January 16, 2019, 3:35pm.

Unlike a horse, when Tuffie moves at full speed it isn't a thundering gallop. Not that it's quiet either, the wolfadillo's paws do thud against the ground as we get closer, but it's more like the gentle thud of a washing machine. Rufka is already standing, drawing her bow while Smoulder shifts on my lap as we approach the hoard.

Looking down I realize she's tensing herself for launch which makes me realize I could be blasting them already.

The question that crosses my mind isn't if I should unleash one of my powerful torrent variants. No, the question is which spell I should use to wreak havoc amongst the horde surrounding the others.

I elect to try my Blazing Torrent first. In addition to being immediately destructive, the way it leaves the earth scorched means I may be able to use it to cut off large portions of the horde.

It's challenging creating my Blazing Torrent while on wolfback, Tuffie's gait causing me to bounce and wobble, but I persevere.

As the spell builds the air dries rapidly, quickly baking me. I feel Tuffie slow as Rufka turns to look at me.

"I knew you had more tricks," Rufka calls with a giant grin.

Right, I guess she can feel the heat too.

I don't stop to explain as I aim the torrent straight through the middle of the horde, hoping to take down the giant with my first strike. Right as I'm ready to release, Tuffie veers to the side dodging a glowing crack in the ground. Which of course, throws off my aim.

As the flames shoot across the ground, I realize the others are now directly in the path of my blast. I try to reach out to redirect it, but the spell's passed outside of my control sphere before I can catch more than a wisp of smoke.

…..

Crap.

The flames tear through the horde while skimming past the giant V'troll, leaving its large scaly body unharmed. Every Pothlin in the path of my twisting spiral of flame is incinerated before they have time to react but I don't care about that at the moment.

I watch with mounting horror as my torrent approaches the others. Right as it's about to strike, Roberts raises his hand. In response a flickering transparent dome with a hint of blue appears, shielding them as my spell splashes harmlessly against it.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I'm jerked back to reality when Tuffie veers to the left, taking us along the edge of the horde.

"Don't get shy on me now," Rufka yells from in front, "let them feel Vaus' fury."

I follow her advice, channelling another Blazing Torrent. This time I'm able to strike among the horde in a way that doesn't hit my friends. It's pretty easy, since this time I aim farther away and there are no last-second direction changes.

Angling it so it leaves a barrier of scorched earth between them and the horde, I consider this one a success. Looking over the horde, I discern that with two spells I've incinerated a quarter of them, with at least as many lying on the ground. Frankly, it's slightly terrifying how much damage I can do. For all the damage I've done to the horde though, the V'troll itself still stands unfazed.

As we circle, it reaches down grasping a near-molten rock at its feet, hefting it in one hand while looking in our direction. Before I realize what it's planning, several things happen at once.

The giant throws the boulder.

Smoulder launches herself directly at the giant.

I feel my straps tighten, pulling me sideways as Rufka turns Tuffie hard.

And I see the giant sway as if hit from the side.

Then my head wrenches around, my vision filling with fur as my head smacks into Rufka's back. The boulder slams through the air beside us, the air rippling with heat.

Straightening myself as Rufka urges Tuffie back, I spit out a mouthful of her fur.

Before we've finished turning around I hear a thunderous roar from behind. As we circle back towards the others I take in what happened while we were dodging the boulder.

The V'troll is limping after Smoulder, one of its legs apparently crippled. Smoulder slams into the giant, landing on the scorched earth nearby, which keeps the Pothlin from flanking her. Meanwhile, Beth shoots it while it is still stumbling from Smoulder's hit.

Even though it's crippled it's still moving quickly, trying to strike Smoulder out of the air.

With four arms, you'd think it would have a little more success. But Smoulder starts using its size against it, springing from hand to hand, like it's a tree, while its arms are branches, using them as leverage to slam into it.

Seeing that Smoulder and Beth have the giant handled, at least for now, I turn my attention to the remaining Pothlin.

