I drove back to my Outpost within the city.

Sooner than I would have liked I found myself on those stairs leading into the earth. As I descended into those depths, I received 2000 CPoints and a Round Token made of the same pearlescent material as the Hero Token. Which reminded me, I should really use that when I got back to the valley. That would be a loyal ally in a world where there could never enough support. Plenty of hostiles forces though. I needed all the help I could get.

The strengthening of the Psifield in the tunnel was a soothing calming presence. Something about it seemed to prop me up, and helped me to recall my purpose here. Even if the field had yet to connect to the Nexus back in the Valley, I knew it was just a matter of time. I had started to understand that the Psifield influenced my thoughts and emotions. Though other things seemed to be pulling at my mind, heart, and perhaps even my soul. I couldn't find stable ground.

The Probes had dug out four cavernous rooms. Three of the rooms had two Robotics Facilities apiece. I immediately set those up to build Sentries. The fourth area had two Forges in it. With those we could break down just about anything and use the resulting resources to build just about anything else. I had a lot of future plans for that process. All in good time.

The two Probes that were digging out these rooms had shifted to digging a separate tunnel to the north. My thinking was that it would be good to be able to pop up anywhere in the city that I wanted, moving unseen by Corpo eyes. I really ought to thank Megan for this idea, I wonder what she'd like?

I began tinkering in the Forges. I had the Probes tunneling North haul the waste rock back here to break down instead of banishing it to the void. Sure, it greatly slowed them down, but I'd already decided not to be in a hurry anymore. We could take as long as we needed to accomplish these goals, so long as we remained undetected. My first project saw me start assembling the parts for a larger freight elevator. I wasn't going to trudge up and down those stairs anymore. My legs were still aching. Once the elevator components were done, I had Buzz and Jitters start breaking down the stairs, while I assembled what I could.. A few hours later, we had a working lift to get back and forth from the depths. As a bonus, the Sentries should be able to use it, so they wouldn't have to stay in the tunnels.

With that out of the way, I assembled some basic furniture, and even a few appliances. It started with a table, a few chairs and a bed, then came a couple of fridges and soon a stove for when I could stock the larder. I had to tweak and combined a few different schematics to get a proper oven with a stove top from the odd collection of things my Robo-Buddies had scanned into the assemblers' database. All of that work made me realize I hadn't had anything to eat or drink quite a while. My stomach made noises confirming that it too had noticed the lack of sustenance. Fuck, I needed to take better care of myself.

I took the lift up, with Buzz and Jitters floating around me, to try to find some food that wasn't going to mess my guts up. It turned out there was a diner just up the street. It served what something called they called fusion cuisine here. After a brief moment of feeling lost by the odd options, I ordered a noodle burger. This consisted of a "meat" patty and some "vegetables" wrapped in lightly fried noodles, soaked in a sauce on a bun. The sauce was something you might find on a Lo Mein dish. Tasted better than I'd thought it would but still didn't quite taste right. I had a canned lemon ice tea with my meal that wasn't too bad. I grabbed a few more of those cans of tea, to throw in the fridges back at the outpost.

I made up my mind to head back to the Valley in the morning. There was no point in me sticking around here, the Probes knew what to do.

My sleep was mostly peaceful, barely any troubling dreams at all, and I awoke in the morning ready to head out. 5:00 AM seemed like good time to get started. I took Jitters and Buzz with me to the van and we got rolling. The elevator had been a great idea.

The drive out to the Valley was uneventful, just the way I liked it. When we got to the bridge though, I discovered a problem. There was grass growing everywhere. Minty smelling purple grass. The same grass that tended to grow by the waters of a Moon Well. From the bridge all the way up to the cave following the overflow canals. Like the grass Arasaka would have seen, at the badlands outpost. Fuck, I should have thought of this already. I groaned in frustration. I might have even banged my head into the steering wheel a few times.

Well it's not like I didn't have a few ideas on how to take care of that problem. I just had to get started on the solution.

'Hey Meadran, I'm coming up. See you soon.' It would be good to see the massive tree person again, and feel the breath of the forest once more. Every time I left here felt the lack of both mana and life.

'Hmm. Good to hear from you Young One. We were starting to get worried.' A sense of peace filled my mind at contact with him. The Valley really was becoming my home, in a way my house on my old Earth never had been.

