In the Yuroki Mountains, all of the Orcs, dark elves and humans residing in the plains of despair had gathered.
The leaders of each race had come together peacefully!
They had united despite their differences to fight against their common enemy, the undead legion.
“I thought you had run away”, the Necromancer told weed in a contemptuous voice, however, upon seeing Weed’s annoyed look, he quickly regretted it.
Upon returning to the rocky mountain range, Weed had used his Sculptural Shapeshifting ability to change form to an Orc.
The fat and proud Orc Karichwi, with a mouth full of wicked teeth, vicious-looking eyes and a constantly running nose.
This ugliness, while not very favoured by the humans, was very impressive to the Orcs and served to further bolster his charisma.
“What’s the status of the undead legion”, Weed asked.
“There’s only two days until they’ll arrive. The lich Shire will break off from Bar Khan’s main army and bring a contingent here from the mountains to the east. We need to prepare for when the undead legion comes to spread death through the land.”
The undead legion would be advancing from the large pit to the east of the mountain.
He could see an ominous red mist rising from the direction of the pit.
It had a dark and dirt-stained colour. An increasing amount of smoke was flowing out from the pit and was slowly coloring the entire sky a dark red.
It must be an extraordinarily large army.
The necromancer explained:
“When the sky has turned completely red. When this has happened, the magic power of Shire will increase greatly, and the undead legion will start their advance.
Suddenly, Weed heard a voice inside his head.
- “Weed, I’ve arrived at the foot of the mountain”, he heard Mapan’s voice saying.
Mapan had finally arrived after crossing the plains of despair, with his wagon fully loaded with silver bars and arrows from the Rosenheim Kingdom.
Choosing to become a merchant wasn’t a good idea, unless you were very diligent.
Many things were needed in order to successfully make profit from the buying and selling of goods.
First you had to learn the local market prices, and improve your reputation with the local residents as much as possible.
The combat classes got stronger by hunting at hunting grounds or dungeons, while a merchant had to travel around and sell goods instead.
The merchant class was the most sensitive to changes in different towns, wherever they went, merchants would easily be accepted and increase their reputation.
Due to these attributes, merchants received quests much more easily, and whenever they entered a shop, they could receive all kinds of quests suited for a merchant; from finding a missing ribbon to reading and summarizing a book.
When they had gained the right amount of experience and information, very important quests might also show up, making it possible to invest in a town or province.
When a certain level of reputation has been reached, it’s also possible to buy all goods cheaper and to buy special goods that are not usually available.
It was Mapan’s dream to earn the money needed to buy a whole village.
- ”What do I do now? It’s going to be troublesome to get the wagon through the mountains.”
- ”Wait there, I’ll send someone to show you the way”
Weed pointed at some Orcs.
“You guys, chwiik!”
“Chwit chwit chwit! Command us.”
“There is a human at the bottom of the mountain, bringing us some goods in his wagon. Bring him here, and be careful not to frighten him”
“Understood. Chwichwik!”
The Orcs took off without a second’s notice.
***
Mapan was relaxing while waiting for Weed.
He had crossed the Plains of Despair, and was now at the Mountain. The mountain was lush, with birds chirping in the dense forests, and a lush breeze gently blowing through the plains.
“It feels really good to have come here”
Mapan was entranced by the scenery.
There was a flowing river in front of the mountain range.
The clear river was teeming with fish, and numerous deer and giraffes were grazing on the plains.
“This mountain is the best after all.”
Mapan was very satisfied with the view.
Since he was a merchant, he always picked the safest possible routes when travelling, so he rarely went over mountains.
The mountain range reminded him of the time he and weed travelled to the kingdom of Briton.
The rocky mountain range was truly magnificent, but the many rocky cliffs made it hard to traverse.
Near the top of the mountain, the trees were covered in snow.
The wind was a little bit chilly, but travelling at this climate was perfect.
Mapan felt that the terrain was somehow familiar.
“Have I been here before? This is certainly my first time here, but seeing this place…..”
But it was so remote…
Mapan could never have seen this before. Nevertheless, he felt a twinge of familiarity.
