Frostbound

Chapter 287 - Assessment Results

Chris

It was well into the night before the bodies in need of gathering ran out. There were more than I cared to count but I knew someone already had. That someone had been pacing around waiting for me to call upon her.

I didn't want to.

I really didn't want to.

But I had to.

"Sophia," I called.

She perked up and stopped her pacing to come bounding over. Her eyes were tired, and I knew she hadn't slept in a while. Her Endurance wasn't the same as mine and she needed more rest than I did.

Hell, I needed rest after the day I had, but I just couldn't bring myself to lie down. I didn't want to leave my mind alone to remember.

"How many?" I said.

"My Lord," I didn't even have the energy to groan, let alone correct her, "The Healers have stabilized who they can and the casualties should not increase. With that, I can report of the 841 who marched South, 315 were killed in action. A further 287 were seriously wounded, with the rest either moderately wounded or lightly wounded.

"246 have lost either one or more limbs and require extensive further healing, but the most worrying thing right now is infection," Sophia reported.

"Infection?" I asked. While people still occasionally got sick, those with enough levels behind them rarely did. I hadn't been sick since the Change, my Fortitude enough to ward away disease and my Vitality enough to kill off anything that got by.

"Yes, the Healers are saying that the Orc Blood isn't only corruptive, but can cause infection if left untreated. Many who ingested it or otherwise had it enter their bloodstream are growing sick quickly.

"Now that the worst of the wounded are either out of the woods, or..." she paused, leaving the 'or dead' part unsaid, "The Healers are turning their focus to the infection."

"Is it serious?" I asked.

"Yes, some have already died because of it." She sadly informed.

"So it's fatal?" That didn't sound good. Nearly everybody got the Blood on them. Hell, I got covered in it.

"Only for the most susceptible. Those with heavy wounds or those at their healing limit can't fight it off as well as others." She said.

My thoughts sped up for a moment. "Is it spreading? Do we need to quarantine people?"

This was obviously a magical disease and I was unsure of the protocols of what we had to do. This was a first for us.

"The Healers say they have it handled, but it will take a little while to address," Sophia said.

That's good news.

One of the few good things to come out of this 'test', was the cooperation of Healers. Nearly every Healer, regardless of Faction affiliation, came together to help as much as they could.

It didn't matter if someone was from their Faction or not, they did what they could to heal them. Most were in the medical field Before and carried that practice over, but some weren't and did so anyway without being prompted.

That cooperation led to a large company of Healers working together and with that much manpower behind it, I could rest without worrying about the disease.

Another, well, it was hard to say positive thing, but with most of the deaths being not healers, the ratio of healers and patients dramatically changed. Our Faction alone had under 15% Healers. That number was closer to 25% now.

"Alright, Sophia, is anything else pressing?" My eyes were drooping and I knew I wouldn't be able to put off sleep again. It was calling and I had to answer.

"Nothing that can't wait." She said thankfully.

"Good, I'll catch up with you in the morning."

We turned our separate ways and I mused over what she had said. 315. Over three hundred of our people were dead. We had yet to get an overall death count, but that was bound to easily be in the tens of thousands, maybe even in the hundred thousand.

From the whispers I picked up and the initial estimates while I was walking through the dead, Factions were expecting 50%.

That made our under 40% good, but I couldn't bring myself to feel that way.

Laying down, I fought away the plaguing images by going over what I had to do the next day. Sophia would be first, as I needed to pick up the responsibilities of leading. Abigail would be next, to take stock of my family.

Marcus at some point, to see how he and his fared.

Then make preparations to leave. I missed Home.

It would take months to get back without the boats, but I kind of liked that part. No fighting, no battles, nothing except clean air and nature.

It felt right.

Then, once we got back, crafting. Crafting like mad.

Maybe I can tinker along the way?

Ding!

The chime of a notification drew me from my slumber and I jumped up into a fighting stance at the alert. My blanket went flying and my bed smashed to pieces at the sudden force.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Looking around and seeing nothing coming for me, I relaxed slightly.

I'm a bit jumpy.

I knew what it was. There could only be one thing it could be. I hadn't killed anything and I hadn't upgraded a skill or increased a Law. Well, it could be a notification telling me my City was lost, but there was something a lot more probable instead.

~~

E-Rank Planetary Protections Assessment Complete!

Results: 12 of 13 Obelisks had successful Defenses! Success conditions exceeded! Planetary Protections against beings and Factions above E-rank will continue.

Rewards: Defenders and Factions who participated in the Assessment will be able to redeem their rewards anytime for the next planetary rotation.

Congratulations on your achievement! May your spirit never be extinguished.

~~

Yeah, it was what I thought it was.

After reading the notification, a timer popped up behind it.

23:56:04

Great, one day to decide on what I need. From the way it was worded, I had individual rewards waiting for me along with Faction rewards. Since I was the head of our Faction, I had to choose those as well.

One obvious thing was Frost Giant parts. That was non-negotiable. Other than time to level my Profession, that was the last thing I needed to reach D-rank.

That was assuming Frost Giant parts were available, but I liked to think they were. The only other time we'd experienced Rewards, the options were endless. The Tutorial Reward Store had nearly anything I could imagine.

If this was anything like that, Frost Giant parts would be the least of my worries. It only mattered if I could afford them.

I liked to think I did a lot and earned enough 'contribution' for plenty of purchasing power, but I wasn't sure how it all worked. No one was for that matter.

