Sixteen

Sixteen

My daily routine was pretty much the same as always. When I woke up I would do some quick Chakra exercises, and then I would go for a jog and work my muscles with my gym gear. I would then do around three or four hours of debugging and coding (and sometimes a little bit of work for Shiro as a change of pace) and then there was more Chakra and physical exercises. This continued for a couple of days. By the morning of the third day after my training my body was quite full of the prickling heat of aether. It was definitely building up faster, and I could feel it pooling in three distinct places now.

I’m guessing those are the base Chakra, sacral Chakra and solar plexus Chakra if I go by the most comprehensive guide I’ve managed to find...

I probably contained enough aether to re-enter the Boundary, but that could wait until tonight. At least with all my training, I had managed to shorten the time it took to accumulate aether from five days to three, even if what I accumulated was barely a third of what Exposition-san had provided that first time. Still, with my Ether Spires working away providing ether, I should have managed to summon a stack of degraded weaselkin, so I could start a larger hunt to accelerate my ether gain and maybe think about adding more facilities or upgrading some to Rank 2. The RTS gamer in me was salivating at the thought of what I could potentially do to grow my Territory and secure more resources.

“But before that...” I said, stretching. “Can’t neglect the other things I have to do.” I did my morning physical workout, using slightly heavier weights and more repetitions than yesterday. I was definitely seeing gains.

Taking a drink from the fridge, I wiped sweat from my brow. I had to give jogging a miss today as it was raining, but it was still warm. It would be summer break for the schools at the end of the week, and no doubt the temperature would really spike up by then, as usual. Looking up some quick data online about some usual gym routines, I could see I was already doing above the average, even if my focus was a little different, on the more combat-oriented muscles.

“I wonder... maybe I should try some spear training here in the Material?” I did a quick few searches online for suitable practice spears, and there were indeed some available, but they were... pricey, to say the least.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

“Damn, I know I’ll be earning with the project for Hayato-san, but what with my spending already on the gym gear...” That reminded me of something. One of the key ways to grow my Territory was to gain ownership of the land itself in the Material. Another quick search and I had seen the average prices of a block of apartments of similar size to the one I was in, and I nearly passed out from the shock.

“So many zeroes...” I muttered. There was just no way I could ever hope to earn such a sum of money with my freelance wages. Even if I had a top job at a gaming company or some troubleshooting firm it would still be well outside of my grasp.

“But I do so want to make my Territory as good as it can be... and having it affect the Material world as well, that would be awesome...” My abilities had all gone up, which had massively increased my work rate, but it didn’t increase my earning potential by nearly enough if that was my goal. If all I wanted was to live normally, then yes, I could do it well, but I dreamed bigger dreams...

“I guess I’ll have to put some more thought into how I can leverage my talents and Territory to make some serious money. Oh well, in any case, it’s time to earn money the old-fashioned way.”

With that I began to work on my debugging, putting aside thoughts of being a multi-billionaire. By the time I was done, it was early evening. Something had been bothering me, something intangible but irritating, as though a thorn was digging into my skin somewhere. I wasn’t sure what it was, but something was definitely bugging me.

To shake off the feeling I decided to have a few cold beers. The weather is good, what could it hurt? Out on his balcony Hashimoto-san was already there, smoking one cigarrete after another. His face was pale, and his eyes were dark with exhaustion and fatigue. When he saw me he nodded in greeting. “Oshiro-san. Good evening.”

“And a good evening to you, Hashimoto-san. Can I interest you in a cold beer?”

“I suppose I can be persuaded.” he agreed quickly. I walked over and snapped a can out of the ring-pull and handed it to him. Opening my own I took a refreshing swig of the icy-cold beer and sighed in contentment.

Closing my eyes I began to work on my Chakra nodes, figuring it may have something to do with them, especially as the feeling started down at my base Chakra. Energy flowed into me slowly, but this only intensified the feeling of discomfort, my head aching fiercely.

“Well, this confirms my hypothesis.” I muttered, voice thick. My vision was starting to blur, silver spots crossing my vision. It was almost as if... Hmm, this seems a bit like when words enter my vision in the Boundary. Making up my mind I began to concentrate on entering the Boundary once more. It was difficult to think through the painful fog in my head, but as I pulled in more ether and converted it to the needed aether my consciousness began to blur, and within a few moments my mind shifted...

Opening my eyes inside my Territory in the Astral I was greeted with a blaze of bright letters across my vision.

Your Territory is under attack. Immediate response is recommended. The strength of the defensive barrier is currently at forty-six percent. If the barrier is breached, then enemies will be able to enter your Territory and deal damage to the Buildings within. Buildings damaged in this way may be repaired with Ether, but fully destroyed Buildings will require reconstruction.

All degraded forces are engaged in automatic defence. A rallying call has automatically been issued to your troops.

This was serious! If I lost my Territory after all the effort I had taken to establish it, I would be extremely annoyed. Grabbing my spear from beside me I noticed another series of messages scrolling across my vision, explaining the gains and losses of my ether...

An additional degraded weaselkin has been spawned at the cost of 30 Ether.

Your Defensive Emplacement has unleashed a bolt of defensive Aether at the cost of 40 Ether.

Your Territory has drawn Ether and Aether from the attackers and replenished 31 Ether.

Your defensive barrier has been damaged and is now at forty-four percent.

Your...

In addition, when I checked the actual amount of ether I had in the Silo, it was changing regularly as well, dropping up and down. There was still more than I had expected, but I didn’t have enough to feel complacent.

Wow, how unfair. My Territory can be attacked even when I’m not here. That makes things difficult.

The first thing I needed to do was to get a handle on the situation. If the defensive barrier was holding, it would mean the battle should be taking place somewhere outside of this warehouse-like room, as the barrier was centred on my Territory Anchor and spread towards my borders. Steeling myself, I rushed towards the door and flung it open, stepping out into what could only be described as... pandemonium!