"Are you sure that you don't need help?" Lee asked after yet another cracking sound came from the other side of the elevator room he was sitting next to in the garage.

"No!" Gabriel insisted, then Lee saw him get up and walk back around to his side. "Um, can I have two more discs please…"

Lee held back his smile and summoned the discs. "There you go." He watched as the boy went back around the pillar and started up again on his 'secret' project. Gabriel didn't want to tell him what he was making because it was 'a surprise' but he also didn't know that Lee could clearly see everything he was doing with [Mana Mind].

The kid was smart and Lee was kicking himself when he finally understood what Gabriel was making. It was similar to something Lee had actually created before, during the fly Swarm… and in the resulting chaotic aftermath, had completely forgotten about it.

Another cracking sound came and Lee rolled another two discs around the pillar, nudging them just enough with [Mana Mind] to get them to the boy. He wanted to immediately improve on what Gabriel was doing and spread it around but… he was more restricted now. His Soul was constantly at its Rune limits these days and he couldn't decide whether to pull Runes from somewhere or if he would have to wait for his [Soul Reinforcement] to get stronger.

Creating the RuneScape on the wall had been a large project, and a very good one, but it meant that he couldn't enchant all of the armor and weapons anymore. Alejandro had assured him that the wall was the better investment, thanks in no small part to the fact that May's newer creations were strong enough without Runes. A few people, like Alejandro, still got Rune gear and they had made it into a sort of reward for service above and beyond. Only a few people had gained a piece so far.

Plus Lee was working on a surprise of his own for Gabriel. He summoned and added another couple small discs onto the staff he was creating inside the elevator room, to keep Gabriel from seeing it before it was ready. He had seen the longing looks the kid snuck at his own magic staff and wanted to reward him for the incredible effort that had been put in since the Apprenticeship started.

He was making the staff similar to his own, with a few differences. For one, Gabriel had a much smaller Mana Pool and Lee didn't want to make his battery too big, it would only increase the risk of Mana Burn and he didn't want to push the boy down the same trajectory that he'd taken. Gabriel had already burned himself once, almost immediately after waking up with his new Class, and been much more careful ever since. Lee was even hesitant to tell Gabriel his Skill choices because it might influence him. Of course he didn't even know if they would both get the same options…

He could still see Gabriel's Status and knew that he only had the [Rune Scribe] Skill that Lee had started with, before the Source pushed it up to what it was now. This meant that the kid had to draw his Runes out by hand and he didn't even have the [RuneScape Scribe] Skill yet. Though Lee was guessing that he would gain it if he could finish his 'secret' project. He had been able to draw out RuneScapes with the toy that Lee gave him before, but seemed to be having trouble focusing on the drawing now, while simultaneously dealing with the actual Mana flow. He was rapidly improving though.

Luckily, his Mana had changed after starting the Apprenticeship and Lee didn't need to gather it from him to make the staff RuneScape. It was almost identical to Lee's Mana now, primarily the pure neutral of the Well, with only the faintest tint remaining of what it had been before.

Someone ran down the ramp and into the garage behind him and Lee saw his current Anubi shadow twitch before running off. It had probably guessed what the runner was coming to say and went to fetch Trak. He guessed right. "Lee!" The runner slid to a stop when he spotted him. "We've got another herd out there. Do you…"

"I'm coming." Lee was already standing up. "Give me a sec." He could already see Trak heading his way. Miller had been given more time to go out and train since [Three] had recovered. The building had erased all the damage from the Hidden Invasion and Alejandro was slightly less worried, at least while Lee was inside… Trak on the other hand, had gotten even more paranoid, ever since Lee had made an offhand, almost joking comment about how the Anubi had been wrong.

"You were wrong about Three Trak, it wasn't a 'true Living Structure'," Lee had said.

Trak had deflated a bit in disappointment but then perked up again. "My Lord, you said It wasn't? As in before…" Lee only smiled in response but Trak went a little crazy after that, muttering about how 'it did all that before it was even alive' and 'truly the start of a new legend'.

Lee had told Maria and Alejandro about his Evolution. They had been pleased but not as excited as Lee thought they should be. Trak's response was much more in line with what Lee felt himself. Unfortunately that excitement had led to even more worries about keeping Lee protected and to the situation now, Trak returned with two of his pack mates alongside him, all of them geared up with weapons, armor, and potions.

"To the walls my Lord?" Trak barked as he bowed in front of Lee.

"Yea, same as before Trak," Lee nodded and resisted the urge to sigh. They had done this over a dozen times before and despite the lack of risk, Trak always acted like they were going to war. "Gabriel, stay here." He tried to give him a stern look but the boy only nodded without even looking up.

Lee followed the guard back outside and double jumped smoothly to the top of the wall, benefits of practicing with the Runes in his shoes. The Anubi had all reached D Rank by now and easily scaled the wall behind him, a very visible reminder of why he'd needed to improve the walls. Lee got a few friendly greetings and smiles from the guards already up there once he landed. Word had spread that he was the one responsible for making wall duty into an almost boring assignment and nobody disliked that. Plus the people stationed nearby to [Three] got to watch him help with the hunting.

