The next morning brought rain with it.

  The monsters and I had stayed up late into the night, feasting and celebrating—though I’d realized something early on.

  My village had no access to alcohol, a staple of any fantasy world.

  Which meant my next side task, something besides preparing for war, would be finding a way to either get or make alcohol.

  I’d been hoping, with those thoughts in mind, that the System might give me a side quest for it—but it had been rather quiet since the battle against Josef and the strange error message reward it had given me.

  It worried me a little, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it right now.

  I rose from my new bed, putting my armor and weapon back on, and made my way outside, thinking on what had to be done today.

  Gathering more Soul Essence was a must. The passive gains had gone up another point with the leveling of my Core, but even then, a full eight hours of sleep had only garnered me 144 points.

  So I needed to hunt.

  Monsters and… if needed, more adventurers.

  If I was correct in my mapping skills—and from what Analth had told me—the village of Aelshore was about eight hours from here. Which meant those adventurers who had fled yesterday, barring getting killed by monsters on the way back, would have made it to Aelshore by now.

  Which meant soon, the entire world would know about the Herald living in these woods.

  The thought should have terrified me. After all, everyone I’d met so far that wasn’t a summoned monster—or Analth—had wanted to kill me.

  But I found myself at ease.

  Let them come.

  I would defend my new home with my life.

  As I reached the outdoors, my various monsters were meandering about the village, each giving me a greeting as I walked past.

  I had nineteen altogether under my command. If I wanted to maximize Soul Essence and experience gains, I’d need to send out multiple groups.

  “Elyndra, take six others with you to the west, as far as my territory will allow,” I ordered the Coreborn woman. “Focus on hunting monsters, only engage with adventurers if you have no choice.” She nodded and began to gather her chosen underlings. I look to Halvard next.

  “Halvard, take five with you and head east,” I look to Roderik, the Kobold straightening as I acknowledged him. “Take Roderik with you and choose your own for the rest. Focus on gaining experience.”

  “It will be done, Herald.”

  “As you order,” Both Halvard and Roderik gave me a salute, before gathering their chosen monsters.

  That left me with five monsters of my own to explore north and check out the new territory that I hoped would reach the ocean’s edge.

  I gripped my blade a little tighter, and steadied myself to move out. It was time to hunt again.

  The northern part of the forest was much the same as where I’d originally started, albeit with more palm trees than anything else.

  Unlike the west, the trees seemed thinner here too, allowing my group to see better.

  I had also been correct about getting closer to shore; only ten minutes into the walk, and the sound of waves crashing against rocks was getting louder and louder.

  The monsters were changing as well.

  “Skreeeee!”

  I hung back, watching my little group fight some of the new monsters we’d come across.

  With me were Skreek, Andre, Brean, Tirven, and Rukhar.

  They were fighting something that looked like a mix between a crab and a bat—Reefwings, the System named them.

  Like a flying crab, if I was going to be honest.

  It was terrifying.

  But my monsters were stronger—or at least worked together better—than the wild ones.

  Even as I watched, Skreek took one down with a lunge of his spear, while Andre danced around another, jabbing and poking with the new steel rapier I had given him.

  Brean’s antlers were stronger than the flying beast’s crab-like pincers, and he was faster too, allowing him to dance around the beast, pulling back before charging in to greater effect.

  Rukhar stood back near me.

  It turned out that the pale blue tint to his fur signified he was a mage—one that used [Cold Magic]. Even now, he finished chanting, and several plate-sized shards of ice formed above his head before launching into one of the Reefwings, slicing it to shreds.

  Tirven was like a Spartan, using his shield to block a blow before jabbing out with his spear, always finding his mark.

  It was impressive watching them work, and the notifications I kept getting told me my other parties were doing well too.

  Skreek took down the last of the Reefwings, and I opened the System right away, wanting to see the Soul Essence gains.

