Homestead Survival

<06 September 2024, WHITE SANDS OF ARD ANDOREN, S>
[Theo and Julia]
Theo and Julia stepped out of the portal into a stretch of sand that went as far as they could see. Waiting for them was a creature who seemed blurry, under a satin Bedouin tent. The creature stood up and walked forward, and with a wave of its hand, a blue box appeared before both of them.

"Welcome." The creature said, "I have paused your time here for a moment, so that we may chat."

"Hello," Theo said, wondering where his combat information was since the combat systems were supposed to be active. "What is it you wanted to chat about?"

"I am supposed to give you a rundown of what happens here, but that is simple enough," the creature said, "this area that you see is contained, it is roughly a square mile. Waves of enemies will continuously spawn; the faster you kill them, the quicker they will spawn. Kill more to get more rewards."

"Seems simple enough," Julia said, "so what did you want to talk to us about?"

"I am," The creature paused, "well, for this simply call me Ard. I am the one who will grant your rewards at the end of your time. I am also the one who can determine how the Instance Booster affects the environment. But I have been given the ability to make an offer to you."

"What is the offer?" Theo asked.

"You will be granted the increased experience and skill gains no matter what, but in place of an improved environment, I am able to offer you a chance at a drastically improved reward." The creature said, "If you successfully kill one hundred waves, I will grant you a teleport link to Dugax. I can not say what that is, or why you would want it, but I assure you that you should try for it."

Theo and Julia looked at each other and shrugged. Julia spoke. "Sure, we can go for it. Though I think that two minutes and twenty-four seconds per wave is a little ridiculous in a one square mile area."

"That is a fair complaint, but this is the deal." The creature said. "Now then, I shall start your time and initiate the first wave in two minutes. Prepare yourself."

Theo reopened the blue box to see if it had changed like the one in the Royal Crypts of Karzun had.

Theo and Julia both noticed that the time had been reset. Theo looked at Julia, "Ready?"

Julia nodded, "Let's do this!"

With that, a horn sounded, and rats began to crawl out from under the sand.

Theo took a quick drink of water from his waterskin and handed it back to Julia. The first fifteen waves had been relatively simple. Waves one through ten had been over in less than a minute; each had been a small number of slimes, bats, rats, and giant ants, with three goblins on wave ten. Wave eleven had started what Theo would call coordinated combatants with six Goblin Raiders. They had just finished slaying a pack of Wild wolves, and they watched as the bodies broke down into sparks, leaving nothing behind.

The horn sounded, and out of the sand crawled a group of eight humans wearing clothing that Theo would call bandit garb. Before he or Julia could say anything, the creature under the tent called out quickly. "They are dungeon monsters; do not try to reason with them. They will attack you."

Theo nodded and stepped forward, engaging the first bandit, while Julia wove temporary Ward runes around the rest to isolate them. It took five minutes to complete this wave due to its nature. As they waited for the next wave, Theo was quiet. Julia as well.

Finally, after the horn blew again, revealing a pair of massive undead ghouls, Theo nodded, "We can talk about this later if you want, but let's keep focused and clear waves."

Julia nodded, and they got back to work.

Theo was panting. He felt power welling up within him and wondered why he had not received any level-ups or anything, even with the improved rates. He was about to ask when the horn blew; Theo checked the blue box quickly before rushing to the next fight.

Theo called out to Julia as he rushed towards the strange, undead dog-like creatures that had burrowed out of the ground. "We are almost halfway there and almost thirty minutes ahead!"

Julia smiled, "Keep it up!"

Theo nodded and focused on his next opponent.