Assault Read online

  Assault

  Book 2 of the Invasion Saga - A Nanomachine Magical World LitRPG Adventure

  D.I. Freed

  Copyright © 2021 D.I. Freed

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  Cover design by: MiblArt

  Library of Congress Control Number: TX0008961992

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Volume 7 - Digging into Business

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14 - Interlude

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Volume 8 - Finding and Attacking

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33- Interlude

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Volume 9 - It’s Not a Dungeon!

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Volume 10 - Crafting the Future

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84 - Interlude

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Volume 11 - Business and Family

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Volume 12 - Briar and Thorne

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 119

  Chapter 120

  Chapter 121

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 124

  Volume 13 - Fanatical Flora

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 133

  Volume 14 - Truths Exposed

  Chapter 134

  Chapter 135

  Chapter 136

  Chapter 137

  Chapter 138

  Chapter 139

  Chapter 140

  Chapter 141

  Chapter 142

  Chapter 143

  Chapter 144

  Chapter 145

  Chapter 146

  Chapter 147

  Chapter 148

  Chapter 149

  Chapter 150

  Chapter 151

  Chapter 152

  Chapter 153 - Interlude

  Afterword

  Volume 7 - Digging into Business

  Chapter 1

  As the sun lights the lake valley, my beautiful elven lover and I are on our way deeper into the gorge searching for my goats. Well, they aren’t my goats yet, but they will be! I refuse to give up on this. I will find goats!

  Another two kilometers into the journey and there is still no sign of my future horned herbivores; all I find is more frustratingly boring gorge.

  After another two hours of goatless despair, Grace, my self-aware and rather sex-deprived matte black grav cycle with sidecar, speaks to me.

  #I detect non-threatening mammalian life forms . . .

  “Go!” I call excitedly. Grace guides us another half-kilometer or so until we look up at the near-vertical wall; there is a herd of my goats performing gravity-defying stunts.

  I jump off Grace and cheer with my hands in the air. “YES!!!!”

  “You’ll scare them away, Vic.” Aria, ever the voice of common sense, states to me blandly.

  Oh, right. I stop immediately and blush. I’m just so excited.

  [Grace, what’s your maximum elevation?]

  #24 inches . . .

  [All right, then. Jo, time to whip out the climbing and repelling gear.]

  Jo is my other sentient machine intelligence. She is the consciousness of my personal nanomachine hive and is incredibly advanced. She is also my best friend and the “person” I trust the most. She’s been with me since the moment I activated my nanomachines in a cave under a rainforest. It’s a long story.

  Using grav plates and stabilizing pitons, it takes me a few hours to climb up to the midway point of the goated side of the gorge. It is disappointing having not located metal deposits, but I’m not even a third of the way up yet. Discouragingly, none of these goats have the look of the shiny hide we purchased from the geospatially-impaired-but-lucky hunter. That is the whole reason we’re here—I bought a special hide from a special goat and wanted to find more and maybe some of the metal veins that made them both so special. I stop after reaching two-thirds of the way up and look around. It’s beautiful up here. Too bad Aria decided to stay down, but her fear of heights and not wanting to risk me in case she freaks is wise.

  I turn back around to get an elevated view of the area and see a glint of sunlight reflected off the other side of the gorge.

  [Well, shit. We picked the wrong fucking side.]

  It would appear so . . .

  It’s a pain in the ass, but I disassemble everything on my way down and stomp angrily over to the other nearly vertical wall. At least going down took les
s than half the time compared to going up. “Fucking wrong side. Fucking goats. Have to fucking redo everything. Fucking better be worth it.” I am not mumbling to myself. I’m not!

  Nobody says anything to me.

  I attack the opposite side with a vengeance and reach a third of the way up when I see a fissure in the stone to my right. It’s over a meter tall and at least wide enough for me to stick my whole hand in. I look inside and can’t see shit. Calling on my mana, I create a globe of pure white light and send it a few inches into the dark space. Sparkling silver metal reflects along the walls, giving me hope for even slight justification of this trip and everything that happened. Here’s the big moment.

