"No pressure, right? It's not like he wants me to single handedly lead people to their potential deaths, or worse..." I mumbled. After that line from Irwin I made my way to Tec. Regardless of how many times I laid eyes on the Entity Cluster it impressed me every time. The several story tall crystal embedded in the shore of the lake was definitely an accent for the town of Wildwood.
My complaints and worries washed away as I crossed the threshold for Tec's inner area of influence. The 'Blessing of Magic' as the locals called it. Wisps and currents of the elements flowed all around. My eyes traced the twirling dance of azure and beige that came off the mud at the bank, and the gold and blue that hung right around the wooden dock structure. Not long after entering the Blessing did a crystal limb sprout from the bulk of it and snag me by the torso. The wash of the Entity's whitespace flowed in around me, leaving a hovering orb of shimmering light above me.
"You really know how to greet people, Tec," I said, blinking my eyes to adjust them to the sudden change in setting.
--Dreg Warrior Leader Ronan judges social conventions--
--Is action required for improved success again Dreg threat?--
"No, you are fine honestly, but you could do with gaining a bit of a sense of humor."
--Human sensory organs do not include 'humor' organs. Biological scans do not reveal mutational Trait structures that might fit the criteria--
"Never mind. Just know that people will 'joke' from time to time. Maybe talk to Bec about it. And speaking of Bec, do we have any updates from it?"
--Connection remains steady. Current status appears to be 'unavailable'. Possible causes range from direct effect on surroundings to physical attack--
"What!?" I said, focusing on the crystal.
--Agitation detected. Clarification on likelihood of latter cause will be provided. Low chance of direct hostile confrontation--
Deep breaths, Ronan. Different personality template, remember? Tec is still learning. "Alright. So Bec is busy, but nothing else is out of the ordinary?"
--Affirmative--
"Alright, let's just leave that there for now. Can you give me the full update for today?"
--Acknowledged--
--Status of Afflicted Trainees is stable and several of the less affected individuals appear to be recovering enough for conscious action. Dreg Warriors Daniela and Samuel's biological tending has been supported by Dreg Warrior Timothy--
"Do you know how soon they might wake up?" Getting things coordinated with any surviving family in the town would be key for helping them deal with the changes to their bodies."
--Sleep activity patterns suggest some will wake within two days, majority post a three day rest period--
"That's great! What's the status as far as... Dealing with their changes?"
--Prognosis is less than optimal. Permanence of changes cannot be reverted. Extensive recovery time is suggested--
Once again Tec sounded genuinely sorry about the situation. I wasn't sure if that was because it wasn't able to heal them, protect them or even save some other person that had suffered almost directly. Nevertheless it was a clear demonstration that there was still more to learn about the Entities.
--Final 'update' concerning intrusive Dreg presence is unchanged--
"Are the prisoners causing any issues?" I wasn't ready to argue about solitary confinement or what effects that might have on the traitors of the town, but if they were released for the Wildwoodians to deal with they wouldn't get far past the 'door'.
--Negative. Low grade displeasure remains consistent. Dreg Liaison Kirby remains silent despite the nearby presence of his cohort--
"How's the containment on their abilities? Has that been taxing for you?" It was time to talk about the real crux of the problem.
--Power Constrained to no less than 80% current output. Cluster mass growth estimated to convert to 85% within the next month as a result of the increasing dreg purification of the residents within area of influence--
"That's wonderful..."
--Dreg Warrior Leader appears hesitant to speak--
"As I understand, the Entity Clusters lose and gain strength based on their size, yes?" I said, probing.
--Affirmative. That has been a point of our previous discussion approximately 2 minutes 43 seconds ago--
At least this time it didn't--
--44 seconds... 45 seconds..--
"Right. Got it. I guess getting your feelings on this is the wrong way to go about it. Tec, what are your capacities as far as providing Implants for the people of Wildwood, as well as access to the Skill spell chains," I blurted out.
The Entity Cluster quieted. I could see its orb shimmer and bob slightly as if it were a loading screen indicator in one of Samuel's favorite RPGs. I'd always been more of a real time strategy man myself. My drifting aside, a ding like a baked good called my attention back to the Entity.
