Adam had ignored his notification in the fallout from the attack. Even with the reduced stamina drain there was no way he could leave the compound to go with Rai to fetch the cart and Hal's body. Moving back to the inner walls he instead helped Ma ensure all the other vermite were back in the warren before having the choice of going to bed or collapsing from a lack of stamina. Knowing it wouldn't help calm the vermite by passing out in the middle of the courtyard he chose to go to bed.

Ma watched as Adam sensibly disappeared into his hut. She had learnt that Hal was not the only vermite to have been killed in the attack. A bat had managed to swoop in and savage one of the vermite working in the field. Though they had been brought in to camp alive they had since bled to death. For some reason she withheld this information from Adam. Perhaps because he had not properly met the vermite yet and perhaps because she hoped they would be able to rediscover the dead vermite like they had with Wu.

The rest of the night was spent in shock. Rai returned with the cart, the small lifeless form of a vermite laid flat on its bed. The vermite had no funeral rites and simply took the practical steps of removing anything of value from the bodies before a small group ventured outside the wall to dig small graves in which to place them. Rai ensured the group was watched over by three guards while another three archers stood on top of the wall in case of further attack.

Once the grim task of dealing with their losses had been taken care of Ma sent groups to collect the bodies of the enemy as well. Though the meat was rancid they were able to salvage some of the hides and bones from the creatures that would be useful for crafting and the task kept at least some of the vermite distracted from what had occurred.

Slowly the rest of the night passed. As the shock of the attack wore off Rai and Ti went through what had happened in more detail. The more they digested the outcome of the fight, the more their initial dismay and gloom lifted. They had counted around twenty corpses that had been slain by their forces with several of their number gaining a level in the process. Whereas before Jay was the highest level archer at level three all four archers, including the new archer Noe, had now reached this level with Jay creeping up to level four. Su and Ail had also gained a level and they had not lost a single fighter once the battle had begun. The bitter truth that they had allowed an ambush to occur and a vermite to be killed inside the camp was only partly offset by these gains.

Having debriefed on the fight itself the pair moved on to working out how to make the compound safer in the future. While Ma coordinated the clean up they set to the task and had soon dragged Pa, Fa and several other vermite in to help. This meant that rather than waking to an empty courtyard Adam found the majority of the vermite still working as his day started.

Given that the vermite had already processed the consequences of the fight and reminded that even within the camp they were not fully safe from death, Adam felt it would be wrong for him to dwell on it. He did get Ma to show him where the vermite had been buried and reluctantly agreed with her deciding not to share the information that two vermite had died until the morning. He paid his respects by bowing his head and standing for a moment in silence before moving on.

He was next shown the task that had all the vermite still working. Dotted around the inside of the compound at strategic places were mounds of earth with a hole leading into the ground, a wooden contraption sitting over one side. Rai led Adam to one located between the two fields but he could also see another by each of the gates and a fourth by the crafting area.

"What are these for?" He asked curiously.

"Safety." Said Rai. "Look, now instead of needing to get back to the inner walls we can run to one of these and be safe." He demonstrated by moving inside the hole and pulling a lever to one side that caused the wooden cover to fall and block the entrance. A knock and groan of effort prompted Adam to help lift the trapdoor back up and release Rai from the hole.

"Eventually we will connect them all to the main burrow, then we could use them for surprise attacks or to reinforce a gate." Rai continued. "For now, they are just to keep those working in the camp safe if needed."

Adam nodded amazed that the vermite had done all this in just a few hours. Given that he knew they had also cleared the dead creatures from the camp and maintained a guard on the inner walls as well. It seemed while he had always considered their caution over the top, building these defences when there was no foe around, they were actually right about the nature of the world. Being attacked made him rethink his immediate plans. This time he had been strong enough to help them defend, but what else was out there?

He had mindlessly followed Rai back to the inner base while thinking. Most of the vermite had now retired to bed leaving only the guard on the walls to keep him company for now. He waved to Rai as the vermite entered the burrow and sat to digest his own part in the battle now that he was alone.

It wasn't long before his recollection of the system prompt took Adam down a rabbit warren of questions and answers that lasted the whole morning.

"So, to summarise. When I died I was brought to this world to represent a god I have never met in a battle that spans across countless worlds? And these worlds have all the magical things that I have read about in fiction, but they're real? And because I couldn't compute such a huge change to my understanding of the world I ended up with a mental block to the thing that was meant to explain all of this? But now I can digest it? In part because I broke down the mental block and in part because of my 'Observer' Malakai made a change?" Adam finished his monologue with a sigh, still the questions led to more questions before he would understand everything.

"Yes." Came the reply, prompting another sigh from Adam.

