Emery just stood and watched as Julian called for the 270 acolytes who were added to the Platoon 3. Thanks to the fact that everyone was scattered when exiting the transport, it took a minute for the Roman to finally gather them all together.
Without further ado, he then began to charismatically brief the group about what they should strive to achieve together.
“If each of us decides to split up and go our own way, some might have more points while others get less. I know that some of you have your own ideas and thoughts, but I assure you that we will do better and even ace this mid-test by working together,” said the experienced Roman general in a calm and convincing manner.
While Julian was doing his speech, suddenly another wave of notifications started pouring in.
[Squad points ranking]
[Rank 1 – Squad 01 Eesho Nephilim]
[Rank 2 – Squad 11 Zach Talon]
[Rank 3 – Squad 14 Rofos Tigerson]
[Rank 4…]
[Rank 5…]
[Personal points ranking]
[Rank 1 – Eesho Nephilim]
[Rank 2 – Zach Talon]
[Rank 3 – Rofos Tigerson]
[Rank 4…]
[Rank 5…]
Everyone could naturally see the rankings. It was obvious that the three names seen on the leaderboard were those who have started getting points by doing their objectives, and this sight of course made everyone itch for some too.
All of them looked like they couldn’t hold it anymore, but Julian quickly persuaded and insisted they stay with his words.
“I know that all of you are eager, but please restrain yourself for a little longer. Spending a bit of time planning our way forward would be far more beneficial than rushing out and starting to kill creatures aimlessly.”
Seeing that his attempt was working, the Roman quickly struck while the iron was still hot. He started by marking the position where their transport landed and comparing it with the geographical data they received beforehand.
This way, they would know exactly where they were and could plan their steps forward to achieve maximum results and efficiency.
“Based on the comparison result, it looks like our transport landed on the Western Continent of the planet. As for our exact location, it seems to be on the south side of the central part of the continent.”
The Andora Planet was similar in size to Earth. It had a vast ocean where three continents existed, marked in the Magus Academy’s database as Northern, Western, and Eastern Continent respectively; each of them was about twice the size of Earth’s African Continent.
The continent spanned around three thousand miles, which meant it would take a rank 9 acolyte roughly twelve hours of running at full speed or riding an orbiter without stopping to traverse the continent from one end to the other.
There was also a narrow corridor between the continents that stretched about one thousand miles long.
As for why the three continents were called Eastern, Western, or Northern, it was because the three continents were surrounding a massive mountain range where all the Abyss creatures, beside the ones from the Nest all over the continents, spawned from.
As Julian continued to explain the plan, Roran supported his effort by showing everyone a piece of information that could be accessed from the device.
[Points]
[Killing stage 1 Abyss creature – 1 point]
[Killing stage 2 Abyss creature – 20 points]
[Killing stage 3 Abyss creature – 200 points]
[Killing stage 4 Abyss creature – 5,000 points]
[Killing stage 5 Abyss creature – 50,000 points]
[Destroying an Abyss nest – 5000 points/squad member]
Seeing the word ‘stage 5 Abyss creature’, Emery quickly thought of the Beholder he had fought before. It was a monstrosity that required the cooperation of three privileged level acolytes in order to have a chance to be successfully killed.
Julian added “Now, I understand that personally everyone just wants to kill as many creatures as possible in order to get as many points as possible.” These words incited murmurs and nods from several of the gathered acolytes.
“However, I believe the best way to get the most points is to clear as many nests as possible.”
This time, Julian’s words caused bouts of discussion amongst the acolytes because what he said made sense. After all, by destroying a single nest alone, a whole squad consisting of thirty members would receive a total of 5,000 points each.
Five thousand times thirty, that’s a grand total of 150,000 points. Coupled with the hordes of monsters that were bound to be in the nest, the total point they could get in the end would at least double.
Of course, Julian’s confidence didn’t come from nowhere. It actually came from his analysis on the data provided by the Harlight faction that was based on a similar-sized planet with a Calamity stage 2 situation.
“Now, I believe the first thing we have to do is to mark all the Nest and other landmarks on the continent.”
Afterward, he continued by separating the whole three thousand miles of the continent into eight sectors and started distributing the determined area to each squad. The first objective given to the acolytes was to scout the real situation on the ground and report their findings.
As they started from basically the middle of the continent, 12 hours should be enough time to mark the location of all the nests and other landmarks such as survivors’ hideouts or large gathering of Abyss creatures.
After hearing Julian’s instructions, everyone nodded as a sign that they understood his purpose.
“Before we set out, does anyone have any questions?” asked Julian, his eyes scanning the crowd of acolytes.
A hand was raised. Emery, Roran, and Julian looked over and saw it was Anas of the Kaleos.
“Why is there only 8? We have 10 squads here.”
As if he was prepared for the question, Julian quickly answered. He explained that with Emery’s unique [Spatial Gate] ability, he would be the best person to be on standby in case any squad encountered or ran into trouble.
As for himself, Julian said that he would start to scout the landmark within 100 miles of the transport landing area and prepare a suitable defensive base for any possible future threats.
“I believed our transport will become the key for our platoon objectives”
[Platoon Objectives: Save survivors]
[Survivors: 14,770,502]
[Protect survivors, 1 points/ 10 survivors]
Emery couldn’t help but shake his head seeing the price of human life was only 0,1 points, there was also the fact that within only less than 10 minutes, about 60,000 survivors has passed away.
After his question was answered, Anas lowered his hand and Julian again asked if anyone still wanted to ask. Seeing that no one raised their hand or said anything, he immediately closed the briefing. Right after that, all 8 squads that had already been assigned an area quickly prepared to leave, except for one.
The Egyptian queen came approach his squad leader and toward the Kaleos noble,
“Anas, you don’t mind if I help out a bit here, right? Actually, I’m kind of spacesick right now,” said Klea with a sweet smile.
It was clear that the young man was about to complain, but the Egyptian Queen had taken the initiative and beaten him. “With the big guy, Sigurd accompanying you, you don’t actually need me much… So, you don’t mind, right?”
Anas was completely speechless when Klea already said her thanks and turned her body around, running towards Emery. “Emery! My captain said I could stay here and help you!”
Emery could only smile wryly at the Kaleos noble when he saw the cheeky smile on her face. Knowing that there was nothing that could change her mind, the other 29 people led by Sigurd quickly dashed away towards their designated area.
After they gone, Emery turned around and asked Julian. “Alright! What should we do first?”