Gentleman's Wars 2: A Tower Defense LitRPG Series Page 11

  Another piece of cheese came flying at me, but I caught it in midair, then popped it into my mouth. Sharp and delicious. “Grid knowledge is proprietary information,” he explained. “In fact, it’s considered to be a state secret. Only graduates of the University are allowed to carry such books and we have to take precautions to secure the information. I came here with a rolling vault. The luggage holding the books can only open with my hand. Any attempts to break the boxes open causes all the books to disintegrate instantly.”

  That was…strange. Very strange. Why would the Grid’s information be considered a state secret? My mind drifted to the visit from the Queen’s Men and the strange colossal golem. Something was off here. Something very curious. But what?

  “I see. So I’ll be able to read those books?” I asked.

  “Yup, under my watchful tutelage, you’ll be required to read all 18 volumes, front to back, back to front until you’re so sick of it, you leap out the window of the tallest building in this house,” Joeth said with a chuckle. “Now, what’s the woman situation here? Any single and desperate ladies?”

  “Afraid they’re all taken,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “And keep your hands to yourself.”

  “I might not be a landowner, but I am a gentleman,” he said. “Besides, I don’t have time for women, neither do you. We’ve got a lot to do and so little time. Now come on, let’s get to reading.”

  “Reading?” I repeated, turning to look out the window. Nothing but pure darkness outside. “It has to be after midnight at this point.”

  “I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase all-nighter,” Joeth said, tossing one more piece of cheese right into my eye. “Sleep is overrated.”

  Chapter 19

  Sleep was indeed overrated. The moment I sat down in the library, book in hand, I became absorbed with the knowledge within. The Rules and Laws of the Grid Combat System Volumes 1-18 was not an easy read but it was unbelievably informative. Apparently, there was a course that most nobles went through at the beginning of their career as participants in the Great Game. The responsibility of bringing students to this course, however, fell on the previous generation’s leader of the house. And since I was a first generation Grid Commander (as they were referred to in the manual), no one bothered to tell me what to do or where to go to learn such information.

  Joeth was in and out of the library as I worked. Sometimes he’d come in to randomly quiz me about some basic idea or concept, other times he was just wanting to know something about the manor. Despite the fact that there were literally dozens of servants running around the house at all hours of the day and night, he seemed to think that my job was to help answer his asinine questions about what kind of soaps were available to use in the washrooms.

  “Aha!” I exclaimed as I discovered a whole section talking about Commander abilities. This shout startled my Magistrate who had dozed off in his corner office. He realized no one was talking to him and quickly fell back asleep, slumping over on top of the book he had been reading. My eyes scanned the page as I devoured the information.

  Every commander gains 4 abilities to use during the course of a battle. Each ability may be used as many times as the description indicates. These abilities have the potential to significantly change the tide of battle. A good commander chooses a robust selection of abilities that allows him to cover his weaknesses, enhance his existing defensive structures and counter unforeseen enemy strategies. While it may take you some time to determine which abilities are worth keeping, using multiple combinations per fight, it is highly recommended that you replace the four default abilities that come pre-set in your Grid recommendation system.

  I read and re-read that section over and over again. I had been using the 4 default abilities with no knowledge of other special powers to activate. And…if I’m not mistaken, it said that I could use every ability per round? I thought the once per round description meant I could only use one ability total. What a deadly assumption. Here I was, the alchemist-scientist, and I had never bothered to try using abilities more than once per round.

  Shaking my head, I opened up the Grid, closing it every few seconds to follow the guide in the book. By focusing on the abilities at the bottom of my view, I was able to open up an entire page.

  Abilities Unlocked: 14

  Ability Slots: 4

  Current Abilities:

  - Tower Overdrive: Increases a selected Tower’s damage by 100% for 30 seconds. Cooldown Time: 1 wave.

  - Detonate Golem: Immediately destroy a golem you control. The explosion deals significant damage to all enemies nearby. Cooldown Time: 15 seconds.

