Their shuttle arrived just before dawn, the turbulence of the landing shaking Kyle as he prepared for the task ahead. Instructions came through on his nav bracelet, simple and clear. He was to scout the area and help set up the defense. Chester was planning on a confrontation with the D Grade, and without better intelligence he was relying on Kyle to test the waters. Literally, in this case, as they were landing in a clearing that opened to a sandy beach. Kyle stepped off the shuttle, turning to Benjamin, Duroc, and Skippy, looking each in the eye. “You three take care. I’ll see you again before you know it.”
Skippy smiled. “We have a sparring match scheduled for when you get back.”
Duroc snorted. “No, we don’t. Be safe, Kyle!”
Benjamin just shook his head, a wry smile playing across his lips. The door closed, and Kyle was alone. He looked at his nav bracelet, and saw that there was a little over fifteen minutes remaining until the shuttle from the flagship would arrive. Given that he had some time, Kyle decided to make the most of it.
“C.H.A.D.D., can you do a quick ping of the area?”
He heard the click, and the projection popped up in front of him. Kyle was surprised to see the scans appeared to capture a bit of the water, and still provided a clear image. He knew that old-world sonar worked that way, and was glad that this departure from it still provided the information.
Based on the shape of the coastline, Kyle assumed they were at the edge of a larger island. Small shrubs and ferns dotted the beach, growing thicker and more numerous towards the center. The air was thick with mana, and it practically radiated off the water. This was as close as Kyle had been to the epicenter of the largest blast, and he was certain that any unawakened human would be in dire straits in short order. Even the awakened members of the expedition would likely struggle more in this area than anywhere else he’d been.
Most interesting to Kyle, however, were what he assumed were natural treasures. Dotting the small map were dozens of small, glowing motes – areas where C.H.A.D.D. detected anomalies. Each area he’d visited tended to have a primary type of treasure, with the seeds from the Pseudo-World Tree being the most valuable so far. Still, he’d helped uncover rare ores, soil samples, woods, and more. Who knew what he could find on an island?
Before taking off, he reviewed the map for signs of life. Scans showed that there were plenty of mutated insects, but he didn’t particularly care. None were giving off the mana signature of a D Grade, and at this point he was a seasoned veteran at dealing with awakened insects. He felt HASTE activate at the faintest thought, and took off towards the first treasure with a smile on his face.
As he ran, he marveled at the lack of human structures in the area. There had likely been some before the awakening, but years untouched had let nature take its course. Much of the dust in the air had cleared, and he looked up to see a brilliant blue replacing the oranges of the sunrise. The thought that this would all soon be gone forever tugged at him. Stopping fully, he looked around him. He was going to remember this sight.
He was rudely interrupted from his view as he heard a rustling from a nearby shrub, Auric Perception alerting him to the changes in atmospheric mana. His batons found their way into his hands, and a moment later he was swatting away a heavy blue claw aiming for his leg. A second was coming soon after, and rather than blocking, Kyle dodged back, using his second baton to intercept a long tail with a poisoned barb.
Kyle landed lightly and regarded the creature in front of him. It was almost two meters long, excluding the tail, though it was only a little taller than his waist. Two thick, blue claws clicked as the scorpion shifted its weight back and forth, its segmented tail thrashing wildly through the air. Kyle assumed he’d been daydreaming in its territory, and for a moment considered if he should just move on.
He dodged another strike with the tail and took a step to leave, when he felt the sand below his feet begin to sink. IDENTIFY bloomed to life in his eyes as he jumped to stand on some rocks nearby. He could see the mana flowing through the scorpion’s feet and into the ground, stirring up the sand. It lunged for him again, and Kyle sighed. A tendril of mana reached out to the creature, disrupting its technique in one moment, ending its life in the next. Physically imposing or not, any creature without a means to counter PARASITIC RESONANCE wasn’t much of a threat.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
He thought about making something with the scorpion’s body, though he quickly dismissed the notion. Ultimately, this creature was weaker than the Wall had been. Its carapace likely wouldn’t be a meaningful upgrade beyond his combat armor, and there wasn’t much point trying to fashion a new weapon. Although… Reconnecting to the scorpion, he broke off the final segment of the tail, where the venomous barb was located.
