To Kill Gods or Die Trying

Chapter 28-Rise of the Salvation Army

October 25th, 2301

As leader, it's my responsibility to check on the growth of our army. So far, the Obsidians are doing well. While we chill at the Capital, they are clearing the nine obsidian quests and raid boss for the next continent we will fight at. Sadly, throughout the months, they've lost 34 good men and women. May they rest easy.

Right now we have about 2,000 Obsidian-ranks training for Gem, going back to the Obsidian raids in mass and suffering no casualties. We have 964 Gem players ready and trained. Hundreds of other Obsidian- rank players are grinding their ways to the top with an average of around 40 graduating to Gem-rank each day, of course with the help of Gem players.

The plan is that when we beat the next continent, we will train everyone and have an army of 6,000 Gem players. 500 for each god. The 30 elite will lead each raid.

It will take time, though. It's crazy that we're almost done with the demigods. I haven't really sat down and thought about how hard killing one of the zodiac gods will be. How tall are they? How much health do they have? What kind of attacks do they do? How strong is their magic?

People are going to die. I realize that. Hell, I could die. But I won't.

"From the average progress of the lowest group of Obsidians, when we begin the training after your group clears the next continent, we're looking at exactly 682 days to the completion of Operation Gemstone," says the leader of the Gem-Generals in charge of managing the training of Obsidian players.

With my feet up, I lean back in my chair, breathe through my nose to my lung's capacity, and blow the air out my nose in an exaggerated sigh to process the information. 682 days is a lot. The time it took for us to grind to Gem-rank from Obsidian took 430 days. We had to be on our toes every time we fought, and if we got lazy, careless, or generally not ready, we could die. Unfortunately, that's why people did die. That why we're better than most in this game.

Still, though, that's ridiculous. First of all, that means that we don't even have enough Obsidian-ranks to get to Gem, which leads to my second point that we need to boost Turquoise-ranks to Obsidian so they can get to Gem. 682 days is almost two years.

I'm getting so anxious to get out of here with my facade being a determined smile and words of encouragement. It's eating away at my soul. The days I'm missing out in the real world. Time away from my wife, but most importantly, my kids—kids that I have yet to meet. It really does hurt, though. Right now, we're halfway. When I look back, I can see the entrance and all of the obstacles that we knocked down. Then when I look ahead, I see the exit and every obstacle that has yet to be knocked down. I love everything that we've built here and all the memories that we've made—I mean this place is my second home. And not to undermine everything, but this whole fight the power thing is everyone just making the best out of a shitty situation. We all feel it and know how to mask it from others. The thing is, we're all holding on as tightly as we can to this place because right now, this is all we have and we fight for one another. There was no guarantee that we're getting out even if we win, but if we let go of what we've started and what we're fighting for, hope will follow. After that, there's no going back.

"We can make it happen," I say. "We just have to work together and everyone needs to have each other's backs." The Gem-Generals nod.

"So how is the general public doing?" Essej asks.

"People are getting by," one of our public relations Gem-Generals replies. "We haven't had any trouble since the... attack. Hundreds of Gem-rank players volunteered as police, patrolling the Capital and all of the towns and villages so that if players or NPCs get out of line or do some bad stuff, they'll face consequences."

"Good," Essej says nodding.

"That's not all, though," the PR analyst continues. "Player and NPC interactions are on the rise. I mean, you couldn't ever tell a player from an NPC but we've got relationships, friendships, and a lot of the players who aren't fighting are employed by NPCs. People are really happy."

"That's great," I say. I think it's important that the people are happy. But... what if they're too happy? Is that what caused the attack? That's kinda what I got out of it... I could be overthinking it. Anyways, "We need to maintain the image of hope. Without hope, we all have nothing to live for. Our job is to help people. One of the ways we do that is protection and service. What we should also do is make living day-to-day not an anxious, tally-marking, dreadful experience. Get out there and talk to people. We also need to do it for ourselves. Go out and have some fun. It's not just working all the time. We're gonna be here for a long time so go and enjoy yourselves before we come back to the real world."

Everyone nods with grins.

"There's a place in the middle of the ocean in between the Leviathan and the Megalodon. Go there, take a dive, and just unwind," Essej advises.

"Anyways, how are we doing on the recon?" I ask.

The Gem-General in charge of finding the Godlands portal speaks up. "No luck. The exploration guilds have been sailing every crack on this rock, but the results are still the same for all of the recon teams whether it be by land, sea, or air."

I sigh. "Well, keep trying. We've got more than a year left." He flashes me a thumbs up.

"Alrighty, welp. That concludes it. Keep your head held high and move forward," Essej advises.

"Remember guys," I say, "We're gonna get out of here, but in time. It's how you choose to spend that time that will leave an impact on you."