“You’re kidding right?”

The King pulled at his blue beard with both of his hands and shook his head. “You cannot use what you have built so far, lest you bring down the wrath of the Great Thief. Any Numa which was not blessed by the Spirit is dangerous. That goes for the machines of the First Folk, the bastard imitations of the Dorves, and even the natural crystals found within living creatures. All of this the Great Thief thirsts for. Only the Spirit Goddess of Numa can conceal Numa from the enemy.”

“What the hell do you want us to do? We need Numa to survive!”

“You will learn our ways, my impatient friend,” the King said and smiled amicably.

“You mean like growing Numa Fruit trees?” Logan asked, pressing his hands into a fist to cool himself down. “Could we even make one of those springs to receive blessings from?”

“We shall teach you all of this!” King Sluikumar said. ‘Twas our hope to begin with, for if you do not arouse the interest of the Great Thief, life is more peaceful for all of us, yes! We are in agreement? A new friendship is abud!”

Logan understood he was making a decision on behalf of his whole group, Malcolm Specter included. But surely his father would come to the same conclusion.

“Are there other humans around these areas?” Logan asked.

“Yes, plenty! Many groups like yours,” The king said, clearly excited now that Logan was looking like he would say yes. “Tall Folk are numerous, few are my people compared to yours. We watch you with great interest.”

“I can’t make this agreement on behalf of all the humans,” Logan said.”

“No, of course you cannot,” King Sluikumar said and scoffed. “I am a King, not a fool, my young friend. I ask friendship of you, and of those with your care.”

“I want friendship with you guys,” Logan said. “But I will need to bring back all this information and talk to my people. I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep. But as far as I’m concerned, we’re allies. But I do need you to teach us your ways, so we don’t drop dead next week.”

“‘Tis agreed! The King said and the crowd around them cheered.

King of the Faelves, Sluikumar offered his yellow tiny hand of porcelain skin. Logan took it and they shook.

“Now then,” King Sluikumar said and rose up in the air to float above the crowd. “Let us revel! Bring us wine, bring us more cake. We shall show our guest all the best dances and songs of our people. Get up now, yes! Get busy!”

The crowd around them cheered and left to do work in all directions, the King included, leaving Logan to sit there with a stunned look on his face with a plate of a half-eaten piece of pie. Soon came the wine and what followed was a long, but cheerful night.

*

The next day, Logan left the Faelves. Late in the next day. His new friends didn’t have much in the way of culture and technology, but they could make a stiff wine.

As Logan walked through the jungle, he looked at his crossbow and his shield-watch.

They’re superstitious. Which is an interesting concept after you have magic…

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[It is noteworthy that you too are superstitious, Logan. You have 714 different biases in your psyche, which could be considered assumptions made with insufficient data. Would you like for me to go over them?]

Logan groaned. “I already have a headache, Tumor.”

[My apologies.]

“It’s fine,” Logan said as he grabbed a hanging vine and tugged it. It held, so Logan used it to jump from a patch of grass to another as he crossed the swamp. “What do you think of these superstitions or theories the Faelves have?”

[The likelihood of Levemoth’s interest being aroused by crafting or using a simple device, such as a crossbow is low. After a quick variable analysis, I would estimate it to be 2.33%.]

Logan looked at the crossbow he had in his new pouch that Faelves had gifted him. It was made of brown leather, and on it were engraved artful swirling patterns. Yeah, there was no way just having a crossbow was bad. Hell, even something simple, like a fishing rod was technology.

“The Faelves had rope, ceramics, ovens for cooking. I don’t know how they did their carpentry work, but there sure was plenty.”

[Precisely. However there are two possibilities that might arouse the interest of Levemoth.]

“I really wish you stopped saying ‘arouse’.”

[It is possible that the civilization, which the Faelves called ‘First Folk’ had such cities and technology of massive scale, that the Levemoth simply noticed. It is of course possible that the higher technological advancement it perceives, the more aggressive it becomes. In fact, I postulate there is a 64.8% chance of this.]

