It was almost light as the last aquatic creatures fell to the sand, and we waited to ensure there were no more surprises.

"Injuries that require more than a potion see Dallas; otherwise, let's clean up", I called out to the team as I took in the sights of the battlefield.

There were dozens of corpses on the beach, and most hadn't made it close to our wall, having been cut down by the turrets and concentrated fire. There were many more in the shallow waters; some were being washed away.

I signalled the team to begin looting the bodies. We had no auto loot from the System and no xp. This was going to suck.

The grim task was necessary. We needed to loot them and possibly harvest crafting components. Hopefully, we could sell them later; there was the off chance that they were rare enough to be really valuable. Crafting components was Ryan's call. He was more into the crafting side of this entire Integration and System than most of the other soldiers, and he had dabbled in an eclectic range of crafting skills. Dallas and the rest of the team had helped him out by buying skills and patterns.

I saw that the corpses were yielding valuable resources and information. We moved with an efficiency that surprised me, and by the end, we were zoned out by the mindlessness of harvesting the corpses. Our hands quickly uncover the loot and components that the fallen foes offered.

It was very weird. Even though these still unknown creatures dropped loot, there were no loot notifications. We could identify which parts would be valuable with other senses. I would have been happy to leave them there, but Dallas and Ryan insisted they be allowed to make some credits off these creatures. They attacked them with vigour while I just poked and moved larger parts.

There were three main varieties of the creatures. All had soft, supple scales, several large teeth that were razor sharp, and surprisingly strong claws.

We had identified their claws, teeth, and, surprisingly, a gland at the back of their throat behind their gills. Cory was the one to mark that as a potential powerful crafting component. He postulated that it was somehow related to their sonic attack. No one else had a better idea, so we let him make the claim.

I was not sure how I felt here. These were possibly sentient beings, and we were just carving them up. It felt slightly wrong. The loot was a bit of a pain. We had to check our inventories after each corpse to see what was valuable. Odd items also seemed to loot into the air beside us or, occasionally, our inventories.

The team fell into the looting with an almost wild abandon, revelling in getting loot and components. It was somewhat disconcerting and made me feel very uncomfortable. Especially seeing the seemingly random items that dropped.

Dallas looted some shimmering scales that pulsed with energy, likely useful for armour enhancements, which he quickly stowed away. I saw Cory as he stumbled upon a small device that hummed softly, its purpose unknown but clearly advanced technology. Its presence raised so many questions. He quickly pocketed it with a glance around.

I only looted one creature containing a gleaming metal spike resembling a mountain climbing piton.

Sprite, is loot random or is it related to the creature?

Sprite: I will not answer that question as it is a proprietary secret of the System. You can calculate loot tables based on killing large numbers of similar beings and then calculating percentages and all that. Still, there is no automatic gathering of the information to share. Your video games allowed a lot more Metagaming, which is not something that the System encourages.

Right. We are not in a game at all, and there are loot tables.

Phillip unearthed a handful of antique credits of some description. He smiled and explained that their value would be immense to collectors if they were as old as he suspected. I had no idea how he knew that. Maybe there were some secrets of ancient economies that Systemas wasted the System he was tapping into. Sprite could not identify them, and the language was not linguistic, even with our linguistic skills.

Jamie discovered some burned-out energy cells with an odd configuration and Ryan, a sealed container filled with unknown medicinal compounds. We assumed the compounds were medicinal as the symbol on the container was similar to the Red Cross.

There were the usual steaks, scales, claws and teeth. There was nothing that was rare or better.

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

When the last corpse was buried, Dallas called us around, "Well, that was a good haul, hopefully promising and rich with potential to make us a packet."

He sounded very mercenary and a bit odd.

As we catalogued our findings, the atmosphere shifted. Cold and commanding, an ethereal voice offered me a stark choice: banishment or summoning a relentless onslaught of creatures.

The voice seemed to worm its way into the squad's minds, and I saw their eyes glazed over with a bewitched gleam, one by one.

It sounded like ... no, it could not be. I looked over at Dallas, who was grinning at me with a cold, calculating gleam in his eye.

