Thalion and his crew were on their way back to his base; it would only be a few hours until they arrived. Thalion was going over his plan. It was very risky, but well worth it if it succeeded.

Soon, after receiving the cuffs from Lucan, he would send out a message for everyone to assemble and then instruct them to give him all their credits. He didn’t have much choice.

Due to his high body-tempering, he could still fight beasts over twenty levels above him, but it was already getting harder, and he saw the fast progress the fighters on his ship were making. Michael and Garrick were both at level 68, which was near the limit of what he could handle.

This would only get worse over time. When they reached E grade, and every level-up then provided more than double the experience of an F grade. In short, he would have no hope of fighting anyone.

If they kept up their current progress, Garrick and Michael would likely evolve to E grade within weeks, or maybe even sooner if they evolved instantly.

This was a question he needed to ask the system’s voice: how would it affect him? Would he even be able to keep his mythic rarity in his class if he evolved immediately upon reaching level 80? Thalion was running out of time and would grow more desperate with the passing time.

He still had his body-tempering, but would it be enough for a mythic class? Thalion was growing desperate, and the only path that would allow him to be relevant in the future was the power the outsiders offered.

They all landed a few hours later at his base; he only had a short time before nightfall. Most members went to the craftsmen to deliver the crystals and beast corpses.

Thalion was handed the bottles of blood they had gathered over the past two days, and he could already feel the anticipation of the sanguine thorn.

“How many did you get?” Thalion asked Lucan as he entered the smithy.

“I got you close to three hundred. Man, I can tell you, that was exhausting,” Lucan sighed, exhausted from the hard work.

“Great! That should be enough, and don’t worry—after tomorrow, we can get to the good stuff,” Thalion smiled, not sharing his fear. If this plan fails, he might even die.

“Yeah, I heard you gathered close to two hundred of those powerful wind crystals. I am looking forward to building some legendary items, maybe even a mythic one,” Lucan said with a grin.

“Me too, but before that, come along. It’s about to begin,” Thalion motioned for the smith to follow him as he exited the shop.

Next, he sent a message to Kaldrek, Maike, and the small family he had saved, instructing them to meet him in his chambers. It was time to reveal his plan.

“You want us to run around placing these cuffs on everyone who has joined this camp?” Maike asked in surprise and disbelief.

“Gather a few more helpers. The faster this goes, the better,” Thalion nodded, confirming that Maike was absolutly correct.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Kaldrek asked, looking worried. “Why do you even need so many credits?”

“I have some sort of a curse on me, and I need an item to break it,” Thalion told them. It wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t too far off. Outsiders were forbidden, so best if no one knew.

“We’ll help you,” Sachiko said confidently and even bowed before him.

“Great! Then let’s get this show on the road,” Thalion said with a grin, fully embracing this absolute crazy situation.

This was the moment that would change his future. If he messed up now, his journey to godhood could be over. Thalion took the master cuff to which all the other cuffs were bound and sent out a message for everyone to gather in half an hour at the open area in front of his building.

He didn’t have a gathering hall, but the space in front of his tower should be big enough to hold the 7,351 survivors who had joined his base for protection. The others had left to gather their friends to get this over with as quickly as possible.

If it worked, they would only need to lock the cuff around each person’s arm, and after the survivor accepted the enslavement, all their credits would be transferred to Thalion.

Afterward, they could open the cuff, which would automatically free the slave, and repeat the process. With this many cuffs, it shouldn’t take long to harvest all the credits.

Thalion sat down in meditation, preparing himself mentally while waiting for the survivors to gather. Michael and Garrick were helping organize everyone in the plaza, both still unsure who would be chosen to inherit the base after Thalion left for the higher stages. In 15 minutes, they had gathered everyone around the tall tower, which was Thalion’s home.

“Do you think he’ll announce that you’ll get the base?” one of Michael’s most loyal followers asked hopefully.

“It must be! Why else would he gather everyone?” Michael nodded with confidence. He couldnt wait any longer to become the leader of this base.

Michael looked to the side and saw Garrick watching the door with anticipation; he clearly thought the same thing. Before anyone could say anything, the door opened, and Thalion stepped out, radiating power.

He was still wearing his mask and slowly levitated a few meters into the air before speaking, his voice vibrating throughout the whole camp.

“Greetings, everyone! I have been informed that our chances of surviving the tutorial have dropped significantly,” Thalion began, his voice full of power and unbounded conviction.

“After the special quest is concluded, a being will appear strong enough to slay every single one of us without much effort,” Thalion announced with a loud voice emplefied by mana.

