A throng of curious bystanders crowded around Sylvi, a cacophony of incomprehensible questions muddled together. She had found the camp after a couple of days of searching. The few dozen people had ballooned to over a hundred people, most of whom she didn’t recognize. Given the number of people, she would have thought a couple of people entering the camp would have gone virtually unnoticed, but some of the camp's original occupants had excitedly started questioning her, drawing the attention of those nearby.
Sylvi shook her head, annoyed at the chaos of the camp. She didn’t blame the gathered people for curiosity; her displeasure was directed at the lack of a proper command structure to take control of the situation. Many people seemed to have found their purpose, picking up various crafts or gathering and processing raw materials. Still, there was a general haphazard nature in which everything was done. Emelia had been appointed their leader, but her lack of leadership experience couldn’t entirely be compensated for by her magical abilities.
Emelia seemed to intuitively realize her annoyance, as no sooner had Sylvi thought that was Emelia shouting for everyone to get back to their assigned task. The hesitant and meek way the woman had said it made Sylvi doubtful it would be effective, then she was pleasantly surprised most people moved to obey. Sylvi arched a suspicious glance at their leader, who withered from her glare, confirming to Sylvi that she had indeed used some amount of magic. She couldn’t outright control people, but her subtle emotional manipulation had the same effect as a practiced politician, albeit in a much less conventional manner. It also wasn’t a sustainable solution; Emelia couldn’t solve their lack of structure with that method.
The few loiterers who lingered nearby were quickly dispersed with a glare from Zhaire, giving their core group enough space to converse with the new addition of Avery. The group also included Caroline, who claimed she could explain alchemical properties from a sample or identify plants by description. Sylvi was impressed by her progress in the few short weeks since she had last seen the petite woman. She said as much, and Caroline flushed at the attention and couldn’t meet her gaze. Was she embarrassed?
“Who's this?” Zhaire asked gruffly as he looked at the red-haired fire mage.
“Avery Winters,” the man said with an extended hand that Zhaire clasped.
“So, was the mission a success?” Imri asked directly, skipping over the pleasantries and getting directly to the point.
“I’m sure whatever they found isn’t so urgent that it can’t wait until they have something to eat,” Emelia said, shooting Imri a glare of annoyance. He put his hands up in a placating gesture.
“That would be great,” Avery said.
“There’s no need; we can relax after we discuss what we found,” Sylvi said, countermanding Avery. Emelia looked like she was about to insist, but she just shook her head, muttering something about workaholics.
"So, you found something?” Zhaire asked.
Sylvi launched into a structured report about what they had found. She started by explaining the one natural treasure they knew of, the healing hot spring. They didn’t know the limits of what it was capable of, but it was quite powerful going off her injured arm. They had also spent several days scouting around the area near the healing spring. Several other hot springs were nearby, and they weren’t sure they had the same properties. In addition to explanations, they procured a sample of some of the more interesting things they had found, including a sample of the spring water. Caroline was especially interested in several of the plants they had brought back. Judging by the Chixel nearly ripping the sample from her, they were equally enthused.
“What about threats? You mentioned something about your arm being mangled,” Zhaire said, almost sounding excited by the prospect of facing monsters. Sylvi explained the shadow tigers that prowled the plains, with Avery providing more details. Most of the people he had lost were victims of the powerful creatures. They also mentioned the star seekers, though they emphasized they weren’t threats.
There were also creatures they had seen in the mountains, though none had been overly aggressive towards them. Of particular note was a lizard-like creature that was larger than a crocodile that Avery had called a cliff drake. They mostly had clung onto the sheer cliffs that they had avoided, though they witnessed one of the drakes dive down dozens of meters to attack an unsuspecting star seeker. The lizard creature had a flap of skin that reminded Sylvi of suits she had worn while base jumping. The drake had essentially crashed into the rhino-like creature at a speed that would have splattered any pre-integration creature. Fortunately, the large creatures didn’t seem to be overly active hunters, completely ignoring anything that wasn't almost directly below them.
Everyone seemed concerned by the terrifying monsters except Zhaire, who seemed excited about the challenge, and Imri, who seemed to be processing the information with callous detachment. Still, everyone present was well aware of the threats pursuing them.
The next part of their report delved into possible settlement locations. Given the rugged terrain, there weren’t many options. Many of the natural outcroppings were well suited for a singular structure but certainly wouldn’t support a settlement. This left two options. The first was uninspired, simply building in the foothills at the mountain's base. It gave them access to the mountain while limiting the directions approaching armies could come from. Apart from that small defensive advantage, it wasn’t ideal. The plains didn’t have many resources of note, and most of the interesting mountain resources, including the springs, were still a considerable trek.
The second site was Sylvi’s recommendation. She and Avery had discovered it just a short hike above the spring, a large plateau with several of the nearby ranges still towering around it, forming a natural bowl-shaped space. It was large enough that it had taken more than a day to walk around the bowl's perimeter. Within that plateau, a large glacial river flowed down from the peaks, settling into a moderately sized lake. While it was a significant elevation, it was still low enough that many plants grew, and many of the more interesting samples came from the plateau. The only real downside that Sylvi could think of was the relative difficulty reaching the location. It would take the better part of a day to reach the plateau from the foothills, and most of it was challenging ascents. The second issue was that the cliff drakes lived nearby, sometimes descending from their cliff perches to the glacial lake.
Fortunately, everyone seemed to agree with Sylvi’s assessment, and the conversation transitioned into the logistics of making the journey with enough supplies to establish the settlement. Even Zhaire seemed on board with the decision, stating he had only originally opposed the idea because it had seemed like a retreat.
As she delivered her report, a notification entered Sylvi’s mind, prompting her to review the changes since her previous level.
