Vanguard jogged through the forest, lightly infusing her legs with Aether. The forest was rich in Aether, so she drew it in at nearly the same rate as she used it. She was fully armored in plate armor, but it was forged of duraluminum, so it was light. It wouldn't provide much protection, but when infused with Aether it could take a beating. Duraluminum conducted Aether faster than steel, which her heater shield and sword were made of. Steel could conduct more, but it required a ramp-up that would prevent her from the split-second protection she desired. Also, the material was cheaper.

She was on the hunt for Malformed. The nearby village said there was a colony of Chitters this way. Chitters were originally squirrels, which had absorbed a critical mass of Aether that had mutated them. Often they showed up in groups around Aether-rich trees.

Chitters weren't necessarily a threat to the village, but they were essentially an invasive species. They were omnivorous, bred quickly, and territorial. That territory would expand as they devoured everything around, so it was only a matter of time before they caused trouble. The villagers hadn't been willing to pay her to get rid of them, but said they'd give her free drinks at the tavern. The real reason she was out here was for the Chitters' essence. It's what paid the bills.

Vanguard was Copper rank. She had infused her aura with a balance of essences, and thus had the Balance Cladding. A Cladding was essential to absorb the ambient Aether of the world. It coated the outside of her aura and provided a permeable membrane for the energy. Lead ranked humans only received small amounts of Aether from what they ate and drank.

Vanguard slowed. There was a pool of blood and some partially gnawed bones. Deer, she guessed. The skull showed several dents in it she estimated came from being bashed in by rocks. Chitters were tool users, of a sort.

There was a rather obvious path through the forest. Vanguard was glad, as she was only a middling tracker.

She reduced the Aether in her legs and drew her sword and shield, sending a thread of Aether through each. It was the most efficient way to fill them up. One could blast them with a lot more Aether and they would attune faster, but more was lost in the transfer.

She trekked along the trail more cautiously, wondering how many foes she would be facing. This looked like a decent sized group, and it was likely just a hunting party.

There would be scouts in the trees. Individually the Chitters were weak, so hopefully she could handle them before they raised the alarm.

She covered her eyes with aura. Unlike infusing her eyes with Aether, which would increase her eyesight, it acted like a colored lens. With this, she could see the auras of things around her. It was disorienting when one first started doing it, but she was reasonably acostomed to it.

Auras tended to expand beyond their physical boundaries, even for things like rocks and sticks. Everything was a bit blurry, a bit blobby. Living things tended to radiate more, so it was immediately apparent when she spotted a scout in the trees. It's aura was bright orange, with the outline of its body a hotter shade.

Not taking her aura vision off, she focused on a rock. She could probably throw a rock hard enough even without infused muscles, but that would mean releasing her attuned weapons. Instead she chose to throw it another way.

Some chose to infuse the rock itself, and their Cladding allowed them to do so. It would take more than it was worth for her. Instead she infused the air above the rock. Condensing the air down to a pillow like density, she scooped the rock up. She accelerated it until it reached the end of her aura range, where she gently released the air so it wouldn't make a noise.

The rock cracked into the Chitter and knocked it out of the tree. She dashed up to it, infusing her legs to take long, powerful strides. The aura on the creature revealed it was simply dazed, not dead, so she brutally stabbed it through the chest. She regarded it. It was largely shaped like a squirrel but with different proportions. Barrel-chested and bipedal, it had short arms and legs, and a large muscular tail.

Scanning the treeline for more, she confirmed that she was alone. She sat down in a meditative pose next to the corpse. This was why she was here. She pushed out in a small circle with her aura, sweeping out all the ambient Aether. The Aether Void technique was the first thing her father had taught her once she'd reached Copper and gained control of her aura. In some ways it was the opposite of infusing.

In her aura sight, the Chitter was leaking small amounts of Aether from its wounds and mouth. When the Void stabilized, the leak became a river, coming from every pore of the creature. It floated above the body, separating out like oil and water. The yellow glow condensed and crystallized into a fulgerite of Swift essence, while the green turned into a tiny tigerseye of Growth essence. She grabbed both and put them in her pouch. Gems this small wouldn't sell for much, but it was only the first Malforged. There'd be a lot more where that came from. Though common, Growth essence was a Copper-rank advancement material, while the Swift essence reminded her of when she'd been Lead building her Balance Cladding.

