Hammond stood hesitantly on the front lines. To say he was nervous was an understatement. He was downright scared. Even with plenty of faith in Adam after all the incredible things the young man had done for him, that didn't change that Hammond was only level one. Maybe it would be more accurate to say he didn't have faith in himself.

So much time had been spent under the Juungii's control, having to let them leech XP out of him. The food was terrible and their living arrangements uncomfortable. They had been sent out to collect the XP without good weapons or combat training, as if the Juungii expected them to miraculously understand how to survive in the new world.

That wasn't to say that the Juungii were heartless. They tried to prevent the deaths of the humans by sending escorts with the less capable, or by making sure the humans weren't sent against enemies significantly more powerful than them.

Yet, all the enemies continued to grow stronger while the humans were limited to reaching level 15. It had been frustrating and felt deadly. Even when they had been inept during the early fights, the battles seemed less dangerous than they had become towards the end. Even with dozens of humans facing off against single enemies, there had just been a sense that one mistake would have caused everyone to be wiped out.

Now Hammond was thrown back into combat, staring at large mantis creatures across the field. Not only was Hammond at the front, but he was also the only one who seemed inexperienced in this way of fighting.

This wasn't a group of uncoordinated fighters facing off against one or two opponents. This was war. With armies. And while everyone around him knew where they belonged and how to work together, Adam had just brought Hammond here and told him to see what he could do.

See what he could do???

Hammond, a level one who couldn't even level up was now in a deadly situation and unsure of himself.

One of the shield bearers next to Hammond looked him up and down. It was an appraising look, critical but not judgmental. The Shieldmaiden, Brittney, had brought Hammond some armor to wear. It hadn't been until after he had put it on that they mentioned it belonged to Adam, the General.

Hammond was too physically weak to wear durable metal armor, so Brittney had brought a leather suit. Jacket, pants, boots, gloves, and a head protector were all included. The suit had been tight on Hammond, since he was a little larger in build than Adam. The buckles had all been loosened for him, and there were gaps, notably in the front and sides, but Hammond doubted that was going to be too much of a problem.

How much did the armor really matter when a Tier 3 was hitting a level one?

Hammond had seen the fight between Adam and the Archbishops, and he knew he would never be capable of withstanding either side's power.

"I haven't seen you between," said the shield bearer. He held out a hand. "The name's Brad."

"Hammond," he replied with a handshake.

Brad's hand held his for a bit longer than normal and the man frowned at Hammond's hand. He had easily sensed the trembling in it.

"Why so nervous?" asked Brad. "First battle?"

"Yeah," nodded Hammond, taking his hand back. "I haven't been in a fight like this."

"It should be fine," encouraged Brad. "You wouldn't have been brought here if the unit leaders didn't think you were worth it. I've never heard of them setting up someone to fail."

"That's only if they were above level one," muttered Hammond to himself. Brad looked at him with confusion, so Hammond tried to redirect. "This is just temporary. They want me to try things out, so I'm not sure how long I'll be out here for. They said I'd be safe, but I'm still just a level one."

"Level one doesn't mean much. With all the conqueror titles we've accumulated, even if we have a weak class of Tier 3, we should be fine against higher leveled enemies."

"Uh, I'm only Tier 1. A Warrior class."

Brad's eyebrows shot up, and he stared at Hammond for a minute.

"Tier 1?" he asked with confusion. "But your tag says, 'Home Protector.' That doesn't sound like Tier 1."

It was Hammond's turn to look at Brad in surprise.

"I have a class tag?" he asked, remembering all the comments after Adam had freed them regarding the smudge mark he had for a tag. To think that Adam's work on him had rebuilt his class to this degree was beyond his understanding.

"Of course," confirmed Brad. "How could you not?"

"Who even brought you?" asked a red haired swords woman who had been listening in from nearby.

"The General," answered Hammond absently. Both Brad and the woman stopped moving and stared at him.

"I know the General has brought us all together, but I meant who brought you here to test you out? You're lined up with the defenders, but you don't have a shield or weapon."

