Before allocating his free attribute points, Kyle decided to try out his new skill. He didn’t exactly want the people around him, particularly Garth, to know that he’d hit another threshold, but at the same time he was gambling that the skill would be subtle enough that nobody was likely to take notice. As cool as it would be to toss fireballs around or shoot blasts of ice, there were definitely advantages to less showy abilities. Standing up, Kyle activated HASTE. The skill didn’t have an immediately noticeable effect, giving Kyle the opportunity to reflect on his choice. While AUGMENTED MUSCULATURE was interesting, Kyle ultimately decided to continue to specialize down the path he’d started. After this there was only one skill remaining before the apex of E Grade, and he didn’t want to stick with a passive skill that he could shore up with attribute points. PURIFY was interesting and he could see the application, but it felt too narrow in scope to be immediately useful. If he couldn’t steer his path back towards precise internal medicine, he at least wanted to have a bit of a power spike. The eventual applications were interesting, but Kyle felt that in this moment he needed power now, not the potential for power later. HASTE, he felt, would give him a meaningful boost to his abilities both in and out of combat, and felt like it was well in alignment with the baseball-originated fighting style he was developing.
Still not feeling any different, Kyle started to walk around the perimeter of the Guard Array. Everything still felt normal, but Kyle hoped it was because he was moving slowly and not pushing himself beyond what he could do normally. He turned to C.H.A.D.D., nearby as always. “Can you run a quick scan on my mana circulation? I’m testing a new skill but I don’t think it’s doing much at this pace.”
[DR. MAYHEW, A SCAN IS UNNECESSARY. IT IS QUITE CLEAR A SKILL IS ACTIVE. YOU’RE GLOWING.]
Kyle looked down, frowning. From what he could tell he looked perfectly normal. Unless…. “It’s my eyes, isn’t it C.H.A.D.D.?” The drone cheerily bobbed up and down in the air, putting out a projection of eyes that glowed a bluish violet, with veins a similar color pulsing on the sides of his face and onto his neck. Well, so much for subtle. C.H.A.D.D. dismissed the projection while Kyle looked under his armor. Sure enough, a network of visibly glowing veins traced across his body, matching precisely the clusters he’d seen when evaluating the skill.
With a sigh he deactivated HASTE, not wanting to startle anybody or cause a panic by testing the limits of the skill. He was sure he’d get an opportunity, but he’d like to do it somewhere that Garth couldn’t observe him. He’d seen the skill Garth had used to kill the beetles, and he had no illusions what would happen to him if he got caught in a blow like that. He didn’t think Garth would try to hurt him out of hand, but if he felt Kyle was endangering the people around him Kyle knew that he wouldn’t think twice about it. Much better to have a skill in reserve if necessary than to be stuck on the other end of Garth’s sword without any tricks in the bank.
Deciding it would probably be suspicious to sit down and meditate right after standing up to walk, Kyle made his way over to where Dalen and several of the other young men were sitting and talking. “How are you feeling?” Kyle asked, remembering the sight of the large gashes that had stretched across his torso. “Much better thanks to you. I wouldn’t have made for much of a hero if I died and the bug still kept going, right?” The others chuckled as they passed around a flask of something strong, and Kyle smiled to see it. Of the twenty-six people in this group, there were only five men other than Garth who appeared to be in any sort of fighting condition, the rest of their number being older, infirm, or caring for one of the children in their group. Dalen smiled as he passed the flask over to Kyle, who graciously accepted. “Gotta say, my friend, you made quite the entrance. Where’d you come from?” Kyle thought for a moment, taking a sip of the flask to buy time. The bitter liquid burned on its way down his throat – as cheap whiskey went this was cheap.
He knew it was probably a bad idea to share all the details, but on the other hand he’d never been much of a liar. And more than anything else, he wanted to build a foundation of trust with them. Lowering the flask from his lips, he lightly rapped his knuckles against C.H.A.D.D.’s side as he responded. “We’re from Newton, up on the edge of the frontier. About fifty kilometers east of Corwyn.” He passed the flask to his left to Amir, another of the young men who took it and immediately passed it on to Thomas who grinned as he took a swig. Amir fixed his brown eyes on Kyle, thick eyebrows raising as he asked a question. “My understanding was that everything east of Corwyn was a wasteland. How’d you survive?”
Kyle got quiet for a minute; his eyes distant as he remembered his grandfather’s sacrifice. Fortunately, C.H.A.D.D. decided this was a question it could answer. [CLARK MAYHEW ACTIVATED A VARIETY OF D-GRADE DEFENSIVE SKILLS, INSULATING THE EXAMINATION ROOM AND PROVIDING A POCKET OF PROTECTION. THE DAMAGE COUPLED WITH THE STRAIN CONTRIBUTED TO CAUSE OF DEATH FOR CLARK MAYHEW, BUT DR. MAYHEW HAS SURVIVED DESPITE BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA, MULTIPLE SLIP AND FALL INJURIES, LACERATIONS FROM A VARIETY OF MUTATED INSECTS, ALL THE WHILE COMBATTING CHAOTIC AMBIENT MANA.]