Many people still didn’t know what it would mean when Ankhet came back to life, so he wanted to use that to his advantage.

“But I have found a solution—a way for everyone to survive,” Thalion lied. He didn’t like it, but with this story he saw his best chances of everyone giving him their credits.

“An item of such immense power that it can slay Ankhet,” Thalion continued, “but I will need everyone’s credits to afford it. With the help of our greatest craftsman, we have found a way to transfer your credits to me.

This is our only way to survive the coming months. If you do not submit your credits, it is an attack on every one of us,” Thalion concluded in a sinister tone. He didn’t like that part either, but it was necessary to apply the pressure so no one would dare to just walk away.

Thalion motioned for Lucan and the others to start, who were standing at his side. He saw the shock on most people’s faces: some who hadn’t known about Ankhet, and others who couldn’t believe they had to give up all their credits.

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Garrick and Michael looked sick, but so far, no one had spoken up. Some flickered out of existence, probably teleporting to the next stage, but most just gave in. After a few minutes, Garrick offered his help, and soon after that, Michael joined as well, not wanting to lose to his rival. Both were talking about how important it was to give all the credits if it provided a way to defeat Ankhet.

Thalion didn’t need his title to know that many people disliked him at that moment, but as long as it worked, it would be fine. Thalion watched in disbelief as his credit score rose. He was now at over eighty million credits, and they still had more than half the people left. Some tried to sneak away, but Kaldrek’s men were on the lookout and quickly caught the survivors, taking their credits first.

“I don’t like this either. Believe me, this item will most likely just kill me when I use it,” Thalion said with a mana-infused voice to calm the people. It wasn’t far from the truth, as the ritual to summon an outsider had the potential to kill him. A few gasped in surprise at his words, and an hour later, it was over.

“Thank you for your noble contributions. In the past days, we have gathered many strong materials, and the craftsmen will gladly assist you with a weapon or armor,” Thalion finished and entered his tower again.

The people were shocked; they had lost every single credit they had gathered this week.

“This is bullshit,” one heavy warrior shouted after Thalion had left.

“Didn’t you hear? He’ll die using the item to save our lives,” another man replied.

Such discussions took place repeatedly as the crowd dispersed. Michael stared in disbelief at his status screen; all of his 200,000 credits were gone, and he had nothing to show for it.

He considered killing the man but thought better of it. Thalion could just shift to the next stage, and Michael wasn’t confident in taking him on alone. The power Thalion displayed was impressive for his level.

Michael was close to level 70 and wasn’t fully confident in taking Thalion down; with a bit of help, he was sure that Thalion would stand no chance. Perhaps it was time for an alliance, Michael thought as he glanced over at his rival Garrick, who seemed to have similar thoughts.

<–

“Do you think I can buy a beast in the system shop? Maybe something with wings,” Jack said, deep in thought.

“Maybe you can buy something even better—maybe an item to evolve the squid or a passive skill that can make it hover above the ground,” Josh answered, trying to find a way to help Jack.

Josh was exhausted. He had tried to find a flying beast for Jack, but they all flew away whenever he found one, and he couldn’t defeat a phantom-winged quetzalcoatl that was over seven levels above him as a grasshopper.

Jack had continued with his madness while Josh was gone. Some beasts thought the giant squid lying on the ground was already dead, which most of the time ended with Jack eating them. When larger beasts, or groups of beasts, arrived, Jack transformed into his human form and ran.

He still had some skills from his light warrior class and managed to escape with much difficulty. Most of the beasts he had killed and taken forms from were now added to his squid form. The giant squid now had a spiked tail coming out of the top of its head and the mane of a gray lion. Of course, he had instantly eaten them before Josh could take their forms.

Now they were in the middle of a field, waiting for the system shop to appear. Jack didn’t sit but instead stood on his tiny gazelle legs, which no one could see.

“That would be super cool, but I kind of don’t want to lose the original look,” Jack replied, also deep in thought.

“Okay, whatever. I don’t even want to know. How many credits do you have?” Josh asked, giving it up. He had tried so hard to get Jack wings or a new creature so that he finally got rid of the squid, and now Jack was talking about keeping the original look. It was just enough for Josh after such a hard day.

“Close to 150,000,” Jack proudly replied.

“That could be enough to buy stronger items,” Josh shrugged, not really caring anymore. The item Jack would buy would be something extremely useless—he was sure of it.

<–

Steven had a hard week. The undead were attacking every day with an almost endless supply of turned beasts. The good thing was they leveled up fast; the bad was that they lost soldiers quickly and would soon be overrun.

