“Unless you want to turn tail now, I guess we will be facing the undead faction,” Delilah noted.

  His year 4 congregation had just started, and already ahead of him waiting at their table was tombstone and bones. Another figure was also fast walking to arrive ahead of them… It was the Grayscale core, some type of ghoul. He was one of the weaker undead rookies. Peter looked to his own side. Predator had ascended only a few steps behind him. The short but older human did not really exemplify the idea of a predator. It seemed more like a hopeful wish from a short and scrawny man. As far as Peter could discernable changes to that impression since they had gotten together 2 years ago. Still the guy was a welcome presence right now. There was not however any sign of the half demoness or Gabriel.

  “They are on the other side, looks like Elyra is provoking the demon faction this time around… and apparently she roped in Gabriel as well,” Delilah warned. “Looks like Putrefy and the other went after to try and prevent them from challenging someone else, but looks like they are hanging back.

  “Seriously!” Peter could not help but to remark out loud. He knew there was no point tiptoeing around the major factions, but could they not first deal with one or the two they had already upset before picking a fight with the others. Elyra seemed fixed on the prospect of antagonizing them all.

  “I guess it is just the two of us,” Peter confirmed as Predator arrived next to him.

  “Two on three, not terrible odds. Don’t forget we need to get them to challenge one of us for us to be able to use ‘call ally’… unless you were planning on taking two of them on yourself.”

  “Not particularly,” Honestly, Peter was not sure on whether he could deal with two other dungeons in a battle. Perhaps if he was putting all his resources forward. Which seemed like it would be a major waste. Then again the rewards if he won…

  “We could challenge them to a 2 on 3 battle. Although that would make it more likely that if one of us falls short and gets eliminated the other would as well.”

  ‘What do you think?’ Peter asked through the general link.

  “Either way I would recommend for us to commit to a full defense and forgo an attack of our own,” Boris spoke up. “Although holding off three entire dungeons might prove even more difficult than just two. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you which dungeon they will likely choose to target if they don’t decide to split their forces.”

  ‘Mine,’ Peter thought back.

  “Oh common, the more the merrier. You can show them that you basically swapped to a dragon type core,” Delilah quipped.

  ‘Haha, very funny,’ Peter thought sarcastically. There was some truth to her statement. Peter had millions of essence just waiting to be used, but the many various dragon A tiers were the obvious choice for his one offs. Other than the 2 S tier maelstroms, Peter had eventually added 5 more, stretching his battle funds even further.

  It had occurred to him later that there was no reason he could not use two Holy cards in a combination along with a design card. The result was the Light crusader A (+). The crusader could not heal, but they emitted a holy aura. It apparently warded off things like curses, and what not, but Peter mainly decided to spam the unit as an affront to the undead they would be facing.

  The unit was too useful to lose completely if the A tier died. Something that seemed quite likely since it was a melee unit, but not so much that he would use a resurrect. So Peter spent just over 2 million more essence on 5 new maelstroms. Peter would love to have a cohesive force, but was finding that it would be difficult if the elite they were based off died, meaning he could no longer summon one offs.

  However, maelstrom costs just got too expensive to continue adding 10% which compounded with each successive purchase, so he would likely end up with a hodgepodge force in regards to infantry and other units he decided to base armies off. He would only annually get 600 turtle warriors and dark elf maulers, and he was sure they would not be the last.

  Of course knowing that he would be facing undead, he had summoned thousands more one off light crusaders, so they would form the bulk of his infantry for this upcoming battle. Even without their strength the light crusader was potentially the best human sized front liner he had after the spectral armor. They were not as strong as the turtle warrior gnomes, but were faster and more versatile.

  “Very well, we can make that challenge as long as you think you could take one of their dungeons down when they all attack my dungeon.”

  “If they do focus on you, I’m sure it would not pose much of an issue, but taking down a second and then a third alone would be pretty difficult.’

  “What! so I have to survive the attacks on all three and then do most of the attack as well?” Peter asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, if you could manage it,” Predator added with a wry smile.

