In the garage, a few people were already at work, obviously May was one of them. A few of the Anubi were up and moving around in their room, the chemist among them. Lee headed that way and intercepted Trak just as he emerged. "Trak, is this a good time?"

"Yes, my Lord!"

Lee sighed. "Can't you just call me Lee?"

"Yes, my Lord!"

Lee looked past him at the room the Anubi were living in and could see that everyone was awake now. "Trak, can I borrow your necklace? I want to meet the rest of your pack, if you don't mind?" The Anubi handed it over eagerly and Lee watched the magic as he settled it around his own neck. Mana moved but Lee still couldn't tell what was happening, instead he turned to his overnight guardian. "Ictor, thank you for watching over me."

"It is an honor my Lord." He bowed his head and Lee suppressed another sigh. He suspected that he was about to hear a lot of that.

Trak led him back into the room Bradley had walled off for them and Lee saw every head turn to him. "Hi…"

All the Anubi bowed their heads and a chorus of, "my Lord!" echoed out. The Human in their midst looked around and then leaned forward. "My Lord!"

Lee pointed a finger at the man. "Don't you start that!"

The man straightened and Lee could see the mischievous glint in his eyes. "Trak is a bad influence," the man said with a small smile.

Lee rolled his eyes. "Sorry but I forgot your name…"

"Matthew, my L…" Lee glared and the man stopped.

"How's Matthew doing?" Lee asked Trak.

"He is a fantastic Apprentice, my Lord! Never have I seen anyone with such a large Mana Pool!"

"Oh, right." Lee looked back at Matthew. "A large Mana Pool?"

Matthew shot a guilty glance towards the Anubi. "I wasn't sure if I was allowed to say anything…"

"Fair enough," Lee said, and sent a thought to [Three].

Full Mana Access Granted: (Trak)

"Sorry, I kind of forgot to give you access and Matthew didn't know if he should mention it," Lee said to the wide-eyed Trak.

"Thank you, my Lord!" He bowed and Lee fought the urge to whack him on the head. "That does explain a lot…" Trak continued, "and while I am disappointed that Matthew is not a Mana prodigy, his loyalty is commendable and he 'is' a fast learner."

Lee relayed his comments to Matthew, since he couldn't understand what Trak was saying while Lee was wearing the necklace. Then one by one, Lee was introduced to each of the Anubi and gave them all Mana Access. Not only did he trust them enough at this point, but them having extra Mana didn't really increase the risk they might pose, not in here. But that did remind Lee of another issue.

"Trak, didn't you say that you are all non-combat Classes? While I appreciate you guarding me…" He nodded to his former bodyguards. "...I don't want more of you dying just to…"

"My Lord," Trak interrupted, "while it is true that we are not combat Classed, we are not defenseless." He gestured at Ictor and the other Anubi pulled a small bottle from somewhere. It glowed faintly yellow in the dim room. "This," Trak continued, "when broken, will rapidly expand into a highly durable foam wall and give time to raise the alarm."

Lee nodded slowly as he watched Ictor tuck the potion away. "Good. I really don't like the idea of other people dying for me…"

"We desire to live as much as any Sentient, my Lord. Though sometimes the needs of the Pack outweigh the desire of the individual."

"How very Spockian of you." Lee nodded and mentioned his other idea. "If any of you wanted to… I bet we could find someone to Apprentice you into a combat Class…"

"Your brother has mentioned this, my Lord. Unfortunately, we are not as free to take whichever Class we want, but we are keeping our noses to the wind in search of something suitable."

"Right," Lee murmured, "Adaptable…"

"That Trait, my Lord…" Trak hesitated and Lee could feel a deep worry radiating from him.

"What about it?"

"It…" Trak glanced around at his pack. "It is very bad."

Lee tilted his head in confusion. "What…"

"I mean…" Trak still seemed hesitant but he did finally continue. "What I mean is that it is too good. Never have I heard of a Trait that could allow such a thing. This world… if I had not landed nearby and found you, I would be seeking to flee this Dungeon World immediately after learning of that Trait." Lee opened his mouth but Trak held up his hand. "I fear… no, I am certain that this world will be overrun and the Humans enslaved, soon if it hasn't begun already…"

The room was quiet after his proclamation, then glass clinked and Matthew started humming to himself as he adjusted a flame beneath a bubbling beaker, oblivious to Trak's side of the conversation. "Is it really that bad?" Lee asked with a sinking feeling in his gut.

Trak nodded. "Unusable Skills, dying Classes, even Classes thought to be only myths and legends, such as your own…"

Lee remembered when he chose his Class, how he hadn't met the Requirements, but he had Adaptable… "How many species have Liquid Mana… is it just the ones who created the Class?" And how many other similar Classes and Skills might be out there… "Shit."

Trak nodded again. "Yes, my Lord. Shit is right." He stood straighter. "But I believe that you will be able to stand against them, my Lord! With this Fortress, your allies, and your Class, we can fight back! The Great System will not allow the Civilizations to send too much at first, but in time… we must grow and prepare."

"That is fucked… and makes sense once you actually think about it, but I never thought Adaptable was 'that' good." Lee frowned as he glanced around the room. Matthew was still working calmly, not following the conversation of impending doom. Bradley and Mar were outside the room, lurking in a corner and taking advantage of the less crowded garage this early. "This doesn't really change anything…" Lee took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Thanks for the heads up, Trak. We 'will' prepare."

Lee poked his head back out into the garage proper. "Bradley. Your Mana is full, give it to me." The couple jumped slightly and moved apart, but Bradley pulled Mar back in close, even as he pushed Mana out of his free hand. Lee gathered it up as he turned back to Trak. "Have you been around the Fort yet? Me and Bradley are working on the wall today, if you want to…"

Trak sprang into action, dashing around the room and collecting potions from a shelf as well as from some of the other Anubi. "I will be honored to accompany you!"

Lee smiled at his enthusiasm, but it dimmed as he looked around the room. "We need to improve this room… or get you upstairs in an apartment." He wasn't sure but thought that there might have been an empty apartment or two in the building last night.

"Do not worry about us, my Lord. You should focus on more important things, we are provided for and trading potions with the others here for comforts." Trak waved towards one wall and Lee saw a pile of fur on the raised platform where he'd seen them all sleeping earlier. "If we require anything, we will ask."

"Fine, fine." Lee finished collecting Bradley's Mana and spent a few moments studying the necklace. It would be very useful to have more of these… But it didn't help, he felt like he was looking at a microchip and trying to compare it to a thunderstorm. He needed to find someone with the Enchanter Class, there should be someone with it, hopefully already in the Fort. In the meantime, he gave the necklace back to Trak.

