Cole shook his head, the forest was extremely silent, eerie even, but then again they had just started their march and without a doubt the Darklings should have seen them mobilizing. And Cole was no darkling but even he had to admit that if it were him he would be severely intimidated by the sight of hundreds of aspirants, chopping down trees and killing any darkling they saw with extreme prejudice. Cole turned around, he was perched on a tree and from where he was he could still see the other half of their raid group, or perhaps he should call it an army.
Regardless he had to focus, the sounds of the forest slowly began to pick up, the sounds of trees being felled filled the air as the aspirants made sure to clear everything in sight so that they would not be ambushed by the darklings. Between all of them, they had enough inventory space to store all of the wood that they gained from the trees. They ignored the stone and ore resources because those would not be in the way, they all just needed a clear path. But regardless they all switched between each other to make sure that there was still enough energy amongst themselves should a fight start.
[Master Cole, the ship transporting the siblings has breached Saturn airspace, they should be on it and off world under the hour.]
Cole nodded his head, Morgan sending a message for him was the right thing to do, though if he had to be honest he wished he had his AI present in the game in a manner similar to what he had in the previous floor. Never the less Cole shifted his gaze noticing the absence of Cassandra and her brother, it seems that they were logged out currently and were being moved. He shifted his attention back to the raid group, there were a few inconsistencies within their formations but there were more people doing things the right way than those doing it the wrong way, so they were all easing up and getting into the groove of things.
Cole jumped down from the branch he was perched on and started to whack the tree with his axe. He might be trying too hard with the whole solo antihero business but he knew one thing about leadership. People were motivated to follow when you were one of them, sure staying in a lofty position is good and all and it made things easier if they looked up to you, but that was respect, being in the middle of the people meant that he would be loved. Ultimately Cole was not the kind of person who would do things half way, if he had respect then he would make sure to get love and fear in return. Of course it still begs the question how can you get all three emotions from the people you led, but ultimately as long as the people who follows were in flux about the way they felt, they would never be unified in talks of getting rid of you.
Besides it was impossible to have all three, Loved, feared and respected. Not unless you wanted to count your enemies into the equation. Then you can happily go the fear route. Cole raised his head up and coincidentally his eyes met those of Raven, he grinned showing fanged teeth and extremely mocking grin. It was a dare, he expected the Raven…man to react or possibly try to do something to jeopardize his plans for Cassandra and her brother. And while that might be a dangerous game to play Cole had to be honest with himself and say that he didn't really care much what happened to Cassandra and her brother, something was up with the Nightmoon industries and the fact that they were poisoning the only colony on Saturn to death just to squeeze out every last bit of profit rubbed him off the wrong way.
After finding that out, Cassandra and her brother became an opportunity. With earth about to be assimilated into a larger universe with more powerful established intergalactic powers, the idea of owning a planet in Earth's own solar system appealed to him extremely. In order words his business man antenna had picked up on a signal to make an extremely huge amount of profit. Of course he would have to find a way to deal with the factories poisoning the colony, but he could do that and still be able to mine the planet for it's resources…. Heck he could have a monopoly over it, which would make him richer and give him an extra card to play when the playing board became a while lot bigger than it already was.
Right now all Cole could possibly do was try and figure out a better way to fortify himself and his brother's children. His mom and dad could take care of themselves and much more so his grandparents. What he really wanted was to protect his nephew and niece, as they were innocent of all the blood and drama that has stained their family. He had gotten vengeance but none of that would matter if they did not grow up better than he did. According to Cassandra the Nightmoon family were trying to cut their losses but were so greedy that they were trying to squeeze every single last drop from the Saturn Colony, it didn't help matter that they also had a grant that made them the sovereign power of Saturn for what was another 400 years.
Cole knew they would put that grant up for sale, they did not have the funds, regardless of how rich they were to seed another colony on the planet. That was literally building a city from the ground up on a planet that was still largely inhospitable to humans as terraforming hadn't taken too well to the planet. But Cole was sitting on a shit load of money and he was sitting on an equally massive pile in game in preparation for when the whole universe combining shit happens. There was no use to having money if you can't spend it to make more money, no matter what he had to have a say in the new reality that was coming, and it wasn't just being at the top 9f the rankings, there were more higher leveled people hanging in different hidden corners of universe titan Rising Online's even was carved out of.
He might not be able to get to the stage he wanted, but he could make money and have enough assets that would buy him and his family time to grow stronger and make a name for themselves. And he wasn't talking about his family as it is now, he was talking about the family that he would make, that he would lead. Cole was looking to the future, 8t was time to start thinking like the boss he thinks himself to be and take full charge of his Destiny before someone else does it for him.
Cope felt a 'tingle' if he could call it that. There was always fancy names given to preternatural senses from comic books and superhero movies. But the best he could say was that his domain was powerful and he had not been using it to it's full advantage. But he was learning, with each day that passed Cole was getting better and getting stronger, he was learning new ways to synergize his abilities and new ways to utilize them. Which was why it came as a surprise to quite a few people when he showed his axe and pulled out his sword from where it was hanging on his back.
"To arms Glade Solitude! Enemies incoming!" and just as he finished his warning the first Darkling attacked, and Ursaling for that matter and it went straight for Cole. He had to be honest with all of the intelligence these things have shown, their blatant need to always go after him for capture or killing was a huge disadvantage. But Cole also couldn't blame them because if he was them, he would also prioritize the man with the ability to consume them better than they could consume him, and even worse being nigh unlikable with his Demonic Constitution.
[Black Cut]
The Ursaling lost its head as Cole pivoted with the strike and sent his tail stabbing forwards. It soared through the chest of a chitterling that had leapt at him, it crazed screeching dying as a fireball flew over his head setting another Ursaling ablaze. Cole smiled and shifted to the side, before kicking his foot forward, punting a Chitterling that had landed in front of him, sending it flying back into the tree lines. Cole took a deep breath and called out.
"Hold the lines! Do not let them get behind you. Those of you behind the first line chop down the trees as we advance! Those in the front after advancing ten feet hood the battle likes until the trees behind you have been cleared then switch with other aspirants. Ranged combatants please avoid setting the fucking forest on fire, but ultimately…. GIVE THEM HELL!!!"
"YARRRRRRGHHHHH!"
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