  Peter sighed deeply. He was confident he could hold out even against all three, but to then need to go on the offensive… He could not help but to feel that at best he was going to end up with a draw this year, best case, which would basically be the equivalent of him expending a ton of resources and getting nothing back.

  “Perhaps I could be of some assistance,” a female voice spoke up from the other side. Peter turned to find Gretchen. She was clearly at least a head taller than she had been when he had first met her. Her fur had receded to reveal dark skin for her face that clearly had the start of elven features. Quite a change, but then there was a lot that needed to be changed.

  “So help me, if that hairball becomes my competition,” Delilah remarked dryly through the link.

  “You would join the two of us to take on the undead dungeons 3 on 3?” Peter asked.

  “Why not,” Gretchen agreed. “But the two of you have to make that red demoness let me into your group. From what I can tell, I won’t last very long by myself, and I’m the only humanoid race left in the rookie group. There aren’t even very many of my kind in the intermediate group, and the one in the centurion division is black listed and soon to be culled.”

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  “That would increase our chances at pulling out an actual victory, but Elyra won’t be happy about it,” Predator said, with a faint smile.

  “Elyra keeps kicking hornet nests, she can get over it. We could use more allies. You got a deal,” Peter said, holding out his hand from habit. Despite 4 years having passed since his old life, things like this still occasionally occurred. Gretchen just eyed it. Peter quickly withdrew it. The last thing he needed was Delilah to make a snide comment about it. Together the three of them approached the three waiting undead dungeons.

  “If you challenge one of us we will just use the call ally card to join them, so how about we just settle for a 3 on 3 and we both save our cards,” Predator posed as they drew near. It was perhaps a partial bluff since Predator as of last year had only had one call ally card.

  “Putrify is off chasing the demon and angel who wandered off. I should have known the two of you would just find some other reject to join up with. Three on three sounds too tedious, lets just have 3 face offs,” the tall clammy skinned undead leader suggested giving his two followers a knowing look.

  “I guess I’ll take the humanoid,” Grayscale said trepidly, speaking up first with his raspy voice. The guy like Tombstone was already pale as a corpse…

  “I guess if you think you can take her down. Bones you take the other one. This guy is mine,” Tombstone said, pointing his gaunt thumb at Peter. Peter focused on it for a second. The guy was probably only a few inches away from being 7 feet tall, but it was all just bone, skin, and tendons. The guy had like zero fat content, so the tendons all stuck out unnaturally.

  A moment later the 3 undead dungeons departed their challenges settled. “That worked out extremely well for us,” Delilah laughed. Peter could not believe it himself. He had fully expected to be outnumbered, potentially fighting for survival. Now he was only facing one opponent.

  ‘Start reconfiguring our battle strategy to include an assault force,’ Peter ordered. Now that it was a one on one, he would not stay on the defensive. “Consider how we can save on resources,” he added.

  “Boss, I think we will still need to take this battle extremely seriously. We may only be facing one other core, but Tombstone is definitely one of the top 10 rookie cores, with the support of one of the major factions. Truthfully, I was not liking our chances, if we had to face someone else in addition to him,” Boris cautioned.

  “Copy, just come up with a plan,” Peter said

  “I’m going to go trade,” Gretchen said as soon as the confrontation was over. Predator left as well, giving a chance for Peter to meander over to the table where Fellette, Emma, and Garrett sat. Garrett the tiger core however looked a bit distraught. Unusual since he normally seemed extremely confident.

  “What's eating him,” Peter said taking up one of the empty seats.

  Fellette leaned in. “He got challenged by mantis,” the ape shrugged. A moment later, Boris updated him with the information. Mantis, 254, was only 30 years Garrett’s senior. Obviously, mantis belonged to the insect faction, but was also one of the faction’s core members sitting at one of the central tables.

  “It happens,” Emma said somewhat dismissively. “The time comes for us all. Often sooner for those who don’t belong to one of one of the millennial factions. Few like clockwork or the moon elf core can survive even half a Millenia.”