  [Skreek has slain Reefwing (Lv. 8)! — +91 Soul Essence]

  [Andre has slain Reefwing (Lv. 7)! — +80 Soul Essence]

  [Rukhar has slain Reefwing (Lv. 5)! — +61 Soul Essence]

  [Tirven has slain Reefwing (Lv. 9)! — +103 Soul Essence]

  [Brean has slain Reefwing (Lv. 7)! — +80 Soul Essence]

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  [Skreek has slain Reefwing Brinewing (Lv. 9)! — +129 Soul Essence]

  Not a bad haul overall. And it confirmed to me that the more I expanded my domain, the stronger the monsters I’d face.

  I wondered briefly if that was natural, or if it had to do with my Core making things in my zones stronger specifically for me to face.

  I couldn’t imagine the monsters in the woods directly around Aelshore being Elite-class monsters… it would deter adventurers and villagers alike from ever leaving their home.

  No, I very much suspected the Core was influencing the terrain more than it implied. It worked out for me; I knew exactly where to go to hunt stronger monsters at all times instead of having to guess.

  “Herald, smell…. something strange ahead,” Skreek’s higher-pitched voice cut me out of my musings, and I frowned, looking up.

  I breathed in, trying to see if I could smell the same thing as him… but all I could smell was the salt of fresh ocean water. We must have been closer than I thought.

  Another few minutes, and the trees thinned out onto a beach, and I gasped aloud at what I saw.

  The ocean.

  The actual ocean—waves crashing against the shore, water stretching as far as I could see northward.

  I hadn’t noticed it on the grid when I’d claimed this territory, but when I opened the map once more, I could see it clearly now.

  Half of this new section was forest, and the rest was ocean.

  [Achievement Unlocked!]

  [Title:] Terrain Variety

  [Condition:] Explore a domain that has more than one type of Terrain in it.

  [Rewards:] +300 Soul Essence | Domain Feature Unlocked: Mixed Terrain | Resource Unlocked: Barley

  I whistled at the reward. I was certain there’d be increased costs for mixing and matching terrain, but it was nice to have the option—especially considering I hadn’t even altered my original domain yet.

  Being able to blend terrain types could make for an excellent defensive tactic. Having a group of adventurers get bogged down by extreme cold one minute, only to be hit by deadly heat from volcanic terrain the next, could serve as a powerful psychological deterrent.

  In addition to that, there was the Barley resource. Barley was used in making alcohol, I was fairly certain—which meant that if I could find some, I’d finally be able to build my Inn.

  The beach stretched for kilometers in either direction, the forest bordering it on all sides. I could see the sand curve far in the distance to the west, which made sense given what Analth had told me about Aelshore.

  It should curve into a river that leads straight to Aelshore.

  I marched down to the sand, moving slowly, taking in the feel of the ocean breeze, the smell of salt water.

  In the distance, I could hear gulls crying, and for a moment I was back home, back on Earth, celebrating getting into college with my family, campfires and beach parties leading the way.

  I sighed, earning a look from Skreek, but he chose to stay quiet.

  Then my world exploded in pain as something pierced my gut, right below my sternum, and I was yanked forward into the sand.

  “Kill the interlopers!”

  A roar went up, the voice a low hiss like a snake given speech.

  I struggled to get up, looking down at what had hit me.

  A harpoon.

  It was a bloody harpoon.

  I pulled it out with a cry, and followed the rope back to its source.

  From the water, several figures appeared.

  Humanoid, yes, but they were certainly monsters.

  They stood on two legs, but each of them looked like a different ocean-dwelling creature.

  The one holding the other end of the harpoon, swiftly pulling it back to throw again, was a man with the body of a shark. I assumed he had been the one who called out.

  Two creatures that looked like they had the heads of an anglerfish, holding swords made of fish bones and shields of rock and coral as they charged towards me.

  Another, moving to engage Skreek, looked like a humanoid octopus, complete with four legs and four arms—each hand holding a wickedly sharp-looking axe.