Herds of 'things' would regularly pass by the Fort and Lee could practice his [Liquid Mana Beam] while also helping with the food supply. Though not everything that showed up was as edible as the rest… They'd seen things roaming around that were definitely not earthly in origin, and that only served to remind them of the fact that every alien thing had, so far as they knew, had to arrive through an 'Invasion', and win that Invasion… which meant humans had lost a fight somewhere nearby.

Lee sighed at the thought but cheered up quickly. "This place will stand," he told himself, with no small confidence, and looked out at the latest giant monsters to wander into his killing field.

They were quadruped and had horns or antlers with the largest one having the fanciest looking horns. "Could be from earth…" he thought, but he had never got much into animal identification so who knew. They did look more mundane than some of the things he'd seen, but it didn't really matter, he would kill them and someone else would find out if the meat was safe.

Lee walked down the top of the wall and into one of the 'towers' that Bradley had created. Stairs spiraled up inside and took him to the bunker-like room at the top. His RuneScape was fantastic but it did leave them vulnerable to aerial threats still, though Bradley's towers were a great addition that helped in that regard.

Once he was ready, Lee lifted his hand to point at the obvious leader of the herd and then waited for the right moment. "Let's see how many I can get this time…" They didn't look very strong but he couldn't see their Mana from this range. "I'll use the smaller beam." He wasn't too worried if they turned out to be stronger than expected, his wall RuneScape had proven itself in countless examples since it had gone up and Lee had full confidence in its power. The leader of the herd stopped for a moment, the herd stretched out behind. "And… fire!"

A beam of light flashed into existence and Lee swept his hand sideways at the same moment. "They were weak." he thought, as almost the entire herd was beheaded by his Skill.

Skill Level Up: [Liquid Mana Beam]

Skill [Liquid Mana Beam] has reached the Initiate Threshold. No Evolutions Available. Upgrade to Apprentice Available. Proceed? Y/N

"Sweet!" The few remaining survivors bolted and Lee was distracted by the much welcomed Notification. He refocused before they got too far and was already pulling Mana from his staff as he lifted his other hand to take a shot at them. Before he could fire the beam again, a horde of brown furred creatures burst from the undergrowth and swarmed over the fleeing prey in a flurry of distant yips and snarls. "The coyotes are still lurking…"

"Any reports yet of the coyotes attacking people?" Lee asked one of the guards in the tower with him.

"Not that I've heard," the man said, squinting his eyes against the bright light as he peered through the narrow windows at the far away slaughter. "They don't ever come near the walls either."

Lee held back on shooting the beasts. They hadn't fled very far after that first showing and some people were speculating that they were even driving some of the herds near the Fort to let the Humans, or more specifically Lee, kill them. Then they swooped in and grabbed some of the meat before retreating again. If that was what was happening, then they were smarter than they should be… Lee saw the leader of the pack appear, or at least the biggest of the coyotes. It emerged from the scrub much closer than the others and nearby the slain herd leader.

"You better not try to steal our food…" Lee thought and his hand shifted slightly to point a finger at it. He could have sworn that the coyote looked at the corpses and then at him, before slinking back into the brown undergrowth and vanishing. "Are they using us to help them hunt? Or are they helping us get food?" The former seemed much more likely than the later in his mind, but no one knew how smart the animals could become now and more than a few people had observed disturbingly intelligent behavior from more than a few of the previously dumb creatures.

The only reason he even suspected the latter option, was that he had finally thought to inspect Caffeine in his Status and rediscovered that he was Soul-Bonded to the 'Beast Lord', something that he had forgotten from his Rank up options. Now he was wondering if maybe the coyotes could sense it? Of course, seeing that little tidbit had amused Lee for a few days, the thought of that adorable little pug being 'the strongest beast' was hilarious… and also comforting, since Caff was there with Stanley in that hell hole they were both stuck in. "Take care of him, Caff, and bring yourselves home…"

"Is a Gathering Team ready?" Lee asked and saw the man next to him glance towards the gates, even as he kept his own eyes forward and trained on the coyotes.

"Just about," the man replied. "You going to stand overwatch again?"

"Yea, I can wait a bit," Lee replied.

"I'll let em know it's good to go," the man started towards the stairs and stopped. "Just be careful with that attack of yours… having that come in above your head is a bit unsettling."

Lee winced. "Were you in that group?" The man nodded. "Sorry about that," Lee said, "I've been practicing…"

"When you have a sniper on overwatch, shooting over your head," the man said, "you need to have trust in them." Lee opened his mouth. "Don't get me wrong," the man continued, "we do trust you. Your aim on the other hand…"

Lee glanced back to the distant corpses. "How bout I just do some sweeping blasts before they get there? To discourage any interference…"

The man nodded. "I'll go tell em to head out." Lee stayed in the tower and upgraded his Skill.

[Liquid Mana Beam(Apprentice I)](Epic)

Point at your problems and make them go away with extreme prejudice.

Fires All Available Mana in a Beam of Destruction that lasts as long as Mana is Available.

You have Gained Limited Control over the Liquid Mana Flow Rate.

