Emily stopped at the edge of the church parking lot to see the image of her husband on the large golden pillar. She resisted the urge to facepalm…again. Jeff was holding a very impressive handstand and doing push-ups while his legs were in the air. That wasn’t what made her want to facepalm though. It was the cheesy grin he had on his face and that first thing she heard him say was, “Look, I’m like Goku!”

The group seemed frozen as they looked on at the projection. Everyone had just gone through hell so seeing someone so happy with their circumstances just felt…off. Emily was more familiar with Jeff’s antics, of course, so she quickly broke through the group of people and turned to face Officer McLaughlin.

“What’s the plan?” She asked, trying to help the man jump back into his commanding role,

“Uh-,” he began, but was quickly cut off by Watkins who had just been set down by Eduardo.

“Do we have any clue what will happen when we touch it?” Corporal Watkins asked the question with adamance. “Do we know for sure we won’t get teleported away to another planet or something if we do?”

“Um, well–” McLaughlin began again.

“What about those of us who don’t have a sapient spore?” Eduardo asked. “Will all of you guys be sent off planet while we get left behind to face that thing?”

Everyone paused at that. They had all been looking to the Pillar as their source of hope, and it still probably was. They knew that food and resources were available through the Pillar shop. But unfortunately, it was also a complete unknown. Who knew what the Boschyans wanted for them now that the Myst had chosen who had fused with a sapient spore and who hadn’t.

The tree lumbering forward a block and a half away was a ticking clock. Emily could see that Officer McLaughlin was having a hard time assessing their situation. “What about the church?” he suggested. “We can maybe set up–”

“There might be more monsters in there,” Ashlyn interrupted. “Let’s not poke a potential beehive right before a fight.”

That made the whole group start muttering amongst themselves. Emily, however, turned and began to walk toward the Pillar. Then she began to sprint toward it. This was not a time to become paralyzed by the unknown. They didn’t have time to evaluate, especially without any real info.

A few from the group called out for her to wait, but Emily was determined.

Perhaps it would be better for someone else to touch the Pillar first. If Emily was teleported away that would leave many of those in the group stranded without their strongest person to help. Still, Emily felt confident in her decision. Whatever happened, happened. She couldn’t just wait around until the best opportunity presented itself. She had learned well over the last few years that doing that was a great way to see the best opportunity sail by without you. Sometimes the only real option was to courageously move forward despite the fear of the unknown.

Emily placed both hands onto the Pillar and felt them sink into the weird golden goo.

“Whoa,” Strai’ze said in her head. “Alright, I’m getting a lot of information from the System now that we are more connected. Here, let’s start with this. ”

A new screen appeared in her vision.

Emily Strai’ze, you are invited to join the Boschyan Army. If you choose to accept you will be granted access to your own Spore Suit. Would you like to accept?

Yes/No

She didn’t have time to hem and haw over the decision. There really wasn’t a choice for her. Her kids were with the Boschyan Army, and so she would join them as well. Emily mentally selected yes. The next moment a set of new choices appeared before her.

You have been approved for obtaining a Spore Suit. You have the chance to now choose which type of Spore Suit you will start off with.

Would you like to choose the preselected optimal Suit based on your current System Stats?

Choose Dream Sniper?

Yes/No

Or would you like to choose from a list of Suits you are currently compatible with?

Yes/No

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Emily finally hesitated, feeling the weight of the decision before her. She really wanted to make the perfect choice. The time constraint made that a hard thing to do. The System seemed smart, and the System said Sleep Sniper was the optimal option for her. That would just have to be perfect enough.

She felt the muscles around her neck tense in stress as she accepted the Sleep Sniper Spore Suit. She waited to feel any changes made to her body or spirit, but nothing came. However, a moment later she was inundated with even more screens.

Calculating Renown since last Pillar contact…

You have helped 17,842,968 souls.

Renown upgraded to Tier 5

Emily was flabbergasted. How had she helped over seventeen million people? And when did she last touch the Pillar? Then it hit her. The last time she touched it was when she held Jeff’s hand from across the multiverse. She had completely forgotten how their connection had gone viral. Then her interview and impromptu speech she gave…Had she really helped that many people from those few moments?

