TJ took the time to create another Shroud, the size about the same as his. The experience of creating the same thing again was halved, leaving TJ a bit over a quarter of the way to level 20. Whatever next level he gained would also give one in human, which would be impactful, TJ was sure. Even so, TJ looked at the four Bronze tiered items he'd made that night and made the decision to get some rest.
He didn't need to go into a building to sleep, as the freezing temperature didn't bother him at all, but TJ did want the mattress and to stay dry. As he continued walking, TJ also admitted to himself that he wanted to feel human, and sleeping indoors in a bed helped with that. The superhuman strength of his body was a blessing and helped him to survive in this hellscape, but every day, he felt less and less like the man who raised Junior. The thought that it would only be a couple days until he would be able to see his son, according to the System at least, was enough to keep TJ moving forward for now.
As he lay down to sleep, TJ looked at the countdown in the corner of his eye.
54:09:27
Two days left, once he got up. Going off the timer and the clock the System provided, the siege would begin at 8:00 AM. It was supposed to last for 18 hours, or, more correctly, they needed to protect the general store for that long. TJ had asked a bevy of questions about how the siege was going to work, what the boss would be, what they could expect and so on, but the System refused to give any real information pertaining to the end of the Tutorial. Since he'd just been reminded of the importance of asking more questions, TJ asked every question that occurred to him as he laid to sleep, but before he even got through half of the questions and clarifications he hoped for answers to, the oblivion of sleep took him.
—-
He woke, curled as a serpent upon the top of a temple dedicated to him. Lush jungles spread in every direction, and his worshippers brought everything he could possibly need. Food, drink, and company, though they treated him as the god he was. Though he was waited on hand and foot, something was missing. He was just bored. There was nothing to make him feel like he was alive, no struggle. Nothing dared to challenge his sovereignty, his power and position as the ultimate ruler of these lands.
The skies darkened, and he felt his pulse quicken. The combination of adrenaline, excitement, fury, and more surged through him, and he raised his head. The winds whispered of their approach, of Manannan mac Lir's approach. The whelp considered himself a god of the skies and storms. What a fool he was. There was no comparison between an established Deity and a newly ascended child. Manannan had stolen the smallest portion of Kukulkan's Divine Authority and now considered himself a worthy opponent. It would have been a joke, if the upstart hadn't stolen from the Feathered Serpent. Because he had, though, it was an offense punishable by death.
"There's no place for snakes in the skies!" Manannan mac Lir's voice echoed out, his spear and shield covered in lightning as he approached. The flying man paused for just the briefest moment above Kukulkan, giving the Feathered Serpent the time necessary to lift off his temple and soar into the heavens. As soon as his mass ascended into the sky, Kukulkan stopped compressing himself, his body stretching out in every direction until he was, once more, in his true form.
His head, larger than Manannan's entire body by far, glared at the prideful hatchling. The Celtic god didn't retreat or show any reaction to the much larger, senior god. Given that his decision had been made, Kukulkan asked a simple question.
"How did you never learn better? Or are all the Celtics like you?"
"An inflated windbag of a snake, you are!" Manannan cried out as he threw himself forward, his spear clashing against Kukulkan's body. It managed to bypass his scales, but the strike couldn't even be termed as a flesh wound. Kukulkan drew the omnipresent and usually hidden storm all around him into the physical world. Clouds filled with constantly striking lightning filled the air, and Kukulkan began his counterattack.
—-
TJ couldn't remember any details about the fight between Kukulkan and Manannan mac Lir after it began in earnest, but he woke up with his heart pounding in excitement. As he stirred, TJ took in his surroundings. He laid on a mattress in the mostly destroyed remains of a house, and looking at his timer, it was, as usual, 6:30. TJ smiled, remembering his son and sat up. There wasn't much else for him to do than to gain experience and keep pursuing more levels and dead monsters. He'd initially been told that most people evolved to Copper tier at level 25 in their Race, which had gotten him thinking about how he might hurry his own evolution. There was no way to tell what it would take for him to evolve, since he was most of the way there already, but only one more requirement. Maybe level 25 in Class or Occupation would bring that, but there was no way to say.
Without thinking too hard about it, TJ gathered up the two Shrouds and Remnants, putting one of each on himself before taking them to the firehouse. The vast majority of movement was centered there, and people were working in a frenzy in preparation for the siege that was coming. A couple people looked at him with a measure of fear, but most smiled, nodded, or even had their eyes widen in apparent respect. He did try to keep Zig out of his mind and away from him, but he didn't see her, which he figured could be considered a good thing.
"What're we doing today?" Sarah asked as she walked up to TJ , her hatchet stowed on her waist and her shield nowhere to be seen, but she already had her scarred javelina hide armor on. The large slices in the leather remained, the armor appearing to be pretty worthless at this point with how permanently damaged it was.
"You going out like that?" TJ asked, disbelieving.
"Well, do you have anything better for me?" She asked, gesturing to what he was holding.
"Not great for you, no." TJ replied. "But there's gotta be someone who can rivet some metal onto that chestpiece or something, make it a little better!"
"Yeah. Someone's working on it today. Just waiting." Sarah answered with a cheeky grin. "I know you don't work with metal."
