Blake threw his mostly empty bag off into the back seat of the twenty-four-year-old car. He shut the door and climbed into the passenger seat, carefully to keep his longsword from binding in the door.

“Thanks for giving me a ride, Kuruk.”

Instead of the expected, ‘You’re welcome’, he was met with wide eyes. “You’re REAL!”

Blake rolled his eyes.

“Of course I’m real, what else would I be?”

“I don’t know, man. I thought maybe you were CGI or something.”

“Why would you drive over thirty minutes away to pick up some CGI?”

Kuruk shrugged. “I get paid whether you’re real or not.”

“Fair,” Blake conceded and chuckled at his pragmatism.

After a short pause, the man asked, “What were you doing down here?”

“Killing Manders,” he easily responded.

“What’s that?”

“You remember that thing I showed you yesterday that was attached to my arm?” After Kuruk nodded, he continued. “That’s a Mander.”

Another few seconds of silence passed before the native asked, “Never seen one of those before. Did it escape from a zoo?”

Blake sighed. “My mother told you what’s going on. You’ve seen the proof with your own eyes now. Why do you persist in denying it?”

Kuruk frowned. “You mean the whole alien invasion thing?”

“YES, the whole alien invasion thing!” Blake yelled, frustrated.

The short man’s brows furrowed. “So, that Mander thing invaded our planet, and you had to stop it or something?”

“Weeelll, technically, I invaded its planet.” Blake admitted. “But, in another five months, yeah, they’ll start popping up.”

Kuruk shook his head and muttered under his breath, “Ndeen Lligai.”

“What’s that?” Blake asked.

“Nothing…”

He shook his head. Blake did not speak Apache, but from his tone, he assumed he was just insulted.

You know, I should probably get to know him.

“So Kuruk, where do you live?”

“McNary,” came the single word response.

“Okay…” Blake trailed off. “Do you have your own place, or live with your family?”

“Grandparents.”

“Well, before you got this job, what did you do for a living?” he asked.

Kuruk shrugged. “Whatever paid.”

Blake let out a long sigh as he rubbed his eyes. “You don’t talk much, do you?”

The native shook his head.

After Blake failed in his attempt to bond with the new faction member, he remained silent for the rest of the drive. If the man wanted to keep to himself, he was fine with that. All that mattered was his work ethic.

Kuruk turned into the gravel pad, and drove through the open gate. Beyond sat a large field with three structures in the center. The driver parked his car near the entrance, and they both exited the vehicle.

Jordan kneeled down before the mostly completed Metal Workshop with a hammer, while Blake’s mother stood next to him. When the car door slammed, it drew both of their attention, and she waved in greeting.

He returned her wave and approached the busy couple. “Hey mom, hey Jordan, what’s going on?”

The Constructor continued to work while Donna answered, “Oh, just planning out what building to make next, since this one’s almost done.”

“Oh?” Blake titled his head. “How long?”

“‘Bout fifteen, twenty minutes,” Jordan answered in a gruff voice.

“Great,” he smiled. “How much nano did it end up costing us?”

“A little over nineteen million,” Donna answered.

Blake grimaced. “That leaves, what, five million left in the treasury?”

Donna nodded.

He sighed. “I guess I need to deposit more before you start the next building.” Blake observed Jordan. When he saw how busy the man was, he said, “Might as well do that now.”

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Kuruk as he stared intently at the mostly formed structure. The man was frozen as his eyes tracked Jordan’s work in awe. When Blake’s gaze returned to Jordan and a two by four suddenly appeared in the Constructor’s hands, he heard the new faction member gasp.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Blake chuckled and strode toward the faction hall. The hut remained as primitive and small as ever, and he was eager to upgrade it to the next level. He entered through the open door, placed his hand on the crystal sphere, and navigated the menu until he was able to deposit nano into the treasury. His stomach growled.

How much should I transfer?

He quickly considered the math. After completing two more level one scenarios with his new shield, he held a little over two hundred and nine million nano in reserve. It was a quarter of the eight hundred million he needed to unlock his combat class.

Better just move over fifty million for now.

He transferred the nano and sighed when he watched his accumulated wealth drop to one hundred and fifty-nine million.

Hard come, easy go.

He looked up to his mother, who followed him. “So, what do we have to build to upgrade the faction hall to level two?”

“Two more buildings, a Wood Workshop, and a Quarry.”

“Uh…” Blake drawled. “Isn’t a quarry just a hole in the ground?”

Donna smiled and shrugged. “Essentially.”

“Then what would we need to build?” he asked.

“The quarry works a little differently,” she explained. “When you choose to construct the structure, the wireframe shows you where best to place it for the most stone. The higher the resources available, the brighter the green glow.”

“So, it scans the area looking for underground rock for you?”

She nodded.

“How much nano will that cost?”

“Ten million, but Jordan says he can cut that in half if he does the labor.” Suddenly, she smiled. “But, the good news is, it’ll only take around five or six hours.”

