“We followed the trail off the fields,” Nick started.

Loch hadn’t been the one to organize the hunting party. It had first been formed by Ed at the old location, when the town’s survivors had first started gathering. Loch had been trapped in a Challenge Dungeon with his daughters, the reason why they were so much higher Leveled than the others. From what Ed had said, Nick was an experienced hunter. Not just locally, but he’d gone on trips to Montana, Canada and other places. Deer, birds, bison, bear. He’d hunted it all. The others that Nick had recruited were all local hunters.

“It didn’t take us long to find a deer trail,” Nick continued. “Being the first time in that part of the woods after the Connection, I didn’t think it a good idea to split up.”

“Makes sense,” Loch said.

“We were also mostly scouting it out. Getting a feel for the land. Looking for the game trails, likely dens, good places for blinds. If we happened to come across any deer or lone animals, we’d take them out,” Nick paused, sighing. “It went well for a couple of hours, most of the day, then we stumbled on the Lynxia den.”

He leaned against the counter, crossing his arms, looking down at the floor.

“I should have seen the signs.”

“Hindsight,” Loch said gently. “It’s a new world, pretty easy to miss a lot, especially when dealing with magical creatures.”

Nick nodded, but didn’t look like he accepted it. The guilt was still evident in his downcast look.

“Yeah, I guess. The den is in a hollow about two miles down the trail, off it a ways. A cave in the base of the hollow, large. What alerted us to it being there was a feeling of..,” he paused, shrugging, not sure how to describe it. “There was just a feeling of power.”

Loch wondered if it could be a dungeon.

“Only a couple of us went to investigate. Me and Jerry. Left the others on the trail. We got to the top of the hollow, saw the Lynxia Alpha and what I thought were a couple of females. Then we heard a growl off to the side. Turned and saw two of the pack. We ran after that, the Lynxia chasing.”

“Do you think you could find the den again,” Loch asked.

“Yeah, shouldn’t be too hard,” Nick said. “My Class gave me a kind of mapping Ability.”

Loch sat up, very interested. Nick held out a hand.

“It’s not that useful to anyone but me. Great for hunting though. I know the direction, can gauge distances pretty accurately and can remember locations. It’s all mental though, I can’t share it with anyone.”

“Maybe that comes with higher ranks,” Darren suggested.

Nick shrugged.

“Probably be awhile before I find out.”

Loch leaned back again, fingers tapping on the desk.

“It’s still a very useful Ability.”

“If we had maps of the area, I might be able to point out the locations,” Nick said. “But those don’t exist.”

Loch smiled.

“My house was off Bow Lake,” he started. “My backyard was those woods. I spent a lot of time out there on the trails with my daughters. We mapped out parts of it. Those still might exist if my home still exists.”

“How accurate would they be with the world expanding,” Darren asked.

Both Nick and John looked at Darren, shocked and confused. But not Jeff, he already knew. Loch winced. That wasn’t information that had been shared with everyone in the Clan and survivors camp. Loch quickly explained how the Spirit from the Connection was making the world grow bigger as the Worldcore grew and developed.

From how freaked the two men looked, Loch didn’t think his explanation was helping.

Darren had a point. The maps would probably be pretty inaccurate, not just for the change in distance but also for how much of the world had been forcibly changed. Houses had been completely removed, the material fed to the Worldcore to generate Spirit. The landscape was different. Loch had only seen houses missing, as he really hadn’t been off the main road since the Connection. A straight line west to east through the state from Concord to Portsmouth, he’d followed it from where they’d left the car, and Kelly had disappeared, to Northwood and a little beyond.

In three weeks, he probably hadn’t been more than a hundred feet off the road.

There was no telling how much had been changed in the depths of the woods.

The maps wouldn’t be accurate but they’d be a good place to start.

From the very beginning, his goal had been to return to his house. It was close now, only a mile or two from where he sat. Original distance, probably more now. There had always been something coming up that kept him and the girls from going home. He’d given up the thought since becoming the Clanlord. There was too much to do for him to leave for a couple days on personal business.

But now he had an excuse.

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A flimsy one, but still an excuse.

“You did good,” Loch said to Nick.

The tall man nodded, still looking like he blamed himself. No one had died, but they very easily could have. Loch thought the man had done well to get the full hunting party back to the school ahead of the Lynxia pack.

He turned his attention to Jeff and John, the larger man standing up straighter.

“What were you guys able to get from the pack?”

“Got a good amount of leather,” Jeff started. “It’s called ‘WILD LYNXIA HIDE’ but I don’t know if it’ll have any special Abilities yet.”

