The One Luna

Sure enough, Luna didn't slack off one bit. While everybody was either resting or discussing, he proceeded to setup the defenses. It was quite the mystical experience, as long as he willed it, the walls would be placed to his exact specifications. He surrounded the outermost areas of his territory with the Adamantite walls, then instead of connecting them with the a gate, he actually set up the last two walls to go inward, creating a choke point.

He would have much preferred to have it outward, but unfortunately, beyond that was not considered his <Territory> yet. Regardless, the difference wasn't too much.

Luna's plan was simple: Occupy more territory to house more survivors who were willing to be subject to his rules of constantly evolving. If a family were to come, then whoever is combat ready must work hard in the Army. Additionally, they must work extra to level their family up in their spare time.

He would eventually setup schools for kids once he recovered the schools and could provide them with enough protection. Military training would be part of the curriculum. Education, after all, could not be neglected.

The initial part of his plan was inspired by the United States of America. Almost every household in the U.S. had guns. This made it so, in the hypothetical scenario of their army losing, foreign invaders would find it night impossible to conquer the mainland, what with almost every citizen being combat ready. His plan was similar to that, but in this case, it was towards evolution.

If every citizen in his <Nation> was strong, any outside force would have to think twice if they're willing to shoulder the casualties an invasion would bring. Of course, he couldn't neglect that families would need to spend time too. Which was why he was planning on work weeks being shorter. With an unlimited source of water, he could continue to provide that for free.

As for food, he wasn't sure what the Life Tree would bring yet and in what abundance, so the evolved land animals and fish would more than suffice, assuming they were already strong enough to fight against them and come out unscathed somehow.

He was starting to plan out everything in his head as the walls and the gate he had placed down finished building. Sura and Him were making rounds around the territory this whole time, since the <System> had warned them beforehand that the installation of any structures couldn't be interrupted. Should zombies start attacking them, they would dissipate after reaching a certain threshold of damage.

While it was highly doubtful that anything around their area at the moment would be able to deal enough damage to make these Adamantite walls dissipate, it was better to be safe than sorry. Quickly after they had finished building, he placed the <Basic Automated Turrets> in strategic positions to cover the entire area.

He then spent 200,000 VIS to purchase <Intermediate Automated Turrets> and placed them on the both sides of the outer walls leading to the inner metal gate, afterwards, proceeding to place another metal outer gate.

His intention was simple. There was a zombie defense game in the year 2017, called "They Are Billions" that released their 4th version of the game in VR that became a huge hit, redeeming themselves after their 3rd version was riddled with in-game bugs and flopped. After playing this game, when expecting to mount a defense, having a a secondary gate or wall to trim the numbers before it went down, was crucial. This was why he decided to invest 200K VIS for two additional turrets.

These turrets didn't need ammunition in the conventional sense. The "ammo" they fired out was formed from atmospheric energy they absorbed. After running out, they would need to recharge. The <Intermediate Automated Turrets> had a higher ammo capacity, and shorter recharge time, which ensured that when the basic ones were recharging, the intermediate ones would keep firing, and when they ran out of ammo, a few seconds later, the basic ones would have charged up completely.

Luna had calculated this in advance, after all, what he was about to do, in an outsider's eyes, would give justice to the phrase: Batshit Crazy.

After everything was set, the Luna-Sura duo went out to massacre some zombies for a bit before going back to finally rest.

Night or day, it didn't matter to these two anymore, with the <Enhanced Vision> passive they had no issues seeing at night, with their current high amount of VIT, they needed very little rest as well, capable of staying awake for days on end before their motor-capabilities dropped. Unfortunately, sleep was still important to keep a sharp mind, which was why they preferred to sleep daily.

The next day.

"Everyone, well done on the defense last night. As you all know, we had quite a bit of spoils. As the members that were here before we even owned a territory, I value you all highly. You fought valiantly, and you didn't run away." Luna then looked to the children, "I hope you all learned from that night and have been inspired to grow stronger."