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Base Strength Increased from 103 to 104 Base Constitution Increased from 109 to 110
Sylvi Vesik has reached level 3 in Trailblazer (1F) Primary Stats Gained New Value +1 Strength 106 +1 Agility 133 +1 Constitution 113 +1 Willpower 125 Secondary Stats Gained +3 HP 123 +4 FP 156 +1 MP 132 +2 Attack Efficiency 181
It had been frustrating that she hadn’t gained anything in her profession before now. It made some sense, though. The profession was about blazing a trail for others, and she hadn’t done that until she gave her report to the camp.
With her report done, she relaxed slightly. She answered several mundane questions about the journey, mostly related to the difficulty of traversing the terrain. She noticed Zhaire had grown bored at the detail-oriented discussion and excused himself. He returned a few minutes later, holding a modern composite bow and various firearms. He motioned for her to come over when there was a lull in the conversation, then deposited the pile of weapons at her feet with a wide grin. Sylvi couldn’t help but smile back like a kid in a candy store. She reverently checked many of the weapons, holding them with the practiced familiarity of a professional soldier.
“I never thought I would be this well-armed again,” she said as she reviewed the weapons.
“It is strange that we get deposited here with swords and bows, only to replace them with guns,” Zhaire agreed.
“You still have your sword,” Sylvi pointed out.
“Imri thinks the system doesn’t like guns,” Zhaire said.
“It doesn’t like it?” Sylvi asked, emphasizing each word.
“It won’t give any skills or abilities related to guns, and eventually, they will be obsolete for those who obtain superhuman abilities. It also doesn’t give you much experience for killing something with it,” Zhaire explained.
“That’s good to know,” Sylvi said, her enthusiasm for the weapons only slightly curtailed.
“On a more logistical front, we have a limited ammo supply. Our current best shooters are amateur hunters, so I’ll make sure you have whatever you need.”
“Thanks for this, Zhaire.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m glad to have competent people back,” he said dismissively.
“Oh,” she said, studying the large man.
“Not that everyone else is useless, but it's not the same. It’s just frustrating that we're living through an apocalypse and people still want to laze about, it's infuriating,” he said, visibly frustrated.
“I doubt Imri was just lazing about,” Sylvi pointed out.
“Probably not, but he spends hours staring at his runes. I have no idea what he’s doing; it’s all beyond me. What I’m trying to say is, it's good to have another soldier around,” he said.
“Another soldier?”
“I’m sure as hell not a football player or hospital orderly,” he pointed out.
“I agree. I was wondering how long it would take you to identify that way,” Sylvi said with a wry grin. “And soldiers don’t worry about what their commanders are doing. They follow orders and do what needs to be done, no questions asked,” she added seriously. Zhaire scowled at this remark.
“It’s not like we have a proper military structure,” Zhaire pointed out. “Besides, even if we did, I would hope not to have Imri or Emelia as the leader.”
“They’re not ideal candidates, but they’re far more qualified than either of us,” Sylvi pointed out, inducing a scoff from Zhaire. She chose to ignore it and continued. “You should talk to Avery; he’s seen how bad it can get out there. We’ve gotten this far largely thanks to Imri and Emelia; try to have a little more faith in them.”
Zhaire didn’t say anything, but he did incline his head slightly. He didn’t waste any time following her advice, immediately seeking out Avery. Sylvi sighed. That man had the patience of a small child.
She was just debating what to do next when she noticed the meeting was ending with its members slowly wandering off to begin preparations for the journey. She saw Caroline looking at her, and she didn’t immediately look away when their eyes met. Instead, she approached her, obviously steeling herself for something.
“Hi Sylvi, do you have a minute to talk about something,” she said shyly, unable to look directly at Sylvi.
“For you, of course,” Sylvi said with a wide grin, producing a visible flush in the petite woman.
“Oh,” she said, caught off guard, obviously losing her train of thought. It took her a few moments to regather her thoughts before she quickly blurted out, “Avery mentioned something about a powerful core. I was hoping I could convince you to give it to me.”
“Of course, you can have it,” Sylvi said as she dug through her pack for the golfball-sized core.
“I was hoping we could work together on this project,” Caroline said quickly. “I’m working on a more advanced solution to force a heritage rank up. Thrisk told me about it. Apparently, the ingredients you use can determine the stats and abilities you gain. The first rank up is supposedly very impactful, so I definitely want to get it right.”
“I’ll gladly let you experiment with me,” Sylvi said with a sly grin.
“That’s great. The solution should be ready in a couple of days; I just need to finish gathering a few more ingredients, with your input, of course,” She rambled on before she suddenly stopped, her face going an even brighter shade of red as the double meaning of the Sylvi’s sentence became apparent. “I…I would like that very much,” she said nervously.
That was enough of a cue for Sylvi, and she closed the distance between them. She gently cupped her hands around the shy woman's head and kissed her. Sylvi could feel the last of Caroline’s apprehensions faded, and the tentative kiss became something more fierce.
“I had this big plan: we would spend days together working on this project. I was hoping to work up the nerve at the end of it to ask you out,” Caroline explained, shaking her head.
“How’s that plan working out?” Sylvi said with a smug grin.
“This isn’t fair. You have enough confidence for this entire camp,” Caroline said.
“And you’re so easy to tease, and you’re too cute when you're flustered,” Sylvi said, producing the desired result when Caroline looked away, clearly flustered. She lightly hit her in mock outrage when she realized this was exactly what Sylvi had been trying to do.
Sylvi couldn’t help but feel a measure of relief. She wasn’t normally so brazen with her previous girlfriends, but there was nothing normal about this situation. There would never be normal dates again; this was the new normal. You could either seize what you wanted in this new world, or it would take everything from you.