"I'll take that," he thought, as he watched the rather large group come around the corner and head to the corpses. He did another couple of his sweeping beams into the scrub beyond the bodies, setting lines of fire burning in the brush and testing the latest changes to the Skill. Lee had been worried before about starting a wildfire with his beam, but something had changed in the flora and fire just didn't spread like it used to.

His Mana Beam hadn't changed much after the upgrade but he did manage a slightly longer sweep using his standard 20% Mana. He could feel that it was possible to go the other direction as well, to fire out all of the Mana even faster, but also knew that doing it would only give him Mana Burn that much quicker.

The coyotes didn't show while the team dragged the corpses back to the gate and Lee moved to one of the closer towers to keep watch. He'd gotten more used to the gore by now, especially after going through this multiple times over the last however many days. It was a bit messier without Bradley around to bury things, but someone got Saira to come over and she sent some plants out to the butchering area to clean up the mess left behind. Lee was pretty sure that he recognized the leather worker out there among the harvesters, busy skinning some of the animals himself, probably to ensure that he got the hides the way he wanted. Lee got another welcome surprise while he watched.

Skill Level Up: [Mana Mind]

Skill [Mana Mind] has reached the Apprentice Threshold. No Evolutions Available. upgrade to Journeyman Available. Proceed? Y/N

He accepted the upgrade and checked out the changes.

Skill [Mana Mind(Journeyman I)](Passive)(Epic)

Effect:

Your mind becomes intrinsically linked to Mana granting you greatly increased Mana Awareness and Mana Manipulation within 35 Meter Radius.

Your mind consumes Mana granting you +30% Effective Intelligence while Mana is full.

All Mana Manipulation +30% while Mana is full.

All Effects null at 45% Mana.

All Effects grant full negative Value at 0% Mana.

Permanent loss of Intelligence Attribute points will occur if 0% Mana is maintained.

"Excellent!" The increased range was immediately noticeable and made it even easier to pull Mana from [Three] while on the wall. He still had to focus the Skill in that direction to reach when his Mana wasn't full, but could now do it with less effort. It should also allow him to reach the Mana Well from the next building in the complex and that might help with his ideas for putting something overhead to help with aerial attacks, as [Three] being on the outside edge made it much harder to cover the entire place with something.

"Did you gain an Upgrade my Lord?" Trak's voice brought his attention back and Lee noticed that the Anubi were all twitching slightly, anxious and looking for trouble but casting looks his way as well. Trak was already dropping into a bow as Lee opened his mouth. "Forgive me my Lord! I should never have inquired about…"

"Trak," Lee said calmly, "what did I say about being weird?"

"Ummm… you said 'don't be weird', my Lord."

"Exactly!" Lee exclaimed. "This," he said, while pointing at the bowing Anubi, "is weird. You gotta stop with the bowing, it's going to go to my head and I'll start thinking that I really am hot shit. Then I'll become drunk with power and turn into a benevolent dictator… then an evil dictator… and then Maria will kill me." Lee shivered. "Plus, Gabriel is a Runic now too, it's not that special… in fact I bet there are a lot of Humans that picked the class."

Trak had stood back up during his long rant and seemed concerned now. Lee sighed and continued, "It just makes me uncomfortable. Is that enough of a reason to stop? If I don't want to tell you something, I won't, no need for groveling… and yes I did just upgrade my…" Lee hesitated, he hadn't told many people about his [Mana Mind] and especially not more than that he could see Mana. "Upgraded a Skill… did you feel something change just now?"

"Yes, my…"

Trak seemed to be struggling so Lee tried a new tack. "I order you to call me 'Lee' instead of 'my Lord'. If you disobey my orders there will be no punishment, the only consequences will be that it will make me very sad…" Lee thought he could hear a faint whine from the Anubi leader.

"Yes …Lee." Trak managed to do it and Lee smiled widely as he continued, "I did feel something." he grew more animated as he talked. "I felt a jolt of something against my Mana, but only for an instant and then it was gone!" He glanced at the other two Anubi and they both nodded in confirmation. "Was that you my… Lee…" And then he was back to wincing.

Lee chuckled, "Thanks, Trak. That is much better! As for the Mana, I think it was me…" He hadn't actually tried to do anything to their Mana, but maybe the upgrade increasing his control had caused the reaction. Lee liked the idea of getting stronger but hoped that it wouldn't eventually force everyone to keep their distance… that thought brought a smile to his face. Not that long ago, he wouldn't have minded people being forced to give him space… but now, he had friends and didn't want them to go away.

Lee was growing more and more used to his [Mana Mind] and the flood of information sometimes just faded into the back of his mind, still there and still receiving, but not requiring conscious thought. He put some conscious thought into it now, trying to detect any changes or noticeable differences to the Mana he could 'see'.

It was hard to say, the Mana in the air was as responsive as ever, the Mana in the wall below them was completely locked into the RuneScape and out of his Skill's control. The Anubi, as well as the Humans around him all seemed the same as before and Lee didn't want to start tugging on their Mana… not after the reaction from the first time he did that to a person.