Up and through the cave, which had even more offshoots now. I supposed that the constant search for resources continued, I wished the Robo-Buddies all the luck.

Surprisingly, Lumi met me at the entrance to the Valley and after some scratches and rough housing, he ran off back into the forest. What had that been about? I still got the sense he didn't want to be here, nor did he really like me. As a companion he was off.

At this point, there was nothing but forest, the whole of the Valley was absolutely flooded with trees. I was staring at a kaleidoscope of different colored foliage. Even Meadran himself had grown a bit more, not as dramatic a change as last time but still noticeable. Do Trees of Life ever really stop growing... no of course they wouldn't. The rim of the Valley now had a fully built cobblestone trail around it following the path set by the Pylons there. Photon Cannons and Keeper Statues had been placed by each Pylon, this place was about as defended as we could make it right now.

The trees weren't the only change, there was all manner of undergrowth now as well. Various bushes and many types of flowers all playing their parts in the cycle of life being created here. Movement outside the trails and paths built by the silver Wisps would be difficult at best. Yet as I descended the undergrowth seemed to lean away from me as if to not get in my way. At one point I reached out to one bush to pluck a berry out of it and it seemed to lean into my hand almost like a dog seeking affection. I gave it a pat and it shivered. Okay, that wasn't the wind. What was this?

'Meadran what's up with the plants and trees?' Trying to project my full meaning over our connection.

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'They are happy you are home, Young One. Druids are ever bound to nature and all the subjects therein seek the favor of the Druid. We are all connected.' His thoughts were deep and carried ages of meaning. Even at the speed of thought, it would take a while to process all of his message.

'There is someone you should meet, Young One.' Meadran seem excited. Some had come into the Valley? A momentary sense of alarm filled me.

'Huh? Where?' I ran to Meadran island, and there they were. A nine foot tall skinny tree person, a treant with Golden leaves and dark walnut colored bark. It waved at me enthusiastically, while performing some kind of dance. I could tell it was excited and happy to be here. I started chuckling at myself, of course in was a new treant.

'While his connection is still growing stronger he cannot yet talk mind to mind. This is Faergin a descendant of the First Trees and one who walks the path of Lore.' Meadran projected a sense of family and closeness.

"Pleased to meet you Faergin. I hope you find what you are looking for here." I tried to project friendliness. After all trees seemed to be the best people so far, if Meadran was any example.

Faergin was a charming tree, waving his arm branches around and doing a shuffle with his stubby legs. His dancing was a joy to behold. He was full of joy and verve. One day soon he'd be able to talk and according to Meadran, he would then be able to tap into a lot of information over the Great Tree Network. Information Meadran himself couldn't access. Faergin would also be able to train my spells into new configurations. I'd desperately needed a mentor, hopefully he would be willing to fulfill that role.

My magic was still a stranger to me. And nothing I tried seemed to help me find the best ways to utilize it. Sure, Cleanse had become almost second nature to use, but perhaps there a more efficient way to use it, or could I shape it differently to get better results. What even counted as dirt anyway? Though all that usage did seem to improve the shaping process over time. Why was the shape used the right one? How would I go about safely shaping my own spells? Hmm.

Which turned my mind to the fact that often notifications didn't occur when things improved. Also, I never remembered to check with my BTC on my progress. That was my only source of information on my progress right now, and I needed to understand it more. My frustration at myself was boiling but I tried to let it go, I could only try to do better going forward. I had a feeling my life would depend on knowing my information, down to the last detail, one day.

However, none of those concerns changed the fact that my focus right now was trying to solve the problem of being observed by Corpos. We could do that by developing cloaking technology or by reducing or masking energy emissions from the Pylons, maybe... absolutely both, so I could expand my base and my outposts in peace.

Alina had been cranking away on several topics of research. Adapting Khalai technology to Human cyberware, designing AI cores for vehicles like the Dragoon, the Arbiter or the Scout, since I saw a need for a broader range of combat options. Lastly, she was researching how to miniaturize several pieces of tech for use in personal armor or even for the Probes like a cloaking field, revolving shields and maybe even small arms plasma weapons or disrupter beams. The Probes especially when infused by Wisps had more than proven their worth and their loyalty. I had no reason to not continue to utilize them going forward, other than the pain caused by losing them. I'd like to develop ways for them to serve in that role while reducing those potential losses. We might even have to build something completely from the ground up.