"The General brought me directly. If you look way over there, he's sitting on his motorcycle," said Hammond as he pointed behind the lines of soldiers. "And if you ever have a chance to ride it with him, don't. Scariest moment of my life. Even when compared with facing up against this army of bugs."

"You, uh, seriously came with the General?" asked Brad in disbelief.

"The General doesn't bring people," said the woman, even as her face showed her shock. "He shows up later and then leaps into the enemy to decimate them."

"You must be quite a big deal," suggested Brad as he straightened up and began using a more respectful tone of voice.

"It's not what you think," responded Hammon. "He rescued me from the Juungii."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Oh, you were with the group he liberated?" asked the swords woman.

"That's right. But to do that, he disconnected us from the [System] when we were level one. He was experimenting with me to see if he could make me stronger. He gave me a few skills and did something to my class."

"Wow!" exclaimed the woman with sparkles in her eyes. "He gave you skills and a class personally?! That must be incredible! I can't wait to see how strong you are after that. All the things he's done for us and he's still working on making us stronger."

Brad nodded, also looking excited. "I can't imagine what it was like to spend time with the General. It must have been an incredible experience."

Hammond thought back to the cells of monster people, the frustrated sighs by Adam, and the incoherent advice from Randall that they surprisingly took. Immediately he decided to keep his experiences to himself. What the General had done was truly one of a kind, but he doubted these two hero worshippers would understand the reality.

***

Hammond quickly became overwhelmed once the fighting started. The mantis people were between two and six feet taller than him, and they had so many arms. Brad and the other defenders had put on stoic looks as they tried to block and deflect the mantis attacks, while leaving space between defenders for the swords and spears of the people behind to attack and withdraw.

All Hammond could do was cover his head as he was knocked around by the soldiers surrounding him. They moved with a purpose, keeping to their positions, but all Hammond could do was get in the way.

No weapon. No protection. He wasn't even sure how he was supposed to fight. It was all Hammond could do to keep from hyperventilating.

Then a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled Hammond close. He almost screamed in fright. Instead, he looked up from his panic to see the sword woman. She already looked sweaty and had a few splatters of greenish black blood on her armor and face. The top half of her sword was covered in blood.

"What's wrong?" she asked with concern. She pulled him a few rows back as another melee fighter moved forward to take her place.

"I-I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he stuttered. "The General just said to go out there and try, but what do I try? How can I even help when your army already knows what you're doing?"

"Listen, I'm sure the general wouldn't have sent you out here if he didn't have confidence in you," comforted the woman over the noises of combat. "Most of the people out here would be thrilled to be in your situation. A custom class given to you by the General. You need to have faith in him."

"I do have faith in him," sighed Hammond, "but I'm just an experiment to him. A chance to see what could happen without losing a strong fighter. Other than that, I don't have value to his forces."

"What makes you say that?" asked a new voice, raspy but young. "Who says you don't have value or are just an experiment?"

Both the woman and Hammond turned to him. They weren't the only ones to gasp as even the people around them noticed Adam standing behind Hammond. No one even noticed him arriving.

"I mean, what value could I possibly have to you?" asked Hammond while meeting Adam's eyes. The swordswoman stood there, a little star struck even in the middle of armies clashing.

"Do you want to know why I spent all those days trying to figure out how to give you a class?" asked Adam. Only when Hammond nodded did Adam continue. "Because whether I did something good or bad cutting you off from the [System], I felt like I wronged you. The reason I chose you over any of the others from the Juungii was because I saw your strength. Your determination. Regardless of the consequence, you fought to warn me. You stood your ground. The Juungii might have held you, but you weren't in their power.

"I wanted to give you outward strength to match your inner strength. Sure, you might be the first of many. You might not end up unique at the end of the day, but what you and I did together could benefit all of humanity. That is special, whether anyone else remembers it or not.

"In this moment, at this stage, you're a new man. All you need to do is go out there to prove it. Not to me…I already think you're a hero the way you stood up to the Juungii…but to yourself, the other humans, and especially to the invaders."

