What Dave had heard was only a twig snapping. Usually nothing to be too concerned about in a forest like this, but they were close to the border. So he hushed Mira and signaled her to be quiet.

With his new slightly enhanced perception Dave strained to listen. At first it was only the twig snapping, followed by a few seconds of nothing. But then, just as he was about to relax again, he heard it.

A noise he never wanted to hear again. A noise that still came tormented his dreams. Nodefoxes.

It was a sound similar to what normal squirrels sounded like, a mixture of barking and squeaking, more rich in tonality, yet still shriller.

Dave had to strain to hear it, he could see Mira was about to say something, but he silenced her with a hard look. Bringing one finger to his lips, Dave used his other hand to point in the direction of the Nodefoxes.

Mira looked confused but nodded and stayed quiet. Dave regretted that they never tested if the barrier of Grace Period also hindered sound from coming out. So now they were forced to rely on gestures.

It was only a few moments later that the Nodefox conversation became louder. There was no guessing how many there were, since it all sounded like one monotonous noise to Dave. But they definitely were moving closer.

Mira heard them now too. It was obvious by her the look of shock in her wide open eyes. Dave saw her hands trembling and was surprised to find himself being calm. At least calmer than he expected. He realized he still had his hand up by his lips and brought it down.

Technically the Grace Period shield should hide them from view and keep the Nodefoxes out. The barrier was almost invisible, although the space around it looked a bit distorted, like hot air streaming out of a vent but with a touch of silver shimmering underneath.

If he looked closely he could see it. The slight silvery hue was only a few metres away. They were truly close to the border. But Dave knew from experience that it was much more difficult to spot from the other side.

For enemies it was almost invisible. Still if they tried to walk through it they couldn’t help but notice it. The Nodefoxes shouldn’t be able to break the shield, but once they found it they could simply wait it out in big enough numbers.

Mira and Dave both stood without moving a muscle looking towards the sound of the Nodefox chatter. It sounded close, they couldn’t be far now. Dave's thoughts kept turning, he didn’t know whether they should try to hide or stay where they were. But he decided for the latter to avoid any possibility of noise. His nervousness was getting unbearable.

Then he saw them. Not too far off a group of four Nodefoxes were walking through the forest. Trees periodically hid them from view, but Dave saw enough to estimate which direction they were walking towards.

And it wasn’t a good one.

His heart dropped. If they kept walking they would reach the border soon, and then they would be in big trouble. Dave toyed with the idea of fighting them, but even if he managed to defeat them, their missing wouldn’t go unnoticed.

Also his ability to defeat them was a big if. As confident as he felt after all his recent training, Bixby warned him to take the Nodefoxes serious. The ones he fought in the den before were some of the weakest the clan had to offer. Most of them had still been Rank 0, only being sent through to secure locations and food sources, while the portal was getting stable enough to transport the real fighting force.

He suddenly lost the Nodefoxes. Dave’s eyes darted anxiously through the forest. Scanning and checking where the dangerous creatures had vanished. It took him a second to see a hint.

A bushy tail was looking over the edge of a tree. Upon closer inspection Dave saw another Nodefox sitting next to it. It appeared they were taking a break, only a dozen metres away from their barrier. His heart was pounding. All it took was one of them taking a piss a few meters off into the wrong direction and that would be it.

They were so close to them that Dave could almost count the hair of their pelts. Could almost smell them.

Dave looked over to Mira. She was still frozen in shock, her eyes scanning the trees nervously, like she was playing a Where's Waldo game with her life on the line.

“They are over there.” Dave whispered not fully trusting the sound blocking capabilities of the Grace Period shield. “I think they are taking a break. I need you to go and get Bixby and the others over here.”

Mira looked at him with wide eyes uncomprehending. Dave gave her time to respond but all that filled the silence was the chattering of Nodefoxes. So he elaborated.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I need to stay here and keep watch. Listen, the barrier blocks sound, you could be stomping around here and they wouldn’t hear you,” hopefully, “so you don’t have to be scared.” He pointed back towards the camp. “Just walk normally and take care not to make too much noise to be sure.”

It took her a Mira seconds and a long look from Dave to convince her. She shook her head as if to clear it and gave Dave a nod. Then she turned and walked off back towards the camp.

