Bonded Summoner-Chapter 24BS7 - : The War Plan

Jake and Nessa had used up all of the Aether at the moonlight lake temple, and had continued their honeymoon at Nessa’s private cultivation chamber in her Refuge. Thanks to the lake purifying their spirits, and the effect of the special treasure they consumed, they were able to continue their soul and bloodline tempering for some time.

They also merged Nessa’s Refuge with the Hart family’s, her private lake becoming another area that could be reached within it. Her cauldron within her cultivation chamber linked, and actually started producing even denser Aether energy for her personal cultivation usage.

And Fhesiah would be proud. Jake had earned a significant portion of his next level from the special chamber, along with Nessa’s private lake. Absorbing so much special, filtered cultivation energy into his body, hearth and soul had increased his level just like the Framework could accomplish. This was why his family had leveled so much over these past few years despite not being on the battlefield.

Nessa was actually a few levels ahead of them, thanks to her focus on Conquest, and her two Dungeon Raids since she reached the second Tier. These events granted a massive amount of experience. Thankfully, if she entered a lower zone with a level range, she would simply be scaled down upon entry.

She had been working on her Bloodline these past few years, having a true bloodline cultivation technique taught to her by Nana. This meant that her body was somewhat already tempered to an extent, above that of a normal cultivator. And she had also gotten a few treasures to improve her hearth, which in turn tempered her soul.

Not only that, but she had learned a special soul improving scripture, which involved purifying the tainted blood from her lake. The many evil cultists she slayed had slowly built up the strength of her soul.

In some ways, her soul tempering technique was superior–if she was killing cultists daily, she would progress insanely fast. However, these kills were few and far between in truth, so Jake and his wives had pulled far ahead with their nearly weekly, non-stop tempering. Neither of her methods brought her to the level of their special tempering over the years, but the technique had at least kept her from being a whole Tier behind.

It would take Nessa some time to catch up to his wives when it came to this, but it was something they could still manage. He would have to use lesser materials with lower energies when tempering his soul with Nessa, but thanks to Fhesiah’s capability, she could gradually ramp her up until both were being tempered once again.

Since Jake’s soul wouldn’t be strained by this much at all, it wouldn’t slow him down with the other girls until Nessa caught up, which worked out well. It just meant she got a bit more time with him over the coming months.

When Nessa and Jake arrived back at the Sanctuary within the Refuge, hand in hand, the girls clapped and this caused Nessa to blush. Of course, they all knew what they were up to, and Fhesiah wanted to hear all about their honeymoon later.

During their several days of enjoyment that included the building of their bond through their tempering, they had reached Summoner’s Bond Level 5: Love. That meant, the Hearth bond was next.

Jake said, “Are you ready, Nessa? Forever this time.”

She nodded, smiling. The two hearths connected, Jake giving her a small piece of his soul. With his Umbral Gaze, he did his very best to monitor this entire process, and so did Fhesiah, using her Divine Sense. It wasn’t as if he could see the soul exactly, but he could see the extradimensional shape and where it touched his hearth, and how a piece of it traveled across the bond and attached to Nessa’s.

But Fhesiah could, and she watched. His soul was no longer so brittle that by merely viewing and brushing against it with her Divine Sense, it would break into pieces, so she could see much more closely what was happening.

As the hearth bond formed, a piece of his soul went over to Nessa’s, and a piece of hers returned to take its place. In doing so, this change was reflected in all of the girl’s hearths.

Nessa’s frostfire from her frostheart cauldron arrived within Jake and all the girl’s hearths, granting them all access to special ice with the properties of fire. But what Fhesiah learned and what Jake could see, was that it was a rather insignificant part of their current soul’s size, and it created a special link. Perhaps, when he was in the zeroth Tier, or the first, it would have been significant. But now, in the second, it was nothing to be concerned about unless he added dozens upon dozens more.

Fhesiah took out her fan, and shared her thoughts as she fanned herself. “So that’s reassuring, isn’t it? This should mean that at least those that already love our dear Jake, and are already practically members of our family…there should be no reason to hold back, is there?” She didn’t call Ophelia out, but she said those words while looking at her, a wide smile hidden by her fan.

Ophelia chuckled, and shook her head. “It’s a relief. I’m willing to agree, under one condition–that you don’t go out of your way to find any more. No more should be drawn into our family’s orbit, unless we’re all in agreement–like how it was with Nessa. That was sneaky what you did, there was likely only one way Sati, Ruby, and Yona would turn out, and you knew it before you brought them to us.”

