Jessica Nguyen: I believe I am almost there. I just passed a cut up tree.

Blake immediately dismissed the message, to focus on the battle. He was still within the Arachne scenario, although he had killed the queen and collected his level one reward hours ago.

However, just because the objective was completed did not mean all enemies suddenly disappeared. The free nano was too hard to pass up, and Blake had spent the last few hours slaughtering the spider people while he waited for Jessica to arrive.

Just as he felt their aether and psi spells partially affect him, he teleported behind and interrupted the connection. He cast his own psi spell, Directed Mind Blast, and all eight Arachne doubled over in agony.

Before they could recover, he systematically executed them.

Once the grisly task was done, he wiped the ichor off his spear and replied to his second chancellor.

Lord Blake Summers, Scion of Humanity: Okay, thanks for the heads-up. I’ll be there as soon as I can.

Jessica Nguyen: I thought you were already there, waiting?

Lord Blake Summers, Scion of Humanity: No, I was killing spiders in the nearby portal while I waited.

Jessica Nguyen: Spiders?! Are they going to escape?

Lord Blake Summers, Scion of Humanity: No, it doesn’t work like that, well at least not yet. Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in when I get there.

Blake checked his map and immediately set out for the portal. He was not concerned about making noise, and sprinted as best he could through the soft forest ground.

A sentry spotted him on his way, but he ignored it. He would reach the portal before it could overtake him, and the Arachne could not follow him to Earth.

After ten minutes of sprinting, Blake finally reached the swirling red portal. The red-tinted fog near the hole in space swirled, and resembled a whirlpool as it was sucked in. He stepped inside, unconcerned, and soon after exited the void into the dark crevice on Earth.

Blake carefully traced the limestone wall with his empty left hand, until the sun finally lit his path. Once in the open, he located Jessica and headed towards her. She stood outside the almost completed level one faction hall with hands on her hips, and looked like she had a bitter taste in her mouth.

“Don’t worry,” Blake said as he came to a stop beside her. “That’s just what a level one building looks like. It gets bigger and nicer as it levels up.”

She raised her brows. “It better, or no one will want to help build this town.”

Blake chuckled. “You should see what it looks like at level three. I’ll have to give you a holo-chat call when I get back home, so you can check it out. Or Mom can show you.”

Jessica nodded in disbelief. “So, what is the plan?”

“Well to start, once it is finished, I’m going to officially make you a chancellor so you can invite people, assign jobs, and place structures.”

She waved his statement away. “No, that is an immediate task. I mean, what is the long-term plan?”

Blake frowned. “I want to save as many people as possible on Invasion day. That’s why I created this expansion town, and why I want to create more as soon as I can.”

“Why not create them all now?” she asked.

“Who would run it? Where do we find someone I can trust?” Blake shook his head. “Hell, where do we find enough people?”

“You could run one of them,” she pointed out.

“I’m too busy,” he disagreed. “Besides, we can only build one more town until we upgrade our faction hall again.”

She frowned. “Why is that?”

“It’s the random ass limitations the Architect puts on stuff,” he vented. “The faction hall has to reach level two before we can expand. At level three, we get two expansions, at level four, four expansions, and so on.”

“Is it worth it? Will people be safe within the town?”

“Kinda,” Blake hedged. “Well, eventually. Monsters can’t appear within the town limits, but they can still enter after they get to Earth. It’ll need a wall to keep most out, and eventually a force field to block the stuff that can fly or climb over a wall.”

“How long before a ‘force field’ can be constructed?”

Blake shrugged. “Maybe five or six months? I’m not sure exactly how long it’ll take. I guess it depends on how quickly we can track down whatever materials it needs.”

“So, this town will only be protected by a wall on Invasion day, and it will be weeks before that changes.”

Blake nodded.

“Then, we will need rifles and a stockpile of ammo to fend off the monsters. There is no way we will make that timeline.”

“A few rifles and some ammo is a good idea for the short term, but we don’t want to rely on that. The Architect only rewards you with nano if you put yourself at risk. There’s not much risk in sitting on top of a wall and shooting monsters like fish in a barrel.”

“But, the refugees would be safe,” she countered.

“Yeah, but every few months, the monsters get stronger and higher level. Eventually, bullets won’t do anything. If people rely on guns, they’ll stay weak and won’t be able to stop them.”

“I thought you said a force field will protect the town?”