Dave caught himself from turning and staring after her. He would’ve stared after her for two reasons. One was obvious. The other was that Dave had to admit he was actually impressed. She went from scared witless to getting her emotions under control pretty quickly. There was much more to her than her looks.

Before he could dwell on that longer he reminded himself of his task and kept his eyes on the Nodefoxes instead.

It didn’t take long for Bixby to arrive, by the state he was in and his heavy breathing Dave guessed he must’ve sprinted here. Unfortunately he was still too late.

“Where are they?” Bixby asked, his eyes darting nervously from tree to tree.

“They just left. Thankfully returning the way they came from.”

Bixby’s mouth was still open, Dave wasn’t sure if it was due to physical exhaustion or confusion. “Are you sure they were Nodefoxes?”

Dave gave him a hard look. “Fuck yes I’m sure. Do you think I’d forget what you look like!” He snapped.

Dave sighed, feeling his adrenaline slowly swinding, “I’m sorry. They came close Bixby. Too close.”

News of the Nodefoxes almost stumbling upon their barrier shock everyone up a bit. Max was walking through the camp watching everybody redouble their training efforts. He wasn’t sure to what purpose really, Bixby had told them about the sheer overwhelming numbers of the Nodefoxes. There was just no way for them to stand against something like that.

Max could respect the effort of his friends though, and if it helped them deal with the anxiety, he was all for their training. It wasn’t like he was above that sort of thing.

He had spent extra time going through the sheer limitless Node menu, comparing buildings and mines and looking for ways to either be safer, or reach the required Mana Shard count quicker.

The mine had been running for a little more than three rotations now, or almost two weeks. Checking its balance, Max saw it had produced 60 Shards so far. Not bad, but also nothing to write home about.

Wanting to be more useful, Max was trying to level up. Or rather have his Skills level up, as they would sometimes give out shards for him as an added bonus. He pulled up his status screen for at least the fourth time today.

*Max Cavanaugh

Rank: 1

Domains: Mana

Skills: Node Controller Level 4, Zoned Warrior Level 4

Blessings: Newly Initiated, Leading Light

Active Quests: 3

Alliances: Node Village of Max *

The problem with leveling up was that his Skills weren’t easy to level. He could use Zoned Warrior to boost his attributes and simply train, and he even spent a considerable amount doing so over the last few days. But there was no good way to level Node Controller.

The Skill grew by either growing his village in terms of size or population, by buying more buildings or upgrades, or by defending it. He had actually gotten a level out of it after the second fight he had with Dave.

But not afterwards. Max guessed that since their fights were getting less and less competitive, he simply didn’t do enough to validate it as a defending effort anymore.

Their last fight almost two days ago was over after three quick exchanges. Quite painfully so. But at least Sam’s healing was also getting better, and by now Max’s wounds were completely gone the next day. Leaving him slightly more than one whole day to walk around pain free, before the cycle repeated itself.

At first Max felt like being tortured, but by Dave’s increase in efficiency and Sam’s increase in healing Skills, he felt mostly fine a few hours later already.

Although still sore, and that was what was being a big hindrance upon his training. Thankfully he had taken to Bixby’s mediation technique rather quickly, and felt rapid improvements in his Mana sensing capabilities. To raise one's rank relying on sorely cycling techniques was a long process though.

He needed to train more and finally raise his Zoned Warrior Skill to level five. From the others he knew that it would give it a nice boosts and an additional effect. Max was hoping for something to help him boost their economy.

There was another way to earn Mana Shard for him though, and he was working on it rather relentlessly. With a quick mental Node Max opened another screen.

Mayor, Domain: Create a village and have 10 people join your alliance. 6/10

First step (Create a village and have 5 people join your alliance.) Completed.

Capitalist, Domain: Buy 10 buildings, upgrades or items in the Node Menu. 5/10

Leader, Domain: Get 6 devoted followers. 5/6

The quest Max was most interested in was the last one, even though it also gave him the creeps. He was neither sure what devoted followers were, nor if he really wanted six. It had such a religious zealot vibe attached to it, that Max was careful.

At the same time he was wondering, his six friends had accepted and joined his alliance. Apparently five of them were also being counted as followers. Who was missing from that equation? Was it Bixby due to his different background? If he could solve that problem, who knows what boost they could be getting.

While he was walking and pondering these thoughts, he was so deeply lost in his Menus, that he almost ran into Sarah.

“Woah careful there cowboy.”