I see Josh skewer several that were on their side of my second blast with a burst of thorns, while Roberts stays behind him, maintaining their barrier. With the majority on their side down, that only leaves the hundred or so which are running towards me and Rufka.

No problem.

I feel strangely giddy as I see them line up while they run towards us. Some of them even start fighting each other when one in front stumbles, tripping several behind it.

Well, since they're being to be so cooperative, I happily oblige them drawing my power forth. However, when I'm nearly ready to cast, thin lines of smoke start curling up from my onesie. Quickly sending the spell into the horde while only aiming enough to make sure I don't hit the others, I start summoning water mana to douse my onesie.

Which was technically on fire. But just a little.

With my self-rescue implemented, I glance back at the horde. There are a couple of Pothlin remaining, but most of those are trapped between the scorch marks I've burned in the ground.

"This is much easier with an Elementalist," Rufka states as she unleashes another arrow. I only now realize she doesn't have a quiver. Each of her arrows materializes only when she draws the bow back.

"Not as much fun though," she continues as two of the little monsters a few meters away run towards us. Rufka spears both of them with a single arrow, leaving the area near us clear of hostiles.

Further out, the giant V'troll is down, both heads missing.

Near its body, the remaining half dozen Pothlin are tearing at each other while trying to strike my favourite ball o'doom. Smoulder is joyfully running rampant in their midst. I've seen Smoulder when she's serious, there's no way they'd last this long if she wasn't playing. I'm starting to suspect Smoulder prefers headbutts over her other ability, Flame Blast, even when it's the suboptimal choice. I let her have her fun since I probably couldn't stop her anyway. Besides Rufka is already steering us towards the others.

Neither Beth nor Rufka waste their energy on the remaining Pothlin, leaving them to Smoulder, though Beth keeps her eyes on them.

The white K'tharn, who I recognize as Tipan, brings a large staff to bear in our direction until Roberts pushes it down while waving us forward. I'm surprised at how relieved I am to see he's okay.

"Good to see you, Alexis. Your arrival was quite timely," Roberts yells as we approach.

"I'm just glad you were able to shield everyone," I yell back as we get closer.

Beth is off to the side, still watching over the battlefield, but takes a moment to wave in my direction while calling out, "Hey kid."

As we come to a stop, Josh's response is a little different. "Alexis are you okay? You look like hell," he states as I try to unclip myself. Unsuccessfully.

Pausing, I look myself over. In addition to the numerous cuts, the restitching and the recent burn holes, my onesie is still covered in mud from my earthworks at the bridge. Not my most elegant look.

Meeting his gaze, I shrug, "it's been an interesting couple of days," I reply, before resuming my struggle.

It figures, kill hundreds of rampaging Pothlin? No problem. Try to pry open a mechanical system? I'm sorry, please try again. This is why they only let me do paperwork at the mill. Well, this and the fact I have a hard time lifting more than eight kilos off the ground.

I finally figure out how to unclip myself. Not by successfully prying open the clips though. No. I cheat. I use metal manipulation to reshape the clips, then bend them back into place. Finally free, I slide to the ground.

"I take it this is your outlander friend. You didn't mention she was a powerful pyromancer. Or that she'd made friends with a reacher," Tipan comments to Beth while I give Josh a quick hug. I don't even wait for him to drop his rose-thorn armour first. Probably not good for my onesie, but whatever.

Only glancing back for a moment, Beth shrugs while replying, "we've been out of touch. Things happen."

"You know, the way you say that almost makes me think you don't like reachers, skyborne," Rufka growls as I give Roberts a firm handshake. Willingly. And with a smile on my face.

"Oh no. I've nothing but respect for those who choose to throw away the comfort of civilization. I mean, to embrace the wild with nothing but the system to guide you, you're so brave," Tipan gushes as she gets a far off look in her eyes.

"So you're calling me uncivilized," Rufka challenges, acting offended. At least, I'm guessing it's an act.

"No no, that's not what I meant at all," Tipan stutters, "I just meant that you're used to roughing it."

"So you're saying I'm a ruffian," Rufka states, leaning down over poor Tipan.