Heading towards the Nexus, I stopped by the Company Store to see if there were any new quests or worthwhile sales. No such luck. Other than a huge batch of something called burrower mites, nothing was discounted right now, and I really didn't like the sound of those things.

Everything along the trails looked lush and overgrown, the air was humid and rich with mana. Even the Ley Line below our base had gained a more golden hue and seem much stronger than before. Heh, I even spotted the Forest Cockerel, well I guess it was a actually a rooster now, and almost as tall as me. Damn, mana really did affect growth, and yet the creatures that were immersed in influence tended to live far longer lives. That seemed strange to me, counterintuitive, or was I overthinking it? Something to ask Faergin about when he grew up. Huh, did that mean I'd live longer?

Then I ran into the two Sentries, I had queued up so long ago. They kind of reminded me of a giant Roomba. About four feet tall and six feet in diameter, though that was broken up by the large crystalline sphere that acted as their energy core.

'Greetings, Executor.' Even without being infused by a Wisp these robots seemed much more aware than the uninfused Probes. Was that a result of more energy, or more data storage, or maybe even better coding? Hmm, there were so many new things to ponder.

'Keep up the good work.' I told them while already plotting on how to improve them. I reached the Nexus more than slightly worried about how the Sentries would have a hard time in buildings. They were certainly powerful but would be easily avoided by using doorways.

I spent the next few hours pouring over schematics, as well as Alina's research, trying to find ways to apply the results to the problems at hand. As fortune would have it, one of the Probes had scanned a Optical Camouflage cyberware package from somewhere. That helped by giving a baseline comparison between a human result of bending light that was practical versus the Khalai method of altering field effects to blend every energy signature into the background fields, including light, heat, vibration and Psi energy. We tried merging the two and after countless failures one simulated result had produced a success. We built a prototype in the Forge. Layers of extra crystal circuits embedded into a suit of armor that combined the principles of both technologies. Testing showed that it was a success. A small field was projected around the armor that muted all signals and emissions and even worked as excellent optical camouflage.

Sadly, it wasn't perfect. The energy requirements were rather large, so it had to be in a Pylon's area of transmission. That really didn't help right now, but I was sure we could figure something out later. Perhaps striping options would work, after all no one here should be searching for Psienergy.

The next prototype involved cloaking the Photon Cannons. They already required being built next to a Pylon so no worries about the energy requirements.. However, trying to fire while maintaining the cloaking field overloaded the circuits and melted the cannon's crystal after just a few shots. No go. Wait a minute. What was the common factor in all Khalai tech? Pylons! Why don't I just alter the Pylons. If they were the ones to generate the cloaking field we could then invest the effect into every piece of Khalai tech around the Pylon itself. Of course, that didn't fix the armor issue but it was a resolution to the corporate spying problem.

The Pylons, as it turned out, were very difficult to alter. To start with, the schematics were semi-locked. That meant all plans were missing sections of the circuitry. Certain other parts where not allowed to be messed with under Khalai law, no changing the structure of the crystal itself, for example. However, the control ring surrounding it was fair game though. Heh, we could just work around the problems.

By the next morning, I had a working Pylon prototype that could generate a cloaking field, creating almost any appearance of any type of emission desired, but it had a cost. The Psienergy cost caused the transmission field to be decreased to just two miles in open air. It wasn't a terrible problem, as we were going to need a ton of Pylons anyway. But that wasn't the only issue. Things in the field were rendered into the image effectively disappearing, however the field would distort around them when they fired, or moved too rapidly. Only for a second, but it was a problem. No where near as bad as that Predator's shitty cloaking field though. Suck it, hunt boy.

I threw my hands up, it was good enough for now. I was sure I could improve it later anyway, as I leveled my Warp-Smith...Son of a bitch, I'd done it again.

There was probably a solution in the expanded knowledge I would've gained by leveling up. Argh, I'm such an idiot. I ended up shrugging it off, we'd still gotten the job done.

Finally, I could expand our influence without worrying quite so much about Corpo interference. Now, I could turn my thoughts to a few other issues that had built up.