Meadran was sending me off to the the Nexus, right around the time the Sun was starting to lighten up the sky. It took longer for my eyes to adjust to the new light levels, thanks to the ritual.

The Mana levels had risen, and he now had enough Mana Stored for the next step.

He had me queue up 15 Wisps for when I got back. 5 of a Golden Variety, 5 Silver and 5 Blue Ones. He said there would be more types later, but it would be a while before we got to them.

Lumiar decided to stay and talk to Meadran, while I traveled to the opposite end of the Valley from where I started.

The Pyramid structure was a lot taller than I thought, a couple hundred feet maybe. That Blue Crystal on Top shone brightly in the sun. I was a little worried it would attract attention.

I hadn't noticed until I got closer but the Nexus was flanked by two Large Crystals encompassed by rotating Brass Rings, floating about 30ft off the ground.

As I got closer, I could feel another type of energy surrounding me. It wasn't mana but it had some similarities.

The Branch on my arm twitched a couple of times but didn't do anything else.

Hmm.

This place made me a little nervous. The area around the Moon Well and Meadran was comfortable, alive and vibrant. This place felt more cold and empty.

At the base of the elaborately styled Nexus the path lead to a recessed area, that turned out to be the door.

Two panels slid out of the way to reveal a mostly empty space inside. At its center a small floating Crystal similar to ones outside but only roughly the size of a basket ball. There was a large panel of transparent material bounded by more Brass. It reminded me of a monitor, so maybe this was the control center?

I thought maybe I was suppose to touch the crystal. There didn't seem to be anything else to interact with.

I looked around again. Nothing.

"Fuck it." I place my hand on top of the Crystal.

[ Adjusting...]

'En Taro Adun, Executor!' A feminine voice entered my mind. 'This Outpost stands Ready.'

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En what now? Lost again, but I did get that this was an Outpost.

[ Khalai Nexus has been connect to the Great Tree Network

Options:

Choose Class

Raise Level

Create Probe ]

"Should I build Probes?"

'It is not for me to dictate strategy to you Executor.'

I was getting the impression the voice was like an A.I., mostly rote responses.

"What do I use to Build probes?"

'Minerals and Vespene Gas. This Outpost has 500 Minerals Stored. Further resources must be harvested by Probes or converted. They need enough energy from Pylons to be activated but are autonomous after that.'

I nodded, alright, this was making sense. The Pylons were probably those large crystal things outside.

I queued up two Probes. That used up 100 Minerals. Now we are cooking with gas.

A Blue Light Hologram appeared of a somewhat round, almost fish like shape. Fish like because that's what the fins reminded me of. I had nothing else to compare it to.

It finished pretty quick, just a few minutes. It had almost been like watching my old 3D printer work.

It was a robot, with a single large blue eye like Sensor. It could float. It made a noise that I could tell meant, "Ready."

I wanted to take it apart to see how it worked. I actually started reaching for it, before I managed to restrain myself.

"Okay Little Robo-Buddy, can you look around for these resources that we need to build things?"

It beeped at me which I thought meant, "Sure thing!" and zoomed outside much faster than I would have thought.

I repeated the command when the next Probe was finished.

I had no clue if I should make more now or wait, but I could maybe try to satisfy my curiosity.

"Outpost can I get schematics for the Probes?"

'Placing on screen now Executor.'

The images I went over meant also nothing to me, their methodology was alien to my training. If I wanted to learn what made them tick I'd have to take apart a Probe myself.

I queued up three more Probes. When they were done, I started to reach towards them.

They were too cute, I couldn't do it.

With a sigh, I sent them off to help their friends.

I did get the Outpost A.I. to show me lessons on the History of the Khalai. I had to admit that was pretty epic stuff. They seemed like real badasses.

I wondered if I could get some of them to help me out?

I asked the A.I. who I started calling Alina, if that was possible.

'Negative Executor, there are no Khalai within detectable range. We will be limited to robotic units only.'

"What is detectable range?"

'A five mile radius around the Pylons.' She continued to explain how the Pylons worked.

I was a little bummed out by that, a handful of those warriors she had shown me could probably conquer half the planet before breakfast.

One of the Probes returned, it beeped at me. "Found Something."

I followed it to a hole in the ground, it flew inside, I squeezed through, it thankfully opened up into a cave system. Well I didn't want to go exploring just now, I needed some equipment. Still, it seemed the Little Robot knew the way, so I followed.

A couple of minutes later, we came across the rest of the Probes. They were zapping, what looked like a large Quartz formation, with Plasma? Like an arc welder maybe?

I asked the Probe that led me here, "Are these the Minerals we need?"

It sounded out a longer series of Beeps, "No, but can Convert at Outpost."

I nodded.

"Alright, four of you harvest this up, maybe widen and improve the path to get to here between trips. One of you keep looking for the Gas we need or something we can convert into it."

Yeah, this was really starting to be understandable.

I was digging it. Haha!

I decided to head back to Meadran and Lumiar the check out what the Wisps could do.