Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

Sunlight beamed down. Ike blinked it away, supremely unused to bright sunlight after so long in the centipede caves. He stepped out onto rough-hewn stone. The blocks were worn down the center of the path, where hundreds of people had walked before him. There were little flattened pits here and there along the battlements where guards had stood, and strange marks where something had once been bolted in. Maybe a spell formation, or some kind of mage ballista. Now, they all stood empty. Nothing but the marks in the stone to show what had been.

Ike walked to the edge of the wall and leaned against the crenelations. From here, he could see to the horizon. A lush forest spanned the vast space around them, brimming with flora and fauna. A flock of birds took flight, cawing. Jagged mountains marked the edge of the space, encircling the forest. It marked the edges of the region, clearly defining the borders of the playing field, as it were.

There were no other castles, not yet. But there were round, flat stone spaces exactly as large as the centipede pit had been stood at the four corners of the vast forest. Or rather, three corners. His castle stood in the fourth, gazing down at the other three.

"So we're the first to find a castle," Ike muttered. It wasn't that surprising, once he thought about it. After all, the formations that called forth the castles were linked to mana veins, and Shawn could sense those. Shawn himself bragged about how good he was at finding mana veins. Unless another group had brought their own mountain spirit, there would probably be some time before any of the other castles popped up.

Ike twisted his lips. That was good, but also potentially bad. The message had told him to protect the castle. If the protection segment started after the other contestants arrived, then this was bonus time to strengthen his defenses. But if the protection started immediately, then this was extra time where he had to defend the castle, while everyone else's castle was still safely in the earth. Not only that, but he'd get the full force of whatever this area had to spit out in terms of danger. It wouldn't be split among four people as it was meant to be. He'd basically get four times the danger he was supposed to get, all at once.

There wasn't any danger yet. For now, he could focus on his defenses. Still, I'll have Mag run patrols over the castle while I work on the walls and Wisp works on our basement. I don't want a four-times danger to sneak up on us while we're distracted by building our defenses.

He walked the walls. The stone was worn and aged, but firm. There were no obvious cracks, nor weak points. However, all the weaponry had been stripped away. All the places where they had once been were now no more than discolored spots on the stone, some of them still bearing the drill holes where the weapons had been attached to the stone. The only offense he'd have within the castle itself was what he and his team could rally.

Ike knelt, tracing the shape of the marks in the stone. Why had they taken away all the weaponry? Was it part of the challenge, to have to rely on your own strength alone to defend the castle? That wasn't very kingly, as far as he was aware. Kings usually directed their underlings to attack other underlings, the nonsense he'd fed Mag aside.

"We don't get underlings, we don't get weaponry. What kind of impoverished kingdom are we supposed to be competing to inherit?" Ike mused aloud.

Even as he said it, something banged against the castle walls. Ike jumped up and ran to the edge of the wall, looking down.

A ragtag group of mages knocked on the castle's main gates. The leader looked up as Ike gazed down, her eyes weary. They wore rags and carried broken weapons. Even their auras were weak, on the verge of flickering out.

"We seek refuge. Do you have room in your castle?" the leader pleaded.

Ike stared. I ask for underlings, and underlings appear? How convenient. Though… these ones look a little more run down than I was expecting. For all I know, this is the first step to the danger, and they're actually bandits, who are going to run wild in my castle the second I let them in. He extended his aether to sense the ragged mages' strength.

Almost immediately, he yanked his aether back, startled. They were weak right now, tired and on the edge of collapsing, but their strength was immense. Maybe even greater than his. With enough time to rest, they'd be a formidable force.

Ike raised his brows. Is this the advantage the first mover gets? The first chance to recruit all the underlings? Interesting. Well, if I've been given the first pick, I won't turn them down. He waved at the mages. "Hold on. I'll be down in a moment."

The leader startled. She stared at him. "You're letting us in?"

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"Yeah? Why wouldn't I?" Ike asked. It's like the first trial all over again. They appear weak on the surface, but look beneath the surface, treat them right, and I bet they turn into some of the strongest underlings in the trial. Or at least strong underlings, which I desperately need. He couldn't defend a whole castle with four people, no matter what he liked to think. He wasn't Shopkeep, with the impenetrable defenses of his Wizard's Tower. He and Wisp could only fight two battles at once. Maybe three, if Mag felt like contributing. Plus, he had no skill or knowledge when it came to fixing up castle defenses. Sure, the wall looked fine to him, but he didn't know a whole lot about walls. Maybe they were in horrible shape. No matter how he looked at it, they needed more. More people.

"It's just…" she hesitated. Her followers exchanged glances. "No one's let us in before."

"Well, I'm not stupid like them. Hold on. I'll be right there." Ike left the battlements and raced through the castle, down to the front gates. The door was latched with a heavy bar. He lifted the bar and threw it aside, then pushed the doors open. He smiled. "Welcome! I'm Ike. Who are you?"

The woman drew herself to her full height. Under their ragged robes, their armor was broken, but clean, bearing the insignia of a house Ike didn't recognize. "We are all that remains of the Old Guard. Thank you for letting us in."

"I didn't just let you in. I am expecting you to help out with the castle," Ike said, barring the path forward with his hands on his hips.

She hesitated, then glanced around her warriors. They glanced back at her, uncertain. "We only ask refuge. We cannot promise anything when it comes to fighting."

Ike twisted his lips. Not ideal, but nonetheless, they're powerful. I don't want another group to gank 'em. "Can you do something else? Inspect the battlements, maybe? I'm pretty new to castle ownership. I could use someone who knows their way around a wall."

From behind the woman, one of her soldiers raised his hand. "I'm…I was a mason. I can take a look."

Another woman raised her hand. "I know my way around spell formations. If you have any, I can try to figure out how to fix them."

