Unfortunately, Logan got no levels from his craft. It was a simple design, so he wasn’t surprised, but it was a little disappointing. That had only used 3% of his internal Numa charge, which he had charged when visiting the Faelves. It seemed to be a durable asset.

Logan was still very happy with his creation. It was a makeshift megaphone, made of two large and thick, leathery leaves, duct-taped together by using a jungle-vine. The green cone had no handles, but Logan had made a hole into the device and cinched it with a piece of vine over his shoulder.

Of course the crafts-project was nothing more than a cone made of leaves, and a shoddy one at that. Of course it was modeled after Tumor’s optimal designs, but Logan had decided against using [Transmutation] on this, as it would be a throwaway item.

Of course he had [Enchanted] it with a voice-amplifying enchantment. Logan had determined that the voice emitted by it should carry a hundred yards clearly, and that the enchantment didn’t need to last for longer than two minutes of continuous speech. Even with the latter stipulation, it had still chunked his internal Numa by 8%, bringing his charge down to 89%.

After making the megaphone, Logan had asked for Tumor to give him a map of the surrounding area. It had been about time he asked for it. Tumor agreed, but wasn’t surprised that it had taken Logan such a long time to ask. That made Logan smirk. He had to admit, he kind of liked the AI’s passive-aggressive snark.

Logan examined the red hologram in front of him. The current base was five miles (4.86 miles according to Tumor) to the east from the Faelves and three and a half miles north from the waterfall and the pond. The ruins with the bug-infestation was about eight miles south-west from the camp. It was very likely the Dorves were somewhere in that direction, but who knew. It seemed there were a lot of ruins around, and Logan hadn’t even had the time to look for them properly.

He and Tumor went back and forth for a while on the most optimal place to settle a new camp. Logan liked the place where the river turned into a waterfall, but it was uncomfortably close to the camp. Not only because of the potential monster attacks, but also because Logan would prefer to be as far away from his father as possible.

But we’ll need fresh water, and who knows what’s up north. The devil you know and all that…

*

“Alright,” Logan said, trepidation lacing his voice. “Let’s do this.”

He started scaling the tree. It was an easy one to climb, because of the many vertical branches. This was of course the reason Logan had chosen the tree. He wasn’t a bad climber, being generally athletic and having had a stint of bouldering with Freya during a winter they spent in Praque. but he’d rather not take undue risks, so he weighed his every step. Of course he had also told Tumor to mark the optimal foot and handholds with red, but that wouldn’t go in Logan’s memoirs.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

With some grunting and elbow-grease, Logan finally made it twenty feet in the air. He was overlooking the base from a hilltop, so he actually had more altitude than the twenty or so feet. The camp with Den and two other buildings looked busy and small, like a really run-down anthive.

Logan placed a finger on his newly crafted megaphone.

Well. Let’s cast that die, I guess.

“Listen to me. It’s Logan Specter. I have information you need to know.”

Logan let his magically enhanced words bounce their echoes over the land before he continued. A few busy ants stopped in their tracks.

“I have visited a race of beings who have lived here longer than our new friends, the Dorves. They are called Faelves, and they say that if you use the technology given to us by the Dorves, that big monster in the sky, Levemoth, will appear again and rain down monsters.”

Logan looked down from his perch at the camp. People stopped what they were doing and looked around to see where the distinct sounds of a megaphone were coming.

“I’m not telling you what to do, I’m just telling you what I learned. You have two options. Abandon the camp, your shiny new toys and the leadership of my father, Malcolm Specter. I suggest this option. If you choose to stay and be basically thralls to the Dorves, who use you to farm Numa, for the love of all that’s good, at least build walls, craft weapons and traps and prepare.”

Logan took a deep breath and braced himself for the last bit. His resolve pushed him to say what he had promised himself to.

“I suggest we settle at the waterfall by the pond. I’ll be the leader, if you guys want me to. Honestly though, I don’t want to lead. There are plenty of skilled go— agents who could surely lead. Or maybe someone else. Point is, we don’t need or want an egomaniac CEO to lead two dozen people. We need someone grounded and experienced in hands-on leadership.”

Logan was about to put his makeshift megaphone down, but he added one more thing. “So uhh.. This is mostly for the agents, but also for anyone else it might concern. I know I’ve been an asshole and you might wonder why you should listen to me. You’re right. I’m just some rich brat, and a pretty annoying one at that. But I don’t know. I’ve discovered something new here. Anyway, that’s not the point.”

Logan took another breath and looked at the megaphone pensively before continuing.

“The point is I’m being earnest here. I just want you guys to know what kind of deal you’re getting here. I’m not looking to stir up shit or make us into camps. By giving this information to you guys, I’m now banished from the camp. So I’ll settle by the waterfall. If you guys don’t want to join me, I totally get it. But if you do, I’ll tell you more about what I know and what alternatives we might have. Bye.”

With that Logan tossed down the megaphone. It had served its utility and barely had any charge left anyway. He started climbing down.

[I think that went well. You can be rather eloquent for… well you know, for you.]

Logan smiled wryly. “Thanks Tumor.”

There was a sense of calm to Logan. A sense of certainty. Oh, the outcome of him stirring the beehive would be anything but certain. Logan wondered if anyone would even come. But he knew it had been the right thing. He felt for the first time in his life something. It was something pure. Something beautiful. It made his throat constrict and his eyes well.

Logan felt freedom.

He really hoped whatever happened, that no one had to die. Malcolm Specter would surely keep some of the people under his spell. And Logan would be more than willing to trade with those people and co-operate on common interests, like growing crops. But he would never again be controlled by his father. Never again would he have to bargain for his fate. For the first time in his life, Logan was free.

Logan hopped down on the ground and wiped the sap from his hands on the rough bark of the tree he had climbed. A little squirrel-monkey watched him curiously and gibbered. Logan smiled at the thing. Then started making his way towards the pond.

He got two paces into it before someone knocked him out.