Up on the wall Ace can only shake his head when he realizes exactly who, or more importantly, what is missing from Jan’s forces. There is not a single caster or qi user in the lot of them. Worse, no matter where he looks, he can’t seem to find them. Ace knew that a number of them had left with Jan and they aren’t even in with the normal people at the back.

This is a reasonable worry as it is unimaginable to not have at least a few energy users, if only to counter the ones that the enemy has. That bit of common sense that basically everyone else on the planet has learned was gleefully skipped by Jan for quite selfish reasons. Almost every form of supernatural power has some method of self healing. Whether it is a wizard with a healing spell, or a qi user that can drain vitality from their enemies.

And to Jan, any form of supernatural healing was a threat. She would be the one who holds the reins of life and death for her followers. In fact, if it wasn’t for her needing the melee fighters for defense even they would be gone. After all, a higher constitution means they heal quicker as well.

So that sets the scene of what is about to happen. Ace and his hardened crew of dungeon delvers on top of a defensive wall. Jan’s mob of melee fighters, all of which rushed their levels and haven’t purposefully put points into their constitution.

Of course, we don’t need to dwell on it too long. It was an absolute slaughter. Even the crafters who barely touched the dungeon crushed those they fought. Though crafters didn’t have any skills or magic related to combat, they still had stats that far outstripped what the enemy had. The only reason the fight wasn’t over instantly was because the shadows spreading out from Jan were able to pump her healing magic directly into their bodies, ignoring the usual resistance most healers have to fight.

Still, no matter how much healing Jan provides it can only do so much, especially once people start targeting her. Once that happens, they start falling fast as what was once was healing turned to damage as Jan shifted the damage away from herself. Jan wasn’t willing to sit there and take it, mind you.

Once damage began to bear down on her, she tried to escape but was not able to break the shadow connections while they were being used and so there was no hiding until all of her guards had died. She did manage to get a good distance away but the second the last shadow link fell, Susan and Jeremy appeared next to her on both sides. From there, it was just a couple of daggers to the throat to finish her.

A disappointing end to a disappointing healer. Back on the wall Ace sighs. While the direct threat that Jan represented was now gone, the problems had just started. Below, the powerless people cowered, unsure of their fate as they felt the glares of those above.

Ace would really like it if they would just leave. That, however, would be a death sentence for them and while Ace had come to terms with the massacre he had just committed, these people did not merit such a response.

Jim walks up next to him, “We don’t really have any debt to them. Just send them to the place up river. I’m sure the council up there would be happy to have more powerless people to rule.”

Ace shakes his head, “Sadly they are our responsibility. We killed all of their defenders and their leader. Yes, they came to us with bad intent, but I don’t want to completely give up on pre-system morals.”

Jim rolls his eyes, “You do realize no one here is willing to support them for free. You can only manage that sort of thing with an advanced civilization that has enough supplies. We’re just a single town who hasn’t even gotten all that many fields planted at this point. The only reason we have managed to survive without outside support so far is because of the dungeon.”

Ace turns away from the rabble outside and glances over the town. “Even if I wanted to, we couldn’t baby them. I don’t know how they survived out there but I highly suspect it was the result of a ton of danger supported by that absurd healing Jan was putting out. They will either pull their own weight or they can leave.”

Jim yawns and follows Ace, “I don’t think those weaklings can even manage the first floor so how do you expect them to survive?”

Ace’s face hardens, “If they can’t beat a few goats they are doomed. Those up river might be willing to baby them and put them in crafting only positions, but we’ve just shown why that isn’t viable. We defended our town, all of us. Even those four women that joined us from up river were able to help. If any of those people out there can’t manage to support themselves even a little, we don’t need them right now.

“Those out there, trembling at the thought of what will happen to them? I never want to accept that kind of person. Even our pure crafters stand with us, so those out there that kneeled before Jan aren’t worth my time. While I will let them join our town, they will never be more than outsiders at this point.”

Jim nods, “While I do feel bad for the newcomers, the ones that were worth our time have already died under Jan’s hands.”

A little off to the side Doyle is watching this conversation take place and feels a sense of detachment. While he hadn’t lived the best life, the idea of people from any moderately similar background being able to just offhandedly condemn so many people was strange. Of course, he doesn’t actually care, but it still feels strange.

