The Spectres and their commander mustered outside the camp's perimeter. They were dressed in their full battle rattle with camouflage set to digital urban. They didn't quite have a pattern that matched the yellowing wheat fields or the withering fall environment, so the urban camouflage would have to do.

Each of them carried the weapons they preferred. Aidan, Guzman, Agerwal, Doc Faraj, and Weir wielded medium laser rifles. Wang held a rotating laser cannon, and Yonovna bore a wicked anti-material sniper rifle that would turn a flesh and blood target into nothing but red mist.

Silently floating in the air above their heads, the newly minted ODG-1 Tactical Observation Drone was directed by Astra. The small camouflage sphere didn't have any weapons yet, but it featured a pretty robust sensor suite with a live feed that could be projected to any team member's helmet. The Spectres had simply decided to call it Todd.

"So what's the mission?" Aidan asked his friend Guzman.

The envoy's friend had picked up the mission from the camp through their new mission system. Along with the trading terminals, Plymouth HQ had designated a mission list for teams to take up when they weren't assigned to patrol or working in the camp. They ranged wildly in scope and perceived difficulty, but it was an informal way of finding opportunities for teams to level their skills. If a mission sat too long on the board and held strategic importance, HQ would formally assign the task to a combat team.

Director Aswad promised that once they developed a currency system, the missions would be updated with monetary or material rewards commensurate with their difficulty or strategic importance.

"Our mission is to investigate signs of dire wolf attacks on ag techs in the area and clear their den. Apparently, one of the ag techs swears that the wolf was wearing what looked like a harness, and HQ wants someone to check it out." After describing their task, Guzman marked their destination on the minimap. It appeared that the attack took place to the northwest of Camp Plymouth.

"Alright, with our new ABS', a dire wolf would break its jaw trying to bite us. Let's double-time it to the investigation site. I'd like to get back to camp before dark," Aidan ordered.

The team set off at a blistering pace. Their battle suits made each stride of their legs longer and faster. Even holding their weapons was simplicity in itself. The garments could lock themselves into position with barely a thought so that their aim was smooth and controlled even while running. Even the awkward sniper rifle Yanovna wielded seemed like nothing to the woman.

Their pace swiftly ate up the distance between them and the target. The intervening three miles were traversed in less than twelve minutes. When the Spectres skidded to a stop, they weren't even out of breath.

Aidan's heart was pounding, not from exertion but from excitement. He felt absolutely superhuman. "Who needs ground transport when they can just wear a battle suit," he remarked with a wide grin.

"That was fucking awesome," Agerwal agreed. "I usually hate running, but I'm flying with these suits on."

"Let's look around for clues," Guzman suggested.

The team split up to look around while Todd floated above them. Eventually, the drone and Astra found the wolf tracks leading further north-northwest from their position. Todd took the lead following the trail, and the Spectres followed behind it. They had the feed from the drone pulled up in the corner of their HUD.

After about fifteen minutes of running, Astra flashed the group a warning, and the warriors skidded to an immediate stop and consulted the feed from Todd. Over the next hill and inside a depression, there was a primitive camp haphazardly laid out. The team could see nearly fifty kobolds going about their everyday business.

Kobolds had been mentioned to the commander multiple times, but this was his first opportunity to lay eyes on them. The crocodilian humanoids were even smaller than the gnomes. They topped out at about two feet five inches, and Aidan estimated they couldn't weigh more than a medium-sized dog. According to Ariza, their dark-mottled green scales implied they were outsiders to the region.

A group of green-scaled monsters ate from a large grog pot in the camp's center. Others were fighting with curved metal sabers or dueling with dilapidated pistols. Aidan even saw a pair of the long-horned kobolds fornicating openly outside of a thatch hut while a group around them watched. Further into the camp, he saw cages upon cages that were filled with dire wolves.

Clearly, the reports were correct because each beast was saddled in ragged leather. Aidan had Astra zoom in as a kobold opened one of the cages. The dire wolf lunged for the savage creature, but the kobold whipped the beast into submission with a purple spurt of psionic energy.

"These creatures are disgusting." Yanovna dryly noted.

"Yeah," Weir agreed. "But this is the first time we've seen them use technology or mounts."