Mar and Bradley reluctantly pulled apart as he came out of the room and Mar headed for the ramp outside. She stopped and turned back after a few steps. "Lee, can you make me those air jumping Runes again? I liked having the option to go up before."

"Of course." Lee summoned two small discs and dipped into his [Rune Storage] to recreate the RuneScape. "I can do your blades as well." He studied her Mana as he worked but couldn't figure out what the Aspect was. Nevertheless, if wanted to make her a battery, he could just do what he was doing with Bradley. Lee explained what he was doing and asked her if she wanted to get her own.

"My Mana use isn't very high, but sure, just have to do it later," she said, so instead, Lee just gave her a battery using the neutral Mana from the Well. It wouldn't be as fast or efficient as using her own but was better than nothing. Mar left when he was finished and Lee made himself a copy of the 'Air jumping Runes' he'd just given her while he waited for Trak to join them at the ramp, potion bandoliers wrapped around his small chest. "Ready, my Lord!"

Bradley looked at Trak and then towards the outside. "We might have trouble with him out there."

Lee was confused for a moment and then realized what he meant. "Actually, that's probably all the more reason to take him. People need to see them and know that they are on our side, that they are allies."

"Fair," Bradley replied. "Just giving you a heads up."

Lee started walking up the ramp. "Let's get going…" He stopped and looked at Bradley's Mana inside his Core. "If I go out and the Mana gets drained…" He sighed and led them back down the ramp as he explained the issue. "Sorry guys, I should have thought of that before."

Trak darted away with apologies trailing behind him and Lee watched him go back to his pack, barking instructions that could be heard even from across the garage.

Bradley chuckled. "No worries, a little extra rest won't hurt and I should try to improve this while I can anyway." He held up his staff as he spoke and then waved a hand towards the outside. Dirt flew in and wrapped around his staff before condensing down into it, and becoming another layer of stone. He repeated the move periodically while Lee watched.

Lee could see the Mana in the stone under Bradley's hands and after studying it for a bit, realized that the very inner core of the weapon carried an almost identical Aspect to the man's own Mana Core. "Is that because he created it? Or is it just from constantly running his Mana through it?" Maybe the weapon would become better over time, simply from regular use… Lee wanted one. "Not stone, obviously, but what could I… of course!"

Lee summoned a small disc and looked at it in his palm. "If I could stack these one atop the other, that might work for a staff…" The only problem was how to stick them together. He created another and tried to add some hooks on one side and notches on the other. If it worked he could just summon each one already locked into the adjacent discs. "I wonder if I could put a RuneScape on each individual disc?" Unfortunately, it didn't work, the fine details required were beyond the limits of his [Create Rune Disc] Skill. But the attempt wasn't for nothing.

Skill Level Up: [Create Rune Disc]

"How else could I stick them together?" While he could just use metal or some other material, Lee really wanted to use the discs because they were literally called 'Rune Disc' and that was likely the most compatible material he had access to. Another idea came to him but it was potentially risky. "Can I create a disc at range?" He picked a spot outside and began again, his Skill seeming to have no problem being used at range. "Maybe because it's still inside the range of Mana Mind?" He also made sure to create them as far away from any people he could sense. Just in case.

Lee created two discs at the same time and ever so slightly, just a sliver of each, in the same place. Nothing exploded and Lee opened his eyes warily. "Hah!" He started to walk outside to retrieve his creation and stopped. "Oops." He was about to ask Trak or Bradley to go grab it but had another idea. There was Mana in the discs, just like in everything nowadays. "I've pulled Mana to me before…" Lee reached out with his [Mana Mind] and tugged on the Mana inside the disc… and it came sailing through the air towards him!

He almost fumbled the catch but managed to snag it as it flew towards his face. He stared at it in surprise, a smile spreading across his face. "I can do the same thing as you now, Stanley." The Mana in the disc had felt incredibly heavy, much more difficult than simply pulling on Mana directly, likely because he was dragging the physical object with it.

But still… he felt a wave of melancholy pass over him. This was something he really wanted to share with Stan… memories of his twin when he first started moving things with his mind… the excitement, the laughs, and yes, even a bit of jealousy. He still didn't know why his brother had been able to do that and not himself, whether it was something from the Source or just an actual difference between them. Lee knew that Stanley had a different Class than him now. "I went to college and he didn't, is that why my options included Enchanter? A type of Engineering just with magic instead of computers?" Lee sighed and sat on the floor. He still wanted to show his brother what he'd just learned… "Come home, Stan. I miss you."

He pushed those thoughts away and focused on his disc. The concept worked but there was one more test he needed to try. Lee tossed it back outside and then carefully created another disc, also a sliver inside the already created ones.

Lee watched warily, but nothing exploded or shattered and he pulled the now three disc thick item back inside by its Mana. It looked and felt solid, so Lee got to work. He alternated between collecting Bradley's Mana and carefully using his own Mana to create disc after disc, meanwhile Bradley kept adding dirt to his own project.

Skill Level Up: [Create Rune Disc]

By the time Lee felt he'd gathered enough of Bradley's Aspect, his own 'disc staff' was six feet tall. "My very own Wizard's Staff!" Unfortunately, in his limited testing so far, Lee had discovered that Runes treated it as only one object. So he couldn't stack a hundred different Runes or RuneScapes on it, that would have to wait until he could make the staff out of interlocking discs, at least he still hoped that would work.

Lee had also saved the RuneScape he would need for Bradley, after testing it on a large disc to ensure it was viable before he accidentally wasted all the Mana he'd collected. Lee had the man plant the weapon outside in the dirt then reached out and touched the staff with [Mana Mind] as he triggered the saved RuneScape.

Mana surged and Lee very carefully allowed only Bradley's Mana to flow. "Please don't blow up!" Mana thundered through the intervening space, guided by his mind, and into the staff. Runes lit up brighter and brighter until suddenly, it was finished. Lee smiled, he could already see that his RuneScape was working as he watched the staff pull in Mana, mostly from the ground below but also a bit from all around it. The Mana that was drawn in went deep into the core of the weapon and there it slowly shifted, until it was the same Aspect that powered the Runes and filled Bradley's Core. "It worked! Try it!"