Even the snowy clouds near the top of the mountain felt oddly familiar.
“Where have I seen this?”
Orcs were coming down from the mountain.
Mapan handed the carriage over to the Orcs with trembling hands.
“Drunk-ik! Carriage. Me take care of”
Mapan felt faint and baffled as he listened to the Orcs. Why were they acting like this?
“Ah right, the Hall of Fame! I saw those mountains in a Hall of Fame video”
Mapan felt very excited, but still couldn’t really believe that Orcs like these existed.
“What’s the deal with this, Chwik!”, the Orc then asked while waving his Glaive
“Human! Bring to Karichwi. Chwichwik!”
The Orcs started ascending the mountain again, easily carrying the load that Mapan had struggled to get there.
Mapan nervously followed the Orcs as they lead him, and when he saw the citadel of the Dark Elves, he cried in relief.
“It’s here. This is the destination.”
At the front of the Orcs was Weed, transformed into Karichwi.
“Thank you for the work Mapan. Chwiik! “
The Chwiik sounded oddly familiar.
Mapan realized that Karichwi was actually Weed in disguise.
He was pretending to be an Orc.
“Weed! This situation…”
“More stories, chwik! We will talk later, now it’s finally time to get started. Lucille!”
Weed had met an exiled blacksmith in the village named Lucille.
“Chwichit. Here, come and start smithing the weapons”
“Understood”
The human smiths quickly brought the materials from the wagon to the forge, and began working on them.
Once properly equipped, the humans, Orcs and dark elves would do far more damage to the undead.
However, the dark elves were proud and didn’t feel like obeying .
“Pfft, it’s only made of silver”
“What’s with these crude weapons? Wouldn’t our mythril swords serve us better?
“These so-called ‘crude’ weapons will crucial in the fight!” Weed said.
Weed had spent his entire fortune on these ‘crude’ weapons, that the dark elves were now trying to discard.
However the Orcs liked him and didn’t mind.
‘My weapon is so strong, chwiik!’
“It’s so shiny.”
The simple-minded Orcs were quite happy with their new silver weapons.
Weed’s plan of how to fight against the undead legion was finally nearing it’s execution.
This time, Weed’s strategy to fight against the undead legion wasn’t improvised.
‘“The Orcs will be the vanguard, and the dark elves will be at the rear.”
As the strategist he was, he arranged their placement with utmost care.
The silver arrows that Mapan had brought were immediately distributed to the Dark Elves.
Their archers were amazing, even when they were only using oaken bows and arrows.
Their power shouldn’t be underestimated.
The preparations for the war were almost complete.
The Orcs and dark elves had nearly finished gathering.
The dark elves had finished building the castle walls.
Additionally, trenches had been dug in front of the walls.
The height difference would make it easier to defend against a siege.
The elves gathered, and the Orcs swarmed.
The humans were instructed, and began reinforcing the castle.
The castle was finally completed. It was huge and beautiful!
A long stretch of wall had been erected along the length of the entire ridge.
At the top of each tower, there were cauldrons filled with burning tar.
Now they were making oak gates
Weed had nearly overseen the completion of the defenses. But if one looked closer, it was pretty shabbily constructed overall.
Everything seemed to be able to collapse without a moment’s notice.
It was because the Orcs were so lazy and stupid. The dark elves actually did their jobs properly, but were small in number in comparison
“It’ll be fine, the undead aren’t very bright.”
Weed didn’t want to, but he was forced to abandon overseeing the last part to grant life to more sculptures.
Of course, creating just one meant that Weed would lose another two levels.
The novice strategy might be to try to make 100. Anyway, it was now due time to create more sculptures.
“Nothing comes for free; You can’t expect to complete an A-rank quest without doing something extraordinary.” Weed’s tears dried as he completed the first sculpture.
Each time a sculpture was granted life, his level fell by two. Although it pained his heart, it was a necessary investment.
There were only two days left until the confrontation with the immortal army; in that time Weed’s level dropped to 279 as he granted life to nine more Wyverns.