Before beginning preparation for what would be a monumental operation, Marcus first required himself to clean up his notifications. Quietly entering an abandoned shop, he opened his status.

[Level Up + 8]

® Unstable Earthen Spines + 8

® Inorganic Shaping + 8

® Pyrrhic Cleansing + 2

(U) Mana Manipulation + 10

(U) Elemental Manipulation + 10

(U) Elemental Sight + 3

(U) Scorching Ray + 2

© Mounted Combat + 2

© Dodge + 3

© Stone Throw + 4

In addition to skill ups, Marcus was pleased to finally see an all too familiar set of notifications; his increased level had finally pushed him over another milestone.

Intelligence fills a growing pool of mana - catalyzing arcane sigils to fuel spells of magnificent scale. Additionally, an intrinsic link has begun to growth within, deepening a connection to your center - refining both conceptual understanding and higher applications of power.

New Mana Pool Multiplier: 1.5x | New Spell Damage bonus: 15%.

Marcus had long awaited another breakpoint in his attributes. Hitting 250 in Intelligence finally proved that his first bonuses hadn’t been flukes after all. Happy with his awards, and looking forward to more, Marcus distributed his free attributes - twelve Constitution, twenty-five Wisdom, and three Perception; pushing the latter two towards their respective cutoffs.

A tree remains still, unmoving even in gale storms. Years pass, others die, but the tree remains - only accompanied by a growing river. Your mind grows closer to this concept of stillness, further strengthening mental stability and recovery.

New Mana Regeneration Multiplier: 1.5x | New passive ability: (U) Meditative Mind

Nights falls, not a sound or sight visible. Since the dawn of time man has feared the dark, but no more shall you share that burden. Eyes of beasts reflect dimly, eying their prey greedily, but now you simply stare back.

New passive ability: (U) Darkvision

An additional message appeared, and it was something he’d never seen before; an award for multiple attributes reaching threshholds together.

Roiling oceans of mana lap against the shores of your mind. Each drop responding organically to your command. Further commitment towards metaphysical characteristics has further improved your bodies ability to contain and control mana in abnormal volumes.

For reaching milestones in Intelligence, Wisdom, and Perception additional rewards are available. Let your vessel overflow.

Gained ability: (U) Overchannel.

New passive ability learned – (U) Meditative Mind – Level. 1 | Self-discovering and mastery hardens the mind to harmful stimuli. Opponent’s attempts are disrupting your thoughts, or spells will be met with a wall of will. Higher levels provide additional mental protection and insulation.

New ability learned - (U) Overchannel – Level. 1 | Inject supplementary mana into an active spell, maintaining its effects for additional time. Longer applications of Overchannel drain mana at an alarming rate – sustained spells double in cost every three seconds. Higher levels increase channel efficiency.

Name: Marcus Diamandis Level - 34

Class - Matter Reshaper

Health: 1758/1758

Regeneration 17.58/Minute 1.2 x Multiplier

Stamina:1374/1374 Regeneration 174/Minute 1.2 x Multiplier

Mana: 4290/4290 Regeneration 750/Minute 1.5 x Multiplier

Free Attributes: 0 Path Points: 0

Race: Crystal Forged Human Movement Speed Multipliers Casting Speed Multiplier

Spell Damage Bonuses

5% 25.4% 15% Basic Statistics Total Strength 55 Constitution 119 Agility 50 Perception 254 Intelligence 286 Wisdom 250 Charisma 24 Luck 10

Scanning over everything, he’d once again made excellent progress, and outside of the combined ability nothing was out of the norm. As per usual, he added each PP he’d gained into Mana Molding; receiving the appropriate attributes and almost completing it as well. Marcus was finding it hard to really get excited about his increasing power; when to do so he’d had to risk his life repeatedly - maybe he'd eventually get used to his new life.

Meditative Mind and Overchannel would also fill import niche’s in his arsenal. The former would prevent his spells from misfiring or failing – which almost happened recently when Marcus took repeated blows during his escale from The Blighted. While the former, would act as an all-rounder – expanding his toolbox for spell applications; its only limit being his mana pool - something that additionally grew prodigiously.

Darkvision was a staple ability from many roleplaying games, and one Marcus drooled from acquiring; being able to function in low light locations was an important trait. Additionally, he’d be able to avoid using an attention drawing Mage Light orbs which had a tendency to stand out like a sore thumb.

