NOVEL NEXT Chapter 55- Order of Operations
First things first, I had to clear out my stockpile of stuff. I had gotten some beautiful lootcakes, and everyone was going to get a slice. Pomoroi and Radz especially, as they each got a weapon upgrade and three Stone Tapes. I had some hopes for a significant improvement in performance, but we would see.
Miyuki, despite my misgivings about her yandere tendencies, had to get every Stone Tape I could spare. She was my number one anti-infiltration unit. Just couldn’t be spared. I didn’t quite manage to hit her level cap, annoyingly. It seemed that Two Stars had a significantly higher promotional threshold than One Stars. I shuddered to think what it would take to level Versai. There had to be something beyond Stone Tapes. Otherwise she would need more than a hundred, maybe even a couple hundred, to hit her level cap.
Still no weapon or armor upgrades for medics. That was a little alarming. I could buy some from the Armory, but the notion of spending currency on trash tier equipment really did not appeal. Not when the Mutilator 3K could kill stealthed units, and they only lasted for one wave.
On the plus side, my income was way up thanks to the increased number of monsters. The stealthed guys dropped almost no materials, but they were very generous with their Runed Bones.
On the down side, buying an expensive consumable for every wave sounded like a very efficient way to die. If I was relying on the inconsistently stocked Gnome Market for my anti-stealth gear, well, that would be excessively stupid.
I went around, handing out what I could to who I could, coming finally to the Mean Girls Quartet. I wasn’t willing to invest any Stone Tapes in them, but the rewards for Wave Five included a bunch of gear that buffed Resistance for support. And despite all evidence to the contrary, the Blue Roses were support class characters.
“Hey, ladies.”
“No.” They chorused.
I blinked. “No what?”
“Oh my God, you can’t just ask that. You have to say sorry and go away!” I think it was Sammi that was scolding me. Not that I intended to listen.
“No.” I replied.
“That’s illegal.” Becky sneered.
“Guess you don’t want loot then?”
“From you? Ew. No.”
Great googly moogly, these women were trying me. They think that just because they are enjoying the sun on ground level, they cannot be yeeted. But they can. They can!
Calm. Calm! I am calm. See the great ocean. Listen to the waves crashing on the shore. Imagine the beach episode. Mmm. Beach episode.
“Is he defective? I think he’s broken.”
“Yeah, but that’s normal for him. This looks like a different kind of wrong.”
“Can… can we just, I don’t know, get someone to put him in a closet or something? I don’t want to touch him, but it’s not okay having to look at him. You know?”
“Ohmygod, yes! We should totally have someone else do it! That would be perfect!”
“I’M PLANNING TO RESCUE YOUR OLD BOSS YOU MISERABLE WITCHES!”
They swung around and stared at me. Something had changed behind their eyes.
“You can rescue Madame?”
“I believe so. I have a mission that certainly sounds like it. The final portion of the mission should take place today. And I’m gambling that if I use four of my five slots on the Blue Roses, something good will unlock, or happen. You only dance for Madame, right? Which means that there is no one dancing for her now, right?”
“Yeah. The other girls did other stuff for her, but we, like, danced. We ran things for her when she was dealing with other stuff.” Becky’s voice still had that sing-song cadence, but there was a liveliness behind her eyes.
“We were supposed to be there with her.”
“But we weren’t.”
“Why not?” I hadn’t realized my voice had gone soft.
“Dunno.” They chorused.
Looks like there were still a few mysteries left to solve in Gradden March.
“Look, take these bangles- I have one for each of you. It will make you a little stronger, a little better at support.” +6 each, but I didn’t feel like burdening them with numbers higher than ‘Candy!’ “I’m going to launch the expedition on Gradden March in a couple of orders from now. You four are assigned to the dorm to rest up until then. Versai is already there.”
And if the final arena looked like a straight up fight, and the four of you didn’t provide the massive advantage I suspected you would, I was going to be Naruto-running out of there so fast, you couldn’t even see me move. Believe it.
“We have our own rooms? Lead with that!” They sauntered up the stairs. Still a joy to watch move, but it felt different now. Something in their steps, something in the way they held themselves had changed. Purpose, maybe? Or were they straining at whatever curse had sealed them into their personas?
I knew one thing for damn certain. These were not One Star characters. They were way, way too adaptive and responsive for that. In fact, they did take initiative all the time- the initiative to heckle. They were the only summons that could refuse orders. Well, except maybe Versai. But they came through the ordinary summoning pool, so I knew perfectly well that they weren’t hidden Six Stars.
I stared at the stairs as I thought about the stars for a moment. Then I nearly bashed my brains out on the wall. “DAMN!” I goofed. Badly. Time to see if it was at all recoverable.
First stop- the missions. Explore, harvest timber (that would be a damn challenge) level up four characters to at least level five, improve equipment, nothing special here, I had already done most of it. As I expected, the missions only paid out rune bones and monster crafting materials. The daily login bonus gave me another ten Resonance crystals, but I was a long way from my next pull.
Day number ten came with a character surrounded by a rainbow border. Something to look forward to, I expect.
I checked my total number of rune bones. Seven Thousand. New record? Yeah, new record. Thank you wave five rewards, and thank you terrifying Murder Baboons, I guess. Alright, this was recoverable. Not optimal, but recoverable.
