Twenty minutes later, I took the proffered chair in the council chamber room high in the central castle. The entire council was gathered, and I wasn't the only one who won a lot of levels either. Every single council member now sported levels between Crystal's level 42 to Tony and Burns, tied at level 48. They might not have to kill a dozen giants over level 50 to crawl up a single level, but they'd worked hard.

Some had upgraded their gear too. Burns's armor now looked like full plate, but made out of some kind of rubbery kevlar derivative. It added another layer of intimidation to his tough demeanor. Tony, the other fighter of the group, wore some kind of cloth armor that looked remarkably like a business suit.

The feeling in the room was a lot more tense than the last time we'd met, though. Paul the mayor gave me a brief smile. He looked tired and stressed and added a sigh. "Welcome, Lucas."

"About time," Elizabeth Maberly snapped. Her hair was black, piled atop her head in a complex arrangement leaving her long neck exposed. She'd swapped out her normal gowns for a form-fitting set of fancy, gilded armor over a crimson base layer like she was channeling a fantasy battle princess.

"Good to see you too," I told her.

"Where have you been?" Crystal Bonney asked. Her strawberry blond hair hung loose down her back and she wore a forest green ranger outfit. She'd been probably my biggest fan among the council members ever since I saved her sister's life, but today she seemed frustrated.

"Hunting, of course."

Elizabeth leaned forward, fixing me with a stern glare. "You've been earning tons of experience at our expense thanks to the contract you struck, but you have failed to deliver. You're supposed to be the town's protector, and yet you've spent the past 2 days off gallivanting in the mountains, despite our calls for aid to assist in fighting off Alpha's terrorist attacks."

"I'm back now, and I wasn't gallivanting. I killed dozens of giants, trolls, and ogres, some of whom had already killed people."

"That is all well and good," Paul interjected, his tone more conciliatory than Elizabeth's. "However, those monsters do not sound like they posed an immediate threat like Alpha has been."

"Valid point, except for the giant Colossus boss. It was even higher leveled than Alpha and was preparing to attack in this direction. It could have squashed the entire town."

I left out the fact that it was planning that attack because I'd kill all its minions.

"My club was already smashed," Elizabeth snapped, face flushing with anger. "Several dead, dozens wounded. I had to cover the cost of all their healing potions. Do you have any idea how expensive repairs will be?"

"Not really."

"A lot! We need the werewolf threat stopped."

"I agree, but I'm not the only person who knows how to fight," I reminded her.

"You're supposed to be the town guardian, specializing in killing bosses," Tony said.

I shrugged. "Like I said, I have been."

"You've gained several levels, which we know is hard for you, so you haven't been slacking off," Burns spoke for the first time, his voice impatient, a frown line between his eyes. "However, you must understand from our perspective, we seen little benefit from those battles of yours while we need to solve a very real and in-our-face threat from the werewolves."

"We'll get to that, but we did get benefits that will help a lot more people than just me. In fact, I was going to offer some more crafting materials for the store."

"What kind of materials?" Paul and Crystal asked together.

I summoned one of my big pallets piled with various rare metals. It thumped onto the giant conference table with a muted thunderclap.

"Where did you get this?" Tony exclaimed, jumping to his feet to inspect the contents. Luckily the table was really strong.

"Like I said, I've had a couple busy days."

"And even unlocked your class," Paul said, his smile more genuine now. "Congratulations. Mystic Reaver sounds powerful."

"I'm still working out the kinks in it."

"Sometimes having a partner help you work through your kinks is beneficial," Elizabeth said with a straight face and no hint of innuendo, which made the obvious flirt that much weirder, especially given her earlier hostility. It was like she said the words out of habit before remembering she was mad with me.

Crystal rolled her eyes at Elizabeth then added, "At this rate, you'll catch up with the rest of us sooner than I thought you could."

That was nothing but good news for them. Once I caught up with the lowest-leveled council member, that bonus experience I'd bargained for would end, leaving more for each of them.

"Working on it. I've got more pallets of metals, all fairly similar in composition. I could make a ton of mana crystals from these, but I suspect the town could gain a huge boost by sharing with our local crafters."

"That's very generous," Paul said.

"At what price?" Crystal asked.

"Folks can't afford custom gear made out of this level of metals, but crafters will gain a lot more experience working with higher-grade materials, right?"

Tony nodded, not tearing his eyes away from a brick of dull, black metal I hadn't inspected yet. He had picked it up and was sniffing it. Under his breath, he muttered, "Of course Lucas gets the metal I've been needing. Lucky Bucky."