"What if I don't have any spell formations?" Ike asked.

She blinked, shocked. "None? At all? Impossible."

"Possible. You're welcome to take a look for yourself," he replied, gesturing for them to enter. Even if they won't fight, it seems like this is a group of experts. I sure could use some experts right now to help fix up the castle.

"Hey, Ike. I was throwing some webs in the basement when I found… whoa, who's the new guys?"

Ike glanced back. Wisp approached, carrying a large gem-colored plate in one hand and some gold traces in the other. At the sight of the newcomers, she paused, her brows furrowing.

"Oh. They knocked on the door. I was going to let them in. There's a mason and a spell formations master among them, but we don't have any spell formations for her to look at," Ike explained.

"I could build new ones, with those materials. Are there more, in the basement?" the woman asked.

"What else is in the basement? I'm a blacksmith. I can forge new weapons," another man offered.

Heheh. As I thought. They act as if they're worthless, but they're the most valuable units on the map! This is exactly what I need. Ike smiled at the group. "Welcome, welcome. Wisp, you want to show them around the basement and storerooms? I can show the rest of you the battlements, if you want."

The leader stepped forward. "Are you sure? Are you not afraid we might betray you? There's six of us, and two of you, and our strength rivals yours."

Ike shrugged. He held up his hand, lifting a finger. "First off, I'm not afraid of you. You want to fight? Bring it on. We'll tear your asses up, and I don't care if there's a gap between our apparent Ranks. You're still going down. Second," he raised a second finger, "there's four of us. Three right here. I can't believe you disregarded Shawn."

"Huh? What?" Shawn blinked, lifting his head off Ike's shoulder. He looked around, slightly woozy from sleep. His eyes focused on the newcomers, and he frowned. "Enemies?"

"Not yet. She's suggesting they might be, though," Ike said.

"I—meant no such thing. I simply questioned the wisdom of—"

Ike shook his head. "Okay, so first things first. We're not big on wisdom around here, okay? We live in the present. If you're going to help us now, then we'll accept your help. If you betray us later, we'll destroy you then. You can go ahead and try to sabotage us, but we'll watch you. In the worst case, we'll destroy whatever work you did, and be back at step one. But I think having you guys on board is better than us four trying to solo-complete this castle's defenses with absolutely no knowledge of how to build castle defenses."

"Oh," she said quietly.

"Unless you really don't want to come inside. I won't force you to join our side. If you think you have a better chance with some other would-be king, you're free to make your pick. But you came to us, and I have no intent of refusing you."

At that, the leader stood up straight and puffed out her chest. "So you intend to be king."

Ike grimaced. He wobbled his hand. "Not really? I'm going to be straight with you. We just want the skill orb. I don't think I deserve to lead a country. In fact, I don't even want to lead a country. I'm more of the roaming-wild-and-free type. So… if you know a way I can get that skill without taking on the role of King, I'm all ears."

The six of them looked amongst themselves. Abruptly, their leader broke out laughing. "As he said. He who least wishes to lead, is often best suited for it. Argo, to the walls. Daisy, follow that spider beast to find the spell formation materials. Same for you, Fflyn. Mars, Nett, you know what to do." She drew her sword and saluted Ike, dropping to her knee. "I am Relin, Captain of the Old Guard. Few of us remain, but we pledge ourselves to your cause, nonetheless."

"Neat. Good," Ike said, nodding. I'm not one-hundred-percent sure she and I are communicating properly. In fact, we seem to be talking past one another. But she wants to join my team now, so I'll take it!

Shawn smacked his shoulder. "You're supposed to offer her a hand up and accept her pledge!"

Ike laughed. He stepped forward and offered her a hand, as Shawn suggested. "Sorry. I'm a bit of a slumrat, so I don't know manners. It's good to have you on."

"I'd rather have a king with purpose than manners. What would you have me do?"

He shrugged. "What you do best. Lead your men. You know more about their skills and specialties than I do. Whatever you can do to fix up the castle and its defenses, I'll be happy to take."

She considered for a second, then nodded. Taking off at a jog, she headed into the castle.

Wisp glanced at Ike. "What the hell just happened?"

"I recruited some underlings. What is a king without his…" Ike thought for a second. "Subjects?"

"Minions? Underlings?" Wisp suggested.

"Whatever they call 'ems. The point is, our defenses are kind of shit right now, and I have no idea how hard it's going to be to defend this castle. These guys know how to fix up castles, so let's help them get the materials and stuff, right? You know where the stuff is in the basement, don't you?"

She waggled her hand. "Kind of? I found these gemstone plates."

Ike nodded. "Okay. So you show Daisy to the rest of them, and I'll take…" He turned to the blacksmith.

"Fflyn. I'm Fflyn."

"I'll go take Fflyn and look for iron and stuff."

Wisp saluted. "You got it, boss."

Daisy followed Wisp. "What kind of spell formations were you thinking of making?"

"Huh? I wasn't thinking about spell formations at all. But now that you mention it, if you're going to defend something, you need lots of sticky webs, right?"

"Sticky…webs?"

"Yeah. Slow 'em down, wrap 'em up, and you can eat 'em later!"

"Uh…"

Ike watched them go. He chuckled under his breath. I think Wisp has that one handled. For now, anyways. He turned to Fflyn. "Shall we go search for some iron?"

"Sure. Is your, uh, beast companion—"

"Friend."

"Friend. Does she know what she's doing when it comes to defending a castle?"

"Compared to me, she does. She once defended an entire region of a forest. I'm just a guy who's wandered around the world for a while."

Fflyn pursed his lips, then shrugged. "Well, whatever works. We're only here to help, after all."

Ike nodded. He pointed at Fflyn. "About that…"