Lee had another idea and summoned a small disc. It appeared in his upheld palm and a thought pulled it up to hover in the air. "Much better control!" Lee sent the disc flying around himself, even tossing it off the wall and then pulling it up from the ground again. A smile grew on his face as he played with his new power, then he had another thought. Lee let go of his disc staff and stepped back, he held it upright easily enough and then pulled on it, hand outstretched. The staff flew through the air and into his waiting hand. "I am a badass wizard!" he exclaimed and then laughed, tossing his staff across the small room atop the tower and pulling it back repeatedly. It did accelerate the drain on his Mana but it was less of a problem now, between the lower cost of the Skill and the increased range, he kept it up easily enough.

"Trak, I want to see if I can move you around by the Mana inside you, but I don't know if it might hurt you…" Trak looked very strange at that comment and Lee was worried that he would start twitching as his fear warred with his desire to serve. They were saved by a sudden commotion outside the tower. Lee could 'see' heads tilting up and arms pointing into the sky. "Speak of the devil…"

"Nevermind," Lee said, his mind focusing upwards until he saw the flying threat incoming. "We got flyers again!" He didn't hold back and pulled at the Mana inside the diving creature, this time trying to move the whole thing rather than steal the Mana. "It worked!" Then the monster's Mana flared in what looked to Lee like a Skill activation, and Lee ripped the Mana from its Channels and Core right as its wings started to spread. The diving creature failed to change direction as it spasmed and then slammed into the ground outside the wall, narrowly missing two people, one of whom promptly pinned it to the ground with a sword.

Lee reached up for another and realized that his range was suddenly shit. "Low Mana!" He had to pull Mana from his staff before his [Mana Mind] had enough range to reach [Three] and he quickly topped everything up. "It works… but it would work better if I was standing on Three…"

He could see now that most of the swarming flock of flying things were outside the walls, he even saw one try to dodge an arrow and slam into a suddenly solid hexagon that appeared above the wall. "Trak," Lee shouted over the din of screeching monsters and yelling humans, not to mention exploding spells and Skills, "I'm going back to Three!"

He was about to run down the stairs but stopped to look at the short but wide 'windows' in the tower's sides. "I can fit through there…" He had to take a running dive but made it through and started falling down. Luckily he wasn't an idiot and had jumped out over the wall rather than the ground much further below.

Lee landed roughly and almost but not quite on his feet atop the wall, three Anubi landed much more smoothly around him. He looked down at the ground, then over and up the side of [Three]. "It'll take too long to run inside and up the stairs… and I can't just jump to a porch…" He eyed the roof, not very much higher than his current position but a good distance away. "I can do it!"

Lee jumped and soared into the air. "This is it!" he thought, his heart pounding as he looked at the ground sliding past so far below him. It was terrifying… and exhilarating! "This is fucking awesome!" Lee sent Mana to his shoes as his upward arc started to slow. The RuneScape on the discs in his shoes flared and for what felt like a long instant, the discs were bound to and with everything nearby, even the air around him. Lee jumped again and flew higher, arcing above the roof but still short of landing on it. "Again!" One more leap saw him land with barely a stumble on the gently sloping and tiled roof of [Three].

"Nailed it! Let's do this." Lee thought, adrenaline pumping as his Mana rapidly refilled and his [Mana Mind] finally spread back out into its full range. He could also see the creatures with his eyes now and they looked more akin to bats than birds, maybe hairless bats… with pale pink skin… "Eww." Most were hounding the butchers outside the walls, likely drawn by the blood and meat, but the guards had dealt with attacks like this before and were prepared. Shields blocked the swooping and diving monsters, blades cut down any that dove too low and archers on the walls were peppering the rest with arrows.

A Skill or ability sent a burst of air into the guards and a few of them stumbled, while one was thrown from his feet and toppled to the ground. His teammates had him back on his feet in an instant and Lee shredded the Mana of the next flyer to try a Skill, he also worked to stun or disorient the diving ones by draining their Mana. For the closer ones, Lee tried to push them into the barrier over the wall but it looked like they had figured out that it was there and were now being more judicial in their attack runs. Still, Lee managed to drive more than a few off course and sent them tumbling to the ground.

Then something flew blindingly fast past his head from below… a potion? It hit with a pop above him and Lee realized that he'd focused his [Mana Mind] too much towards the monsters around the gate. In his mind he saw the expanding cloud of Mana overhead from whatever the potions effect was and then one of the monsters plunged out of the cloud and straight towards him!

Lee shoved at its Mana, trying to divert it off course even as he tried to summon a shield RuneScape from his [Rune Storage]. Before he could do more, the building shuddered under his feet and something shot upwards from the roof. The oncoming creature almost exploded as the projectile impacted and continued on through it. The bloody impact did manage to push it even further off course, and the monster flew past the edge of the roof, already dead before it struck the ground far below.

More of the creatures were diving down and Lee leapt frantically towards the only shelter on the roof, the stairwell. The first few missed him, thrown off by his sudden dash, but the higher up ones simply altered their trajectory to intercept, with a few even angling to get between him and the door. "Fuck! Why did they all come after me!" Lee swept his hand towards the nearest enemies and activated [Liquid Mana Beam].