"They're clearly sapient," Faraj observed. "Should we try to engage them in diplomacy?"

Aidan frowned as he considered the video feed.

"No," he answered after a while. "They don't have any resources we need, and they're actively at war with the gnomes. I'd rather not potentially trade a strong ally with good relations for a savage band of primitives."

"Understood," the Doc said. "What are our orders?"

"We get up to the ridge line and pick them off, one by one," Aidan answered. "TOD and Astra count about fifty of them, not mentioning whichever ones may be hidden in those thatch huts."

"Backup plan in case we're discovered?" Guzman asked.

"Wang takes the lead and mows any kobolds coming up the hill. We follow him down to sweep through the camp. Yanonva hangs back as our guardian angel."

"Anything special for me?" Agerwal hopefully asked.

"Not in the initial firefight," Aidan denied him. "However, when we're done, let's burn the place to the ground. Ariza thinks these kobolds aren't native to the region. I don't want them to have a place to come back to. You can start with those thatch huts."

"That works," Agerwall cheerfully agreed.

As soon as the plan was decided, the Spectres were surprised by a system message.

Mission updated. A kobold outpost caused the dire wolf attack. Destroy the outpost.

MISSION: Destroy the kobold Settlement

REWARD: 1 Common engram

"I guess the System now recognizes this as a real mission," Aidan commented. "Let's earn ourselves an engram."

Unnoticed by the creatures, the Spectres pulled their camouflage cloaks over themselves and took their places along the top of the hill. Yanovna had taken a position more south than the rest of the team. If they ended up needing to advance down the hill, the woman would be able to cover them with her sniper rifle. Astra, for her part, changed Todd's coloring to match the blue-gray sky and had it silently hover over the center of camp. She would update the Spectres' maps and HUDs appropriately if there were any critical changes to the situation.

"On my mark," Aidan ordered.

“3…2…1…Mark,” He called.

Laser fire erupted from the hillside and peppered the kobolds below. The team's assault was uncannily accurate. Their suits allowed them to maintain a perfect firing position, and there was no recoil from the weaponry itself. Combined with the fact that the kobolds weren't wearing any armor except their scaly hide, practically every shot netted the team another kill.

They felled most of the camp within the first five minutes of their attack. Even the two fornicating kobolds lay prone on the ground, still entwined with each other in death. Anytime one of the draconic beasts managed to break out of the ambush, Astra marked their position for Yanovna, and the woman quickly ended their retreat.

Finally, an enterprising monster unlocked all the cages and loosed an entire pack of dire wolves on the attackers. The malnourished beasts sprinted from their enclosure and toward the Spectre's position. As they ascended the hill, Wang stood up, activating his rotating heavy weaponry. A flood of red lasers poured down the hill, turning the majority of the wolves into heaps of mangled, smoking flesh. Any of the wolves that luckily managed to escape the barrage of crimson death were summarily picked off by Aidan or the other team members.

When the last wolf fell, the camp had gone quiet. The only things left standing were the primitive structures themselves. Aidan stood up and brushed the tall grass from his battle suit. "Let's clean up the rest," he ordered.

The rest of the Spectres, except Yanovna, brushed themselves off and made their way into the center of the settlement. The warriors swiftly executed any monster that moved or groaned in pain. At the center of camp, Aidan looked around in confusion. He thought the mission would have been updated. When it didn't, the envoy figured it might be waiting on them to destroy the camp before completing. He was about to issue the order to Agerwal when the door to a large thatch hut busted open, and a kobold chieftain piled out.

The creature shouted something in his own language at the Spectres before pounding a primitive-looking staff on the ground. The crystal embedded in the top of the implement began to glow with an otherworldly purple light that Aidan immediately recognized as psionic energy.

"Fall back," Aidan shouted, and the team launched into movement. As they were moving away, a sniper rifle round caught the chieftain in the head and knocked him back into the doorway from which he appeared. Unfortunately, the round hadn't killed the creature; instead, it was blocked by a psionic shield flickering around it.

The chieftain roared his defiance and slammed his staff on the ground again.

"Watch out," Aidan yelled, but he needn't have bothered.

