They are trying to make dealing with the anomaly my problem. They want me to go into it as far as I can go. I said I would need Carla and Soph. Carla has the strongest essence I have seen. Not that I have seen a lot, but Soph said she and Rich have tested those around us with essence, and Carla is the strongest. I have the most, but Carla is strong in using it and presumably defending with it. Soph and the dogs are coming because they need experience.

We pack a 4WD for a couple of nights just in case and head in. I am interested as I have questions. How do the animals stop mutating? How do they resist the anomaly’s essence, or am I missing something? OK, I am missing a lot.

We drive slowly. We stopped a lot for Soph to build strength, which is why we came ready for overnight. Soph and the Dogs need to build strength, and I don’t know when the next anomaly will appear. A full day in the zone, and the waves are automatic now. Our bodies being flooded with our fluorescent blue essence helps.

We don’t want to sleep. We might lose control. I am testing things. I am trying to match my waves to the amount of pressure, but no more. If I misjudge it, I can absorb some dark turquoise essence without it threatening to mutate me. If there is too much foreign essence, I think we will mutate. I have a bigger essence pool, so my margin of error is larger than the others. If I did mutate, would it change my colour or add to it?

My main interest is the dogs. They are not bothered by the foreign essence.

“Speak to us,” said Soph. “What is bothering you?”

“The dogs. Look at Buck asleep. He is asleep, isn’t he? He is not mutating, right?”

“He’s asleep,” Spoh confirmed.

“You are here actively holding off the foreign essence, and he is asleep doing nothing to hold it off. But he is not mutating.”

“True,” Soph said. “I didn’t think about that.”

“This is Bob’s brain. We are getting a glimpse of how it works,” Carla said.

“So why? You can sense essence. Is he using essence?”

“Yes, it is about the same level of use as you.”

“Interesting. I have been trying to match my usage level to the surrounding level. He is doing it automatically. Why can dogs do that, but humans must be active in their usage? Do we have to be active? Have I got it wrong? Is there an automatic defence system, and we only need to be active in stronger areas?”

“If we fail that test, we mutate,” Carla said.

“Not if we move out to the edge and test it. I have a lot of leeway in absorbing foreign essence before it gets critical for me. This anomaly does not have such a steep power gradient as you move closer. In Waiheke, a few meters, the essence got noticeably stronger. Here, you need a few hundred meters.”

“Because it is so large?” Soph asked.

“Maybe. Maybe it is just a different type of anomaly. Waiheke was what? A kilometre radius when they destroyed it? This is twenty-five times larger. I suspect the reason is a combination of both the anomaly and the size. Let's test it.”

We drove to where Soph thought the edge was. I stopped using my essence actively.

“Carla, do you want to try as well? You will know when you need to repel the essence. You have a smaller pool, but you have always been stronger in using it. It is like your essence is firmer, tougher, like you.”

“OK.” There was a pause. “It is not getting through, or my pool is converting the small parts that make it through.”

“Yeah, same for me. You might be better at converting as you convert a lot of my essence when you change.” I said. “Soph? Do you want to try it? You can always repel it with waves.”

Soph was reluctant, but she did. I think.

“It might be kind of like building a poison resistance,” I said. “Let's drive in a bit and build a bit more. If anyone is struggling, let me know.”

“What about the plants and animals here? They are soaked in it?” Soph said.

“Maybe it is their home essence, so they are immune?” Carla suggested.

“No. Waiheke was my home essence, and it overwhelmed me. I mutated three times. It is something else.” I thought for a bit.

We travelled in and then stopped, and then repeated the process as long as everyone was comfortable.

“It may be like Snakes and their poison immunity,” I pondered. They are not automatically immune but build up resistance quickly due to exposure. Other creatures can also build immunity.”

“That sort of makes sense,” Soph said. “You can only travel so far in, or you will get poisoned or mutated in this case.”

“Different animals will probably stay at the level they are comfortable with or in lesser zones. Those animals that are closest to the anomaly will be like the snake. Very high immunity and very dangerous. Probably the essence has soaked through their entire body, something we had to do manually, as we didn’t have the anomaly any more,” I mused.

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“So they will be faster, stronger, heal and boost,” Carla said.

“Very likely,” I replied.

“But what about Buck and Rich? They are not infused like us, and I can’t work out how to do that.” Soph said.

“Yes. We are probably very lucky they have not mutated again,” I said. I don’t know where their limit will be. There will be a time when our immunity reaches its limit. Can they actively repel essence? And can we teach them to do that?”

“I am supposed to be a school teacher, and I have no idea,” Soph said.

“But you are a school teacher. How would you teach your kids something new?”

“Make a lesson plan, walking them through it step by step. Lots of examples and simple problems for them to work on.”

“So make a plan. Treat this like a school lesson. Your delivery will need to change due to your students ‘special needs’.” I said.

