The night dragged on and nobody was getting any real rest. Maik, Jose and Skip continued scanning while Sara organized any useful data they collected, documenting and recording everything deemed valuable.
As the sun rose on a new dawn so too did many of the horrors from the previous night also retreat to the shadows of the forest. AT least Maik got a skill advancement to go with their sleep deprivation.
Tier 3 skill advanced - Chi data reader - Intermediate
As soon as they could be sure that the coast was clear Alpha team moved out to inspect the status of the trucks. Thankfully the mechanical aspects of the vehicles were still in tact and it had only been the supplies which they had been carrying to use as bargaining chips that had been ransacked by the voracious little army. Of those supplies there was nothing left.
It was almost midday by the time they had procured all the information on the list but even then they kept going. They wanted to make sure to dig through every kilobyte of data for everything of use.
The squad leader wanted to radio over with what they had found thus far but it seemed that the range of radios had been reduced now that magic was a thing and he couldn't get a signal through from this far out with the portable unit they had on hand.
David was absolutely unwilling to spend another night in the cramped observatory surrounded by giant insects so the order was given for them to load up on the truck by the time mid afternoon came around. "Alright people, we have everything on the list and this building is not secure. Were moving out."
Nobody argued. One Ant had tried to chew its way though the door for half an hour last night only to get its head lopped off right after sticking it little antenna though the hole. Last night the swarm was busy hauling off the food stuff from the truck. Another night and the bugs might focus on their team in the observatory.
On the way back down the dirt road they had to stop. The road was totally blocked with rubble, specifically a cattle fence that had been trampled. Wood planks, broken off fence posts, barb wire and the partial remains of several dead cattle were blocking the way. Worse still. More ants were crawling all over the corpses, ripping chunks of meat and even bone off to carry away.
The squad leader was quick to cut off any panic. "I saw side roads on our left back there. James. is there a route around ?"
The jock snapped his attention to the map book where it was still flipped to the page of their location. "Uhh,.... Yeah. We can back up and take a left. There is a road that runs parallel to this one.... Yep it leads all the way back to the paved road we need to take a right on."
The squad leader signaled for the three trucks to back up before taking the recommended turns. Left, then right and they were on their way again.
David spotted some people huddled around the body of what might have been a cow. They were obviously busy butchering the thing and looked upon their little convoy with with peeked interest. The pause was short lived and they soon started trying to flag the three trucks down. The squad leader spead up in response though urging the other 2 trucks to do the same in order to keep up. "We don't have a supply of food stuffs to trade with any more and the mission comes first." The fact that those people were reaching for guns didn't make the squad leader any more anxious to top for a chat either.
The tail gate of the third truck gained a few new holes, courtesy of a couple shotgun blasts, before they managed to make it far enough away. Whether those people would have been friendly but were just pissed that Maik's group wouldn't stop or if they had ill intentions from the start was something Maik would never know now.
They kept going even with the plum of smoke rising in the distance. At the end of the dirt road there was the smoldering remains of what had probably been a house with another group of.... people. Yes, they were people. People wearing all manor of make shift armor and gear. Lots of animal skulls. They mostly seemed to armed with melee weapons and they had just been watching the fire burn.
They didn't move to stop the three trucks, just turned their heads to watch as the group sped around the turn as though they couldn't be bothered to deal with Maik's group unless the squad forced the issue. Maik reached a conclusion and they blurted the thought out loud. "We've hit the saturation point."
David was quite busy driving and one could almost hear his teeth grinding as he focused on the other trucks behind him, not crashing during the fast turn and now talking with the Chi instructor. "Say what now. What do you mean ? Speak frankly."
Now that they were back on asphalt the ride was much smoother but they weren't safe. Not by half if Maik was right. "The Chi skills that we've been teaching. They have been like... an early adopters advantage. I've been training people sense day 1 and people have been steadily adapting to magic being a thing all on their own, just far less efficiently. I think the rate at which they have been adapting has been increasing at an exponential rate. At first this rate was very slow. Like driving at 1 mile per hour. Practically standing still. But this is... what day 7 ?"
The lilin did a little math. "With that example the rate of progression would be going 128 miles of hour by today. Not only that, but it seems that there is enough accumulated Chi advancement in the wild life that its probaly normal for them to start having some kind of Chi ability at this point. Well, at least the animals at the base of the ecosystem. It makes sense. first it would be the microbes, then the plants, the insects would follow and on up the food chain. We've just managed to get ahead of the curve with intelligent design."
They made it back onto the highway by the time the lilin was finished outlining this hypothesis. David wasn't happy. "So your saying that those freaky fucking abominations from last night are about to be the new normal ?"
Maik thought for a moment, double checking the figures before giving an answer. "... uhhh, Maybe, I mean the evidence suggests as much." The squad leader swore loudly but still had piece of mind to fall back and signal to the others drivers to group their trio of trucks up as they continued on towards their next stop.
The group felt no relief however. Now that they had the long stretch of half open road ahead of them they could seem more than a multiple pillars of smoke in the distance and in all directions.