Bradley was excited as he leapt forward to claim his new weapon and Lee smiled at the child-like eagerness on his face. He smiled wider when the young man started testing it out. Bradley covered himself in rock and moved in a blurring staff kata before vanishing smoothly into the ground. He popped up some distance away and shot high into the air before slamming down again, his staff leading the way and splitting the ground into a wide crack. He lifted the staff and the split ground crashed back together with an earthshaking boom. Bradley continued his blindingly fast dance with the staff once again.

"He really is a badass!" Lee felt almost jealous at the sight. Almost. "This is the power we need everyone to have. This is what will allow us to survive."

Bradley's fun was interrupted when vines burst from the ground under his feet. Bradley must have felt them coming, because he was dashing away as they came up, but more appeared ahead of him and when he leapt into the air to escape, it was over. The vines followed him up and were wrapped around him before could fall back down.

"Bradley, Bradley, Bradley," a woman's voice drawled. "Why are you destroying my garden?" Lee had seen her coming but hadn't thought anything of it, too distracted with Bradley's performance.

"Hi, Saira." Bradley waved as much as he could while tangled up and smiled sheepishly as the rock shell covering him fell away. "Just testing my new weapon."

"And that couldn't be done 'Outside' the walls?" She walked into view and Lee couldn't help staring.

The woman he remembered meeting a few days before had been getting on in years and was dressed conservatively, in what he thought was a sari. But now… now the woman was barefoot, dirty, dappled with flowers and vines, wearing tiny shorts and an almost non-existent tank top. Bronze skin shone through the flora adorning her and vines sprouted beneath each foot as she walked, wrapping around her ankle and then dropping back into the ground as her foot moved.

All in all, the woman looked like she had gotten decades younger, and far deadlier as she prowled towards the dangling Bradley. "Damn. D Rank was good to her! She looks like Mar's older sister now rather than her mother. Those vines… she must have Evolved, either Class or Race, or both." Lee looked at his hands, realizing that he hadn't checked a mirror since D Rank, they looked better… but nothing like that. He also suspected that the average human lifespan had just gotten longer, if you didn't count all the people dying to the monsters…

Saira saw him standing there and turned, smiling. "Hi Lee! Glad to see your back on your feet!"

Lee smiled, shook off his thoughts, and walked outside to greet her. Trak, having rushed out at the racket from Bradley, followed behind. "Hi Saira. Sorry about this. If I'd known you were growing here I never would have…"

"No, no, I'm growing around the corner. But 'rock' boy here likes to feel the ground shake with his every stride." She dropped him and Bradley landed easily.

"Sorry, Ma'am." Bradley ducked his head.

Trak stepped up next to Lee and bowed deeply to Saira. "Mistress Druid, greetings."

She smiled at Trak, then looked at Bradley and Lee. "You two could learn a lot from this one, he seems very intelligent."

They shared a glance and both bowed to her as they intoned the same words. "Yes, Mistress Druid."

Saira laughed. "Excellent!"

"I would bow to you for the potatoes alone!" Lee exclaimed and then finally noticed what was going on inside her.

He didn't intend to say anything but she must have noticed his gaze because her hand came down to cradle her stomach. "Can you see?"

Lee's eyes moved up and met hers. "I can… um, congratulations?"

She smiled. "Thank you! I may have forgotten about that Lair Buff… and that I seem to be years younger now." She laughed cheerily. "I honestly thought such things were behind me, yet here we are."

"Doesn't seem to be slowing you down at all." Lee noted.

Saira laughed again. "I actually gained a Buff that grows slowly over three months!" She chuckled. "Three months… that will take some getting used to, I'm sure." She frowned slightly. "Though it is ticking faster than it should be…" Her eyes focused on something Lee couldn't see and she muttered something about a 'Mana rich environment'.

"What?" Bradley cut in, looking back and forth at them in confusion.

"I'm pregnant, Bradley," Saira said as she stalked closer to him. "Speaking of which, should I be expecting a grandchild anytime soon?"

Bradley's mouth fell open and he blushed bright red. "Uh, um… what!"

Saira laughed and patted the frozen man on the shoulder. "I'm just teasing… but Bradley…" Her smile grew predatory. "You had better be careful with my daughter…" A field of vines exploded from the dirt, towering above them, coiling and looping through the air, but not quite touching Bradley. "If you are toying with her…"

"No Ma'am!" Bradley yelped. "I wouldn't do that!"

Saira stepped back, her form seeming to diminish slightly as the vines retreated beneath the earth. "I may have made some mistakes with her… no, I know I made mistakes." She shook her head. "Mar was too sheltered, now she is naive and innocent of many things. Just… don't toy with her. Don't hurt her…"

"I won't…" Bradley said, still blushing but standing straighter.

Saira smiled. "Good!" It was like a light switch had been thrown and she went from a nightmare monster lurking in the mists of a dark swamp, waiting to pounce and drag you to your doom, to the now cheerful sunflower, shining happily in the warm sun. "See you around!"

Bradley didn't move for a while after she left. Lee was busy studying the vines that followed her and were surging with Mana. He finally traced some of them and found them growing up next to [Three]. They were all down one side of the garage perimeter, tangled in the metal bars at ground level and he could see the Mana flowing from the Well into her vines. "That is a neat trick! I wonder if I…" No, it wouldn't work. He could see the Mana rapidly changing as it moved through the flora, shifting into the likely Nature Aspect that was Saria's Core.

"Oh well… wait, I'm outside!" Lee checked his Mana Pool and was surprised to see it only down by a quarter. "Is it just the bigger total? Or…" It ticked down another percent while he was watching and on a hunch Lee drained one of the Mana batteries in his robe. "I guess it is the bigger pool…" It barely pushed his total up, only a couple percent.

Lee glanced at his staff and the RuneScape he'd put on it, then at the still frozen Bradley. "My shield is probably useless compared to what he can do…" He stepped back inside the building and pulled the RuneScape off. "Could I use what I just gave him?" He was surprised that he hadn't even thought to try… After that mess from pulling Mana into himself in the Lair, he'd kinda written off the idea of absorbing Mana outside. "I technically regen outside… it's just that my Mana Mind drains it faster." Lee modified it and put the new RuneScape on his disc staff.

He walked back outside and watched his Mana as well as the Mana around him. It was moving and he could see a stronger flow around the staff as it pulled in Mana. His Mana wasn't going… it ticked down to 99%. "Well at least it's slower… but if I can improve the RuneScape, or add more than one..." The Mana flowing into the staff was mostly flowing from the direction of [Three] and Lee had a very sudden thought that made him feel like an idiot. "I'm an idiot if this works… and I really hope it does!"

