Chronicles of the True Wizard

The sun woke Felix the next morning rather early but, he felt fully rested so he didn't mind. The last dungeon was on the far west end of the map around a third of the way down from the top edge. If he ran straight there, he would run right through another fort so he figured he would stop by and catch up on the current happenings of the others in the tutorial. Communication to date between the forts had been non existent, so he was mostly curious about the people living there, how they were faring, and most importantly, their levels.

As Felix traveled further inland, the sand gave way to grass and the palm trees grew denser, though the whole area still retained a very tropical island vibe. He ran past the cove that marked the end of running west and turned towards the south running for a few kilometers before the sunny sky darkened. Felix looked up expecting a massive rain cloud but was instead greeted by what he assumed, hoped, was a world boss. Luckily, his map confirmed it as such.

Flying above Felix, casting a massive looming shadow, was a bird with large feathery wings and two streaks of red trailing from it's tail. The creature had massive talons and blue feathers covering it's head from the neck up. It was hard to judge due to the lack of light hitting the underside of the creature and it's distance from Felix, but he estimated the bird was about a few hundred meters across with talons and a beak far longer than he was tall.

[E - Special] Tropical Roc (Lvl 89)

Luckily for Felix, the bird seemed to pay no mind to the tiny creatures bound to the earth. He ran onwards to the south towards what his map insisted was a fort. He was surprised to find a lack of any creatures around him though he figured they might all just be hiding with the roc currently roaming overhead.

Felix traveled further south over the sand and through the palms, sticking close to the shore as a function of speed and it being the shortest path more than anything else. He finally arrived at what was marked as a fort on his map, though what he found was rather disappointing.

In front of him standing tall was a rather large wooden shack made of palm trees with some stone pillars for support. The building itself was large and impressive for a beach hut, it was however, completely alone.

Huh?

Felix opened his map and inspected the town. It's name was "Bastion of Hope."

How cheesy, gross.

It's note, was somehow worse, "Welcome one and all to the Bastion of Hope. Anyone is welcome but you must be willing to stand the line, listen to orders and be willing to defend the final frontier with your life."

Uh. This shack is the final frontier? Someone had a little too much fun with this one. I mean, I am already here, might as well knock.

Felix walked up to the shack, quickly set his mask to level 42 and made sure it changed his appearance, then knocked on the surprisingly sturdy front door. Within a few seconds, the door swung open to reveal a large man, well over 6 feet with a strong focus, whether in stats or just aesthetics, on strength. He wore leather armor tightly strapped to his chest with a spear at the ready in his hand.

[E - Common] Human (Lvl 32)

"Oi, who goes there?"

"Was it the wind again?" Another voice, whose owner was out of view, chimed in from within the shack.

"Oh, uh hello. Are you looking to join the Bastion of Hope?" The man who opened the door completely ignored the other individual from within the shack.

"Just visiting. Is it just you two?"

"Harold, how the hell didn't you see him? You were supposed to be watching?"

The man holding the door turned his head to respond, "I don't know, I looked out just a couple minutes ago. He wasn't there, and now he is. I don't know what to tell you.

"Well he seems friendly enough and he's already at the door, might as well let'em in. I don't really wanna get up."

"That's not protocol though…"

"So? Who cares. He's the first person we've seen in ages. Please don't make me get up."

The man holding the door open, apparently named Harold, stepped aside gesturing with his spear hand for Felix to enter. Inside the cabin lay some simple furniture that screamed vacation home to Felix, designed entirely for comfort rather than fashion. There were two couches a table with some cards and a fire place with scarcely anything else.

Harold finally answered Felix's question, "No, we're just on shift to guard the surface, though not much ever happens up here, mostly a vacation."

"I mean we deserve it after last week. Shit was crazy." The other man that Felix could now see was lying upside down on a couch with his head hanging off the seat and his legs sprawled over the back. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he scrambled, fell off the couch onto his head causing his legs to flip over him. He righted himself then looked right at Felix, "Where in the hell did you come from? How're you such a high level?"

Shit, 42 is really that high? Damn it.

"Oh you know, just wandering around fighting anything I can and skinning them." Felix shrugged.

They looked at each-other clearly not convinced before they seemed to realize they didn't actually care.

"Well, I'm sure the commander will want to try and convince you to settle down here herself, considering your level. What class are you?" Harold asked.

"Caster" Felix responded with trepidation.

As Felix had feared, they looked at each-other confusedly before shrugging.

"Well, come on I'll escort you to her, now that I'm up and all that." The other man gestured for Felix to follow, "I'm James by the way."

"John, pleasure." Felix came up with a random name as he decided that if his face was disguised, his name probably should be too.

James opened a door and walked into a small room that was about the size of a large closet or small bathroom. The sole thing in the entire room was a staircase in the floor leading downwards. James began descending and Felix followed.

The wooden steps quickly gave way to carved stone as they descended into a cave system. James pulled out a palm sized crystal that began glowing with light as he continued walking. Felix was astonished at how far they descended, though he wasn't sure just how far it was when the cave turned, twisted, ascended and descended constantly, it just seemed to go on forever. It was also exacerbated by the fact that Felix was limited to Jame's speed and couldn't walk or run as quickly as he would normally.

Finally the cave opened up to being a few meters wide and forked off in multiple directions as they walked. Without a guide confidently walking through or a map, Felix was certain someone could have gotten lost in here for months.