  “Wow it seems you guys are already writing him off,” Peter said, giving them a contemplative look. Fellette’s eyes dropped. Emma just met his gaze.

  “Taking on one of the greater factions' core members is not something to take lightly. You’ve seen it yourself, they give degrees of support that could easily be considered unfair. Mantis has probably been preparing for this battle for a decade or two from relative safety. While Garrett has had to worry and prepare each year like he is going to do battle.”

  “You don’t think you will win? I mean I’m sure you’ve made your own preparations,” Peter asked.

  “What are you talking about? I will rip mantis to shreds,” Garrett flashed his teeth before resuming his melancholic mood. “It's next year or the year after that are more concerning.”

  “Things are a bit different in the intermediate and centurion divisions,” Fellette picked up. “You have been fine so far despite fighting every year. But when we battle we will be vulnerable for potentially years afterwards. You don’t only have to worry about winning the battle this year, but have to worry about who will challenge you the following year assuming you are weakened. Dungeons like Mantis however can freely challenge and then retreat into the safety of their faction win or lose. Next year one of the other insect cores will likely challenge him, and another the year after. I guess you could say that he has been marked for death by the insect faction.”

  “I don’t know if it is due to Helen’s influence, but little Elyra challenging all the powerful factions could either be a very good or a very stupid move. Right now the rookie dungeons are pretty free to do as they want. A good chance to eliminate rivals early on,” Emma stated looking off to the other side. Elyra was still over there. Now however she was laughing alongside Gabriel as they both faced a half dozen clearly agitated rookie demon faction cores.

  “Does your elemental faction provide much protection?” Peter asked.

  “Some not as much as the others. We are fairly scattered, but normally the other big factions will deal with smaller faction cores first. They are a little less wary of antagonizing the elemental faction since the fire millennial is generally regarded as the weakest of the six. Although like Void he keeps a small group of other elementals. Those elementals are fairly safe. However, he would never allow me in that group since my core type is almost the same as his own.”

  Peter nodded. He had of course noted that the flame elemental millennial only kept one of various elemental types in his retinue. If he already had a water type he would not welcome another of a similar type until it was culled. Emma as the ember core was completely out of luck since the elemental millennial was a flame core.

  Peter left back for his table soon afterwards. He had tried to be as subtle as possible getting more tiger type cards by asking them each for a trade for 2 more originals. They all relented. He had quite a few ember and ape type cards in stock as well as one original of each by this point, but he currently was sitting on only 5 tiger stock options. From the sound of things he might only have access to the card type for a few years. He would do some more trading after today’s battle.

  The group were all present by the time he returned. “Did you have a good time antagonizing the demon faction?” Peter asked as he took his seat. Gretchen was already seated, Predator apparently had already made the case for her.

  “Oh yes, and the bugs. They were furious that I was already committed to a battle this year,” Elyra said clearly thrilled.

  “Did Helen tell you to do all this?”

  “Of course not. I’m just acting based on what I have observed and heard. Core types that do not belong to one of the major factions struggle later on, and the biggest threat are cores near your same year group. Unless it is ordered by a millennial core most won’t attack something far younger than themselves. It will burn through resources unnecessarily, with the rewards being heavily penalized.”

  “Good to know there is a method to your madness,” Peter said, turning toward Gabriel. “I guess she roped you into this as well?”

  “Better or worse it is the path our group seems to be headed down, and she does have a point. Each dungeon we take down is one less we will have to deal with later,” Gabriel said with a ruthless tone. Peter was slightly taken aback before now the angel had always seemed rather friendly. Was this the influence from his core type, fallen? Or had Peter just seen what he expected from the angel core.

  Predator was clearly on board with the idea of warring with the major factions. Gretchen seemed neutral although it was hard to read her expressions. Peter sighed. He had obviously been of the same general opinion. The difference was that he had planned to deal with one after the other, and do his best to maintain a low profile at least through the intermediate division integration. He guessed that would no longer be an option. He just needed to keep winning his battles.