--Current Category can be maintained at a Implantation of 67.32 residents--
"Let's just round that down to 67. Okay, would that impact your current defensive capabilities, both at dealing with the prisoners and keeping the town safe?"
--Minor reduction of Area of Influence would occur. Power Constrained would decrease to 62.4% of maximum--
A chair of crystal materialized below me as I worked the figure in my head. I knew that the repulsion field around the crystals worked to keep high Quotients creatures from approaching the town. I didn't know the specifics of how they accomplished that, but it was a blanket effect. If that was reduced, then there would be stronger creatures closer to town, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. There were two things Wildwood, and by extension our home Bunker, needed: fighters and materials.
--After review of my power consumption, I have identified two possible avenues for reducing the impact of the implanting.--
"I'm all ears," I said, turning to the orb.
--The primary way would be to limit Skill gains regardless of Quotient--
"That could work for the non-fighters in town. I would like to adhere to Bec's recommendation that people not gain Skills they didn't gain themselves too quickly. I don't want people to just drop dead from a brain hemorrhage thanks to stuffing too much information in their heads."
--Recalculating--
"You didn't take that into account??" I said, my eyes widening.
--Recalculating--
It's not Bec you are talking to. It's basically a big alien computer baby with more power than you could ever hope to hold in your body. That thought drew me up short. On second thought, that wasn't comforting at all.
--Recalculated Maximum Constrained Power at approximately 74.56% if rate of spell chain knowledge transplant is tempered to match Dreg purification--
"Okay, I definitely don't think that will be an issue. I'll talk to the Council and get them situated for having people get the Implant as soon as possible. What was the second way of offsetting?"
--Mana donations from the captives--
"Come again?"
--Mana donations from the captives--
"Yes, I got that. The expression means more to clarify. I don't know how comfortable I feel with taking mana from them." While I held no love for the scumbags that betrayed Wildwood, I didn't know if I had the stomach to hook them up like batteries in the magical version of the Matrix. That analogy already brought way too many comparisons that made me uncomfortable with the whole situation.
--Mana cannot be forcefully extracted. Only willing channeling and release of mana in an enclosed room can allow it to be harnessed--
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"I'll run it by the Council." I let my words hang as I tried to put my thoughts back in order. "I'm going to try to bring any parent of the afflicted with the first group. I think Eric is the only one actually in the Wild Guard."
--Access to blood relatives will be provided--
"Thanks, Tec," I said softly. A pang of loss for those families that had been broken apart settled in my stomach. When I thought about how much I wanted to have met my own mother and father, regardless of my uncle's efforts to raise me, the need to protect people surged within me.
Without saying anything else, I stood. "Thanks for all the help. You and Bec have given us a fighting chance."
--If current recruitment plan is successful, as per my current information bank, it would be yet another unprecedented achievement--
--Dreg Warrior Leader Ronan designation would be insufficient for level of responsibility displayed--
--Ronan has initiated procedures to acquire a Legion of Dreg Warriors--
While Tec's words should have been flattering, it only brought yet another wave of anxiety over me. Being even remotely responsible for the lives of that many people left me distinctly uncomfortable. I didn't even want to be called 'Dreg Warrior Leader'! My thoughts started to spiral as I got ready to nudge my conscious mind out of the whitespace.
--Tec reminds Ronan of available Skill Point--
That, thankfully, brought my thoughts back to the present and not the innumerable negative futures I was imagining.
"As tempting as that is, I think I need a good ol' Ava training montage first. After that last fight, I feel like I need to tune up my current Skills instead of adding more to the mix."
--Understood--
"Thanks. We'll kick the Dreg out of Earth just yet, don't worry." With the reminder that there was strength to be gained still, I phased out of the white space.
---+---
"Hey Ronan!" Timothy called from the wall. The pink colored fae waved down from his perch.
"Sarah stick you with the work today?" I asked, leaning against the set of rough cut stairs that led to the top of the palisade.
"Just trying to give her a hand. We've already got so few healers that having one on the wall is rare. Ever since she took on the training the twins and I barely see her," he said, gesturing in the direction of the training fields.
