships. They jumped into the water to board new vessels.

Alarms were sent across the fleet to repel boarders.

I watched my front cruisers erupt flames out their broadsides. The booms reached my ears as they fired on our captured frigates. Fragments of ships burst into the air. A few tilted in their demise while others cracked in half. Either way, they were removed from the battle.

To my surprise, my brief view of combat was interrupted when Issac fluttered over.

I tensed, and he showed no sign of betrayal. He appeared winded and distraught.

“Lord Nate, there was a buffeting wind that kept my scouts from moving. Best way to describe it… Well, Sire, it was like a prison, and then… Poof, it disappeared…” Issac said.

I nodded. “Yeah, they want an epic sea fight. They’re going to get one.”

“Are you talking about the aquin? The sea species?” he asked and I shook my head no. “I’m not following, my Lord.”

“The moment we crush this Tango Fleet, our sails will die,” I said, noting we were gaining on the enemy.

“Ah, yes. There are another three small navies around the area. I think they are here to help the foes, but lack the power to stand against battleships,” Issac said.

I shook my head. “Being in first certainly has its downside.”

“Yes, it would appear almost every admiral is here. What are your orders for the scouts?” he asked, panting from his flight.

“Take a rest. We will need you in the morning,” I said and the fairy flew away.

The Tango Fleet stalled, allowing our armada to close the distance but there was a lot of sea to cover. Ten minutes became thirty. The whole time Khan’s Fleet was half-assing it our way and Roger Fleet was letting them take the lead.

An hour later and I missed fighting on land. Tango Fleet had turned. Their smaller ships were dragging us along while we dragged the others.

I grew bored, and honestly, that is when I should have been grateful.

All this was a setup. Valance had mentioned our competitions were observed. Well they wanted a fight. A gust of wind came down and went horizontal… for everyone, besides Tango.

The sun was just about to clip the horizon’s edge when our battleships led the charge. Tango’s admiral realized they were doomed and turned to fight.

It was clear they were hoping to hold us for their semi-allies to arrive. Even I knew they’d be too late to save them. I scurried down the crow’s nest knowing there was nothing left for me to do up here.

The sun’s last rays were fading as I approached Marius, Thena, and Seph. They were rapidly chatting while Marius plugged away at the tablet.

“We should flee,” Marius said.

I furled my brows. He handed the tablet to Thena, waving me over for a private conversation.

“The back ranks are fighting boarders. Winning, mostly because the enemy legion is coming and -”

“Do you miss Linia?”

“Aye, Nate. I do.”

“I miss Senna, Izzy, and Beth so much it hurts. If we brawl this fight out, who wins?” I asked.

“Maybe us, Maybe them. We’re at about equal weight. The difference is we don’t have sailors that can breathe underwater, and they have more actual commanders,” Marius explained.

“And actual at risk personnel. Plus I bet they turn on each other.”

“That is a big bet. If we die…”

“The council will rebuild faster than these navies will.”

He cleared his throat, growing grim. “I set defensive formations then.”

I patted his shoulder. “Our spot, on our terms.”

“We let the Tango Fleet go?”

“We do,” I said. “I want No Mercy. Charging us will hurt, no matter how it’s done.”

He nodded, returning to Thena. The ship stopped. The leading edge of our armada halted their chase to set defensive lines.

Just like that… darkness settled over a cloudless night. Bright moonlight was aided by the stars to paint a dangerous situation.

Orienting myself via the map, Khan and Roger Fleet were coming in from the east, and Tango Fleet was trading volleys with First Fleet on the west.

I quickly named our four fleets one through four. I watched Marius assign First Fleet to guard our west while Second, Third, and Forth Fleet spread length wise. Any enemy coming to tangle with us would do so facing a barrage of broadsides.

Flames flicked on the east as ships fired on each other. The enemy commander of Tango Fleet counted his good graces. They left the fighting for others, retreating from our forces.

I had no idea what Khan was thinking but he just had two units run. Honestly, they might come back, but I doubted it. Not with these crazy winds.

We played the waiting game now. It wasn’t long before my boredom resulted in something happening.

Bells rang to repel boarders. Hell, even our ship was ringing its bell.

I smirked in the gloomy night that was poorly lit by torches. My heavy sword left its leathery home, singing for blood. My grin went to a groan when I tried to get my shield off my back.

My earlier trips up and down the crow’s nest had put the buckler in an awkward spot. Seph saved the day, unclipping my shield to hand it to me.