He had used [Mana Mind] a few minutes before to send Mana outside the building, to create the discs. Before that, in the Lair, he'd used it to pull Mana from the air all around him. Lee closed his eyes and looked at the towering building that glowed blindingly bright with Mana. He touched it with his mind and pulled gently, asking for Mana.

Mana appeared and it took nothing more than a thought to draw it into his Core. "Whelp, I'm an idiot." Lee laughed out loud in delight. His Mana lock down had just been extended by a huge margin. "Ready Bradley?"

The man was staring into space when Lee laughed and he jumped, then flushed. "Sorry! Yes… I am." He glanced at the stone staff in his hand and smiled as he hefted it. "I love this. Does it recharge itself?"

"Yep," Lee grinned. "It will recharge faster while touching the ground, because that is the closest Mana to your own, but it will recharge anywhere."

"It doesn't feel like earth Mana… feels like my own Mana Pool is just bigger."

"That's the idea! It is literally generating your Mana and so shouldn't cause any Over Saturation like before." Lee couldn't help his wide smile as he pulled a little Mana from [Three] to top off.

Bradley beamed back at him. "You gotta make these for everyone! Or at least the other casters."

"I will, but it won't be as useful for someone using fire, for example, because it'll recharge really slowly unless it's in a literal fire. At least I think a fire would work… Air, on the other hand, should work great." Lee was lost in thought for a minute as he thought about Mar. "I don't even know what Aspect Mar uses, so I don't know what it would take to recharge faster for her." Plus she hadn't been able to push out her Mana, but that was likely something that could be learned in time.

"Right…" Bradley looked up at the wall. "Well I'm ready, let's get this done before something else shows up."

Lee topped off his Mana again and turned left, towards the gate. "Let's go this way first." Not only did he want to check the gate, as he was unsure how his planned RuneScape would interact with it, but it would keep him close to [Three] for longer.

As they walked, Lee pulled his Runes from the old traps he'd created before as they clearly hadn't worked. Bradley stopped approximately every ten feet and placed a hand on the wall. Lee watched the Mana each time and saw the new earth being added to the walls, increasing their density rather than size. After he moved on, there was a noticeable difference between the old and new sections. Lee liked it, he'd had worries about the wall being able to hold his RuneScape before, but was feeling much more confident after seeing the upgraded version.

The gate was now a simple stone slab that could be slid sideways in a trench within the thicker walls around it, to open or block the hole in the wall. It looked ridiculously big, so much so that Lee didn't see how they could move it. Of course Bradley could move it with a wave of his hand, and he assured Lee that the guards could push it aside with some teamwork. When closed, what was basically a giant stone doorstop could be dropped into the slot next to the slab, preventing it from sliding and effectively locking the gate.

Two shelters stood atop the wall, next to the gate, and Bradley took some extra time there to push them higher, creating towers. Lee looked at the towers and then at the RuneScape he'd prepared. "Is it going to work with the towers there?" He spent a moment making some small modifications and then told Bradley to space the towers twenty meters apart. Of course they had no exact way to measure it… Lee decided that they might as well make the test wall now.

Bradley jumped atop the wall and looked around before he pulled Lee and Trak up beside him with a stone platform. He stood still with his eyes closed for a few minutes and Lee could see the Mana flowing from him, but nothing was happening, until a wall suddenly burst from the ground outside and grew rapidly.

"Oof," Bradley wheezed and sagged as his Mana dipped low, but stood up straight a moment later and grinned at his staff. "I love this thing!"

The new wall looked identical to the one they were standing on, though it encircled a far, far smaller area. It even had three towers stretching towards the sky at what looked like the correct intervals around it. It was inside Lee's [Mana Mind] range and he touched it, RuneScape ready to go. "Bradley, if I collapse or start looking stupid after this, please drag me inside." Bradley nodded and Lee added another thought. "If it explodes, there might be shrapnel."

"I'll be ready." Bradley tapped the top of the wall with his staff and a thick slab of stone rose up to block them both from the test site.

"Here goes nothing." Lee triggered the RuneScape placement and immediately started pulling Mana from [Three] as his own Mana began to plummet, and with it, his [Mana Mind] range. He forcefully slowed down the RuneScape placement and managed to keep the range high enough, barely.

Skill Level Up: [Rune Storage]

"I wouldn't have been able to do that if I was placing the Runes manually…" Lee finished topping his Mana back up, he guessed that it had cost around thirty-five percent of his pool, and smiled at Bradley. Nothing had exploded! Bradley saw his look and slowly lowered the wall he'd put up in front of them. Lee focused his [Mana Mind] fully in one direction and was able to see the entirety of his test. "It held… but didn't work quite right." The towers weren't lined up properly. He took a few minutes to figure out exactly where they needed to be and he had Bradley mark the ground before pulling the RuneScape off.

Bradley made the corrections, then Lee once more pulled off the balancing act of sending Mana out one direction and pulling it in from the other. "It's working!" Lee exclaimed as he leaned over the wall to stare at his creation.

"It isn't doing anything…" Bradley said cautiously.

"Hah! Try throwing one of your rocks over the top."

He did and just as the rock was about to pass over the lip of the wall, a slightly opaque hexagon appeared in the air, directly in the path of his rock and it impacted with a very audible bang, before falling back down outside the wall. Meanwhile, the hexagon faded back into clear air almost immediately after the block.

Bradley whistled. "That's not bad… How high does it go up?"

"Should go at least once again as high as the wall, after that it will get weaker until it isn't strong enough to stop anything."

"Damn!" Bradley threw another rock, higher this time, and once again it was blocked.

"Try over the towers or into them." Lee suggested, curious if his modification had been enough.

Bradley lifted his staff into the air and a massive chunk of earth rose outside the walls. It started sailing towards the test site, much slower than the smaller attacks, and exploded into a cloud of tiny rocks that rained against and over the walls. Hexagonal shields appeared everywhere across the area, some flickering in and out as multiple rocks peppered them. The shields also appeared above the tower roofs and over the openings below as well.

"Nailed it!" Lee grinned at the other man. "Can you make the towers on this wall the same distance as those?"

"Sure, one sec." Bradley leapt from the wall and vanished into the ground below. He popped up next to the wall in the distance and stood with his hand on it.

"It is very impressive, my Lord." Trak said while they waited.

"Thanks Trak. I hope it will be enough…"

Bradley returned the same way, launching out of the ground and landing smoothly atop the wall. "Got it, I think."