“It will, but that can only soak up so much damage. You have to go outside it and kill the monsters, or it’ll eventually fall, and your whole town is screwed.”

Jessica frowned. “You need to write all of this down.”

“Why? It’s faster to just tell you and answer your questions.”

“Because I am not the only one that needs to know. I need a document for onboarding.”

“Onboarding?” he asked in confusion.

“Yes. Have you never held a job? Once people join us, they will have hundreds of questions they want answered. It is best if there is a document they can read that answers most of them. That way, my time is not taken up answering questions.”

Blake scratched his head. “I guess I could write something down. As soon as I get back to Pinetop, I’ll ask my mom for some pen and paper.”

Jessica frowned. “Are you serious?”

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“Yes?”

The Asian woman sighed. “What do you have against technology?”

“Nothing, but it won’t work after Invasion day.”

“It works now,” she countered. “And, you can edit a typed document far easier than a written one.”

“I suppose,” he shrugged.

She laughed. “You are a Luddite like my father. He, too, is afraid of computers.”

“I’m not afraid of them,” he snorted and shook his head. “I just haven’t used them in ten years.”

“I’m sure your mother will help if you need it.”

Blake was about to respond, when he suddenly received a notification and held up a finger to ask her to wait.

You have gained 10m nano for completing a directive.

Blake checked his interface and found that only a single directive remained, to gain over a thousand faction members. However, at a million nano per person, and with the cops and possible feds breathing down his neck, there was no way he could invite that many people to his faction before Invasion day. At least one of them would run to the cops. Either for the reward, or for moral reasons.

“Looks like the building’s done,” Blake said. “Come on inside, and I’ll make you a chancellor.”

He placed his hand on the white sphere, and asked her to do the same. A moment later, she was made chancellor, and began to navigate her new menus.

“Interesting…” she mumbled.

“Unlike me, you can access the town interface anywhere,” he explained. “And, if you have any questions, you can just message my mom. How long until you can get some people here to work?”

Her eyes suddenly focused on him. “Two can start work tomorrow, but it will be a few days for the rest.”

“That’s fine,” he assured her. After a moment of hesitation, he added, “I don’t think you should tell whoever you invite about me just yet.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

“I’m a wanted man. All it takes is one person going to the cops to screw everything up.”

“I trust them,” she said. “But, if it will make you feel better, I will refrain from mentioning your name.”

“Thanks,” he nodded in appreciation. “Here, let me transfer some nano over to the treasury real quick.”

Before he did so, he checked his status.

Nano - 120m

After Blake had fed the faction hall twenty million mega-nano to begin its construction, he was left with only thirty-five. However, the level one Arachne scenario had been very lucrative. After taxes, he had gained sixty-eight mega-nano from killing the spider hybrids, and then another nine from his directive.

He checked to see how much nano was already stored within the treasury. Unlike the warehouse, it could be accessed from any town.

Just sixteen million? They’re blowing through it crazy fast.

Blake was disappointed that their new tax policy could not yet keep up with their expenses, but he could not afford to slow things down. He concentrated and transferred all but thirty-six mega-nano over to the treasury. Once he was done, he let go of the orb and told Jessica, “Okay, there’s a hundred million nano stored in the treasury now. That should last for a while.”

She nodded.

“It’s gonna get dark soon, so I’ll head back home and get to work on that ‘onboarding’ document you want.”

“Thank you,” she smiled. “It will be far easier and more efficient if I am not constantly explaining things to people.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“I’ll be back here tomorrow with a few workers. They’ll get started on building up the town.”

Blake said goodbye and drove back to Pinetop. This time, there were no fallen logs to eliminate, and it only took him two and a half hours to return home. By the time he pulled into their gated community, it was dark.

He parked his old diesel truck on the grassy field and strode toward the cookhouse. As he approached the small structure, his pace increased. The smell of roasted Mander made his mouth water, and he was eager to sample another of his father’s dishes. He was surprised how easily his father had taken to the new type of cooking, he did not remember the food of his past faction fondly.

“...telling you, it was the right call!” Blake heard Montgomery say as he stepped through the door. The argument was so heated, neither party noticed him.

“You are wrong,” Rajesh replied. “It would have been far more prudent to establish a search grid while we stealthily reconnoitre the area. If we could remain undetected, the advantage would be ours.”

