## You have made quite a few deductions, Warrior Leader. ##

The world swam for a second as I experienced something new. Instead of the single 'room' of whitespace occupied by Hec, it was like I was looking at a shattered mirror reflecting the Entity's manifestation in two dozen different ways. It lasted for no more than a moment, but still I found myself dry heaving on the ground. For all that being in the whitespace masked my injuries and weariness, it didn't do anything for conditions acquired within. Just like Gec's Hemisphere Trials.

Hec waited patiently while I tried to keep the contents of my not-stomach from fouling the pristine room. When I eventually gathered myself and rose to my feet, I nearly ended right on the ground again. The Entity's manifestation was a twisting version of what I had seen when I first entered the whitespace. It was a fourth-dimensional puzzle that shifted and folded into itself with every second I looked at it. One blink it was a toroid, then a Klein bottle before fragmenting into cubes, prisms, and tesseracts. The other polytopes were solidly outside my brain's ability to even begin to comprehend. Thankfully, that too passed and Hec's original fragmented manifestation hovered before me.

"Some might have taken that little display as an attack," I said, coughing to clear my head.

## Then it is a good thing you can take a little bit of a beating. Though, it is true those with an insufficient Containment Attribute may struggle much more. Another consideration for me not to bring anyone to this 'whitespace' any time in the next decade. ##

"Not exactly what I meant, but now I am much more concerned about my brain," I replied, frowning at Hec. "Your speech..."

## I have you and young William to thank for that. Each entangled link to my own self has allowed me to rebuild myself functionally. It has been... a complex experience, especially when you consider my non-organic origin. ##

"I'm glad to hear it though," I said. "If what happened to you is connected to what I just experienced then I can't imagine it was pleasant."

## No. It was not. Not even when you take into account that I cannot experience the world in feelings like humans can. ##

There was an awkward pause as we regarded each other for a moment. "So, my deductions?"

## Correct. Mostly, anyhow. It appears that Gec has already touched on some aspects of what those implications are and what your Implants can lead to. ##

"A double edged sword," I said, grimacing.

## Indeed. I want to make it crystal clear. Heh. Crystal. Anyway... clear that the 'Status' program that Bec created cannot be bounded. I'll preempt your question, I'm not quite as bound as Gec courtesy of my decades long torture. Mana is like gravity, the heavier you become the more things are drawn towards it. As you advance through the Quotients, the qualitative changes shatter any effects upon your physical body that do not align with your very self before lowering you to your new arcanous equilibrium.##

"You... lost me a bit."

## If a shackle is placed upon you by someone other than you it will be removed upon advancing. ## Hec's manifestation rippled in a circular motion I couldn't help but interpret as a rolling of the eyes.

"If the Implants prevented someone from selecting the advanced Skills, they could just discover that themselves?" I asked, my eyebrows rising. I'd thought that being able to tap into the Implant's potential was just something that would cause limits for the future. Instead, it meant that any naturally unlocked advancements were forming shackles for the wielder of the magic. Of course, Gec had implied that one shackle would likely not be enough to hold someone back from ascending but... "What if a ridiculously powerful creature remained on Earth?"

## What indeed. I am not of Category enough to know the state of your whole planet, but I would be surprised if something has been capable of binding itself to this plane yet. Without outside interference, that is. ##

"The Entities, and the Aberrants."

## That's right. Bec likely didn't understand the rippling effect their actions would have. Not that I can disagree. I was more than happy to make the 'hidden' in your name for me a falsehood. That would not have happened had your people not intertwined their future so tightly with our mission. ##

"Oh, now I am feeling sick for an entirely different reason," I said, staggering and finding a sofa formed of crystal manifested at my feet. It felt as soft as cotton, not hard and unyielding like one would expect, so I dropped into it with resignation. Hec hovered over to the construct and 'sat' beside me. The Entity even caused the pearlescent cushion to dimple as if they were putting weight on it despite hovering a foot above it in a place that was more synapsis than reality.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

## I don't mean to be callous, but you already knew this. Your assumptions and deductions were borne of this. Perhaps I have extended the scope of your worries, but it does not detract from the present. ##

"I can't protect a whole planet! Three towns and a half dozen outposts is hard enough!" I said, my voice cracking.

## You know, for creatures of such short unaugmented lifespans humans have a wealth of wisdom. Thanks to my time fragmented, and now rejoined, I think I have grasped my own corner of the mortal tapestry. Your mate said it best. One foot in the present and another into the future. ## Hec's fragments rotated, facing me with an intensity matching their true Category not the sliver residing at the Embassy. ## The more you try to grasp, the less capable of holding you will be. You are not alone, Ronan Terrigan. ##

The Entity gave me time to process what they said. Sure enough, what they said was true. Somewhere deep inside, I knew it was unrealistic for me to try to save the world. Even if I attained power like what Eurus wielded, I would be a passing inconvenience for the grinding of humanity's new reality. If the ants could put up a fight against the exterminator that was the Anemoi, the same could be done when Eurus' and I's roles were reversed.

