“Aren’t you coming, Master Jin?” Zeru asked, but Jin was contemplating. Now that he had a contest going on and had already asked the bellators to take note of them, he was thinking whether he should participate actively or take on the role of a tactical leader.
If there were going to be fights against King Baal when the Dungeon City Fortress is up, he would need to employ several squad leaders to maintain order. It got him thinking after Qiu Yue fought against Moloch in a similar tactical battle kind of situation.
“Moloch, mind coming here for a while. Zeru too.” Jin called them over to the Dungeon Maker interface. While everyone else was preparing their gears and organising their teams, he wanted to make use of their expertise, since one was a Lord who had experienced governing, and the other was a natural born fighter.
“I would like your opinions on a tactical commanding. Should I go into the fray with the others or should I stay at the back and command?” Jin asked, but both of his followers almost immediately answered in unison: “Go into the fray.”
“Wow, I was not expecting that.” Jin initially thought they would have differing opinions, but in the end, they gave the same answer at lightning speed.
“You do not have the traits to be a commander. You are just a master. While I praise you for being somewhat benevolent, this also makes you not fit to be a tactical leader. You would be too concerned about your troops’ safety. You are unlikely to send them on risky missions, thereby not allowing them to push their limits. Though I must admit, you are sometimes rather creative when placed in a tight situation.” Zeru gave Jin his analysis.
“I concur. You are at best a squad leader, but not a tactical commander. Just take this particular contest you created as an example. It’s not a bad event, and it would increase the competitiveness and camaraderie of your minions, but the result is left wanting. Other commanders would not only do what you did but singled out several key individuals to specifically lead the teams to battle. Maybe one or two will gather even more intelligence before charging into to unknown territory. But these are my own opinions. I had lead teams and served under command many times but I had yet to find that perfect someone who has the combination of charismatic leadership and selfless care for their troops and ruthless tactics.” Moloch commented.
“I do not think I have that kind of capacity in me,” Jin admitted bitterly and Moloch laughed.
“Each and everyone has their own strength and weakness. It is even better that you know your own inability than pretending you can do such a thing.” Moloch comforted Jin.
“Anyways, upgrade cards should be given more thought. Especially when I see you distribute the kind of weapons to your minions. You want them to be well rounded more than being specialised in one particular trait. It’s not a bad thing, but you have to understand that specialisation gives you the edge. It’s how you put the edges together in a way and make them work as a team, that gives them a chance for your minions’ potential to shine.” Moloch explained further.
“Not everyone has a flair for everything. Not everyone has a System in their possession.” Moloch’s word was sharp and to the point, but Jin understood and acknowledged it.
“But that does not mean you cannot learn,” Moloch added as he walked towards the System’s interface. “Do you have the thing I asked you to prepare?”
“That will relinquish 5% of your rights of the Dungeon City Fortress to the System. Do you accept this?” The System asked, and Moloch nodded his head.
“I can see that the System is not really as bad as it was made it out to be. I do not mind relinquishing 5% of my rights.” Moloch replied, and the System immediately created a portable looking whiteboard.
“Here! I was originally planning to give this to Qiu Yue when she joined you. But I figured if you can play with this first, you might have some understanding about the specs and perhaps even some ideas about how to enhance it further when the time comes. I call it the Tactical Tweaker or Tact Tweak. I used to have powers that were similar to the functions of Tact Tweak when I served under King Baal. That was before he became ignorant, arrogant and many other things… especially when he got possessive with his wealth.” Moloch passed the Tact Tweak whiteboard to Jin.
“How does this work?” Jin looked around it but realised there was no button or whatsoever. Moloch asked Jin to insert some chi in it. Suddenly the board lit up. It showed the current stats of the teams that were being formed. As Jin explored the functions, it went down to individual stats.
The difference was that the Tact Tweak showed various recommendations on what to equip on a monster based on their stats. It was an enhanced version of the monster app that he had. It also showed whether the combination of teams between the monsters was ideal. There were some rather controversial combinations, and Jin knew that this was based on the System’s efficiency paradigm. Of course, if Jin followed the System’s recommendation, it would theoretically bring out the best from his minions.
But in reality, monsters did not work that way. Only robots that were detailed to the point would. Surprisingly, the System recommended mixing the werejackals and Minotaurs together as a team in Tact Tweak. Jin knew, that the contest was to show the competitive side of things, but if he did not handle this correctly, it might create a wedge between the two groups of minions.
“All the more reason, why you should go into the fray,” Kraft spoke out of the blue. “You will be the one acting as the bridge for these two races. From what I saw, I can only agree with those two. You are not fit to be a tactical commander because you have to act as their master. You have the important task as the one and only person that who rules them. To unite them.”
“This Tact Tweak has another function. I asked the System to design it in a way, that seems to prove useful for your competition. It allows you to give the teams upgrade cards on the go and lets you edit the cards they once held. It is a function created with you in mind which I hope you can subsequently passed it to Qiu Yue.” Moloch said as he showed Jin how it was being done since he and the System created this Tact Tweak.
Moloch placed the portable whiteboard on the floor, and the interface that was initially the size of the portable whiteboard became two times larger and subsequently three times bigger. The interface started to resemble the interface of the one in the dungeon maker. It even projected the cards that Jin currently had in his possession.
With a swipe of a short bow equipment card, it provided an analysis of the short bow, indicating a summary of the materials it was made from and even recommended the following monsters that would be suited for this particular equipment card. There was also a section on potential recommendations for monsters, who were not apt for this card yet. It indicated, that after some training the monsters would have the chance to become proficient with it.
“This is really interesting. It’s a real shame, that I cannot fully explore the functions at the moment since I am short on time. Especially with Yang Ling’s deadline. But I can at least use this to reward the upgrade equipment cards to the monsters on the fly as the contest proceeds.” Jin figured, and both Moloch and Zeru agreed.
“Without further ado, let’s go to battle. Sebastia, lead the way.” Jin commanded, and the System immediately created a portal large enough for various people to go in.
As the monsters were teleporting in, Jin checked the Tact Tweak and saw that various teams were being created for the contest. The werejackals and werecats formed one group, they called themselves Team Jacks. All of the minotaurs and even Niu Lang joined together to form Team Mino. Sandy the Sand Witch, Zhi Nu the Battle Weaver, Ke Mi the Zither Mistress, Que Er the Magpie Queen formed a group together and called themselves Team Enlightened, the band group name that was used in Music Theatre Instance.
The last group that wanted to enter was surprisingly the zombies. Jin found it weird that a zombie came forward to declare its name and when he checked the zombie’s name, it was actually Derek who proposed it. “Did the ‘I am the Alpha’ Card triggering him twice in a row enhance his intelligence a little?” Jin wondered as he tried out the I am the Alpha enhancement card once again.
Not to his surprise, the Zombie Derek was chosen once again, but this time round, the System noted something. “User, The card ‘I am the Alpha’ has been destroyed. System would be compensating you with a new card.” The Tact Tweak immediately revealed the new card that the System repaid. Now Jin was shocked. The enhancement card became a brand new monster card.
Ghoul Half Lord.
Jin looked towards Derek’s direction and saw that his features changed, it became slightly more humane (and more hair!), but his clothes were more westernised and formal. “Master Jin. I thank you for giving me this opportunity to rise to the occasion to serve you even more.” Derek said as he knelt down and all the zombies that were behind him clumsily knelt too.