How much worse would it get before things stabilized ? Maik had the feeling that thick stone walls were about to make a reemergence into human culture, in a big way. The lilin was also kicking them self for not insisting upon more time to work on their skills. Maik had been ahead of the curve thus far but it was obvious now that this could certainly change if the lilin became complacent.
They passed the diverse neighborhoods that lined the main highway and it was evident, even from the road, that groups of people were congregated around seeming random houses which had been set ablaze throughout the day. However, none of those groups paid the three trucks speeding by much mind, only sparing them a glance before returning their attention to the smoldering ruins.
They did have to stop when they spotted a small herd of goats on the road. However these goats were strange in that their fur looked more like dull metal and the fact that they were eating a Car. David wasn't really willing to wait for them to finish their meal and move on though. So they looked for an opening before crossing over the divide to the west bound lane to get around them. A ram came over and almost rammed the last truck as they passed but nothing more.
The next encounter almost seemed like a welcome dose of normal, until it wasn't. A small pack of wild boars ran past just far enough ahead of them that they didn't need to slow down and a mosquito the size of a tennis ball was splattered across the wind shield. It was first clipped by the hood and then struck the wind shield low enough that its body got caught on the wipers for a few seconds, giving James enough time to identify the thing.
"Is that a fucking Mosquito ? Holy fuck its huge."
While Maik was peripherally aware of these events the lilin had instead been more focused on either cultivating to restore Chi or practicing Chi force projection by levitating their weapon using the skill during the drive.
Tier 5 skill advanced - Chi Force projection - Capable
Tier 4 skill advanced - Chi projection - Intermediate
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Finally they made it back to the town they had stopped at before. The atmosphere was way more tense this time around but they were still allowed in. David wanted to get on the radio and report what they had encountered but they already knew apparently.
It had started the morning of the day they left. A few reports here and there of enlarged insects having been encountered the night before had cropped up. It was much more pervasive last night. This made sense as most insect species hunted at night. So today people had been searching all over for the nests of the damn things and burning them out where ever people found them.
That explained all the fires. Find a house with a hive of giant ants living inside ? Burn the house down. No more hive. A couple of the guards were teasing one of their fellows about one is his encounters though and they were being rather nasty about it.
"Jeremy over here. Hehh. He says. Hee hehh. He says that a spider the size of a dog attacked and killed William last night. Claims that the big bad spider was too much for him and he was lucky to get way with his life."
The other guard spits on the shoe of a withdrawn fellow that Maik could only assure was Jeremy. "Fucking pussy. Probably don't even know what got William. Just ran like a little bitch as soon as trouble found the two of you, didn't you ?"
James just looked a scans at the withdrawn man. "Didn't you shoot it ? I mean, I know that damn thing was terrifying but a couple bullets still killed the one we ran into."
Duke chose that moment to pipe in. "If it only took 2 to kill it ? Then why did you shoot it 5 times ?"
The jock grimaced and took a sharp breath in through his nose before answering. "I wanted to make sure and it was still twitching."
Duke then looked the other guards, the ones who had been teasing Jeremy in the eyes with a cold stare until they lowered their gazes. Once it was made clear that giant eight legged death was, in fact, a thing to be worried about he went over and put a hand on the hallow eyed Jeremy's shoulder. "Hay. You fucked up. Maybe your friend was already dead but you could have, Should have avenged him. Now that monster is still out there And has a taste for human. Do better next time." Jeremy nodded and the conversation moved on.
The group was asked a lot of questions and they heroically recounted how they remained hold up in the observatory all night, killing over 30 ants and the one spider. The information was still useful as it gave the man a first hand account of what was coming and Maik was all to happy to share their theory about the evolution of how the ecosystem would continue to evolve up the food chain.
But the groups 15 minutes of fame were soon up as David approached, having finished with his report quickly and they needed to move on. "Enough lolly gagging. Were burning daylight and there's still a long way to go."
The wide patch of wilderness between the town of Boriston and the farm that passed through featured more random encounters. The needed to avoid a large tortoise with a shimmering shell, mainly because of the still smoking and burnt corpse of some 4 legged animal next to it.
Another gator prompted the second detour as they switched back to the west bound lanes. The small convoy switched back to the east bound part of the highway to avoid another small herd of hogs being chased by a pack of wild dogs not long after that and they never even got close enough to see if there was anything special about those animals.
They reached the bypass they had used before to avoid the green skinned rednecks and took it. However it wasn't long before a group of men on horse back cut them off with riffles trained on the front truck.
Maik stopped practicing Chi skills to hold their weapon at the ready but David motioned for them to remain calm. Instead he opened the door and stepped out. "Hello there. I don't suppose any of you folks know the good fellows over at Townly farm ?" It was the name of the farm they had passed though on their way out yesterday.
One of the horseman rode up to talk with David. "So it is you. Looking to pass back through I reckon ?" David nods and the mounted man continues. "My uncle with be glad to see you. The radio has been big help. Come on, Ill lead the way to our strong hold."