As they walked, Felix started to hear the hustle and bustle of people echoing through the cavern. They passed by multiple caves that contained people going about their lives. Felix saw what appeared to be a cafeteria, a lounge and multiple caves that were closed off with curtains. He suspected at least some of the closed off caves were private quarters, if not most of them.

As they traveled further inwards, Felix noticed the functions of the caves he glanced into became more utilitarian and militaristic. There were sparring rooms, currently in use, as well as war rooms with maps and flags and even rooms that contained platoons that were apparently practicing marching drills, or something like that.

James was unfazed and unwilling to explain anything. He seemed to just want to finish delivering Felix so he could return to his couch. The sounds of battle echoed faintly through the cavern as Felix noticed small spots on the walls and floors painted with blood stains. Felix also noticed James started straightening his back as he walked with more purposeful steps. Finally, James approached a blonde woman with short hair and dark leather armor.

[E - Common] Human (Lvl 40)

"Commander" He stood straight and saluted.

"Private." She nodded.

"This is John. He came knocking on the surface just a few minutes ago. He says he's just visiting, but we figured you might want to speak with him personally."

She furrowed her brows at that comment until she looked at Felix for a few moments and nodded in understanding.

"Yes, thank you private. Return to your post, I will handle this."

James nodded then walked off. The blonde woman turned to Felix and held out her hand with a very nonchalant and casual manner, "I'm Emma, pleasure to meet you."

Felix shook her hand, making sure to hide his strength, and nodded, "John."

"So John… I have to ask, how are you such a high level? I was pretty proud of finally hitting level 40 just a couple days ago, now you come along with 2 whole levels on me."

I need to reveal something otherwise she's not gonna believe anything I say.

"I've been trying to hit as many of the dungeons as I can. They seem to give great xp. I hit anything I can along the way and grind out my profession in whatever down time I have left. Just hit 42 on the way over here in fact."

She nodded with reluctant acceptance then sighed, "Well, welcome to the Bastion of Hope, the final frontier."

Felix raised his eyebrow at that but she seemed to be entirely serious.

"I get it, you are wondering what we are the frontier of, or bastion against. Let me show you."

She walked down the cave, the same way Felix had come from and turned off into a cave a few hundred meters from where she was initially. He followed her inside, with great reluctance as the smell emanating from the cave she led him down, was vile.

Inside the cave there were multiple piles of corpses of what appeared to be moles crossed with ants. They had the noses and claws of moles as well as the fur, but they also had two sets of back legs behind the claws, giving them six in total. Finally, they had large pincers on their heads and the body shape of an ant.

"Mole-Ants, the scourge of humanity."

Felix was trying his best to keep himself from expelling his breakfast, holding his jaw shut tightly and holding some scraps from his bedsheet over his nose. Emma seemed to be completely unbothered by the smell, or she was an excellent actor.

"Were it not for the war we wage against them here at the bastion, humanity would be overrun very quickly. These things are savages, all they want to do is eat us and breed." Emma leaned in as if she had the juiciest secret to share, "The System said this was all to get us acquainted with the multiverse and all that, but I'm telling you, there's more to it. We're gonna have to fight for our planet and these are the invaders, it's preparing us as best it can. I bet you all the other forts are fighting similar fights against the Mole-Ants, but we here are at the heart of it all."

Felix was filled with relief as she led him back out of the room towards the entrance to the caves where the stench wasn't noticeable.

"We aren't always fighting though. As important as the battle is, we manage it well enough that everyone get's time off. There are shifts where you fight but then between those we have a cafeteria, lounge and even individual homes for the officers. You're a caster right? You don't wear any armor so, figured you must be."

"I am."

"Interesting you made it to such a high level. All the casters we have down here have been pretty weak, as The System said they would be in the early levels."

"Just lucky I guess."

"Guess so. So, John, why'd you come to visit us? Just looking to grind some levels? Looking for a place to settle down?" Felix noted a hint of hope in the last query.

"I'm looking for a dungeon south-west of here. Should be on the west edge of the map and about a third of the way down from the top edge." Felix could have simply shown her his map with the marker, but he didn't want to reveal how far he had traveled.

"Well, I don't know for sure if it's the one you're looking for, but there is a dungeon in the caves around there. We used to have every new trainee head there in teams to train them on scouting, get some profession levels and some real combat experience on the way. Unfortunately, that was almost a month ago. Since then, the Mole-Ant's levels have grown, making them smarter and more aggressive. We've been meaning to send a squad to clear out the Mole-Ants on the path to make it safer and more traversable. We were hoping to make it possible to send rookies out that way again. I just haven't been able to spare the man power it would take to do it yet." She thought silently for a few moments before continuing, "Come on, let's go talk to Ben."

"Could you give me a map of the caves to get there? If you've been there already?"

"The Mole-Ants might have changed some of the routes, as they are constantly shifting some of the tunnels on us. I'll talk to Ben and see if I can convince him to be the guide. He's been in these tunnels the longest and should be able to find his way there the best. If he agrees, I'll send you with some of my best recruits and you guys can clear a path for us."

Ugh, noooo. Just give me a damn map. I don't want to be bogged down by slowpokes. I could try and just find it myself, but I navigating these tunnels would be a lot harder than the puzzle dungeons. Those are 2 dimensional and geometric, with only 90 degree turns and perfectly straight walls. These tunnels, not so much. . . . . .