His plan for now involved investigating Blight Hulk behavior. Marcus knew that something, or someone was controlling them in a way similar to that of a Hive Mind. Hive Mind societies, if that word is even apt, function as a singular whole – sharing information, and creating a collective intelligence. He’d read of these organisms in popular fiction - they were often both uniformly dangerous and difficult to contest; an almost apex existence.

Climbing up stairs contained within the building he had taken temporary shelter in, provided Marcus a panoramic view of his immediate surroundings. For the first test he’d be seeing if these creatures had an ‘aggro radius’ and ‘tether distance.’ Aggression radius, or in popular games 'aggro', defined the distance in which they would attack an approaching target, while tether distance was simply how far they'd pursue in the event an enemy did instigate their aggression.

Marcus would direct his summon to perform a drive-by maneuver before redirecting itself away from enemy lines. Without further ado, he sent the order, before quickly ducking away from the window - dragging Adrian with him; he’d been too caught up in his own notification to hear Marcus’s instructions.

Racing across open ground, his summon rapidly grew closer to their target. Absolutely no Husk’s broke formation once it would’ve been easy to spot the charging bear – the situation persisted until around 100 meters away, and in that moment they finally reacted.

Sections of Blighted left their lines systematically, pursing their target unerringly. After passing an arbitrary pre-defined point, Marcus gave his second order. Several hundred kilograms of bear moved with astounding agility, turning around in short order and immediately accelerating away from its pursers. If someone managed to still be alive in downtown Denver, they’d be spectators for what was likely the oddest game of tag in history. Whether it be alleyways or shops, his summon barreled through them without any regard. All was going well other than Marcus’s ability to maintain control of his construct. He’d been speculating exactly how far his summon could travel without him, and as one kilometer became two, his limit fast approached.

After two and a half kilometers, something eventually gave, and he’d be proud to say it hadn’t been him. Abruptly, all pursuers halted in their tracks, turned around, and sprinted off at top speed; heading back towards their original positions; his bear did the same.

Marcus established a set of observations:

Blighted would ‘aggro’ within 100 meters Blighted would pursue targets up to roughly 2.5 kilometers away before returning. Only those closest Husks to the point of contact would begin pursuit Return time for enemies varied between 2 – 5 minutes depending on distance

Those were facts he was relatively confident in, but for fear of his enemy adapting wouldn’t repeat the test again. Regrettably not ALL Husk’s would follow, he’d wished they would’ve bunched up like before, and in the process abandon their defensive position - at least temporarily.

“Adrian what are your opinions? Any ideas?” Marcus asked hopefully.

“Unless you’re hiding several tons of high explosives that I haven’t heard about, no. This whole thing is fucked, you know. I’m not saying I won’t help you, that you don’t need to worry about, we’ve already fought and bled together. That means something to me Marcus. We... we might need to go back to the others, train-em up like you did me, and start systemically clearing Denver, block to block,” Adrian finished, a hint of begging in his tone. Breathing he began speaking again.

“We’ve got three dozen potential combatants back at base. Yes, many of them have downright useless classes, but maybe with some levels they could do SOMETHING to help.”

“Adrian, I appreciate the thought, but I’ve done the math. There are around 1.5 million of these things - with 36 people, EACH would need to kill 1400 a day for a solid month to eliminate them all, and that’s if they don’t continue to spread… which they are,“ Marcus paused, sounding tired, “Just give me a minute... I’m struggling coming to terms with the high likelihood of my father’s and brother’s demise.”

Within his mind, Marcus tossed everything he could think of at the problem, nothing seemed feasible within their time frame. He’d known the chances hadn’t been high of their survival, but who could blame him for holding out? To his side, Adrian held a pensive filled gaze, staring at nothing in particular – likely lost in his own schemes.

Marcus was snapped out of his planning by Adrian’s voice, “What if I told you that those explosives, I’d been talking about might actually exist? I was thinking of solutions and recalled that Denver holds several large military installations. Our first option is an Army Reserve Training Center, ARTC. That ARTC is located Northeast of Denver’s city-center; it isn’t my first choice. What I recommend us going after is much bigger – Buckley AFB, it’s to the Southeast. We may even be lucky, and people are holding their ground there. Look Marcus, you said it yourself, the math doesn’t check out. For us to unscrew this situation we need to add additional variables to fix the problem. In this instance, more people, particularly fighters, are our added variables.”

Marcus stewed for several minutes, hanging his head and remaining unresponsive. Adrian was starting to get annoyed, but Marcus eventually spoke up.

