Still floating up above the ballista crew, Sarah had a good vantage of the battlefield. The second wave forces that had pushed through to the mountains were still advancing, almost so far out that they risked being cut off from the rest of the group. To the south, Sarah could see the rise of the sand dunes known as the Meteora Ant Fields, and a slaughter that had driven the first wave forces into retreat.

At least they were succeeding here, and into the fields where the group of first wave fighters had cleared a path straight east. That group was still functioning under a group of commanders that relied on numbers to slay the aggressive Mandragoras.

The Ballista crew were all looking at her, the leader was staring open mouthed. When he noticed her looking at him, he turned to his men.

“Load it up! Come on! That shoulda been done already!” His commands were sharp, but his tone was light. In front of them, the wave had cleared nearly a hundred yards of everything. Bare earth and the rock spikes were the only things left.

Adventures rushed across the open plain, ready to push the front line farther. Sarah was ready to go with them, but decided to stay with the ballista crew. Jorn was carrying back the two knights he had been fighting beside. They looked a little beat up, but not dead.

SarthDarah landed behind the ballista crew, a few cheers from the road greeted her. She turned to see another wave of people coming down the road. Several of them were running towards the injured, and a few moved to surround the area in a defensive ring.

“My, my, you are talented.” A soft woman's voice rang out.

It was distant, and Sarah couldn’t find her right away in the crowd. Soon, Kuru walked up, appearing with Anunt. The two walked side by side as they came closer. Anunt was eyeing each healer and injured person as she passed, checking to make sure care was being taken for each case.

Kuru was studying the ballista crew like she was a cat, seeing them as a meal and ready to devour them for lunch. She watched SarthDarah land and couldn’t help but call out to her. The display of firepower she showed was impeccable. And the fact that SarthDarah had willingly worked alongside and protected her artillery crew made Kuru feel extra compliant towards the fiery monk.

SarrthDarah stood up straight, the presence of the guild representative had her on edge for some reason. Anunt was sending her subordinates to different areas of the battle. While they had given a great first push, they still had a long way to go. Kuru walked up to Sarah, the Dwarf leader had taken a few steps back towards the ballista. The women’s dark clothing looked perfectly pressed and in place, even after traveling a few miles from the city on a gravel road.

“SarthDarah, I must say I am impressed by what you were able to accomplish here.” Kuru bowed her head slightly as she came to stand within a few feet of SarthDarah. “I must also commend you on being able to work so well with such a rough handling crew, such as Maguura’s is. The collaboration between your fire and their machine was a pleasure to watch.”

“Thank you, you are very kind to say so.” SarthDarah felt it right to dip her head in a small bow in return.

Kuru giggled softly, then turned to look at the Dwarven artillery commander. Maguura, with his head bowed to look straight down at his feet. Her soft tone vanished as she took in the commander.

“Maguura, your crew needs some polishing. Finish up here, and then there is another task that will need our attention.”

“Of course, Mistress!” Maguura shouted his response.

Sarah couldn’t tell if it was from admiration, or fear, that the dwarf snapped to attention so hard. The dwarf was quick to start barking new orders to his men using their language. The entire crew was running at double speed now to try and look good in front of the guild administrator.

“Maguura! One last thing, make sure our new friends get an invite to our guild.”

The dwarf turned and bowed his confirmation. Sarah was stunned to find that it was the artillery guild that Kuru ran. She was so proper and seemed kind, large siege weapons didn’t seem to fit her.

“Your guild?” The words sort of slipped out of Sarah’s mouth, she knew she was talking to an important person before, but hadn’t kept in mind that a guild administrator might require some decorum.

“Yes, I am the administrator for the Artificer Guild. This crew runs an operation under my management. Their weapons and designs are all guild trademarks and their intellectual property. While they are members, and work for the betterment of the guild, they own the licenses to all of their creations, but the guild has ultimate access and control over the creations. Fully funded research teams work under me, developing tools and upgrades that this world needs. Some may be needed beyond this world as well, but it is my goal to find individuals that wish to work for the same betterment of technology and invite them to come to my guild.”

“That’s amazing, if we live through the rest of this we’ll have to check it out.” Jorn said as he walked up behind SarthDarah.

“How are the knights?”

“They’ll live, the concussive force is what knocked them out. I nearly blacked out as that sonic boom passed by.”

“Sorry.” SarthDarah winced and shied away a little.

“Don’t be, you saved everyone with what you did. None of us would have survived being skewered or strangled.”

“Kuru, can I ask why you’re out here on the battlefield?” Sarah was curious.

“I like to see my guild’s creations at work. Where else but a battlefield, would I get to see the dazzling display of such wonderful, imaginative minds?” Kuru spoke with a rich tone of culture, like she had been living her whole life dedicated to the guild.