"It didn't explode the first time, so we can just make adjustments if necessary," Lee said.

They set off along the inside of the walls again, Bradley doing his thing with Lee watching and looking for any irregularities. On the way, he finally got a good look at what Saira had been up to with her gardening and almost every bit of the ground was filled with growing plants. Lee didn't recognize most of them but assumed she had things in hand as he and Bradley walked down the narrow path between the crops.

Lee also kept his Mana topped off until they finally left [Three] far enough behind. Just before they left though, he got close enough to the next apartment building to see almost entirely throughout the structure. "Woah…" Lee had to stop and close his eyes to focus on what he was seeing. It wasn't how crowded the building was, which surprised him, though it shouldn't have. No, it was the Mana, the colorful and varied Mana that he could 'see'. "So many different Aspects…"

Lee continued on, out of range of his own living structure, and he pulled in and focused his [Mana Mind] on the wall to conserve Mana while still getting the job done. He didn't get to peek inside any of the other buildings but did see more than a few people through windows or on balconies. The chatter of voices was a low rumble that only occasionally rose into shouts that may have been thrown towards the Anubi walking alongside them. Even some of the guards atop the walls made comments, though mostly about the vibrations that rattled them when Bradley made his improvements.

The large open area at the far end of the complex was filled with people. Lee heard them before he came around a building and saw them spread out ahead. "What the…"

"Martin's new training field," Bradley supplied when he saw Lee's confusion. "I heard he even got an Apprentice or two to help."

"That's… good, great actually! I just didn't think I would see so many."

"Seeing is believing for most people," Bradley said. "and a lot of the refugees saw more than enough…"

Lee watched the crowd as they passed, all of them moving more or less in sync, he even saw two young people moving through the crowd and adjusting stances or grips on practice weapons. "Good," thought Lee, "We will need an army to survive." But there had been an awfully large number of people hanging out inside the buildings, at least the one he'd been able to see inside of. He mentioned this to Bradley.

"It's not quite that bad," Bradley told him, "Martin does this almost all day, with different groups each time."

That was better… but their walk around the Fort was impressing on him just how much territory they had to defend… "I might have to take some Mana Burn to get the whole wall. Maybe if I channel slower?"

They were heading up the other side of the Fort, back towards [Three], when Lee felt something strange. Pain and fear. Desperate, panicked fear. "What the hell?" He held up a hand when Bradley looked at him. "There is something…" Lee pulled Mana from his decreasing supply of batteries and pushed his [Mana Mind] in the direction that he thought the feeling was coming from. "There!" He waved for Bradley to follow as he started towards one of the buildings nearby. "Something is wrong."

Lee saw a change come over Bradley at his words. A hardening of his eyes as he slipped into the deep focus he'd had while testing his weapon earlier. Lee was surprised when after that, he thought he felt fear from the man, though even if he did, it was small and almost hidden under a grim, steely determination.

Lee led them towards the building and then around behind it where he saw the three people. Two men, definitely D Ranks, were crowding around the third. He was a very large fellow but one who was only E Rank and he was backed up against the wall. And terrified. "...awfully weak for such a big guy…" Lee heard their voices as he approached the corner. "...good for you, if you cooperate."

"Hi guys," Lee said loudly as he came around the corner. "What's up?"

Scared eyes met his own from above the heads of the duo blocking the man in. The larger of the aggressors, though still smaller than the scared man, yelled over his shoulder at them, "piss off!"

"Why don't you back up a step, give the guy some room," Lee said.

"I said, Piss…"

"That is an Order!" Lee tried to project his will and voice in the same way he'd seen Wilson do it.

Both men stiffened and took a step back before turning to face him. "Vice Commander…" The large man cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders as the Order released him. He sneered at them. "Out walking one of your pets?" They both chuckled at his 'joke'.

"What is going on here?" Lee said, managing to keep his voice smooth. The guy they were picking on was freaking huge! Lee also spotted some bruises on his face…

"You think you're such hot shit," the small big man drawled, ignoring the question. "I wonder, will I take your contributions if I beat…" He lunged towards Lee midword.

Lee froze up for an instant and was about to test out his new [Liquid Mana Beam], when a stone covered Bradley was very abruptly in front of him, his rocky hand wrapped around the bigger man's wrist. "What do you think you're doing!" Bradley demanded. Trak was also in front of Lee now, growling with a knife in one hand and potion in the other.

"Bradley." The man smiled at him, seemingly unbothered by the grip on his arm. "Shouldn't you be curled up in a corner somewhere…" Lee felt embarrassment from Bradley and it rapidly shifted into anger as the man continued. "...pissing your pant… Ahhh!" the man screamed as Bradley forced him to the ground with one hand, the snapping of his forearm sounding out like twin gunshots.

"You fucker!" the second man yelled and leapt towards Bradley, his Mana surging as a glow sprang over his suddenly drawn blade.

Lee acted on instinct and surprise, and struck out at the man's Mana in a similar manner to when he'd broken Mar's shield. Except instead of a tap, this time he hit with a sledgehammer.

The man staggered back as his Mana Channels went haywire, even as Bradley's other hand whipped the stone staff into his ankle with a crack, toppling him facedown. The man started to struggle upright, then stopped and puked into the grass. A moment later he lifted watery eyes to glare at Lee. "You bastard!" he spat, and Mana surged again.

Lee caught a snarling Trak's raised hand before he could throw the potion and his own lips lifted into a snarl. "That cost me a lot of my Mana, you bastard! So I'm taking yours…" Lee's [Mana Mind] latched onto the Mana inside the man and ripped it out. All of it.

Skill Level Up: [Mana Mind]

The man's rising lunge turned into a scream of agony, which was muffled when he face-planted into the ground. Bradley's staff landed on the now prone man's back and the muffled scream ended with a wheeze. Bradley dropped the bigger man into the earth, up to his nose, and his scream cut off abruptly as well. The second followed him down a moment later.

"Damn! No wonder Alejandro wanted him to guard me." Lee looked up and met the third man's eyes again. "Are you okay? What was going on here?" The ridiculously huge man in front of him was less terrified but by no means calmed down as he looked between all of them.

Saira chose that moment to come sprinting around the corner in a storm of lashing vines. She slowed on seeing them and was back to her predatory stroll as she arrived. "Hi boys! Wow!" She strode past them and up to the still frightened man. "Hello there, handsome!"

The man gaped down at the woman, awestruck and seemingly lost for words. Saira laughed, obviously enjoying the attention. "I'm Saira, and you are?"