Filled with excitement, I ran to the railing to peer over.

Aquatic warriors were spilling into the decks below. There was an entire legion of troops in our command ship, meaning the massacre of the invaders was short lived. I chuckled at the thought of a dozen enemies finding themselves in a nest of human soldiers.

Whoever was leading this boarding action decided that if they couldn’t defeat two thousand below, they would fight up high.

I placed myself at the feet of the command stairs. This was the spot they would want the most. Getting to the wheel, with a single sail down would drift our ship from allies. Something I had to prevent.

“I’m going to fire from here,” Seph said from a few steps up.

A glance at the stairwell on the port side showed Marius defending that set of stairs. Infantry commanders arrived right behind the first wave.

In the moonlight, the foes were black. White beady eyes glared with hatred. Snarling maws revealed rows upon rows of shark like teeth. They stood shorter than a man, with a swimmer’s frame.

Their slimy exterior was slick with ocean water that trailed down their lean naked bodies. A dozen became a hundred in short order and they were arriving faster than reinforcements below.

Before they could assemble into a formation, our infantry charged into the arrivals. Most of the foes wielded short spears that were attached under their arms.

Metal spikes shot forward killing tier seven soldiers. Those first to die, allowed their brethren to arrive. The battle became pitched and I held my sword at the ready.

A javelin raced for me, going high. I jumped, smacking my shield into the weapon, popping it vertically. The attacker was aiming at Seph. She returned the favor.

Snap!

A bolt went over my shoulder, diving into the chest of one aquin alien and into the thigh of another. Their lack of armor was literally killing them.

I was charged, a spear lanced out for my face. I ducked low, giving a half chop at the waist line. My blade caught flesh, quickly retreating.

The wounded aquin cried out in pain. Another boarder barreled him down to get to me. I raised my shield, blocking a thin blade. I carved down with lightning speed, severing a hand. The first aquin tripped the second, while I reset and waited.

A new challenger shrieked out a battle cry only to have a crossbow bolt dive into his face where a nose should have been. There was no fourth attacker. Our infantry had arrived, taking the railing’s edge where they held the advantage.

Cannon fire boomed down the line, illuminating the night, and causing me to glance into the western battlefront. Khan’s navy had arrived.

I went to the command deck, being replaced by a full squad of soldiers. Marius was driving our ship to fill a gap where a friendly battleship was sinking. We were going to the front and this flagship was the biggest and strongest in the armada.

The winds aided our dash to fill the firing hole. Cannons belched their loads into the night creating a firework effect. Since our line was already set…

Yeah, it was not looking pretty for the enemy.

Still they came, spinning the moment they could to fire more than the single bow cannon. Cruisers darted between the enemy battleships throwing cannonballs into my forces.

Our cruisers and frigates set lines in front of our battleships, using their ability to spin to win. They were firing, rotating, and firing. All the while our battleships fired over them and into the enemy.

“Brace yourselves!” Marius shouted.

The flagship arrived to fill the hole in the line, quickly spinning to get guns to bear. Surviving sailors were trying desperately to get onto our ship and I saw crews helping recover them.

I was waiting for the cannons to fire when I saw an enemy battleship enter the glow of burning wreckage.

BOOM!

Forty-eight cannonballs ripped forward, sailing for the latest arrival.

The flagship had more cannons, and that boom was far louder than any other. For a few moments, I lost track of the cannonballs. The no man’s ground in the middle was actually fairly dark.

Cracking sounds erupted in a myriad of variations. Splintered sections of the ship shot into the air. However, most of the cannonballs hit right at the waterline, lacking the massive destruction I expected.

I watched in fascination as the enemy battleship slowed.

That slowing became a sudden stop with a violent jerk. I deduced what had happened. The shots were aimed perfectly, they cracked the hull below the waterline and -

The ship pitched, then sank in less than a minute when the entire frame cracked. The next cruiser went by, taking shots from the rest of the fleet.

Finally, Khan made the right call. Instead of feeding his ships into the grinder, he rushed forward in a charge as one. When I saw the back end of three hundred something ships stop, I grew confused.

I checked my map.

Roger Fleet was retreating. Tango Fleet was already gone. Khan had been betrayed by his alliance… I had a feeling he really hated ships and laughed to myself.

Boom!

The ship rocked; a battleship leading the charge was turned into Swiss cheese. At this point our entire armada was adjusting.