"No, I just mean that, that, that…" she trails off as Rufka snarls for a moment before breaking out into laughter.

Josh and Roberts are clearly confused. I guess neither of them has had much of a chance to learn Vausian yet.

Even if they had, they'd probably still be confused. Rufka has a strange sense of humour.

While Rufka's laughter continues, I pick my way over the broken surface of what I think was once a road, approaching Beth. "Interesting company you're keeping," Beth comments when I get close.

"Yeah, she's something," I reply as I stare at the only Pothlin left standing. Smoulder is running behind it, waiting for it to turn, lunge, then stumble when she dodges out of the way at the last second. Then she repeats the process.

"You didn't mention you'd found help," Beth points out, gesturing at Rufka who's engaging Tipan in conversation. If I'm hearing correctly, they're talking about juniberry spread. Beth's words sound like a statement but they feel like an accusation. I didn't even think of telling Beth about Rufka. I kind of assumed she heard everything on my end just like I heard everything on hers.

"Uhm sorry," I apologize sheepishly.

"It's okay, just hard to plan around what you don't know," Beth replies as she puts the rifle over her shoulder, "I almost shot you when I saw the wolf."

Then she turns to me, looking me up and down. "Josh is right. You do look like hell," Beth smirks as she pulls me in for a quick one-armed hug, "it's good to see you're okay, kid. Thanks for coming for us."

"No problem," I reply as she releases me. When she looks at me, I don't feel trapped by her eyes anymore. I have a proper understanding of how dangerous she is now, but in a way, it sets my mind at ease. It's a quantified danger.

Plus I'm still immune to fear, but I think it's the other thing.

Before I can step away Beth speaks, "I'm guessing you got some integration points from all this," waving her other arm at the open field of destruction.

"So, please, for my sanity, do something about your health."

Nodding, I turn away, cheeks burning.

"You know, it was surprising to see you ride up on that wolf kid. But not nearly as surprising as this," Beth continues as she nods to the battlefield. Following her gaze, I look out at the desolation I created. It's kind of a mess. I should probably put it out before it starts a major fire.

"The fire could be a problem though," Beth mentions as if reading my mind.

"Yeah, about that, give me a minute?" I ask as I stand up, coughing as the smoke drifts over. I'm about to step away when I hear Josh and Roberts walking towards us.

"Did you see that barrier?" Roberts asks Josh excitedly, "it's like a forcefield. A portable forcefield that I can create from nothing."

"Yeah, it was pretty awesome Doctor Roberts," Josh agrees as they get close.

"Alexis wants to do something about the fire before we leave," Beth informs them once they stop.

"Yeah," I add, "I'm going to use some earth tremors to bury the heated ground. And I was thinking I could teach you some magic, it shouldn't be…"

I trail off as all three stare at me.

What?

"Thank you, Alexis. That would be excellent. Yes, most excellent," Roberts recovers first, as he strokes his chin with a big smile on his face. He has a couple of days growth, but it's still pretty short and stubbly.

"Not sure I'll be able to, but it would be awesome," Josh comments as he tucks his hands in the pockets of his, oh so glorious, bathrobe. Even after two days of captivity, it's still immaculate. There has to be some magic going on there.

"Sounds good," Beth agrees as she starts striding towards the bodies. Which she follows up with, "walk and talk people."

Hustling to catch up with her, I then get ahead, using a quick earth tremor to bury part of the field. Ever since the water elemental showed me how to construct my umbrella, I've been thinking about how I can use a similar method to teach the others. As we walk towards the next area, I begin by demonstrating my basic shield rune using water mana to trace the structure.

"Now you can use non-elemental mana for a general-purpose shield, but they seem to be more expensive than elemental shields. Especially for defending against the same element," I instruct them.

Then I watch as they all attempt to make shields themselves. Josh runs out of mana after his first attempt, not even creating a noticeable effect but he just shrugs. Roberts makes progress drawing small amounts of water mana forth but can't get a shield to form.

