Time moves quickly when one is busy. Before we knew it, two months had passed us by so quickly that it made me feel a bit shocked as I thought over everything that had happened.
My computer network had started to come to fruition. A section had been added to the well building, a server room with a few servers already set up. The operating system now finished, I started on functionality and security. Each of the leaders under me had a profile specifically for them, in which they had access to the master folders for each division, with the leader of that division being the only one with edit access. Only five laptops had been provided and connected to the network, and we had started to digitise everything.
I developed a program for Aerith to create blueprints in and she had been testing it and asking for more features until it bloomed into exactly what she wanted. The plan is to eventually have tablets she can provide to those who helped her so they could be assigned to specific parts of a build, but for now she just carried the laptop in off-line mode with the blueprint already done.
Jupiter and Sheep both cleared out two mine sites and we now have fifteen miners and five smelters assigned to each site, bringing in various smelted metals that were shaped into what we needed. Thanks to the surplus of fuel, we had a team that would go out, collect and resupply those gathering metals. With the influx of proper metal, we quickly upgraded the miners and provided equipment that allowed them to mine faster.
The base had transformed completely. Six new buildings had been added, three dormitories, one office, one barracks and a mana refinement building. All buildings had been wired with ethernet cables as well so we can easily roll out the computer network.
A large wall around the base about a kilometre from the centre started to take shape. Five metres thick and ten metres tall, it's absolutely a large-scale plan with estimates showing it'll be built just before the second Nexus event. Watch posts were built at cardinal and intercardinal positions of the wall, already set to be used. We had a rotating schedule for people to keep watch, a radio in each tower made reporting to us a lot easier.
Geralt's team had all reached Lvl 2 along with three from Trinity's group including herself and Geode, bringing in more ammo and guns. They were kept aside for the time being. A new type had been found as well at an encampment two days from here, which I planned to head to. It had been discussed between the leaders and they all agreed I should be the first Lvl 3 since as the leader I should be the strongest. Hating that mentality, I accepted only because of the fear I'd have another future dream. I needed more mana.
As I walked around the base, a sense of urgency could be felt in the air as people were working. Not a single soul was relaxing, everyone had a task and other than a few minor problems everything was progressing.
Heading to the mana refinement building while greeting others, I enter and walk into the main part. There, six people stood around a large construction, shaped like an hourglass with a magic circle at the very top of it. Seeing me enter, the six people quickly turned their attention to me as I looked at one in particular. A young woman named Juliana, one of the Mana Refinest.
"I heard you guys have had problems?" Gesturing to a nearby table, I sat down as Juliana did.
"Ah, we have, Madam Midnight."
"Don't call me Madam or any other titles, Midnight is fine."
"Sorry. Basically we have set up three different types of fonts that are meant to draw in mana but none of them have worked."
Looking at the hourglass, which is one of the fonts, I tilted my head before looking back at Juliana. "Tell me how it's meant to draw in mana."
"It's meant to draw in mana from the world and air. In theory, and according to the knowledge we have, if it works it's meant to then start refining mana from the magic circle at the top, and a drop of refined mana then drips into the bottom half where it will then begin a crystallisation process. Once done, we will have pure mana stones, but as you can see it's not working."
Looking once more at the hourglass, I tap my elbow with a finger before sighing. This had been one of the more exciting projects and hearing it doesn't work saddened me a bit.
"Perhaps it's because this world doesn't have mana? But that doesn't make sense…"
"We thought about that and found it equally strange. We have tried to provide the fonts with mana from ourselves but nothing happens."
Thinking over the next steps, I pursed my lips. "Alright, then stop the project for now. I want you guys to instead focus on magic research. Specifically I want you to research spell development.”
“Spell development? As in, creating new spells?”
“Yes. For example, I learnt how to use Fireball and Frost Orb so in theory it should be possible to create more spells. I’ve tried to use other types, like air, earth and so on, but they don’t work.”
“Interesting.” Juliana wrote furiously before looking at me. “Anything else?”