The psionic energy exploded from the staff in thick bolts of lightning. Each arc impacted fallen kobolds around the camp and was absorbed by their bodies. The corpses began to writhe and twitch. Aidan wasn't sure what was happening until the first of the dead monsters started to rise again. A purple fire burned in their eyes, and they grew in size. Each creature lengthened until they were about five feet tall. Sickeningly, the kobolds didn't increase proportionately, and some of them had twisted, misshapen limbs or pieces of hide missing scales. The flesh underneath looked almost human. The creatures turned their malicious gaze on the still-living Spectres.

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Another sniper round splashed against the chieftain, which was more effective this time. It didn't penetrate the psionic shield completely, but some excess energy bled through and severely burned the kobold underneath. He screamed and tried to prevent his macabre headdress of skulls and feathers from catching fire.

The Spectres used the momentary distraction to back up while pouring round after round into the zombified monsters. Soon, Faraj realized that headshots could down the creatures permanently, and after he announced it to the team, the dead were put back into their graves one after the other.

Even though the lowly mobs were dying, their leader was still among the living. Aidan pulled a grenade from one of his utility pouches and used his telekinesis to launch it at the kobold chieftain. The enemy leader had just thrown his burning headdress to the ground and stomped on it at the exact moment Aidan's fragmentation grenade landed under the creature's foot.

As the chieftain stomped down, he hit the thrown explosive, and the fragmentation grenade detonated with a low thump. Unfortunately for the chieftain, his psionic shield persisted a fraction of a second after the explosion and contained the deadly force within it. The inside of the barrier was splattered with blood and bits of bone. When the field dissolved, gore rained down on the muddy earth.

With the creature's death, the remaining zombies fell to the ground like puppets with their strings cut. Aidan let out a relieved whoop of victory that his team soon copied.

MISSION: Destroy the kobold Settlement, passed!

REWARD: Engram for psionic focus

Aidan wasn't sure what a focus was, but anything related to his psionic abilities sounded exciting. He would pass the engram to Agano and see what she made of it.

After killing everything in the settlement, looting it was somewhat anticlimactic. The outpost wasn't advanced enough for the team to consider taking anything with them. Any equipment in the camp had clearly been scavenged from other races, and the pieces were in such disrepair that even Astra had difficulty understanding their initial function.

As Aidan prepared to order Agerwal to plant his charges, Weir walked over with a mystified look. He held a metal collar and offered it to the envoy. "Hey, Commander, I think you should look at this."

Aidan inspected the equipment.

Type 1 System Jamming Collar

This collar has been designed to restrain captives. While worn, natural regeneration is reduced, respawn is disabled, and the System interface is disabled.

"What are kobolds doing with something like this?" Aidan wondered before glancing up at Weir. "Is this the only one?"

"No, that's the thing," Weir explained. "One of the huts had a System chest full of these. There were at least a thousand of them."

Aidan turned the collar over in his hands and a string of symbols on the side that looked vaguely Korean to the commander's untrained eye. He called the team over and asked if anyone recognized the characters. It was Wang who answered.

"Yeah, I recognize them, Commander." He answered with a troubled expression. "It says Joseon Minju-jueui Inmin Gonghwaguk."

"What does that mean?" Aidan asked.

"Democratic People's Republic of Korea," Wang said with a shrug. "I spent some time in South Korea and learned some of the languages. This…” The heavy trooper pointed at the characters etched into the side of the collar. "…is what the North Koreans call themselves."

Guzman whistled lowly before noting. "This is a nasty piece of equipment, Commander."

"I agree," Aidan acknowledged. "I knew our adversaries would have better engrams once we found that localized System jammer, but this goes beyond preventing someone from logging out. This disables respawn. If you die wearing it, you die for real."

"I also found something unusual, Commander," Faraj added.

Aidan glanced up. "Show me," he ordered.

Faraj led them through the village to a particular dead kobold. The doc knelt down and lifted the wrist of the corpse. He turned the limb until it displayed one of the grotesquely stretched portions of its flesh. Aidan's eyes widened when he saw a tattoo of a Chinese dragon inked into the meat.

"Is that what I think it is?" The envoy asked.

