Calvin’s group, along with Liam and Sasha, gathered by the fire near their cabins.

“Those panthers are going to be a problem.” Calvin pointed out.

“For sure. I’m tapped out after treating those wounds. The next wave could be a disaster.” Marshall agreed.

“We had only practiced that one technique. Unfortunately, none of us really have any experience with this sort of thing before the tutorial.” Liam said, “We’ll have to keep working on ways to adapt our fighting style to the opponent we’re facing.”

“I think our group will assist in the next wave of those panthers. We do want to let the soldiers get experience on their own, but we don’t want to take casualties in the process.” Calvin said.

“I agree. You think the next wave will be stronger?” Liam asked.

“Definitely. Their formations, the compositions of the other groups and the system rewards all seem to indicate that.” Calvin said.

Calvin turned to Seth. “Got any fancy toys that might help out?”

“Nothing new, although I’m working on more sentry drones and barrier drones. With enough barrier drones, we can control more of the battlefield, although those panthers can just jump right over them. Their agility is the issue here.”

“Ok, so, we can use the barriers to help control their movement on the ground, but we have to worry about them jumping over.” Calvin thought for a moment, “What if we use the barriers to set up openings for them to charge into. The sentry drones struggle to hit the panthers directly on the ground, can you have them track and target only the panthers that try to leap over the barriers?”

“I can.” Seth nodded, seeing where Calvin was taking this logic.

“We can create a kill box. Leave openings in the barriers, and have the sentries and ranged combatants target anything that leaps. You set up your snares in the killing zone to capture any that maneuver into it and we’ll have a core group dedicated to dispatching the snared panthers.”

“Freya can use her howl to slow them down and maybe even stun them. We’ll have the soldiers focus their efforts on quickly eliminating any that become disabled. As their numbers fall, we’ll condense the killing zone. Amy and I will hold up the middle and take care of any that break through the layers.”

“Sounds good. I’ll get them practicing on this right now. Seth, can you spare some drones for us?” Liam asked.

“Of course, I’ll meet you over there shortly. I’ll just gather some things from the shop.” Seth said.

“Great, get everyone rotated out for some rest too. We don’t know when the next wave will hit.” Calvin said.

With a salute, Liam was off to the training grounds, rounding up soldiers on the way.

Calvin wandered toward the shore of the lake. He was looking out at the shining blue beacon in the distance. Those are other people out there. He thought.

Calvin started to feel that his priorities were becoming overly confining. There was a great deal to accomplish before the tutorial concluded. They needed to train everyone up, deal with these waves, take out the alphas, and complete the system quests. Calvin also really wanted to make contact with that other settlement. They simply didn’t have the people, resources, or time to accomplish all of these tasks.

Amy walked up alongside him and took in the same view. She stood there with him in silence for a moment.

“Thinking about that town over there?” she asked.

“Yeah, and everything else.”

She just nodded at that. She could understand the pressure. She felt it much the same way. She hooked her arm though his and stood there with him for a while.

“Raptors approaching!” came a cry from the wall.

Calvin sighed. “Back to work, I guess.” he gave Amy a wink and they both headed over to the wall.

When the system labeled these ‘Glintscale Raptor Elites’. It really should have emphasized the ‘elite’ part. These were purely badass death machines. They were nearly twice as large as the other raptors they’d fought and far more fearsome. Their scales glinted with an iridescent shimmer as they reflected the light from the afternoon sun. They sprinted across the clearing in an arcing formation, heads low to the ground. They were light on their feet, easily sidestepping incoming projectiles.

Calvin watched as the defenders moved into position. He had a hunch that they would be required to lend a hand in this fight. Seth likely shared the same sentiment when three of his drones suddenly emerged and began to target the oncoming dinosaurs.

Their approach was disconcerting. Running at full speed, the raptors communicated through a combination of clicks and barely noticeable movements of their heads. The monsters’ behavior hinted at a level of intelligence that was far beyond anything they had encountered before. These were truly elite soldiers of the dinosaur world.

They weren’t as nimble as the panthers, however, and two of their numbers were struck down by the salvo from on the walls, one raptor, rather comically was punted high into the air by a pillar of earth erupting directly beneath it. The unlucky creature crashed down hard with a sickening crunch, leaving it critically wounded and out of the fight.

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The defenders had poured out of the gates by now, taking positions behind the barriers. Sasha had joined them this time, she held up the rear of the defensive lines in case any of the raptors managed to pierce through their defenses. About a dozen feet from the barricades, the raptors simultaneously broke formation, with the two on the outer edge fanning out at an angle. The center two dinosaurs leaped high into the air, clearing the barricades by almost 10 feet.

Sasha immediately intercepted one the moment it landed, ejecting it backward with a powerful Tackle. The raptor flew back into the waiting soldiers like it had been yanked back by some unseen force. Unfortunately for this dinosaur, its life was over an instant later as four of the defenders methodically tore it to pieces.

The other raptor had circled behind Sasha, continuing to move in a pattern that kept her back to the flank. It kept a wary eye on the ground combatants and the fighters on the wall, switly dodging any ranged attacks sent its way. It wasn’t outright attacking Sasha though, it was biding its time.

