Chương 78: Chapter 78
Jake Smithson is currently caught between a rock and a hard place.
As a member of the Grand Duelists, he has an obligation to his division. The way by which he got here isn't important, but he is part of the Grand Duelists now.
He just can't disregard his duties and look after Evergreen, because the divisions are close to anarchy, and war may break out at any moment.
Likewise, he can't abandon Song – and by extension, Evergreen – too.
'What should I do? As strong as Song is already, he won't be able to take care of his division by himself. Unless…'
An idea came up to him, and the old man watching him saw the change.
"Gramps," Jake said, "why don't we bring Evergreen here for now?"
Giving the rebuilding division a small territory within Carter would put them in a much safer position… but there is a problem.
"It is a good idea, but you have to know that we are not out of the woods yet," Li replied. "We still haven't figured out what to do in this chaotic climate."
Liam had been in thought for a while now, and had a similar idea.
"Evergreen is all but wiped out due to the war, sir," Liam added. "If you worry that they will be a burden on Carter, they will not be. Song is all but leading Evergreen, and would admirably fight for you if you promised him temporary sanctuary for his awakeners and civilians."
He knew that the other Grand Duelists did not go through their experiences at Evergreen, and wouldn't be swayed by an appeal to emotion.
Instead, Liam appealed to strength. Thanks to Jake's shopping, he was able to get Song's level to the point where he could defeat a member of Musashi.
"Do you mean to say that you want me to dissolve the Evergreen division and recruit them here as Grand Duelists?"
"That's right," Liam answered. "Your training, Empowerment Pill, fighting experience and the equipment Jake was able to purchase for me has allowed me to grow much, much stronger than my wildest dreams. Song is roughly my equal in power, despite my growth, and he will be able to assist us."
Thanks to Liam's knowledge of how the novice awakener process took place in Kingsville, he was able to convince the old man that picking up Song and whatever remained of his troops would be good for the division.
Recruitment is one of the few things any division needs to do well, and thanks to the schism preventing powerful awakeners from joining the Grand Duelists, they had been suffering from a dearth of new talent.
Liam's proposition suddenly sounded much better than when it was first said.
"However, we are running low on manpower, what with the war going on. You will need a unit backing you up – and everyone is unavailable."
That was due to the murder of a Grand Duelist raiding team that LJ was sent to examine, and another group sent to ensure LJ's safety.
If Li sent out more members, Carter would be imperiled, and should LJ get into trouble, more reinforcements would be needed.
"Liam and I will return. If he's unavailable, I'll go do it myself," Jake said determinedly.
Li let out a breath.
"That is not possible. You were complicit in the death of an elite awakener from Musashi. Do you think they will let you just walk in there and leave with what's left of Evergreen? That is a death sentence, and I cannot, in good conscience, allow you to go."
'I can already see them now: those samurai claim to be honorable, but their grudges last generations. I am sure they are already planning to find and slay those responsible for their awakener's death. Jake wouldn't last for long there,' Master Li thought. 'No matter how strong you have become, this is not the thing you can handle all by yourself.'
"Gramps… I can't stay here. There are things you have to do, no matter how dangerous or hard."
Li was awestruck at the young man's determination.
"Not at the moment."
"If I stay in Carter, the fact that I could have helped out but didn't will haunt me for the rest of my life. Gramps, I… I need to do this."
Jake didn't raise his voice. He just spoke calmly, but the old man felt the well of emotion deep within the young man's words.
He did not speak of power, or of reason, or any of those things.
Jake spoke of things that transcended all of those.
Li noted the irony of how facing a samurai wannabe brought out the sense of duty and responsibility within Jake.
'This young man is truly full of surprises. I need to think about this.'
It took some time, with Jake and Liam looking at their master meditating on his course of action, and after ten minutes, he opened his eyes and turned to them.
"Here's what we'll do: I will have you two run raids for me. I know of a location where you can do raiding and grow stronger at the same time quickly. The two of you are in no shape to launch any rescue, which is why I will help you get there as fast as possible. You need to be stronger than what you are right now if you want to help your friend."
Jake and Liam beamed at their master's words.
***
Every passing second, every passing minute, is wasteful. Even at this moment, Song may be battling with his life on the line.
'Don't think about that! Focus. Gramps is right. If Liam and I are the only ones able to go and help Evergreen, we've got to get stronger, faster!'
Jake's mind drifted back to a saying he heard on television, probably because his English teacher loved the show, and wanted his students to watch the same to gain conversational skills.
That saying was "if you want to go fast, go slow."
As soon as it clicked within him, Jake's eyes opened back up, his mind returning to focus on the ongoing raid.
"Welcome to Sand Dragon Lair," Master Li declared as he welcomed the two novice Grand Duelists. "Don't let the name scare you, though: I brought you here because the enemies here were mistaken for dragons long ago, but were later found out to be winged serpents."
The dungeon they were raiding was located some distance from Carter, but Jake and Liam were able to get there quickly thanks to the motorcycle. The old man, however, was content to Cloud Walk his way there, his mastery of the skill such that he was able to keep up with the motorcycle without being winded.
"By the way, Jake, remember that monster I asked you to hunt the last time?" the old man asked, reminding Jake about that piece of information he passed before leaving for Evergreen: monsters that give a lot of experience when defeated.
