They returned to New Aspen and Calvin left Harlon to discuss things with his people. That conversation was something they should all have without Calvin or his group looming over them. Besides, Calvin wanted to go check out the progress on the Behemoth.

His journey across the battlefield gave him plenty of time to look around and reflect on what they’d done. The air still held a metallic tang of scorched flesh and ozone left behind from Ian’s cataclysmic baptism of lightning and fire. The dead behemoth loomed in his sight, a colossal monument to their victory and power. The once mighty creature was now a canvas of gashes, craters, and decay.

Seth was as busy as ever. He held a glass slate in his hands and poked his finger into it, guiding drones about their business and going over the things they had cataloged. The drones buzzed like metallic locusts, meticulously dismantling the fallen titan. Flying drones carried the materials to collection areas where volunteers helped sort and store the harvested goods in spatial pouches. Drones with glowing claws went to work on the behemoth’s teeth, plucking them out like they were mining massive stalagmites. Other drones navigated the body and limbs, severing tendons and removing massive runic plates from the creature’s chitinous body. The hum of activity pulsed against the backdrop of wind whispering through the now ravaged landscape.

All over the battlefield, the remnants of the behemoth’s fury lay scattered. Massive spikes, each taller than Calvin still littered the landscape. Many were broken and shattered, some simply toppled over and few remained standing. Seth would certainly want to collect those, as well as the thousands of now inert scale drones that had been fired from the creature in its final throes.

A grim satisfaction came over Calvin. Looking at the creature in front of him, now that the adrenaline had worn off, he realized they’d done the impossible.

Just another Tuesday in the tutorial. He thought. His mind wandered back to the people of New Aspen who'd died in this battle and chided himself for his thought. It seemed almost disrespectful to them to distill this entire tragedy to 'another Tuesday'. The fact of the matter though was that it was their life now. The loss of those people was regrettable, but he couldn't let it weigh on him. They were going to lose more in the coming weeks, months, and years, and quite frankly, only losing a couple in a battle with this creature was a damned miracle.

He reached the base of the behemoth and the sheer scale of the monster still surprised him. This of course wasn't the first time he'd been up close and personal with it, but it really was the first time he could just stand and observe. The victory felt strange to him somehow. Before him was a colossus of pure destruction. An immense challenge meant to test and prepare them for future encounters. A ripple of unease coursed through him. If this was the tutorial, what would await them when shit got real?

Calvin pushed the unsettling thoughts aside. Dwelling on them wouldn't change anything. Focus on the win... and the loot. He thought.

"Seth, got yourself a busy day ahead of you." Calvin said

"Man, you ain't kidding. There's some very very cool stuff here though. This behemoth's body is definitely part of the reward." Seth said.

He bent down to a crate at his feet and produced a few interesting looking essence stones. Two of them were black and one was deep red. These were unique from other essence stones that Calvin had witnessed. The energy inside them resembled roiling clouds of pure energy. He reached out and grabbed one in his hand. The energy within was immense. He felt it threatening to boil over.

"What are these?" Calvin asked.

"Those my friend, are minor behemoth essence stones. The black ones are void attuned and the red one is fire attuned. You probably won't believe it but we've found dozens so far. Each of the spikes we've harvested contained one. The scale drones seem to have them as well. We could end up with thousands of these alone."

"I imagine these will power your gadgets?"

"And Marshall's gloves, and probably your fierce warrior pup. The possibilities are pretty much endless. Any application that needs pure energy can be powered by an essence stone as long as the essence is compatible. I have no idea what special properties these might have. I'll have to experiment with that. These stones aren't all though. The armor plating is a useful material, and the teeth and claws as well of course. Hell, the meat might even be good. I can't imagine there aren't pretty insane recipes for behemoth meat that Stan could whip up."

Calvin scrunched his nose at the thought of eating behemoth meat, but he got over it pretty quickly. Knowing the system, if this stuff was edible, it probably had ridiculous properties.

"I know you got your hands full down here, but I wanted to ask you about your scout drones. Do you think you can get some juiced up enough to go scouting for other settlements?"

"Calvin, what kind of Aetherforge adept would I be if I hadn't already thought of that?" Seth said with a smirk.

"Before I came over here I set the factory to produce a few dozen. They should be finishing up shortly. If Harlon is ok with it we can launch from here. How'd your little journey back to Olympus go?"

Calvin looked back toward New Aspen and wondered the same thing. "I think it went pretty well. He seems to be a little more trusting of us. He's talking over things with his people now. Turns out, there are a few options to consider, including annexing them."

Seth's brows raised at that. "And he'd go for something like that?"

"To be honest, I don't see why he wouldn't. There's a whole load of system mojo with it, but we could structure the terms so that they basically get to keep being New Aspen but receive all the benefits of also being Olympus. It honestly makes sense to me. If we can encourage settlements to join our banner under annexation, we can share the benefits of our upgraded city with them, also, it would give us oversight over things to make sure they're not being assholes out there. I'm not about to let another Knox obtain a foothold. Also, Andy didn't really say anything about it, but I have been thinking about the transportation options we're going to unlock after the tutorial. I can only imagine that cities under the same banner would have some sort of means to easily travel between them. If we can set up a travel network, we wouldn't have to sprint all over the damn place."

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"I gotta tell you Cal, I haven't had to sprint anywhere in ages. Maybe you should have been an artificer."

"Tell me about it." Calvin shook his head in mock sadness. "Anyway, how quickly do you think you can break away and send the drones out? Tutorial ends in just under a week and if we can get scouts out to any settlements we find, maybe we can get some diplomacy started."