The most frustrating element of all this was that he should have had access to all this information well before now. He thought back to the different choices he would have made. He now knew the dominant race on this world was human and on leaving this initial area he would be likely to find settlements ranging from simple farmsteads up to great cities. The zone he was currently in was bound by magic set in place by all seven of the gods that made the world and was one of seven such areas that existed. His powers had not been meant for the lesser races such as vermite, he was meant to be out creating followers throughout the land and converting them to believe in him as Aeon's champion on this world.

At least he had not figuratively shot himself in the foot too many times so far. The system prompts and notifications had been real, he had been developing and improving. Also the real fight had not yet started. It took all seven of the Transcendents to cross the barrier delineating their starting area or a fixed amount of time to pass before he could enter the rest of the world. He still had time too, there were another four days before the fifth cycle was complete and the real test would begin. Of course he could travel to the edge of his starting area instead and cross, where he would either be held in time until the others had crossed or trigger the next phase himself.

That was why Adam was especially annoyed that it had taken all morning to learn these things. Things he could have learnt weeks ago. Now he had five days. No. Less than five days to work out what to do with himself and the vermite. Damned if he was leaving them just because the system said he should. With a timeframe, and a goal in mind Adam set to work planning.

His first step was to allocate all the experience he had been hoarding since his level had been locked, in addition to this he gained a sudden surge of experience on top when he had defeated Person and linked fully with the system. He sat on a grand total of 3282 exp. This sounded like a lot, until he remembered that levelling one skill cost 680 exp and this then doubled to 1280 to reach level 8. Pushing this thought to one side, he raised all of his remaining skills to level seven to reach level 7 God . While debating what to do with the rest he threw 80 exp into raising Sword Wielder to level four. The God Class attribute points were allocated as before leaving him one more point which he used to boost his Willpower. Adam checked his stat sheet, relieved to see that the previously lowered values were back to their previous levels.

Adam God Class (Hidden) - Level 7 (Secondary Classes not shown) Attribute Value Characteristic Value Health 140/140 Vitality 14 Health Regen 7/hour Recovery 14 Stamina 190/190 Vigor 19* Stamina Regen 19/hour Fortitude 19* Mana 38/38 Intellect 38* Mana Regen 5.8/hour Clarity 34* Skill Points (SP) 12/12 Perseverence 12 Skill Point Regen 1.2/hour Willpower 12* God Power (GP) 7/7 Unallocated Points 0 God Power Regen 7(24)/day** **max GP Regen cannot exceed GP Unused exp 1162

Four days thought Adam. The System had confirmed that the starting area was designed to stop him levelling too far. 1280 exp per skill added up to 6400 to reach his next level. The highest level foe he had found so far was the Great Slime which would give him only 93 exp and only respawn once a day. The lower level enemies were no longer worth his time, a level 3 Cave Spider no longer gave him any experience at all. The starting area was designed so hitting level 8 should not be possible. Except Adam had found a loophole. While the spiders gave him no experience the vermite still gained experience when they killed one, and Adam had worked out he got a fifth of all they earned.

Plus a vermite only needed 1280 experience to reach level 8 as they went up in level as long as one of their skills did. A strange part of the mechanics that Adam didn't have the understanding to explain. If they fought the lower level beasts in the area they would gain strength and experience for him. Adam was finally seeing the reason the God Class was so powerful and the unintentional advantage he had created over those representing the other gods.

Thought turned to planning as Adam started mapping out how the vermite could make the most of what he had learnt. They were safe for now, but only for four days. Until then he knew exactly what would spawn where. Adam scribbled and scratched on thin hide he had summoned with his Creation skill. Plan one went in the fire as he remembered the quest system - he could generate even more experience just through setting progressive challenges for the vermite. He was beaming by the time he finished, it was a good plan.

The vermite would progressively follow the path he had taken so far but quicker and moving on at the right point rather than wasting time. They could all start on a similar path working in small teams, branching out as specific classes would be better at defeating certain beasts. Even though it was his plan, he thought it was near perfect. He had even built in plans for those with a Profession instead of Class, with different challenges for each of them.

This was what Ma and the other vermite woke to find. Adam was stood in the centre of the compound poking the fire while around him across the surface of the inner walls were pinned scores of sheets of hide covered in his scribbling.

"Come on." Shouted Adam as the first vermite left their burrow and stretched or rubbed sleep from their eyes. "We have a lot of work to do."

"What work?" Asked Ma as she looked over the mess Adam had created.

"Look around, find the symbol that matches your Class or Profession and read the plan to develop below." Adam pointed around him trying to get some enthusiasm from the vermite who were just looking at him confused.

Ma walked up to one of the sheets nearest her and pulled it down, she looked at the front and then the back before scratching her head and putting it back on the wall. She walked over to Adam while the rest of the vermite continued to mill around. Frey had found a bow symbol, became excited as this matched what was in his hand and was happily calling over the other archers who now stood looking bemused in one place rather than scattered about.

"Adam." Said Ma, gesturing for him to bend down so she could talk quietly to him. "None of us can read." She whispered.