Beth just creates the shield out of umbra, then copies it with non-elemental mana. She's unable to create a water shield though, even when I provide her with a ball of water to start with.

We pause the lesson as I prepare to cast my next earth tremor. This time I adjust the size. Since I need to cast it repeatedly anyway, I'm trying to get it to the perfect balance of size versus cost. As in, I want it to be as big as possible while costing me no mana or focus.

I keep trying to teach the others as we walk, but I realize they're going to need time to practice. Beth can't create any type of elemental shield. Roberts can get water to form, but he can't create any type of construct. And Josh might not be able to use magic at all. At least until his magic attributes increase. I still go through all the basic runes explaining everything I can think of though.

I'm explaining the concept of creating the spell structures in their minds when we get to the site of my next earth tremor. All three get a distracted look as I resume my work. Yeah, probably should have started with that. For the first time since we've arrived, the others are more distracted than I am, but they follow along behind me.

The next earth tremor is a success at costing no mana but it's a fifth the size. So I keep experimenting as we walk. I discover the best result seems to be when I use 0.1 mana and 0.1 focus to cast the tremor leaving me with a range of fifty meters. If I reduce it below 0.1 of either resource, the range decreases by half for each resource I don't "spend".

Luckily I finish my experiment about the same time as I snuff out the last fires around the edge of where the fires had been spreading, keeping the remaining scorched earth contained. Turning towards the centre, I spot Smoulder.

she finally got bored with the last Pothlin, its body is lying at her feet, unmoving. She's marking her territory again, as I bury half the remaining area. She rejoins me, hopping right onto my shoulder, as I move to finish my task. The others are all talking about magic and practicing, so I quickly review my notifications.

"Skills increased:

Mana Manipulation* (84 to 85) Temporal Manipulation (25) Spatial Manipulation (28) Fire Manipulation (32 to 37) Earth Manipulation (36 to 43) Riding (6)

"Quest updated: Establish the basics. Hidden requirement: Raise Temporal and Spatial manipulation to 25, 2/2. Reward: classes unlocked; Chronoknight, Chronoranger, Chronosniper."

That's… a lot of classes. But no upgrades. Damn. I was hoping for an upgrade.

Quest Completed: Forget the dragon, kill the V'troll! Reward: 7 iron rank integration points; 1 iron grade ingot."

"Please return to your closest available Nexus to retrieve your items."

I'm surprised I got credit for that one, I hardly did anything. I wonder if Smoulder's contributions counted. I'm pretty sure she and Beth did most of the heavy lifting.

"Repeatable quest Completed: Been there, killed that - Pack of Lesser Pothlin x 10. Rewards: 10 iron rank integration points, improved damage against Lesser Pothlin. You have filled your maximum quota for Packs of Lesser Pothlin until next season. No further rewards available."

Wow, nice rewards from such an easy quest. I wonder why it has a limit.

I'm about to cast another earth tremor when one of the not-as-dead-as-I-thought Pothlin suddenly lurches up, wrapping its filthy fingers around my thigh, shredding the fabric of my onesie while scratching my leg before I realize what's happening.

Smoulder destroys the offending little monster while I'm stumbling back, tripping on another body behind me. There's no pain, but I realize that a single attack brought me down to eleven health. And that's with the bonus health edge from Rufka's liquor raising my edge by ten. Was that some kind of sneak attack?

It's time to do as Beth suggested. Opening up my attributes, I'm a little shocked when I see I have thirty points to spend.

My original hope, when I realized I was back with the others, had been to keep increasing my Intellect and Spirit. But between Beth's prompting and my, very recent, reminder of how frail I am, I hardly hesitate before putting eleven points into both Strength and Constitution while checking over my attributes. I check to make sure my health edge will be positive then I confirm my choice.