Marius knew I was committed. He ordered First Fleet and Fourth Fleet to create a circle.

We outmassed and outnumbered our foe.

Raptors shrieked as they were brought to top decks. We incessantly fired, thinning the enemy’s rank. Eventually they reached our line, still hundreds of ships strong. A few rammed from the side. Most turned to board.

The lack of enemy unison alone would have been their downfall.

Our lines never ceased firing, even when two ships became entwined. My tablet buzzed as I watched the chaos. Much like killing hundreds of infantry, it would take time to smash all these ships.

A cruiser barreled forward, getting beyond our frigates and screening cruisers.

The oars propelled the vessel until it crashed into our side. We had twelve decks on the flagship. Eight floors worth of balconies began tossing firebombs down below.

Human archers from both sides traded salvos and a few fire bombs were lobbed into our ship. Another buzz on my tablet.

I groaned, wanting to watch the unfolding battle. There was something majestic about seeing a ship sink. I pulled out the tablet and saw a note.

Competitor Khan wishes to duel you for the right to the battlefield. Should you accept all hostilities will cease. Should he win, his forces can freely leave to return home. Do you accept (YES) - (NO)

I shook my head. He was here. I could let him die to cannon fire, or murder him myself when he surrendered. He was not escaping. I… doubted he would actually be in the fleet. It was madness.

What was also madness was my ability to kill people. While I didn’t want to hit yes, I knew I’d never live it down if I didn’t.

I pressed yes.

My vision dimmed, my ears rang, I smelt burning, and a second later I was weightless. Then… nothing.

∞∞∞

I arrived in a sterile room. No doors, no windows. Just a big white cube. A man about a head shorter than me stood at the opposite side, naked and confused.

A glance down at my own form, revealed I too was nude.

“What the fuck?” I blurted.

“Begin,” a voice boomed, as if spoken by a god.

I laughed, and laughed. My mad chuckle had Genghis screaming at me, charging my larger frame.

“You’re not even in shape,” I taunted the wee man, forcing him to chase me. He was winded with a bit of a gut. “Oh this is rich.”

I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I did know that wearing my opponent down and then beating him to death was likely not going to please the Archaic viewers. This was a massive advantage for me.

A fist fight against a portly Asian man. Too funny.

I turned, letting him get close. He dove at me like a bull.

I let him fly by.

His nose cracked against the hard floor, busting open and slicking the white marble in blood.

“I don’t get it?” I shouted. “Like, thank you, and this is technically the most fair it could be… but…”

“Die, you insolent dog!” Khan shouted, racing for another attack.

This time he slowed, approaching before he struck. His side kick was easy to avoid. A small hop back and I dodged his foot.

“You’re fairly dumb,” I said, taunting the tactician.

His emotions seemed to calm. I had to expect he had a rational mind that might have gotten a wee upset at his predicament.

“I had numerous methods of defeating you when we fought aboard your flagship,” Khan admitted.

“Ah, I get it. Hey, you know, second place is a good finish,” I said and he snarled.

“You’re nothing more than a future servant. Your ability to lead armies is laughable at best,” he taunted me.

Now, I’m a fairly reasonable guy. But I wasn’t exactly in the mood. Plus… it was time to show him what I really was.

I darted forward, catching his cross kick with ease. Alright, not my finest moment, but I kicked his balls with my shin. The blow was hard enough he left the floor and landed with a thud.

While he groaned on the ground, roiling in pain, I walked a circle around him.

“I gotta be honest. This is refreshing, Khan. I was hoping I would get to kill you myself. Hey, I can say this though, you really, really were great at being a deceptive leader. You use guile and brutality in place of understanding and diplomacy,” I said.

He groaned on the floor. “A win is a win. The victor writes the history, the loser tends to be forgotten.”

He had a point. Khan was famous for being a winner. His genocide was less famous than him being a conqueror. There was an entire society he decimated that history was sketchy on.

I paused, placing my hands on my hips. “Any last words?”

“Eat shit and die!” he said, leaping off the floor.

I was shocked to see a knife in his hand. Maybe there was some Archaic bullshit going on in the background.

I faked a kick, seeing him slash the space my leg should have been. My left fist lanced out, striking the forearm holding the blade.

There was a crack from the impact, and I danced backwards. My strike was so fast, I don’t think he -

“So fast… They let me cheat and I still can’t win,” he grumbled, spitting out blood from his broken nose, and clutching his now fractured arm.