"Vasquez…" he finally said quietly. "Aras Vasquez." His fear was gone now, buried under what Lee suspected was the same storm of feelings he'd had on seeing the beautiful woman earlier.

"Well Mr Vasquez, have you had any fresh fruit lately? I recently managed to grow a pear tree and you wouldn't believe that a pear could taste so good!" She gestured for him to follow and the man moved hesitantly around them. "Let's leave this mess for these two fine young men to clean up." A few more guards must have heard the screaming and had come running in behind Saira, but she sent them back to their duties as she moved off.

Her parting comment earned Lee an odd look from Bradley, but the loud nose breathing and grunting from below distracted him. "What do we do with them?"

Lee was tempted to tell Bradley to just bury them… but they hadn't actually done much, yet. Other than attacking him and Bradley of course, a mistake that earned both of them a beat down from Bradley. Lee had helped a bit but now his Mana was down to thirty percent and ticking up very slowly.

His soured mood was helped slightly by the fact that someone had 'volunteered' for his [Mana Mind] experiment. It had worked better than expected, not that he actually gained a useful amount of Mana from the man, but it had hurt and slowed him down at least. He was unsure how useful it would be, if at all, against a purely physical opponent. Against mages though…

The only good news was that despite the low Mana, his [Mana Mind] had not vanished entirely. Why that was, he didn't know. "Is it because I'm D Rank? I have a lot more Mana now but it should cost more to boost my stats… or does the boost end at 50% and the Mana cost drops enough to maintain it?" His range was terrible now but still better than nothing and likely enough to keep going on the wall if he narrowly focused it. "Let's take them to Wilson," Lee finally said, "we can finish the wall on the way. And don't we have guards to prevent this kind of thing?"

"You're looking at them," Bradley said, as he gestured and two blocks of stone rose up out of the ground, the prisoners entombed within.

"Of course." Lee sighed and started walking towards the office Wilson worked out of, it was on the way they were going already. "Thanks for looking out, Trak," he said. "By the way, what were you going to throw at him?"

"Acid, my Lord. Very corrosive, instant death for the small one, two seconds for the large one." Trak growled calmly.

Lee felt fear emanate from the prisoners for the first time since this all had started. "Maybe save the deadly acid for more dangerous foes…" Lee said, "and not ones standing directly next to your allies…"

"It won't touch stone, my Lord. Only flesh will be destroyed."

"That's… a very clever weapon to bring along today," Lee mused.

"Thank you! I would not endanger your Earth Magus, my Lord."

"Thanks," Bradley said dryly. "I guess I'm your 'Earth Magus' now?"

"A damn good one!" Lee agreed with a smile.

They passed by the office at first, to finish the last section of the Wall.

Fort Upgraded: [Stone Walls] +5% Defense of All Defenders

Lee topped off his Mana again, when they were close enough, and Wilson was waiting out in front of his office when they back tracked. They told him what happened and Wilson seemed to take it calmly until Lee got to the part where they attacked him and Bradley. Wilson gestured at the entombed men with a look to Bradley. "Let them out."

Bradley snapped his fingers and the stone around them shattered into sand that fell into piles around their feet. The smaller of the two cried out and collapsed when the stone was removed. The other only cradled his broken arm while he started yelling, "Sir they are lying! We…"

"Silence!" Wilson roared with command and the man's teeth clicked as he shut his mouth abruptly. "Not only are you accosting the people you are supposed to protect! You then had to go and attack the Vice-Commander and Major Rivers!" Wilson was screaming by the end. "Are you idiots!?"

The big man opened and closed his mouth but neither of them spoke as Wilson started pacing and pinching at the bridge of his nose. "God's damned idiots all around me…" He muttered as he paced. Finally he stopped and looked at the two. "You both are going on hunting duty, full time."

"Sir," Bradley said.

Wilson held up a hand. "I know Bradley… it isn't perfect." He sighed. "But we need every combatant we have if we are going to survive, and we don't have enough as it is."

Bradley grunted angrily but backed down.

"You are now assigned to E team, and no unsupervised time allowed inside the walls until further notice," Wilson told the duo. "Report to the Team Leader, Now! Carry him if you have to!" he snapped when the smaller man couldn't stand up. They managed, despite a broken arm on one and a broken leg on the other, and started limping away. "If I hear another complaint," Wilson called after them, "anything, you're both gone!" Then he muttered under his breath, "If you survive whatever idiotic idea you come up with…"

Lee watched them go, feeling unhappy about the whole thing. The big man looked back over his shoulder at him, his eyes hateful, and there was something else in there… Glee. A spiteful, gleeful, promise. "Maybe I should have buried them…" He turned away, it didn't matter, he would be inside [Three] after this and would remember their Mana. "Maybe Mar could… no, not her. Maria…" He would be sure to mention the two, descriptions and all, to Maria, just in case. "Poor bastards."

"I saw the message about the wall," Wilson said behind him. "Good work, Major."

"Major, when did that happen," Lee thought.

Bradley stood a little straighter but looked away, embarrassed. "Uh, thank you, Sir." Bradley glanced at Lee. "We're not done yet…"

"Yea," Lee said, turning towards [Three], "It's ready, let's do it."

Lee sat down inside the garage and looked at the Wall with [Mana Mind]. "Show time…" He took a deep breath and triggered the RuneScape. Mana rushed out of him and glowing lines spread in his vision along the wall until a twenty meter stretch was covered in the complex pattern. Then the glowing lines spread further out to one side, repeating the previously completed pattern again on the next twenty meters of wall. And then it spread to the next, again, and again. Over and over as it moved along the wall. Lee breathed deeply and worked hard to keep his Mana flowing smoothly and slowly. He had to, not only to avoid Mana Burn, but because he worried that if he went full tilt, even the Mana Well wouldn't be able to keep up. And he really didn't want to run out part way.

Intelligence +1

Lee lost himself in controlling the flow and only had his focus broken when Runes crawled into his range from the other direction. The last section finished almost instantly in a burst of Mana and Lee held his breath. Nothing exploded and…

Fort Upgraded: [Runed Stone Walls] +10% Defense to All Defenders

Contributions Earned.

Class Level Up: [Runic]

No Evolutions Available. Upgrade to Adept Available. Proceed? Y/N

Lee grunted at the heavy pressure from his Soul and quickly pulled Runes from his robe until it became bearable. "Shit. That must have used a lot of my total Soul capacity…" The level up was nice though. "Gabriel will definitely be happy about that." But that was for later!