“You’re right you know? I just didn’t want to admit my folly. Explosives may be found on that base, and assuming they still work might be our ace - maybe we'll even discover people. I haven’t been able to test, for obvious reasons, if traditional weapons remained operable, but in any case, it’s certainly worth looking into. Let’s head back to Littleton, resupply, and take on any volunteers – I trust you’re ready to ride my bear again, huh?”

Adrian glared at the bear before numbly nodding after a brief delay.

To no great amount of surprise, their return trip went uneventfully. Of note, they caught up to Greg shortly before each group would’ve individually arrived - surprising the man with their presence. Initially, Greg had asked why they’d come back, but after Marcus and Adrian explained what had stood waiting for them on 16th street no further questions were voiced.

Reconnecting with those he’d left behind with little fanfare. Marcus was disappointed that no one from the original group volunteered when he’d asked. Greg surprisingly didn’t hesitate to throw his lot in with Marcus, much to his relief. Gathering supplies occurred with little fanfare - their stockpile had ballooned while he’d been gone. Sustainable food and water would require protected land, and people to protect that investment – something not yet feasible, and a problem for another time.

One final issue cropped up as the trio was leaving, his summon wasn’t large enough to carry three grown men, and walking would take much too long. Marcus hadn’t tried summoning a second beast since he’d leveled up, and decided that now would be a good a time as any to try. Walking outside, he began the process, but rather than use earth aspect, Marcus wanted to try fire. Along with using a different aspect, Marcus additionally modified his original wireframe model into a sleeker shape - placing an emphasis on speed and agility. He’d once before tried having multiple summons, at the time it hadn’t worked, but now the process went off without a hitch; clearly how many creatures he could control was tied to attributes in some way. Shortly after, something new, but also totally unsuited for riding appeared – Marcus inspected it.

Primitive Fire Salamander – Level. 30 | Type: Artificial Mana Construct | Mana Constructs are artificial duplications that are typically larger, smarter, and more durable than their natural counterparts. Artificial creatures summoned through mana take on unique features depending on aspect type used during creation. Primitive Fire Salamander’s embody fire aspect characteristics, which include heavily increased damage in the form of fire breathing, and an emphasis on Agility. Created by amateur summoner, Marcus Diamandis.

The description of the Salamander was almost identical to that of his Ursine outside of key pieces of information. For one, this creature had a breath weapon, which would be excellent if it weren’t for Construct being literally on fire, seeing as he'd needed something to ride. Flames danced all over his creation, his summon stretched five meters long including its tail, but only sat a little over half a meter tall – dwarfed by the bear. Red and black scales also covered its body serving as natural armor, but clearly not up to par with his other summon's defensive suite. Marcus began to become disappointed, but for the sake of being thorough, ordered the Salamander to use its breath weapon towards a random abandoned vehicle.

After a brief delay Marcus’s summon turned towards its target, took a deep breath, and expelled a torrent of blue-tinged-violet flame twenty meters through the air. Initially, he’d believed the attack purely heat based, but on contact the flame stuck to its target in a manner similar to napalm. Unlike napalm, this substance burned without producing smoke, and reduced vehicles into molten metal within a minute.

Impressed to such an extent, Marcus accepted their unavoidable delay rather than dismiss such a wonderful asset. While Greg and Adrian rode his bear, Marcus ran alongside, maintaining an equal pace to everyone’s surprise - including himself. By the time they’d arrived at their target, he’d only needed to take a handful of breaks after traveling nearly 25 kilometers.

On the horizon lay Buckley AFB, where national flags remained fluttering in a midday breeze. Rather total devastation as much of Denver had been in, Marcus instead observed patrolling soldiers. They’d clearly been paying attention, as within several minutes those same patrols changed direction and headed towards them. These men and woman had seen better days, but each one maintained awareness of their surroundings, constantly looking around while they moved towards him. Well fitted and matching fatigues adorned them, further emphasizing their profession, but the main tool of a solider was missing - none of them carried a gun.

Rather than firearms Marcus spotted knives, hammers, and even several makeshift spears; even now he wished he’d been able to keep his. Before long, they’d begun their approach, hostility radiating off them like a beacon. Confusion segwayed into a 'duh' moment, before Marcus walked forward to meet them halfway, leaving his summons behind. Relief was evident on their faces, and he couldn’t help but smile. Hope bloomed in his heart, maybe he could eliminate The Blighted.

With a grin plastered on his face, Marcus raised his hands and yelled something that you probably shouldn’t say when your world had just been invaded by what could be called aliens, “I come in peace, take me to your leader.”