150. Development - 45

Name:Godfather's System Author:
150. Development - 45

When I checked my interface, I was met with an unexpected sight.

[Experience (0/106,305,696)]

For once, my reaction wasn't caused by the exponential growth of the required experience, rather the opposite. I was absolutely sure that, when I last checked my leveling requirements, it was just above a hundred and eighteen million.

A drop of ten percent.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

Curious.

I was pretty confident that this was about Authority rather than anything else. Curious, I tried to use my mental touch to somehow reach Authority and see if I could expand it further. But I didn't expect much. I had tried that trick before, and it hadn't worked.

However, as I attempted, a frown covered my face. I had failed once again, but this time, it felt different. The last time, it felt like I was trying to tap a wall and waiting for a response. There was nothing to be addressed.

This time, I felt like I was trying to play with a poorly maintained toy. There was a button that could be pressed, but it was jammed, not giving in despite the pressure. No matter how much I pressed, the feedback was barely enough to feel imaginary.

I knew too much to assume it was imaginary. Nonetheless, I stopped playing with it.

I had a siege to attend.

[Level up!]

[Stat Points +10]

[-106,305,696 Experience]

Another level gained, just like that.

As I moved out, my gaze fell on the wall, particularly a portion that held some old weapons, either belonging to older generations of Maell or trophies from enemies, though their magic nature was clear even from the other side of the ward that protected them.

I didn't take anything yet, but I took note of the spear on the wall.

Since I was planning to visit the area again for more levels, I didn't waste my time examining the arsenal. I avoided the dungeon as )I left, not giving the key back to the Baron.

Before returning to the outer walls, I made a couple of stops. First, a small detour by Karak and Limenta in order to confirm that they were in good condition and didn't need a rest. Both of them had the habit of pushing themselves too much.

Normally, I would be in favor of letting them make their mistake and suffer the pain which was the greatest teacher nobody wanted and everyone needed but the current siege was too dangerous.

The line between being strict and cruel wasn't thin enough to leave any doubt about the right move in these circumstances.

I found them on a roof, silent not exactly shocking, considering Karak was one of the parties. Limenta was laying on the ground, resting, while Karak was perched on the roof, carefully watching the streets. They stayed like that for half a minute more, then Karak stood up.

Limenta followed wordlessly. They moved to their next observation point, careful, steady, and without hurrying up. Just like I had taught.

I was proud.

It was an interesting balance. The first trick was the blows. For the last few hits, I deliberately kept my Strength controlled, trying to give a listless impression as far as one could give while still bisecting monsters with one blow.

As I returned to the walls, I kept my glowing sword raised, earning endless cheers from the soldiers. However, at the same time, I made sure to add a few subtle missteps, the kind that required a high Perception fifty, or even higher based on their location to catch.

They had a whole army. It was fair to assume their commander had at least one person with high Perception, tasked to observe me. I wanted them to convey that, whatever empowered me had a time limit, ultimately making me an easy adversary for an army of their size.

If they didn't believe me well, it wouldn't matter much. Not like I was making a huge sacrifice. Slowing down Authority gain was the only real drawback that I cared about, but it was a good tradeoff to make the enemy think I wasn't as big of a threat as they might think.

Therefore they didn't need to hurry up with their plan.

Once I arrived at the walls, I took a bow once more and joined the attack, but also moved around the different sections, making sure everyone could catch a glimpse of me.

Keeping their confidence up was important.

With that, things had turned into a deadly routine, monsters attacked the town while I continued to collect a shocking amount of Experience and Authority. Occasionally, they sent summoned beasts against the town, but only one at a time.

At the same time, I took several breaks, visiting the leveling ward, reaching level fifty-two.

An incredible progress, further helped by the fact that, once Authority had surpassed a thousand, my leveling cost dropped by another nine percent.

Almost two hours later, Takis arrived at my side, kneeling in greeting. I didn't like being treated like that, but the role I played wouldn't have minded, so I kept my mouth shut. Still, I gestured for him to stand up after a second.

"The evacuation is complete, sir, and everyone is temporarily placed in the inner town, and the security around the dungeon is not allowing anyone to approach."

"Very good," I said as I looked around. "Now, tell me. How would you have organized a retreat from outer walls to inner walls?"

"I wouldn't presume to " he started, but a gesture from me was enough to stop him.

"I asked because I want to hear your ideas, not pointless postulating," I said. A little harsher than usual, but he reacted better.

His attitude made a great contrast to our last discussion, but it was understandable. Those times, I was disguised as a steward who had been sent to handle the aftermath, which, while still above where Takis saw himself, was not high enough that he would be afraid of his every word. Not like a high-ranking knight certainly not one that earned declarations of loyalty from other nobles in the middle of a town.

And, I doubted the glowing armor helped any. It was certainly far more intimidating than an affable old man joking around.

Still, once he pulled a detailed map of the town, his nervousness melted away. He looked at me again, asking for permission, and I nodded. "First, we need to factor in the shape of the main roads and the buildings. These three roads are the biggest avenues to pull back soldiers in an emergency, to prevent a bottleneck, we might need to demolish some buildings" he started.

I continued to shoot arrows as he explained, though I did ask a few questions about some thorny details, some to remind him about important details that he had missed, some just to show him I was listening carefully.

"Pause for a moment," I cut him off just as he was explaining his opinions about the ideal composition to ambush some cultist forces as they stepped into the town and pulled my sword.

The cultists were summoning once again.

This time, three monsters at once.

Interesting.