"Yes! Lord Luna, we'd like to participate this time around in the next defense." Basilio declared, while patting his c.h.e.s.t.

"Very well." after saying that, Luna took out several items and placed them on the table before him.

"Those of you who built as tanks, take a <Holy Aura> passive skillbook, and a <Mace(Vit +5)> and a <War Shield>."

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Item: <War Shield>

A light-weight, but durable shield inspired from the Igorot War Shield.

Vit + 5

Increases damage mitigation by an additional 5%

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The War Shield was initially an uncommon drop from the evolved zombies, but with the sheer amount of numbers that they killed off a stroke of good RNG* they managed to procure enough for their tanks and a few extra.

"Those of you who are more agility based, go ahead and grab a <Fleet Footed> and a <Rapid Tempo> skill book if you're willing to use your current skill points to learn them."

Everyone besides the original group who Luna already gave the skill books to as he got them, went forward to receive them. These were dropped skill books, they cost skill points to learn and to level.

As opposed to any inherited skills, or skills naturally learned through evolution, which didn't cost skill points to learn and would grow stronger as the person leveled further. Prime example being: Sura.

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Passive Skill: <Fleet Footed>

Increases Movement speed by 10%

Increased movement speed does not consume extra stamina.

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Passive Skill: <Rapid Tempo>

Increase Attack Speed by 10%

Attack speed increase caused by this skill does not consume additional stamina.

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"Apple, these are for you." Luna beckoned her to come forward as he handed her a piece of equipment and two skill books.

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Item: Lightning Knuckles

A pair of knuckles that increase the effectiveness of Lightning skills while offering fast, effective, and lightning imbued melee strikes.

Attack DMG: 25

Increase damage of Lightning related skills by 20%

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Active Skill: Lighting Cloud

Summon a Lightning cloud on a designated location. All enemies enveloped by the cloud will be subject to damage from the lightning strikes within. Cloud does not stop enemies from leaving the area of effect.

MP Cost: 100

Duration: 10 Seconds - Channeled skill - Skill will cancel if interrupted or personally cancelled by the caster.

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Passive Skill: Lightning Armor.(Can be toggled on and off by caster)

Allows threads of lightning to cover a thin layer all over the caster's body which immediately strike out to any incoming attackers. Lightning infused body becomes much faster, but drains more Stamina.

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An even more pleasant surprise, was that after learning both lightning related skills, Apple suddenly got a notification.

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Your affinity with the lightning element has earned the favor of the lightning elementals.

Active Skill: Summon Lightning Elemental

Summon an elemental to fight beside you.

HP scales off of caster's max health.(Current: 100%)

Attack damage scales off of caster's amount of lighting related skills x10 + level of learned lightning skills x 10 (Current DMG: 40 + 20% from Lightning Knuckles)

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This meant that Luna had gained even more knowledge of this world. It seems that when a Mage, or at the very least, in this case, a Lightning Mage learned 3 skill of the same element, they would gain an elemental summon pertaining to their elemental affinity.

This was indeed great news! Luna had more questions, like: What if I had let her learn the <Fireball> skill? Would that have lessened her Lightning affinity? Would she then require 4 lightning skills to get the summon, or would the Lightning elementals be so displeased that she would have lost the right to summon them? These were questions Luna had to consider in the future.

Regardless, he was happy for Apple. Who would have guessed, that this young girl who started out like a scared little puppy, would eventually be known as the Lightning Goddess of the <Sovereign Nation>, Apple Linario.

Luna couldn't help but smile.

Her and Mabini's father, Professor Linario was a passionate teacher who always looked out for his students. He would most definitely be proud.

Right after everybody had learned their skills, Luna proceeded to the next part of the plan, as he pulled up the <Nation Shop>.

"With much harder endeavors, comes the need to much stronger weaponry." He smiled to himself. This was going to be a very welcome surprise for everybody.