"Understandable, if unfortunate. At the very least you all should get some extra oomph within the next few days," I said.
"Oh?"
"The Guard will be getting the Implants from Tec," I said, gesturing to the base of my skull. While the Tec given implants were all made entirely of Entity Cluster crystals, the ones the Bunkerites had were mostly titanium with a tiny Metier Crystal within. It felt both exclusive and inferior, since our implants were still partly visible unlike the ones given by Tec.
"That's great! After what happened to the trainees and then the state that George is in..."
"I think we'll be able to patch George up," I said, thinking of the brazen orc dude who practically threw himself into danger to keep me from getting death-ray-ed right in the chest. A subsequent attack removed his arm almost completely, but I believed that as the healers got stronger they'd be able to restore the limb.
Not that I understood the intricacies of how Life mana, or even regular healing, worked; I was just a glorified bulldozer. As such, I was back to my original reason for coming to the wall.
"There any squads out there?" I asked.
"We've got two. One is still working on grabbing loot from the fight and the other is trying to cull the horde of spiders that has been pushing out of their territory. We've never seen so many before," Tim said, concern clear in his voice.
"I'll lend a hand to the second group. Are they based out of the forward base or did they make it to our temporary dungeon farm spot?"
"Forward Base. I don't think anyone's been able to make it back into spider territory without getting swarmed."
That's both good and truly concerning. More materials is always good, but something has to be stirring up the spiders. This time, it wasn't us. "I'll head out from there then."
"Don't you want some backup? The council said never to go out without a buddy!"
"I have a buddy, and it's a Blobby," I said, pointing to the wall section right beside Tim.
My slime companion dropped it's camouflage, causing the fae to almost leap clear off the wall. His rough spun shirt flapped in the wind as he tried to pull breath. I felt a little bad, but Tim let out a nervous laugh. "I need to be better aware. If Blobby wasn't the neighborhood friendly slime that could have been less than optimal."
"I still haven't figured out if the camo is an Earth slime thing or not," I said. "And don't worry, it's hard even for me to know where he is."
"That's not nearly as reassuring as you think it is," Tim said with a shiver.
The walk from the town out to the reinforced building was short. Increased Attributes and a now mostly restored road made the travel easier. The bounties of Infusions and materials, or meals, that the town had been reaping from the spider dungeon farm had put their food rationing problem down.
While trudging past the western field I spotted several air squirrels flitting about the treetops as well as dozens of normal sized insects doing their business amidst the weeds. The whole thing made me pause. It was almost peaceful, which surprised me. Since returning to the surface every moment had been jumping from one threat to the next. With the captured dreg crystal and Kirby out of commission, we could take a breath and really consolidate our gains.
Getting to that point had taken a lot of sacrifice, and the repercussions were still being felt, but growth didn't happen without strife.
"Something interesting up in the trees?" Devon air-whispered in my ear.
I pivoted slowly to try to spot the man amidst the trees or the few ruined buildings flanking the road. My Perception screamed that I was being watched now that it wasn't focused on philosophical quandaries.
"Gah! Dang slime ball!" A groan from right in front of me went up.
The elf stalker, plus two small Blobby's attached to his legs, trudged out onto the road. His smooth, elven features were twisted in a frown as he glared at the two thirds of Blobby slowing down as the last third rolled out of the trees, jiggling as if laughing.
I high fived the slime, palm meeting gelatinous appendage. "Good catch. Dealing with all the pesky elves in the forest was really getting to me."
"Truly the height of comedy, Ronan. Now can you take your oversized muck off of me?" Devon said.
Blobby, like the independent amorphous traitor of the Dreg that it was, prodded Devon with a jelly limb before melting back into one whole. The slime rolled over to puddle beside me. I marveled at its size, having grown taller than my hip when all of it's bulk was combined.
"What are you doing this way? I thought they had you pushing paper, rock boy," Devon sneered, as if my companion hadn't just disabled his sneaky advantage.
"Needed to hit something. I've been cooped up for the last week. As someone who lived their life underground, any kind of 'stuck' feels thirty times worse. Nothing like freedom right outside but you are forced to be still."