She repeated the entire process several more times as she followed the tracks. Rock, stab, Void, collect. She took the same crystals out each time and placed them on the body, and they attracted the essence faster than when she'd let it crystallize itself, growing the gems larger.

Then she got to an area with two sentries, and beyond it was a cleared area with a large number of stumps. In the distance was a large nest made of logs, sticks, and dried grasses. She'd found them.

Aiming two rocks was trickier than one, but she got them both down. She finished the first, but the other one got up and let out a high pitched squeal. So much for stealth. She heard a loud chittering and clicking of teeth coming from the nest.

She stormed up to the Chitter, and it launched itself at her. She bashed it out of the air with her shield, her arm infused with Aether, the attuned shield responding effortlessly to her will.

The creature was dazed, and struggled to find its feet. She ran up and decapitated the Chitter. She had just enough time to notice a strange pouch sewn into its loincloth before she had to turn her attention away.

The sounds from the nest were getting louder. The situation was not ideal. Her reserves of Aether were decent, but she was about to be swarmed. Making a decision, she infused the ground behind her with Aether and pulled up a semicircle of packed earth and stone. They might climb it eventually, but it would protect her back to some extent.

The sounds coming from the nest were getting decidedly odd. There was the sound of constant chewing, and suddenly the whole place erupted in blood curdling shrieks. The first Chitter came sprinting into view, and it was foaming at the mouth and its eyes were bright red.

Despite the approaching threat, she focused her aura on absorbing more Aether. She'd need it for the fight ahead.

The first one entered her range and leaped at her. She merely angled her sword and impaled the creature lengthwise. Rather than accept its death or acknowledge the wound, the creature swarmed right up the blade, clawing and biting at her.

She focused her Aether and lifted it up, blasting it off with the force of a catapult. It crashed into the others and blew a line through the crowd coming.

A hail of rocks came her way, and she pushed out the Aether in her shield, extending its edges with cyan energy to guard her whole body. It didn't cost much of her personal energy, but it used some of what was stored in the shield, lowering its attunement.

A small stone pile collected in front of her, and when the rain of projectiles lessened she canceled her extended shield. Instead, she began compressing the air in front of her. She pushed it forward with all her might, and a grapeshot blast of stones shot low into the charging ranks. Kneecaps and feet were smashed apart, but even the wounded hobbled on, rabid in their desire to reach her.

The mass of Chitters became two groups as the uninjured ones flung themselves into the fray. Some came with claws and teeth, while others grabbed rocks or sticks. They all had those pouches on their belts.

The first that made it to her struck with a stick. It's downward slash was completely without finesse or training. She cut into the attack with her sword, a technique known as the Strike of Wrath. Her uninfused muscles were still plenty to completely overpower the attack and sink into his shoulder, severing his attacking arm. She then whipped the false edge of the blade through his head on the way to reset back into Wrath Stance.

By this point two more reached her. She punched out with her shield to the left and slammed the Chitter there into a tree. The force left its head a pulpy mass. Chambering her shield back to guard against the other, which had a rock, she deflected its attack out, then near split it in half with the full arc of an upward cut.

At that point more had gotten in range, foregoing leaping for simply charging, so she began retreating to her cover. The crazed creatures crowded over each other, and didn't seem to be of a mind for flanking her. She cut down with a step back, hitting a Chitter in front of her, guarding her exposed wrist with her shield. She then bashed out and to the left with the shield, infusing the strike with Aether to bring the blow snapping out preternaturally fast, retracting it to guard a blow on the right side. Another step back and she cut upward from the Fool's Guard, severing an arm clutching a rock.

It became a timeless moment as she reached cover, no longer able to manuver but guarded from the back. The semicircle of earth and stone funneled the enemies in so they were mostly in front of her, but their numbers were still great. Without Aether, it would be all she could do to fend off the blows. With it, she could swiftly retaliate, and reinforce her armor in the blink of an eye to shrug off blows. Each kill gave her ammunition, as the dead bodies could be manipulated and thrown into their ranks to cause chaos.

