Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 93: Book 2: Chapter 10: Den Preparations

Read chapter 93 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 2: Chapter 10: Den Preparations Book 2: Chapter 10: Den Preparations When the squad returned back to “Jraughan Toune”, as the painted sign out-front the settlement so eloquently displayed, the younger kobolds cheered. The elders who came to watch their approach only gave curt nods when they crossed the shoddy wooden gates into the “Toune”. The guards looked at them like reinforcements… or like shields. Alex didn’t much like that feeling, as if the Kobolds saw them not as friends, but still as resources. They all unpacked quickly. There was no time for any celebration or fanfare. They had purpose, a goal, and an ever present glaring timer counting down to push them along. If there was anything that kept reminding Alex and the others to keep moving and keep getting stronger, it was that fucking quest timer. [Time Remaining; 693 Days, 10 Hours, 58 Minutes…] The countdown until their heavenly judgment. When The System will determine if each of them made themselves stand out enough to not be wiped out of existence. That is, if they are not able to find a way back to their own world before that. Which, so far, was neither likely or unlikely. They just didn’t have enough of a grasp on magic yet to know for sure. But the worrying and hand ringing wouldn’t help them right now. Instead, they had to focus on the next goal, the Dark Den. Alex set the training schedule before the sun had fully risen the next day. By dawn’s first hour, the clearing behind the lizardfolk huts echoed with the sounds of steel and sweat. Aura of blood, angry, depression and spite permeated the entire settlement during the human’s training sessions. “Again!” Alex barked. Cole grunted and adjusted his grip. His war hammer slammed down into the dirt with a solid thud! , narrowly missing the center of a weighted log. Pieces of bark and wood flew in every direction, the log itself cracked, if just barely. “You’re trying to hit the air around the target, or…?” Alex asked dryly. “Just warming up,” Cole muttered, and swung again. To his left, he could see Allie was working on mastering her dagger patterns. Her hands moved in a blur, metal flashing with each thrust and sweep, slicing through leaves suspended on a breeze using quick, bursts of movement. The daggers weren’t glowing, they held no enchantments, but the runes that were etched along the surface of her bracers shimmered with hidden promise. While both Allie and Cole were healers, so they would mostly fill the roles of support, but despite this fact Alex refused to let them go into the dungeon without being able to fight and defend themselves to a decent degree of competency. The brawl at the well in Vrung’s Quarry showed they had potential, but that meant nothing against the unending horde of undead that Alex knew awaited them on the dungeon’s first floor. So they were not exempt from the martial training. A one handed warhammer was the weapon Cole had chosen, while Allie went for daggers. Each had their benefits and weaknesses. Cole would have a better time laying down lethal hits on the skeletal enemies, while Allie would have better defense. The two of them continued their weapon practice and Alex moved along down the line to his next teammate. Devon knelt nearby, drawing complicated geometric figures into the dirt with a curved stylus. The glyphcrafting tool wasn’t as good as the one Alex had gotten from the Dungeon Shop, but it was certainly better than the basic standard stylus he had been using earlier. His breath was steady as he worked, slow. Each symbol floated faintly above the surface, alive with earth-aspected energy. “Form’s good,” Alex told him, crouching beside him. “But it’s still too brittle. Your glyph sequence won’t last in combat if they collapse under any hint of strain.” Devon adjusted the flow with a grimace. “This is harder without preconstructed glyph plans.” “Welcome to manual glyphwork,” he said, clapping him once on the back. “Suffer now, flex later.” Nearby, Peter and Zach wo