Fhesiah tapped her lips. “Hm, but were they things that I did, or were they the whims of fate itself? No matter how you look at it, all three of those girls are special and came into my path in a unique way. They entered our family’s orbit because they were worthy of it, and while I could have turned down Aria’s gift of Yona originally, you must admit that she has been a godsend. Perhaps, Bastet’s entire goal in sending me there, was picking that girl up, no matter how indirectly. Can you really blame me? Shouldn’t we be thanking me for my actions, instead?”

She added, “In too long, didn’t listen terms–don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Fhesiah closed her fan with a snap, and Ophelia rolled her eyes, and laughed.

“You’re too much. Don’t think I don’t know about what you’re doing with that lamp, by the way. Are you going to say it was totally fate and not your horniness driving your actions, when you introduce the fire spirit breeding program, or whatever it is you’re planning with that?”

Fhesiah covered her chest, with a wounded expression. “How could you say such a thing?” She took out the lamp, and looked at them with a loving expression. “The embodiments of flame are women, and they all have names, are intelligent, and have wills of their own. And… a desire for love like anyone else. They are not mere sows, waiting to be bred.”

The fire spirits could be seen inside, the space compressed within the lamp. They danced and flew around with the numerous flames contained within, an immense amount of energy inside.

The spirits were absolutely tiny in their sight. But Jake knew if she let them out, they were previously at the size of a toddler, the last time he saw them–though it’d been a couple of years, now that he thought of it.

Ophelia looked closer at the lamp. “Is…is that a stripper pole, made of flame, that they are dancing around?”

The lamp disappeared, and Fhesiah gave an innocent expression. “Must have been your imagination.”

Ophelia narrowed her eyes. “Give me that thing. I don’t like what you’ve been teaching them.” She rushed toward Fhesiah, but she summoned up several foxfires distorting the light around her, and dashed away as she evaded Ophelia’s grasping hands.

“It’s all above board, I assure you! Back me up Nessa!”

“Come back here, I don’t believe you!” Ophelia blurred using her Technique, but as she caught Fhesiah’s fleeing form, she groaned as the figure burst into smoke. She turned, looking for where Fhesiah went, dashing further into the Sanctuary.

“Frostfire huh. Pretty neat.” Ignoring Ophelia and Fhesiah, Berri held out her finger, and an icy blue flame lit on the end of it like that of a candle and emanating a significant amount of cold rather than heat.

Nessa laughed. “I guess this is normal? Fhesiah is really good at her hobby, isn’t she?”

Jake couldn’t help but laugh at that. “She’s definitely helped make sure the best waifus end up in my arms. One way or another.”

The rest of the family gave the new flames a try as well, each now having much more experience controlling these energies with their improved Hearth Control. Blood launched a spear of frostfire off and into a small pond. Despite being cold, the ice spread through the water almost like a flame, freezing it.

It then spread onto the dirt around it, and further into the forest. The energy was eventually consumed, but it was an interesting effect. It somewhat consumed heat energy as fuel and spread, but there was certainly a limit.

Nessa was trying out the other flames within her hearth, much like Berri. “This…is really something else. All your flames are within me, but they don’t burn away the cold at all. It’s not a lot, though.”

Jake was trying it out. “It’ll increase a bit as we improve the bond further, and you improve your core. Thanks to everything I’ve learned, I think this will be a lot faster now. Still, we need to find your place in battle, so I can enchant your Hearth.”

“Enchant my…hearth? That…sounds dangerous.”

Tanda’s tail was wagging, as she also played with the cold fire. “Jake is getting very good at it! He even upgraded most of the Eternum’s enchantments. When our children find their paths, we trust him to do that too.”

Fhesiah and Ophelia had returned, it seemed they were done with their chase and came to a sort of agreement or truce.

Fhesiah was playing with the frostflame and mixing it with her draconic flames, and producing miniature explosions of energy with her claw. “See, Jake? You should just keep collecting waifus. Eventually, you can have all the elements. Bloodflames, monstrous flames mixed with Brigid’s, and flames of purity are waiting for you nearby. There’s even a strange sun and moon flames of Bastet from the cute maid. Then we just need to hunt down some kind of earth and wind flames, maybe?”

