I connect to the village without moving as little as possible, and in only a few moments, I’m speaking:

“The interlopers have been driven out.”

“Holy…. How did you that?” Asks the operator.

“From the forty-five that came close enough for me to detect, only 12 approached, the others were hidden. They were trying to capture me, I think. Underselling a little and then going full throttle when I got their measure seemed like the best option, and it worked out.”

“Thank god, Richard was almost sending Greg and a dozen scouts to reinforce you. But you manage to drive them off so fast.”

“The thought is greatly appreciated. I will be here a few minutes then I’m coming back to the village.”

After signing off, I head back into the house to get a few things I need. Chief amongst them is one of the batteries. I have a feeling it will be useful, and I doubted we would have the time to exhaust even one to the end of the second attack. I also doubted anything inside my inner world would count towards the village’s strength. We didn’t know much about the inner mechanics of the system’s threat assessment/economic impact, but we were pretty sure I was no longer considered part of the village, even considering my very ties.

It only takes a minute to enter the house and mentally prepare to take the whole thing assembled. And the process goes smoothly.

As I step outside, when I put strength into my step beginning to run, pain shoots from my hip. I was feeling a little sore, but it seems the damage was quite a bit more significant than I was expecting.

I slow and assess the injury for a moment, and it’s then I notice pain on my shoulder, wrist, and probably other places that will slowly make themselves known. Nothing overwhelming, but it seemed I was running high on the adrenaline train.

From my inner world, I take a little of the healing salve and apply it on top of all these injuries. There are no scratches or other injuries on me and I’m grateful for the mana shield. A recent development from Merlin made it infinitely more useful in combat. I knew the previous version, but the flat nature of the mana shield made it unsuitable for close-quarters combat. Even mages did not found it very useful in most encounters. If they needed to move around the shield was left behind as it was tied to the ground. This version was more mana expensive but offered nearly perfect protection along my skin. Basically, the only limitation is the inability to protect from immobilization and undesired movement of the joints.

With my ever-rising skills levels and mana control, it had been easy to learn. Though there seemed to only be another a dozen people around who could repeat the feat.

With a little more care, I head out not going full speed, though I continue to infuse my body to keep a decent pace. Only minutes have passed from when they approached my house, but it seemed as if the entire world was different.

With another deep breath, I let any questions rest for later and focus on my current task, to move. I make the track following the mana conduits on the ground, just in case, I need to contact the village or something.

In the middle of the way, about 10 miles from the village, I see a clearing. From the tress they have taken down it must have been opened in the last hour or so. I move around it, and the five people around don’t notice me.

Contacting the village, I find that Charlie is in the control room.

“Don’t worry about them, they are our reinforcements. We set up a com relay there. Though don’t tell anyone, only a small circle knows about it.”

“No problem,” I answer, as I get closer to the village.

At my slower pace, stray thoughts though were mostly gone. I’m almost late, but I still have about 5 minutes before the attack starts. The walls and defenses erected the past day impress me. Metal and wood traps cover the approach to the village. The wall is now finished, and taller than ever. Almost 9 meters of nearly smooth stone. Courtesy of our Earth/Stone mages.

People recognize me, as I approach. And in a sudden impulse, mana slowly leaves my hands, as I climb the walls from the outside. A small cheer goes through the crowd atop the wall.

The corridor is about 2 meters wide with a few larger spots, and I find the main concentration, which is probably where the commanders will be. I see Richard and a few other people filling in and sit outside in a place where I won’t get the way.

About five meters below me, packed dirt in the middle of the wall has a couple of roots, and I connect with them. The network surrounding the village comes to mind. It is very thin and new, unlike in my home, but with little compunction, I start to send thousands of mana throughout the network to accelerate the growth. Sitting in this almost meditative state, and with no other strenuous tasks, I can move even more mana around, and mana goes from the battery to the ground at over 50 mana each second.

Minutes go by as a few more people come up to help defend the city. Even now, there are people with unsuited constitutions to fight and a few that simply don’t want to fight. But at my side stand almost 800 people planning to fight. Some of the others were just discontent, but the majority were just taking a back seat and working on other places needed. Like the doctors and nurses we had. A true fantasy like healer was still missing, but a couple of people managed to get doctor and nurse classes, so it was better than nothing.

Others were working as messengers and other tasks away from direct combat that would help us atop the wall.

As the time is just about to run out, I hear Charlie.

“Good Nash, you are here. Heard about the attack. I’m glad you are ok.” A little awkwardly, given we are not alone he continues cryptically: “Did you bring…”

Without waiting for him to finish, I speak:

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Yes, I judged that it was worth considering the circumstances. They will probably attack soon after the monster attack.”

“Your gut feeling matches with our analysis.”

“About the guy, I spoke with. I’m not sure the limitations and something he said indicates it’s not usable in many cases, but there are system-enforced contracts. Nothing of the slavery variety, but still…”

“We saw indications there are such contracts. In fact… never mind, we do this later.” At my silent nod, he looks more intently over the wall and waits the final seconds to noon. I’m pretty sure he can’t tell the time this precisely, but he knows it is any minute now, and sure enough, in less than 30 seconds a message arrives from the room meters behind me.

“Intruders detected.”

So they have made some type of perimeter detection thing, or maybe scouts are outside transmitting this message. Either way, it’s good. A little advanced warning.

Moments later the crowd turns silent. I taste the apprehension and anticipation in the air. They have arrived. I still keep my eyes closed, though all my other senses are on high alert. Including the sensory input from my roots. I move them closer to the top of the soil, and they lay in wait for the right time.

Around me, I hear all I need from the reports arriving for the commander, no longer in the same room as all the other lieutenants, but communicating through the new network.