“We were able to gather a large amount of meat,” John said. Before the Connection he’d been a butcher at the local grocery store and those skills had translated to a set of specific Cooking and Gathering Abilities. Like Jeff, he was going to be a Profession Classer. Not a fighter but a crafter. “Rough guess is enough to last a group this size about two weeks. Three if we do small portions. A lot of it is stuff that people wouldn’t normally eat. Livers, stomachs, that kind of thing. But I wasn’t planning on telling ‘em, just cooking it up.”

Not as good as Loch had been hoping.

There were a lot of mouths to feed in the school, and it seemed more were appearing every day. There had to be other communities of survivors nearby. Cerie had mentioned that establishing a Clanhold gave the Clan control of a larger territory, governed by the Connection. Would that mean it became a kind of rallying point for unclanned?

Loch didn’t know. There was so much he didn’t know.

His mental list of things to review and ask Cerie was growing. Nothing seemed to be crossed off as her answers tended to lead to more questions. The list just kept growing.

And it seemed that their Adapted bodies, what the Connection had done to them to give them access to Spirit and Abilities, made them eat a lot more. Loch didn’t seem to get as hungry throughout the day like he used to, but when he ate, his meals were just bigger. In a way it made sense. Before, their bodies had burned calories when active. Now they were much more active. The Adapted bodies were probably more efficient at using the calories, but would still need more.

They were already rationing the food. There just wasn’t enough of it, especially fruits and vegetables. He, the girls and the Millmans, a father and son they had met outside the Challenge Dungeon, had raided the local grocery store and managed to come back with a lot of grocery carts and bags filled with food, along with Piper’s dimensional storage bag.

But what had looked like a lot had turned out to be not nearly enough.

The grocery store was too far away and now in the hands of the Hobs, a Clan of monsters that had their home nearby. Loch was planning on another raid, there was still some food they could gather, but the more time that passed was more time for the Hobs to take everything. There probably wouldn’t be anything left.

Teams of scavengers were hitting all the remaining houses along Route 4, starting to go down the side streets, ranging not more than a day’s journey, staying the night in the abandoned houses. Loch didn’t want them going all that far yet, not until the groups had Leveled to Five and gotten their Classes.

Most would end up with Common Classes, but even those would increase their survivability and allow them to range further and safer. Just not west, where the mysterious Gaunts had established a base.

Yet another thing to deal with in the future.

There was just too much.

With the amount of food needed, there wouldn’t be enough in the homes to make a difference. Every little bit helped though. Barely.

Loch had instructed the scavenging teams to also bring back any winter gear. Coats, snow shoes, hat, gloves, boots, cross country skis.

There was just so much stuff they needed. Blankets, clothing, tools. Each house was raided two or three times until the teams had gotten everything of value. The school’s storage rooms had been ransacked, everything not useful thrown outside, to make space for all the useful stuff.

Cleaning supplies had once been useful. Not as much anymore.

Or at least they didn’t have priority.

Loch felt dirty floors were preferable over starving or freezing.

Winter was only a couple months away.

“Two weeks is a good haul,” Loch said, trying to sound enthusiastic. No one was buying it. “Will the hunters be ready to go back out tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Nick said, not sounding thrilled about it.

Loch didn’t blame him. He turned his attention to Darren.

“Spread the word that people are to stay out of the woods.”

“I’ll have some of the guards patrol the borders,” he said, leaning forward. “We’re going to need more guards.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “Wonder if there’s a way we could send them into the woods to find trouble. Get them Leveled and Classed.”

Loch’s first instinct was to immediately say no. It was a crazy idea. Deliberately putting people in the way of danger, putting their lives at risk, just so they could Level and benefit the Clan more. Loch hated the idea.

But wasn’t that what he had done when he took a group into the Dungeon that was next to the school? Wasn’t that the idea behind putting up a Dungeon delving rotation? To get people into the Dungeon and get them Leveled.

Why was it any different than sending people into the woods with the intent of finding monsters?

It was a good plan.

They needed the guards to get stronger with higher Levels and Classes. There were dangers, like the Gaunts, out there and the people needed protecting. He knew that a Clan of Elves and giants were somewhere in the area. Those would be threats in the near future.

Clan Brady had to Advance and quickly.

In the Challenge Dungeon he had been forced to let his daughters fight. They’d both gained Classes and Levels, now the two highest Leveled and powerful people in the Clan besides himself. He’d willingly brought them on a scouting mission and into the Dungeon. Both were dangerous and potentially life threatening.

He hadn’t liked it, but he’d done it.

The best way they, and he, could protect them was for them to Level.

It would be wrong to not give that chance to the rest of the Clan.

Loch sighed.

“Yeah. Don’t send them too far in though.”