“So in other words, just stay out of sight and don’t build hadron colliders,” Logan said as circled around a tree on a patch of land. “But that’s just raw logic. There could be something going on with the Numa.”

[Both of Levemoth’s attacks that we have experienced have happened immediately after you have used the Numa crystals.]

Logan pushed a heavy branch aside. “You’re saying I caused the Black Rain?”

[It is likely.]

Well that wasn’t nice to hear. Logan hadn’t exactly had time to take in the damage the last attack on their camp had caused, but people had died.

[The data is not conclusive, and there are not enough data points. There have been instances such as building the shelter and healing your friend Kat, which did not prompt an attack from Levemoth. My conclusion is that using Numa inappropriately is likely, but not certain to draw attention from the Levemoth.]

Logan stopped to look at a lamb-sized yellow frog that was staring dispassionately at the black and green swamp. A white centipede as thick and long as Logan's arm came up for air. A barbed long tongue curled around the insect. It squirmed and bit at the tongue, but slowly and surely the yellow frog, looking as bored as ever, dragged the insect into its mouth.

Logan looked at the swamp water. Suddenly the patch of grass he was standing on didn’t feel so safe. His feet felt itchy. Fortunately the old, heavy trees were thinning as Logan worked his way through the swamp. It couldn’t be understated how awesome his water-resistant socks were.

“They told me to destroy everything I’ve made with Numa, especially if it was [Enchanted],” Logan said. “What do you think of that?”

[There is not enough data to—]

“Look uh,” Logan said and rubbed his neck. “I don’t need an analysis now. I just… Figured I’d ask what you thought.”

[Reconfiguring Neural Matrix… 90% Completion]

[There are no assured courses of action here with predictable outcomes. It is an option to travel fifty miles to a direction here and test theories relating to behavior of Levemoth. This is a question of risk tolerance.]

“Damn, Tumor,” Logan said. Further ahead he saw the scythe-fiend he had killed to protect Snoff. His fingers instinctively reached for the Numa crystals in his pocket. “So what do you think I should do?”

[My function is not to affect your decision making, but to process and provide information.]

“And what if I do something monumentally stupid that you could have prevented? If I die, your existence ceases too.”

[Reconfiguring Neural Matrix… 91% Completion]

[That is a novel idea, I do not enjoy. Very well. I shall attempt to provide suggestions on the basis of simulational analysis. This is something that is not native to my neural matrix, but I will attempt to create a subroutine.]

“Do that,” Logan said as he crouched at the corpse of the fiend and started removing the scythe-arms. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

[The Faelves have inhabited this land for over 200 years. While they lack the faculties of a trained scientific mind, it is likely some of their information was accurate.Your foremost priority should be to maximize self-preservation. It would be wise to build a physical, societal and economical structure which can sustain a human population. Any behavior which increases the risk of further violence from the Levespawn, is in direct conflict with aforementioned goals.]

Logan grunted as the scythe-arm loosened from its socket. He jammed a stone knife given by the Faelves in there to cut the tendons. “We can’t go completely stone-age survival mode. We need Numa to create things.”

[You have internal Numa charge, which is safe to use. You can bargain for Numa fruits with the Faelves, owning half of a highly valuable tree. Not to mention, the classes they promised to provide us with, were we to hold our ends of the bargain. It is noteworthy that even if Levemoth is not attracted by the use of these Numa crystals, we have made a pact with the Faelves, and they have clearly been watching humans.]

“Yeah, you say things that make sense,” Logan said. He put the scythe into his satchel. It only had room for one, but Logan would return if life went his way. “We need to get people to take these classes if we want to have any chance. I’m sure Frey will be eligible. Do you reckon she’d like to take one of those classes? She was saying she was feeling useless.”

[I believe there is a 99.99% chance she will be quite pleased.]

Logan smiled to himself as he finally found himself out of the dark swamp and in familiar territory.

I hope she will.