Jake chuckled. “I suppose those girls are interested, aren’t they? I’ll try to find some time with them, but we have other business to take care of for now. Before Nessa contacted us, we weren’t far off from ending our dungeon exploration for the time being. I think it’s time for us to consider the next goal. We need to accomplish as much as we can before the War Trial starts, to bring Avalara into the third Tier–and it certainly wouldn’t be bad for us to get as close as we can with our allies. That means Conquest and PvP. Hearthtribe, Warrior Brotherhood, the Sons of Rome, Love and Justice and our combat subguilds are all ready. Let’s head to our conference room.”

The family all teleported to the conference room, the special table having the ability to project holograms and more above it. They also called for his permanent summons to join them, the family all ending up in modern office chairs that could fit their larger forms, with the exception of Bloodberri, of course.

Bree was on the other side, only loosely interested in what was going on. Sati also floated there in her usual pose, and Ruby had her eyes focused on the table. It seemed all three were also excited about the upcoming Conquest in their own way.

Jake arrived at the table, sitting. But rather than Nessa by his side, Tanda and Ophelia had arrived at his sides. Avalara sat on Tanda’s other side, and Fhesiah floated above Jake, in her laying down with her head propped up by her hand pose.

Nessa was wrapped up by Bloodberri off to the side–or rather, Berri. She was blushing, struggling to try to get away from her grip. “Er, what happened. I wanted to sit by Jake?”

Berri was nuzzling her, hugging her tightly with her arms and her larger tail wrapped around the smaller girl. “Jake has hogged you for long enough. It’s my turn for some snake sister hugging.”

Nessa laughed a little awkwardly. “Ahaha…uhm…okay. I guess?”

Ophelia said, “If it bothers you, just tell her and she’ll let you go, you know.”

“No, it’s…okay. I have bigger sisters, but we were never close. I guess… I’m happy. Just…maybe not so tight.” She squirmed some more, and Berri loosened her grip, helping her find a more comfortable position.

Berri said, “Oh! Sorry. Okay, now I’m good with listening to this boring stuff.”

Jake chuckled and brought up the view of their Sector, with Highlands in the center. “So as I said, we need to figure out our best plan for involving ourselves in the war, as well as our numerous allies.”

Blood nodded. “Yes. Because our enemies are waiting for us to participate in the war to put us in our place, or what have you. They will use whatever tricks they can to win, or sandbag us, even if it means losing a world to the enemy.”

Jake looked over at the map, and brought up the guild figures as well. “Where does Valtor think we should move? We’ll need to recall some from the dungeon, leaving only our token forces, other than the monthly battleground against the Bloodwrought. It looks like we should have nearly ten thousand Hearthtribe, and nearly the same amount or more when we add together all of our allies for nearly twenty-thousand strong in total.”

Their guild had grown in size to have so many members ready to mobilize to any location within the sector and in the second Tier. At the time of the Dungeon Raid, they had only had roughly a thousand. From new recruits to clans growing through taking wives or otherwise, the guild has grown significantly these past several years.

This didn’t include their vast numbers within their subguilds, who didn’t devote their lives to the soldier and humanitarian lifestyle. These behaved a lot more like reserve forces, or simply had varying levels of dedication and different types of focus.

Hearthtribe was reserved for the honorable, brave, dedicated warriors who focused most of their lives and efforts on self-improvement, humanitarian aid, and selflessly fighting the war as warriors and heroes–like Clan Hart themselves.

That their guild could have so many warriors was nothing short of a huge accomplishment, and Jake thanked all his subordinate’s efforts in recruitment and training frequently with gifts and rewards.

Blood said, “Valtor gave us a few options. The first thing we have to remember, is that we cannot all pile on to a single world. We simply have too many members.”

Jake likened this aspect to how in MMO games, there was a limit to how many players could enter an individual server, or open world map, within a short period of time, or altogether. They would be forced to wait in queue until the Conquest could accommodate them.

It was because otherwise, a large number of Adventurers could show up on any world and close all the Rifts at once, pushing Conquest Progress and change the battlefield significantly in a short period simply by overwhelming them. From that advantage alone, they could easily shift the war in a significant way.

It took time for the Framework and Tartarus to prepare the game board to keep things even, and so arrivals of significant numbers were staggered by design. While Rifts would appear in what looked like a random fashion, there were stages involving incursions and monster dens, and each of these things took time to appear and influence the map.

