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I made my way over to Kevin and was happy to find out that my earlier assumption was correct. He was fine, a bit bruised up, but he'd be walking momentarily.

So, while Alex tended to Kevin, I made my war over to the Floweroid's remains. Maybe there'd be something useful.

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The remains of the Floweroid were largely uninteresting, but we grabbed some samples anyways. Perhaps it would be good fertilizer? I had no idea, but I figured we could make something work. As such, a sample of the wilting body was taken. Within the body of the corpse, I found a mana stone, not much larger than what the smaller Floweroid's had possessed, but the power coming from it was degrees stronger. So, I pocketed it. What was more interesting than anything else though, was that a plant had begun to sprout under the corpse of the beast. Remarkably, it was a mana berry bush. So, perhaps my fertilizer idea had some merit?

Regardless, we ended up digging up the plant and we carried it with us as we exited the dungeon and went back to the Community. When we returned the wall had made some good progress. We had been gone for about half the day, and the others we had left behind hadn't slacked off in the slightest. It was amazing to me how fast people could work when they really put their minds to it.

There was one concerning report, however, and that was the fact the undead from the cemetery appeared to be advancing closer and closer. Which made it quite imperative that the wall be completed as soon as possible.

Because of this, Alex joined the others in constructing the wall, while Kevin retreated to one of the rooms in the house to rest and recover from some of the injuries he had sustained during the battle. As for me, I was in a similar position as I had used up quite a bit of my mana. I had a quick task I needed to complete, however, as I carried the mana berry plant over to where my father was sitting on a stump near the growing wall. It appeared he had decided a quick break was in order, I didn't blame him of course. In fact, I was more surprised that even though he was fairly aged, with the way he carried himself you wouldn't have thought he was a day over twenty.

I approached him.

"Dad," I said, announcing my presence.

My father looked up and glanced over. "Ah, Thomas! You guys made it back okay I see?"

I nodded, "Ya, Kevin got a bit of a blow again, but not nearly as bad as last time. Alex is pretty much fine, and as for me, I just have to recover some of my mana before I'll be back to my peak."

My Dad looked back towards the ground, silent.

After a few moments, he spoke up, his gaze avoiding mine just slightly. "Thomas, you've done good, you know that, right?"

I was taken aback, and a bit confused too, "What do you mean Dad?"

He tore his gaze away from the ground and settled his eyes back on mine. "A week ago none of us could have imagined what had happened... well, what's happening. I was always a little worried about you... Constantly spending time on those games of yours, never holding a nice career job, and just being rather recluse." He paused. "Now though? You've stepped up and... you've made me proud." My Father forced a smile.

It was strange hearing something so heartfelt coming from the man. He was normally fairly stoic when it came to talking about himself or his feelings. Usually, he looked more after others around him and tended to stray from any personal conversations.

I returned his smile, but I knew he was holding something back. "I suppose that isn't all you want to say though, isn't it?"

He shook his head. "No, it isn't..." After a few more moments of him mustering up his thoughts, he began to open up. "Ever since you and Alex were younger, the both of you had always looked to me as your 'superhero'. Now though? I feel I've been sort of pushed to the way-side. No longer am I your infallible Father. I'm just a man. A member of this... Community you've built. I doubt I'll ever have the same positioning in your eyes as I used to."

I frowned. My Father was being extremely sentimental. However, I couldn't help but to sympathize, because it was true. Alex and I had looked up to my father like that, but now? The story had changed. The roles largely reversed.

So, in reaction, I placed the plant down, and I sat next to my Father.

"Dad, no matter what happens you're still my Father, and that won't ever change. And, I can tell you right now, that you'll never be considered as useless to me, to Alex, to anyone in the Community." I waited a moment, gauging his reaction, and decided I might as well ask what I came to him for. "Dad, we found something in the dungeon, and quite frankly none of us know what to do with it. We figured you would though."

My Dad almost brightened at this as he looked at me questioningly. Perhaps all he needed was to feel... Well, needed.

I got up, and walked over to the plant I had set on the ground, and presented it to him.