“You get one offer. Put the blade down, kick it over, and I’ll make it quick.”

He charged, fury in his eyes with spittle flying from his angry war cry.

Khan was slow, terribly slow. I snatched his extended arm, used a thigh to prevent a kneeing, and brought his good forearm down with a jerk. My knee shot up, breaking the bone until it split skin.

I stepped away, letting him roil in agony.

Khan wasn’t weak. He may have grown accustomed to screwing mohuma or whatever. He may not be a rigid warrior, but he was strong willed. I was surprised how quickly he ate the pain.

Not as surprised as when he slid the blade over to me with a foot.

I plucked the blood covered weapon. He went to his knees and closed his eyes.

There are many moments in a man’s life where he makes hard decisions. This was one for him.

For me…

I flicked the blade without a thought.

The weapon flipped, landing with the sharp point sliding into his jugular.

The blade was extracted and in a dramatic spray, blood shot out. I watched the man I held so much animosity for twitch as his blood pooled below him.

A second blade left his fractured palm, telling me that killing him without a monologue or dramatic throat slit was the right answer.

I calmly sat, watching him expire. Imagine my shock when I levitated. The entire floor went translucent. Genghis Khan flowed through the floor as if it were water.

He sunk through the material, until he free floated in space. I wasn’t sure if this meant his competition body was being iced, or his real body was. Either way, I enjoyed seeing him disappear into the black void.

It was a fitting finality.

I let myself have a moment, only to be shocked by an orb. I peered a single eye open to see Valance.

“Howdy,” I said with a terse nod.

“Hello Competitor Nathanael Immerson. I’ve arrived to take you into stasis.”

I opened both my eyes, giving him my full attention. “Did he die for good?” I asked.

Valance’s orb blared an irritated orange. “I cannot answer that.”

“Why stasis and not the competition?” I asked.

“There will be no more fighting for you. The enemies will run at your sight and even abandon cities ahead of your legions. Do you really want to spend two more years living in a hurricane archipelago?” Valance asked.

I shook my head no. With a smile, I said, “I’d love to see my wives.”

The floor returned to solid and a pedestal rose. “Qoobi will be soon. I valued our time together, Competitor Nathanael Immerson. May fortune favor you and your species.”

“Stay classy, Valance. You truly were a professional from start to finish,” I said, stepping onto the pedestal.

This time, as I was trapped in stasis, I would be trusting the Archaics more than ever before. Deep down I had no choice but to believe Qoobi was real and I’d spend an eternity building a future with those I loved.

Qoobi

Nathanael

A jolt of energy shot through my body. A loud hiss erupted and I quickly regained my senses.

Klaxons blared annoyingly in my private office. I stepped out of my survival pod, racing for a wall display.

The blue screen flickered, as if in irritation. Eight different warnings blared on the screen, telling me our refugee ship was in bad shape.

This flight to our new world from space station Onix was supposed to last… thousands of years. The date display had us arriving early, and in a crash. I groaned. We had evacuated Onix with many, and now only had twenty thousand. Tapping at the screen, I checked my three wives and three concubines.

A loud sigh escaped my lips. A hiss from a side container caught my attention. Senna was nude in the capsule, her glorious body radiant with our expecting firstborn. She quickly recovered from her stasis.

A voice sounded. “Opening all pods. Make haste out of the vessel. Make haste out of the vessel. Make haste out of the vessel. This ship is set to explode. Exit port side. Exit port side.”

“Valance! Report!” I belted out at the ship’s AI.

“The Archaics have granted a wormhole to speed our ship to this refugee planet. You’re being located with lost ancestors of humanity, from a place called Earth,” the AI said.

Senna scoffed. “This isn’t the time for jokes, Valance. The last of the human race was sheltering on Onix with other misfits of space.”

“Afraid not, Lady Senna,” Valance said.

Beth came running in, throwing me a spacesuit. “Here get in this. Exterior data is saying there is oxygen. Which is good because some asshole stole your space helmet for this.” She tossed me a wide brimmed brown hat unlike any I’d seen before.

I hastened to place the outfit on and tossed the hat atop my head. It fit as if it were meant to be.

“Valance, recommendations,” I demanded in a calm cool tone.

“Evacuate. There is an abandoned city made of clay and wood a mile off the ship's port side. I will hold containment until you reach there. Those who do not flee, will die,” Valance warned. “All surviving containment units are open and my message is on repeat.”