“Yes, I’d like you to study if mana can be used as a fuel source.”
“Source of fuel? Like an energy battery?”
“Correct. When one is exhausted of their mana, or overdrafted, they become extremely weak. For example…” Explaining what I had gone through after my dreams, while leaving out the fact I was having future dreams, I saw Juliana nod.
“So our bodies become reliant on mana to become strengthened, thus providing us with energy? Interesting. We may not make progress until we have a physical source of mana…wait, but what if we provided it ourselves for the time being?” Juliana wrote everything down furiously before nodding over and over. “We may need an Enchanter to assist us here.”
Enchanter has proved to be useful, but their only enchantment right now is strengthening materials with more durability. We had three Enchanters and giving Juliana a nod, I planned on having one come and assist them.
“In the next few days I’ll bring a laptop here and get you guys onto the network. Digitise your research, we’ll be able to keep an eye on it.” Standing, I saw Juliana nod before running back to everyone else. Juliana wasn’t the leader, none of them are, but I decided to keep an eye on her in case we needed one. Leaving the building, I looked towards the horizon before heading towards the office. A large building with three floors. The top floor is mine, it even has a bedroom and its own shower, the excuse being that a leader may need to stay the night. I liked the idea as long as Winter was my secretary.
Heading to the office and going to the second floor, the office of the leaders below me, I found Sheep, buried in paperwork with Diana helping him.
“Sheep, need a word.”
“And I need a nap. So do you, by the looks of things.”
“Argh, I’ve done nothing but be on my feet. I want to head out and actually shoot things.”
Sheep didn’t respond instantly but instead looked around for a moment before pulling a piece of paper from a stack and started nodding while looking at it.
“Three new types have been seen at a location of interest, basically an encampment of sorts. Head there and just snipe the new types till you get enough points. Oh, and take Winter so she can protect you just in case.”
I stared at Sheep, blinking for a moment. “That…seems like a rather boring way to reach Lvl 3.”
“But the most effective. I’ve done the maths, even with these new types only those who helped kill the dragon can hope to reach Lvl 3 right now. You’re only seventy five points off so you’ll hit it quick. Everyone else will fall shy by one hundred points. I think getting to Lvl 3 this quickly is in itself a reward.”
Rolling my shoulders with a sigh, I leaned back. “You know if that’s the case I’ll most likely help Winter get to Lvl 3 along with me, right?”
Sheep frowned and tapped his desk before shaking his head. “That’s fine. It’s ultimately your decision at the end of the day. I do agree with the two of you reaching Lvl 3 first, only because you’ll still be one of the first in the base.”
“Ah, right. If I’m leaving for a few days, I need you to arrange a few things. Juliana needs an Enchanter, I’ve moved the Mana Refiners to research since their fonts aren’t working.”
“I’ll find an Enchanter. When are you leaving?”
“In two days. I need to make a laptop for those guys so they can digitise their work. Speaking of which, why haven’t you moved to the laptop?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“I am, but I just enjoy writing over typing for preplanning.” After a bit more discussion, I left Sheep’s office and after seeking out Dawn and Melody for supplies, I then found Winter in her workshop in the basement of our house. Telling her of the plan to head out to advance, she easily agreed.
“Don’t you need to keep making machines?”
“I need more than just metal. I have to say though, the metal they’ve been providing has been wonderful.”
“Mm, it’s certainly made things a lot better with how my weapons are turning out. Have yo-”
A knock resounded from the door to the workshop and raising a brow, I walked over and opened it to find Aerith there, her face filled with concern.
“Midnight! We have a problem.”
“What’s wrong?”
Aerith enters the room and sits down, handing me a map. Opening it, I saw a bird’s eye view of our base with a big red circle with a few arrows from it at the top left away from our base. Recalling what’s there, I remember the weird dead trees.
“It’s those weird trees, remember how weirdly dead they were? Well…it’s like whatever caused them to be like that is spreading. The grass and dirt surrounding it now looks withered and it’s like it’s slowly spreading towards our base.”
