The last week had flown by, while I had been looking through and adjusting templates. Finding ways to change and adapt Human goods into new and better equipment was highly enjoyable.

My Militech Trench Coat with Bullet Resistant Triweave had been remade into Trench Coat with Khalai Alloy Interweave, and was currently on it's MK 6 iteration. The new armor value was 4 4, while maintaining the exact same weight. My Norco Armored Vest with Polycarbonate Plating had been evolved to Armor Vest with Khalai Plating and Psi Shield Emitter Mk 5. Its armor value was 5 and shield rating was 10, though it ended up a bit heavier. It had taken a full day, each, to get both of those just right. Several Prototypes had been created and then ultimately disassembled.

In the end, one small annoyance remained, I couldn't find a way to change the brassy sheen though. I'd just have to live with it.

Another day was spent tweaking the Omaha Prototype. I'd found a few new templates for gun modifications and finally figured out how to make them compatible.

[ Omaha Khalai Variant Mk 8

Range: 45 yards with Reflex sight

Damage: 9

Ammo: 12 round Extended magazine, +1 round in the chamber

Mods: Extended Barrel with Baffling. Slide adjusted for Recoil Compensation. ]

So much quieter and easier to handle with only a small loss of damage. My new weapon was well worth the time I'd invested.

Two days were spent pouring over the schematics for both the Galena and the Supron. I'd made dozens of improvements to both and even designed armed and armored versions. The problem with that was that I couldn't assemble them in the Valley. I'd have to have the Probes widen a path through the mountain, to get them out, and I didn't think we were ready for a large enough pathway to be built. I'd have to wait for weaponized vehicles until I'd created our first outpost.

I spent a day making a more streamline version of the Probes. With some study, I'd determined that the fins were almost purely decoration. Removing them allowed me to thicken the armor a bit and add an extra power crystal. This slightly increased the output of both their weapon and shield. I'd finally experimented with an unnamed Infused Probe to make sure their Cores could be transferred with no Personality loss. As long as their Cores survived, my favorite Probes could be restored. Everything went smoothly so I got Scuff and Fix upgraded and ready to Rock.

[ Wisp Infused Khalai Probe Mk 2

Unknown Unit

Armor: 4 +2

Shields: 15 +5 (Shields now block Spells)

Damage: 10 +4 (May affect Incorporeal Beings)

The Combination of an Elder Wisp and a Khalai Probe. This Unit has partial Stealth.

This Unit has has been upgraded by Warp-Smith Ryan Crestwood ]

They were almost ready for a heavy assault role. At least by the local standards. By normal Khalai values, they were just now reaching levels that might be considered combat capable.

A day was wasted to try to adapt my cyberware. The Khalai themselves had Cybernetics, so I though I could just switch and swap things. However, it wasn't that simple, it was going to be far more complicated than that. I wasn't sure what I'd been missing. I asked Alina, if she could do some off-cycle research on the matter.

In between tinkering sessions, I had explored more of the Valley's current fruit options, like a golden orange-type fruit, a red banana-type fruit, or a green plum-type fruit. While all of them were delicious, I by far preferred the Silver Apples. I'd also developed a hankering for meat, but none of the fish in Meadran's pond were big enough yet. I could've bought something from the Company Store, but it seemed a waste to spend the points on something I was just going to eat. I instead bought a Feralassian Forest Cockerel and several matching Hens. They were on a daily sale. Only 100 Company Points for the bunch when they were usually 100 per chicken.

The Cockerel itself came up to my waist in height, which was troubling as it was still growing. It leapt at me only to bounce out my shield. It wasn't being overly aggressive, that had been a reflex from being transported to a new place. It eyed me warily. I smirked at it. It was a magnificent beast, with vibrant plumage in every shade of green and undertones of dark blues. The hens were uniformly a monotone forest green.

Then I also bought a pallet of Dustwallow grubs, frozen in crates, for another 100 CPoints. These would be good for aerating the soil and even their final form was something both relatively harmless and that the chickens would eat it. With a future food source obtained, I continued my day.

Our first Observer was built. This had been constructed in our new Robotics Facility, located right next to the Forge. I immediately sent it to spy on the Corporation located in City Center zone. Information could often be leveraged into power after all. Observers were permanently stealthed unarmed units. Their powerful sensor suites could intercept data and passively collect information about anything within a mile of its position. As far as I could tell, there was no current human technology that could detect them. Their downside was that they took days to make and a large amount of resources.