Debuff Gained: [Mana Burn II]

He had an instant to realize that he'd just dumped an entire Mana Pool into the Skill, and then he was shoved violently down into the tiles of the roof from the force of the blast. Right before the deafening crack of sound slammed into him and he was sent tumbling across the roof with ringing ears.

Lee rolled to a stop flat on his back and looked up at the bisected and burning body parts raining down on him. He'd actually hit a lot of them with that beam and luckily [Three] hadn't kept the Mana flowing this time… but high above Lee could see a much larger version of the monsters, and it was diving straight towards him! "Shit!" His Mana was full already and Lee could see so many of the monsters now, all flying towards him and him alone… Lee slapped a hand onto the tiles at his back and dumped his shield RuneScape onto them. It didn't stick! The tiles were not a solid enough surface that could hold a large area RuneScape like his shield. "Shit!"

Two Anubi flew into his [Mana Mind] range from below, then one of them kicked off the other and shot upwards. Trak came sailing through the air and over the roof, his hands a blur as his arsenal was unleashed on the flock of angry monsters. A few of them vanished behind exploding balls of fire, others screamed as they melted into falling shreds of meat, a few were enveloped in massive balls of what looked like foam and went bouncing and rolling right along and off the other side of the roof.

Lee wasn't idle while that happened, he scrambled to his feet and took off for the door. His mind worked in full overtime as he ripped and tore at the Mana of everything that approached. Snaps and cracks sounded out from all around, as what he could now see were roof tiles, launched themselves up and into the flying attackers.

Then the big one entered into his range, moving fast. "I won't outrun it." Lee was already shredding and pulling at every bit of Mana that he could inside the thing. It screamed but did not waver in its attack run. "Fine," Lee thought, "try this!" He forced a Rune into the creature, right onto its skull. One big Rune, pumped full of as much Mana as he could force it to hold and with only a singular purpose. "Burn!"

That got the monster's attention and it flailed widely in an attempt to stop the sudden agony, throwing off its flight and sending it careening straight towards the now descending Trak… "I hope this doesn't hurt," Lee thought, and dragged the Anubi out of the monster's path by the Mana inside him.

The giant monster barely missed the Anubi and slammed into the roof, tumbling and sliding across the shield covering the courtyard below. Lee could see the Rune on its head, could see it glowing bright red as smoke rose up from burning flesh and bone. He could see it Very clearly when the monster burst to its feet and turned its head to glare hatefully at him. "Why won't you die!" Lee lifted a hand, preparing to bisect the thing with a full power Mana Beam as it took a flapping step towards him.

Another potion flew past him and struck the monster in the face. There was a small pop of breaking glass, then its head expanded into a flaming cloud of bone and brain matter.

Lee spun as a rain of sizzling gore sprinkled over the rooftop, looking for more targets. He found only an angry Trak stomping, actually stomping, towards him! Lee sat down with an exhausted wheeze as the Anubi stopped in front of him.

"That was the most profoundly idiotic, stupid, crazy, mad, lunacy I have ever seen! My Lord!" Lee could barely understand the words over the howling and barking coming from him. "You abandoned your guards! You practically offered yourself up to be eaten! You…"

"I'm sorry, Trak!" Lee had to shout to be heard over him. "I'm an idiot." Trak stopped howling and just stood there, his chest heaving. "I didn't see how many there were, I thought it was just another small group and I definitely didn't see that big one… but we won!" Trak was turning in a slow circle and Lee could see a line of standing hair running down the back of his head and neck. "Like an angry dog…" The hair stood even higher as Trak spun on him.

"We! You!" Trak couldn't seem to find the words and then what had to be almost the entire pack of Anubi swarmed onto the rooftop. All of them carrying bright concentrations of Mana in hand and ready to throw. "We won!?" Trak found his words and started up the howling again. "That attack you used must have given you some Mana Burn! You forced Three to expend some of its power defending you! And we might face an Invasion in a few hours!" Small Anubi hands grabbed him and started dragging him towards the door.

"Ah… I forgot about that," Lee said softly as he let them drag him inside, not that he was sure he could stop them… He had forgotten that the timer was almost up on their protection after the Hidden Invasion and now he really felt bad about his little adventure… "Shit. I'm sorry…" He really hoped that [Three] hadn't used up too much power…

"I also used up a large portion of my potions just now…" Trak turned to one of the other Anubi. "Go prepare what we can!" The other Anubi barked something and a few of the others ran off with it. "We will not be able to replace much, our supplies are dwindling and we haven't found enough replacements on this world… I will have to tell your brother of this, maybe he can convince you of your foolishness!"

Lee winced and right on que he noticed a dense collection of his Runes rapidly approaching the Fort. "Alejandro is back."

"If that doesn't work," Trak continued, "I will tell the General's Mate…"

Lee shivered and saw Trak doing the same. "Don't tell her about this!" Lee begged. "She doesn't look like she wants to kill me most of the time now."

Trak sat down in front of him, all the energy and fight draining out as he slumped. "If that is what it takes… My Lord." He seemed to be placing extra emphasis on the 'Lord' bit and Lee really hoped that he could get the Anubi to call him Lee again someday. "But… I don't wish to anger that one…" Trak shivered again.