For all I knew, this 'Assessment' wasn't worth much and even if I Defended against the Orcs single-handedly, I wouldn't gain much.

Now you're just being a pessimist, I thought. The difficulty was so high thousands died.

I didn't instantly dive into the rewards as I wanted to talk to Abigail and Sophia first. Abigail because she would want to do the same thing as before and assign certain things for people to buy to help out the whole.

She would especially want input on what I picked for our Faction's rewards.

Maybe we should coordinate with Marcus, so we don't end up getting the same thing?

People would undoubtedly pick what was best for themselves, that much was obvious, but we could stretch our Rewards further by coordinating together. Instead of everyone with a Water Affinity buying a technique separately, wasting all of their points, one person buying it and sharing would allow for more things to be purchased.

That was asking for a lot, and people would have to trust others to keep their word. Most wouldn't be willing to put something so important in someone else's hands, but we could still try.

Those in the Order would participate. They'd already received gains from this method as the techniques they used to Refine their Bodies were from sharing our Tutorial Rewards.

I can have Abigail and Sophia head that effort. They have just under 24 hours to organize it which should be more than enough time.

What came to mind after Frost Giant parts was Runes. Runes were something I needed to expand my Profession. I knew some, most were Protection or Durability Runes, but I could always use more.

The only problem was it felt like a waste to use my Reward on that. Eventually, with our pylons upgrading and building a Marketplace/Trading Hall, I believed we'd reach other Planets for our Store.

Runes, while not as trivial as raw materials, was still something I believed I could eventually buy through my pylon.

Rewards through the System itself were rare. It felt wasteful to use the rare chance on something I could purchase somewhere else.

The materials from the Tutorial Reward Store were different, as we needed those for immediate survival. Now, our City was set up and people were thriving. Immediate safety wasn't that big of a concern.

"Owww," The pain of moving so abruptly caught up and racked my body. Reading over the notification and thinking over my initial thoughts didn't take long and now it was catching up to me.

I knew my body would be in pain but this was something else. It was nearly as bad as after the Demons and I'd been blown up then! Having everything ache, hurt, or otherwise cause me pain was a repeating affair I wasn't proud of.

"Chris! You need to get out here!" A worried shout for my attention dragged me away from the pain.

I still wasn't clothed, as I fell face first into bed wearing the same destroyed armor as before. Abigail had washed me off with her water after the fight, luckily, but I still hadn't had the effort to change into something else.

My chest was still bare and the armor covering my legs was in pieces, but I ran out of my tent anyway. I felt for my hammer but remembered it was gone.

As I exited, Ice flared, and with [Ice Manipulation] now at Rare, it was faster and smoother than ever before.

I went with an axe this time, as it didn't sound like I had the time to harden it sufficiently to make a hammer.

"What?! What is it?! Are we under attack?!" I yelled as I painfully rushed toward where the shouting came from.

I knew Wars would break out, but I hadn't thought people were so despicable to start right after what happened! That was more than just dishonorable to hit someone while their down.

[Frozen Patchwork] was still active, as my wounds were still in need of healing, but I prepared myself to do battle as best I could. The thought of using [Fury] or other boosting skills physically pained me and I knew it would be a bad idea.

Still, if it was required, I'd pay the consequences.

Not being able to see a Healer left the wounds covering me black and raw, but I had nearly a full mana pool now even if my body wasn't in the best of shape. My Anchor was still aching and my Spirit wasn't fully back, but I had enough.

I was ready to activate [Glacial Heavy Plate], but instead of seeing people rushing to prepare for battle, I saw people clustered around staring toward the Obelisk.

Our camp was empty of everyone of fighting capability and they were instead grouping up around what was left of the Wall, trying to look over one another to get a better view of something.

None were hastily putting on armor or reaching for weapons.

People were staring with curiosity, not wariness.

Seeing that there wasn't an immediate threat, I noticed that the sun was up rather high in the sky. I usually awoke near sunrise but I'd overslept by a few hours apparently.

It was near noon by my estimation. Without a handy timer to keep track, we were back with sun approximations. No one had seen it a priority to get watches working again.

It was Abigail who had called for me. Somehow looking a lot more put together than the day before, but even she was staring in the same direction as everyone else.

People were noticeably trying not to crowd around her and I was able to push through rather easily. We were still in our Faction's section after all and most were scared of me.

I stepped up next to her to look at what all the excitement was about and saw... what the fuck?

Without the smoke of battle or the weather to block out the sun, clear sight of the Obelisk from the destroyed Wall was restored. Every tree between the two had been chopped down even before the battle.

There, at the base of the Obelisk, people were exiting. Nearly the same way as the Orcs were disgorged from not even a day prior.

Seeing people exit the Obelisk, I was ready to yell out a call to arms, but something stopped me. Instinct or a gut reaction, I wasn't sure, but I felt like another battle wasn't imminent.

By the fact no attacks were launched and no arrows or spells were flying through the air, I wasn't alone in that assessment as other Factions flocked to the surprise similar to how we had.

A flash of light and a limping Austin appeared next to me. He was still nursing similar injuries to my own and only one hand grasping his backup spear.

His eyes flashed and faint wings unfurled behind him as he drew on his Bloodline.

"That's a fucking Dwarf. And that's an Elf!"

My eyes saw their forms, but I couldn't see clearly enough to declare what Race they were, but Austin definitely could.

"But why are they blue?"