Next I queued up a Sentry Unit. These units could operate both as a Mobile Shield Recharger and a Shield Projector. This made them epically vital to all future operations. As my efforts at testing had shown, a shield's output had to be exceeded all at once to allow damage through it. Most small arms we had encountered, were only capable of this if multiple rounds hit the shield at the same time. Multiple simultaneous impacts could overload the energy flow output causing the shield to go down. While down, the shielding system entered a recharging state. Under the effects of any form of Recharger the shield shouldn't go down, as quickly. This would often minimize damage to whatever round managed to get through, while later round would likely be deflected.

The Sentry also had a disruptor beam weapon, capable of frying various types of circuitry. The damage throughput was low but the ability to knock out vehicle systems and heavy cyberware would be invaluable. Sentries would take 8 days to complete. However, I was getting antsy and didn't feel like waiting around for them to be done.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

I'd been talking with Meadran and it seemed that until some of our trees grew larger we couldn't build much Kaldorei Infrastructure. As most of their structure were built with trees as their central support. Also to advance my mana abilities, and potentially create mana based armaments would require specific types of Treants. New types of Wisp could also give access to new options, and those were governed by Meadran's advancement. His advancement was governed mostly by the local Mana Density, which again was a matter of time.

He further explained that with my current 84 Tree points, I could purchase up to 8 random seeds. The seeds might be Treants, or they might be other types of special trees, or most likely be one of the many species of relatively normal trees from throughout the Multiverse. I'd decided to hold off on this. My thinking was that with the Moon Wells chugging out mana and Keeper Statues guarding the pathways we were doing fine on the magical side of things.

Lumber production was constantly improving. We had set aside 1 unit of lumber to sell for every 5 produced. I had 50 units of lumber to trade now. Each unit of Lumber was an 8ft long 4"X4". Obviously, the Supron wasn't going to be able to haul much of this, never mind the Galena. Fortunately, I had made some new connections.

I had the Probes take the sellable lumber out to where the broken bridge was. Once they had finished, I loaded up a few backpacks, I'd kept from my raiding in the city. I made sure they were bulging with fruit, thinking I might be able to generate some goodwill with tasty treats.

I had added a few different types of attachment points to the Probes. These were to facilitate better looting. I'd found I'd developed quite a taste for plunder, and wanted my Robo-Buddies to be better at assisting in the gathering of goodies. Scuff and Fix, tagged along side me, joined by the newly minted Chuck and Barry. They were also WI Probes, each carrying two backpacks apiece. The packs rested across their sides like saddlebags.

A few moments were spent gearing up in my new equipment, with my own backpack of fruit and a new rolling tool case. I gave my farewells to Meadran, Lumi and Alina and headed back out of the Valley.

When I exited the cave, into the Badlands, several things happened all at once.

Most of it was a series of messages on my NET interface. The Veil around the Valley apparently blocked NET signals. I'd simply thought no one needed to, or wanted to talk to me.

Carver - I see you have chosen to skip out on the job. Consider yourself banned from all future work.

Carver - ( Symbol of a Skull ) This one came two days later. Guess he found out I tipped the kid off. Oh, well. I'd planned to track Carver down anyway. Imagine, getting offended that your intended patsy opted not to die for you. A sign of poor character I'd say.

Sinnamin - You pissed off Carver. Haha, probably tried to use you dirty. Well, let me know it you made it out okay. Huh. Wouldn't have thought she'd care. That's nice.

Misty - Just checking in for Vik, on how the new chrome is treating you. Ah a checkup. That's better aftercare than I'd expected.

Unknown Sender - We should meet. Big fan of your work. Not just no. Hell no!

Amanda - 2 missed calls.

Sally - 5 missed calls.

Well fuck. I'm mister popular all the sudden. Replying would have to wait for a moment while I found out why my BTC was currently trying to squeeze my arm off.