“How fast is it spreading?”
“Well, we don’t know exactly. We just went up there to see about using the wood and saw the decay spreading. We have no idea what’s causing it.”
Frowning while looking at the map, I knew that if it continued to spread them it would hit the farm, which had just started to produce more fruits and vegetables. We couldn’t afford for that to happen, especially because it would spread to our base.
“Is it because it just hasn’t rained?” Winter looks over my shoulder at the map while glancing at Aerith.
“We thought so as well, but does dirt…die? It’s turning from brown to a strange grey.”
“I…no idea actually. We’ll need to investigate it, it’s either a disease of sorts or a Husk…”
“A Husk? How does a Husk cause this to happen?” Aerith tilts her head at me while I shrug a shoulder.
“We don’t understand the Husks enough, anything is possible.” Getting up, I grab the radio from Winter’s desk.
“Sheep, I need a team organised to explore the woods northeast of here. I need them all to be Lvl 2.”
“Roger, we’ll go as the usual six. Myself, you, Winter, Lemon, Ghost and Aerith.”
“We need to go by tomorrow at the latest. It seems whatever killed those trees is spreading towards the base.”
“Roger. I’ll get the others to get ready.”
Looking at Winter and Aerith, I put the radio down and nod. “Go get ready. We’ll explore the woods and see what’s happening.”
“A-ah, wait!” Looking at Aerith who looked worried, I gestured for her to continue. “Shouldn’t we take precautions? What if it’s airbourne?”
“We’d have caught it by this point. Don’t worry, we’ll at least have gloves and rules not to touch anything easily. We’re not rushing in unprepared, Sheep will also know to arrange a form of protection for us.”
“R-right…” Aerith still looked a bit concerned. “I guess we don’t have a choice if it’s spreading…”
“Which is why we want to go as soon as possible. If it speeds up then we’re done for.”
Winter looks at me before asking me a question that's been on my mind. “Should we evacuate everyone in the base?”
“For now, no. If we find that this is a natural disease and there is nothing we can do, then we’ll look at abandoning the place. We can’t easily do so though since we have a water supply here. Can you make me a bow by tonight, babe?”
Winter nods strongly. “I can, in fact I’ve just unlocked a blueprint for a new type of bow and arrows. But why a bow?”
“Because a sniper in the woods is going to be extremely difficult to use, I need something that works well up close as well.”
“I got you. Alright, a bow for Ruby!” Winter grins eagerly while moving quickly to gather materials. Taking Aerith with me, we leave the workshop while I tell Aerith to continue working on planning out buildings and to keep what she’d learnt a secret. She nodded and told me she’s already asked those who went with her to keep it to themselves for now.
Ordering supplies through Dawn and Melody once again, I also checked in on Ghost and Lemon who were arranging themselves for the exploration. Ghost had a small team helping with the farm, including some who were responsible for rearing new livestock we had bought. The livestock included pigs, sheep and surprisingly insects that were beneficial like bees, caterpillars and so on. The Animal Breeders excelled at taking care of the livestock and Ghost had already trained a team to harvest the farm. We were still months away from a good source of meat, but we were patient.
Sheep and I then handed our duties to Geralt and Jupiter, who both accepted our duties, though it wasn't much. Once done, we then focused on equipping ourselves when Winter came over holding a large box, excitement in her eyes.
"Rubes! Check it out, this is the best thing I've made!" She places the box on a table carefully while bringing out a small bow, about the size of my torso.
"A shortbow? It looks amazing." The base colour is black with red lines swirling along the curve and where the string and wood met sat a ruby on either end. The string isn't just normal cloth, it's carbon fibre, and resting my hands on the grip I couldn't help but feel amazed at how comfortable it is.
"Ah, check the System! An Enchanter also helped me add a surprise."
Shortbow of the Ruby
Grade: Blue
+50% Damage vs Enemies
+50% Pull Force
Multishot: Every arrow that hits a target within twenty metres will invoke another magic arrow to be fired off from the bow. Mana cost is 5 per arrow from the user.
