From what C.H.A.D.D. determined, there were fifteen groups of roving beetles across the city, with the smallest groups only having three or four, and the largest group consisting of nearly a dozen of the creatures. While he would almost certainly come into conflict with the larger group at some point, his primary focus was to get some meat and see if he could get it to cook properly with the equipment he had on hand. C.H.A.D.D. directed him to an old city water treatment plant, and just as expected there were four of the mindless beetles rummaging about.

Kyle was in no danger here – even the largest group would be a non-issue due to his speed – but he knew he would have to be much more careful to kill the bugs without destroying the majority of the meat like the last time. He’d considered not using HASTE, but it was too valuable an ability not to practice with it. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a breath, and activated the skill. The now familiar surge of mana infused his body, and as he opened his eyes and took a step the world around him slowed. The first beetle was dead before the group even realized they were under attack. Kyle swore to himself in both frustration and pain as he overdid it on the additional push of mana, splattering the beetle into a wall and causing his left arm to throb.

Gritting his teeth and refocusing, he turned back towards the beetles as HASTE cooled down to its base bonuses. His whole body felt like it was being prodded by small needles in the aftermath of pushing the skill too far, and he gritted his teeth as the pain subsided. The second beetle fell intact. Kyle hadn’t put much extra into the skill this time around, requiring several strikes to bring his opponent down. The third beetle fell much like the second. He used the offensive variant of his HASTE skill once more to see if he could get it right, and once again wound up with an injured arm and a smashed beetle.

Deactivating the skill and spending time using HEAL on his damaged right arm, he considered his problems. It came down to mana control at the end of the day. The slight increases felt like they didn’t do anything, but once he’d added enough mana to feel a change it quickly spiraled into territory where he was getting backlash. Kyle knew it was going to take a lot of work to make it smooth, but he hoped he would have a few more insights by now. He continued to reflect on it while he healed his arm, then collected the bodies of the beetles and made his way back to his new home.

~~~

Garth was sitting in a chair in his newly issued apartment reading over his assignment details. He felt more human now that his hair was freshly cut and face clean-shaven, revealing the familiar small scars he’d accumulated through his work with Central Defense. He wasn’t sure what he expected when he and Porter went to the councilman’s office two days ago, but being given a commendation and a squad of direct reports certainly hadn’t been on his radar. They had given DeRosa a summary of the events that had taken place and had been summarily dismissed – with Garth receiving orders just an hour later to return.

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Something had gone wrong with the prisoners they’d brought in, with the group managing to free and arm themselves before an awakened soldier could make it to their location and put them down. To hear Terrance talk about it, it sounded like it was still a close thing – he had to fight to kill to make it out of the holding block alive. Garth’s immediate thought as he stepped through the office door had been that he and the other survivors would be held under suspicion. Instead, Garth’s honesty in dealing with Kyle was commended – as he was the primary suspect in arming the captives.

The councilman’s take on events was that Kyle was a deviant infiltrator from a raider group. He ingratiated himself to the Duilleag survivors trying to get intel and ultimately access to Nierburg, with the captives being a ruse to gauge defenses before escaping. Garth didn’t believe that story for a moment, but his commendation went a long way to see his people taken care of, so he kept his mouth shut.

What had baffled him even more was the dossier that DeRosa had put together on him. The Councilman made it clear that he wanted Garth leading a squad in Central Defense. Garth suspected it was due to his level, which was pushing 30 before everything had happened, and was now at a respectable 34.

Given the average level of the talent DeRosa had was closer to 15, he could understand the decision to make things comfortable for an asset like himself. He was reviewing the information for the people assigned to his unit, the only name he recognized being the same Terrance who had nearly been killed by the captives. It was a group of five overall, with the aforementioned Terrance and himself being Warrior classes, then two elemental Mage classes and a newly-minted Healer.

It wasn’t a bad team composition as they went, but the massive level disparities were bound to cause problems. Honestly he would have loved to have Kyle as part of a new squad – the young man had all the foundations of an excellent combat medic. Unfortunately, that wasn’t meant to be. Before the unexpected time with Kyle, it had been years since he’d done any meaningful combat training with inexperienced recruits, and the thought did manage to bring a smile to his face.

He got up from his chair, closing the folder he had been reading. His team would report for their first guard rotation in about a week’s time, and while he knew they wouldn’t be polished by any means, they had time to get some foundational training done before they reported officially. He moved to his desk, bringing out a pen and paper to start mapping out a plan. Damn, I missed having paper. It was the little luxuries like this that Garth had missed while he’d been on the road, and ultimately reinforced his decision to be direct about Kyle’s experiences.

He thought about all the people who hadn’t lived the rough life he had, and how much more they’d likely appreciate it. While his apartment was certainly the largest, every person who came with him from Duilleag had been given housing and a job to do. The children were given expedited medical treatment. None of this would have been a reality if he had tried to cover for Kyle and been found out. Despite all that, his thoughts once again went out to the young man. Wherever he was, he hoped that Kyle was okay.