After one such, she gripped her sword with both hands, a feature afforded her with the design of her shield. She blasted Aether into the weapon, and took a lunging forward step forward. The excess Aether couldn't be held in the weapon, so instead it blazed off the end, Aspected with the sharpness of the edge. She swept the glowing blade through them from right to left, lunged again and cleaved left to right, taking out large swathes of the creatures. With a final burst of Aether, she hurled the corpses around her to scatter the enemies.

After that it was largely a cleanup operation. She was about out of Aether, but the scattered remnants of pack couldn't stand against her. That was when she heard the loud thump. An incredibly muscular Chitter had just jumped into the fight. It was clearly a nursing female, and probably the oldest of the creatures. It pulled a root out of its pouch and swallowed it whole.

Was that rageroot? No wonder they're so rabid.

Vanguard followed suit, pulling out a metal vial. It was the easiest potion to make, an Aether potion. Simply filling the flask with water and infusing the metal with Aether would charge the water. It required Attuning the flask for about an hour to fully infuse the water, and it was rather draining as the water could hold a great deal of the energy.

She opened her visor and chugged back the liquid. Aether didn't really have a taste, but it tingled on the tongue and burned. It rapidly brought her reserves up to half.

Her foe had a massive fire-hardened club. She hooked her shield to her back and grabbed her sword in both hands once again. There'd be no blocking that bludgeon, or at least only one block before it broke her arm.

Like the others, this berserk Chitter favored leaping. It arced through the air, swinging down at her with all its might. Vanguard stepped to the side, cutting horizontally as she did. The wind from the things blow nearly unbalanced her. She flipped on her aura sight and saw its arms were swollen with Aether. Angry red veins showed through, the Rage essence from the rageroot.

It's a Copper-rank chitter. Farther along than me too.

The cut she'd made barely penetrated the skin. She'd need to bleed it out or go for a critical spot. The club was sweeping toward her from the side, the motion telegraphed by the Chitter pulling the weapon the opposite direction first. Vanguard infused her legs and leaped up, stabbing at the head. She nicked an eye and gouged out a slice of its temple before landing lightly.

The club was sweeping back around for her, so she dove under the Chitter's oversized legs with a burst of Aether. She quickly rolled to her feet and spun with her sword out. She severed a tendon, and the beast fell to one knee. It slammed its tail down at her but she sidestepped, overcharged ber sword and hacked the tail off. The creature hurled itself backward at her, but she was too fast, stepping away. While the creature was grounded, she leaped high overhead, and stabbed straight down through its wounded eye into its brain. It spasmed, and she flung herself off the soon-to-be corpse.

She made her way up to the nest, opting to slowly climb it instead of burning Aether jumping in. She found what she was expecting, a pile of naked pink baby Chitters. They wouldn't survive without their mother. She drew her dagger and got to work.

When she was done, she produced an Aether Void. The bodies produced the valuable Life essence, an organic light red gem that vaguely resembled a heart. There was also a bit of spikey Rage essence. No doubt from nursing from the berserker mother.

She made her way back through the carnage of the battle, dragging the bodies together into a large pile near the big one. She gratefully sank down to the ground, taking out her essences as seeds. The Swift essence gem swelled to impressive size, and Growth saw a decent increase from the mother alone. She also got more Rage essence. All together, the gems barely fit her satchel.

Maybe with this I can afford a packmule, she thought. Someday she dreamed of getting access to a dimensional bag. The objects worked by making a portal from the mouth of the bag to an isolated space, like a warehouse. The user would be able to pull items through using Aether. Some dreamed of finding abandoned dimensional warehouses, rich with loot for the taking. Vanguard did not. She knew you had to work for what you got.

As she turned to leave the new graveyard, she thought about her father. He'd settled for farming after getting boosted up to Copper to fight in the Madhevian war. He'd taught her everything he knew of swordwork and using Aether. His old war buddies said he was wasting his potential, but they drank his cider gladly enough.

Of her mother, little was said. Vanguard had been known as Alyssa before she advanced to Copper. Her mother had left some time between her birth and when she could form memories.

She headed back to town.