To the evolution of destructive artifacts. Sarah, again, was taken off guard by the realism in the character. Was she an A.I.? Or was she a player? Now that she was thinking about it, she couldn’t tell the difference between these characters and real people. There were no name tags or anything that showed the difference between players and computer controlled bodies.

Sarah was trying to think of a way to ask Kuru if she was a player, but was interrupted by a shout from the perimeter line. A looming red blossom flower was erupting up into the air, sending thorns flying in all directions. Several warriors that had rushed out into the field were skewered and fell.

“To me! Prevent that line from falling!” A deep shout rang out from the middle of the group in front of them.

Turning to look at the meadow, several of the adventurers had spread into a semi-circle. The half dozen men in the center, farthest out from the ballista, were being overrun. Vines had shot straight upwards, then came crashing down upon the front line. Three of the men were swallowed, disappearing into the plant matter. Two others had been knocked down, and were trying to return to their feet. The last one has been the man to yell out. He was standing with a broadsword nearly as tall as himself. The shining metal was covered in green stains.

“Target the center mass! Fire at will boys!” Maguura shouted.

The giant red flower head that rose above the ground was easily six times larger than the yellow ones. The Dwarven ballista began a rapid fire, the bolts this time were glowing white as they left the machine. Each impact on the large flower sparked, hot spots appeared after the bolt passed through. Sarah realized they were trying to burn the plants with energized bolts.

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“Not gonna help?” Kuru asked, she was inches away from Sarah’s ear.

The voice made her jump, the tens one of her muscles was a new reflex she hadn’t been expecting.

“I’m just deciding where I’m most needed.”

Sarah tried to act like she wasn’t spacing out. She looked to her left, the third wave was holding their own. Several large city guards with long handled axes chopped away at the remaining vines. Sarah could see dozens of shredded and chopped up yellow flower bulbs.

To the right, the majority of the second wave fought. They were all still within a few feet of the road, not progressing. Their own battle turning out much the same as it was here. The ballista crew in front of her yelled in unison as they reloaded the white hot barrel for a fresh one.

Just as Sarah was about to launch herself over the top of the ballista towards the front lines, the flower head opened up to reveal a center beak with long needle-like fangs inside of it.

“You might want to shoot another blast at that thing. I believe it’s about to swallow anything it can reach.”

Kuru’s voice was slightly higher pitched, and she was giggling. Sarah’s indecision was put on hold, as she took in this candid approach to the imminent death of people right in front of them.

She had to shake off the extra thoughts. What blast could she shoot into that thing? The sonic boom would hit everyone. A napalm shot? Could she focus the energy into a larger shot?

Taking a stance, Sarah faced the flower head. The roaring mouth of it was rearing back, readying itself to attack. She could feel power swelling in her hand, then up her forearm. Focusing on condensing it, she swirled it in a circle, centered on her fist. Just as the red flower head launched forward, Sarah blasted out all of the energy she was holding. The orange and yellow comet of fire that flew from the end of her punch, launched at blazing speed. The air rippled and rushed away from the fireball. Several trailing wisps of flame burned, creating an after image of the massive flame.

It flew straight into the red flower, igniting it. The plant screamed in pain, withering quickly under the intense heat. The napalm kept burning, leaving a wall of flame where the flower head fell. Soon, there was black smoke rising into the air in thick plumes. Sarah gasped for air, falling to her knees in exhaustion. The potion Maguura had given her would boost her energy production, but it seemed it wasn’t enough. That blast had floored her.

Kuru crouched next to her, pushing Sarah’s hair back from her face. The examining stare that Kuru gave Sarah clearly stated that she wasn’t just some A.I.

“You don’t have a sufficient power supply to be using that. Do you?” The question was cold.

Like she knew the answer, but wanted Sarah to know there was a lesson to be learnt.

“No.” The word came out harsh. This game was extremely realistic, the fatigue factor was intense. It seemed like there was a real consequence for lacking power.

“You do understand that your vessel can’t operate properly without energy, don’t you? It will literally shut down, and you will die. You will suffocate limbs one by one if you overexert. That potion Maguura gave you, is not intended to be a true power source. It fails if you strain it beyond a certain point.”

Kuru laid her hand gently on Sarah’s back. Sarah thought she was going to hurl.

“Oh my….. you, you have had an interesting day.” Kuru was lost in thought, her voice was quiet and distant.

Sarah thought she imagined it, but she thought she saw her room for a moment, then her work. Then a snap of a conversation with Kyle.

“You can’t live life like a game.”

Sarah snapped back to herself. There was a battle still raging in front of her. She was still in the game. But that last sentence, it had rang in her head. Was it Kyle, or Kuru, who said it? The voice had been both, but that was a conversation she had in real life.

“I have given you some of my energy, it may cause some slight mental disruption. You are not attuned to my nature, so it’s a side effect, but you should be able to stand at least.” Kuru stood, and turned to overlook the battle herself.