"It's a Mana Berry Bush," I announced.

He stared at it quizzically. "And... What do you want me to do with it?" He questioned.

I smiled, "we want you to grow more of it, to take care of it. None of us have much of a clue about the proper way to do any of that, but you probably have more experience farming and working with plants than everyone in the community combined."

He rose his brow in understanding, "Ah, I see your point then. Why do you want it so bad? I'm sure I could start growing actual crops for food rather than berries if you really would like me to." He said.

I paused, "Actually... Growing crops would be wonderful too. Especially if we're probably going to be here long term. But no, the bush has an entirely different purpose." I said looking at my father for a few moments, and, taking his silence as permission to continue, "The berries the plant produces replenishes mana. Which is why it's so important. We're hoping that we can produce a lot of them, so that mana-users like myself, Rachel, and even Apinya can use the berries to recover their reserves if we're ever attacked or in battle. I'm hoping, in the long run, we can grow the berries to be more potent, and maybe even make some type of concoction with them," I finished.

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"So, magic berries, huh?" My dad responded, and then smiling said, "Growing a new type of plant that has never been farmed before sounds like quite the adventure," he laughed, "of course I'll do it, especially if it helps you and the others in keeping us safe. While I'm at it, I'll look into procuring some crops. There's the clearing of trees just a hundred or so yards away from Alex's place, and deeper into the Community, that would likely make a good area anyways."

"Well, I'll leave you to it then! That's pretty much it." I announced.

"Well enough," my Dad responded, seemingly with lifted spirits.

After that interaction I found myself wandering towards the center of where our new designated "Community" will be. There was an interesting boundary I had discovered, right between where the mana zone was and the outside of it. The area gave way into a region desolated by the fires, but we had decided to incorporate it into the boundaries of our wall too. The road was still another hundred or so yards away, and that would be the actual feature we'd have the wall follow. As of right now though? I was pretty sure I was standing on top of the remains of someone's house.

The fires hadn't spread too far into the mana zone, and as such the boundaries between the two areas were pretty much just ash.

Where on our side there was a brisk chill, the other side had the summer heat compounded by the aftermath of the torrent of flames that passed through the area just a matter of days ago. There was still a fairly thick layer of ash on the ground that had yet to recover, whereas, inside the mana zone, life seemed to be growing back rapidly to reclaim the land.

It was on this boundary that I began to meditate. I first knelt down and I began to breathe in, feeling the flow of air into my lungs. Then I began to reach my senses outward in an attempt to feel the surrounding mana. The differences in the ambient mana soon became apparent. Whereas prior to this experience I had been largely saturated with the surrounding mana that had a frosty overtone, making it harder to discern. Here in the twilight zone of the mana though, I could feel the clashing differences. Outside the mana zone the mana was largely normal, however it was clear that it had taken on a slightly more... Fiery quality. Likely a result of the flames that had rampaged earlier. It seemed that this invasive mana had kept nature from recovering as it normally would have otherwise.

It was sad to see, but I was heartened by the fact that the mana did seem to be returning to normal, but it was marginal. It would likely take several more weeks before the natural mana retook its hold on the area.

It was a learning experience for me. Mana seemed to interact with life and the earth on a much deeper level than I had imagined. I hadn't realized how naturally mana seemed to have Integrated itself with the planet until now. Each type of mana seemed to be tied with the way the ambient mana manifested itself.

With my task there done, I then turned my attention inwards. My breathing continued, in... and out... in... and then out.

I then, while focused on my breathing, began to also siphon in some of the surrounding mana in the air, attempting to pull it into my body. My attempt was to speed up my mana recovery and to also see if I could measure my ability to utilize and control the surrounding mana as well.

While the process felt like it took only a few minutes, in reality, hours had passed. By the time I had a breakthrough, the golden rays of the falling sun had already given way to dusk. My mana had recovered noticeably faster during my exercise compared to usual, and through the process, I had also gained a new skill.

Skill [Meditation] - Level 1 has been gained!

50 experience points have been received

[Mediation] grants the skill user the ability to enter into a deep, relaxive state. This state absorbs the ambient mana and allows it to merge with the user's own, increasing mana regeneration while in use.