[ Adjusting... ]

[ Quest Offered

Establish an Outpost in the Badlands around Night City

Reward: 1000 Company Points, 1 Hero Token

Accept: Y/N ]

[ Quest Offered

Establish an Outpost in Night City (any area)

Reward: 2000 Company Points, 1 Theme Token

Accept: Y/N ]

Okay. I liked the thought of getting more CPoints. But what exactly constituted an outpost. As I always do when confronted with lacking information, I asked Meadran. He explained an outpost consists of at least two buildings. They needed to be from across your Themes, and protected by at least one defensive structure. He defined Theme as being like the Khalai or the Kaldorei. Ah, so a Theme Token would get me new types of building and units. Nice.

'Just be cautious, Young One. Outposts tend to attract more attention than they should.' He seemed worried. Hmm. I'd have to get defenses up quickly, once I set up shop somewhere. I pondered the issue for a few more moments.

'Either way, set aside enough silver Wisps for two Moon Wells. That should be a good starting point.' We'd start with two Wells and a Forge or two, and then surround them with Photon Cannons. I'd adjust after I saw how it went.

'They will be ready in a day.' I felt him also thinking deeply about the needs of our community.

'Thanks Meadran. I really appreciate your help.' I tried to send him gratitude.

'You are most welcome, Young One.'

I went ahead and accepted both quests. I was happy that there didn't seem to be a time limit. So there was no rush to find good locations.

Then I replied to the messages from everyone but Carver and the Unknown Sender. Explaining that I was in a area that was off grid. That I was okay and everything was going smoothly.

Then I headed down to the Galena. I loaded all the backpacks full of fruit in the trunk and put my tool case in the front passenger seat. That left plenty of room in the back seat for loot storage. With their new streamline form, the Probes could fit two to the front and two to the back on the roof. That had turned out better than I thought it would.

I drove down to the bridge and parked next to the lumber pile. The Probes had set it up to the south of the path and the outflow canals. Looking over the pile of wood, I nodded and messaged Amanda, I have a pile of Lumber we can move, let me know if you are available.

Scuff and Fix led Chuck and Barry on a patrol of the area. I decided to work on the Galena a bit, while I waited for a reply. I had seen several places in the schematics, were small tweaks would help a lot. Maybe I could get a few more horses out of this engine.

A couple of hours later. I got a reply from Amanda, Where and how much?

I sent back, By the broken highway bridge east of NC, best to approach from the south along the torn up road. 50, 8ft long 4\"X4\"s, weight between 750 and 800lbs.

Three Hours. Her reply this time was almost immediate.

I ate a few pink grape-like fruits. This one tasted of chocolate and butterscotch. Not my bag, but an interesting flavor none the less.

I returned to tinkering on the Galena. I'd noticed that the technology in the engines here, barely seemed to resemble what I was familiar with from back home. There must have been fundamental shifts in how people solved problems here. Well that was obvious, but the whole process of combustion in this engine shouldn't have worked anywhere near as well as it did. I understood the what and the how of it, but not the whys. It was going to end up driving me nuts one of these days.

I was still elbows deep in the engine bay when I heard the Probes beep. 'Visitors.'

I finished up, and made sure everything was reconnected. I went and turned over the engine. Ah, now that was a smoother purr. I revved the engine a few times. Good response, I'd gotten the timing just right. I turned the engine back off and tried to clean up a bit with some left over rags.

Three vehicles had pulled up and parked. Each vehicle was done up in badland colors, sand and dust, to help them blend in. Those still had personalized touches here and there. The splashes of color stood out more against the bland background colors.

One looked like a weaponized muscle car. It had some kind of turbine on it's hood, was that how it kept all the dust out? It roared like a beast. I liked it very much. The next vehicle was a Thorton Mackinaw truck the big brother of my Galena, I'd my eyes on one while back in the city. My thought was it might be good for hauling supplies. This one had all kind of armor plating added and a small cannon on top. Sweet. The last vehicle was a cargo truck of some kind, and a bit of overkill for this job. It was a brute somewhat comparable to a Semi from back home. It was towing a bare bones flat bed trailer.

The Probes hovered above weaving in and out of each others paths. Just in case. Mistrustful little Robo-Buddies.

Amanda got out of the muscle car, Sally got out of the Mackinaw, and an older fella I don't recall being introduced to got out of the cargo truck. They started walking towards me, when almost at the same time they stopped and sniffed the air.

"Is that water?" Sally asked, or rather demanded.

I grinned at them.