“There’s no way we could be that quiet!” Montgomery argued.

“Not with how much you talk,” Rajesh muttered.

“If we did it your way, we’d still be there.” Montgomery turned to his silent friend. “Right, Jeff?”

Jeff opened his mouth to reply, but was immediately cut off by Montgomery.

“See? Trust me, we have way more experience with this than you do.”

“It is my understanding that you just began these scenarios a short time ago. A few days' experience hardly gives you the right to ignore simple logic.”

“Hey Blake,” his mother ignored the argument and greeted him warmly with a hug.

“Hey mom.” He nodded toward his two friends. “How long have they been at it?”

Donna sighed. “It’s been like that ever since they got back, hours ago. Oliver couldn’t take it and headed back to his room, and your father’s in the kitchen cleaning up.”

“How did the combat teams do? Was anyone lost?”

She shook her head. “No, they’re all fine, just exhausted. They ate and then went home and said they’d be back in the morning.”

“That’s good,” Blake smiled and then changed the subject. “I talked with Jessica. She said I should type up an ‘onboarding document’ that explains everything.”

Donna nodded. “I was going to ask you to as well, but I’ve seen how busy you’ve been. You’ve been overworking yourself. You need a break.”

Blake shook his head. “Actually, I was thinking I’ve been taking it too easy lately. I need to get to level two soon and upgrade my Physical Resistance. I’m worried about those Feds, or whoever they are. Speaking of Feds, have you seen any sign of them since we got Oliver back?”

“They’re still there. Your father tried to drive past the fire tower to see what’s going on, but they have the whole road shut down.”

Blake sighed. “Well, it was too much to hope that they’d just leave it alone. They definitely found the portal, or they would’ve opened that hiking trail by now.”

His mother smiled and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. “Let’s head over to my office and get started on that document. I’m tired of listening to those two.”

Blake could only agree. While the roasted Mander smelled amazing, he did not want to get in the middle of the argument.

I’ll come back after we’re done.

She glanced back at Rajesh and Montgomery. “I thought you said they were friends.”

Blake laughed and exited the cookhouse at his mother’s side. “What? Friends can’t argue?”

Donna turned on her flashlight and shook her head. “They can, but this doesn’t seem like an argument between friends.”

“Give it time,” Blake suggested. “Rajesh kind of rubs everyone the wrong way when they first meet.”

She laughed. “You can say that again.”

Blake frowned. “Was he rude to you as well?”

“Oh, no. Rajesh is perfectly polite every time he speaks to me.” She frowned as they stepped into the lobby of the faction hall. “There doesn’t seem to be any warmth or friendliness behind his smile. He wears it like a necessity.”

Blake shrugged. “Maybe he’s just freaking out or something. I didn’t meet him until two years after Invasion day, so I don’t know how he handled it.”

The moment they entered the building, overhead lights turned on and illuminated their passage. Donna turned off her flashlight and led the way up the stairs as they continued their conversation.

“You know, he’s not that same person. If you treat him like you’ve been friends for years, things may not go well for you.”

Blake considered her warning as they reached the second floor and turned down a hallway.

“Yeah, I know,” Blake said as they stepped into his mother’s office. “But, even if we don’t become friends again, we still need him. We need all the combat classes we can get.”

“Just so you’re aware.”

Donna opened her laptop, typed in her password, and then gestured at the office chair. “Here, have a seat.”

Blake sat before the desk and reached for the mouse she had plugged in. He moved the cursor across the screen, but did not know what to do next.

“Just open Word,” his mother suggested.

“Uh… how do I do that?”

Donna giggled. “Do you really not remember how to use a computer?”

“It’s been over ten years,” he defended.

“Well, I’m sure it’ll all come back to you quick. It’s like riding a bike.” She took control of the mouse and opened the word processing program for him. “There. Now you can just start typing.”

Blake rested his fingers on the keyboard, but paused as he stared at the blank screen.

“You haven’t forgotten how to type, have you?” she asked, incredulous.

He shook his head. “No, I’m just trying to figure out what to say.”

“How about you start with everything you know about Invasion day and go from there.”

Blake nodded and searched the keyboard for the first letter. After thirty frustrating seconds, his mother interrupted his hunting and pecking and booted him out of the chair. “Okay, change of plans. You’re going to dictate, and I’ll type everything up.”

He nodded in relief and began to tell his story.