The second skill that William chose was the skill War Cry.
< War Cry >
(10 Mana Points)
-- Unleash a rallying cry to increase your own and your allies stats by twenty percent.
-- This skill cannot be upgraded.
-- Skill Duration: 30 minutes
Ella didn't need William's reminder and immediately used her War Cry.
"Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!"
The powerful aura was excluded from her body. The other gloats bleated in acknowledgement as they felt their bodies become stronger.
The powerful goat army cleared the entire map in a day. The goats gained one level. William gained two, and Ella gained seven. It was a good start, but William decided to stop their "Dungeon Raid" for the time being.
He wanted the goats to feel what it was like to work as a team. William planned to take things one step at a time and let the goats get used to their new formation. Also, he felt a bit sad because his main stats could no longer advance.
< Stats Exp Bar >
Current Exp: 146,283 / 146,283
According to the system, his stats gauge needed to ascend to the next level in order to "reset" which would allow him to continue to level up.
This was similar to the other Job Classes he had gained where he needed to choose a means to advance them to a stronger and more powerful class.
In order to solve this problem, William needed to visit a temple and pray to his Patron God. Then and only then would the experience bar for his stat points reset.
Unfortunately, the temples were at least four days away from Lont if you were to travel by carriage. Currently, Beast Tides were rampaging across the land. It was impossible for William to travel to a temple. Even if he could, James wouldn't allow it.
The only silver lining was that the Shepherd Job Class could still gain levels because it hadn't reached its level cap.
William looked at his current stats and sighed. He silently thanked the Beast Tide for giving him the opportunity to advance by leaps and bounds. Based on his calculations, it would have taken] at least two to three years to reach his current level.
Fortunately, the Millennial Beast and his lackeys gave William the best opportunity to gain massive experience points in a controlled environment.
-----
Race: Half-Elf
Hit Points: 725 / 725
Mana: 1240 / 1240
Job Class: Shepherd Level 30
Sub Class: Ice Mage Level 40 (Max)
< Strength: 22 (+2) >
< Agility: 35 (+3) >
< Vitality: 25 (+2) >
< Intelligence: 60 (+2)>
< Dexterity: 16 (+20) >
Current Exp: 146,283 / 146,283
Current Job Exp: 2400 / 11,503
-----
The goats immediately fell asleep once they had returned to the goat pen. Although only an hour had passed in the real world, they had stayed inside the dungeon for a whole day. All of them were very exhausted and William didn't want to push them to their limits.
"Let's go to sleep as well, Mama Ella."
"Meeeeeh."
Ella returned to her "normal mode" and laid down on the piled up hay in the corner of the goat shed. William followed suit and hugged his Mama Ella to sleep.
That night, William dreamed of leading a herd of Angorian War Ibex to battle against a wolf tide. All the wolves were trampled under their feet and even the Centennial and Millennial Beasts didn't survive the battle.
"Hehehe." William chuckled in his sleep. "So many experience points…"
-----
While William and the rest of the children in Lont were sleeping, the adults were taking turns as night watch.
"Jekyll, times up," Marcus said with a smile. "Get your beauty sleep. I'll take over the watch."
"About time," Jekyll replied as he stretched his body.
"Shawn, make sure to bring us freshly baked bread tomorrow. I'm counting on you." Mr. Bond patted Shawn's shoulder.
"I don't mind as long as you pay for it." Shawn yawned. "Make sure not to fall asleep while on duty."
"That goes without saying." Mr. Bond patted his chest. "If one monster comes, I'll kill one. If a dozen comes, I'll kill a dozen. Relax, those critters won't get past me."
The night passed peacefully as the defenders of Lont stood their vigil. Only when the first light of sunrise fell upon the small town, did they hear the shriek of a Hawk coming from the East.
"Finally," James muttered as he gazed at the Hawk that was descending from the sky.
Everyone was waiting for John's arrival, so they hurried towards the Ainsworth Residence to meet him. All of them were eager to hear his report and understand the current situation.
----
Inside the conference room, James was busy placing gemstones on a map that almost occupied half of the round table. The colored gems signified the current conditions of the various villages, towns, and cities in the Western Side of the Hellan Kingdom.
James, and the others waited patiently until he finished his task. Even so, some of them were already frowning. They could tell at a glance that almost the entire Western Region was now in ruins.
"Dear God," Owen muttered. "Such destruction…"
John heaved a deep sigh as he placed the last gemstone on the map.
"As you can see, the Western Region is as good as gone," John reported. "The Beast Tide from the Forbidden Lands came five years earlier than expected. Lont faced a Wolf Tide. The town of Fushia encountered a Bear Tide, Pran was besieged by Harpies, Xynnar by Hyenas... "
John listed all the towns that he had seen along the way. According to him, there were almost no survivors from these territories.
"Blitz and I delved deeper into the Kingdom and found traces of the Beast Tides. It seems that all of them are going to converge to attack Fort Windermere."
"As expected," James muttered as he stared at the map on the table.
Fort Windermere was a fortress that was built to resist the Beast Tide invasion. Usually, the Beast Tides happened every fifteen to twenty years. It seemed that something big had happened in the Forbidden Lands that caused the Beast Tide to come earlier.
In the past, the Hellan Kingdom had amassed a massive army to clear out the Forbidden Land known as the "Strathmore Forest". Unfortunately, they weren't even able to enter the outskirts of the forest due to a powerful restriction.
When the genius Scholars of the kingdom analyzed this restriction, they were surprised to find out that only those who were twenty years old and below could enter the forest.
Because of this, all plans to conquer Strathmore Forest had been put on hold. Since they couldn't invade the source of the problem, they decided to build a Fortress that would protect the kingdom from these rampaging beasts.