There was some commotion outside as Lee surged to his feet with a smile. He sprinted back outside and almost ran into Bradley who was standing at the top of the ramp and staring up at his wall. Bradley returned his smile. "Very nice, Lee." He walked closer and put a hand on the wall. "Damn, don't even think I can do anything to it now." He dropped under the ground and Lee waited with a knowing smile as he followed the man's progress through the earth.

He blended in down there but he was still a bright spot in the otherwise diffuse Mana. Lee saw him pop up outside the wall and then drop down again to return. The Runes activated and Bradley stopped and sank deeper into the ground until he finally cleared the Rune wall and came back inside. "It goes down too…" Bradley remarked upon resurfacing. "It also blocks us?"

Lee grinned but it faded fast. "Yea it blocks us too, and it doesn't go that deep but… hopefully between you and now Saira, we'll have some protection. And birds can still fly in from above… as for what it blocks, basically any Mana that approaches from outside." He sighed. "I could have added keys and permissions to avoid it blocking humans or something, but figured that a stronger protection was worth more for now."

"It's a massive improvement." Bradley chuckled. "You just made wall duty much safer, cheer up!" He gestured towards the top of the wall. "There are some giant deer out there if you want to test anything else, or maybe get them to attack the walls?"

Lee looked up, he did in fact want to test something, especially since he hadn't gained any Mana Burn from the wall. Bradley grinned at him and crouched down before leaping up, the ground below rippling and launching him all the way to the top. "Cheater." Lee jumped halfway up, then triggered the Runes in his shoes. He didn't want to end up dangling upside down like the first time he'd used these, so he dumped enough Mana in to make the momentary Mana platform wider, as well as last longer, and jumped the rest of the way up.

"Those are some big ass deer!" A small herd of the things was out in the fields, grazing on the increasingly abundant flora. Each of them stood nearly two stories tall. Lee glanced at Bradley. "If they attack in mass and my Runes fail spectacularly, can you handle them?"

"Should be fine," Bradley said, but he did turn to one of the guards and tell him to grab a standby team. "Let's wait a minute, just to be sure."

Lee spent the time waiting by stuffing as much of his Mana Pool into his gear as he could, and then created a stack of discs. His Soul still felt strained so he didn't make any more batteries. "I should have enough…"

When the new group of people arrived, Lee was ready with his Mana topping out at 10%. "That should be doable… it is almost as much as my previous Mana Pool but after the upgrade I shouldn't even get Mana Burn from that little…" At least that was his hope. Lee pointed his finger at the nearest deer's head, and then shifted to aim at the chest. "No need to be fancy." He wasn't actually sure how well he would be able to aim after all. Lee triggered [Liquid Mana Beam]. Or tried to… "Right… I need a minimum amount just to activate the skill." He pulled in Mana slowly from [Three], his [Mana Mind] barely more than a pencil width as he forced it to narrow in exchange for reach. He tried the Skill again at 15% Mana.

For a single moment, a blinding beam of light appeared between his finger and the deer. Then it was gone, along with the fading crack of vaporizing air molecules and Lee was blinking away the after image as he pulled Mana from a battery. "Did it work?" He saw the deer he'd targeted take a couple steps and collapse, a smoking hole in its side. Behind it he could see a burning patch of grass. "It went all the way through!" The herd of deer was frozen, heads pointing towards him.

"The fuck was that?" a voice nearby said incredulously.

Lee grinned. "I am a badass wizard now!" He pointed his tingling finger at another of the frozen deer. "Zap!" His beam struck its rear end and the doe collapsed, screaming as it tried and failed to run away. "Oops…" The rest of the herd scattered in different directions while Lee drained more Mana batteries. He pointed more carefully and finished the wounded animal off. "Still awesome…"

A loud trumpeting noise in the distance grew rapidly louder until an even larger buck crashed through the foliage and charged the wall. The massive crown of antlers on its head started glowing and Lee had just enough time to duck down before it slammed into the wall. Screams and shouts rang out all around him.

The wall vibrated slightly. "Huh? That's it?" The shouting died off and Lee stood back up to watch the running buck come charging back around for another attack. Dirt flew under its thundering hooves and he felt like it was glaring directly at him as its antlers lit up again. It pounded across the field, head nearly reaching the top of the wall as it tilted the horns down for the coming impact. Lee only leaned back slightly this time, and once again the wall barely trembled while a few octagonal patches lit up where spearing horns reached above the top of the wall.

Bradley slapped him on the back and Lee jumped in surprise. "I think you can call it a success!" he said with a wide smile. "How long will it hold up?"

Lee pulled in more Mana and looked at the Runes in the wall. "Not forever…" he murmured, "but long enough I think." The Runes looked ever so slightly dimmer, and only because he could compare them to the adjacent patterns where the buck hadn't hit. The buck hit the wall again and Lee was able to track the loss that time. "I bet that it gets tired before it gets through," Lee told him. "But just in case, I'm going to kill it."

"By all means," a new voice said loudly and Lee turned to see Wilson walking towards him atop the wall. "I don't want a hunting team to return and find that waiting for them." he added, while eyeing the buck that had now stopped charging and was glaring at them.

Lee pulled more Mana, up to 20%. "That should be fine… and worth testing at least." He pointed a finger at the buck and saw its muscles tense up across the massive body. "Does it know what I'm doing?" Lee held off on his attack when his pointing finger throbbed in pain. "Am I sending all that Mana through one finger? How does it not just explode…" He moved his hand to present a palm to the beast. "I think this is how I used it the first time…" He fired.

Lee saw the buck flinch just before the beam appeared and it tried to dodge aside, but it wasn't fast enough. "How smart is that thing?" Lee's beam had almost no travel time, if any, and he only had to shift his hand the smallest bit and then…

Skill Level Up: [Liquid Mana Beam]

Debuff Gained: [Mana Burn]

"Just one… not too bad." Lee winced as he pulled in more Mana. The buck didn't scream and when he could see again, it was lying still and in two pieces, off to the side, at the end of a plowed up trench of earth where it had slid to a stop. "If I fired while swinging my arm, could I mow down a whole herd at once?" Lee felt a little bad about killing an obviously somewhat intelligent creature, but if it was truly intelligent, it would have run after the first failed charge. "Kill or be killed."

Wilson was gaping at the dead buck when Lee glanced over. "How did you do that?" Wilson asked, finally turning to look at him.

Lee grinned and buffed his nails against his bathrobe, er, Wizard Robe. "I'm a badass Wizard." His arm only burned a little bit.

