Alternating between golden glows and fading whites, every instance spawned a singular NPC. One after another, they filed out from the light. Fourteen warriors and ten casters, ready and willing to serve their leader.
Dare say, their master.
They were free men in theory and they believed that to be the case. I even treated all of the NPCs as if that were the truth. The reality though, was that an NPC was essentially a slave. Disguised partially by their free will, I had learned through forums that it would take extremely sadistic behavior for an NPC to leave their player.
If you recruited them and treated them at least like you would a pet, they would do as you say. They might not perform to their utmost though, if one treated them poorly.
I didn't have to worry about that.
Every NPC that lived in my area that had been recruited by me, had been treated kindly. I had earned their respect and now they worked hard for me. They didn't complain, didn't argue, nor did they disobey.
Now it was time to get things started.
"Welcome to Dragon's Breach," I stated to the twenty-four NPCs that had gathered at the village square. Pacing back and forth, I looked at each and every one of them as I walked by. Satisfied with what I saw, I decided to give a welcoming speech.
"I go by Sigurd around here, and you'll find that I run a tight unit."
They listened intently and silently.
Not even a whisper escaped their lips.
Yeah, they were moldable, alright.
"You'll be free to live your lives as you see fit, so long as you devote half of that life to the cause. You’ve been brought here to one of the best locations on this forsaken continent, far from the greedy hands and eyes of the central kingdoms.
"You will live in relative safety here in this paradise. Though… occasionally, you will have the right to defend yourselves when attacked. And we will be attacked, make no mistake… but remember this, we grow through trials and evolve with tribulation. Every encounter strengthens us, and nothing will break our will.
"This is your home, this will be your land, and when the time comes, you will defend it. You won't be ill-prepared, as every day is an opportunity to improve yourself and your worth. They say when we leave this world, only our names will be left.
"I intend to make all of your names, worthy of remembrance."
Standing still, I continued to look around at the men and women gathered before me. Most, didn't seem to have an opinion. At least, not an opinion visible on their faces. Happy with my spur of the moment speech and having run out of things to say, I decided to call it quits there.
It was time to start the drills.
"Katherine here is my number one, and thus your number two," I said while pointing to the girl at my side. "She will be in command when I am not around."
Katherine nodded but remained silent.
"Havardr and Sigsteinn are your senior warriors, they will lead you in the training exercises and hunting parties, and will prepare you for the raids," I explained while nodding and pointing to my two strongest NPCs. "They are battle-hardened and tested warriors, and are men to be looked to, when one is in need."
Clasping my hands together with a grin, it was time to start.
"All you casters, come with me," I said with my best drill instructor voice, rough and deep but without the hoarseness of a man accustomed to yelling.
Turning my back to the fresh recruits, I began walking towards the forest with ten casters in tow. Katherine followed, as she had yet to leave my side since Selene's death, but I allowed it for now. She was my only Companion… and I wasn't going to lose her.
"Havardr, Sigsteinn, I leave the rest to you," I yelled out with a wave.
"It'll be a pleasure Sigurd," laughed out Sigsteinn.
"Hah, we'll turn these lads into men," bellowed Havardr after.
Yeah, I believed it.
They lived through the battle against [FWB] and killed numerous players. Havardr was actually fighting by my side for the majority of the battle, only separating near the end. Sigsteinn was keeping the priests protected, and did some marvelous work.
I could trust them.
"Excuse me, Sir Sigurd," asked a female caster after some time had passed.
"Yes mi' lady, what can I do for you?" I replied kindly.
"Where, are we going?" she questioned with some concern showing on her face. A petite girl with cute features, she would be quite the catch for one of the other NPCs. At least, that's what I thought. There was no telling if her personality was decent yet, but I recruited only the best.
High Potential ratings were the most important feature of course. The second most important feature though, at least for me, was their character disposition. I picked those with Optimistic or Neutral Outlooks, and those that had positive traits listed.
There wasn't a single Pessimist in this village.
Well, maybe not, I could be considered a pessimist at times.
Excluding me though, and there was only optimism.
"We're going hunting my dear," I stated rather casually while activating my [Keen Sight]. "All of you are going to become advanced magic users, within short order."
Eyeing the girl that had spoken up, a quick inspection showed me all of her details. She was only level one with a base proficiency in Lightning Magic. Effectively, she only knew how to use [Lightning Bolt] and nothing else. Everyone else in the group was the same, minus the Dark Magic users.
The Dark Mages were able to use [Shadow Flare] as their first spell… which according to the description, was a straight-line skill shot that looked, essentially, like a flare. Exploding on contact in a small radius with the possibility of being chain cast, it was a fairly standard, efficient spell.
I couldn't teach them anything else, nor did I know of anyone that could… so for now, they were going to get dual training from Katherine.
Actually, everyone was.
"What's your name," I asked as I raised a brow while looking at the female caster.
I already knew her name, so this was formality.
As the one who ruled Dragon's Breach and in turn, ruled her, I was privy to such information. But, I wanted to be realistic. I would ask, as normal people would, rather than cheat like a stalker and come out already knowing everything.
That sort of behavior, was painfully awkward.
"My given name is Astrid, Sir Sigurd," she answered tactfully.
"A lovely name," I said playfully with a smile. "Alright, Astrid, there's a wolf just behind that bush, between the three pairs of trees. The one with the white flower. I want you to cast a Lightning Bolt directly into the center of that bush."
"Ah-h as you command Sir Sigurd," she stuttered, clearly scared of attacking a beast much stronger than herself. She had little reason to worry though, I was here after all.
Astrid took her stance and began to build up electrical energy between her fingertips as I carefully watched. Two seconds later, and she extended her palms and shot the pathetically small ball of lightning out with little force.
The lightning, thin as it was, almost failed to cut through the air as it impacted the wolf on the other side of the bush. Not visible to those without [Keen Sight], the other casters looked on with confused expressions.
Angered by the weak attack, the wolf burst through the brush as the casters jumped back in fright. Their legs shook as they wanted to run, but most knew better and froze in place. They watched with terror in their eyes as the wolf charged forward.
Then, at the last moment, when hands had been thrown up to shield their faces. In utter panic, some screamed and jumped, while others fell to the floor. But nothing had happened, no noises could be heard except for the sound of crackling electricity.
The confused recruits opened their fingers to take a peek.
There, in front of them, was a wolf completely immobilized as a single tether of electricity extended from my hand and connected the two of us. A few seconds later and the wolf collapsed to the floor with nary a sound.