"I fucked up, I know that," Lee said slowly, "But I've watched the others go out and fight over and over again, while I just hide in here. I don't want to just hide in my building while we are in danger. I want to help. I can help!" Lee stood up and looked out over the roof. "Obviously, I need to be smart about it… I should have stayed in the tower down there, but needed more Mana… maybe Bradley can build a tower up here, or at least a bunker. No, I should have him build a nice tall wizard tower…"

"My Lord," Trak interrupted his visions of magical towers, "is your Class Legendary?" He immediately jumped to his feet, waving his hands back and forth. "Nevermind, my Lord! I shouldn't have asked that!"

Lee chuckled at the Anubi who moments before had been berating him rather vehemently and was now acting like this. "It…"

"Don't answer!" Trak barked. He sniffed at the air as he looked around warily. "Is anyone else near, my Lord?"

Lee took a moment to scan the area with [Mana Mind]. The frenzy of activity had calmed down inside and he could feel Alejandro now inside the gate and coming towards the building. "They must have finished the harvesting…" A few people even walked past close enough to enter his range and Lee could see the Mana infused meat in their arms as they carted it off to… wherever they kept it. But noone was that close to them up here on the roof. "We're clear," he told Trak, curious now about why he was acting extra paranoid.

"You don't need to tell me," Trak said softly, as if afraid his voice would carry, "and I cannot confirm this is accurate, but I have heard that any Class rated Legendary or higher…" he hesitated with another look around, "they will drop a Class Shard upon death."

"That…" Lee didn't know what to say to that. Yea, it might make him a target, but it shouldn't matter that much. "That's bad…"

Trak sighed and continued in his whispering. "Part of the rumor is that the Class Shard can be used in other ways, aside from gaining the Class. Exactly how or what is gained from it, that I do not know." He looked Lee up and down. "I felt something from you when we first met, but I do not know if I have ever been in the presence of a Legendary Class before and so cannot say what it meant. I suspect very few humans, if any, would know what that feeling is either. But the beasts…" he trailed off.

Lee felt goosebumps. "The snake that first day… Was it not about the Mana Well? The bird-like creatures today? Wait, is that why the underground monsters in the Lair only attacked when I went in, but no one ever saw them before?" He frowned. "Would the bird become a Runic?" The idea seemed a bit… odd.

"I suspect not, my Lord," Trak said, "I do suspect that it would gain something, some power increase, whether it is Attributes, a Skill, or even a Trait. It could be any of those or something else entirely, whatever it is, it draws them to you."

"That sucks," Lee grumbled, his dreams of standing atop his wizards tower and raining death on the monster hordes going up in smoke. "Maybe if Three grew me a tower… it would be strong enough… Can you do that Three?" There was another obvious point to this information as well. His presence could be used as bait, to draw the more powerful threats here, it probably already had. "Alejandro and Trak will never let me move freely again…" But if that was what it took, then so be it. "I will make our home invincible… please come home Stan…" Everyday that he couldn't feel his brother coming closer, everyday that he remained trapped so far away, it gnawed at him.

Trak's words, 'The Undead always take a large Raid Dungeon', those words ate at him everyday. Trak had no more information than that, Lee had pestered him at length on the subject, but apparently it was just common knowledge out there in the multiverse. Undead, huge Dungeon, the fact that Stan was still stuck… "Please come back."

Lee took a deep breath and turned to the stairs. "Thank you for that information, Trak. I have work to do in the garage, so please have the Cores gathered up and bring them… no." He turned back to face the Anubi. "You saved my life today, Trak. Thank you. Please take the Cores, you earned them." Lee glanced down at the floor, where he could sense his Runes moving through the building. "Alejandro is downstairs. Please tell him what you told me and help him with the bodyguard scheduling. I won't be stupid and complain anymore… Well, I'll try my best…"

"Yes, my Lord!" Trak saluted. "And thank you, my… Lee."

Lee started down the stairs while Trak ordered a few of the others to gather the Cores and then accompanied him. They met Alejandro in the garage and the man turned over a handful of Cores to Lee. "The run, plus the herd you shot down," he said in explanation. Lee dutifully took them and they melted away as he absorbed them one by one. If Stanley was ever in desperate straits again, Lee would make sure that he had enough Attributes to Burn up in the Source, enough to survive whatever happened! He knew Stan was out there fighting everyday and would likely have much higher Attributes than him, but Lee wasn't turning down any Cores these days. Except the ones that Trak had absolutely earned by saving him. Of course, when the other Anubi came down with the Cores, Trak handed them all to Lee.

"Trak…" Lee said, "you deserve…"

"I do not require payment for service to my Liege." Trak refused to take them back and Lee didn't complain.

More Attributes were absorbed and Lee stopped at the last Core, from the leader of the flock.

[Screaming Wind](Rare)

When the Wind Blows, It Screams.

Summons a Sharp Wind to Shred your Target.