TJ rubbed his forehead with a slight chuckle, despite himself. "Fine. And to answer your question, I'm planning on getting a group of the strongest people we can manage to go out and kill everything we see. As soon as there's any hint of someone running out of MP or HP, we'll come back and recover, help with the fortifications, then keep moving."
"Sounds good. You finally decided to give up on the whole 'lone wolf' thing, huh."
TJ swallowed, remembering Charlie's body, covered with blackened, poisonous veins. "Yeah."
Sarah patted TJ on the back, though not as gently as she seemed to think it was. She smiled, nodded, and walked away, gathering up whoever she decided was the best fit for the expedition.
"Wait, how many Attribute Points do you get from your shield?" TJ asked, thinking of actually asking the question he'd intended to ask after last night.
"I've upgraded it once, so it's 10 Toughness, 10 Endurance, 10 Strength, and 5 Ability and Vitality."
TJ whistled under his breath. Though it wasn't nearly as big of a bonus as he got from Divine Transformation, 40 Stat points were far from nothing, especially since they were in the big ones to make her more deadly and effective as a Zealot.
"What do you mean you've upgraded it?" TJ asked, curious.
"You haven't asked many people about their Classes, have you?" Sarah scoffed, turning back to continue the conversation. "There are, shit, what're they called? Yeah, Attainments. If you complete an Attainment with your Holy Vestments or Sacred Weapon, you get an upgrade. They aren't explained, because the System never explains anything, but they're pretty good bonuses. For me, using my Guard Skills to get between what's dangerous and my friends got me to complete the 'Guardian' Attainment and upgraded my Holy Vestments to give double the Attributes."
"Do you know if there are additional Attainments to get in the Guardian series or group?"
"Maybe?" Sarah shrugged. "System doesn't tell me anything about it. I'd guess so, but no idea."
TJ nodded as he thought over what she'd just said. The Zealot waited for a moment before seeing that TJ didn't have any more questions and walked on her way to collect whoever else she thought would be good to go on a hunt with. He continued walking towards the general store, looking for Laura, but asked the System as he walked, "Are there Attainments for me to get in my Divine Transformation?"
No. The Divine Transformation Skill is one that is specifically intended and tailored to each tier of Divinity.
It made maybe a sort of sense, but TJ didn't like it. Well, not disliking it, but he did feel a little frustrated that he wouldn't be able to progress that same way. And Zealots and Acolytes were going to be able to gain the Divine Transformation Skill anyways, so TJ realized, again, that there wasn't much of an intrinsic leg up from his Class as opposed to the others. The System was fair, even if TJ wanted for it to be skewed in his favor.
TJ walked up to the door of the general store, which was no longer guarded. With the walls under construction, there weren't many people who could be spared to guard the store, especially since it was a designated safe zone. When he stepped inside, TJ quickly realized that there wasn't anyone inside of the building, not even Laura. Walking out, he ran right into Stanton, whose thick moustache quivered while hiding his smile.
"What's going on kid? Whatcha got there?"
"Something for you and something else for the Disciples in general, to be under Laura's jurisdiction."
"Well, I'm willing to bet she'll pass it on to Rebekkah, but I'll show you to Laura. She was just over here working on one of the walls."
"Sounds good. And here you go, Stanton." TJ said, tossing over the Mantle. The cowboy Appraised it, his eyebrows rising in surprise as he did so.
"That's a damn fine thing you've made here, kid. You sure you wanna give it to me?"
"Yeah. If you wanna give it to someone else, I'd bet Seth and Zig would do at least as well as you with it, and though Farid wouldn't do as well, he could benefit from it."
"Probably Seth, if I was honest." Stanton grumbled. "Wish it was something well-suited to me."
"I made what I could, Stanton." TJ chuckled disbelievingly. "I've only got so much experience, you know."
Stanton grunted. "I'll have to pass it on to Seth. He'll get way more out of the Skill than I will. I'm too loud, and Zig'll refuse anything from you."
TJ held his hands up in defeat. "I can't do anything about that at this point."
"I know. There's Laura." Stanton said, abruptly shifting the conversation topic.
TJ cocked his head. "You're a strange man."
A grunt in response. Knowing the stubborn coot wasn't going to give him any more information or interaction, TJ walked towards Laura, the Remnant in his hand. The mayor was carrying one end of a log, sweat wetting her brow as she hauled the massive tree into place alongside several other people. They settled it into place under Peter's command, and Laura grunted and wiped the back of her hand over her forehead as soon as the load was complete.
"TJ. What can I do for you?"
"I just have something for you and the Disciples." TJ proffered the Raven Mocker's Remnant and passed it on. As she Appraised it, Laura's eyebrows climbed higher and higher until they nearly reached her tightly curled hairline. TJ realized as he looked at her that said eyebrows had grown bushy and long in the past weeks without civilization.
"You're giving this up?" Laura said, still disbelieving.
"I can't equip two at the same time." TJ said, holding his right hand up.
"Ah. It was smart to create them as two different items." TJ didn't react to show how little of that was purposeful. "That way we can have plenty of people benefitting at the same time. Good work. Thank you, TJ." Laura nodded. "Anything else?"
"Nope."
"Very well. Good luck today. Be careful."
Just as quick as she'd appeared and they'd begun talking to each other, Laura turned and walked away, leaving TJ to find Sarah and the team of hunters that would, for these last two days, kill as many monsters as possible as quickly as possible.