Just the idea of trying to go on some Genghis Khan-esque conquest through the Americas and beyond left me feeling a bone deep weariness. I don't even have a body to feel that with. Does that mean it's actually soul deep? I shook that part of my question away, because it didn't affect the answer. Already I was stretched beyond my means dealing with Ocala, but I knew for a fact that to the north things were possibly worse.

Did that mean I wanted to give up on the mission of being a Dreg Warrior? To a certain extent, the name we'd taken to using was a misnomer; not all Dreg was bad. We even needed it for the levels beyond the Corporeal Limit. However, it did imply that we would be fighting the things that forced change. Oh, how naïve I was when we first started this. So much... idealistic optimism. Reality is such a pimp-slapping bastard.

What did that leave? As much as an ever expanding conquest left me unwilling to even lift a finger, I was equally as unwilling to not lift a finger. That idealism had been tempered, tested and brutalized until it left me as I was. My voice came out as a whisper, but it carried a weight that resonated in the whitespace. "A Vanguard."

For a second, Hec's fragments pulled together into an ellipsoid missing chunks out of it before returning to their scattered arrangement. Nevertheless, it seemed they approved of my response. ## It seems you have found your path. Or should I say, reaffirmed it?##

My moniker had been an apt descriptor for myself, but it hadn't been much more than that. I led from the front. I took the blows, so that others could finish the job. However, a vanguard wasn't just a physical factor but it was also a way of addressing those at the forefront of development. The first to face any new challenges or challengers, whether I went to them or they came my way. Sharon's stalwart stance against Eurus and the Anemoi once again flashed through my mind. She wasn't alone, though, as Clara and the New Hopers took place beside her. The Allied Towns and even the various people I'd met in Ocala added themselves to the growing number.

A distinct memory of a grim-faced woman hovered just at the edge of my memory, looming over the newer examples. Ingrid Metier. My grandmother, whom I'd known as a figure of relative myth for the avenue of survival she'd given humanity, stood head and shoulders above even the old shaman. Someone that stared oblivion in the face and made it blinked first.

"Yeah. I think I got the right Attunement for it," I said, turning to Hec.

## The right...? Ah. Of course. You will be a rock. Word play.##

Despite the seriousness of the topic, I couldn't help laughter from erupting from my lips. It went on for a long while. At some point Hec did their best rendition of joining me in laughing, which was a poor imitation that only made me laugh all the harder. As I lay on the floor, in the whitespace of a Metier Crystal that had been tortured by human hands after discussing the true extent of existential threats I'd been subconsciously ignoring even without taking into account a multiversal war, tears of relief fell from my eyes.

In the face of adversity, one either crumbles, is set adrift or forges forward. When you have such a visceral rejection for the former two, it becomes all the easier to commit to the latter. Jolly had me read like a book.

"So, where does that leave us?" I sighed when I eventually managed to get myself under control.

## Wherever you'd like. I am a humble ship, seeking to moor in your port amidst the storm. Now, it would do you well to remember I am a ship, not a plane or a car. I can only act while at sea, and even in the sea things are ever changing.##

"There a lot of metaphorical people here in Ocala?" I asked, scrunching my brow at the Entity's way of explaining that while their hands were tied they could still jiggle the chains to some degree.

## Perhaps. Perhaps the dry humor of a certain giant born deep in the earth rubbed off on me when he saved me from an incomprehensible oblivion.##

"Yes, it was only right," grumbled, taking the thanks for what they were. "Since you seem to be so invested in what's going on in my brain, do you think my plan will work?"

## Sort of. Will it work? Yes. Can we predict the final result...?##

I sighed, feeling some of the burdens I'd laid down settling back over my shoulders. They weren't lighter, but I did feel them settle more steadily upon me. "Can't say I am surprised. I wish I had some complex math to run by you all instead of the parasocial experiment that my life has become."

## The Aberrants do not see you as inconsequential, Ronan. You are now more than just a thorn at their side. You are a persistent infection upon a jagged wound, ready to take the whole body even if the limb is amputated. I cannot sense the world like I did before, but the currents of mana are more turbulent now than even upon our first arrival here.##

"I suppose I should keep muddying the waters then."

## Fishing for weakness, yes! Puns are a wonderful thing. ## Hec bobbed, positively vibrating with the implications of my words.