Three days of minor battles and proof of concept for Ravi’s new role. As the days rolled slowly forward he went from yelling at the top of his lungs for the captain to now having a liaison posted next to the carriage during fights.

  Any suggestions sir? A gangly teen who must have been a newer recruit says.

  The youth was clearly eager to run closer to the action. Argog’s reputation as a battle kingdom was on full display. Even though this squad is mostly a diplomacy contingent they are still better than some elite squads in other kingdoms.

  Not yet… er, Ravi struggled to remember his name.

  Pavel sir, I'm ready when you are. He said

  You will be the second to know, Ravi said looking over to Jopeth who was lost in his latest book.

  They had barely said a word to each other during the entire trip as Jopeth was engrossed in a study of anchor kingdom formation or at least what was known about it. That was another reason his bookworm assistant jumped at the chance for this trip. Kyreb was the kingdom with the richest tombs of knowledge as the first anchor kingdom. As history tells, they gathered the disparate remains of humanity that had been scattered and hunted by the beasts of this world. They formed the first real nation of humans ruled by a visionary king. This eventually led to the creation of the anchor kingdoms.

  These twelve kingdoms were named anchors because they are powered by the system. Specific titles in those kingdoms come with automatic rank growth like kings elevating to rank A immediately after being crowned. Nobles can gain access to the sovereign skills, generals have their own slate of options and some like his strategist title have to be figured out. Ravi had not heard of this specific title being granted but maybe Kyreb had some answers.

  There were more than twelve kingdoms on the planet but others were not system blessed. Kings are just kings not powerhouses, they also don’t have any SS - Ranked warriors and rarely any A - Rankers. Those kingdoms could also be destroyed with no consequence, while an anchor kingdom could not be destroyed, at least as far as Ravi knew. Kings could be assassinated and coup’s happened but the land healed itself when destruction happened. New kings cannot take over unless the entire family line stated in the system either refuses or dies. More than once assassins were successful throughout history only for a hidden successor to be announced throughout that kingdom. Wraith had been lucky that the former king had not set a line of succession. The downside with anchor kingdoms was not being able to expand. Its borders were firmly set and hadn’t changed for generations.

  Any insights sir… Pavel said again

  Ravi hadn’t realized that his assistant's studies led him into a spiral. It must have been the curse of a scribe, he assumed. He hadn’t even been watching the fight. Scanning the soldiers he could see they all still had 1 of 100 as a status and nothing else. Looking at Pavi he noticed no aura emanated from him but he didn’t want to mention it as he assumed this would disappoint him greatly. Ravi doubted he was satisfied with just passing messages. He likely was looking for the call to action.

  Not yet, Ravi said

  Rock trolls sir, bodies are covered with hard to penetrate skin. Looks like they haven’t figured out how to get through the hides yet. Pavi said

  I know what Rock trolls are, Ravi said getting a little annoyed

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Sorry sir, I didn’t mean to assume. I just thought if you had more information on the target it would shake something loose with that ability. Pavi said

  Ravi could see the slight movement of the kid's feet showing his anxiousness to do something. He remembered those days in his youth all those years ago so he decided to cut the kid some slack.

  They're not gaining much ground are they? Ravi said, trying to start a conversation to calm Pavi’s nerves.

  Keter would probably be able to break through that line if he could use his smash ability. Since it's an area of effect attack that doesn’t discriminate between friend and foe it can’t be used. Jogra is pretty much out of essence which is why he can only hold up his part of the line at this point. His attacks had zero effect on these beasts….

  Pavi’s voice faded into background noise for Ravi as his strategist ability began to light the aura around a short stocky brown haired man who apparently had lost his helmet in the battle. A display ran through a series of squad movements among the displays, two synched white along with the man Pavi had pointed out as Keter. Focusing deeper on him revealed the numbers 1.5 of 100. Quickly rubbing a bracer on his wrist he whispered “Access system”.

  A translucent golden overlay appeared before his eyes revealing his system interface. He went through the necessary actions to access information on his Strategist class.

  “Insight 1 of 20”

  His insight ability still had not grown even though the overlay on Keter himself still showed 1.5 of 100. This mystery was something he was determined to crack. How could he see the aura and strategy if his insight was only at 1? Was this saying that if he was able to level that up, victories were pretty much guaranteed? What affected that stat? Did it affect anything at all? Moving back to the screen showing his experience points revealed two numbers listed

  “XP 70,000”

  “Kingdom title: Strategist XP 550”

  This was new as the xp for the granted title had not shown up before. Ravi was surprised that it was at 550 since he literally had not done much of anything. He would classify his actual strategic contribution as minimal although the squad seemed to appreciate it.

  Each of these wins must have brought him incremental gains in experience points. Running his left hand over the worn black bracer on his right wrist again brought an end to the overlay. He quickly relayed the optimal actions to Pavi who giddily ran to Captain Chenlain who was currently directing the battle.

  Thirty minutes later cheers could be heard as the last Rock Troll fell. Ravi peered out the window to see Pavi being lifted overhead in celebration of his part in the victory by a few of the more enthusiastic members of the squad. Everyone looked worn out from the battle but Ravi could tell this would be a huge night for the drinkers of the group and even greater for the one guy and blonde female member of the team. That was clear as they snuck off while the looting began.

  Jopeth, look at this. Ravi said motioning his assistant over

  With a sigh, Jopeth closed the book he was engrossed in. Clearly he wanted no part of whatever was going on outside of the comfortable carriage.

  Yessss?… Jopeth said, dragging his response out to show his annoyance.

  Ignoring him Ravi responded

  Look there, he said pointing at objects being pulled out of the beasts. It is rare to receive anything other than the actual body and experience from free range beasts under S- Rank. These were definitely not S- Rank beasts or we would all likely be dead. Ravi said

  This is more of Samith’s area of study.. He began

  The reason this is important is because it means whatever is happening with the dungeons has likely already started affecting the outside. I’m not sure if this would affect the kingdom operations or the planet. The dungeons are connected to everything in the anchor kingdoms, we just don’t know how yet. Ravi said

  Ravi could see when the fire lit in Jopeth’s eyes as realization hit.

  What do you need from me! He said empathically.