The war could accommodate their nearly 20,000 strong army on a world, but they would be forced to wait weeks or months until the war was ramped up, depending on the size of the world. A waste of their people’s valuable time waiting either in their Refuge or in the void.

There was also a certain consideration between initiating natives and Framework arrivals allowed. In a situation where few or none initiated, like on Highlands, a larger number of Adventurers were allowed to enter.

Jake said, “So three or four at a minimum, huh. Are there any worlds where things aren’t looking good?”

Blood replied, “There’s one. It’s not quite as bad as Highlands was, but it’s not good. Bramvalen is At 38% and falling, slowly. It has several HQ’s as it was a third Conquest in the world’s history. Valtor was sure we would go for this one already, so the other two or more were the ones up in the air.”

“What’s happening there?”

Blood replied, “It seems they are just slowly losing ground. The Adventurers and the natives together lose more battles than they win. Not every loss on the Alliance’s side is due to a devious plot. But it could just be something subtle that they are just not noticing. If Alisara, the Champion of Eternal Night, was more circumspect back in on Ariminum: She could have pushed the scales to a loss slowly, with us being none the wiser.”

Highlands was originally not that much worse off. However, it was down to a single HQ, which was about to get sieged by the enemy with over a hundred thousand refugees from the other lost locations. Loss would have been inevitable at that point, as reinforcements would have been slower to arrive, and so many refugees would have been slain all at once.

The loss of Cascadia and so many people would have brought them well under twenty percent, perhaps even low enough to bring them to the Dungeon Raid. One where the challenge would have been much more difficult–the loss percentage on that was over ninety percent on The Alliance side.

Berri frowned as she stroked a blushing Nessa’s hair, like some kind of doll or pet. “Who comes up with these names, anyway? Bramvalen sounds lame.”

Ophelia snorted. “I don’t want to imagine what you might name them, Berri. Snakeville, Snakehaven, Snakeworld, and the unfortunately named: Trash-no-snake-land.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Berri narrowed her eyes at Lia, as she squeezed Nessa a little tighter. “Any place without snakes is a trash land.”

Nessa squirmed. “It’s usually those within the Sector Council that designates the names, as many natives don’t have a reason to name their own world for interacting with others. It’s usually Tier 3 worlds and above that understand that other realms or worlds even exist and would have a viable name. Naming is often based on the world’s Origin, and sometimes just significant geographical features. Some worlds with unified kingdoms or ambassadors are given the opportunity to name themselves, but ultimately, this is just what The Alliance call them. I’d wager Bramvalen has some Greek or Norse Origin within it.”

Jake asked, “Is there a world Obsidian Blades or their ilk is going for, that it seems like it just might win it?”

Blood grinned, as she brought up a world with four moons. One moon looked like a dead husk, but the others almost looked like stars of their own, a red, green, and brown orb of energy. Otherwise, Jake noticed a distinct lack of oceans or rivers. The only rivers he saw, actually looked red.

“There is. Cassius and Avaron have both been spotted on this one. They are pushing hard to win The Burning Steps, and it’s already nearly at 60%.”

The truth was, most of the war happened between forty and sixty percent of the conquest meter. Once over sixty, the rate of victory for The Alliance was extremely high, and the swing in the percentages would happen rapidly as the battle was pushed far away from populated areas.

It would take a devious plot, losing an Alliance HQ or some advanced challenge to swing things back significantly in the other direction. It was the standard snowball effect seen in most conquest and battlefield games, whether one was talking about board games or in FPS games, or MMO’s. Once one side gained significant enough of an advantage, it took quite the upset to turn the battle around.

Ophelia said, “Well, obviously, I think it’s best we stick it to them there. That way, we can better keep an eye on those jerks, besides.”

Tanda’s tail was wagging furiously, the girl filled with excitement. “I can’t wait. Let’s beat them up!”

Nessa’s smile turned a little wicked. “Yes, I think that is a good idea. And how about Morvalis or Haldrith, for the third location?”

Blood brought up the two worlds in question, the information about the worlds and their situations becoming visible.

Jake saw that Haldrith was a Tier 2 world with a special magic type present on the world, but didn’t see anything that stood out, other than that it recently became Contested. It failed its initial Trial, much like Highlands. Morvalis, on the other hand, had reports of both betrayers and the world was filled with deathly energies. “I can see why Morvalis is a good choice for our guild. Why Haldrith?”

Nessa said, “It’s because it’s a relatively new Conquest, failing their initial Trial. A lot of guilds are feeling it out still, and because of that, it’s a good opportunity to meet other allies and recruit.”