"I can break away right now for a bit. The drones here can handle most of the dismantling, I'm mostly here just analyzing the things we've found. I got time. Besides, we should probably gather everyone up and talk about the plans, both with New Aspen and finding new settlements. We'll have to have people prepared to run all the way to any new settlements we find."

"Will we though?" Calvin asked, with a sly smile as he thought of something at just that moment.

Seth's look of confusion gave way to realization as he likely reached the same conclusion. "I could fit the scouts with a portal grenade. If they find something, they drop a grenade, we send a group through."

"Glad I thought of it." Calvin said as he slapped Seth on the back. "Get crackin'."

Calvin gathered the rest of the crew and they sat around a small fire on the hilltop overlooking the battlefield. He relayed to them the discussion with Harlon and the plans to scout new settlements. Everyone was on board with the idea of annexing New Aspen. It did make them feel a little like they had imperialistic aspirations, but really, the outcomes were only positive for everyone involved.

About an hour into their talking and planning, Harlon approached with several other people.

"Calvin, these are the other leaders of New Aspen. This here is Marybeth, she's been in charge of the internal workings of the city, and this is Craig who is essentially my right hand. We've discussed the options available to us. Do you have a moment to answer a few questions?"

"Sure do, how can we help?"

Marybeth was an older woman, at least in her 50's. Her silver hair was tied up out of the way. Her level was close to Harlon's, and by her posture and stance, Calvin figured she'd had some experience fighting out here.

She gave each of Calvin's group an appraising look before she spoke up. "Why do you want to help?"

Calvin raised a brow at that. The question seemed absurd to him. "Isn't that what we should be doing? Humanity is facing its greatest challenge ever, we should all be lifting each other up. Not trying to hold each other back. In addition to it just being the right thing to do, we specifically have been put on the path of an ancient civilization known as the Aetherian Collective. One thing they were known for in particular is uniting the many other civilizations, under the banner of peace and knowledge. They sent entire fleets of ships to newly integrated planets for the sole purpose of aiding them in their new world. I believe we were set on this path because the system saw our actions and knew we would carry on that legacy."

Marybeth nodded and Craig spoke up next. His voice was a deep rumble. "What do you want from us if we join you?"

"We want you to be good people. We want you to help your neighbors, to defend people who need defending. We want you to survive."

"Do you want to rule us?" Craig asked.

"Craig, we don't even want to rule Olympus. We lead Olympus, and our people make their own decisions. Hell, the people even named the city. They picked their own property, and designed their own homes and shops. Our interest is solely in making a bright place in the shitty world we ended up in. It's clear we all need to be powerful now, and we support everyone equally in their path to that power, however they want to get there."

"What would you do with New Aspen if you were to annex us?" Marybeth asked.

"That's entirely up to you. You're free to stay here under the banner of Olympus. Your people are free to move to Olympus. If everyone decided to move to Olympus, then your leaders would join a council and help shape what becomes of this place. A governing structure is not something we've set up yet, however, the intention is and always has been to establish a council led by the people to be a voice of the people. If we're to be adding settlements to our community, then it stands to reason the leaders of those settlements would have a place on that council and be the voice of their people."

This time, Harlon spoke up. "And what would we owe you?"

"Really, nothing. Have you been introduced to credits yet?"

They all shook their heads.

"Right. Well, once our city upgraded to a certain tier, the system introduced us to credits and a treasury. I suspect that being annexed will bring you into that system as well. Outside of the tutorial, all civilizations in system integrated space trade in credits. We've been earning credits through system-generated rewards. There is a tax in place."

The three from New Aspen soured on that idea pretty quickly.

"Trust me, it's not popular with us either, however, it truly is beneficial. Our city has a system-provided administrator, who has access to an immense amount of knowledge. He informed us that taxation is heavily important for keeping the city treasury stocked, and that money currently becomes rewards we use to pay the citizens for completing missives. Those are essentially jobs we can post on a board. Anything from, go gather some carrots in the jungle to heavy rewards supplied for anyone who chooses a specific class to help the city. We keep the taxation low for now and we strive to let everyone keep their own wealth."

The three looked at each other and each of them nodded.

"Alright, we'll join you. Obviously, we would like to negotiate terms and ensure that everything is fair and above board. Your robot mentioned that there was some sort of contracting process?"

"There is. We should go back to Olympus and draw up the terms. I will be sure to make Andy available to you for any questions you have. Remember, Andy may be the city administrator for Olympus, but he is a neutral party. He works for the system. He will answer honestly when he's allowed to provide answers. Unfortunately, the system doesn't let him provide information that should be gained through trial and effort. But anything related to system functionality or how the contracts work, he should be able to cover. While we're discussing the details, feel free to rotate your people through Olympus. I can leave Ian here to open portals to manage transportation."

"That would be much appreciated. We're ready whenever you are." Harlon said.

"So are we, just one more thing. We plan on sending out scouting drones in every direction looking for more settlements. Seth would like to launch those drones from here. Are you fine with that?"

Harlon gave a slow, deliberate nod, his expression conveyed a mix of surprise and grudging respect. The fact that he'd asked for permission spoke volumes about the nature of their relationship in the future.

"Yes, that's absolutely fine."

"Let's head back. We also need to hand in the mission for killing the behemoth, however, I think we should wait until after you join us. I don't know how it plans to distribute the rewards but I want to make sure you all don't miss out."

And with that, the leaders of New Aspen joined Calvin through to portal along with 30 of their citizens. They began the process to unite Earth, one settlement at a time.