Reincarnated As The Heroes Guide

Aboard the Arks things were not all sunshine and roses.

While they had come through the event largely intact, they had all taken permanent damages, losing circuits and internal components that they could not repair. But more concerningly, one of the ships had taken actual hull damage.

It wasn’t a breach, they could still fly and operate, but what if the Ark was hit like that again? What would they do if the ship was actually rendered inoperable?

They couldn’t just abandon the civilians that were on board.

But the most pressing concern of every member of the fleet command, which included the officers and the heroes, was that the third trial required them to claim territory. If they did not, and they simply waited in their ships for another attack, they would score dismally, and their rewards wouldn’t keep up with their needs.

They had done well in the second trial, though not nearly as well as the first.

That wasn’t surprising, though.

They got credit for some improvement. But with so many people, their production wasn’t as good as their consumption, and they hadn’t managed to awaken any new heroes.

They were working on that now, as the Coordinator in Marimgar had given them a quest for it. But the advancement was still some time off, and they didn’t know how long the third trial would last.

How could they know the proper pacing for their development and any attempts to claim territory when they didn’t know how long they had?

Would they be rewarded for doing it faster?

They may get some credit for the area immediately around Marimgar, as they had helped clear the attackers. Killed a huge number of them, actually.

But did that count as controlling the territory? And would it be contested by Marimgar?

They were two separate entities at the start of the trial, and nobody knew if you could actually merge them to count as one larger faction.

Or what would happen to the rewards they had gained if they did.

Would it count as losing and having their assets claimed by the System? Or would the system consider it simple politics, and balance the final numbers based on their previous performances?

Which also raised the question of why Fleet group Charlie was counted as its own entity, when the Marimgar fleet had all started as one. Perhaps, because they were not operating together, they were counted as their own survivor group?

If that was the case, then it was almost certainly possible to merge groups without any major side effects.

The thought was stressing everyone out, so they had gathered via holographic projection in the main meeting room of Ark 1 to have this discussion.

"Welcome everyone, let’s get this meeting started," the Fleet Admiral began.

We are faced with a choice. The trial requires that we claim a territory to succeed. And we are all aware of the state that the continent is in, as we’ve all seen the satellite feed.

Now, I have received requests from various Ship Captains to take differing routes, but for an issue this large, I will not exercise my power as Admiral. Instead, I will allow the ships of the fleet to make their choices, as I will be choosing for the flagship."

He paused, letting the news sink in.

There were three large Arks, and six smaller vessels that could still be called Arks, but were no larger than a conventional military cutter. All had the same basic functions, but the population of the vessels was vastly different.

"There are many possible ways forward for the fleet, and I ask that you be patient while I lay them out.

The first is to move the vessels south along the river, to the clearing where the swineherd Demons were formerly raising their boars. We could set up there, establish a colony, and begin the work of clearing land to farm and support the fleet,

The Arks would serve as our city itself, while the ground would be worked to support them.

The second option is to retreat to Kalka and try to establish a new colony there, among one of the identified survivor sites. Some are still active and undamaged, but we don’t know if any of them have had decent results in the previous trials.

The third option, which has been brought up by many of our Captains, is to take the Arks to space and establish a lunar colony.

The conditions would be tough, but we do have facility addition rewards from the previous trial that could be used to set up a proper lunar colony. That is a long term endeavour, and we should escape the monster invasion entirely.

However, once there, it would most likely be a lifelong commitment.

The final option would be to merge our fleet with the city of Marimgar, and combine our forces to hold a larger territory. The benefits are obvious, but the risks are that we might take a much smaller share of the rewards after the third trial, instead of having both factions gain their own."

For a few seconds, everything was silent, then all the officers began speaking at once, each wanting to make their point through pure volume and force of will.

It was an issue that they were all passionate about, and the Admiral could see that it was likely going to come down to a fracture.

"Fine, I can see that there is no clear winner to this, and nobody is going to listen to reasoned arguments against their choice.

So, I will place two options in front of you.

Stay or go. Do you want to remain with the Fleet, doing as I instruct. or do you want to make your own choices? We were already suffering a catastrophic breakdown of military discipline last Trial, and frankly, I’m not sure that military discipline is the way to go anymore.

This is the rest of everyone’s lives, and we’re choosing for three quarters of a million civilians under our command.

So, choose wisely.

What do you think will be the best for your people? For the last citizens of Kalka that are under our command? The other fleets have made their choices, and now we make ours.

I vote that we set up within the boundaries of Marimgar, and add our fleet to their firepower.

As you saw today, they can largely defend themselves, even against a million monsters and flying attackers. Given more time to build their base, I believe that they will become a dominant force that can control a region.

So, I wish to throw in the lot of my Ark with them, to claim this territory for humanity."