Fhesiah said, “That does sound good, but I like this one more–Serthune. It has waifus that need rescuing.” She flicked the Menu, and it brought up a third world that looked like it was covered in mountains and rocky terrain, almost like Highlands–except, there were no plateaus or jungle valleys…and instead, just rivers and lakes.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Jake groaned at her single-minded focus. “Everyone needs rescuing. Do they actually need our help?”

Fhesiah shrugged. “They seem to be doing…mostly fine for now, but we’re going to four worlds or more anyway, right? Three was the absolute minimum in Valtor’s eyes, even hitting the world that is close to crumbling is not enough. Four or more is closer to his plan.”

Jake had ideas on why that might be, but he’d ask from who probably heard it directly, turning to Blood. “What was his plan then?”

Blood replied, “To hit six hard, and more than ten in total, nearly all the currently Contested Worlds in the second Tier. He included both Haldrith and Morvalis. Harder for the enemy to track all of us. More places to recruit, and it splits the enemy up more if they try to screw with us. We’re on pace to overcome their battle strength in the next year or two, but before then…we need growth. Levels. Recruits. Resources and Contribution Points. If our people lose a fight and they spend a bunch of time dead, they’re not growing our guild through these elements.”

Tanda tilted her head. “Isn’t there safety in numbers, though?” Seeing her fluffy ears move, Jake started scratching them. Her tail started wagging again, and she closed her eyes in enjoyment.

Nessa chuckled. “For whom, the enemy? They are the ones with the numbers. They have the levels too. I know your people are strong, surely, but numbers and levels are a bit too much to overcome. I understand Valtor’s strategy. It is a hedging of bets on whether our people can sneak in contribution and growth under the enemy’s watchful, treacherous eyes, and eventually overcome them.”

It was a conservative strategy. Their alliance had 20,000 members, more when they included their subguilds, but the enemy’s alliance had far more than double that and a much higher level average. Luckily, they were also spread out just like Hearthtribe needed to, but they could bring much more force to bear because they had already been present. They could reinforce themselves easier.

Most of his second Tier subguild members were very early in levels, their devotion and efforts not nearly as high as Hearthtribe was. A level 26 would simply get crushed by a level 40 plus person with ease. Luckily, most of Hearthtribe was now near that level 40 ballpark area.

Jake asked, “And what about Mysticus and Zorina? I take it their divinations and calculations, it’s too complicated to ask that of them? Of investing in which worlds have the best outcome?”

Ophelia nodded. “That’s right. They are working on leveling, but it’s slow-going since they don’t fight. Maybe once they reach deeper into the second Tier, they’d be a bit more help with something like that. They’ll only be able to do one world at a time, and they need to be present on it.”

It was hard for Jake to imagine a magical abacus and the weird birdcage divination tool fighting. They were pacifists like many of the Eternum, and that was more than fine.

Jake had tried to capture their templates, but found that their divination magic was completely useless, for whatever reason. He assumed it relied far too heavily on their arcane-infused bodies in order to function, which was not what his mana-powered constructs contained.

He could manifest Valtor and Amara, but they were only really useful due to their spell casting talents and capabilities. When he manifested them, they did not have their arcane-infused hardness. Even if he used his Hearth Flames, it still didn’t work. With Aether Qi, he thought he might have some better luck, but he doubted it was still the same thing. Adjacent, at best.

Jake had difficulty reproducing energies of higher powers, and he believed this was why Permanent Summons had value and could transcend these limits, while his captured templates could not. Perhaps, this was why summoning would become valuable in the Third Tier, when he could actually open a portal in the void and bring out allies and friends directly from anywhere within the Sector. This had limitations of course, but Jake was excited about this eventual future.

This meant his only option was for them to wait for Mysticus and Zorina to level up and become stronger. He and Fhesiah had worked together to create what was a lot like an auril and mana cultivation chamber for the Eternum, and it did seem to speed their leveling. And then, it did seem that the two had received substantial rewards on Aetheris and The Mystic Expanse for their actions as administrators.

It was still slow, but they were in fact progressing. Valtor had been the strongest and oldest, but now some were passing him in strength because they spent much more time fighting and leveling, like Falcor, and their daughter, Rhia.

Jake said, “Their efforts on Bramvalen will be imperative. I wish we had more like them to head to each world.”