  - Alchemical Bombardment: Targets an area and drops an alchemical substance of your choosing, coating all units in the bombardment. Cooldown Time: 1 wave.

  - Structure Repair: Spend 5 Fire Spice to immediately repair a structure. Cooldown Time: 1 wave.

  Available Abilities:

  - Mobilize: Select up to 4 buildings. You may move them to any open grid square, one at a time. Cooldown Time: 1 wave.

  - Cannibalize: Target friendly golem will destroy the weakest nearby ally in order to regain full health. Cooldown Time: 1 minute.

  - Mana Shield: Target building or golem becomes enveloped in a Mana Shield. This shield cannot be damaged by anything and lasts for 10 seconds. Cooldown Time: 2 minutes.

  - Attraction Ping: Emits a high frequency sound that triggers nearby golems to move towards the ping. Only intelligent golems can avoid this ping. The ping lasts 30 seconds. Cooldown Time: 1 wave.

  - Defuse: Target golem cannot explode for the duration of the round. Cooldown Time: 30 seconds.

  - Enchant Ammunition: Enchant a ranged tower’s ammunition to have one of the effects listed below. This only applies to towers that use physical attacks. Enchanted Ammunition lasts for 5 shots per use. Cooldown Time: 1 wave.

  Armor Piercing: Shots ignore armor.

  Armor Breaking: Shots significantly damage armor.

  Anti-Magic: Does no damage but causes magic wielding golems to be unable to use their ability for the rest of the match.

  Slowing: Shots now slow target down by half speed for the duration of the battle.

  - Champion Designation: Designate a single golem as your Champion. Every time that golem destroys an enemy unit, it receives a bonus to strength, health and speed. This designation lasts as long as the golem is alive, for the duration of the battle. You can only have one Champion designated at a time. Cooldown Time: 1 battle.

  - Target Marker: Mark 1 enemy golem as a target. All towers and golems, regardless of targeting ability or intelligence, will attack the target until it is destroyed. Cooldown Time: 1 minute.

  - Barrier: Creates a single barricade in an empty space of your choosing. Creating a new barricade destroys the old one. Cooldown Time: 30 seconds.

  - Square Barrage: Target a single square in the area. All artillery type towers will fire on that square at the same time. This does not increase the speed of artillery towers; it merely synchronizes the attack. Cooldown Time: 1 minute.

  Now these were abilities! No wonder Joeth had torn into me about my understanding of the rule sets. Hell, with some of these things I could easily thwart a huge swarm coming my way. I just needed to determine which abilities to pick and which ones to discard.

  After a quick second of scanning my preexisting abilities, the choices were quite clear. Drop everything except for Alchemical Barrage. That had been my mainstay of an ability and really the only one that had extreme value regardless of the situation at hand. The rest were too situational or too useless to really consider holding onto.

  While I could probably switch out abilities as I needed them, now that I knew how to access this part of the Grid, I decided to pick whatever would help me beat Joeth. He had not indicated that he wanted a rematch, for the purpose of the fight had been to evaluate my abilities. But my pride and ego had both been wounded. He may have had the upper hand becaus
e of my lack of knowledge, but with these books, I think I could hold my own. I would challenge him to a fight as soon as I selected a good set of new abilities.

  Such a thing wasn’t really a priority right now. I had a lot on my plate, but frankly, I was overwhelmed. The circumstances with the elves, the size of the Baron’s forces and my own desires had become a constant source of agitation and chatter in my mind. I probably should be working on fixing each of those situations right now, instead of burying myself in my study, but…it was safe here. In the library, all alone, with nothing but the snores of an old man and the hissing of a gas lamp, I felt able to concentrate fully on my work as a Grid Commander.

