Chapter 110: Unstable Climate
Chapter 110: Unstable Climate
The heroes would be happy to see that there were quests for them in the morning, and Kalli would be glad to see the number of those strangely glowing monsters begin to drop.
They were gathering in larger groups than they had half a day ago, and that was becoming concerning.
If they became too large of a cohesive force, they wouldn’t be able to deal with them as a quest target anymore. The heroes would lack the manpower to do it within the proscribed group sizes, and the monsters would become a real threat to their new fortifications.
But first, they needed to send a test group to make sure that the strange monsters didn’t have any sort of special abilities that might take a team by surprise.
A test group with a very good healer.
Night watch ended with the sky showing little sign of brightening, and the solar panels of the Academy bathed in darkness. Their power draw was sure to struggle, but the temperature had climbed back up to a relatively comfortable twenty-five degrees.
Tolerable in the shade, if it wasn’t for the ash.
Which was still falling, but not as heavily as before. And now the wind was beginning to pick up, which Kalli hoped would blow the ash clouds away by the end of the day, and end their constant state of cleaning.
The mages were doing most of it now that the rate was slower, but the warriors plowed the areas outside the walls, keeping as much of the area clear as possible, while the construction teams worked incessantly to fortify the perimeter wall.
A wall that was quickly becoming a properly impregnable fortress on its own.
The original intention was to make it three metres tall, as that only needed them to clear the row around the tubers, and a ditch on the other side. It would be tall enough for most monster attacks, and short enough that even if they jumped over it, they weren’t likely to hurt themselves too badly.
At least, not the warriors.
But once they had started to clear the whole area between the wall and the Academy, they had started piling more on top of the three-metre concrete wall, bringing it closer to five metres tall, nearly matching the walls of the Academy itself, but thicker.
The concrete team had made one full pass, and they were starting over again, adding the second layer to the walls. But this time, they were doing it differently.
Instead of a thick concrete wall, as they had done at the base, they were only making a metre thick section this time, saving some materials, but they were digging up soil from the outside of the wall, making the moat deeper, and transplanting that soil to the top of the wall to add more tubers.
Soon, Marimgar would be the town best known for tubers.
There was no way that these weren’t going to become their hallmark crop when they had two rings of them around most of the city, entire fields of them established inside the outer wall, and no other major crops.
Sure, there were some herb and spice plants that the kitchen staff had managed to shelter and save in the Academy grounds, but they weren’t primary food crops. They were seasonings.
"Who is going out for the first hunting mission? I recommend that we send only one or two teams first, so we know if we have to adjust the composition," Kalli suggested as the first few people entered her office after morning shift change.
"It’s a ten-person quest, so we’ve got some flexibility anyhow. Most of the time we’re already bringing a pretty good mix. The only group that’s usually lopsided is Esmeralda and the special forces team," Reggie reminded her.
Ivan, Niall’s cousin, nodded in agreement. "We already adjusted teams to account for the influx of rogues as well. Most of us were rearranged into the Navy groups, but we will have to do some stress testing, since they’re not used to working as a combined team yet.
So, it’s five sailors with five from the bunker, sometimes four if they picked up one who was here earlier."
"Alright. Go on and try your luck with the kill quest. Just don’t get too far apart until we know for certain what these things are capable of.
The System called them [Magma Corrupted Monsters], so they might have fire or earth magic."
The team leaders nodded. "We’re expecting them to be worse than what we’ve faced before. But we need to get our levels up. Sanchez has been on everyone’s ass about it, only the dungeon doesn’t do a whole lot for those of us who are level four already.
The only part that has us concerned is that some of the teams are heavy on the level one heroes, after their rebirths. That’s just the way that it worked out, as people already had their preferred teams.
But we will need to be careful with them."
"Alright. As long as they’re still doing the quest for extreme exertion, it should be fine. The stronger the base physique, the better that the heroes will get with levels. You all know that already.
I will be here with tea and snacks when you’ve completed the missions for the day."
The first teams were just stepping out of her office when Kalli heard a peal of thunder, and then the patter of soft rain on the ground outside.
That was their timer to clean expiring. Any of the ash that hadn’t been cleaned was going to solidify into something that was close to rock as the water soaked it and increased the weight, while driving the trapped air out.
After this, all the cleanup would become infinitely more difficult.
But if it lasted long enough to clear the sky, the rain would also help rinse the ash from the buildings, which only had a thin dusting on them. It would also cut down on some of the choking ash in the air, letting them work without masks on.