Accidental Healer-Chapter 53 - Making plans

There is work to be done. But before we get to it there are still some questions that don’t make sense to me.

“Okay, I’m with you so far,” I say, leaning forward, “but couldn’t a higher-level faction cheat the system?” I consider a few ways I might even try it.

“Like, get a lower-level guy to buy the raid and then just join their party?”

Ellison grins. “Great question. And the answer is no.”

“No one can join the raid if they’re higher level than the raid leader. That restriction applies both to attackers and defenders.”

I lean back and scratch my chin thoughtfully.

“So you’re saying that after a raid is purchased, only fighters equal to or lower than the raid leader’s level can pass through?”

“Exactly,” Ellison confirms. “And since my faction has now been absorbed into yours, it’s based on your level.”

That left me with two big questions.

“The first is—can more of your people continue entering our world?”

Ellison confirms with the typical nod. “Yes, but now it requires UBCs. Before, we just had to complete objectives to bring more refugees. Now, we can pay for entry.”

Ok easy enough. I wonder about limitations that can be set but I don’t want to open up a can here quite yet.

“And my second question—does this mean you can start bringing Guildians with evolved classes through?”

Ellison shakes his head. “Technically, yes. Practically? No. The population of Ulm doesn’t have any evolved classes yet.”

I exhale, feeling somewhat relieved. I trust the Guildians for the most part, but the last thing I want to create is a power struggle. Right now I think it’s better if everyone knows who has the bigger stick.

“So,” I say slowly, “Each raid that we have faced is from another faction somewhere else in the universe?”

“Yes.”

I grimace. I already knew the answer of course.

“And,” Ellison continues, “This early in the cycle, they’re usually the dregs of their worlds.”

“Beings who have no other options. They accept these raids because they desperately need resources, and… well, raiding a newly inducted world is basically a suicide mission.”

My stomach twists. “So I’ve been killing beings who are just trying to survive?”

Ellison holds my gaze. “Make no mistake, Layton. They would have killed you just the same. If we had entered this world and you were already here, we wouldn’t have hesitated either. The moment you face a raiding party, you can expect zero mercy.”

I swallow. That doesn’t make it feel any better. But it was the truth.

Ellison folds his arms. “And this brings me to the real issue. The system judges your faction’s competence based on the dungeons you clear.”

I sigh. “So because we just wiped out a dungeon with over 100 enemies—including two evolved classes—our next three raids are going to be absolute hell?”

Ellison smiles grimly. “I’d expect raiding parties of at least 100, all combatants Level 23 or higher, armed with common-grade weapons. And that’s being conservative. At least some of them will have evolved classes.”

Jared pinches the bridge of his nose in thought. “We’re looking at a serious disadvantage in both levels and gear.”

“Our party has thirteen fighters,” Jared continues. “Your group has 112. What’s the average level of our fighters?”

Ellison ran the numbers in his head. “Most of ours are still Level 15–16 after completing the five dungeons. A few standouts—Alex, Daevon, Durkil, Nick, and Ben’s wolf, Samson—are at Level 17–18. Elise is our strongest at Level 19 she has been shooting up.”

I blinked. Elise? Level 19?

Damn. She was catching up fast.

“Hold on a minute!” I say, startled. “You guys completed five dungeons while I was gone? That’s insane! But… doesn’t that mean double the raids?”

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Jared rubs his temples. “We finished the last raid yesterday. We figured if we started before you finished your dungeon, it might keep the difficulty manageable.”

His jaw tightens. “It was a bad call. We might need to abandon one of the territories.”

I frown. “Wouldn’t that just put a hostile force right in between our land?”

Ellison agrees. “Exactly. And I can guarantee no faction will come through that gate looking to make friends. At this level, everyone has had a taste of progress. They’re coming here to conquer.”

Jared shrugs and gives me a pointed stare. “That leaves us with one question—can we actually defend this land?”

I think about it. “How long do we have?”

“Six days.”

I scoff. “Jared, six days is an eternity.”

He gives me a look.

I lean forward. “Listen. There have to be more dungeons out there. If we start challenging them right now, we can level up our force. This is what we need. Our people have to get stronger.”

I tap the table. “I can’t be everywhere. If we want safety, we have to grow. And to grow, we have to fight battles that actually push us.”

Jared sits leaning back with his hands locked behind his head. “I hope you’re right.”

I grin and pull a common-grade greatsword from my bag of holding, dropping it onto the table with a heavy thud.

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“And that’s one problem solved.”

Ellison’s eyes linger on the weapon on the table. “This… this is a common-grade weapon.”

I smirk. “Yeah. And I have plenty more where that came from.”