  [Inspect]

  Name:

  Large Silver Ore Vein

  Description:

  This is a substantial vein of the precious metal silver. With proper mining, this can produce anywhere from 30 to 3,000 tons of silver ore. There is a chance for earth mana stones to be found while mining this vein.

  Condition:

  Rich

  Risk Assessment:

  N/A

  Value:

  Once claimed, selling or leasing the rights of this ore vein will result in massive profit.

  [Yes! Claim it.]

  Claim has been filed with Sea Saddle City and the UFH . . .

  I keep going up. To the right of me is another obvious glint of metal, this one darker. It is far out of my [Inspect] range, so I have to use pitons and my own climbing expertise to move sideways a good fifty meters. I only almost fall to my death once, so that’s not too bad.

  [Inspect]

  Name:

  Medium Iron Ore Vein

  Description:

  This is a moderate-sized vein of the common but highly desired metal iron. With proper mining, this can produce anywhere from 100 to 1,000 tons of iron ore. There is a chance for earth mana stones to be found while mining this vein.

  Condition:

  Good

  Risk Assessment:

  N/A

  Value:

  Once claimed, selling or leasing the rights of this ore vein will result in substantial profit.

  Vein claimed . . .

  I‘m still only barely halfway up so I keep going. After another thirty meters, I see another fissure far to the left and above the silver. I scale the wall in that direction and never nearly die. Go me.

  This fissure is tiny but at a very odd angle that could really only be seen from where I was. If observed from below, it would look like normal rock, and from the other side it would be hidden by the angled stone edge.

  Shoving a light globe inside, I see a mostly brown glow with an occasional silvery shine.

  [Inspect]

  Name:

  Unknown Size Earth/Metal Mana Stone Lode

  Description:

  This is an unknown-sized lode of mana stones. This is a dual affinity lode with the overwhelming majority being earth mana stones. Less than 10% of the total lode also contains metal affinity stones.

  Note: Further excavation is required to determine stone density and value.

  Condition:

  Unknown

  Risk Assessment:

  N/A

  Value:

  Once claimed, selling or leasing the rights of this lode will result in massive profit.

  “Fucking godballs on a dragon!”

  Indeed. Lode claimed . . .

  “Aria! We’re geniuses!” I scream down to her.

  “Good for us, dear,” she calls back up while not moving her focus from her hands. She’s busy looking through a bunch of the crap I stole from the shaman’s chest. “The shaman” being one of the sixtyish orcs I battled and robbed yesterday when I assaulted and subsequently blew up the small Invader encampment.

  Anyway, I feel like a mana stone lode is worth a little more yelling, but whatever.

  ***

  After spending the rest of the day wandering all over the thirty-kilometer gorge, I’ve found and claimed six more veins and even two more earth lodes.

  “Gah! I want to stay and search everywhere!”

  I’m waving my arms and pacing around our campsite back at the lake.

  “Calm down, Vic. We can always come back.”

  [Are the location of the claims hidden from the public?]

  Yes . . .

  “Okay. That’s a relief. Yes, we can come back.”

  You received a number of messages while you were in mining mode. Not that you actually mined anything, by the way; you just looked. You don’t even know the quality of the ores you claimed . . .

  [Fine! I’ll mine some next time. I’m just going to end up selling or leasing it all out anyway. At least I get to use my outrageously expensive fancy new pick. It’s better than a rock and broken sliver of metal.]

  I’m sure you’ll take plenty of joy from playing with your expensive tools. More importantly, Master Steeltamer offers his thanks for both the warning and protecting his people. He says he will warn the clans and add safeguards. He also hopes “the dunderheads will listen to bloody reason . . .”

  I stop pacing and just stare off at the lake.

  [I wonder if they are compromised. Send this reply: I found what I said I was going to, and you should prepare to decide if you want to buy or lease. Also, I’m concerned someone may be working against your people from the inside. I have a feeling your clan or someone close to your clan has turned against you.]

