Solomon finally relaxed once they made it a couple blocks away from campus with no signs of pursuit. Credit the storm or credit his rifle, either way they had gotten away clean. He'd faced more than his fair share of close calls with death over the last couple of weeks, and it didn't seem to be getting less stressful. The rush of relief once the danger was over, though, still felt great every time.

While Solomon was perfectly relaxed as he strolled down the street, he noticed that Kanmi was still radiating a sense of tension. Solomon slowed down and took a better look, taking in the set of his shoulders and his pensive expression, even as they moved further and further from danger.

"Was that guy a big deal, really?" Solomon asked. He'd already gotten the impression that he'd kicked over the anthill, but he wondered if he was still underestimating the problem.

"He wasn't a small fry," Kanmi said. "You put together a hundred man expedition, you know, there are a few guys you're trying out, you're not sure they're gonna make it. He was a vet. Been through a dozen of these things."

Solomon shrugged. The arrival of the system meant war and chaos. Somebody who thought they were safe was exactly the kind of person who would get himself killed. Solomon's main regret was that he hadn't been able to grab anything fancy off of the corpse.

"I wish the system gave out bonus points for punching above your weight," Solomon said. He was pretty sure that in any kind of level based system, Botrys would have been more than a few levels ahead of him. Some kind of juicy reward to go with the heightened risk would have been nice.

"Well, you'll get some bonus attention from the Zamos Conglomerate, that's for sure," Kanmi said.

Solomon shrugged again. He still didn't regret his actions. In the short run, it had been do or die. In the long run, he might have screwed himself over, but at least he was going to live long enough to see the long run.

"How'd he make that shield, anyways?" Solomon asked. "I thought you guys were capped on skills right now."

He'd been under the impression that the invaders were only able to purchase relatively low level grids during the early grace periods. Whatever grid handed out a bulletproof shield, Solomon refused to believe it was anything but a thirteen-pointer, at least.

"You know the System abilities are more than just pushing a button, right?" Kanmi asked. "You have to guide and control them to get the result you want."

"Yeah," Solomon said. Pushing his Powder Adept ability to the limit had been a headache and a half, though the results had been well worth it.

"So," Kanmi said, "if you know what you're doing, and you really work at it, you don't need the System assist."

"Bullshit," Solomon said. "You're talking about just doing magic because you practice?"

"It's science," Kanmi insisted, "just not your science. You saw what happened. You know that shield wasn't on any low level grid."

Solomon grumbled. He could see the logic of what Kanmi was saying, but it still struck him as monstrously unfair. Not only did the invaders plan for this, not only did they train, but now he found out they'd also brought wizards along with them. This was really turning out to be one of those months.

"Taking out a guy with that much training," Kanmi continued, "you can understand how they'll react."

Solomon nodded. It was one more problem to add to the list. He just hoped that once he made it back down to Glide and then out to his zone he would be too far away for them to bother keeping up the chase.

"What about your hands?" he asked. He'd been half hoping that the shackles would fall off once he'd shot the guard, but it hadn't quite worked out that way.

"It's going to cramp my style," Kanmi said, "but the dungeon stores can make this kind of thing go away."

Solomon raised an eyebrow. He hadn't realized that Mort was running such a full service establishment. He'd thought of his store as more of a clearinghouse for raw materials and a supplier for people who weren't willing to craft their own gear.

"Of course, it ain't cheap," Kanmi added.

Solomon nodded. If there was one thing he'd learned about the system, it was that there were no free rides. If you did something impressive then you'd get a fair reward, but that was about it. No freebies to speak of, and no participation trophies.

They'd kept walking while they talked, and soon enough they were back in Solomon's neighborhood. Solomon approached his parents' front door quietly and opened it slowly. He didn't want to wake anybody up. His efforts were soon revealed as futile, as the door opened to reveal his whole family sitting in the living room, waiting in the light from some dungeon lights for him to appear.

"You made it!" Tiffany said, jumping up and running over to give Solomon a hug. She took a step back, her gaze noticeably cooler as she looked Kanmi up and down. "This is your friend?"

"Tiff, this is Kanmi," Solomon said, before turning to Kanmi. "My sister, Tiffany."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Kanmi said.

"We'll see," Tiffany said, before returning to her seat on the armchair.

Solomon exchanged greetings and hugs with his parents, but his mind lingered on Tiffany's reaction. She wasn't in the mood to be friendly to any aliens who had come to earth, no matter what side they were on. He was afraid that she wasn't the only one who felt that way. Well, time and effort could break down a lot of barriers.

Once his parents had been properly introduced to Kanmi and they were all settled back in the living room, Solomon leaned forward, making sure he had everyone's attention.

"I hope you're ready to move," he said. "After tonight, we have to get out of town as soon as possible."

He wasn't going to panic just because some alien corporation wanted him dead, but he wasn't going to wait around and make it easy for them. Whipping up a caravan on short notice was going to be a hassle, but Solomon wanted to get on the road and well out of range before he found out what other kinds of magic a really motivated trainee could pick up by working around the system.