The elf nodded as if he agreed completely. Other than prodding Blobby for catching him, Devon parted from us. He was on scout duty while the others were out and he'd already had a few encounters with frisky squirrels. They weren't a threat alone, but their mobility while amassed made everything more troublesome.
I walked the last few blocks to the forward base and did a double take. The defensive measures had almost doubled from when it was quickly fortified. The ankle tripping wall of wood stumps was still around most of the place, but huge sheer walls of soil rose up around most of the building. I could see rubble from the nearby structures blended in, reinforcing the berm-wall.
I let out a soft whistle that made Blobby shiver and actually called somebody from within the structure. A familiar demoness smirked down at me from what I assumed was an observation post. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Don't act like Devon didn't tell you I was coming. That elf would lick your boots if they got smeared a little." While a bit of an exaggeration, everyone in Clara's team trusted her completely. The fact that Devon acted as their information center even before they had gotten access to the communication features of the implant, meant that he was constantly keeping tabs on as many of their squad mates as he could.
"You are not wrong. Come on in, we are just getting situated."
I moved around the building towards the front of it and ran into even more ankle-breaking stumps. The entrance had been fashioned from huge logs bound together, but they didn't look quite like the ones I'd worked into a sliding door at our bunker. These were completely uniform as were the vines running through the whole thing. With a tug, the gate opened outward just enough to fit a person.
Sure enough the inside of the forward base had also been upgraded. I could see slatherings of mud hardening in the gaps on the walls and a small garden being worked in the corners of the fortification.
Milling about just in front of the doors to the building was a group of five individuals. Two of them I recognized as the trainees we had rescued, the others were one of the healers from the Guard, Clara and Lilly. Other Wild Guard members were posted around the perimeter on raised log platforms. A few waved as they saw me enter.
"Meet the team," Clara said, pointing to the group. "After the success of our spit squads we've restructured some and tried to make the squads more flexible. This will be the trainee's first time out as a squad. Lilly will be testing them for field readiness."
"Hello Mr. Ronan," the female demoness waved. "My name is Merry. This is Nick. We just wanted to thank you again for all you did to save us."
She waved to the hulking orc beside her. He probably didn't reach chin high on Rommel, but then again Rommel was a size in and of his own. The Wild Guard fae healer, Ophelia, smiled and shook my hand.
"Really, don't mention it. Without everyone there the whole thing would have failed. I'm just a guy that's good at getting hit. Speaking of," I turned to Clara. "I was hoping to head out and help out. Do you all mind if I tag along and tank for you?"
Clara got the gist and said yes, but asked what I meant by 'tank'.
"Oh, I suppose Sarah hasn't told you some of what I hope to pass to you all. It's terms from before the Fall. It's a certain specialty that someone has. For instance, you already call most life attuned that can repair wounds and illnesses 'Healers'. Well, people like Rommel and Godfrey, built to take more damage and get right up in the face of enemies are 'Tanks'; that's what I am, in addition to 'Support'.
"Support is the category under which Healers fall under, and really anyone capable of controlling the flow for the battle or providing 'support', whether defensive or offensive. You are Offensive Support, Clara."
"Makes sense, keeping the group in the fight longer by weakening creatures," she said.
"That's right," I said, snapping my fingers and pointing at the demoness.
The other demoness had a curious expression on her face. "What about those that focus on killing things as fast as possible?"
"Ah, well we call those DPS, or 'Damage per second'. Just like you said, you focus on getting as much damage down range as possible. That would be something like my friend Daniela or Devon. Though each of them goes about the damage differently and different types of DPS have different names. Rangers, Pure Mages, Rogues, etc. I'll try to give a better rundown and it will hopefully improve the squad compositions going forward. I will say, chemistry and teamwork can make up for optimal parties any day of the week," I finished, wagging a finger.
Ophelia and Clara looked like they wanted to take notes, Nick was nodding along like he knew what I was talking about and Merry had a smirk wide enough to show the enlarged canines of her Attunement.
"I look forward to seeing which I fit best," the demoness droned. For some odd reason, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end.