Avalara nodded. “They are very useful. We do have our own, but visions of the future are rare among the beastkin. Roxo’s wives and even Rookard’s daughter, Enora, have also been a big help.”

Tanda said, “Aisling will be with us, and hopefully, that’ll be enough to stave off any major problems.”

They spent some time going over details about the four worlds, and he saw several opportunities for his diverse people to take advantage of the geographies or challenges at each one. Especially Serthune where the waifus were in need of help. It turned out they were forms of a type of earth spirits or demons, called Vouivre.

Depending on the gems embedded in them, they could be excellent at different types of magic, but in general, excelled at earth and water. They were somewhat varied in that they had a reptilian or serpent-like appearance for their lower body, to go along with their humanoid upper body.

Their male counterparts were a lot more like earth golems mixed with reptiles or snake people, with stone-like scales all over their large, humanoid bodies. He felt like the males were similar to the Elysian treants, all told, and the females not all that different from reptile beastkin or lamia, just with a stone and gem focus placed throughout their bodies.

Jake sighed. “Then I think we’ll go with four main worlds for Conquest and PvP, then. Our Clan will head to The Burning Steps, and I want the Ravenwolves with us–I know Cassius probably wants revenge on them. Hopefully, they’ll be blinded by their pride, and double down rather than flee and hit us where it hurts–the world we’re about to lose, Bramvalen. I want the rest of our elites there, along with the elites from Love and Justice, Sons of Rome, and Warrior Brotherhood.”

He added, “As for the Serthune, I like elements of the waifu-world–we’ll send our reptilian brethren. They are skilled in the caverns where few races can match, and I do think the Vouivre will be a valuable addition to Hearthtribe. Earth and water magic synergize well with both our reptilian beastkin and Elysian brethren, besides.”

Fhesiah pouted a little. “Aw. I wanted to go to the waifu world, for…reasons.” Ophelia glared at her, so she cleared her throat. “But I dislike caves anyway, so maybe it’s for the best.”

Jake continued, “For the last two, the Elysians and our elites to Bramvalen and the Emberborn to Morvalis. Not only are there betrayers spotted at the latter that they can capture, but that there are various unliving natives might make them a great choice. We should split a fair number of our allies to all four locations to handle the PvP threats and vary our strengths and weaknesses.”

Nessa smiled. “This sounds like it’ll work out great. Valtor’s other two picks were good too, but I think this maximizes our manpower a little better. We can always join on Haldrith later, if things go well enough, or once things have stabilized. This plan will also challenge the Obsidian Blades far more, and it will be a do or die as far as a performance from us.”

Ophelia said, “You don’t doubt our talents, do you, Nessa? After seeing Jake and his strength?” She grinned, “Though, we’ll be able to show you a lot more of ours, soon.”

“Of course not. I just know that it won’t be easy, even for you. They’ll have numbers, and they will be watching our every move. Not only that, but I would not underestimate their ability to work with the enemy. They have tricks that enable them to attack us, even if the Framework would normally protect us.”

Jake nodded. “Your stories of their treachery are firm in my mind. We’ll be careful, and never show weakness–even to our allies. It’ll take us a few weeks to get everyone into position. Now the question for our party is, do we go in hard and fast, or do we go in slow and with intent?”

Fhesiah grinned. “Well, I’m a big fan of the hard and fast, but I know Nessa and Blood are both a fan of the slow and sensual, and so is Ophelia when in the romance mood.”

Nessa blushed, and squirmed in Berri’s grip. “How did you know? Y-You didn’t… watch, did you?”

Fhesiah’s grin grew wider. “I didn’t, but I do now.” She watched as Nessa squirmed and tried to cover her blushing face with her tail. “I just know these things.”

Ignoring Fhesiah, Ophelia said, “I think announcing we’re there with a big arrival, the hard and fast option, has several benefits. When we win, the rumors will be that our guild is stronger than theirs, hurting their reputation, and drawing more allies in. Jerks like them have made a lot of enemies, and we can use that to our advantage. Then, we can gain a lot of CP all at once, and set their death timers for some decent impact for the few days while they’re dead.”

When Alliance Guilds were at war, they could fight within the cities at any time wherever Nodes were. To limit the impact to the cities in question, the Framework incentivized large conflicts to occur within special events that it hosts.

It usually does these at the cost of those doing war, but the times that it could occur were weekly or when a large number of a rival guild arrived at the same time.