The realisation hit me hard. It was not the voice choosing my fate—my team, under some spell or skill, deciding to cast me out.

The choice was being expelled or facing more creatures—not with my team but alone. It was not a choice offered by an enemy but by those I had led and fought beside. I saw it in their eyes, the firm resolve shaped not by their own will but by some bewitchment that had taken hold.

Sprite: It is a skill. Very powerful. Very old. Can you feel the energy?

Kind of. Not sure.

Sprite: It is like a Geas. Or Curse. The loot or the creatures themselves.

Shit. What can we do?

I tried to flex my Aura, but even thinking about it made my HUD glitch and my eyes water. I didn't feel that threatened, I knew that I could take quite a bit of punishment, but I was reluctant to start a fight that I didn't know would not escalate.

I had hoped for a moment of clarity, a break in the enchantment that would bring them back to me. But it never came. They stood united in their decision, and I faced the harsh reality of exile.

Dallas remained calm. "I'm sorry, Luke. If you stay, we will all die. We must fight you, but we don't want to die. We know you will not join us, so you must go. It is for the best. We are going to assault the creatures and get some more loot. They need help."

"It's a curse. Look, it doesn't even make sense; listen to yourself."

Cory snarled, "You can't have it. You need to hand it over."

As one, the team pulled their rifles on me and pointed them straight at me.

"Hand it all over."

I threw the piton into the sand.

I tried to protest, to appeal to something—Earth, The Legion, the mission. Our battle was fought and won together. But my words fell on deaf ears, their minds sealed by the hex that clouded their judgment. Dallas didn't even flicker when I mentioned Jean.

"And the rest." Cory shook his rifle.

I slowly threw the two claws and one fang next to the piton.

Cory nodded.

Dallas spoke, "You must leave. If you return, we will open fire."

Sprite: I just lost contact with the Encampment AI. The turrets and energy matrix are no longer under your control. They are no longer broadcasting on the Empire Local System.

Shit. What can we do?

But the decision was made, and I was to leave, abandoning the cursed loot and creatures.

The withdrawal was a solitary affair. The weight of my equipment suddenly increased, and each step away from the camp reminded me of the divide that had formed between us. The damn cursed loot we had found together—shimmering scales, humming devices, antique credits, energy cells, and unknown compounds— stuff that some curse had altered.

Sprite: Greed. I have been monitoring your bio signs and have had to increase your dopamine levels. They crashed as you were looting. At first, I thought it was related to being tired after the battle, but given the responses of the others, I believe that your tyrosine levels were being attacked.

No idea what you just said.

Sprite: Low dopamine is linked to pleasure, reward, and loot seeking. Tyrosine is one of the primary mechanisms for externally regulating dopamine.

So they need more of that?

Sprite: Or meditation, exercise, sleep, relaxation. Diet. An AI could regulate it.

Can we ...

Sprite: I am running simulations. But it will take time.

Not wanting to fight them, I walked away, hoping the enchantment would eventually wear off or Sprite would devise a solution.

The choice they made under the spell's influence haunted me, Jean was still out there, Dallas was not himself and the fracture it represented in the bond we shared would scar him when I go them out of this, he would never forgive himself.

I walked away as they all pointed their guns at me. I didn't want to risk a conflict without more information. It would be too easy for me to kill them.

I sighed. I learned leadership was as much about navigating the hearts of your team as it was about facing the enemy. In the end, it was a lesson learned in the harshest way, and I was not entirely sure if I could trust them again or how I would help them. How would we know who is compromised if a curse or skill could sway them that easily?

Is there a way to resist mental influence? Is there a way to detect this sort of thing? How powerful is it if it can just smash a bunch of Tier 2 and 3 people?

Sprite: The mind stat will help resist mental influence. Detecting it depends on the effect's Tier, and based on the effects on Dallas and what you countered, I would hazard a guess at being at least Tier 4.

As I walked slowly down the beach, mindful of the aquatic creatures, I wondered if I could get over this. I had already been on the outer, and this confirmed it.

Ryan's drones followed me, and I made sure I kept walking until they had to return to base.