Though as he thinks about it, this change makes at least a little more sense. While Doyle had been relatively safe in the depths of his dungeon, they had faced life threatening danger almost daily to some extent. The whole ideal of providing for everyone in your community is nice and a goal, but right now practicality tosses it all to the side.

Of course Doyle recognizes this as the slippery slope it is. Turn the refugees away this time and next, it won’t be as hard. And most important is that even before the system people had a hard time accepting such people. Still, he had sort of expected better from Ace.

Ace had expected better from himself as well. He had even figured out some plans on how to support them all even if they don’t want to enter the dungeon. However, watching them cower? To see such a large crowd of people that would rather cower than support themselves? Like a switch was flipped in his head a barrage of memories removed his sympathy.

Every Time he saw the scouts come back in with massive gashes from the wildlife. Whenever a person would exit the dungeon barely able to stand. The worries he has over the hawks that seemed to live nearby and who knows if they were monsters or still just animals.

Still, he was kinder than most people in the world right now. The act of keeping the “common people” from leveling isn’t a rare one. While Jan went a bit further with her goal of stripping them of any personal power, most pre-system power structures did not want any random person being able to overpower them.

So while his tough love of pushing them into the dungeon will get quite a few killed, it is probably the kindest thing he could do for them. Things seemed stable at the moment but it will only get worse before it gets better. There are large sections of wilderness and truly monstrous monsters will begin to ferment in those places.

No place on the entire planet is truly safe. Even the most secure of cities might find their defense breached and the people inside facing danger. So despite how heartless it might seem, Ace has stumbled upon one of the more reasonable ways forward for his town. To still accept others and yet making sure they can hold their own.

Not that anyone knows this yet. While they know that most humans died with the introduction of magic, it is hard to truly understand. To comprehend this change will take time as communities once again connect and share what has happened around them.

Then Doyle feels people start to enter his dungeon. The first group looked professional and once they noticed the change in greenery, retreated outside. This retreat was only temporary and soon enough, other teams swarmed in, searching for the limit.

This limit was soon enough found and Ace started to send in the new people. Of course, not, a single one of them could even reach the boss room of the first floor. Still, the ones who had some knowledge of what to do managed with relative ease. All the others, though? Let’s just say they are helping Doyle save up for the seventh floor.

And save he does. With the influx of new delvers and, of course, the aforementioned deaths, Doyle soon is halfway there. If those newcomers had been half competent, it might have even already filled up but that just isn’t in the cards. Though now that some time has passed, the cream has started to float to the top.

Sure, there are still people dying in his dungeon. But that is sort of what dungeons do. On the other hand, Ace has had quite mixed feelings. His plans for what to do with the others all came together. Most of them have delved into the dungeon at least once in the last couple weeks and some attempt it even more often.

On the other hand, Ace had noticed that while they have gained experience and levels, the newcomers lack a certain oomph. In fact, the ones dying weren’t exclusively the new people who hadn’t been fighting. No, whether a person who hasn’t killed a single monster or one who had joined an older group to fight , they all seem to be dying and Ace just doesn’t know why.

Of course, the answer was simple enough. Some scars don’t leave visible marks. The newcomers had been browbeat day after day by Jan and many had lost the will to improve. Until now, they had been dragging along just because Jan had told them to. Without that iron fist behind them, though, mistakes creep into their fighting.

And so, for lack of a commander, these groups have simply stumbled along, going through the motions. Any disruption and even what passes for their strongest team member could potentially die. Sure, that is technically true for any of the delver teams, but Doyle’s dungeon had been quite low on deaths. Now, with the new people, he was seeing at least one death a day.

For other dungeons, this kind of death rate would be normal, if not a little low. But for Doyle this kind of rate is completely unsustainable. The problem is that while the newcomers seem to be getting better, it isn’t at a fast enough rate. There just seems to be some kind of mental block from their time with Jan.

Even the delvers from up river only see about a death a week. Doctor of course has his guesses, but has kept them close to his chest as he wasn’t trained as a psychologist. So while he knows some about it, a guess, even with some thought put into it could cause more harm than good.

Still, the others have some ideas of their own. Especially the Barrais who have some experience with this kind of thing and are really curious to see how and if the system will help them out.

Akhier

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