He probably didn't expect me to hear that, but with my Perception so high, there was little I missed.

"The way I see it, we've got the chance for a multi-leveled win. I share pallets of raw materials. Crafters who can use it make their best gear and gain a ton of experience. They sell it to the town store for the same price as their other wares so they gain sales experience. Then the store arranges to get it into the hands of as many people as possible, upgrading the power of the entire settlement."

"And we all gain more experience," Elizabeth said, her previous anger fading under an eager gleam in her eye. That woman was addicted to a lot of things, including bunches of experience that came with her council seat.

"And you get some of their best work as partial compensation," Paul guessed.

"That arrangement worked really well last time."

Tony placed the black metal onto the pallet, then flashed his charismatic smile. "This is good stuff. How much can I take, and what do you want for it?"

"How much do you think you could use?"

His eyes lit up.

"Don't encourage him too much," Burns warned with fake gravity.

"In my wildest dreams, I'd take this entire pallet and 3 more just like it, plus those broken parts of the zombie energy weapons you mentioned before, if you still have them."

"Now you're being greedy," Crystal chided.

I extended a hand. When Tony grasped it, I willed 4 pallets to transfer directly to him, plus all the broken zombie weapons. I had no use for them and no one else had showed interest. I'd never tried moving materials that way until I shared those pallets with Ruby and Steve earlier. Ruby had mentioned inventory-to-inventory direct transfers were becoming increasingly common in transactions with other merchants.

Tony gasped, but immediately accepted the offered transfer. "How did you get so much?"

"Clearing out that valley of giants, especially that Colossus boss I mentioned. Nasty thing with earth powers, among other things. I think it had been mining all this, and I got it when I defeated it."

"Well done." Tony stroked his goatee and something about his appearance that had been nagging at me snapped into clarity.

"You're really getting into the Tony Stark persona, aren't you?" He'd cut his hair and goatee just like Robert Downey Jr. Even his suit resonated with the character.

"Don't encourage him," Crystal said in a long-suffering tone.

Tony smiled. "Thank you for noticing. A good method actor becomes their role."

"I hope you've got some better armor hiding in that suit."

"And he had to ask," Burns groaned.

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"Oh, hush. I love it," Elizabeth said.

Tony's chest started to glow just like Iron Man's might, and shimmering liquid steel flowed over his body, forming into elegant plates that gave off an Iron Man vibe, while remaining more fantasy power armor than total Marvel.

"Nice job protecting copyright."

"Thanks. I know Earth laws do not apply here, but old habits die hard."

"I'm impressed you got so much done in just a few days." His fast-crafting abilities must have upgraded a lot. It did look totally boss.

"I'm getting there," Tony said proudly as the armor melted away. I couldn't tell where he stored it. "I'd been running into a shortage of high-quality materials, but you just solved that problem."

Elizabeth cleared her throat loudly and waved her hand at the pallet full of metals. "This will no doubt help the crafters, especially some who are struggling to keep up, but what we need to deal with is Alpha."

"I agree, and I have a plan."

"You do?" Paul asked, perking up.

I nodded and smiled. "Tonight, we're going to finish him off once and for all."

"Finally," Paul sighed. "People have been growing panicked. I feared some might do something foolish."

"And get themselves killed or turned," Burns growled.

"Wait, before we jump to planning our kill squads, how do I get these materials to the council store?" Crystal asked, waving at the pallet of materials.

"Take that one now and accept this transfer." When I transferred 10 more pallets to her, she got so giddy, she looked like she wanted to bolt from the room to spread it to the crafters.

"You never said what you wanted me to make you," Tony said as we all sat again.

"Surprise me." The silver wolverine claws had been awesome, although I hadn't used them much yet.

He gave me an approving smile. "Prepare to have your mind blown."

"Uh, don't put on any helmets Tony makes," Burns interjected quickly. "There have been . . . Incidents."

"All lies," Tony protested.

I wasn't sure if they were joking or not, but let it drop. We had a lot to discuss, and very little time to do it. The afternoon was quickly slipping away. First, I needed to share a warning.

"Listen, I noticed something when I got my class. I'm not sure if anyone else saw this, but I suspect when we permanent our next spells, they will likely make our classes evolve."

Elizabeth made a shooing gesture. "No one is evolving anything tonight. Most are far from level 50. This is not the time to discuss classes."

"Maybe, but there's a danger. The system is so open and flexible, we're getting great classes, but if someone picks a permanent spell that doesn't fit their build, they could break their class."