Requires Race: [Japfain] N/A(Adaptable)

Requires Wind Affinity: N/A(Adaptable)

That would be useful for someone… and they would likely be willing to part with a decent amount of Attribute Cores in exchange. Lee was really glad that he hadn't found out how powerful the Skill was first hand… It would only take one lucky shot…

Cores were slowly becoming more widespread as a currency as time went on, especially the E Rank Chips that were still collected, though they were getting rare. Mostly it was D Rank Chips that were used and of course, the hunters and fighters were the ones with the most 'money'. Although the crafters weren't far behind, at least those making custom requests. The people like May, who were making weapons and armor, were basically working for the Fort. Alejandro had implemented what amounted to taxes and those Cores were distributed to the vital people that couldn't go out and gather their own. Lee handed the Skill off to Alejandro, he would know who to talk to.

Gabriel had successfully finished his 'secret' project while he was on the roof and Lee could see the RuneScapes glowing inside his pockets. A quick glance at the boy's Status revealed that he had indeed unlocked the [RuneScape Scribe] Skill. Lee congratulated him and Alejandro reacted with his usual exuberance, sweeping Gabriel up into a hug and congratulating him while asking to see what he'd created.

Trak saved the boy from revealing his surprise early by getting Alejandro's attention and telling him they needed to talk. Lee was going to assign Gabriel some more projects to keep him busy but then had a thought. "Trak," Lee said, "does the feeling…" he tapped himself on the chest and tilted his head towards Gabriel. "Is it the same?"

Alejandro looked confused as Trak looked back and forth between them before shaking his head. "Not the same, but it is there, only less obvious… more faint."

Lee had been afraid of that, so he only sighed and led all three of them into the elevator room, but not before using [Mana Mind] to move the surprise staff under a pile of discs. He did still need to finish that project, but first he let Trak repeat his warning about Legendary Classes for the father and son duo. "Maria is going to hate me again…" Though it was not all bad, most people wouldn't know what they felt from him and by the time that knowledge was more widespread, Gabriel would be much stronger and probably fully capable of protecting himself. The boy would need a bodyguard for now though… when he wasn't with Lee or one of his parents, which luckily, was not very often.

Gabriel took the news better than Alejandro did, which wasn't surprising. What kid doesn't want to find out that he is so awesome that people might kill him for it… Lee distracted himself from the discussion by diving into his [Rune Storage] to work on the RuneScape for the kid's gift. He was still having trouble figuring out how to think of Gabriel, everyday he grew a bit more and had gone from a little kid, to what had to be a young teenager by now. Lee couldn't imagine how his parents were coping. And he had a bad feeling that the Apprenticeship had accelerated the process even more, whether because of the copious use of Liquid Mana or if it was simply a normal side effect of becoming an Apprentice… his sister Anita, was growing up too fast as well.

Their discussion broke up when Alejandro had to get moving to prepare for the potential upcoming Invasion. Lee checked the timer. (58:32) He could feel more people than usual moving around above him, lots of them children, but not all of the children in the Fort. Some people apparently didn't want to leave their kids in a building on a promise of supposed safety, nevermind how many people had seen first hand the power of [Three] and told them about it. "Back to work." Lee set aside Gabriel's RuneScape for later and gathered up a couple of each weapon, RuneScapes ready for each if they needed a specific counter for whatever showed up. He was keeping some trash Runes on plates nearby, enough to pull off when and if he needed to make something, while also keeping his [Soul Reinforcement] leveling.

-1 Twin-Soul

Lee smiled as he once again felt the opposite of what he had first expected. Rather than feeling increased strain from his Soul, since with less attributes he should have less Rune Capacity, he instead felt less strain. "Keep it up, Three." His best guess was that the Twin-Soul points they lost were from the parts of their Soul that he had bound into the creation of [Three], and now the building was slowly claiming itself for… itself.

Lee made one of the unruned discs into a hover plate and sat on it, to keep the pressure on his skill up. Gabriel stared at the hovering disc from behind him and very quietly reached over to grab another of the unruned discs. Lee didn't turn around and worked on RuneScapes in his storage while he watched Gabriel try repeatedly to copy the floating RuneScape. He didn't have the benefit of being able to see it in its entirety and kept making small mistakes, but the boy was skilled and always saw the failures before they cascaded into destruction of the disc. Lee eventually felt sorry for him and got up. "Stay here for now, Gabriel," he said, "I'll be back in a bit." He left and saw Gabriel jump up to study the disc he'd left behind.

"Have fun, you earned it." He was honestly shocked that the boy hadn't already made himself a flying disc yet. Granted, he had tried, but when he couldn't pull it off, he'd dived into creating the presents for his parents. It was only slightly less complicated and he'd managed it, so Lee expected he would be flying around soon. Or hovering around.

Lee set up outside the elevator room and started summoning discs and copying Gabriel's RuneScape onto them, with minor alterations to each. He wouldn't be handing them out just yet, not to avoid ruining Gabriel's big reveal, but because like all gadgets, there would be a learning curve and he didn't want to disrupt what Alejandro had gotten running mostly smoothly.

