“Come on, can’t you go a little faster?” One of the mages asks the scout driving the flying craft.

I frown at him. “We are just a couple of minutes away from the village, be patient.”

The scout replies: “I’m already at maximum cruise speed. Any faster and we would be wasting way too much mana for a smidge more speed. We are fortunate that Nash didn’t even mention anything about how we will pay him back, our mana budget is getting tighter by the day with all that uses we have for it.”

The mage looks at me and I reply: “He is right, getting there a few seconds faster for double or triple the mana consumption is not worth it.”

“Come on it's not that bad.” The mage says. “I know the propulsive rune and even helped engrave a pair of the flying craft we brought.”

“We are just a couple of kilometers away from the clearing around the village. Look over there, you can just barely see the walls.” The scout points through the mana shield that acts as a windshield following the aerodynamic shape of the carefully designed outer hull. In the distance, perhaps 4 kilometers away, though easily visible even for me at the back of the craft a short line with the light gray color of the stones our Stonesingers and Earthmovers used to make the defenses.

It still sat at 10 meters tall, something we hadn't increased for a long time. The more recent defensive efforts were not into stacking more stones atop it, but in further improving the runes powering the magical defenses.

Making it taller may be of some limited advantage, but we already started to hear about other people trying to get their flying craft working, the periodic goblin attacks were bound to bring flying enemies, both of which would make taller walls a mute effort.

We could always make them larger easily enough in the future, but for now, it was enough and the effort from those mages went into more useful endeavors like the transportation network extending to more and more villages and facilitating trade. Especially for those without the magic know-how to make proper wheels like we or the older trading partners who bought carriages from us had available.

Passing over the front wall, though the scout could have done so from the sidewall with the large clearance the longer craft allow, before setting down in the central square. In seconds everyone scurries off after saying their goodbyes.

“Well, I will be going to give my report. You need any help with the craft?” He asks running his hand over the wooden hull.

“No need, go about your business,” I say and as he walks off I cover it in roots before pulling it into my inner world, almost laughing at how comical it must look for those in the know and how little I was actually doing to hide my inner world lately.

“Mister.” I hear from one of the village messengers. Though without recognizing him I couldn't know if he was added to the roster yesterday or he was one of the first 12-year-olds the system sent our way after allowing them to live somewhere under its supervision.

“Yes,” I reply looking at him.

“Charlie is calling for you at your soonest convenience.” I laugh at the strange turn of phrase, but shrug and say:

“I will be right there.”

He nods and runs off. His steps echo in the stone floor of the central square and with my perception, I feel the tightening of his muscles and how his tendons react to the force he exerts against the ground. I feel the coordination and timing while reacting to how his muscles relax in between his steps.

Average stats about….9. That’s low and so, not only new addition, likely a level zero or close to that. Unless he was holding to his stat points, but that was unlikely.

I let go of the portal that I used to draw the and the roots spring in between the stone in the floor and go back underground as I start running to Charlie’s office. Getting there, the fear is palpable again. I had spent days outside and even though the entire time we were very close to the HLZ, especially the ten mages which were more vulnerable to the beasts than me or the scout, we didn’t see a single one of the beasts always keeping our distance.

Now even before seeing anyone, there is a heavy feeling in the air. As they come into view, I realize that maybe they didn’t pass all of the information over the comms in the last few days.

Entering the command center I look around to find Charlie.

“Oh, good, you arrived.”

“Didn’t you just send a messenger for me?” I ask confused.

“Nope, he was waiting for you to arrive for the last twenty minutes or so.”

“Is the situation worse than you passed the impression when we were out?”

“So you picked up on that? Yes, we didn’t want to worry you guys with stuff that didn’t matter while you were so close to the border, but we learned a little from the NPC’s in town about.”

I look at him and sit down on a chair attentively looking.

“Ok, I’m all ears.”

“So far the beasts haven’t gotten anyone in the surrounding villages, and even the ones we are only now coming in contact to had already stopped people near the HLZ on their own. But that is not going to be enough according to the residents.”

“Uhh, will the beasts be able to go farther from the HLZ?” I ask.

“That’s one of the things we speculate will continue to increase. Though we already suspected that so we are keeping our distance. The real problem is our next guess.”

“ Don’t tell me they are going...” I say widening my eyes and his grim face is all the answer I need.

“I see you get it. From the warnings, it’s the only thing that makes sense. The beasts will start leaving the HLZ on their own and when they start to do that, not even bunkering inside the villages will be safe.”

“Ohh, shit. Even if we manage to fend off one or two of them with our defenses and mana supply, the other villages will be screwed. It doesn’t really matter to what height they build their walls, the only real defense is magical in nature.”

Charlie sits back in his own chair sighing.

“I had hoped the Automaton’s words were more boast their reality, but it looks like we are about to confirm that his warnings are not exaggerations.”

“So is the detection network working properly?”

“Yep, every single detector you put in place is functioning and we are always getting warnings about people in the vicinity of the HLZ, though we haven't seen anyone crossing the line.”

“At least we started the detection network quickly, if we had delayed the beasts might have started leaving, and finishing it would have been extremely dangerous,” I say before asking. “When will it be complete? I mean, you have produced enough of the detectors by now, but it’s another matter to get them in place so far away.”