Sarah stood as well, staggering a small bit. Jorn was walking up towards them, he had a limp in his left leg.

“Are you ok?” Jorn called out, he ducked under the ballista wing. The war machine kept firing. The flames in the background were spreading farther. Jorn stopped short of them as he got a better look at Sarah. “Your hand is on fire!”

Sarah barely even reacted, she just looked down, and noticed her knuckles still ablaze. Her right hand was glowing in the fire light, and the napalm gel was coating most of her fingers.

“Huh, would you look at that?”

“You act surprised, like she hasn’t had a blazing wisp of fire trailing from her eyes this whole time.” Kuru smiled at the big man as he looked confused by the question.

“You sound like it’s not surprising?” Jorn was concerned, he was looking over at Kuru now. “Why is the guild representative here?”

Kuru bowed slightly.

“I’m supervising my guild's inventions.” Kuru responded coolly.

“I’m too tired for it to register I guess.” Sarah’s response came a second later.

“Let’s get you over to a healer.”

“I don’t need a healer, I need an energy bar.” Sarah said blandly. She lazily waved away Jorn’s attempt to steady her. Kuru smirked a little, she quickly put a hand over her face to hide it.

Jorn snorted, then turned to watch the ballista continue to lay waste to the meadow. The flames continued burning, much lower now, but spread farther out. The effect of the fire had been a large area of respite. The third wave of fighters were advancing as well. Soon, they would be able to push farther towards the mountain base.

“I think, maybe you could make use of this.” Kuru was holding out a silver chunk of metal. The rounded front of it was barely bigger than her hand. “This knuckle sheath will help direct any energy that passes through it. It will take the majority of the power load off of your body, that is the important part.”

“Thank you, why are you giving me this though?” Sarah wasn’t sure if she should take the gift. Kuru was a guild representative, Sarah wasn’t even technically registered.

“It’s a personal design, and I will want compensation. The payment I ask, is that you finish clearing the Mandragora.” Kuru was all business, her sharp tone was at odds with her bright smile. “Oh, and you must get the technicality of your guild association fixed. I will escort you back to the city, and then help with that immediately when we return.” Her smile faded and a dark shadow crossed her face as she spoke. “That will be a requirement that I must insist on overseeing the correction of myself.”

Sarah’s face fell too, she knew. How did she know? Was there a registration mark that guild reps could see? Sarah would have to explain why and how she skipped it all. Could she just play dumb and go along with what Kuru wanted to do?

It sounded as if the business woman just wanted to help, but there was the inventor in her too, who gave her a weapon first. A chance to still play and gain power. Even if this Kuru, was a dev or moderator, Sarah was getting a free pass for skipping the tutorial, and a free upgrade. Well almost free.

There was a line of plants that needed to feel her wrath first. She looked at Jorn, his body was littered in bruises and green plant material. The large ax on his back was still glowing with power.

“You got one more shot in ya?” She asked the man, a large grin on her face.

He gave her a thumbs up, and reached to unhook the ax.

“You say when, Sarth.” Jorn winked before turning to ready himself.

“Just aim at the last remnants of the fire. Use that spike wall skill to scatter it as far as you can, out into the meadow.” Sarah took a few steps closer to the Dwarven ballista. “Maguura! Shift your fire upwind, we gotta start pushing forward to where the first wave is.”

“Lass, I don’t take orders from ye, but ye be right. Boys! Ten degree, star side, make it a minute order!”

Maguura shouted the order, then kicked a block away from the bottom mount on the ballista. It swiveled slightly, about ten degrees, to the right. Six sharp shots fired in a burst, then the ballista swiveled another few degrees before firing again.

“Jorn, now!” SarthDarah was already launching herself into the air as she shouted at Jorn to act.

His ax swung, bringing large piles of debris with it. Flaming dirt and plant matter scattered away like dust on a strong wind. The two knights that had fought beside Jorn returned, healed and ready for more action, and followed SarthDarah’s charge back to the front.

They made it to where Jorn’s earth wall was still somewhat standing just in time to take cover from a hail of thorns. The red blossom was throwing meter long needle pointed shanks at them. If even one hit, it could be fatal just from how big of a hole it would put in your body. Jorn ran out and around the wall, smashing up a huge amount of burning debris to deflect against the last few projectiles coming their way.

“Sarth, any fire power now would be helpful, it’s right in front of us!” Jorn yelled, taking wild swings with his ax to defend himself from the vines.

Sarah thought for a moment, then checked the knuckle sheath on her right hand. It was snug, but the added effect of having a conduit for her power was comforting. It didn’t give her a description, and the only effect she felt after sliding it on was the warm and tight feel of the metal around her hand.

Breathing in deep, SarthDarah jumped up over the barricade and punched out a burst of flame. She landed up on the peak of the wall and lashed out again, sending fire bursts in waves into the plants.