Calvin was watching the deadly ballet unfold as he saw the raptor’s tactic. It was positioning Sasha for the flanking raptor to ambush her. Without a second though, Calvin threw his spear into the path of the intercepting elite and activated Riftwalk. He’d timed his throw almost perfectly. Almost. He’d appeared on the battlefield just a fraction of a second too late, having no time to pick up his spear from the ground before the raptor lunged at him. He sidestepped the attack and punched out hard with his gauntlet.

The sharp knuckles tore a deep gouge along the raptor’s neck and knocked the creature briefly off balance. Calvin had just enough time to retrieve his spear and take up a defensive stance against the raptor. Calvin and the raptor engaged in their own circling calculation. Each of them watched intently for the other’s action.

The defenders were quickly repositioning to support Calvin and Sasha while also forming up to prevent the third raptor from engaging their rear lines.

As Calvin circled around, he’d forced the raptor to place its back toward the wall. Amy jumped on this opportunity and hurled down three daggers back to back with her Echoing Strike. The well honed fighting machine heard the daggers approach and jumped swiftly to the side, however, Calvin saw his opening. Lurching forward he jabbed twice, striking the creature both times. He slammed down his spear, intercepting the incoming strike with his barrier and struck again twice more. Freya had burst through the gates now and leaped on the raptors back. Her teeth sank into the back of its neck as it flailed about wildly trying to fling her off.

Calvin slammed his spear into the raptor’s thigh and released his charge. The force of the blow shattered the bones in the raptor’s leg and sent it to the ground. Calvin called Freya off and they moved to support Sasha, leaving the raptor to be finished off by the approaching soldiers.

This was the critical point for the battle. With two of the raptors down, and the other encircled, it was only a matter of minutes before they had finished the battle and begun harvesting the creatures for their materials.

Calvin just barely hit level 20 from that fight and headed back inside to check out the upgrades.

Holy shit Calvin though.

Level 20 was huge. The skills offered to him were leagues better than what he’d seen before, and he figured it was partly due to the fact that this would be the final skill before class evolution. Among a large list of simply fantastic options, one skill stood proudly above all the rest.

Techlancer’s Arsenal: The techlancer marks a target and conjures two nanite duplicates of their currently wielded spear. These duplicates remain for a short duration and can either attack independently or mimic the strikes of the techlancer. Upon the techlancer's command, the spears will fire toward the marked target. These duplicates will carry all the intrinsic benefits of the duplicated weapon. They will not inherit any effects added to the weapon through skills or external effects. This skill is a continuously evolving skill, having many options to evolve and grow with the wielder.

This was some serious power. Calvin almost couldn’t believe his eyes upon reading it. I had everything. It was a distraction, extra damage, ranged damage and synergized with Riftwalk. Not to mention it was also an evolving skill. While he did briefly peruse the other options, it didn’t take long before he confidently selected this skill. He was almost itching to get out there and try it out.

After selecting his skill he was immediately presented with another prompt.

SHIELD WALL IS READY FOR SKILL EVOLUTION. EVOLVE SKILL?

Calvin just blinked for a moment. he really hadn’t expected to evolve his skill already, he’d only used it in a few battles. He confirmed the evolution.

Shield Wall has evolved to Phalanx

Phalanx: As the vanguard, the Lupine Techlancer finds themselves confronting danger head-on. The techlancer plants their spear in the ground generating three short-lived barriers side by side that can intercept incoming attacks. Upon expiration or destruction, the barriers release a directional concussive blast. This blast is empowered by the damage intercepted by the barrier. This is a continuously evolving skill, having many options to evolve and grow with the wielder.

Calvin read the skill description, then read it again. He was in disbelief. While he wasn’t sure what triggered the skill to evolve, he was absolutely sure that the power level was on par with the completely broken skill he’d just picked up at 20.

Calvin’s new to-do list included getting out there to try out his fancy upgrades and getting everyone else in the party to level 20 immediately.

There was just one final thing for Calvin to ponder on. He could feel nanite energy coursing through his body at an incredible rate. What felt like a small trickle of nanite energy flowing through his body before, had grown into a small stream. It coursed through his veins, flowing through every surface of his body. He activated Resonant Charge to confirm his suspicions and took a few lunging steps. His skill charged up much faster now, as if his nanite control had improved upon leveling up. He experimented with a few thrusts before disabling the skill and looking down at his gauntlet. I wonder.

Experimentally, he tried directing the nanite flow through the gauntlet. The runes flickered briefly and the fingers of the gauntlet opened and then closed again back into a fist.

It worked he thought in excitement. With a little more practice, he’d likely be able to regain functionality of his hand.

Amy had just finished up with the debrief on the wall and strolled over to Calvin. She noted the silly grin on his face and was more than a little curious.

“What’s got you in such high spirits?” she asked.

Calvin looked up at her and flashed the two skill descriptions for her to see. As she read through them her eyes widened.

“Damn Cal, that’s huge!”

Calvin’s grin didn’t disappear as he lifted his gauntlet up and gently grabbed her hand.

Amy appreciated the sentiment for sure, but she wasn’t exactly sure where it was coming from, until it struck her.

“Your hand!”

She grabbed him in an excited embrace before backing off and slapping him on the shoulder. “Good, now you can stop moping around about it!” she said with a wink. “Come on, let’s go show the others.”