"Yes, Commander." Faraj let the limb drop and rose to his feet. "I checked my notifications and realized this was a camp full of hybrids. I was curious, so I looked around.

The doc looked around the camp before concluding, "I think they may be human-kobold hybrids."

"So let's work through the pieces," Aidan began. "We've got an increase in kobold attacks after we find the Progenitor ruins. The kobolds appear to come from outside the region. We find enough North Korean slave collars to enslave our entire camp and human-kobold hybrids in an outpost less than thirty minutes from our camp."

Adian trailed off, and Guzman picked up the thread with a grimace. "These aren't coincidences. This is an attack."

"We've got to get back to camp," Aidan decided. "Agerwal set your charges and make sure those collars get destroyed along with the village. I'll hang on to this one so Gray and his people can study it."

The team relocated to the edge of the outpost. They quietly watched as Agerwal went about his business in the outpost. Instead of observing with the others, Aidan looked through the notifications he received while fighting the kobolds.

Leadership has increased to level 15! You have earned 75 experience.

…

Leadership has increased to level 20! You have earned 100 experience.

Targeting has increased to level 11! You have earned 55 experience.

…

Targeting has increased to level 23! You have earned 115 experience.

Small Arms has increased to level 15! You have earned 75 experience.

…

Small Arms has increased to level 25! You have earned 125 experience.

AI Operations has increased to level 17! You have earned 85 experience.

…

AI Operations has increased to level 25! You have earned 125 experience.

Linguistics has increased to level 22! You have earned 110 experience.

Telekinesis has increased to level 21! You have earned 105 experience.

Light Weapons has increased to level 2! You have earned 10 experience.

(56x) Lvl 25 Kobold Hybrid slain. Group Experience earned: 9,800

You have earned 9,800 experience.

Lvl 30 Elite Kobold Chieftain slain. Group Experience earned: 538

You have earned 538 experience.

Congratulations! You have reached level 8. You have two free attribute points to assign.

Congratulations! You have reached level 9. You have four free attribute points to assign.

The rush of new levels and their associated attributes made the envoy heady. He was slowly gaining on the rest of his teammates, and going by attributes alone, Aidan figured he was about three times better than the average unaugmented human being on Earth. As he assigned his free attributes like usual, a loud explosion rocked the slight depression and turned it into a fiery hellscape.

"Isn't it beautiful," Agerwal wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his helmet's visor.

The rest of the team laughed at his antics and turned to make their way home. They set off at their speedy pace. This time, Yanovna slowed down the party rather than Aidan. It wasn't that her skills were any less advanced than the commander's. It was more that he had surpassed her level, and his increased attributes allowed him to outpace her. He still wouldn't like to compare their relative skills. The woman was even more deadly than when she first humbled Aidan a week past.

When they were still about five miles from the camp, a loud rumbling from overhead caught their attention. Astra flashed a warning on their HUDs, and the specters immediately dropped into the tall grass around them and donned their cloaks. Instead of looking up and potentially revealing their positions, Astra piped in a feed from Todd's cameras.

The scene shocked Aidan to his core. Flying overhead was a formation of ten dark gray, heavy aircraft. They looked like rectangular cuboids with two nacelles crudely welded on either side. The front of the craft was sharply angled and appeared to be a closed landing ramp. Aidan didn't notice the presence of any windows or weapons on the vessel. Still, as they rumbled overhead with plumes of smoke emitting from the back of their nacelles, Aidan spotted a symbol that morphed his shock into horror.

There, painted on the sides of the craft, was the crimson and gold flag of the People's Republic of China. As the lead aircraft got close enough, Aidan could get a look at its description.

Y-3A Jingwei Troop Transport Craft

The Y-3A Jingwei is designed to transport PLA soldiers to the battlefield. Its hold has room for a maximum of twenty occupants.

Fuck, Aidan swore before opening up a channel to Astra and the rest of the Spectres. Astra, get a warning back to HQ. We're being invaded by China. They're bringing approximately two-hundred soldiers on unarmed transport craft.

Got it, Aidan. Astra obeyed. Message delivered.

We need to get back to camp, Commander! Guzman shouted through their link. Four of our combat groups are still at Stalakmitzil, and with us out on patrol, there are less than fifty combat Classes.