Hammond's eyes became a little glassy as Adam spoke. He stood a little straighter and his body trembled a bit and not from the intensity that Adam radiated. Hammond never took his eyes from Adam's. To Adam, who always had people looking away from him, it just exemplified the man's inner strength.

"Wow," said the swordswoman. Adam looked and her and gave a little smile.

"Now, Hammond, Home Protector, are you ready to see how you'll protect our home?" asked Adam. Hammond didn't say anything, but he nodded.

"Good. Let's get out there," nodded Adam.

He began walking, and Hammond scrambled to stay close behind him. Hammond wasn't the only one either. The swordswoman followed, as did other people who had watched the exchange, from melee fighters to ranged to supporters. Everyone left their assigned positions to see what Adam would do.

Not once did Adam have to move people out of the way. From person to person, those who noticed Adam reached out and touched the person in front of them. Even without much extra space, those people would then touch the one in front of them while moving out of the way regardless of how crowded it was.

A clear path opened until Adam reached where a defender with a large shield was holding back an eight-armed mantis man.

"Excuse me," said Adam both politely and casually.

Brad could barely spend a moment looking back and was ready to yell at whoever was disturbing him, but when he saw Adam and Hammond, he did a double take. With a hard swallow and a nod, he tried to turn his body, even while the mantis attempted to reach around it with scythe arms that had little prong-like fingers on the end.

"Here, let me help you out," said Adam, his voice getting gruffer, his skin redder, with heat wafting off his body.

Adam snatched one of the mantis arms. A quick yank and it tore away from the invader's body. The creature screaming a high pitch shriek. Adam jumped, avoiding the limbs that lashed out. While in the air, he grabbed the face of the invader. A moment later the creature was falling backwards, cracks in its carapace.

"Your turn," Adam said to Hammond, even all the surrounding invaders looked at Adam as though he was the golden goose, which to the invaders he was.

Hammond nodded, put his head down, and activated his skills. There were gasps from the humans as Hammond's arms grew larger and grey. Then a flash of Hammond's skin proceeded his neck and head, the only skin that showed, turning a deeper metallic gray.

Even while Adam stood there, he folded his arms. A mantis invader came from behind him, ready to slash his back. Hammond activated another skill that Adam had modeled after one of the Shieldmaiden's. He felt time stretch as his legs moved him faster than ever before.

Before the scythe arm finished descending on Adam, Hammond had arrived. His arm was lifted and caught the scythe blade. To both Hammond and the invader's surprise, the enlarged arm was unwounded.

Hammond lifted a leg and with the sole of his foot he kicked the invader backwards. Another mantis came from the side to attack him. Once more, Hammond activated a newly added skill. A red zone spread out from him, and he felt both vitality and his strength increase. He felt ready to run a marathon.

The red-haired swordswoman inhaled sharply as she entered the zone that Hammond's skill created. Her movements became faster and sharper. With a swing of her arm that was so quick Hammond had never seen the like, the torso of the closest mantis fell in half. The woman looked at her own sword in shock.

Then more people surrounded them, entered the zone and expressed amazement at its effect. The battle formation of the Sentinel Army broke around them, but a new formation settled around Hammond. They made use of his zone, but that wasn't all.

Hammond didn't stand back. He didn't just defend his comrades with the skills Adam had built. He also rushed into the front.

Attacks were blocked by his large arms and reinforced skin, but so were the mantis' hard shells cracked by his punches. Allies were empowered by the red circles that formed around him, and damage they received was lessened as some transferred to him, making things easier on their healers.

Hammond became both an offensive and defensive force that Adam watched lead humanity in the battle. After enough time had passed that Adam felt confident that Hammond would survive the battle fine, he turned to head back to his motorcycle. This fight wasn't his and should be left to those who needed the XP more.

One of the mantis invaders, the Anthromanti, stood in his way. Its mandibles clicked as it chittered.

"Where do you think you are going, meat?" came out of its mouth.

Adam smiled viciously.

CONQUER! screamed his soul.

"Of course," responded Adam. "Why the hell should I leave all this to others?"

It took a lot less time than the Sentinel Army coordinators expected for the Anthromanti army to fall.

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