It was an incredibly useful skill. The info regarding it only exemplified that. It appeared that while I was using it my mana had been regenerating almost 50% faster. Which was no small increase, that's for sure.

As I climbed to my feet, My ears suddenly perked up as I began to pick up a soft rumbling sound in the sky. As I strained to listen, I heard it begin to exponentially pick up in its intensity, until it became all too loud for my increased senses. In turn, I turned my gaze to the sky, in an attempt to pick out the source of the sound.

To my utter astonishment, I saw a pair of F-35 Lightning II's soaring through the sky. They were nearly directly overhead, perhaps only a few miles closer to Worcester, heading North.

I had pretty much given into the belief that the old world's militaries had succumbed. After all, we hadn't seen anything for nearly a week. Nothing denoting the presence of civilization at least. Of course, I realized now it was my ignorance. Even if they were hammered practically into the ground, I doubted the military would give up that easily. Even with the surprising nature of what had happened, the military and the government, in general, had all types of contingencies. Just the presence of a U.S. Fighter Plane had massive implications.

For one, it meant that the world was still in the fight, or at least, the United States was. Granted, I didn't know what the planes were up to or anything, but it put a smile on my face. It meant that our efforts here weren't solitary. There were other groups of survivors out there. Likely much better equipped than us.

With that thought on my mind, I returned back to the house, where, apparently everyone had suddenly gathered. Even the teenagers and kids were present.

"Shouldn't we try and find them!?" I heard someone yell. "I mean, I sure as hell would feel a lot safer with the military than with the lot of you playing at being knights!"

Of course, it was our resident Lawyer who had apparently been trying to rouse some discord. I sort of saw his point though. If we knew where the military was, it would be a much better scenario to have them guarding us rather than having to do that ourselves.

The only real negative I could think of is that it really wouldn't be as safe as I'm sure Liam was assuming. The military probably had a massive target on their backs. If I was an invading military force, I'd be pulling all stops to dismantle any pretense of resistance.

So, in any case, we were likely much safer here as it is than out there in the heat of things. Plus, we could defend ourselves well enough, and once the palisade was finished, that would be a much simpler task too.

Regardless though, it was still pretty stupid to think of up and moving when all we had seen were two planes. Apparently, someone else thought so too though.

"Are you stupid?" Dante replied scornfully, "we wouldn't know where they even were, much less be able to transport twenty-five people to God knows where." Dante exclaimed, to the pretty much unanimous concurrence of those arrayed around him.

Liam stood there, dumbfounded at the fact that nobody seemed to agree with him

"Goddamn, you guys are stupider than I thought!" Liam burst, storming off back to the house he had sequestered in.

Dante only sighed, before noticing my arrival.

"What do you think, Thomas?" He asked me.

Contemplating his question for a moment, I responded, "you're right. While I'd like to have some contact with the military, we frankly don't have the means to wander outside the Mana Zone. We lack information, for one, and we have no idea how dangerous it is out there." I said.

Pausing for a moment, I noticed Harrison raising his hand.

I looked towards him and nodded, and he subsequently stepped forward.

"I know we've talked about this, but we can try the radio waves again..." Harrison offered.

I sighed. We had tried to use the radio, following the council meeting a few days ago, and had found that there was way too much interference and we couldn't capture a signal. So, I replied, "Harrison..."

He stopped me, "I don't mean the radio we have down in the basement. I'm talking about the one in the Humvee, I was looking at it, and we can probably get it working to listen in on whatever frequencies the military is using. It might be hard to pick up, but if we boost the signal I might be able to get something. The military makes these things last, plus, whatever fried a lot of electronics when the portals opened, didn't fry what the military has. They're armored against EMP's anyways, so it must have protected them." Harrison finished.

It was a fantastic point, and I was a bit taken back at his resourcefulness. It only took me a moment to remember the fact he was in the military. "If you can get it working Harrison, then please do. I think we'd all be at a lot more peace if we can get some information coming in."

He nodded, "I'll get right on it."