Bradley laughed. "Hell yea!" He held up a hand for a high-five and Lee obliged, with his non-tingling hand.

"N… Nice work." Wilson still seemed a bit stunned as shouts from the gate drew everyone's attention. "That should be the hunters returning," Wilson said, shaking off his stupor and heading in that direction. "Let's bring in those deer as well, Bradley, would you assist?"

"Yes, Sir!" Bradley dropped over the outside of the wall and vanished into the earth. He reappeared almost next to the buck and the huge carcass started sliding towards the fort. Right before the howling started.

"The blood…" Lee's Mana was at 12% and ticking up slowly when he saw the first coyote emerge in the distance. It howled and more howls answered behind it. Bradley vanished underground when the pack of at least twenty elephant sized coyotes trotted out of the brush, an even larger one in the middle of them.

"Get inside!" Wilson yelled. "Leave the meat if you have too!"

Lee glared at the coyotes who were approaching his kill. "This isn't Their hunting ground," he growled softly and lifted his unburned arm to point at the largest of the pack, most likely the leader. "Let's see just how smart you are." He pulled in a few more percentages of Mana and fired.

He missed. Barely. The Leader of the pack froze when the beam shot past it, only a hair's breadth away. Its head turned to point directly at Lee, before it turned and sprinted away with a loud, yipping howl. The pack howled back and followed its lead, until they were all gone and the sound faded into the distance. "That's right, run away," Lee murmured, "this is My territory."

Bradley took up the watch from the ground further out and Lee was going to stand overwatch on the wall above the gate, but when he got there, he discovered that the stone gate was untouched by the RuneScape on the walls around it. He had some ideas for a powered gate that could be opened with the touch of a Rune, but left that for later. He needed to find all of his Runes and remove whatever wasn't being used… Instead, he only made sure it was strong enough to not become a weak point in their defenses before climbing back onto the wall to watch for returning coyotes, or anything else…

The bringing in of the hunters kills, as well as the deer, went smoothly after that. The gutting and butchering process however, left Lee feeling a bit sick until he had to stop watching. He preferred his meat to be grown naturally where it belonged, inside a supermarket, and without all the messy gross stuff. Luckily, between Bradley and Saira, the guts and blood were easily whisked underground to feed the latter's booming crop production and not left outside to attract more scavengers. Especially because everything had to come through the gate now, no dragging the bulkier parts over the wall. This meant that the huge deer had to be harvested almost completely outside the walls.

Luckily for Lee, the twitching Trak who jumped at every sound, plus the constant worried glances from Alejandro below, gave him an excuse to retreat inside. He wasn't in much danger, if any, not after his work on the walls, plus he had one-shot that giant deer… Though to be fair, he had seen a man decapitate an equally large snake with only a sword.

Lee left them and went inside to look for any Runes he could reclaim and one other thing…

Class Rank Up. [Runic(Adept I)](Legendary)

Adept Ranked Rune Library Available.

You have become Adept at utilizing your Class. You may now take an Apprentice and Lead another on your Path.

New Class Skills Available. Proceed? Yes/No

Lee had barely skimmed his options and knew instantly what he wanted.

You Do Not Hold Full Dominion over your Twin-Soul. All Involved Parties must Agree.

"I wonder if he will get the Skill too? I hope it helps him as well."

New Class Skill Gained. [Soul Reinforcement(Initiate I)](Epic)(Passive)

The Soul of a Runic is of Vital Importance. Push your Limits and Grow Stronger.

Does not Increase Soul Attribute but instead Increases the Strength of what is Already There, Allowing the Runic to do More with Less.

"Thanks Stan." He didn't feel anything change after taking it, but his hope was confirmed when a few minutes later he felt the strain on his Soul ease up just a bit.

Skill Level Up: [Soul Reinforcement]

"I haven't reached my limits yet…" He grinned and replaced one of the battery RuneScapes in his robe. "Push the limits."

...

Lee waited until after dinner to break the news. "So Gabriel… something came up today."

The boy looked at him in confusion for a moment before the realization appeared. "Did you rank up? Can I be an Apprentice now?"

Apprenticeship Available. Y/N

Status

Potential Apprentice Affinity: 80%

Name: Gabriel Morales

Race: [Human](E Rank)

Titles:

[First Time?]

Traits: [Child] [Adaptable]

Class: N/A

Class Skills: N/A

Attributes:

Strength: 31

Vitality: 31

Dexterity 36

Perception 34

Intelligence 45

Willpower 30

Soul 15

Non Class Skills:

Buffs:

Debuffs:

Lee was surprised that he got to see the boy's status and very happy to see how much his Soul Stat had risen, not only for the Tether, if that still mattered, but because he would need every bit to create his own Runes. "I have a whole lot more, but no idea how much I used for Three..."

Gabriel's Affinity was also very good, if what Alejandro said was true. Lee focused on the other unknown, the [Child] Trait.

[Child]

Growth is Ongoing. A Child will Grow in all Attributes by Absorbing the Ambient Mana around them. Speed of Growth Dependent on Local Mana Density. Growth may still be Improved with Training.

A Child May Not Absorb Cores.

"He has already grown so much since I first saw him…" Lee had some other thoughts about that Trait, but they could wait. He glanced away from the excited Gabriel and looked at his parents for confirmation before proceeding. They shared a look and then both nodded at him. "Okay."

"Are you sure, Gabriel? I don't know if you'll be able to change to a different Class after this, there might be one out there that you'll like better."

"I'm sure! I'm sure! I want to make cool stuff like you!" The boy was not dissuaded in the least.

"Did you even think about it?" Lee suppressed his sigh and smiled at him. "You should know, this might hurt," he said to Gabriel, but also for the benefit of his parents. He still remembered the pain of his Class Adaptation… Gabriel was undeterred and Lee accepted the prompt.

"Ow. Ow, Ow, Ow!" Lee was ready, he caught the boy when his eyes rolled up and he started to topple out of the chair. Maria was at his side a heartbeat later and only glared at him a little bit.

Alejandro came around as well and put a hand on Lee's shoulder as Maria carried her baby boy to his bed. "Thanks, Lee. Did he have a good Affinity?"

"Oh I should have mentioned that, he did, 80% in fact." He turned to Alejandro. "Did you see the Child Trait?"

Alejandro nodded. "We did."

"I think they will age faster inside [Three]…"

"We know." Alejandro was quiet for a bit. "Better to shorten their childhoods, if it keeps them alive…"

"Yes…" Lee couldn't say anything else.