Calvin was walking beside Ella when Kurawe unexpectedly caught his attention.

Ravager, There’s a situation back in your capital that your may wish to be informed of.

What is it? Calvin thought, scanning the towering trees.

A Knick-Knack Diplomat has offered to sell us a map of the Malkenrovian continent, along with detailed overlay of knick-knack traffic across the surface, for one ton of plastic, minimum.

Umm…Why? Calvin thought.

They didn’t say.

Who prompted this?

They said they can’t say, since it’s against contract.

…Take the deal. There’s gotta be a reason someone sent that our direction. Barring anything else, their map of the continent will be extremely precise. Calvin chewed on his lip for a moment.

And I’ve always wanted to tour the country that could birth a monster like Karen.

Speaking of Karen, your nephew Sacha’s first birthday is coming up. Do you wish to get him anything?

Yeah, get him that book of puzzles Bekvah gave me. That oughta piss Karen off.

As you wish Ravager, Kurawe said, shutting off the communication.

Calvin broke into an ominous chuckle, picturing the shit-fit Karen would engage in when he suggested her son might grow up to be a wizard. The laugh bubbled up from his chest in a deep chuckle.

“He does that sometimes,” Ella said apologetically to Tzen, who was watching Calvin with concern.

“That’s just how he laughs,” Learner said, nodding.

Calvin cleared his throat, drawn back to the immediate moment.

“Sorry, Kurawe interrupted me with some business. What were you saying?”

“The scouts are spooked,” Tzen said. “The trip has been too easy these last few days.”

Calvin’s mind jumped several sentences ahead.

“Too easy because a significant lack of monsters is highly unusual in the deep wilderness?” Calvin asked.

“Exactly. Something must have cleared them out.”

“Then we’re probably getting close,” Calvin said with a nod.

It wasn’t a day later that they came across the first sign of something being amiss.

It was a little plant, about a foot and a half tall, with tiny black fronds emerging from the sides. The leaves of the plant were so black that they appeared to be a void in reality, with no perceivable depth whatsoever. It was only when they marred the perfect black surface of the plant that they were able to make out the recursive hexagon pattern in the leaves.

“Can plants mutate with Warp?” Calvin asked, glancing at their resident biology expert…Learner. He’d never seen a plant with black leaves before.

“Anything’s possible with enough Warp, but usually it takes a nervous system to mutate.” Learner said, cutting a leaf off and putting it in a baggie for later.

Looks like a baby palm tree with black leaves, Elliot mused. I once had this idea to modify them to –

“Here’s another one!” one of their soldiers shouted from further ahead.

Calvin and the others followed the sound of the man’s voice and came to a halt in front of the plant.

This one was a good ten feet tall, stretching massive fronds out above their heads that caught every ounce of visible light that touched them. it was like they had an oppressive light-sucking monster hovering over their heads.

That sentiment might be pretty accurate. Elliot said. I know we haven’t gotten that far with your chemistry lessons, so let’s give you the cliff notes. Plants are green because Chlorophyll absorbs light except for the green wavelength, reflecting it back into our eyes.

That’s not the most efficient strategy and less than two percent of the energy that hits a plant is actually converted to chemical energy.

That plant right there though, has leaves that reflect nothing back to our eyes, so I would hazard a guess that its conversion of solar to chemical energy is way, way, higher.

Ella reached out and grabbed one of the berry looking things on the stem and plucked it off, biting into the amber colored sphere.

“tastes like honey,” She said chewing contemplatively.

“Don’t just stick things in your mouth!” Calvin said. “It could be poisonous!”

***One, Undead bioweapon***

Unforeseen flaw in infrastructure exposed upon contact with enemy. Correction: make Nutrient Frond fruit poisonous to others.

***Calvin***

“I’m not feeling anything,” Ella said with a shrug. “I actually might be able to eat these.”

“I was under the impression your people could only eat meat?” Learner asked.

“We can eat honey,” Ella said with a shrug, taking another bite. “Whatever’s in these tastes almost exactly like honey. It doesn’t have any of that…vegetable feel on my tongue.”

With a grateful murmur, the nearby Bolesian warriors began plucking the fruit off the trunk of the tree, chattering loudly with each other about how delicious the fruit was, and how well it would sell at market if they transplanted some to their hometowns.

A few of them were already yammering about pooling together their cash and setting up family farms to the southwest.

I wouldn’t be that enthusiastic about these plants, Elliot told Calvin.

They’re manmade, aren’t they? Calvin thought.

Good eye.

I’m used to it by now, Calvin thought.

They’ve gotta be manmade. Even if these things had mutated, they don’t have seeds, and they obviously blow the vast majority of their energy on creating nutrients specifically to be eaten, so how do they spread?

They should have been outperformed by the scrappier plants that focus on growth and reproduction. They can’t be natural.

Hmmm.

“Sire!” one of the bolesian mercs shouted from the northeast. “You’re going to want to see this!”

Calvin followed Tzen to the edge of the forest. They were on a ridge, and the land fell away beneath them, stretching out into the distance.

Well, it probably fell away beneath them. It was hard to tell.

The blacker-than-black fronds made everything east of their hill a featureless void that devoured all the light that came across it, showing them a flat black surface spread out in front of them.

“Well, that’s new,” Calvin muttered.

He removed his weight with Shifting and propelled himself up into the air with Gradual Shaping, rising high above the trees, expanding his vision in every direction.