IDENTIFY active, he looked at the mana that still moved inside the toxins. It wasn’t nearly as potent as the venom from the Shadow, or the poisonous scales from the Eye. It looked to be primarily a neurotoxin, and he’d already experienced much worse. While he could still test it against his ADAPTIVE REGENERATION, he didn’t think it would ultimately add much of value. What he did learn, however, was that IDENTIFY was able to help parse out the specific nature of the toxins at play.
Leaving the carcass, Kyle continued moving towards the location of the nearest mana fluctuations. The shuttle would be arriving shortly, and Kyle wanted to know what he was working with. Coming into a clearing, he saw a field full of beautiful white flowers. They each gave off a sweet fragrance, and the field itself seemed to thrum with energy. Focusing his gaze as IDENTIFY activated, he saw that the energy was leeching up from the ground itself, being drawn in by the flowers. Is it the water?
“C.H.A.D.D., what does your plant encyclopedia say about the flowers?”
[FIRST, DR. MAYHEW, IT’S QUITE DISRESPECTFUL TO REFER TO THE WORLD TREE SEED AS A PLANT ENCYCLOPEDIA. SECONDLY, THE IMPRESSION FROM THE FLOWERS IS INTERESTING, THOUGH IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE IT WAS SOMETHING ORIGINATING FROM THEM.]
Kyle nodded. Products of the environment. That’s not to say they wouldn’t be valuable, just that they wouldn’t be something that he and C.H.A.D.D. would likely be able to find a lot of use with. Still, just to be safe he picked a couple of the flowers, admiring the beauty of the mana flowing within, which seemed to shine brilliant teal. Checking his nav bracelet, he saw a tentative arrival in five minutes. He ran around the inner part of the island, locating more small fields like the one he’d just discovered. C.H.A.D.D. mapped out the island and surrounding coastline, and Kyle felt good about their position.
Making his way towards the landing zone, Kyle’s mind drifted as he tasted the salt on the breeze. Benjamin mentioned they had almost all the logistics organized for the evacuation, and that shuttles would start arriving in just a few months. Whether he left early or waited until the last shuttles, Kyle’s home was going to be left behind, again. It was strange thinking about trying to find a place in a universe so vast that Earth was a footnote in the frontier. On one hand, how could there not be a place for him? On the other, where would he even start looking?
Kyle settled on a rock and watched as the shuttle descended. People began to pour out like ants, getting to work on their various tasks and establishing a base camp. The captain sent him a message on the nav bracelet that it would be a while yet before they were ready to connect and debrief. Watching the crowd, Kyle quickly determined the cause of the delay. This crew was running with just over half the usual number, which caused Kyle to frown. There was a reason for it, but Kyle had no way of knowing what Chester had planned.
With nothing else to do, Kyle found himself fiddling with the Transportation Array as he contemplated the issue. The metal device was warm to the touch, a testament to the amount of mana it had absorbed. Looking closer with IDENTIFY, Kyle saw where different buttons on the device would activate different sets of runic formations. There were several runes that were familiar to Kyle from the telemetry formation, and others that were more closely linked to the collection formation he’d inscribed for C.H.A.D.D.
Currently, it was flipped towards collection. With simple changes, he could link it to two other modes, and Kyle suspected that the one associated with the telemetry formation would lock onto coordinates, which meant the most foreign portion would be the part that tapped into the collected mana to move them. He had no idea if it would work off-planet or not, but he figured that one way or another he was going to try to make a visit to Marcus Kulhavey’s operation. With luck, he’d be able to meet the man and learn more about the arrays.
A buzz on his nav bracelet snapped him back to the present, and Kyle put the Transportation Array back in his pocket as he made his way to the captain. They exchanged introductions, and the man’s nervous demeanor put Kyle more on edge.
“Any idea why they sent you into an area this dangerous with a ghost crew?”
“None at all, sir. Either way, we’re here. What are we working with?”
“Relatively small island, some dangerous creatures but nothing a squad of three or four shouldn’t be able to handle, at least until I get there.”
The captain seemed surprised at that, raising an eyebrow.
“No D Grade then? Or did you kill it already?”
“Definitely didn’t run into one, but with luck we’ll be fine. If I’m guessing correctly, it’s going to be in or near the water. As long as we stay inland, this should be simple.”
The captain’s eyes widened at that, and his tanned skin took on a pale shade.
Kyle groaned.
“What did you do?”
“Sir, we had no idea –“
He was interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion, coming from the beach.