“Hey, we gotta go!” Izzy said. “I - I - I’ll cry later for the others.”

She noticed on the board that not everyone made it. “Go ahead, I’m the fastest. Let me do a final sweep. And not a chance in hell I’m going down with this ship.”

My wives kissed me as they got their pregnant butts into gear. I ran into Gem, Lisa, and Seph in the next room. They were herding mohuma children urgently. We exchanged waves before I was gone.

I ran down emergency lit hallways for the containment rooms. I had a hunch to what happened. When I went to where the others should have been, those doors were sealed.

I rested my head against the frame and said, “You had to choose?”

Valance went to talk. I knew the ship’s AI was watching me.

I held up a hand and said, “Thank you, it couldn’t have been an easy decision. And Marius with the others?”

“Their ship suffered a similar fate. They landed about a hundred miles further off the port. He will be in another abandoned camp.”

“What happened to the people from before?” I asked, concerned.

“They… the Archaics gave you a new start. A basic start. I had no say in the matter.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. I knew he would have tried. “Shucks. So much to absorb. We survived though. We made it to our new home as did our sister ship.” I began thinking about the future. “Can we take anything off the ship in time?”

“You will not survive if you spend time here trying to salvage the remnants. A few devices have been removed but none will last long on this world.”

“And what is this world? The truth?” I asked.

He hesitated and said, “A new beginning. For a lot of species. The Archaics play god. Be grateful they saw you as worthy of helping.”

“We wouldn’t have made it without them?”

When we left Onix, Valance had said the odds were less than one percent that we would arrive here safely. I didn’t have to guess. He killed off the elderly to give us more time and at some point the Archaics intervened, saving us. I did not envy having to make such a decision.

“Have a good death,” I said to my AI friend.

“No, Nathanael. Do not fret about my end. Only focus on your beginning. There are twenty thousand souls who will be looking to you. There will no longer be a calculating wizard as grand as myself to help you out,” Valance said in a teasing tone.

I teared up slightly, but held it in. “My son… He’ll be named Valance.”

“That would greatly honor me. Speaking of your son, your future. He needs you. Senna cannot run or else she will go into -”

When he froze, I bolted.

“Farewell!” I shouted as I zoomed out of the spaceship.

Three turns, two descending ramps, and a final hop down a two foot drop and I arrived on Qoobi. The planet where all our hope rested. A longshot attempt based on a tip from an encoded message.

Before Onix lost all power forever, we learned of a place with constant enjoyable weather, nearly unlimited space to live, and the best part was… there were no air shortages, or worrying about if we would die from power loss the next day.

I saw a big stream of Onix citizens heading away from the damaged ship. They fled through a field and cut down a road between trees in the distance. When I ran a few hundred feet away, I saw Valance had crashed and the ship was smoking, a smoke that increased in size.

“Nate!” Beth called out, her voice oozing desperation. “Nate!”

I ran for all I was worth. My intense training in artificial gravity was paying off. I sped across the lush grass, passing many citizens who struggled to move quickly.

There wasn’t a need for me to yell at them to hurry. The crackling of the ship gave all the warning needed.

I arrived to see Senna on her plump butt at the side of an overgrown road. She cried out in agony, her eyes squinting with pain. Her spacesuit was off and the interior was soaked from her water breaking.

Izzy was calm, as a doctor, she had to be. “She needs to be carried. Anyone besides you -”

I scooped her up, adjusted for her weight and ran. Senna grabbed the front of my spacesuit, pulling me in tight. Like the champion she was, Senna bore down.

She literally was having contractions while I ran her. I knew both Izzy and Beth were going to be waddling with the kids trying to keep up. No one would get left behind. Other strong males and females were running back to help the back of the pack keep up.

We bolted down the road until a clearing revealed itself. In the distance I saw the most elating sight a man could. Farm fields ripe for the harvesting, homes with distance between them, and a clean river cutting through a small town.

There wasn’t even the slightest concern we were going to be without digital walls, ready made meals, and electricity. All that mattered was we would survive. I finished my run, finding Gem calming new arrivals and telling them to go inside of homes to survive the blast.

Gem gestured to me that the biggest estate was on the water with three stories. Lisa caught up, trying to soothe an angry Senna. I went into the dark home, seeing sparse furniture. I set Senna onto a wooden bench in front of a fireless hearth.