Time to use my brain and get things properly organized. Order of operations, and all that. The addition of the Dorms changed things, radically. “Mikas, Pammy, Maria, Pomoroi, Radz, Miyuki, Kim, you are assigned to the Dormitories until further notice.”
I was greeted by a chorus of barks. Was there a cap on how many people could be in the dorms at one time? I was already at sixteen. Seventeen, if you included Versai. Mmm. I’d have to check later, but I had a plan for everyone else. I waited a good while, until I was sure they had walked the few flights of stairs and reached the dorms.
Then I ran up and double checked, because the last time I was this confident ordering something, I found out the hard way that when a Korean restaurant tells you a dish is really spicy, they mean “Hot enough to melt Hell.”
The Mikas were stuck outside the dorm, milling around. Kim was there, clearly trying to be a team player and a good sport. Good job deciding that “check later” meant “check now,” past me, good job.
I have seventeen summons that I am responsible for. I, literally, did not volunteer for this. I don’t want this responsibility. I don’t want to give a damn about this. At least Adam Jensen got sweet augments out of it and looks like a badass. I got a doll body, tights, a slip dress and a Robin Hood hat.
When I escape here, there will be bloodshed. Even if I have to find some blood first, pump it into those necromantic pricks, then kill ‘em to spill the blood all over again.
Priorities. I walked up to the door and checked the dorm sign. A little placard with spots to slide in names was on the wall. Awakened Souls Deluxe Dormitory 10/10 capacity. Six Star Solarium 1/10 Capacity.
The occupant’s names were listed below. Interesting that six stars were literally counted differently. Was it a benefit of building deluxe dorms? I had assumed it just improved the decorations and maybe the buffs, but it could be more than that. Very interesting indeed.
I swiftly evicted Pammy and Maria, and sent in Kim and Mika Alpha. I would rotate later if needed, but right now, I think this is the best I can do. I tried to think what the next thing should be. There was a scouting mission on the board. Two hundred Runed Bones. And to fix my goof, I needed them bones. Might even use a time unit to buy more berries from the fairies, but we would have to see how much was left over.
“Rache, Orders for you- scout to the east of the Tower. Use one order time for your search.”
“Chromed lightning!” She peeled out of the clearing, looking especially dashing in her new costume. She drove directly through my murder track, avoiding the pits by driving up the walls. I think Rache has more fun living her life than anyone I have ever met.
Working backwards, there was night and the attack, then the last order time I could use to prepare, which meant that order four should be the final raid on the Floating quarter. That would give three stacks of the rested buff to Versai and the Blue Roses, and at least four stacks for most of the others. My artillery corps should max out their buffs by nightfall. I would swap in more Mikas after I pulled out the Blue roses for our mission, giving them at least one stack of buff. Pretty good, I think.
Out of mischief, I went back to my throne. The pleasure of looking at it and sitting in it remained in perfect inverse proportion. I was very, very comfortable indeed. I looked around the Throne Room. It was trashed. It had always been trashed. Well, abandoned and ruined might be more accurate? But the front door could be replaced by my workers. I thought it might take a Tower upgrade, but… could my workers fix it? More importantly, would it provide buffs or some kind of stat benefit?
I flipped through my resource packs. A little bit of stone. Cement. No glass. Hmm.
I went over to the fliers pinned on the notice board. No new shops opened. Irritating, but unsurprising. I tapped on the Gnome Market.
“He he he HELLOoooo! Welcome to the Gnome Market! Special prices for special customers. See what we have on offer today!”
Yep. Never going to not be awkward. I had about seven thousand Rune Bones. The Mutilator 3K was in stock (mercifully) so that was three thou down right there. No resonance crystals, I had cleared that stock before. What there was, however, was Common resource packs. Which was a big HMMM in its own right. The supply of Stone Tapes was untouched, and still absurdly plentiful. Twenty bones each.
It really said something about how the developers viewed the star ratings. It took significantly more tapes-per-star to level, even though the Mikas and the artillery had been basically hard carrying the whole squad so far. I quickly ran down and checked the Blue Roses’ character sheets. Level Ones, One Star.
‘Funny’ how their bio sections were left blank.
But hey, since the devs wanted to play funny games, they could win a very funny prize.
I made a few ‘small’ purchases at the gnome market and wiped out my cash. Insane gambler mentality, but my gamer senses were screaming at me. Now was the time to make moves.
I summoned the work crew and the Blue Roses to the Throne Room while I started opening resource packs. I had to open five before I got lucky. Glass. Big sheets of clear glass.
I sat comfortably while my involuntary employees mustered in front of me. “Marci, Rakim, can you repair my Throne Room with the materials you have here?”
They traded looks. “Yes. Won’t be fancy, but it’ll be fixed. One order.” I fought down the urge to do a fist pump. Regality. Always regality!
“Blue Roses, kindly help yourself to some Stone Tapes. Keep using them until you hit your max level.” I had spent every spare bone I had on this. “Once you are done, return to the dorms and wait. Workers, once they are in the dorms, start the repairs.”
I smiled. Oh yes. Time to really spread the suffering upwards. Next stop Gradden March and Carousel (Six Stars.)