“We need another day or so. The main problem was just the lack of enough Earth mages, but we are managing.” He says before changing the subject. “I have to thank you for volunteering all the mana and supplies for the trip around the HLZ.”

I look at him and though his words are indeed thankful, behind is something darker.

“What is the problem?” I ask concerned.

“Besides… everything?” He says, but I just stare at him and he relents. “ Don’t get me wrong, you helped a lot but I’m not sure the detection network will be enough.”

“It can’t hurt, we will at least be able to track the beasts with it. Using it together with the map will allow us to warn other villages.”

“But the people outside the network… wait. I know… we can reach them with the merchant’s letters. We can even send them in express mode, just a few letters every so often are not that expensive.”

“How much do they cost?” I ask him.

“For a standard letter 20 copper for a delivery within 3 hours instead of the 1 to 3 days of the normal schedule.”

“But then its costs are twenty times greater. And it isn’t even on our village… although even we can just message the painter village over the network and add only a few minutes to that.”

“That will depend on how fast the beasts moves,” he says downcast.

“They move pretty fast,” I say acknowledging his point. “But the real limitation is their stamina. I think 3 hours is plenty to warn even the inner ring of villages.”

“Well, let’s hope so, and so we will gain a few extra minutes. We are in negotiations with them for how to unlock the special functions of the merchant. We have a few guesses, but this is a more certain way to get the information than by trial and error.”

“Are they willing to give up the steady income for their village?”

“Even if we have to pay one percent of ‘tax’ in ‘perpetuity’ it will be worth for the increased convenience and they may settle for a flat fee of few gold coins. It will be much more money upfront, but then we won’t be paying forever.” He says.

“Well, either way, I will take my leave if there is nothing else and reacquaint myself with the developments since I left.”

“I thought that was what we were doing?” He says grinning widely and I look at him intently before saying:

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“Sure, but before you go, do you have any other ideas? As I said, I don’t think just this will be enough.”

“I will see if I can come up with something. Both the MRI and Merlin are working on coming up with new battle magic, so I’m not sure how much I can contribute.”

He snorts and as I get to leave as I hear him muttering.

“You always come up with something more.”

Walking out of the command center, and leaving everyone to their work I think hard for a few on my way around the village. The round will take me maybe two hours to get everything in order including the work on the smithy, but after that, with the threat looming on the horizon without a timeline and or a certain path to success I simply don’t know how to prepare.

And like any time I was in doubt my mind doesn’t stop ruminating on the problem. Over the two hours later as noon approaches, even during the meditation session to send mana to help make the pair of +7 spears, I can’t completely calm my mind filled with racing thoughts.

I overturn the problem again and again and even after I have no more excuses there is not a single action that shines over then all and presents itself as the solution to all my problems.

But a few actions I could take do seem to shine a little brighter and working on my stats, at least for an hour or so, is what I choose.

I head to meet the commander as it has been a while I don’t read more in-depth their take on how to improve stats, and any possible small progressions they may have made.

Heading to the extreme west corner of the village a building with his office, where he spends most of his time when not on the command center or handling other matters.

As I get close to the quadrant of the village I least visit, I see the field outside has grown as more of the wooden houses were knocked down and I wonder about the number of modifications we were doing around the village. If we kept this going soon there wouldn’t be a single place to sleep, but I just shrug.

I had my hut and the inn, so there was little to worry about on that front and we could always expand the village or build taller.

I follow past the two hundred spear wielders practicing their forms and sparring. Far more than I expected to find here, though, with the coming threat, the two hundred people trying to squeeze a little more power of their skills and stats is reassuring.

“Richard.”

“Nash, what brings you by?”

“I wanted to take a look at your notes.”

“Hmm, I do pass a good summation to the village's general notes.”

“But I think I may be missing some of the raw essence behind it and that will be critical if I’m to find a way to improve my stats without relying on any crutches.”

“You are talking about Aether, right?”

“Yeah, how did you know?” I ask frowning at him nonchalantly hitting the mark dead-on.

“A good guess.”

“Do you have some method involving Aether?”

“Nope, maybe in the future, but nothing for now. Either way, you are welcome to the original notes.” He says as he takes a pair of binders with papers haphazardly stuffed in them and drops them on the table.

“This has to be over a thousand pages!” I exclaim as I open the binders and pull a few dozen paper sheets. “You sent less than ten for general distribution.”

He shrugs and just replies: “Too much of that is just speculation.”

I shake my head and start organizing it in a neat stack before I get comfortable in the seat. This will be a long session.

“Can you run me through it quickly?”

“Why? I mean sure there are probably benefits to be gained there, but the pool of stats you gained is already larger than anyone else’s. These are just a few insights into how to pass the 20 point threshold slightly.”

“Well, I don’t know, if I understand the limitations that you face and how they differ from mine, I may gain insight not available elsewhere. Possibly just a more efficient way, without even having to rely on Aether. And don’t worry about giving me your impressions and partially formed theories. We can probably both learn from each other.”

“Ok, get comfortable, this will take a while.”

I pull my legs from the ground and sit in the chair in a partial lotus position getting ready for his explanation.