PANDORA ATTRIBUTE VALUE ADJUST STRENGTH -19 > -9 (+/-) CONSTITUTION 1 > 11 (+/-) AGILITY 12 (+/-) ENDURANCE 5 (+/-) INTELLECT 85 (+/-) SPIRIT 85 (+/-) PERCEPTION 32 (+/-) RESOLVE 11 (+/-) Integration Points 8 RESOURCE CURRENT/MAX [EDGE] (REGEN) Health 11/48 > 11/78 [-2.9] [7.1] > [0.2] [10.2] (23)/d (17)/d > (39)/d (29)/d Stamina 53/63 > 53/83 [2.0] > [3.0] (33)/d > (44)/d Mana 226/301 > 226/306 [27.7] (234)/d > (238)/d Focus 201/221 > 201/226 [16.0] (146)/d > (149)/d Matrix Facet 73/73 > 73/75 [6.4] (55)/h > (56)/h

It's nice that the first point invested applies immediately. Now I just have to wait for them to finish integrating. Then I'll finally have a positive health edge and my pool will have almost doubled. I'll have just a little less than Roberts' starting health.

Once that's done, I'm about to indulge myself by putting my other eight points into my magic stats when I realize I should talk with the K'tharn first. I need to find out how limited integration points are. I may need to put even more into health.

Sighing, I dismiss my status to find Smoulder poking the V'troll with her tail.

Moving closer, now that the fires are all successfully buried, I inspect the V'troll's body.

“Creature analyzed: V'troll. Mana seed 11.

A twisted version of the K'tharn warrior queen, these substantial terrors lead Pothlin hordes, tearing apart any creature they come upon. While not as numerous as the Pothlin, these monsters have killed many more than the Pothlin ever will.

Every V'troll in K'tharn folklore was said to have been the result of a great warrior committing a horrible betrayal. These creatures were said to be the result of their twisted honour being reflected in their deformed state. This was before the arrival of the mana swarm. Now they're respected for the brutal agents of the system they've become.

Name: ZF00A05

Attributes: Physical; High, Mobility; Med, Magic; Low, Awareness; Low.

Attacks: Diseased claws and bites. Fallen queen aura, empowers nearby earth creatures when surrounded by a group of ten or more, causing them to deal increased damage.

Defences: Medium physical resistance, low magic resistance, high earth resistance, high fire resistance."

"Important survival tip, a single strike from a V'troll would knock you unconscious."

Looking at the size of the thing, I have no doubt Wyonna is correct. Reaching out, the notification pops up asking if I want to loot it which I accept while keeping my face covered.

"Items looted: 1 copper grade earth essence."

As the body dissolves a crystal the size of my pinky lands with a solid thunk in front of me. Picking it up, I focus on it. I kind of forgot to do this with my other essence, but it was so small, I'm not worried I missed anything important.

“Essence analyzed: Copper grade earth mana. Can be used in crafting. Can be combined with eight additional copper grade essences, one of each elemental mana type, to create a copper grade mana shard. Can be combined with nine additional copper grade earth essence to create one silver grade earth essence.

"Mana essences can be converted into integration points, but it's a one-way process Alexis."

Huh, this actually seems valuable. I look around at the hundreds of Pothlin, suddenly wishing I had a loot-all function. Which prompts a new notification.

"Would you like to loot all Lesser Pothlin within 30 meters for 52 facet?"

Checking again, I take a few steps to get a better spread. Before I can continue, Beth speaks up.

"Alexis, did you create this?" Beth asks, holding up a crystal just like my copper grade earth essence.

"Yes?" I confirm, confused. I didn't realize I created loot for everyone. That's pretty cool.

"It landed on my foot," Beth states, staring at where the V'troll's body used to be.

"Interesting, do the bodies turn into crystals?" Roberts wonders as he looks around the field.

"Good question Roberts," Beth agrees, turning to the K'tharn, "hey Tipan, do the bodies turn into crystals?"

"Nah, mum says they're just a system reward," Rufka supplies before Tipan can speak while they move closer. I don't see Tuffie anywhere nearby.

"It's been pretty hard to prove one way or the other," Tipan adds as everyone gathers around.

"Every-user in the party gets the same amount of essence, whether there's one person or six. Sounds like a system reward to me," Rufka counters, crossing her arms.

"Yes, but," Tipan starts but is interrupted by Beth holding up her hand.