Aidan nodded his agreement, even though no one else could see it. I know. Let's get moving.

As one, the Spectres rose from their hiding places and sprinted toward the camp. Yanovna was in the lead because she set the pace for the rest of the team. Although everyone was rushing to return home, it would be foolish to leave one or more of them behind in their haste. The four miles back to the base took approximately sixteen minutes for them to traverse.

When they arrived back at HQ, the scene was one of chaos. Gnome personnel were fleeing the camp and running in their direction. Aidan knew they weren't running toward them. Instead, they were making their way back to the safety of Stalakmitzil. The commander didn't bother convincing them to stay and fight or that everything would be alright. They couldn't respawn, and honestly, Aidan didn't know if the situation would be okay or not.

As he neared the camp, he patched into the central communication network and shared the connection with the rest of the Spectres.

"This is Spectre Actual," he began. "Status report, over."

"Spectre Actual, this is….fuck, I don't know what call sign I'm supposed to be! This is Andre! Chinese soldiers are pouring in from the eastern entrance to the camp. They've sent most of our defenders to respawn and are advancing on HQ. We need assistance immediately."

"We're coming, Andre, over and out."

The Spectres rushed through the Western entrance and advanced on the oncoming PLA soldiers. The Chinese were using kinetic weaponry and wearing basic ballistic armor. Aidan was happy to see that their adversary's run-of-the-mill foot soldiers weren't wearing anything more advanced than they had on earth. Due to the Spectre's more advanced armor and weaponry, they simply tore through all resistance.

Aidan had no time to think as Astra painted target after target on his minimap. He simply waded through the blood and carnage around him. Bullets bounced harmlessly off his helmet and felt like heavy punches against his ABS. In contrast, Aidan used his psionic powers and laser rifle to destroy the enemy. PLA soldiers were flung into the air, torn apart in a psionic blast, or shot down with his rifle. Anytime three or more of the soldiers clustered together, Aidan used his telekinesis to throw a grenade around corners, over cover, or wherever it would do the most damage to the most people.

By the time the Spectres had slaughtered their way back to HQ, the PLA soldiers were already retreating. The scene didn't look right, so Aidan pressed the attack.

Envoy, Astra warned. The PLA is retreating with Dr. Smith. She's covered by a team of monsters. They look like ten-foot-tall kobolds carrying modern weapons. These ordinary soldiers are nothing but a distraction.

Aidan swore and then informed the rest of the Spectres of the situation. Before, they had been content to kill every soldier they saw. Now, they were barreling past their enemies and using casual kicks or punches to maim or kill. The commander idly noted Yanovna's marker on his minimap climbing up one of the half-finished vertical farms. When she arrived, she started firing her rifle at the nacelles of the transport craft.

Astra, where are they? He growled.

I've lost sight of them, Envoy. The smoke from the downed transports is clouding my vision. I can't be sure which transport vehicle they got into. Three options are about to take off.

"Nikita, there are three transports about to take off. One has Dr. Smith inside, but we're not sure which one. Take them out," he ordered.

The rest of the Spectres burst through the eastern entrance of the camp and began firing at the last two aircraft, but they were quickly gaining elevation and distance. His team's assault singed panels on the two birds, but they weren't accurate enough to hit the vulnerable nacelles.

A final shot from Yanovna struck one of the fleeing transports, and fire burst from one of its sides. Secondary fires quickly exploded from underneath the shell of the aircraft, and it listed in the air before hurtling to the Earth. Aidan and his team sprinted toward the downed craft while still trying to fire at the last escaping ship.

Soon, the last Y-3A was far enough away that Aidan knew they would never be able to catch it. He desperately hoped that they had gotten the right one. He rushed to the landing ramp of the downed transport and strained his psychic abilities. With a roar, the envoy pulled the entire ramp from the craft and threw it into the distance.

Inside, there were about fifteen ordinary PLA soldiers. Aidan didn't hesitate as he and the rest of the team opened fire on the occupants. After a handful of seconds, nothing was left in the ship but burning flesh and dying enemies.

Aidan peered through the smoke and issued a stream of curses. Dr. Smith had escaped.