Thorwald and his men couldn’t scout far ahead, as after a few hundred meters, they were attacked. Flying was also not an option since the vampires could easily fight in the air, too. This left them stuck in the fortress for the whole week, defending against wave after wave of enemies.

At least Steven was close to level 80 now, but he wouldn’t trigger the evolution yet. Their only way out was paying 150,000 credits to advance to the next stage, hoping it would be easier there.

Steven and Thorwald only stayed to keep as many people alive as possible, but with every man they lost, defending against the vampires became harder and harder.

Steven had already lost half of his men, and only a quarter had enough credits to advance to the next stage. He had more than enough credits himself, but he was not sure what he should invest in.

He couldn’t get better armor or weapons; legendary was the best rarity available in the system shop. Here and there, a few mythic weapons appeared, but they weren’t worth the price. In the last system shop, he had bought flying vessels, but the vampires destroyed them when they tried to escape.

The best investment was probably stronger defenses, but he hadn’t figured out what the vampires were planning since they could have bought some of those wallbreakers in the last system shop. It didn’t even look like they wanted to win that badly.

Over the week, they had only managed to kill ten vampires; they were extremely difficult to kill and didn’t take any risks in the fight. The sound of an alarm brought him back to reality, and his eyes widened when he saw how many undead there were.

The vampires wanted to end it before the system shop opened to gain as many credits as possible or force them to teleport to the next stage. It was likely that they wouldn’t be grouped together like last time when they ascended, as he hadn’t had enough time to prepare for group teleportation.

It was crucial that they held the line for as long as possible. Even if they lost, it was vital to allow as many humans as possible to ascend to the next stage. Many of his warriors were close to the threshold of 150,000 credits after all.

The undead came from all sides, and the mages had already begun shooting spells at the attackers. Steven watched the battle unfold. This time, the vampires had brought shield arrays with them, and most likely some items to destroy the wall.

Steven summoned his wings—time to get some experience and credits before moving on to the next stage. More and more undead poured out of the jungle, with even more vampires. The defenses wouldn’t hold for long.

The moment he left the protection of the shield, multiple vampires attacked him. They launched numerous blood skills at him, but he blocked them with his shield. The power of their attacks stopped his descent and even pushed him a few meters back.

These were the strong vampire warriors, and this would be more difficult than he had initially thought. The vampires were able to use the blood of the fallen to heal themselves or for skills, and there were a lot of dead beasts lying on the ground. The onslaught didn’t stop; even with hundreds of undead beasts already dead, they kept storming out of the jungle undergrowth.

Vampires gathered the blood and launched spears over four meters long at him. Steven dove straight to the ground, piercing the head of a beast with his lance. He activated his fire skill, and white flames shot out of his lance, burning all beasts within forty meters in front of him.

Soon, a wave of blood pushed against his fire and eventually overpowered it completely. He activated his wings to avoid getting hit by the flood, which could have meant his end. The rivers of blood radiated immense power, and any beast that stood in its path was completely crushed.

As he shot up, Steven saw over thirty vampires descending from the sky. It was already night, and he hadn’t spotted them at the beginning of the fight. They had bat-like wings emerging from their backs, long claws, and glowing red eyes.

The first one crashed into Steven, who managed to get his shield in the way at the last second. The vampire’s claws and fangs began to glow red as it tried to bite and slash through his armor. Steven stored his weapons in his spatial ring, completely ignored the vampire’s claws, grabbed its neck, and headbutted it, cracking its head open. Steven didn’t have time to finish off the vampire, as the next one crashed into him from behind.

This vampire grabbed his helmet and began twisting it. There were no weak points in his armor, so the vampire had no other choice if it didn’t want to break it open. Assassinating him with a single attack was almost impossible, but before Steven could grab the vampire’s hands, another one slammed into him, ripping out one of his light wings.

Steven panicked and paid the 150,000 credits to teleport to the next stage. He arrived in an African savanna with giant beasts and even dinosaurs roaming it. He quickly retracted his aura and ended his lightning skill, which had been boosting him.

Before he had time to observe the area he had arrived in, the two vampires that had grabbed him before reappeared two meters in front of him. Damn, they must have teleported too—but he should be able to handle these two.

Then the vampires did something he hadn’t anticipated. They screamed. It was loud and high pitched, like an alien creature, and the air around them vibrated. Were they calling for help? How many vampires could be out here in the fifth stage? Steven thought, panic rising.

He summoned his light wings again, activated the speed boost, and shot away from the vampires. He wouldn’t risk a fight if the vampires could get reinforcement. Steven was confident in escaping the vampires; in the long run, he got many treasures that would refill his stamina and mana pool fully.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep