Frostbound

Chapter 269 - Introductions

With our decision made, it wasn't hard to stake our claim on the area we wanted. Bing among the first to chose helped matters and those in the same ring as us didn't care to fight us over it as they had other spots they favored. No one outside the first ring was given much of a chance to challenge Marcus and I over it.

Some tried to holler or shout but they were ignored.

I waited to see where everyone else who made their way to the front picked but didn't stick around for the masses.

I would get an updated map later as I had better things to do.

The Admiral and a few of the other Faction Leaders that fell under his banner chose to defend the South. Liam, the suspected Baron from Boston, and Zuri, from New York, chose sections close to The Admiral putting three Baron level people in that one cardinal direction.

My fellow Canadian, and her accompanying duo chose the West with Sections all right next to each other. Jayla from Mountainside in the center with Travis and Devin on either side. Nick, with his fancy lightning robe, picked the North along with Vernon from Orleans and Vanessa from Eternal Flame Falls.

We had another Baron level join us and he had picked his section with similar reasons as our own. Patrick Staffords, along with the rest of the Great Lakes alliance would be in the East with us. They picked a section further to the South and there were a few Factions that would squeeze in between us, but we wouldn't hold the East alone.

The last of who I suspected were Barons, Mikayla Stuart, from the Heartlands Alliance, and Irwin, from the aptly named Bayou Faction, chose the Northwest and Southwest.

With those people having chosen, it was the rest of those who gathered to do so but that wasn't all. Another reason I wasn't touching the role of 'organizer' was that he would have to go around to every Faction and Group that wasn't invited to the meeting and tell them where to go.

They'd most likely be used to fill in gaps or reinforce weaker factions with a bold enough leader to attend even though they weren't Nobles or had significant strength.

There was also the need to coordinate everything and that was a massive undertaking in its own right. Marking out on the site where one section started and ended. Double checking everywhere had either the same amount of people or an equal amount of strength.

Even though my trust in people wasn't high, I doubted the Admiral would blunder his chance to gain recognition. That fact he was so heavily pushing for it and he would utterly fail if he messed up was more reassuring than if it was only death on the line.

More than that, it was prioritizing that made me let him shoulder the responsibility. I had just under three days to get my Faction into the best position I could and I would not be wasting it coordinating with every Jim and Jack that wanted an audience.

My Faction came first.

That being said, I briskly walked back towards our camp to get those plans in motion. Marcus would kickstart his side and we would meet together to coordinate between us sometime later. Sometime at night to not take away from working hours too much.

Abigail, Hal, Austin, and everyone else were ready and waiting upon my return but there was another surprise waiting for me back at our camp.

Two surprises, if I counted Rachel's return.

Her appearance was more than welcome and I honestly expected her earlier. It was another pillar for us to rely on and it eased some of my worry. It was hard to tell from afar, but as soon as I got close I knew it was her.

I hadn't seen her in... months? She was gone by the time I returned so it was back when I first left that I last saw her and that was in October-ish. It was now June.

Time truly does fly.

Similar to everyone else, her travels and experience over the Winter months left her much stronger than before them. I could feel the power radiating off her and knew that she successfully forged her core.

I had no doubts, as she was quite skilled when it came to all things mana.

While hearing her story intrigued me and I wanted nothing else to sit down and listen to all the details, other things had my attention.

The second surprise standing off to the side was also relegated to a later problem. Seeing him was less joyful than seeing my Aunt, but I couldn't very well ignore him.

Not after he'd tried so hard to mend our relationship. He was extending the olive branch and I wasn't going to slap it away.

"I believe Abigail briefed everyone on what was decided?" I said and everyone nodded.

Austin looked overly sullen for an odd reason but I didn't dwell on it. I also didn't say anything about Hal's smug grin.

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A map that our scouts had cobbled together was laid out on the table everyone stood around and it... left much to be desired. Whoever made the map the Admiral brought out was much better than whoever we had.

"I've selected this section for us to defend." I pointed toward the Northeastern portion. "Marcus has selected the section directly to the South, here." Moving my finger to illustrate. "I want the Builders and everyone with an Earth affinity to work on building a Wall starting here."

There was supposed to be a Cartographer coming around to mark where each section stood so I pointed a bit inside where I thought our section would start.

"Set up a resource collection for any stone you can find but I suspect we'll have to make do with packed earth." There wasn't a lot of hard stone blocks to go around. "I suggest we take it from here." I drew two lines leading from our section and towards the river. "It will work twofold to gather earth and dig a defensive trench if the sections around us fall."

Everyone followed along and watched me detail what I thought was best. "The bison won't be much help in this fight and neither will the horses." It was a blow to waste all the effort getting them here but that was life. "Set them up as beasts of burden and have all Carpenters or Woodworkers on making carts they can pull."

Relegating them to Beast of Burden was making as much use out of them as we could.

After I was finished, they all chimed in with small adjustments or ways the plan could be improved but it overall stayed the same. We needed a Wall and we needed it fast.

"Jonathan," I called to the man, "You and I will blast it with as much Spirit Energy as we can." He winced, remembering the raw pain that came with overdrawing on his Anchor.

I saw it and held in a wince of my own, "I know it will be painful, but we don't have time to enchant it." I wished the notification had come earlier so we could do just that, but we couldn't.

We would be hard-pressed to saturate all of the Wall before the timer was up but we would try our best.

Enchanting the Wall would take weeks and that was already for a rush job. It was physically impossible to get it done in three days.

"Gabriel and the other spell-focused enchanters will do what they can, but a Formation is out of the question," I said.

Spell-focused enchanting was faster and more versatile but that trade-off made it generally weaker. For people of the same skill, a Runic engraved Formation would always beat out a magic enchantment.

Instead of relying on Runes and having to painstakingly carve them into the object they wanted to enchant, they instead projected what Gabriel called a 'Spell Matrix' onto them.

I wasn't clear on the exact process, but they somehow anchored a persistent spell onto an object or area.

It was something I would explore when I had the time.

It took a few more minutes to sort everything out and get through the specifics, but we were off to the races within an hour of leaving the meeting.

My job, with my above-average strength, was to find and haul boulders for the builders to work with. In between doing that, I would pour as much of my Spirit energy into the Wall as possible.

It was going to be a rough couple of days.

But before I could get started on any of that, I had to deal with Ashton.

The man was standing in our camp waiting for an audience with me and I wasn't sure how long he'd been there as the meeting took up most of my time.

The man wasn't dressed in armor and he looked much the same as I last saw him. The biggest difference, or not really a difference as it was the same, was his power.

He felt nearly the same as the last time. He gained a tremendous amount of levels from the Demons, like everyone else, and it felt like he got a few more since then, but that was all.

He didn't have a deep well of power inside him and he didn't give off a stronger feeling of righteous light through an upgraded Law.

So unless he went all in on upgrading his Body, he was woefully behind.

From the non-existent threat level that I felt from the man, I doubted he even did that. There were a handful of my own People that now stood taller than him when it come to how they felt.

He could be hiding it deep down better than I could detect, but I highly doubted it.

"Ashton," I greeted, "To what do I owe the pleasure."

I wasn't even sure he would come. The troubles he was having in his City didn't leave him in a good position to march South for half a year. His worry about what Lakeshore would do was also another reason I didn't think he would make the trip.

"I've come to have words with you if you have the time." He said, "And to make introductions, if you're amenable."

That surprised me, "Introductions?"

Ashton smiled, "Yes. As you know we sent a number of scouts East to connect us to the Capital and while none of them got through, I ran into them here."

The man was very clearly excited about this fact.

Oh?

"Running into them here was a surprise to me but it was great news to get back in touch. The Capital has its own problems but I'm sure you can guess most of them. The Change was hard on everyone."

That it was.

"But," Ashton continued, "The fact they're here is good news!"

I wasn't sure where this enthusiasm was coming from. The happiness and joy he felt at getting in touch with the Capital was odd to me.

"Why is that good news?" I asked, "Do they have information we don't? A way to communicate or travel? Insight that they're willing to share? Are they strong? Strong enough to help us with this 'test'?"

My questions came one right after the other leaving him no room to answer. I didn't think he could answer, but I asked them anyway.

"What do you mean why is that good news?" He looked confused, "It's a return to Order. The Prime Minister died, sadly, but a new one has stepped up. Most of the East is pacified and people can live without worry except for the far North."

I didn't share his enthusiasm because I didn't understand how that affected me.

"Ottawa, Montreal, most of Quebec, they're all under control without any roaming monsters or Dungeons going out of control. Isn't it amazing?" Ashton gushed.

I think I see where this is going.

"You joined them, didn't you?" I asked. The more he talked, the more it sounded like a recruitment pitch. One that Ashton himself had already fallen for.

"Of course I did, why wouldn't I? They're the government. I only built my City to be a shelter until such a time Order could be reinstituted and now it can! There's no reason not to join them." Oh, dear. He and I had wildly different views.

"And this person you want me to meet is?" I asked.

"The new Prime Minister," Ashton said proudly. "He's almost a Baron, like you. He's reshaped Ottawa into a Haven in this new world and has personally saved thousands of people."

Meeting this man wasn't in the plans and it would delay things even more, but it also wasn't something I could refuse. If what Ashton said was true, and he controlled most of the East, he would either be a massive trading partner or a massive threat depending on the stance he took.

If he believed that all of Canada still belonged to him, we would be at odds immediately.

There was no way in hell I was giving up my City.