  Message sent. You have a message from Hyoto, asking for a meeting in two days . . .

  [Agree to whatever time works for them.]

  Sent. Your HQ sent a message requesting an update on mission status . . .

  My HQ in this case means the leader of my non-existent covert paramilitary unit known as Knight Hunters. I cannot securely comm from this location so far in the middle of nowhere and thus will provide few details.

  [Response is: Debrief upon return.]

  Sent. You have received requests from three mining companies inquiring about purchase or leasing rights to your veins. They apparently monitor the claimant registry . . .

  I take out the matriarch’s core and sit down on the edge of the lake.

  Aria walks up and sits behind me. She puts her legs to either side and lifts up my shirt. I let her, and she leans her bare torso against my bare back.

  I ask, “So how’s it feel to be a dual affinity finally?”

  She rubs her face lightly against my upper back and kisses my neck. “It’s like having something Mom left me. Really special. I can’t say how much I value it.”

  Smiling, I say, “Shen would have been so proud to have you learn what she knew so well.”

  I sigh, lean back, and turn my head as far as it will go. She kisses the side of my mouth.

  Turning back to the water, I share my intentions. “I want to explore the lake.”

  She sounds surprised. “Oh? Where did this come from?”

  “Heavy and precious metals that are washed in by the river would sink to the bottom and, with the help of mana, perhaps compact enough over time to make a vein or at least be loose and still have passable value. Something clearly happened here to create all these veins and especially the lodes. And given what else I have found around here, it seems plausible there may be underwater veins. This can’t be random.”

  “Why the sudden drive for this, Vic? I mean, aren’t you already rich beyond belief?”

  “We are rich, yes. But humanity isn’t. Resources have always been our greatest constraint when fighting the Invaders. Enough metal, enough coin, enough food. If we find this and can flood the market, we can offer more of everything either directly or indirectly.”

  “How does metal help with food?”

  “By using the metal to either directly buy food, or indirectly give us access. Did you see those farms on the way here?”

  I feel her nod her head against my back.

  “Here, absorb this and I’ll tell you.”

  I toss the glowing green stone over
my shoulder. She squeaks, and I see her scramble and fall over. Twisting my head, I enjoy the show. She punches me in the back and I laugh.

  “So about the farms. Do you know why there aren’t more?”

  She shakes her head but guesses, “They have to be defended?”

  “That’s a part of it. In summary, the answer is resources. How will the land be cultivated? Resources. How will the goods be transported and, yes, defended? Resources. If we have more metal, turrets will be more affordable. If we have more mana stones, more power will be available for mana shields, and more inscriptions can be made cheaper. If we have more coin, more of all of that can be bought. Everything is dependent upon resources, and humanity needs more.”

  “Oh. I guess I didn’t realize how big it is.”

  “Big. How’s that stone?”

  “Almost empty. This will be a huge boost for me, thank you. Now strip and get in the lake.”

  “Okay, but why?”

  “So I can wash you. Then you can explore until you want to stop.”

  “You’re the boss.”

  She nods. “Yes.”

  We both do as she says. She’s the boss, after all.

  Chapter 2

  Using my water cocoon and a mana light, I am at the bottom of the lake, moving about dressed only in shorts. The freshwater mana-infused wildlife is lovely. There are also numerous glowing plants here. I wonder what would happen if I send some water into my [Living Inventory]?

  Well, I’ll start small on that. You know, so I don’t die from over . . . errr . . . sucking? Is that a thing?

  Anyway. Grabbing a quick air refill, I make my way to the river inlet, and I can feel the current pushing the water in the lake. Going down to the bottom, I do see a lot of shiny things, but they are all loose. Sweeping all that aside, I try to get to some sort of bedrock or compact mounds. I need to go up a number of times for air and once to let mana refill, but eventually, I do see some compact rock at the bottom. I continue to sweep it away until I have an area six by six meters.