Ellison picks up the sword, inspecting it with something close to reverence. “In 100 years, I wouldn’t be able to afford a single common-grade weapon in Ulm.”

“Well, you’re not in Ulm anymore.” I grin and lean back. “And in my faction, we aren’t stingy.”

Ellison stares at me. “Layton… this is too much. We’ll be in your debt for years.”

I roll my eyes. “You clearly don’t understand the concept of a gift. Besides, they hardly look any different from what you have.”

I gesture at the sword. “Take it. Take everything you need. Your people are our people now.”

Ellison was silent for a long moment. Then, finally, he nods.

That’s when I remember the chaos shards I had collected earlier. Mine with Jareds group gives us thousands.

“Hey, Jared—what’s Jessica up to?”

Jared smirks. “Practicing enchanting. She’s been working with the shards from the first trial.”

I can’t help but smile, Jared has things moving in the right direction.

“Then I say we give her our extra gear and let her experiment. If we can get enchanted weapons for our strongest fighters, we’ll have a much better shot at these raids.”

“Agreed. That just leaves one last thing.” Jared responds.

He turns to Ellison. “We have six days. Are dungeons the only way we can level up?”

Ellison considers. “Dungeons are the easiest, but they aren’t the only option. There are places where mana collects, creating unique quests and objectives. We just haven’t found any yet.”

That’s when I remember something else. One of my dungeon rewards.

I open my status screen and navigate to my map.

You have gained a map of your surrounding territory. Changes being applied now.

And just like that—My map explodes with information.

I barely breath as I scan the screen. There has to be close to 100 territories now that we have information for.

But that isn’t even the best part.

“Jared,” I say urgently, “do we have an interface screen out here?”

He frowns, pulling one from his storage and placing it on the table.

“Pull up the map.”

Jared does as instructed. His eyes flick across the screen—

And then widen. “Forgot to mention—one of my rewards was a territory map.”

Jared blinks. “Wait… what are these colored boxes?”

I lean forward closer to the map, eyes scanning the screen.

“In the legend,” I say, “there are three major indicators.”

Dungeon Locations, Places of Interest. And—

Two square markers.

Two factions.

Jareds voice was low, as he continues scanning the map. His eyes darting across the screen, absorbing the sheer magnitude of what we just unlocked.

“I know, right?” I grin. “At first, I felt kind of ripped off after clearing a high-level dungeon. But now? Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good about it.”

That was an understatement. Not only did we now have access to every dungeon in the surrounding territories, but we also had marked locations for places of interest—mysterious points where mana had gathered, potentially offering quests or hidden rewards. More than that, two other factions had been revealed on the map.

We weren’t alone.

Jared stares in wonder at the map. “Are there any other bombshell revelations you’d like to drop on us before we actually start planning?” His tone was dry, but I could tell he was just as exhilarated as I was.

“Well, since you asked—” I reach into my inventory and pull out the resource upgrade token.

Ellison groans, shaking his head. “Is there no limit to your good fortune?”

I laugh. “Apparently not.”

Jared leans in, eyes narrowing. “Alright, what does it do?”

Ellison answers before I have the chance. “That token… It’s exceptionally valuable. It can enhance any natural resource in our territory. If we have a mine, it’ll upgrade the minerals inside. If we have fertile land, it could increase our food production.” He crosses his arms, giving me an exasperated look. “This is a great treasure.”

“Awesome!” I roll the token around in my hands for just a bit.

“Jared, I’ll leave this to you.” I toss him the token, which he catches mid-air and pockets immediately. “I’m sure you’ll put it to good use.”

Jared nods, but his expression turns serious. “There’s something else you should know.”

He tells me while storing the token.

My eyes narrow. “Ok, Go on.”

He hesitates. “While you were in the dungeon, an objective appeared in the interface. It was a request for aid—someone was calling for help against a hostile faction. We didn’t know if we should accept, but before we could decide, it just disappeared.”

I frown at that. “How long was it up?”

“A few hours, max.”

A faction desperate enough to send out a distress call… only for it to vanish? Either they’d been wiped out, or they’d managed to fend off their attackers. I doubt someone would create an objective and then just change their mind.

“Do you think it was one of these factions we see on the map?” I ask pointing.

Jared shrugs. “No way to know for sure. But if I had to guess… yeah, probably.”

My fingers drum against the table. There was nothing we could do about it now. That opportunity was gone and whatever the distress call was, it was over now.

"Someone out there needed help badly enough to ask strangers for it. And now… they’re either safe—or dead. Either way, we’re too late to find out." I say.

“But for now? We focus on what’s right in front of us.”