  This was an escape, I knew. Something to keep me away from sorting through the mess that had suddenly become my life. Eventually morning would come, and I’d have to make some hard decisions, have some tough conversations and begin my new life as an actual patriarch of my family. Such a thought was terrifying to consider. Even if I were to find meaningful relationships with my new wives and sire children whom I’d love and cherish…I wasn’t ready for any of that. Hell, I could barely talk to Lily for too long before growing nervous about taking the next step in our friendship. It might be foolishness, but at least for tonight, I could still just be myself. And if I never went to sleep? Well, tomorrow might never come!

  I pushed whatever remaining thoughts I had out of my head and focused purely on selecting three abilities that would let me trounce Joeth. Or at the very least, let me get to the next round. Hmm…Target Marker would allow me to quickly focus fire on incoming enemy forces of interest. It was doubtful that Joeth would use the exact same tactic to fight me as last time. And the ability to target specific enemies instead of relying on random targeting from my ballistae was useful no matter what.

  Next, I had to consider my time resource. My maze was designed to maximize the amount of time an enemy force spent wandering the area, but I could increase that by taking the Attraction Ping. I could use this ping to send enemies to false routes or even make them double back, clumping together for better damage from my artillery strikes. In fact…I could create a combo by using the Square Barrage to fire at an area, then use Attraction Ping to push nearby enemy forces to move to that square. Since it took ten seconds for a payload to hit the ground, I could use both abilities to guarantee maximum damage!

  These three abilities, paired with my Alchemical Knowledge, would give me extra time, higher damage overall and a better control over which enemies were destroyed first. That had always been my biggest problem in previous battles. Many times, I found that the high-threat targets were hard to kill, due to the enemy strategy of placing some kind of soak or distraction in my path. Now, those efforts would be frustrated considerably, since I could align my many ballistae on a single target at a time.

  I was tempted to spice up my maze too, add all sorts of interesting twists to it, but I held back. I still didn’t know where I’d be putting the majority of my resources to fend off the Baron’s main forces; Joeth would have to help me determine that strategy. Instead, I merely finished reading the rest of the chapter, closed the books and rushed to the guest room where the Erudite was sleeping.

  Swinging the door open, I quickly approached the slumbering man. He had fallen asleep face first on the large bed, his clothes, even his boots, still on. He snored loudly, resisting my attempts to wake him up by smacking his boot.

  “Come on, get up! Get up, you bum,” I said, shaking him awake by grabbing both boots and twisting left and right.

  “Errgg, whaddya want?” Joeth grumbled, rolling onto his back and kicking at me. His eyes were still closed. “Unless you’re a buxom lass who needs some warming, go the hell away.”

  “I want a rematch. Now,” I said.

  That caused both of the man’s eyes to open at once. He sprang up as if he had been shocked by a bolt of lightning. “Is that so?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. “You really think you’re up to it?”

  “I’ve been studying all night. I’m confident I can at least do better than last time,” I replied, crossing my arms. “I demand a rematch. At this exact moment.”

  “My evaluation won’t change just because you hastily reconstructed your map,” Joeth said with a yawn. “But if you want to get your ass kicked again, so be it. But I’m not getting out of bed without a wager.”

  A wager? “What are you thinking?” I asked. What could he possibly have to gain by defeating his student? Gambling on an educational endeavor was rather shady. But maybe it was just an attempt to get me out of his room, for it was certainly an unholy hour at which I was bothering the man. In truth, I probably should be asleep, but I still wanted to stay away from my thoughts. This was the best way to distract myself.

  “If you can beat round one, and I mean beat—not stalemate me—then you will earn a special little reward from my grab bag. Something I am authorized by the Crown to distribute on a merit basis.”

  “And if I lose?”

  “We switch bedrooms,” he replied. “This awful closet you’ve given me isn’t fit for a gentry, let alone an Erudite of my level.”

  I glanced around the spacious quarters. What was there to complain about? This room was bigger than most. Just what kind of lodging had the man expected to find here? Hardly a real wager; my room wasn’t much better, because I hadn’t the heart to move into the master bedroom quite yet. My uncle was gone, sure, but the idea of moving all of his stuff out and my own things in felt strange. Almost as if I were destroying his memory.