Maik's group was actually lead off the road and onto a farm they had previously not been on, with one being on the west side of the road. Further back they came upon a sprawling series of campers and temporary housing that half surrounded a series of horse barns and other supporting structures. Everyone was on edge until they saw the old man from their first time passing though here.
He walked right up with a big smile despite having his arm in a sling and welcomed the group. "Welcome. Welcome. I would like to say we can see you right through but circumstances are not so fortunate this time around."
He gestures for them to follow him and starts leading the way into one of the larger barns. "We have made contact with the Darrion county alliance and asked for assistance and they say say they will send aid when they can... But it would seem that they have their hands full with issues closer to the city."
the squad was shone to quite a few wounded, many of them suffering from gun shot wounds, but also really bad swelling like that of wasp stings. The old man was pained and weakened. It showed in his plea for aid.
"The men you warned us of attacked last night while we were busy dealing with a swarm of giant hornets that attacked the live stock and farm hands alike. They drove us out of our homes and have taken some of our people, specifically our woman. Please. Help us."
Maik and Stacy were the only 2 who had trained the minor healing skill up to a higher level but James, Eugene and Nathan also had it. They got to work. First everyone else in Maik's group requested a quick data packet on learning the Minor healing skill, which Maik prepared all the way to Intermediate level so as to help them advance the skill quickly once they learned it. Then they all set about mending these peoples wounds.
David conferred with the farm leadership while Duke and Chase talked tactics with the farm hands. By the time the squad was finished up healing all the wounded up well enough that they should be up and about after a good nights sleep it was past sundown.
A hot meal was offered but the group stopped to look on with confusion as one of the people escorting them swung something in the air that sizzled with and electric jolt. It wasn't so much the loud zap but the furious swearing the stomping that followed.
The lead lady escorting them just giggled. "Hm hm hm. Ohh that's just the another bug getting zapped. She help up a home made electric fly swatter. Someone had taken a tennis racket, removed the plastic wire, replaced it with metal cable before attaching a battery pack and a trigger switch. "We already had quite a few of these, being a horse farm and all. Horse flies are.... well they used to be the worst. Hehh Heh. Now its giant hornets and green skinned raiders. Haa ha."
She sounds just a little unhinged. The whole world is a little unhinged these days. Its hot. I like her.
She was still talking though, a crazed gleam in her eyes. "You can still stun the little bastards with a quick zap though. And once there on the ground it easy enough to stomp those little monster into fertilizer." She smiles and continues leading the way, anti hornet bug zapper in hand.
Dinner was a strange affair. The slightly unhinged woman wasn't the only one. In fact there was every kind of emotional state one could imagine within the central corridor of the horse barn being used as a make shift long house. Maik could see one person wallowing in mournful despair less than 15 feet from a man who looked to be celebrating. Another looked thoughtful while a 4th looked care free.
Still, despite the wide range of dispositions, These people were sticking together and making the most of their situation while the world was going mad. Gossip was rife the whole evening meal as people wanted to know anything and everything, that Maik's group could tell them about what had happened after magic had become a thing.
One child's question seemed silly at first, at least until half a dozen adults took it seriously. "So how did you do it ? How did you become adventurers ?" These people had access to the radio transmissions now and had heard about the Chi skills. Then and there Maik decided to use use Chi date packet to at least pass along enough knowledge for these people to get started on taking control of their future.
By the time the lilin was being shown to somewhat secure sleeping quarters they were dead tired. Maik had managed to impart the knowledge of the 2 most important skills to the majority of the people gathered here. Chi manipulation and the Mind & body skills were uploaded using until the Chi instructor, Jose and Skip were almost wrung dry.
Maik Couldn't afford the expense of uploading the Chi manipulation skill all the way to the distinguished level with their depleted reserves though but the lilin did impart the understandings of the skill up to the advanced level. Now they just needed to work on the skill and actually build it to that level.
The skill even advanced as a result.
Tier 3 skill advanced - Chi data packet - Intermediate
Maik was out of the conscious world and entering their mental construct within seconds of laying down in their sleeping back. The collected aspects of the lilin conscious soon set about the nightly ritual of going over the days gains with the usual excitement.
Tier 3 skill advanced - Chi data reader - Intermediate + 18 alteration points.
Tier 5 skill advanced - Chi Force projection - Capable + 16 alteration points.
Tier 4 skill advanced - Chi projection - Intermediate + 21 alteration points.
Tier 3 skill advanced - Chi data packet - Intermediate + 18 alteration points.
Despite only having advanced 4 skills the lilin still had 73 alteration points to work with. Of course this was mainly thanks to how high the tier and level the skills were. Body Politic actually spoke up when Maik's other 3 aspects started deliberating on how to distribute them.
20 too Durability. Jesus. It always startles me when you speak. Makes me question the voices in my head. We are the voiced in my head. Sigh. This is why you aren't in charge of making jokes. 11 for Strength, 12 for Chi, 10 for Dexterity, 10 for Intelligence and 10 for Endurance. Hay wait. That distribution seems adequate. So were just going along with what Primal says ? Should have focused more on point placement. Less time on joking.
With the points allocated Maik could finally drift off to dream land.