"My apologies, Master, but no," Jake replied. "Wanted to hunt them on the way back, but we didn't have the time."
"It is nothing to apologize about. These winged serpents give as much experience as the monster I told you about… you can start hunting any time you're ready."
At that, Jake and Liam brought out their weapons.
'Oh, what's that?' Master Li asked as he saw Liam's weapon. 'A new sword?'
It was a sword with a pristine-white blade, and it looked like it was better than the one he previously carried by a different order of magnitude.
'Jake must have given you a lot of presents,' the old man thought, and when he turned, Jake and Liam were already leaping towards a winged serpent that had sighted them.
With two shining arcs of light, their swords swung, and the winged serpent drew back, wounded.
This was the beginning of their raid.
***
Several minutes into Jake and Liam's foray into Sand Dragon Lair, they had already defeated two to three winged serpents.
The monsters that showed up here definitely fit the name of the location.
That was when everything went sideways really fast.
"What the hell?" Jake asked, as he saw a boulder drop from the sky, and get up, rocky arms and legs sprouting from it.
"Where the heck are all these monsters coming from?" Liam asked as he saw a horde of giant snakes come from the passageways.
A few moments in, they realized that numerous monsters of different kinds were swarming into this enclosed location.
Jake and Liam could only stand back-to-back and stay on their guard constantly, unaware that it was their master who brought the monsters here.
Other serpents sprung from the sands, aiming for their necks.
More boulders crashed from the sky, some sprouting limbs before they could even land, their fists aimed at their enemies.
Mithril-beak Eagles cried in the air before swooping down towards their targets.
'Forget Evergreen, we need to fight hard if we want to get out of here!' Liam thought, the threat level here jumping up to eleven really quickly.
Jake, of course, found this situation a wonderful boon, as this was like a windfall to him.
He didn't have to go out of his way to look for points – sometimes the points would just come to him, so thought Liam.
At the moment, though, Liam noticed something amiss.
'This guy's acting strangely,' he thought. 'Jake seems different. He's hunting monsters like he usually does, but now, something seems to be on his mind. Could it be Song?'
If it was Song causing him to act like this, he'd understand – if Jake was a normal person… which he was not.
Jake Smithson was the kind of person who lived for shopping: everything he did was towards that end. Hunting monsters? War? All of those were means to an end to him.
'Now, though, someone like him is preoccupied with something while hunting? It didn't make sense. Could it be that he's becoming a normal person now?'
During a lull in the action, though, Liam found his assessment woefully inaccurate.
Jake's eccentricities had gone towards greater and greater heights…
"Life's a gamble, breathing's a gamble, eating's a gamble! And that's why I won't crap out!"
And then Jake collapsed in despair.
"I tried so hard, and got so far… but in the end, it didn't even matter…"
A monster tried to snap at Jake, but was killed when he threw the broken weapon away.
***
The Gold Label was where Jake first ran into Reinforcement Stones.
There were three of these: the 80%, 50% and 10%, and the best one of those was the 10% Reinforcement Stone.
In exchange for a low probability of success, the positive effect is gigantic.
If the other two types of stone don't compare, then why doesn't he just keep using that stone until he succeeds?
Crack.
"FUCK!" Jake exclaimed.
"What's eating you this time?" Liam asked.
Jake just grabbed his weapon and tossed it at a monster that was going to lunge at them, and both monster and weapon shattered.
"Weapon broke," he replied, disgruntled.
His question was answered, because if he fails to reinforce an item using the stone, the item's durability will decrease dramatically.
"How? You wore it out?"
"No," Jake replied, his voice filled with dejection. "Failed reinforcement, four times."
If he failed a reinforcement four times, the equipment would be rendered useless.
'Holy shit, weapon breaks on four failures, and now the store wants me to have an item that has been reinforced by that stone three freaking times?'
It was part of the conditions needed to access the Diamond Label.
Thus, did one of Jake's weapons come to a rather ignominious end.
'With each stone costing 150k, I wasted 600k… and I also lost my sword. How annoying.'
It was like he flushed perfectly good points down the drain.
'This is why my old man told me to avoid gambling, now I know…' he continued, finally realizing the bit of wisdom given to him as a child. 'Still, though, I HAVE to make it to the Diamond Label. This gambling is what I would call a necessary evil.'
'Ugh, why does this have to be so difficult? I need to get to the Diamond Label. Song will be in trouble if the hostilities start and we're not there to back him up.'
With a friend in danger, thinking about shopping isn't common sense, but when was Jake Smithson ever chained by common sense?
And, as soon as his sword got broken, the monsters moved in, thinking he would be easy prey.
They were quickly disabused of that notion as Jake used his other weapon and his Aqua Blade to make quick work of them.
'Man, I've been too used to dual-wielding… this feels weird,' he thought. Naturally, as he was out of his element and fighting awkwardly, he found that his efficiency in hunting monsters was reduced.
'Damned reinforcement. Just my luck, it's ruining everything… wait a minute.'
Inspiration struck him.
'Luck… that's right, luck!'
He just remembered that one of the requirements for the Diamond Label is a luck of at least 30.
Luck was a stat that affected probability, and lucky people beat the odds and made probability their bitch.
'Why the hell didn't I think of this earlier? Could have saved some points! Damn it, I'm going to boost my luck, first!'
***
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