“2000 Goblins….100 Orcs… 900 Wolves… 25 Goblin Shamans… 1 Chief Orc Level 70… Average level of other mobs: 35…”

The information flows through me, and a mental picture is slowly formed as the sounds start to make their way to me. Soon I feel as they reach the extremities of my root system, and seconds after the defenses. They try to make their way through the 200 meters of the heavily traped ground. As they pass, whoever falls is tangled in my roots and is run over.

As with previous times, the wolves come ahead, then the goblins, and the new addition the orcs. Further behind come the 100 Archers along with 25 Shamans and the Chief.

I tangle the enemy every single time I can, and in a minute over a hundred wolves and goblins are incapacitated. The 8-foot tall orcs are strong enough they can rip the roots I extend, so I manage to get none of them. Perhaps thicker roots would work, but I didn’t have the time. Even as I pay attention to dozens of things a second, the rest of the mana, now at only 25 mana from the battery a second to continue growing the roo system, and seeing their strength failing, thickening them closer to the village in strategic spots.

As the goblins reach the lower part of our solid stone wall and start to climb on top of each other given the futility of trying to break through given it is now thicker and stronger than ever.

Archers and crossbows hit the buggers continuously. Mana is channeled into gauntlets, and hundreds of flaming goblins fall, injuring others on the way adding to the chaos. Time seems to move both faster and slower as the seconds which usually are barely enough to do anything become eternities of waiting, and at the same time, everything happens at once.

In this strange duality, I wield my roots. Aether flows through me continuously, and I try to tell a story with it. A story of serenity, of decisive and fruitful actions. Of warriors in defense of their home muddling through the chaos, but not being touched by it. A story that fits with what and how they were already going about their business.

Even if they were much more seasoned than in the first or second attack, second the feeling of capability was ephemeral and hollow. I was adding to it slowly but surely, and in so doing slowly lifting everyone’s capabilities to fight at their optimal state.

Merlin and a few other mages start to act, drawing from the battery to send a fireball or two towards the places where it will make the most difference. It is then the enemy Shamans, come close enough to use their magic. With a meters thick stone wall, they protect themselves, and a few start to try taking down the wall.

Most of them focus however on my roots. Thousands of mana points pour out trying to wrestle control of them from me. At first, I’m shocked. They even succeed in taking control of a few square meters. But as soon as my concentration heads in to fight back with full force and fury, I notice Pando’s seed reaction. He normally doesn’t pay much attention to the Nature mana in him but is now fully focussed. And like an angry kitten, it will hiss and roar in a cute way.

The results from its actions are, however, anything but cute. In a second 500 mana is drained from their attempt. With my Aether connection, I can see the entire process clearly. He absorbed the mana in its entirety and is making good of it. His roots start to grow even faster than I could manage. His anger is a small shock, but Pando’s seed doesn’t even need my help. I send feelings of gratitude to it, and a sharp sense of protection comes from him.

Even with how young this sapling is, it has finally come into its heritage. And I let go of my apprehension. It’s a good time.

I stop sending mana at such a high rate, but my attention on strangling other goblins and wolves is redoubled. With nothing to distract me, I’m even more effective. The numbers that seemed so overwhelming moments ago, now are dwindling rapidly. Perhaps a third of them are dead or too injured to continue.

Almost a minute goes by before the shamans start to realize the futility of their endeavors. Looking at things through the seed’s eyes, I notice that the area under the control of these magic users is only a few square feet.

At the start, he was barely managing to draw in that amount of mana, but now it feels as if it was child’s play to drink in every smidge of mana from them. I continue paying attention to them as they all start to take down the wall. Merlin and his team have been easily defending the wall till now, but the number of enemies on the task just quadrupled.

A 3 foot stone is drawn from the ground by a few of them and hurled at the wall. To answer that, a small shield is formed just in front of the wall. I don’t know the exact configuration, but it uses a lot less mana than a traditional one would need to block the blow.

As the boulder impacts the wall, the vibrations are strong, but I don’t sense any damage to it.

Fire is answered with water. Attempts to destabilize the ground with earth magic are answered in kind as the earth trying to flow away return to its place. And the enemies are literally fighting against the terrain, which wants to continue it the shape it is.

With a little thought, I change the runes under them, to a configuration, I had at the back of my mind. Roots grow and shift to accommodate the shape I intend, and after another minute, nearly all my mana goes to fuel it. I keep just enough mana to continue moving the roots tangling enemies as they try to climb all over the wall.

In a few spots, they managed to get to the top, but nothing our valiant defenders couldn’t handle for now. As the mana concentration reaches a high enough level, I activate the rune working created just under them. Nearly a thousand mana points floats to the air and is held in place while going berserk. I see three of them lose control of their own mana, and the others can’t concentrate fully.

I increase the mana sent to almost 30 a second and try to hold the disruption in place as long as possible. Everyone continues to draw mana as fast as they can, the enemies, to defend in this moment of vulnerability, and our side to end their threat as fast as possible.

Arrows start flying in Merlin’s direction, and The Orcs start to pile trying to break through where I was seated.

Thousands of beings in conflict. A giant cacophony around me.

I cycle more Aether than I have used in a while as I keep the disruption field in place while focusing all my remaining attention on making their climb as difficult as possible.

Greg, which till this point has been taking things lightly, goes full bore along with two people to his side. Discarding the +3 spear they all had in hand, they move to the best weapons available. And our highest leveled and strongest fighter takes out The Spear. The strongest weapon in this instance probably, maybe on humanity’s hands, and with a single cleave aided by his massive pool of stats finishes off three goblins.

Their response is almost a foregone conclusion, and a second later, I hear what I was both expecting and dreading from behind me.

“The Goblin Lord has started to move.”