She forced herself to push the emotions that realization brought to the side. Focus on that later. The important question is; what does Tier 5 Renown give me?

“Oh, I’ve got an answer for that,” her companion interjected. “You get to equip one more Title for each tier of your Renown. So you can now add up to five extra titles to our name.”

“Oh, that is mighty useful,” Emily said while noticing the next screen as being a new title to make it even more useful.

You have earned a new title!

Sensation - Uncommon

Help over 10,000,000 souls from one action.

Effects when active:

+1 to Mind Attributes

Emily felt the effect the additional attributes had on her mind as Strai’Ze added the title to the active title slots attached to her name. The spore must also have reactivated the Dream Crusher title, because a new screen popped up on top of the others. Sensation and Dream Crusher together added +6 to her Imagination attribute alone.

Imagination has reached 10 attribute points and reached a threshold. Would you like to bring your Mind to Tier 2? Yes/No

Jeff had talked to Kazi a bit about reaching Tier 2 before he headed into the woods the previous night. Emily had to head to bed for curfew before he had reached the threshold, but she was glad he made it out of the forest. Looking up at him on the pillar brought a smile to her face. He was still doing the same handstand push-ups even now…shirtless. Which she had to admit was distracting.

Kazi had said that she should get all three attributes to the threshold before going up to Tier 2. Unfortunately she hadn’t known that the attributes from titles could help her reach the threshold. Still, she could easily focus on her other Mind attributes until all were at 10. She may miss out on any new titles, but that wouldn’t be a huge loss. The only question was whether it would help her in the fight right now.

She never saw Jeff break through, if he had, so she decided to hold off for now. Remembering Jeff blacking out from receiving rewards made her hesitant to accept it right now.

She moved on to the final screen.

Quests

Complete all Trainee Quests: (0/5)

Reward: Upgrade Spore Suit to Recruit

Trainee Quests

Kill 15 Monsters from Range: (4/15)

Reward: New Equipment

Reach Level 10: (8/10)

Reward: New Ability

Put 15 Monsters to Sleep: (3/15)

Reward: Access to Shared Pillar Room

Earn 500 Merit Points: (0/500)

Reward: Spore Suit Attachment

Improve Depth to 5: (Completed)

Reward: New Myst Connection (Available)

Other Quests

Buy Armor from Pillar Shop: (0/1)

Reward: Gift from Jeff

The quests were very similar to the ones Jeff had received the first day on Tutorial Planet. She figured most Trainees must go through similar quests to become Recruits. The final quest at the bottom of the screen made her heart leap.

She quickly grabbed her pack off her shoulders and dumped the bee heads she had been keeping since her battle before dawn this morning. She had gathered a few other parts as well, but the bees made up the bulk of her new merit points.

You have earned 114 Merit Points

With a thought Strai’Ze quickly opened up the Pillar shop and found the cheapest leather armor she could find. One of her hands still stuck into the Pillar felt the leather fall into its grasp.

Emily saw the quest reward become available and she accepted the ‘Gift from Jeff’. The next second she felt a hard gnarly piece of wood pressed gently into her other hand.

She pulled it out and examined the long piece of tangled up vines that looked like a thin walking stick. The Pillar next to her had a screen showing the item's description. Emily’s smile grew wider as she read about what her husband had given her.

Fused Alianthose Bow

Living, fused and dormant Wooden Bow taken from an Alianthose Sapling after it ingested an Alianthose Growth Acorn. It can use its ability to string itself or attack.

Abilities: Vine Grasp

Shoots out a vine that wraps itself around a target tangling them up and then holding them in place.

+2 Vitality

+2 Dexterity

Merit Point Value: 1750

She looked up at her sweetheart on the big golden tower screen. “Thanks babe, this is the nicest gift you’ve ever given me.” She turned back toward her group as they began to form ranks. “Now our group has a sniper.”