  “Very well,” I agreed, stretching out my hand to shake his. “What if I win all three rounds?”

  “If you win all three rounds?” he repeated with a laugh, grabbing my hand and shaking it hard. “That’s not going to happen. And if it does, you can serve me one of my boots on a platter.”

  “Should we boil or bake the boot?” I asked with a fiendish grin. I wasn’t about to lose a second time.

  Chapter 20

  A new exhibition match had begun, deep in the night. The Judge seemed to be especially in a foul mood today, but upon seeing Joeth, actually exchanged courtesies with the man. They spoke for a short while about some secretive topic, keeping their voices low and occasionally glancing at me to see if I had divined the nature of their words. However, I had more important things to worry about than eavesdropping on these two for exhaustion was finally beginning to take hold of me.

  Fortunately, I did have access to a lab where Nigel brewed a highly concentrated form of vitatonic that could keep a man awake for days. A fourth of his “Study Brew” as he called it, mixed with some chamomile to combat the intense anxiety and water to make it potable had done a marvelous job of perking me right back up. In fact, I felt better than I did in ages (for one ingredient in Nigel’s brew contained just the tiniest little pinch of an ingredient outlawed by the Crown due to its allegedly addictive nature. Not that I would know anything about such an ingredient, of course).

  “Last chance to pull out so I can go back to bed,” Joeth said as the Judge asked if anyone had a change of heart.

  “Not on your life,” I replied, activating the Grid and selecting the ready button. The ability menu had changed to contain my three new exceptional powers, plus my old reliable—Alchemical Barrage. I could feel my heart rate skyrocket with anticipation as the countdown began.

  Wave 1/3

  Enemies Remaining: 50

  Total Enemies: 150

  “So you’re changing up your strategies?” I asked as the wave started.

  “Offense should never do the same thing twice,” he replied. “Especially since I had told you the Boulder Golem’s prime weakness.”

  My hypothesis had been right. Joeth wouldn’t be using the same approach. His first invasion had been an attempt to simply shock me into submission. Now, he knew that I wasn’t going to give up. Meaning he’d be using maximum efficiency in his attack, instead of just mindlessly throwing a wave of Boulders at me.


  I took quick note of the map design. There was only one spawn point for the enemy, way on the top-left of the map. A few barricades prevented them from entering our courtyard, instead forcing them to travel down a four lane path all the way down and to the right. Four hills were in the center of the map, with empty space between each hill, save for two barricades each, preventing anyone from taking the fast route to the courtyard. Instead, they’d have to take a straight line all the way around the hills, to the right side of the map, then upwards around the last hill. From there it was a straight shot to the courtyard, where the area opened up.

  Thankfully, my Mana Sphere had regenerated on its own. Since this was an exhibition match, the Sphere retained 1 hit point no matter what. However, reaching 1 hit point meant the battle was over and my opponent had bested me. I wasn’t about to allow that to happen. At least, not this round anyway.

  My hands hovered over my special abilities as I breathlessly waited for the first enemy golem to emerge. Four Boulder Golems came out; these stocky beasts moved quickly, striding across the battlefield with ease. In the back, my trebuchets began to fire towards the squares the enemy had occupied, but their pace was just a little too fast for the payloads to reach. That is, too fast without a little extra help.

  Ten more Boulder Golems emerged in unison, just as the rocks struck the ground, hitting nothing. But I waited still, watching as my ballistae uselessly fired on the Boulder Golems, the shots barely doing any damage. I needed a few more to make this attack worth it.

  Five more boulder constructs emerged! Twenty total, enough for me to make a heavy hit. I worked fast. First, I targeted the middle section of the first lane with the Square Barrage, causing all trebuchets in the back to immediately synchronize. Those who hadn’t fired their shots waited and the ones who were recharging began to swivel and prepare their payloads to fire in unison.