Several hundred feet above the trees, Calvin could see that they were at the edge of a relentless march, the black trees creating a line that pushed forward from the east. The black stretched until the horizon, creating an unnaturally uniform canopy that blocked out any visibility.

From this height, he could see the highly specific distance that each tree was spaced from each other, creating an impenetrable layer of fronds.

Calvin only had a moment to study it before a familiar beam of crackling energy burned its way out of the black canopy, screaming through the air, aiming directly at him before suddenly swerving away from Calvin’s body, missing him by inches.

Beli ma saves my ass again, Calvin thought, dropping back down as fast as he could, not interested in putting the creature’s ability to adapt to the test.

Calvin slammed into the ground, landing in his own footprints.

“Maybe the fronds are just naturally occurring this far east?” One of the dimmer members of Tzen’s mercenary crew said, voicing the more optimistic hopes of their little army.

“Wait for it,” Calvin said, holding up a finger.

…

The silence stretched out for a timeless handful of seconds.

“What are we waiting fo-“

A rumble spread through the air, shaking the very ground under their feet.

Like a sheep’s hide convulsing at an itch, the tiny amount of movement they could discern from the black forest in front of them suggested the entire thing was convulsing violently.

A moment later, monsters burst out from beneath the cover of the pure black canopy in terrifying concert.

At the center, charging directly at their little hill, were lumbering brutes, Giant humanoids with massive chisel-shaped teeth.

On either side, some quarter mile away in either direction, there were fast creatures, lanky quadrupeds, maybe six feet at the shoulder, running on long limbs that dug deep into the ground as they shot forward, causing the wings of the formation to begin closing around their hill.

It was an enormous maw, designed to swallow their entire army without leaving a trace.

“Ancestors guide my soul.” Tzen muttered, swallowing his spit before turning and facing his men. “What the Abyss are you gawking at? To the west, triple time! We are done sightseeing!”

The Mercenaries dropped the tasty fruits they’d been busily hoarding and put foot to ground, sprinting back along the trail they’d cut into the thick forest only a few hours ago.

“Was surviving this a part of your plan?” Tzen shot at Calvin, glancing at the flying creatures exploding from beneath the canopy, creating a living ceiling above them that penned them in and guaranteed air superiority.

“Hmm, this does taste like honey,” Calvin said aloud, enjoying the way the gritty flesh of the fruit dissolved into sugary goodness in his mouth.

I totally get why they were thinking about mass producing it, now. Too bad it’s a byproduct of a crazy experiment gone wrong.

Hey, I said I was sorry about all the attempted murder.

After you learned we were the same person.

Eh. Elliot gave the mental equivalent of a shrug.

Tzen gave him a ‘what the abyss’ look before shaking his head and barking orders.

“Sages, keep the fliers out of our hair, and slow down the giants. Warriors, guard the sages and cut down the fast ones as they come in from the sides and front, MOVE!”

“The black canopy is a nice touch, we have no idea how many he has. It could stretch beyond the horizon.” Calvin muttered, suddenly alone on the ridge. Barring Ella, everyone else was sprinting away at top speed.

Here and there in the ocean of charging monsters Calvin spotted crablike creatures with enormous exposed brains, about the size and speed of guars.

Calvin had only heard about them from Karen’s tales of Malkenrovian monsters, but they did share a few features with the creatures that had negated his magic in the assault on Mujenan.

I wonder.

Multi-Shaping

42/54 bent remaining

Calvin tried to summon forty tons of dynamite in the center of the creature’s formation, but those damned brain crabs tore the Bent apart before it made it all the way itnto the center.

A few thousand minor explosions echoed across the tide of creatures, a result of the scattered Bent forming into the explosives they were meant to be.

But without the mass and damage they would have done if they hadn’t been countered.

“Well, I figured as much.”

I wonder if their air forces are as well defended? Calvin thought, glancing up.

Trait doctoring.

Magnetism, mass, conductivity.

38/54 Bent

Calvin designed a web of enhanced air between a massive swath of the fliers that would spawn deadly amounts of electricity simply by being disturbed.

The sky above was brightened by the constant rumble of thunder as lightning leapt from creature to creature, roasting them in midair as they plowed into the net hanging in midair.

I guess not.

Haha, they look like mosquitos on a bug zapper.

Calvin looked over the situation.

He had to make sure Tzen and enough of his army got away that they could persuade the Bolesian people that ‘serious shit’ was going down to the east, and that they needed to work together rather than murdering each other.

The monsters were obviously going to win in a chase. There were simply too many of them, and they didn’t look like they were getting tired anytime soon.

Looks like I’ve gotta cover their escape.

Calvin sat crosslegged on the ridge, watching the tide of monsters begin ascending the hill.

They’ve got anti-magic units blended in, so anything I do with Bent should take place on my side, then send an effect that is either wholly real, or simply too fast to counter.

Looks like we need to revisit Fort Calvin, He thought, glancing down the ridge in either direction.

Calvinian Summoning

Calvinian Summoning

Calvinian Summoning

Calvinian Summoning

34/54 Bent remaining.

The woods in every direction became filled with Knick-knacks, packed nearly shoulder to shoulder. Just over ten thousand of them in fact, each one able to outwork an adult human five times their weight.

How much time do we have, Calvin thought to himself, eyeballing the army’s approach. A good ninety seconds, maybe?

“Build me a fence,” Calvin said pointing his finger along the ridge, relaying instructions to the veritable army of metal men, feeling a strange grin working its way onto his face.