Maybe I was sharing too much, but none of them bothered to ask how I knew it. They were too focused on the problem of Alpha and the pack. I barely got the warning out before Paul said, "Thanks, Lucas. We'll keep it in mind. Are you sure tonight's the best time to try to take down the Alpha?"

I tried to reinforce my point, but Burns spoke over me. "Has to be. Last ships will be finished by tomorrow night. I don't want to deal with the Alpha and his pack at the same time we'll probably have to deal with that necromancer and his zombies."

"And we cannot allow the werewolves to attack first again," Elizabeth interjected.

"Indeed," Paul agreed. "We've lost too many people already."

"Are you sure Noctarus will double cross us?" Crystal asked. "I mean, the alliance has resulted in even better gains than any of us hoped. Every single person has reached at least level 25 and is outfitted with better gear. It would be foolish and maybe suicidal for the zombies to turn on us."

"We'd be even more suicidal if we don't plan for it," Tony argued.

"Why not make a run for the 3rd stage?" Crystal asked.

I shook my head. "Everyone has the levels, but you're forgetting the other requirement. We have to defeat the two bosses."

"And the system voice, ah, Cyrus as you call him, has said nothing about changing the requirements to allow us to simply part ways as friends," Paul added.

"So we have to prepare," Burns said gravely, leaning forward in his seat. "And a vital part of that preparation is gathering information. No one but Lucas has been allowed inside the castle. We have no idea what Noctarus is doing in there, or what forces he might have concealed there."

"What did you see in there?" Crystal asked.

"The castle is in pretty bad shape, although storming the walls against prepared resistance would get a lot of people killed. I only saw a small part of the interior, although most of it seemed pretty empty."

I told them about Noctarus's study, then the nasty monstrosity guarding the stairs to the upper floor.

"No one else has glimpsed zombie monsters," Tony said with a frown. "If he has one, we have to assume he has more."

"Why guard the stairs, though?" Burns asked. "Those towers look ready to collapse from a stiff breeze."

"Has anyone noticed the runes at the bottom of the lake?"

"We've noticed, but no one can interpret them. The zombies insist it was part of an early attempt to purge the waters of whatever toxin kills the undead so they could fix their own ships."

"That may be a lie. A lot of energy is being gathered and seems to be routed into the castle."

"How do you know that?" Crystal asked. "Not many people have rune abilities, and they haven't been able to figure out anything."

"I unlocked a mana sense ability. Helps me feel the mana flow around me." I didn't want to get into details of my advanced mana studies, or reveal Spellseer's Gaze. Again I was stuck with half truths.

"I knew it," Burns growled. "He's cooking up something, and we need to know what. Tony, if you and Lucas can manage the team taking on the Alpha, I plan to take a small scout team to the castle and see what we can learn."

Tony nodded. "We do need intel, but I want to focus on the werewolves. We lost 20 people in that last attack in the woods. That's nearly 50 people unaccounted for, but the survivor counter hasn't dropped, so they're not dead."

"He's building up his pack. If we can captured the turned humans, Ruby can purge the lycanthropy." At least the ones who had been turned in the past 24 hours, assuming none of them had killed people as werewolves yet.

"That would be ideal, but if it comes down to a pitched battle, there may be nothing we can do," Tony said.

"Understood."

"So you don't plan to just lure the alpha into the mountains like you did before?" Crystal asked.

"No. It's time to take him out. He's too clever and doing too much damage. Once he catches my scent, I'm betting he'll come after me with all he's got. He'll probably expect me to be alone again. It's our chance to lure the entire pack into a trap and wipe them out."

"What do you have in mind?" Tony asked.

"Get him to come after me, isolate him, and defeat him. I'll need help from you and your elite squads to keep the pack busy."

"If you can separate the Alpha from them, we can manage," Tony said.

Burns nodded. "Especially if you set the battlefield."

"While gallivanting over the past couple days, I've scouted the mountains quite a bit. I found another dungeon a few miles up. I haven't explored it, but dungeons usually only have 1 entrance. If I can lure him in there, I can cut him off from the rest of the pack."

On my way back from Giant Valley, I'd detoured past the second dungeon I'd marked on my map when I used Ping for the first time. Identify had called it the Grindstone Dungeon, which really piqued my interest. Thats when I got the idea about using it to deal with Alpha.

"The land leading to it is like a funnel, running through a narrow valley with steep hills on both sides where we can set our ambush. If I lead Alpha through the kill zone and into the dungeon, you can hit the rest of the pack and hold them there."

"Sounds promising," Burns said.

"It's our best shot to finish Alpha and his pack tonight."