“Great,” Blake nodded. “What about the wood workshop?”

“That’s going to take about the same amount of time as the metal workshop, and will cost us a similar amount of nano.”

“Okay, so that’ll leave the treasury with about thirty million nano after those two buildings…” he scratched his chin. “Hopefully, that’s enough to upgrade the faction hall to level two.”

Donna frowned. “Blake, are you doing okay?”

His first instinct was to lie and claim he was fine. Instead, he decided to share some of his concerns. “I’m mostly fine, but I’m worried about how hungry I am all the time. I really need to get my combat class soon, so this crazy diet can go away.”

“How much longer?” she asked, concerned.

“Well, I’m at a hundred and fifty out of eight hundred million. I figure, if I run two scenarios a day, I can get it done in a week.”

“You should take that fifty million back,” she advised. “If it’ll save you a day, the town can wait.”

Blake shook his head. “No, a single day won’t matter for me, but the faster I can build the town, the better. For Oliver.”

“If you're sure…”

He nodded and changed the subject. “Where’s dad and Oliver?”

“Well, your brother is still at the apartment. He mostly just sits on the couch and eats all our food,” she said wryly. “Your father is driving around doing errands, distracting that cop that’s following us.” Suddenly she smiled. “Right now, the cop thinks I’m getting my nails done.”

Blake laughed.

“What about you, Blake? What plans do you have?”

“Well, my supplies are gone, so I need more food and water. Once I get that, I plan on heading back to take on more Manders.”

“I figured you’d need more soon, so I have another pack ready for you. Dad picked up some of your favorites.”

“Thanks,” he grinned. “That’ll save me some time. I just finished one scenario today before I ran out of food. I wanted to get another one done this evening.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.

“Not with the scenarios, no.” Blake took a deep breath. “But, if you can get Kuruk to convince his three friends to show up here, I can convince them to join us.”

She frowned, but said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

He nodded. “Other than that, just help Jordan get whatever supplies he needs to build the other workshop.”

“Already planned on that,” she confirmed and then grinned. “It’s amazing how much easier having money makes things.”

“It sure is,” he agreed. “I like having a chauffeur to drive me around. Oh, that’s something else you can get started on. We’ll need a fleet of old diesel trucks before Invasion day.”

“Why diesel?” she asked, confused.

“OLD, diesel,” he corrected. “After Invasion day, electricity doesn’t work anymore. That means the starters and half the crap on gas trucks won’t work. Older diesels, though, can be modified so they start with a hand crank, or a good push.”

“Do you know how to modify them?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, but I’m sure any decent mechanic can figure it out. Especially if you pay them enough.”

“How many do we need in this fleet?” she asked.

“Well…” he tilted his head to the side. “I’d like to get at least a hundred converted before the end of June.”

“A hundred!” she exclaimed. “Why so many?”

“Because I plan on making our faction huge, and after Invasion day, it’s much harder to get them to work. You can’t exactly order parts online. For the first few months, we’ll be the only ones with working vehicles. We’ll need all of them to rescue people and move supplies.”

“How many people do you think we can save?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “That depends on the size of our town. I want to make as many bunkhouses as I can before Invasion day. Like I said, the faster we can build, the more people we can save.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she agreed. “If nothing else, I can order enough parts for a thousand trucks and store them for later. But I guess I need to find a mechanic first.”

“Good idea,” he nodded. When he could think of nothing else, he said, “Well, let’s make Kuruk a blacksmith.”

He exited the tiny building and traveled over to where the native stood, mesmerized, as Jordan worked. “Hey Kuruk!”

The native jumped in surprise and turned.

“It’s time to give you your class,” Blake grinned. “Come with me,” he gestured.

Kuruk followed him to the hut, where he gestured toward the crystal. “Go ahead and place a hand on that.” After he dubiously complied, Blake turned to his mother. “Do you want to do the honors?”

She nodded and focused inward.

Suddenly, Kuruk gasped, and his hands reached for his head.

Oh yeah, I forgot again.

Blake rushed over, far faster than humanly possible, and caught the man before he collapsed to the ground. He eased the limp form down gently and turned to his mother. “We should get a recliner in here or something for assigning classes.”

“I’ll put it on the list,” she smiled.

A minute later, Kuruk woke up. “What happened?” he groaned as he rubbed his head.

“The Architect downloaded everything you need to know about your class into your brain.”

“Was it supposed to hurt like that?” he asked.

Blake shrugged. “No pain, no gain.”

“Easy for you to say,” the man muttered.

“Oh, I’ve experienced plenty of pain,” he corrected. When he saw his mother frown, he changed the subject. “So, once you feel better, you can drop me off at the Mander portal, and then start making tools for Jordan. Just ask him what he needs or follow whatever directives the Architect gives you. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Kuruk opened his mouth to ask a question, but instead frowned as he looked through his interface. The young man shook his head and laughed, “I suppose I will.”

“Great!” Blake clapped his hands together. “Then, let’s get going. Lot’s to do today, and I’m starving.”