Chapter 334: Floating Island Defense

For something so vital, it looked so fragile out there in the open. If an enemy arrived right now, they could simply sprint straight for it and pluck it right off his Floating Island.

...But maybe that’s not such a bad thing, Uhtred thought.

He pulled up the System notice log again to re-read the competition rules. A particular section immediately caught his eye:

"Your Floating Island serves as your base and the sanctuary where your Race Shard is anchored. Under normal conditions, your Race Shard is bound to your island and cannot be removed or carried on your person. To invade another Champion’s territory or wage war, you must navigate your Floating Island to their location. Only if your shard is stolen by an enemy does it unbind, allowing it to be carried freely."

That last part of the rule was the vital point. In theory, didn’t that mean he could simply allow someone to steal his Race Shard, but then retrieve it immediately after?

It would grant him the freedom to move around with it as he pleased. Uhtred found that more freeing compared to having to defend it at a fixed spot.

Of course, it wasn’t like Uhtred was scared of attacks on his Floating Island — if anything, he even looked forward to it. But having to defend a spot felt less like the true fight he wanted and instead, like...

"...A tower defense," Uhtred muttered, his brow raising slightly. This Floating Island setup reminded him of tower defense games from pre-integration Earth:

"Prevent the enemy from reaching your base," Uhtred muttered. "That’s kinda what this is. The shard is my base and I am the defending force. The only thing missing are weapons to help me defend better..."

He chuckled lightly, shaking his head. His mood had improved dramatically compared to just minutes ago when he was still in that capital city — the detours he’d had to take because of Eifrith and Elion’s intervention in his journey. And also, the double-guessing, constant motive-analysis from his own side.

While I won’t say there was no benefit to the detours, I’m glad that’s over...

Uhtred would’ve liked to say he hoped never to see either Elf again, but he was sure he was going to see them again.

If nothing else, Eifrith Ra’Elis would definitely track him down — he hadn’t exactly given her a straight answer to her delusional request, after all. And with Elion Silverwood, they still had that duel he’d promised...

Uhtred shook his head, waving away thoughts about both Elves. Thinking any more about them would give him a headache. Instead, he took the time to survey the expanse of his Floating Island.

The island was about ten miles across, from end to end — which wasn’t particularly large, but still enough that any invading enemy wouldn’t be able to drop in and instantly grab his shard.

"Still, the window is tight. Against the Champions I’ll face, there’ll only be a few seconds to react before they make a beeline for the shard," Uhtred muttered. "Which means my first line of defense comes down to how quickly I can spot an incoming island."

A ten mile radius was kind of wide, but not enough that he would have blind spots watching over it. Provided he had a high enough vantage point, he could easily monitor every part of his island while also keeping an eye out for approaching enemy islands.

"But that’s the thing... This place doesn’t have any high vantage point," Uhtred muttered to himself, shaking his head.

His hovering Race Shard sat somewhat elevated, but Uhtred couldn’t exactly stand on top of it...

...Or can I?

He walked over to the shard to see it up close. It was small — just about the size of a human palm. Even if its hovering strength could bear his weight, the image of him standing on it just didn’t sit right with him.

He moved closer, activating his Gnostic Eye to observe it more carefully.

Hmm. Besides being my Race Shard, this thing is also powering the entire island and creating this dense essence mist all around too...

Uhtred raised a brow in surprise. For something so small, the Race Shard was actually an immense power source. The essence packed within it was insane.

I wonder if I can take it back to Earth. It must be worth at least... twenty to fifty million Multiversal Tokens!

Uhtred could already imagine the Grotto Heaven he could use the shard to create back home.

Just as he was entertaining thoughts of taking the shard with him when he returned to Earth, he stepped a bit closer, crossing into a threshold that he immediately felt.

In an instant, several panels popped up in his view, taking him by surprise.

"Ah? I knew it! This is basically a tower defense game!"

On the right side of his vision were several panels containing items — battlements, weapons, physical structures — almost like the kind of items usually seen in the System Multiversal Store, except to a lesser scale. Meanwhile, on the right side, were controls for the entire Floating Island.

Those controls moved along with him, even as he stepped out of the threshold he’d crossed.

Uhtred walked back further, testing how close he needed to be to the shard to control his Floating Island. And it turned out, there was basically no restriction on distance. Getting into close proximity the first time was just to unlock the control function.

The store function on the other hand, had a limited range. Uhtred had to be within about seven hundred to a thousand meters (2300 to 3300 ft) to use the store function.

He filed that information away, then immediately moved to browsing what he could purchase. There was a whole lot of good stuff available — enough that Uhtred could turn his island into a freaking war fortress... if he could afford it.

"Damn. Scenario Points? I have to spend my hard-earned Scenario points if I want to buy anything?" Uhtred hissed.

He pulled up the Scenario Leaderboard to check his current total points:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Rank No: 36

Name: Uhtred

Race: Human

Scenario Points: 21,019

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Oh? My points and rank have both increased?

From his previous Rank 40, he’d moved up to Rank 36. And more importantly, he had gained an additional 5000 points.

That’s definitely because of that title I gained for declaring myself in the competition without the aid of a proxy: Untethered Champion.

Still, this isn’t nearly enough to buy any of the good stuff.

Uhtred had gained an extra 5000 points, taking his total Scenario points to 21,019, but the prices of most of the things available in the store weren’t cheap.

There was a Plasma and Frost Cannon going for 20,000 Scenario points. Apparently, it could fire up to an insane rate of a hundred plasma or frost spells per second.

From its description, each spell on its own wasn’t enough to injure a Nascent Realm ascender. But the sheer number of spells per second would do the job. It was both an effective attack and defense weapon, showering an enemy with hundreds of spells every second from an effective range of five miles!

There were several such weapons listed in the store. Similar cannons powered by other elements. Entirely different weapons, some with an Area of Effect attack to slow down enemies. Properly positioned, they could make reaching a Champion’s shard nearly impossible.