“Leaving is just a bad idea.” Crystal crossed her arms and met Garth’s eyes, not willing to budge on the subject. They’d called in Dylan, and after some debate, Carlyle to discuss the plan with this new information. They sat in the cramped office surrounding the Guard Array, trying to come to a consensus for their plan of action. As it had the last several days, their debate had been going on for almost three hours, always boiling back to two core ideas: either plan to go to Nierburg and meet up with DeRosa’s faction, or try to get a message through the Guard Array to notify them of their location, but remain in their current spot. Garth found himself debating alongside a much quieter Carlyle to leave, while Crystal and Dylan were firmly of the opinion that they should stay.

“Crystal, there’s a real chance to get these people to a city that might still be operational. We’ve done right by them, but if we stay here, eventually we’ll run out of supplies. Eventually the Guard Array will stop working. Who’s to say that they’ll be able to get here and help us? Who’s to say they’ll even want to after we disregarded an order, from a councilman. I can appreciate the risks in the short-term, but we can do this. We’ve seen these people through a lot already, and with the four of us we should be able to deal with whatever’s between us and them.”

At that, Dylan scoffed and crossed his arms. “Don’t count me in that ‘four’ you’re spouting off. I’m barely more useful than an unawakened out there, most of my mana will be keeping me on my feet. Things are hard enough as it with the shelter we have, Garth. If we choose to leave, you need to understand that there will be casualties. I just can’t get behind that.” Crystal nodded along with Dylan’s words. “We just have too many people here to realistically support them with just the four of us. We might be able to make a smaller group work, but as things stand, we don’t have the resources. If Nierburg can send a small scouting party with a Healer and a couple more Warriors we’d have enough manpower to safely travel across. I know we aren’t terribly close, but we should have enough food to last us another few months at least, more if we ration aggressively.”

Garth took a deep breath. They had come to this point in the argument three times already, and it felt like no matter what he had to say Dylan and Crystal wouldn’t be convinced, just like their words didn’t convince him that staying was the best option. He was about to suggest they call it a night and reevaluate in the morning when Carlyle piped up. The younger man had been mostly silent through the course of the conversation, only voicing his opinion that they should go to Nierburg in alignment with Garth. He had been sulking since Crystal had called him out on his behavior, and Garth couldn’t remember seeing him around for the couple days following – this being the first meeting that he’d joined. “If we aren’t comfortable with the idea of committing to one plan, why not do both? Garth and I can take a group of the people who are more able, and the ones who are struggling can stay with Dylan and Crystal. We can get to Nierburg in a few weeks and lead a return group to escort the rest. We’ll probably get priority treatment, especially with you here Dylan. Can never have enough Healers around.”

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This was an idea that hadn’t been discussed before, and Garth was surprised to hear that Carlyle would be willing to travel with him. Between Garth’s swordsmanship and Carlyle’s fire magic they could easily handle the mutated beetles they’d run into, and the smaller group would make much better time than trying to get the entire group through. Add in Garth’s credentials with Central Defense, and this idea might have a decent shot. “Crystal, that would leave you responsible for protecting the rest of the camp. Do you think you’d be able to handle it on your own?” Even with mana empowerment making it easier to stay awake and run longer, that was still a lot of responsibility to put on one person’s shoulders. “It’s not ideal, but if we institute a decent watch and use a curfew I could see it working. Keep everybody close enough and I should be able to protect the group with just a few mana blades.” Dylan looked at them thoughtfully before jumping in. “I think there’s a lot of merit to the idea, but if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I think you should bring Gwen and Sarah with you. As it is I can barely keep up on the treatment for them, and honestly, they need medical attention from somebody with a lot more skill than me. I’m not doing much better than putting a bandage on the issue, and Nierburg’s Central Health had some phenomenal physicians. I did some of my early training there. They’d be able to help much more than me.”

That gave Garth pause – traveling with the children would add a lot of additional complexity to their situation, and he knew it would slow them down. “Do you really think they’re in that much danger? They seem to be getting around fine. And with fewer people demanding your time, I’m sure you’d be able to dedicate more of your resources on them. And with all this attention, your Level 20 skill might be something tailored to their situation, I’m sure we could get approval from the group there and pass a message along.” A sad smile crept across Dylan’s face as he met Garth’s eyes. “Truth be told, I’ve been bottlenecked for a while. Despite providing care every day, I haven’t gained a level. I don’t know what’s causing the problem, but with things as they stand I’m not good for much beyond basic injury triage. Once I get to Nierburg I have no doubt they’ll have me assigned to an emergency medical unit – anything more complicated than that is probably beyond me now.”

Silence filled the room as they took in Dylan’s words. While bottlenecks were commonplace past Level 30, well over half of all awakened at least were able to make it to Level 20 to get their second skill. Those who weren’t able to cross that threshold were not viewed favorably – in some ways it was even worse than being unawakened. Somebody who had the ability to cultivate mana but stopped so early was a tragic waste of potential. For his age Dylan was remarkably low-leveled, and if he’d truly hit a bottleneck any hope for a comfortable career had evaporated. Garth wondered what mistakes the man made to find himself in the position, but he dismissed the thought as soon as it crossed his mind. Dylan was a good man, and Garth appreciated his counsel and hard work. Months ago, he might have entertained it more, but for now they had more pressing matters. “We’ll need to workshop the logistics, but if you think it’s best for them we trust you Dylan. We’ve been at this a while, let’s get some rest and reconvene in the morning to iron out the rest of the plan. Carlyle, this was a great suggestion. Thank you.” “It was my pleasure.” He replied, smiling as he met Garth’s eyes.