Chapter 24: E Rank

24 24 - E Rank

[The Goblin Forest

Rank: E

Invaders: 10

Basic Information: The Goblin Forest is a Fortress located in a randomly generated forest. Goblins are weak monsters, but care must be taken - as they travel in groups.

The app's notification gave only a basic description of what the Fortress looked like. If a Blessed One wanted to find more information, they would just need to look for the name of the Fortress in the GBC application itself, but this was not something that many Blessed Ones did.

Unfortunately, after receiving their Blessings, many Blessed people became arrogant because of how relatively easy it was too earn money from invading Fortresses, thinking that regardless of the challenge they would be able to overcome only by using the great strength they had received from the gods, and that was the greatest cause of death among the Blessed.

Usually this type of arrogance disappeared quickly among the older Blessed Ones, since after several years invading Fortresses and going through countless difficulties, the few Blessed who survived would know the value of prior information better than anyone. This was the reason why the GBC always organized older Blessed people in invasions with younger Blessed Ones, since the older ones would serve as good leaders for the moments of need that would arise within the Fortresses.

Noah had previously studied almost all Rank E Fortresses, so he had many tips from the Blessed who had already invaded this particular Fortress, in addition to the best strategies for different types of situations. The only thing he lacked by comparison to Rank F Fortresses was practical experience, since he had never invaded any Rank E Fortresses, unlike the Rank F Fortresses of which he had probably experienced hundreds.

Accepting the call, Noah saw that the invasion would take place in a few hours, so he got up off the floor and went to take another shower, since he didn't imagine he would be so sweaty after straining so hard to use his Blessing. Apparently, like a muscle, using a Blessing caused a great deal of stress on the body in addition to mental fatigue.

After taking a shower, Noah placed all the equipment he would probably need in this Fortress in his backpack and placed the most essentials in a small pouch that he left attached to his right leg.

This was something that Noah always did. He adapted his own clothes to the Fortress he was invading, since any extra advantage was a step closer to defeating the enemy. Such preparations were not very common among the younger Blessed, but among the older ones it was practically a rule.

On top of the basic necessities Noah kept in the backpack, since he didn't know how long they would take to kill the boss if they really could, Noah had some energy bars in addition to utensils to make collecting resources more practical if more were needed.

Already prepared, Noah left the house and walked towards GBC Central to take the bus that would transport them to the Fortress. For Fortresses starting from Rank D, GBC no longer provided buses for the Blessed, since at that point the money they received in each invasion was already enough for everyone to have good cars, so only the location of the Fortresses were sent to them and the Blessed were expected to arrive at the Fortresses on their own.

For Rank E Fortresses, those highly Blessed in that Rank were already able to buy their own car, but as some did not yet have one, GBC provided buses for everyone and they all had to gather at the headquarters so that the whole group could go together to the Fortress without any setbacks getting in the way.

Looking at the application, Noah saw which bus would take them to the Fortress and went towards it.

At the entrance to the bus, the driver was smoking a cigarette unconcernedly until he instinctively noticed Noah. He quickly straightened his spine and took out a scanner to read Noah's code. "Good afternoon, sir. Can I read your QR Code?" He asked politely.

Noah, for the first time, was treated well by one of the government officials as he was now seen as a Blessed Rank E. In the driver's mind there was no chance that he was a Blessed Rank F, since for a Rank F to go to a Rank E Fortress would just be suicide, so he was sure Noah was a Blessed Rank E.

"Here it is," Noah said selflessly as he showed the cell phone screen to the driver to use the scanner and confirm that he really was assigned to this Fortress. After confirmation, Noah got on the bus and noticed that he was the first person to arrive.

Not that it mattered to him, since after choosing a random window seat, Noah put on his own headset and listened to music while laughing at the difference in attitude the drivers had.

While he was constantly ridiculed by the drivers who carried the Rank F Blessed, if they thought he was Rank E they immediately started to treat him like a king. The scarred man was the only Blessed above Rank F that didn't seem to care about his own treatment.

Without Noah noticing, someone got on the bus and looked at him with a confused expression. But since Noah was not paying attention, the person kept walking and sat in a seat at the back of the bus.

In a few minutes all 15 Blessed who would be raiding the Fortress arrived on the bus and the vehicle left silently, since with that day's engines, using combustion fuel was no longer necessary, making the bus move as quietly as a small car thanks to the electric motor.

Noticing the movement of the bus, Noah returned to paying attention outside the window and studied the landscape. This time the Fortress was also outside the city, only instead of the east exit they used the other time, this time they used the west exit of the city, taking them to a large forest with purple leafed trees everywhere instead of the immense desert.

Noah looked at the big, colorful trees and just enjoyed the scenery while reviewing what strategies he would use and what excuse he would use this time to be able to walk away from the group and kill monsters alone so he wouldn't have to share the experience with anyone.

Soon, the bus approached a large portal with a rim made of the unknown and extremely resistant black metal surrounding that strange purple plasma which teleported the Blessed Ones into the Fortress.

Some scientists from various planets had tried to study this strange, apparently indestructible metal, but this proved impossible due to the colossal resistance it put forth.

Several governments on a few planets had even tried to destroy the portals furthest from civilization with nuclear bombs, but even an explosion of such magnitude caused nothing more than a slight scratch on the portal. Even after they tried pulling out all the earth that kept the portal standing, the portal stayed put, mysteriously starting to float by a hidden force as if it were always there and would never move from that place unless the boss of the Fortress it housed was defeated.

The only time that one of these portals was damaged was when countless high-ranking Blessed people came together to make a massive joint attack against a portal that had appeared in an uninhabited country. After all the attacks, a large part of the planet was destroyed, even altering the orbit of the large earth mass around the rotating star, but the damage to the portal was The damage to the portal amounted to only a slight scratch which strangely shed no trace particles that could be examined.

After that incident, humanity discovered that the portals were not indestructible, but that they still did not possess enough strength to destroy them.

Upon leaving the bus, all the Blessed Ones gathered around the portal and the person who faced Noah when he got on the bus finally recognized him. "Wait a second… Are you Noah?!"

--------