“Hear that, Rich, you have special needs,” Soph said.

“I am pretty sure his special needs include tummy rubs,” said Carla.

“Let me think about it,” Soph said.

“If this theory holds,” I said, “I mutated three times because my immunity was not high enough. These animals, Crocs, have been living for months next to an anomaly. How many times did they mutate before their immunity built up?”

“They may have more essence than you,” Carla said.

“They might. More than twice, my essence. Boosting longer. Boosting doubles the effect, but can we boost to triple the effect? We haven’t tried that,” I mused.

“I think that would break my body,” Carla said.

“But you could boost the healing as well,” I said.

“We have to test it. If one of these high-level creatures wanders to a lesser zone and comes to us, we will need everything we can.” Carla said.

“Don’t cripple yourself. Let me try my poison first.” I walked over to the nearest tree and put my hand on it, “Ow!” I pulled my hand back, and there was a needle in it and some poison discolouring the skin. “Remember, the plants are mutated as well.” I pulled the needle and kept it and focussed a healing boost through my skin. The poison visibly reduced, and I kept it up until there was no sign of poison.

The ladies were watching closely, and Carla had her first aid kit out.

“Lucky it was only skin deep,” I said. I looked at the tree, “Right, you deserve some poison back. How is your healing?”

I spiked it with a handful of 100% boosted needles, receiving two in return. They were cleared up, but the bark I poisoned kept its discolouration. Right, how can I boost harder, not longer? I started the boost again but concentrated on where the Essence was going. I didn’t have poison sacs or anything; I was creating it as I did it, so the Essence was concentrating on where I wanted the poison to come out.

I used the tip of my finger this time. I tried doubling the amount of essence used. I darted my finger in and out to avoid the tree stabbing me.

“What happened?” Carla asked.

“Wait.” I then tried again with a 100% boost to compare the same things. I waited, looking at the results in the bark. “I think it increased when I used twice the essence, but it is not double the effect. There are definitely diminishing returns.” I tried a few more, and I could only squeeze maybe four times the essence into the skill, and I was, maybe, approaching double the effect. It was hard to judge.

“There are serious diminishing returns on the amount of essence you have to use, and the skill seems to have a limit,” was my summary to the others.

Carla tried it with her strength and how high she could jump. Higher, higher, a bit higher. Then she landed wrong and twisted her ankle. “Yeah, serious diminishing returns,” she said, “but still helpful.”

“Helpful because you have access to my Essence Pool,” I reminded her.

“True, but I could still briefly boost high on my own. I would just be out of Essence.” She limped over, “Let's try boosting the healing.”

Twisted ankles take four to five weeks to heal. Sixty percent faster is 5-6 days. Boosting that when we could reduce that time. If I got a twisted ankle, it would still be four to five weeks, less five percent. Lucky lady.

“I think I need my scales here,” Carla said.

“Fuck no, you just want to escape the flies,” I said.

“Too right,” she said, “but I will also be ready if we have to fight something dangerous.”

“Is changing in this foreign essence safe,” Soph asked.

“Should be. She is using my essence to change,” I replied, “but we should move back to a less intense area to be sure.”

We retreated a kilometre, and we helped her change. It was only five minutes and a third of my pool. She was tired, so we stayed so she could have a couple of hours of sleep. This was also a test. Can we do a Buck and sleep in the foreign essence zone?

Yes, we could. Soph and I had a couple of hours, then pressed on into the night. I could see fine boosting my eyes. Soph and Carla were not so good, and they stayed in the vehicle. I drove without headlights, so all our nightsight were the best that they could be.

The wildlife was more active at night. Bats. Mutated bats. We got hit with a sonic attack, and it affected me the worst with my enhanced hearing, Fuck. I slammed the brakes. We were only crawling along and stopping regularly anyway. It was a meandering route winding our way closer to the centre.

We wound up the windows and waited the bats out. One clung to the side of the truck window, and Buck Power Barked at it, and it fell to the ground and eventually flew away. Eventually, they all left for other targets.

“I might have been able to bond with one of those,” Soph said cautiously.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, when that one clung to the side of the van, it was close, and I felt it might be a possibility.”

“So, cool,” Fishface said excitedly.

“Think about what type of animal might make you a good bond.

Then we go to making suggestions for her,

“Snake,” I said, and she shuddered in revulsion,

“What about a native tree rat,” Carla said

“Platapus, it is amphibious,” I suggested.

“Kangaroo. Plenty around and could be a fighter,” Carla said

“Wallaby’s are smaller and softer. Croc’s would be hard to keep,” I thought aloud.

“Spider?” Carla suggested, and Soph shook her head.

“Koala?”

“Wombat?”

“Emu?”

“Termite,” I said, swerving around a mound, “Shit mutated termites.”

“Shut up, you lot,” Soph said