Within a certain leeway, PvP would be disabled near the time of these weekly events, but so would turn-in. This reduced the wide-scale destruction from Alliance people fighting one another in large numbers.

Because if hundreds or thousands of a rival guild showed up on a world suddenly and started fighting, the large-scale battles in the streets within the cities would be intense with a lot of destruction. And, could become a little unfair with actions like camping and more.

Once they landed and spent time acting and spreading out across the Conquest Map, a large encounter or massive battle was that much less likely, when combined with the weekly events. Worlds were huge and often with numerous Alliance HQ options for turning in their CP. Splitting their forces five ways to defend against turn-in was not only a waste of manpower, but also could open themselves up to being hit by a larger force.

Blood shook her head. “Not quite. They can choose to intercept us with one of several guilds that are a part of their alliance–using the lesser guilds, then hitting us with tons of warriors within the PvP area. That leaves the others free to harass us. I believe it’s best to arrive slow and with intent because then we can potentially deal a silent blow to them and then target the guild with the most for us to gain. If we fail to schedule the event in time before they do, we don’t really lose anything.”

Nessa nodded. “A well-coordinated guild, they will know when we arrive on the world as they’ll have people watching the portals and the HQ’s PvP areas. But it’s entirely possible to catch them at an inopportune moment. If their leaders aren’t around to create the event against us, then it will give us a chance to do so instead. If we arrive all at once, it will give them the initiative.”

Tanda said, “I like the idea of the big entrance and the large battle, but if it gives our enemies the initiative, I think it’s not as good.”

Fhesiah groaned. “I forgot they can be annoying like that. It also means we really need our allies to really stick it to them, even if we get ahead and are crushing them.”

A guild could only be involved in a single PvP event per week. With their enemy having multiple guilds, they could have the lesser ones face Hearthtribe, preventing them from targeting their primary guild and forcing them to fight.

Jake said, “What’s the maximum we can arrive with, to not trigger the event? It’s under fifty, right?”

Nessa answered, “Under fifty battle strength–so forty-nine, that’s right. Any more than that at this Tier will allow them to trigger the event before we can even arrive. So we should consider how many we have sealed, not just for the PvP match, but for the world’s conflict. We know that at least two children of the divine on their side will be present, along with me. It may be smart to use two seals instead of three if we want to bring the Ravenwolves into our landing, besides.”

Jake sighed, as he thought about how each of the women in his party, even his permanent summons, took more than one slot each. “This is complicated and challenging. At this rate, we just might end up with something like another Enforcer on the enemy’s side again. But it’s unavoidable. We must face these guilds at some point, whether we head to another world or not.”

Nessa nodded. “I’d say you shouldn’t have to worry about such a crazy thing, but I understand after seeing that Dungeon Raid video that Tartarus will stop at nothing.”

Blood brought up a few events and worlds, giving readouts of their activities and the results–a kill, death, and contribution gained or lost board.

“As for our history in facing these enemy guilds, we have made some probing efforts in the past few years, mainly with the Ravenwolves and those that really wanted to help with Conquest earlier. Plus, we have had numerous recruiters about on worlds. In every case, they eventually showed up with force, discouraging us from slowly gathering contribution on any worlds besides.”

Ophelia added, “Luckily, we mostly gave as good as we got, but in the end we backed off with our smaller groups. It’s true that the many guilds of The Alliance are waiting to see how we do against these guys.”

Jake said, “Then it’s settled. We’ll head over to The Burning Steps, and we’ll experience some real PvP as we rescue the world, as well as send The Obsidian Blades, Radiant Glory, and their ilk packing. We’ll show them that Clan Hart and Hearthtribe are not going to be on the losing end of any conflict, whether it be Tartarus or some traitors. We’ll work towards rescuing the other three worlds as well, and only a token force will be sent to Haldrith to scout things out, like many of the other guilds are doing.”

Blood said, “I do think this might be a good task for our subguilds. They are low level, but if we’re keeping most of the Obsidian Blades and Radiant Glory busy, then they might get things done and grow. At the very least, they should be able to help the natives.”

Ophelia added, “There are actually a number of people from Earth joining these guilds, finally reaching the second Tier. Sending them immediately to one of these worlds isn’t bad.”

Jake said, “That’s not a bad plan. Perhaps we should send some more to Valtor’s sixth world as well. Their influence will be minor, but it’s a good experience for them. It’s either that or the dungeon for them to grow.”