We dove into the details, and for the next hour, we hammered out a solid battle plan. Tony and Burns had the most input. Crystal asked some good questions, and Paul just seemed happy we had a plan. Elizabeth tried to make suggestions, but she had no combat experience, so most of her ideas proved unhelpful.

Finally I sat back and smiled. "I think we've got a worthwhile plan here."

At a high level, it was simple. The complexities came in the details. Tony would gather 20 of the highest-leveled elites, including my team, plus Tomas and Jane and their teams to join me in laying the trap for Alpha. Meanwhile, Burns would take a small team to scout Noctarus's castle and attempt to slip inside to gather information.

We had one good shot to finish things before having to deal with Noctarus and his likely double-cross. If things went well, we'd set ourselves up for success. If we failed, many of our elites could be turned or die, and any intrigue from Noctarus could wreak terrible havoc.

Paul rose and declared, "Tonight we will turn the tide on this stage once and for all. I think this deserves a little morale boost."

A 4-layer cake, drenched in shiny chocolate and topped in a layer of fresh raspberries appeared on the table in front of him.

Tony clapped. "Death by Chocolate. Fitting choice."

The hype was totally deserved. The dark chocolate cake, separated by layers of creamy ganache, seemed to melt onto my tongue and detonate every taste bud with waves of flavor. The rich chocolate, the tart raspberries, and more subtle layers of spices I'd never imagined in a cake melded perfectly. I wasn't sure even Tasty Cake Mushrooms could make it better.

"I need 10 of these."

"Get in line," Tony said instantly.

Paul said, "There is a backlog, but you have provided so many resources, I will share one I've been reserving for my private use."

"Hey," Tony objected, but Paul transferred the cake directly to my inventory and I wasn't about to turn it down.

While the rest of the council separated into side conversations, Elizabeth settled gracefully into a chair beside me. I tensed for another browbeating, or another creepy invitation, but she surprised me by asking about the lands outside of Midmount Vale.

"I haven't ventured out much. I find the best use of my time is focused here in town, but the stories of your adventures have ignited the fires of my curiosity. Besides, during that planning session, it was painfully obvious I have much to learn."

"Everyone brings different strengths to the table." Her vulnerable, humble act was new. I wasn't sure what to make of it. Could she be in earnest? I'd seen the shrewd, clever, and immoral sides of her. Maybe this was another aspect of the complex woman's personality.

She smiled. "That is kind of you to say. I wish to expand my knowledge anyway. Will you tell me of the lake and the mountains to the north and west."

I shrugged. "Sure. Happy to." The more the councilors understood of the stage, the better decisions they could make.

We spent a few minutes talking, and she proved a better listener than I'd expected. Her gentle questions helped me remember more and more details. Arasha might be a brutal death world, but it was also breathtakingly beautiful.

I really enjoyed discussing the wonders of the second stage with her. She loved hearing about the giant lake with its spectacular waterfall plunging down from the third stage, and the ravine cutting into the northern mountain that appeared to be the path up. I also described the decrepit castle, the rolling grasslands, and some of the mountains I'd explored to the west.

Elizabeth interrupted at that point, placing a hand on my arm. "It's so fascinating, but I sense we lack time to do that expanse of wilderness justice. Will you explain how one might prepare to venture into the wilds safely?"

I chuckled. "There are no guarantees. Monsters roam everywhere, so moving in groups is definitely the best plan. Even then, you can get attacked, like that big group returning from Lake Town proved."

"Then how do you move with impunity where others fear to tread?"

I shrugged. "Kind of got forced on me from the start, and I've adapted, but my approach won't work for most. If you're planning an excursion to see Lake Town and some of the stage, I strongly recommend you assemble an experienced team. Maybe come up with incentives to get a few of the better scout team leaders to help you."

"Thank you, Lucas. I think that's exactly what I'll do."

Burns called out from across the table, interrupting our chat. "Lucas, I'd like to sketch the interior of the castle with your help."

"Absolutely. I can sketch the parts I've seen."

While we discussed the layout of the castle, I gently probed his plan. He kept it fairly vague, only saying he'd push forward as far as they could without alerting Noctarus or his zombie guards. He did not explain how he could do that, but seemed confident.

I wasn't so sure, but we did need more information and we were running out of time. Finishing off Alpha and the pack had to take top priority. If we had one more night, I could return to the castle for another meeting with Noctarus and risk exploring.

We didn't have that much time, so I wished him luck. We all agreed to meet an hour before the sun dropped below the first mountain. That gave me about 3 hours to make my own preparations.

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