Locked Ability: Kill 500 enemies with this bow to unlock this ability.
I nearly dropped the bow out of sheer disbelief. Looking at Winter with wide eyes, she just grinned more before pointing at the bow.
"I've been getting into more trances recently, but this one was strong. The moment I thought that I had to make this to protect you, a flood of emotions overcame me and that trance took hold of me."
Looking at the bow, I knew we needed to understand more about crafting in this world. Being able to make a weapon like this all the time would give us a huge edge. Embracing Winter, I thanked her before slinging the bow carefully onto my back.
"Ah, that's right. These arrows are special." Pulling one out with a green tip, she explained their uses. "This is a poison arrow. Melody helped me make the poison and it became more potent when I made it into an arrow. It'll spread a poison on striking an enemy that saps their strength and deals damage."
She showed me regular metal arrows and a new type, a drill arrow. When fired with a spin, it would literally drill into the skin of an enemy, and depending on the force could even crush bone. With the strength of my shots, could I pierce the heavens?
Once we were all equipped, we used a car to head to our destination. After a rather short drive, we saw the sight that Aerith mentioned. It's grim alright, the dirt alone made the hairs on the back of my neck stand.
We all got out and walked closer to the edge, hesitating for a moment. Finally Lemon stepped forward.
"I'll go first. I have the most health." Standing at fifteen hundred health, he eclipsed Winter by five hundred. We watched as he stepped onto the dead dirt and took a few steps before stopping and looking at us.
"There is a debuff, it does one health of damage every sixty seconds."
Sheep turned to me before shaking his head. "Midnight would die in less than two hours. How many healing draughts do we have?"
"Two each, healing at fifty percent each. Would extend my life by two hours." Looking towards the woods, I signalled Lemon back and looked towards the base. "Let's get Dawn and Melody. I want to test if shields or barriers defend against it and if not Dawn can take my place."
Ghost quickly leaves as we narrow down the direction the decay had spread from. Having a rough idea of the direction, we made plans to head in that direction.
Ghost soon returned with Dawn and Melody and using Lemon we tested a shield.
"It works, but the shield is getting eaten. It drains like five percent every twenty seconds."
“How often can you provide shields?” Sheep turns to Melody as she frowns in thought for a moment.
“At the rate it’s being consumed, I can shield you all constantly as long as I don’t need to expend mana elsewhere. I have three mana potions so there is room for error, I’m just concerned about the possibility of this debuff being stronger the deeper we go in. Here, let me try a barrier.”
A slightly silver barrier covered an area around Lemon who stood there without a shield. I could see the barrier and looking at it, I could tell right away that some parts of it were…dying. There wasn’t any better way to word it, small cracks were appearing as pieces of the barrier just fell off, grey in colour.
“That’s freaky. It’s like it’s eating the mana of the barrier.” Melody lets the shield down. “Okay, so it should last about two or three minutes, if I alternate between the shields and barrier we’ll be fine.”
Sheep looks at me and Aerith before nodding firmly. “Alright, let’s go with this. Dawn, I’ll have you in front, Winter and Lemon either side of her. Aerith, you and Melody in the middle while Midnight and I bring up the rear. Since we’ll be travelling through a forest our vision will be limited, focus on protecting the middle while keeping each other covered, don’t stray from one another. We’re aiming to see if we can find the source of this decay or if it’s natural.
“Midnight, set up your Party with Melody, Aerith and Dawn. I’ll have my Party set up with Winter, Lemon and Ghost.” Arranging the parties like this, Sheep continued. “Melody, use your group wide shield ability constantly while shielding the others from my Party when you can. Since your shields are based on max health Midnight and Aerith are priority while Dawn also needs it in case we run into anything. Everyone ready?”
With us doing one more equipment check, we all prepared ourselves, arranging into the formation Sheep had said and then stepped over the boundary, ready to check out what is causing the decay to spread.