The girls grinned, and they went over the specifics of the plan. They planned out how to move their people through the Yggdrasil Network to arrive at their destinations at around the same time. About a week after Clan Hart arrived on The Burning Steps, and days after they will have their event if they were successful.

The final world Valtor had wanted them to hit was actually a Beast World called The Great Maw, which made Jake immediately interested. It was likely a decent world for their weaker subguilds to cut their teeth on, with no natives to lose if they failed. This was actually great for the people of Earth and their more mixed recruits to handle.

[Final plan]

[All worlds: Mixture of Love and Justice (Cultivators and Norse), Warrior Brotherhood, Sons of Rome, Hearthtribe (Including Elysians, Emberborn, Beastkin, Eternum, Miscellaneous).]

[The Burning Steps (Obsidian Blades and Radiant Glory): Hart Clan, Ravenwolf Clan and Tribe–a mobility focus.]

[Bramvalen (Falling World): Hearthtribe and their alliance elites, beast tamers, larger focus on Elysians for defense building.]

[Serthune (Underground Waifu World): Reptilian Beastkin focus.]

[Morvalis (Deathly World): Emberborn and Servants of Arawn focus.]

[Haldrith (New Conquest, little information about world known): Token forces for recruitment and scouting only from Hearthtribe, and subguilds will send their lower-level efforts.]

[The Great Maw (Beast World): Subguild efforts including people from Earth and various members only.]

Jake said, “Hearthtribe will start with these four worlds, and our goal is to claim them all while kicking off the Obsidian Blades and their allies. We’ll build our contribution, and we’ll consider channeling any of the earned potential into Highlands.”

When conquering a world as a world owner, it was possible to channel the world’s earnedpotential or energy rating into the home world. This was the default for cultivators that participated in Dungeon Raids and similar prior to initiating–the few that did. But Jake could have done this with Hearthtribe.

However, they had decided that it simply wasn’t worth it for all the first Tier worlds they earned. Even if they channeled all of their potential they earned, they would not have gained a single tenth of a percent towards the third Tier. Doing this had a lower efficiency besides, so Jake preferred these worlds to gain as much potential as possible instead.

They truly needed Tier 2 Worlds to get anything meaningful, and they had held off on becoming too involved on any of those worlds’ Conquest to prevent the enemy from becoming involved. Their subguilds were working on several Tier 1 worlds, but he wasn’t sure when they would be successful and move on to the next Tier. They could no longer directly communicate with those, as part of the 4X game–ever since their Grace Period was over.

Warrior Brotherhood had been a unique situation in the second Tier because their parent guild already had a significant amount of contribution to the conquest of a particular world before they had even joined Jake’s alliance.

Their enemy still tried to prevent Warrior Brotherhood from getting a foothold, but Timone and Dahlia along with dozens of the Ravenwolf Clan had thwarted their efforts.

Berri said, “Okay! So now what? We’re heading to some fighting, and we’re all excited about crushing those jerkwads. But we can have plenty of fun before then, right? Tell me we’re going to do some fun stuff, and not just training with cute little Nessy here!”

Nessa muttered, “Nessy…”

Jake chuckled. “Of course, we need to spend some time together with Nessa, Ruby, Bree, and Sati and training over these next few weeks. With all the celebration and challenge events on Aetheris, we’ve only gotten a little bit of time to do that. I think it’s time for us to open the recreation area for some fun.”

Berri clapped, and bounced up and down, disrupting Nessa slightly as she moved. “Yay! I can’t–I mean, I bet our kids will be so excited!”

Nessa smiled at her enthusiasm. “What is the recreation area, and why does it need to be opened?”

Ophelia chuckled. “We made several special areas inside our Refuge, with tons of unique items and things to do. From fun rides, to special environments, and just fun activities. But we don’t keep it open all the time. If every day is fun, thrills, and excitement-filled, then it’s no longer special.”

Jake likened it to how one could get a season pass to an amusement park, and by the second or third trip, everything felt boring, and the novelty would fade. If they could just enter the recreation areas at any time, the kids would get numbed to the experience.

Blood nodded. “That’s right. We use time within as a reward, or just special time for us all to spend as a family. Our Sanctuary is wonderful and has plenty of things to keep our children stimulated, but we like them to have something to look forward to.”

Nessa said, “This sounds like a lot of fun! I can’t wait to see this.”

Their plan made, the family left to let the children know the good news, and to get ready for having some fun.