When the timer hit zero, Lee was in the courtyard with Miller and Trak behind him. Gabriel was at his side and sitting on a hovering disc. The smile on his face had slowly diminished as the timer did and Lee hated that. His [Mana Mind] was pushed to the limits in every direction, and Lee waited for something to happen. Though now he had that nagging memory of the Hidden Invasion and the complete lack of warning it had given them… that feeling only grew as nothing happened. No Notifications, no monsters trying to sneak past his Skill, nothing. "Shit." Lee waited for a while as people started moving back into their previous roles, the new normal of waiting for the other shoe to drop… "That is a stupid saying."

Alejandro was late to dinner that night, no rest for the General and all that. But he wasn't too late and Lee smiled as Gabriel eagerly stood before his parents. "Close your eyes," he said. "and hold out your hand." They obliged and he put a disc in each of their hands. Anita, of course, wanted one of the glowing discs too, so Lee made her a flying disc to play with.

"Open your eyes," Gabriel said and they both looked at the objects in their hands.

"What does it do?" Alejandro asked.

"It's to talk!" Gabriel exclaimed. "Look, touch this symbol!"

"Like this?" Alejandro's voice echoed from the disc in Maria's hand and they both jumped in surprise.

"Yes! See?" Gabriel was smiling so brightly that Lee couldn't help the wide grin on his own face.

"Mama is always so worried when you leave…" His smile faltered slightly. "But now you can talk anytime and she doesn't have to worry…"

The earnest emotion coming from Gabriel and the sudden burst of affection from his parents were too much and Lee had to turn away when his eyes got all blurry for some reason. There was much hugging, tears, and lots of Spanish. Lee used the distraction to pull Gabriel's new staff out of the elevator shaft where he'd stashed it, and set it just outside the front door. Then he had to distract Anita who seemed torn on whether she should join in on the crying. He created another flying disc and let her chase him around the living room.

Once things calmed down enough, Lee sent a thought to [Three] and was gratified to see the door open on its own. Glad that the building wasn't too worn down, Lee pulled the new staff inside. "Gabriel, I have something for you as well." Lee got to see the boy's eyes light up as he practically leapt to grab it.

"It's like yours!" he exclaimed, "Wait, no it is different…"

"Can you tell what those Runes do?" Lee asked him.

Gabriel touched one symbol, "this one will make a shield?"

Lee nodded, "it is tied to the staff

and he continued to the next, "this one will…" He turned the staff, studying the Runes, "makes light from the end." He kept looking and found another obvious trigger symbol near the base. "This one…" He followed the lines of magic around and up, then looked up at Lee with wide eyes. "That will…"

Lee nodded solemnly, "that will create a blast like my beam. Not as powerful," he added quickly at the in drawn breaths from his parents. "It is emergency only and will destroy all of the other Runes on your staff to power itself. I put the trigger near the end so you don't have to worry about using it accidentally. Understand?" Gabriel nodded rapidly, his hand well away from the Rune. "The rest?" Lee asked.

"It looks like yours," Gabriel said slowly, "Mana gathering and storage?"

Lee smiled. "Good job, this should help you until you can make your own."

Lee also gave Alejandro a stack of discs similar to Gabriel's present, only a half dozen smaller ones with one larger, as that was all his Soul could handle at the moment. But if they spread them around the wall, at least there would be some communication over the long distances. All of the small discs would send sound to the bigger one and Alejandro, or whoever held that one, could then respond to each of the others individually.

Lee went to sleep a bit late, Jackson in front of his door and Ictor on the porch. He was worried about the attack, or lack of one. Normally he couldn't sleep more than five hours at the most these days, probably something to do with his Rank up, and usually four hours was more than enough. He did drift off eventually and then his worries proved justified when he was rudely awoken early, just before dawn.

[Dungeon Warfare]

Not Every Dungeon is Worthy of Existence. Only the Best Survive. Fight and Prove your Worth.

[Greenfield Village Fort] has reached Sufficient Population and been Selected to Participate in [Dungeon Warfare].

Defend your Fort against Another Dungeon Fort of Similar Power. To the Victor goes Everything.

"Great, more surprises…" Lee got up, along with everybody else in his [Mana Mind] range. No one would sleep in today. He was hoping Trak could explain what was happening, but given that he hadn't mentioned it before… "We'll survive this, we have to."

Alejandro was leaving his own apartment when Lee came out the door. His expression was worried and he was holding the communication disc in his hand. "You'll want to see this too," he said.

Lee followed him, bodyguards in tow, to the wall. The first thing he noticed on arrival was the new red sun rising into the sky alongside their own, both of them hazy, as if seen through thin clouds. Then he followed the gazes of everyone to the north. There, on the other side of the valley, was a castle. High stone walls, towers, and a medieval looking castle sticking up even higher from inside the walls. Something that had definitely not been there before… "Trak," Lee said to the Anubi who had just joined them in the tower, "have you seen this before?"

"I have not, my Lord. None of my tribe have seen that Notification before. I'm sorry…"

"Look at the horizon," Alejandro murmured. Lee did and it was… hazy? "To the Victor goes Everything," Alejandro said, "We're locked in, two Forts enter, one leaves?"

Lee nodded slowly. "Sure sounds that way..."