  Behind the harpoon wielder, I could see a fifth monster, looking more human than the rest, its lips moving in a soundless chant, a book, covered in coral and barnacles, floating in front of it while a magic circle formed behind it.

  “Shit,” I cursed, dodging a wild swing from the first fishman before blocking the second with the buckler.

  There wasn’t a lot of strength behind the blow, which made me think they weren’t overly powerful, but they had gotten the drop on us.

  Andre moved to assist Skreek, while Tirven blocked the second throw from the harpoon wielder with his shield.

  Then the caster completed their spell.

  A crack of thunder erupted above me, followed by rain that swiftly turned to hail.

  I hissed in pain as a larger stone slammed into my right shoulder, briefly making me drop my guard, which gave one of the fishmen an opportunity.

  His blade cut across my chest, and I cried out once more, fresh blood spraying across the grains of sand at my feet as I stumbled back.

  The wound in my gut had mostly healed already, thanks to the Core’s enhancements on my body, but I was still losing more blood than I would have liked.

  I blocked another blow, wincing as the second attack cut across my thigh.

  I was being pushed back—then one fishman stumbled back, gurgling, a shard of ice embedded in his throat.

  “Nice one, Rukhar!” I praised the little Kobold.

  It didn’t—well, couldn’t—respond, focusing on its next spell.

  The battle continued back and forth, and now that I was one-on-one with the fishman, I was at a huge advantage.

  I kicked out, knocking it back, and before it could recover, I focused on the blade, pointing toward the harpoon wielder and the enemy caster.

  The blade glowed brightly for a moment, and there was a crack of my own thunder, before lightning came crashing down on the pair.

  No matter where you go, water acts as a great conductor of lightning, and the effect it had on the two monsters was instant.

  Both seized up, bodies flashing brightly like in a cartoon, before sinking into the water, forms charred and smoking.

  I felt something in me give out, energy draining, and I fell to one knee.

  It seemed using that cost me mana, or something equivalent, and my vision swam for a moment.

  The fishman was too shocked by what had happened to take advantage—just standing there, staring at me in fear.

  For a moment, I thought he might run… but he did something I didn’t expect. He fell to one knee in front of me, dropping his weapon, face touching the sand.

  Was he surrendering?

  I stood, slowly, looking at the fishman for a moment. He didn’t dare look back up at me.

  I sighed before looking toward where Skreek was finishing his own fight, the octopus-man going limp as the goblin’s spear pierced his heart.

  [Rukhar has slain Gloomjaw (Lv. 5)! — +61 Soul Essence]

  [The Herald has slain Vorathin Harpoonist (Lv. 11)! — +163 Soul Essence]

  [The Herald has slain Sirevain (Lv. 9)! — +129 Soul Essence]

  [Skreek has slain Oktari (Lv. 7)! — +100 Soul Essence]

  [Gloomjaw (Lv. 6) can be tamed!]

  I stared down at the newly named Gloomjaw with a frown.

  “You’re done fighting, then?” I questioned, though I was certain it couldn’t understand me.

  It looked up, and I could see something akin to awe in its eyes.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” I looked around for a moment, making sure there weren’t more monsters approaching us, before nodding. “Alright, you can come with us. You listen to what I say though, got it?”

  The creature nodded frantically. Guess they understood some things.

  [Ruv’Kesh, Gloomjaw (Lv. 6), has been tamed]

  I smiled, offering him a hand up, before looking at the others.

  “Let’s head back for the day,” I said, glancing at the levels. Andre had reached Level 10, which meant another evolution was at hand.

  Not to mention, my other parties could have gained enough experience to evolve a couple of monsters as well. A lot of them had been close after our fight with the mysterious guild.

  [Current Day: 7]

  [Soul Essence: 1600]

  [Kingdom Core: Level 3]

  [Domain Size: 3 Sectors]

  [Active Quest: — None —]