She pleaded with me to rescue the others. I assured her I would. I ran for all I was worth, finding Izzy helping Beth, who was in the middle of contractions. I ran her down the trail, not cursing my luck, but thanking it.

When I arrived at our new large hovel of a home, I heard angry baby screams.

Uh…

“What!?” I blurted.

Senna was shaking, holding a bloody baby with tears streaming down her eyes. We had wanted the gender to be a surprise. As badly as I desired to know if it was a boy or girl I set Beth down, and ran for Izzy.

The trail of people was thinning. The majority were arriving into our new town. Even the kids were being hauled in. I couldn’t find Izzy at the back of the pack. When I ran to where I found Beth, she was on her back trying to self deliver her baby.

A boom washed over us.

“We gotta go,” I said.

“That damn stasis. Our children are ready now, it should be a few weeks still,” Izzy grumbled. I scooped her up. “He’s crowning. Damnit, Nate. I don’t want to lose our son.”

“We won’t, we won’t,” I promised her.

The first boom turned into a sucking of air. Behind me was a vortex of energy. I never looked back. I felt my son slipping out of my wife, and when I caught him, we fell.

My breath left me as I saved his fall. There was the wind getting knocked out of me and the air being sucked into a void. A massive explosion ripped over us, sending a tree only a foot over me.

Izzy cried out; her pinky finger was at the perfectly wrong angle.

The explosion died off and a cloud rose over where our savior died. I held my squalling son tenderly, taking him to his momma. Izzy, well, she snapped her own finger back into place.

She accepted our son, taking him to her chest. Izzy was nude, broken, and crying tears of joy. There would be no more lottery breeding like on Onix. There would be no more sad conversations about how we couldn’t raise a family.

Our new home, which we named Neblar, would once again give all species a chance at a happy life. Assuming they liked boiling water, burying waste, and farming. I chuckled happily at the thought and Izzy was radiant.

“Thank you, Nate. I can’t believe we made it,” she said. “What about his name?”

“We make that decision as a family,” I replied.

I walked into the village. All the other ladies who wanted to have a baby before we left Onix were given permission. There was a village of squalling babies as I entered the basic town. Others were rejoicing and sorrowful for those whose lives ended in that ship.

Me… I just happened to be the guy with three pregnant wives and no plan to suddenly run them all to safety.

I did it though. We did it. When we walked into the threshold of our new home Beth was giving a final push.

“It’s a boy!” Lisa exclaimed.

Gem came over with a bucket and a cloth. “There are three outfits per person. A few tools, and that is it. Let me clean him up please, Momma,” Gem said to Izzy.

I went to my knees and set them down. Seph entered with Issac at her side. They were discussing something in a hushed tone that sounded worrisome. I went to see what the issue was when -

“Nathanael Immerson, no more work. Get your toned butt over here,” Senna demanded in her best mom voice.

I smirked, turning to head for my family. She was right of course. Now I just had to convince the ladies to name our babies: Scarlett, Valance, and Brawn. Those names were my favorite.

Of all the challenges ahead of us in our new life. Somehow I thought that one was going to be tough. I had a list of names and so did they. In a situation like this, you needed to pick your battles.

When I sat on that floor with my beautiful wives and tiny babies suckling on their mothers, I was the happiest man in the world. We all couldn’t have asked for a better beginning to our new lives.

THE END

Afterword

Thanks for following along with me on this Epic adventure.

Please give my author page a follow on amazon here.

Follow me on Facebook to keep up with the latest.

For more Fantasy, Harem, LitRPG books like this one check out www.royalguardpublishing.com or follow the RPG Facebook.

Also by Marcus Sloss

Gryff the Griffin Rider Omnibus A fantasy tale of adventure, battle, love, lust, and excitement awaits. Gryff is a young man who had goals and dreams. A spiraling series of events rapidly rips him out of his reality and into a new world, where he must achieve a new path. Will you dare to quest with the hero? Download now to join Gryff in his exploits and feats.

Apex Shifter

Marvin works three jobs, toiling to achieve his dream of flipping property. A strange man stalks him at his morning diner job, becoming a regular. When he follows him home from his night shift, Marvin knows something isn't right. The next day, he is offered a magical device. The emblem confirms that the paranormal is real, that people can partially shift into animals, and that Marvin isn't normal.

Table of Contents

Contents

Copyright

Dinosaur Warlord 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Epilogue

Dinosaur Warlord 2

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Epilogue

Dinosaur Warlord 3

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Afterword

Also by Marcus Sloss