"Look, this is all very interesting, and I'm sure it's useful information, but you said there was a sanctuary nearby? A place we can rest where this Aetherium flight can't get to us? We needed to keep this fire from spreading, but we should get going now."

While they're talking, I'm focusing on the prompt. I wonder if I focus on the facet as it activates if I can increase the range. I receive an updated notification in response to my efforts.

"Would you like to loot all Lesser Pothlin within 100 meters for 52 facet and 44 focus?"

"Of course, you're right. It's near the entrance to the city, an old Builder's adventurer hall," Tipan replies as she glances around, "It's a shame we don't have time to loot all these. That's a lot of earth essence."

"Actually," I interject, getting her and Beth to look at me, "I think I might be able to."

Beth takes a look around, then glances at Tipan who's staring at me as if I turned into a two-headed V'troll. Rufka's just grinning.

"Do it kid."

"Everyone may want to cover your nose," I inform them. First in Vausian, then I repeat myself in English, for the guys' benefit. We really need to teach them Vausian.

Then following my own advice, I accept. This time the blue dust is practically a cloud, obscuring vision for a few seconds before it fades away.

"Items looted: 307 mortal grade earth essence."

Instead of a single large crystal, a shower of small shards rains down in front of me. When I check I see the same thing happened with my companions but not either K'tharn.

"And that," Rufka states while grinning at Tipan, "is why one of the very first things mum had me do once I was an adult, was bond a storage item."

"Everyone does that," Tipan replies as Beth looks at the ground then sighs.

"It's fine. I've got this," I offer before Beth can order us to leave the shards.

Instead of trying to pick up hundreds of small crystals with our hands, I use earth manipulation to gather them into four tight balls. I float each of theirs over to them while I deposit mine in my pack.

My magical pack. The one I can bind with a single iron rank integration point. Then, from the sounds of it, have my loot automatically deposited inside.

Mentally prodding my backpack, I confirm the bonding process which leads to a new notification.

"Bond established: Featherlite Backpack. Access restricted to Citizen Pandora. Item integrity linked to Citizen Pandora. Spatial inventory unlocked. Please note that items stored within a user's inventory can only be retrieved from a bound container or a system bank."

"Calculating total inventory space."

"Current total inventory space: 3.12 cubic meters."

"Would you like to transfer all system looted items directly to your inventory or continue receiving them directly? This choice can be changed at any system bank."

"Wyonna's handy bonus tip: now that the backpack is bonded, you can repair it using mana. If it's ever misplaced or destroyed, you can recreate it for one iron integration point at any system bank."

Well, that makes my decision easy. I confirm that I want my loot to transfer directly to my inventory. I'm about to try opening my inventory when Beth places her ball of earth and essence crystals in my hand.

"Think you can hold onto this for me kid? I don't have anywhere to put it."

Looking up, I realize that Josh and Roberts are still holding their balls in their hands.

Hmmph. Hehe.

Mind out of the gutter Alexis.

"Yeah, no problem. I can hold onto them for everyone," I share, holding it out to the others.

"No," Rufka yells out when she sees Beth moving to put her ball in my bag.

"Are you trying to lose a hand?" Rufka exclaims as Beth pulls her hand back.

"What?" Beth and I yelp simultaneously as we look to Rufka.

"You must never attempt to interact with another's inventory Bethany," Tipan explains as she joins us, "the consequences can be most dire. The system has little love for thieves."

It has no love for thieves, but has no problem with murderous, rampaging hordes? Figures.

Since the essences are all packed in dirt, I float everyone's over to me before crumbling the earth, creating a tinkering cascade of crystal that flows into my pack.

"Okay, let's move," Beth commands in Vausian while pointing up the hill. She leads the way as we all fall in behind her.

"Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but when I received my class, I got an update on our mission here," Beth informs us in English as we make our way.

Before I can ask about her class, she continues, "we need to do more than find a way home."

She stops for a moment, looking to each of us to make sure we're listening.

"We need to figure out how to stop an apocalypse."