Cole still had a few things to check before he stepped out of the glade. He noticed that the glade seemed to have some sort of passive healing effect as Gregory, or Xerxes99 as he wanted to be called had his tongue regrown. Cole was finally able to remember his name after all, never the less it was just him, Xerxes and Farida who were inhabitants of the glade…. Perhaps it was time to put his antisocial tendencies to the side.
With the three months out in the real world, the time dilation now in effect would enable it that they would be playing for almost if not over a year and a half. And within that time, quite a lot of things can happen, especially in regards to growth from his abilities, and for the glade. Territory management was a part of the Titan Rising Online, but very few people ever get the chance to explore it.
And since he now had assets that could and would be considered property, he wanted to get a little insight into the management aspect of the game. As it stands he couldn't even manage his own assets and wealth, which was an oversight he had to quickly rectify before shit got weird. After smoothing things over (plot to kill Gregory another day or in the next floor) they would decide the next step to take.
Gregory immediately got on guard the moment Cole got a little closer…. And rightly so. But Cole raised his hands up, slightly huffing in annoyance as both Farida and Xerxes99 were still a bit taller than he was. He shook his head, reorienting himself back to the task at hand.
"Have you guys looked through the system prompts?" he asked, but it was more a statement than a question. Farida huffed, glaring at him.
"Yeah we did! So? Now you want to team up? Guess you don't have any other choice now but to play nice you insufferable jerk!" Farida yelled at him then pushed him. Cole moved to the side, letting her stumble pass him as she whirled around to look at him, rage etched all over her features. Cole narrowed his eyes, took one look at her then Gregory before turning around and walking up to the closet pillar around him.
"I think you might have made a big mistake." Cole heard Xerxes say behind him as Farida winced. But Cole new she would not be calling him back. She was a woman, and not that it meant anything but…. Farida looks like the kind that would allow the world end ten times over before she apologizes.
And truthfully Cole knew he pretty much deserved to be called all those names. But he could not even bring himself to care, nobody gets to talk to him like that even though he really does deserve it. He shook his head, feeling the locks of hair that now fell down to his back, and the horns that had already poked out of his forehead and grown out, slowly curving upwards…. For a moment Cole mused.
"Am I hell boy?"
Apart from the fact that he was leaner, and shorter, and his skin tone was a pitch black with flecks of silver and white over his body… like freckles. And he had scales as opposed to hellboy with his smooth red skin. But In the end there were both badass gun toting demons with horns and a tail….. And they pretty much had the whole kick ass and take names routine down, or was it the other way around.
Cole got in front of the pillar and took a closer look at it. It was made of some sort of faded ivory, in fact it looked more like a giant tusk or fang stabbed into the ground. Cole looked around the glade again, it didn't look like the dentures of some creature, not unless you were a sandworm from dune, missing a couple hundred teeth. Or Charybdis from Greek mythology...
Cole shuddered. It would probably be for the best if he spent less time on or in this bloody glade… for safety reasons of course. The pillar had etchings on it that were dully glowing to Cole's eyes. He nodded to himself and placed a hand on it, interfacing with the pillar immediately.
· GLADE: [Solitude] RANK: [Bronze I] TYPE: [N/A] MAYOR: [N/A]
· CLASS: [N/A] ENERGY: [1000/1000] GLADE POINTS: 0/10
· STATS: [Attack: Bronze I(0/10)] [Defense: Bronze I(0/10)] [Production: Bronze I(0/10)]
· SKILLS: [Attack:] [Defense: (Passive Health Regeneration)] [Production:]
· RESOURCES: [WOOD: 0] [STONE: 0] [ORE: 0] [MAGIC CORES: 0] [PRISMS: 0BR/0IR/0SI/0GL/0DI]
· UPGRADE REQUIREMENTS: [1000 Stone] [1000 wood] [50 Magic Cores] [10 Bronze Prisms]
· TOP 5 CONTRIBUTORS:
That was just it, there was nothing else in the management menu about a cradle. Cole was not sure that was even an option on this floor. The glade already had a passive regeneration skill, and he had seen Xerxes get his tongue healed in minutes just from that alone. But ultimately he was a bit worried about one simple fact…. How in the hell were they supposed to gather all the things needed…. It would take forever.
[As you have interfaced with the glade's management system, you have been given 1 24hour Bronze Rank mining Pick/ 1 24hour Bronze Rank Lumber Axe/ 20 Inventory Slots/ 1 Bronze Rank 24 Hour Resource Compass!]
[Tools Will Be Reissued Every 36 Hours from the Glade Pillars]
And that was that. Cole pretty much got the idea of what he was dealing with. It was sheer hypothesis at this point, but perhaps there would be more options available the higher rank they get the glade to. Then the resource gathering tools were only for 24 hours and will only be reissued after 36 hours, which means there was a 12 hour period in between that one would use to either rest or hunt.
He turned around and met Farida's eyes, then he decisively logged off right by the pillar. He didn't have much time out since time ran faster now within this floor than it does in the outside world. And he no longer had access to Morgan, it would be best to leave a message behind before moving on to any other thing.
Cole didn't waste too much time and did exactly as he wanted to. He left a message for his grandmother through Morgan, and since Morgan would be unable to have any sort of access to him at the moment, it would be better for her to leave any other message with him the next time he logs off.
With that done, he headed straight to bathroom to take a quick shower, take a dump, before eating a very nutritious meal. Cole would not be logging out for another three days, which pretty much meant that he would be online in game time for over two weeks. That should give him enough time to get things in order and handle what the third floor had to offer.
He logged back in, he reappeared in the glade, but it was not the way he left it. There were at least 6 more people present here, and one of them was severely mauled, Cole had been gone for a few hours, but even he knew that perhaps this person had stepped out into the forest without being prepared.
Cole took one good look at the person screaming in pain with Farida and Xerxes99 holding him down in an attempt to calm as the glade worked its healing magic. Unlike the regrowth of Xerxes99's tongue, it was taking a bit longer to shove a person's intestines back into their body and close up the chewed up space over his heart. Cole really wondered how the man had survived.
Cole marched towards the edge of the glade, Farida and Xerxes noticed him, but before they could say anything to him, he had rushed out into the gloom of the extremely massive forest. He wanted to go far, but the he realized something. He had been ambushed not too far away from the glade, the trees around it were what acted as cover for the darklings that attacked… these trees need to be cleared.
Coke suddenly ducked, a darkling flew over his head screeching bloody murder as it scrambled over the ground. Cole pulled out Black Malaki, grateful; at least that his most favored weapon was still with him. Something slammed into his back, too quick for him to follow and pay attention to, sending him right to the waiting arms of the darkling that had first tried to take his head.
[Shadow Dance]
Cole vanished, showing up behind the darkling that had pushed him and slashed through its neck, taking off its entire head as he ignored the burning pain coming from his back. The Darkling turned to dust, leaving behind it mana core and a bronze prism as Cole flicked his sword, slashing from the bottom up to divide the next darkling in half from weird groin to skull.
[Basic Critterling Darkling Slayed X2 +200 Exp, +2 Mana Core, +1 bronze prism]
Cole crouched down and gave the dark forest a wary look, from his position he could count at least 20 yellow darkling eyes peering at him from the shadows. Then he realized that perhaps it was not the wood or the stone they were supposed to gather first, but rather the magic core and prism. He chuckled as he flicked his sword left and right.
"Well what are you guy waiting for? I'm right here."
*Scriririririririri!*
"Yeah…. Fuck you too!"
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