The Forgotten Faithful: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 2) by Cajiao, Jez (little red riding hood ebook TXT) 📕

in the seat which faced a small table and the entrance to the room. “Be warned, people, this could take a while,” I said.

As soon as I sat down, I felt a resonance from the seat and table, and I recognized the sensation of my mana being pulled from me.

I remembered the discussions I’d had with Oracle and others, including Xiao, and I closed my eyes, concentrating on my breathing as I began to meditate.

I sat there for what seemed like forever, and yet simultaneously felt like mere seconds. At one point, I heard Oracle speaking to the hushed group that watched, telling them I was meditating and reactivating the ruin. All I knew was that, even with my mana regenerating slightly more rapidly through meditation, it was sucked away faster than I could regenerate it.

It took a thousand mana to reactivate the interface, Oracle helping me to sense what was needed, but even with the meditation, it took just over four hours to complete it. I finally blinked my eyes open, my constant state of headache beginning to dissipate as I looked around, finding the table humming with energy, and Oracle grinning at me. My notifications activated on their own, a single popup blazing to life before my eyes, golden letters flowing from nowhere to fill my vision.

Congratulations!

You have cleared Waystation Four and have the prerequisite authority and abilities to claim this structure and the surrounding land, adding it to your territory as a ‘claimed location’. As this territory holds less than Ten (10) percent of sentients that are actively hostile to your rule, it can be claimed.

Do you wish to annex this territory now?

Yes/No…

“Flux, you there, buddy?” I called out, hearing a few sounds, and he stepped into my peripheral vision.

“I am here. What is it?” he asked calmly.

“I’ve been offered the choice of annexing this territory to my already controlled lands. It’s telling me that there are less than ten percent of actively hostile sentients in its area. How will your people react if I claim this?” I asked, concerned, as I didn’t want to piss off my new neighbors.

“Bah, they will be fine with it, I sent Cheena, Bane, and T’lek back to them several hours ago with Gaul’s remains, and your ships now hover above us, so I know that Bane passed the message onto them as well. My people will regard you as a valued and powerful friend at the very least. Your claiming of this territory matters not to us; we already knew you were the rightful liege of the land from the earlier notifications. Go ahead and claim as you will.”

“Thanks, mate. Okay…here goes!” I said and mentally selected ‘Yes’. There was a slight pause before a new notification sprang to life, swiftly followed by a second.

Congratulations!

You have annexed new lands into your own, providing the following benefits if the land is worked:

Fishing Rights: You own a large body of water that is teeming with life. +5 to food production in all this territory. 

Mining abundance: This territory has two ancient abandoned mines within its borders. Gain +10 copper or +13 Iron ingots per day once these mines are cleared out and mining is at full capacity.

Supportive Population: You have gained the trust of some of the residents of this territory, and the others believe you to be benevolent. +2 per day to loyalty of the population, provided you take no hostile action against them. This bonus may change due to events. 

Attention: Citizens of the Territory of Dravith!

Lord Jax of Dravith has expanded his territory and has claimed an additional three hundred and twelve square miles of lands by defeating the previously hostile occupants!

All titles, Deeds, and Laws in the Territory of Dravith are held for review, and can be revoked, altered, annulled, or approved.

All Hail Lord Jax of Dravith!

I took a deep breath, seeing by the golden edges on the second prompt, along with the gleaming red letters, and the fact it required reading all the way to the end before I could dismiss it, that this was a territory-wide announcement.

I dismissed the prompts, resolving to discuss the bonuses with Oracle and the team later and saw by the look on everyone else’s faces, that thousand-mile stare, that they were looking at something only they could see. Yup, they’d all got that again. Last time it had happened, I had a momentary mental image of someone having sex…and then that jumped up in the middle of their vision…I knew I wouldn’t be happy, but it amused the hell out of me as the one that caused it! I turned to Oracle and she looked at me expectantly.

“Okay, so the Waystation is awake. How do we find out if the mana collectors are intact?” I asked, and she grinned at me.

“Concentrate and ask for the status of the Waystation, of course!” she replied, and I frowned in turn.

“I never had to do that with the Tower…”

“Of course not. You have Seneschal for that, but without a wisp, all you have is the interface. This one is a more basic one than the Creation Table in the Tower, but it’s also in better condition, so…” she shrugged and gestured to the table before me, and I got the hint, concentrating and visualizing what I wanted the table to show me.

Since activating the ruin, the one thousand mana that I’d donated to it had filled the shallow well that sat in the center of the table first, then had spread out to bring life to the structure as best it could. The liquid mana that remained in the well had taken on the consistency of quicksilver, and as I concentrated on the Waystation, it began to shift and eddy.

The waves quickly came together, forming lines that first grew into a small box that related to this control room, complete with a miniature table and chair. Then it rippled out, the room shrinking as other rooms grew, a top down map building up. I could