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The group fell silent to take that all in, with Thomas finally capping the flask and throwing it over to Kyle. “Yeah, you need this more than any of us right now.”
Kyle graciously accepted the flask, but because he’d be joining Garth for a watch shift later decided not to drink anymore. Nonetheless, the group spent the next several hours talking and sharing stories. Kyle learned that they all worked together at a Central Defense outpost, all working in a provisioning capacity. It was blind luck that Gwen and Sarah – the two children in the group – had been in with their parents who were dropping off personal items to be taken out on the next dispatch. For his part, Kyle shared stories about his grandfather. He was the only D Grade who chose to stay when the Originators left the planet, and he was still as much a myth as he was a man to most people. He told stories about the time they’d spent outdoors, watching movies, talking about what the world used to be like before it had awakened to mana. They were all surprised to hear that he wasn’t some stoic sage with closely guarded secrets, but just a regular man. Their shock only grew when they got on the topic of politics, particularly Clark’s distaste for the Central Authority. “There’s just no way” Amir said, shaking his head. “I mean he fought with the Originators. He literally helped put them all in power. How could he not support what they built?”
Kyle thought about that for a moment before responding. Clark’s… opinions had landed him in hot water a time or two, and he was the last D Grade human on the planet. How much worse would it go for Kyle? He was a full-blown deviant at the end of the freaking world, no way the Central Authority would look on his comments with leniency. Still though, he found that he genuinely enjoyed having a human conversation after all this time, and so he decided honesty was still the way to go. “Talking with him about the period between the Awakening and the formation of the Central Authority, it sounded much worse than the histories we’re taught. I think with the choices he was given, he picked the path that he thought would lead to the best outcomes. But come on, before all of this he was working in the oil field in Texas. If anything, I think he missed what the world was like back then, even if it did have its flaws.”
That caused the group to go quiet for a bit, taking in the stories of a legend and thinking about all the different events that had led to the formation of the Central Authority. Their reverie was interrupted by heavy footfalls, and they looked up to see Garth approaching, what little light made it through the dust and ash beginning to fade. “Time’s up Mayhew. Eventually it’ll be nice to split watch, but for now we’ll take the first.” Kyle stood up, tossed the flask back to Thomas, and began to walk with Garth towards the center of the camp near the Guard Array. “So… I’ve never done a watch like this before. What exactly am I supposed to do?” Garth looked at him the one might look at a toddler who put their shoes on the wrong feet. “We stay near the array. We watch for it to signal any major disturbances. We react accordingly. This isn’t that complicated kid.” Great. Just the way Kyle was hoping to continue their relationship – looking incompetent.
Garth proved to be quiet company, sitting with a distant expression, face unmoving as he regarded the array. Kyle struggled with this at first, but as people quieted down and settled in to sleep, he felt more and more comfortable. While he could run a good while longer than the average person, Kyle was also itching to get some shut-eye, but he once again decided that this probably wasn’t the best time to ask for a nap. Kyle kept expecting something to happen as the hours passed, but nothing did. Finally, just before dawn, Garth turned to him. “Go get some sleep, I’ll call you if anything comes up. Good job tonight.” Kyle was about to object, but C.H.A.D.D. did it for him. [RESIDENT, I MUST INFORM YOU THAT PER CENTRAL HEALTH PROTOCOL YOU ARE ALSO OVERDUE FOR MANDATORY REST. THE GUARD ARRAY WILL INFORM US IF A THREAT BREACHES THE PERIMETER, YOU ARE RELIEVED.] Kyle was a little taken aback by the direct orders from the drone, but then again he remembered well the challenges of being a resident. And without a supervising physician, it made sense that the drones would have fail safes in place to prevent burnout. Or… there was still a strong possibility that some of this emergent personality came from C.H.A.D.D. himself. What shocked him even more though, was Garth’s response. “Can you connect in with the Guard Array’s barrier?” He asked, dismissing entirely the rude question, showing a genuine curiosity.
[THE GUARD ARRAY IS UNSTABLE, BUT I AM ABLE TO INTERFACE AND RUN A SCANNING DIAGNOSTIC THROUGH THE BARRIER. SHOULD THE BARRIER FAIL OR A DIAGNOSTIC INDICATE DANGER, I CAN ALSO ASSIST WITH NOTIFICATION.]
“Good.” Garth said. “I’ll get some shuteye too.”
“Hold on a minute.” Kyle replied, scrambling to his feet to catch up with the soldier who had already started walking away. “We’re just going to listen to the drone?”
“Kyle, this is how we did things on duty. Drones like C.H.A.D.D. were sent with us and would link with our Guard Arrays. Hunting deviant monsters always came with the risk that the monster would find you first. This isn’t any different, something comes in we’ll get notified and should have time to get things together before the danger gets too real. Besides, we’ll both be better off with a couple hours of sleep in us.” Kyle couldn’t argue with that, and he found a spot to lie down for the night. For the first time in months, he was in the presence of other people, and he could barely keep the smile from his face as his eyes closed.