"Just a wild guess," Gabe said. "But I think this might be why the river's not flowing."

"Probably," Nyz said. "It's a fieran goo, so we can take it with ice shots and the magic cannon set to ice. However, the roots probably go through it as well, so that might be a little dangerous. The good news is that we can take the bridge. At least, unless it's damaged further down. Let's carry on."

The crew rolled over to the bridge, which was well above the river filled with the crimson fieran goo, and began rolling by it. Some of the roots of the venarus plant had grown onto the bridge, weaving between its adamant supports, but the center of it was clear enough for them to travel down.

"How did the goo fill the river?" Kacy asked as they rolled onto the bridge. "Don't bodies of water thin it out? And this is a fire-type goo, so shouldn't water, you know, affect it?"

"Normally," Zech answered. "Though since it's mundane water, the river wouldn't have done jack shit. It has to be magic imbued with the water element, or water generated through magic that hasn't had time to settle and turn to normal water.

"The goo is largely a liquid," Zech continued. "So when it comes across a source of normal water, it would start to absorb it to help increase its mass. It also draws on the AMF in the fog to convert into the other nutrients it needs to make up its mass.

"Over time," he continued, everyone noticing his volume dropping. "It would expand its mass. Normally, it just draws on the fog for moisture, or its victims. Taking over a moving water source isn't easy for a goo. If it manages to get into one of the smaller tributaries and take that over, however, it'll have a stronger foothold. Where it meets a larger stream or river, it'll start to absorb the water that rushes by it.

"It's also intelligent," he told them. "Some of it would be washed downstream, of course, and it would focus on finding purchase. A rock, the side of the river, anything it can stick to that acts as a wall, even with the current. That little bit of it would then stay there as best it could, absorbing water to increase its mass. That would attune it to the water element, especially as it's unable to access the fog if it's completely submerged. That tuning would make it easier for it to resist the river's current.

"At the same time," he continued, and Nyz noticed the pain in the man's eyes as he spoke. "The goo would stretch out a little, going up onto the shore and traveling along it, occasionally dipping into the water to absorb it and expand its mass, drawing on the fog to fuel it. Its first goal would be going upstream, to where the water would be less, the current potentially weaker. It would locate another weaker water source, take it over. It would keep doing this until it effectively took over everything that fed into the river except a few, weakening the river.

"People would think it's just a natural event, at first," Zech said, his voice barely a whisper. "But then the goo would become much more active. It would send itself downstream, absorbing the water and expanding its mass, taking over what's left of the river to fill it all the way up with goo instead. It would use the watrias goo that had detached from it before, connecting to it and absorbing it, altering it to its own type, having sufficient mass and power to overwhelm it.

"Having taken over a river," his voice croaked slightly. "It then waits for crews to investigate, eating them up. If it's close to a city, it'll attack the city. Millions and billions of tons and gallons of goo, leaving the river to attack a nearby settlement, absorbing any life it comes across."

The Scavengers were silent after Zech finished, continuing to roll across the bridge, occasionally having their mechs step to avoid rolling across a thinner root they came across.

"You have experience with that, don't you?" Nyz asked, his voice full of sympathy.

"I'm the sole survivor of the Dulry incident," Zech quietly answered.

"I've never heard of it," Kacy said. "What was it?"

"A small city in the sticks," Nyz said. "That was attacked by goo ten years ago. I've done a few retrieval jobs there. Kal never told me there were survivors."

"It's just me," Zech said. "It was honestly a miracle I even survived."

"I see," Nyz said. "I take it that's why you're so guarded and cautious when it comes to monsters?"

"You never know when there's a threat."

"Right," Nyz said. "Well, you can relax a little here, Zech. The goo in the river is being kept in-check by the roots of the venarus, which are supplying it with its nutrients, but also pacifying it."

"Pacifying it?" Gabe asked. "Why would it do that?"

"I dunno, that's just what Kal's told me before."

"You really rely on this Kal a lot, don't you?" Harn asked.

"He's the brain, I'm the brawn," Nyz stated. "It's a pattern that's worked since we first teamed up. I'm not stupid, but I deal better with combat than with planning and remembering strategies and the finer details of things. He does better with assessing situations, learning about them, and planning. He's a supergenius with an unparalleled intellect."

"You praise him a lot more than I think he deserves," Harn said as they rolled off the bridge and back onto land. "Sure, he's created some nice tech, but has he really-"

"Trust me," Wys chuckled. "He's unparalleled. He was top of his class at Asterox Academy, and he created the Beacons by himself. He's apparently adapted it to work with the armor of a beetle. These mechs haven't been refueled with liquid magicarite a single time, which means they have an unknown power source. He invented a better alloy and better gear. All of this by himself."

"Wys is right," Nyz said. "He's done a lot more than that, too, though most of it is classified. If you knew everything he'd done by himself, you'd probably pass out."

"He was an Asterox kid?" Gabe asked. "How did you know him?"

"We were raised in the same compound," Wys told him. "He's one of my little bros. When we were five, he had Nyz help him break out, then he hacked into the academy's system to put himself as a student there."

"They didn't even realize that's how he got in for four months," Nyz said. "But upon realizing that he'd hacked their system – which was supposedly best in the world – and inserted himself into their academy, and seeing his scores in their classes, they decided he was intelligent enough to be one of their students and kept him. Up until Troak was attacked, anyway. He had me do some stuff, then we fled the city together."

"I fled during that, too," Wys said. "The three of us were the only survivors from the compound we were born in. Not even the staff survived."

"Look alert," Nyz said. "Conversation is well and all, but don't forget that we're in the Fog Zone."

Their discussions ended there as they returned to focusing on watching their surroundings, though as Nyz told them the day before, they encountered nearly no monsters, allowing them to travel virtually unhindered until they reached the next way station. Much like the previous, it was unusuable, the roots wrapping around what remained of it.

Everyone settled down for the night with the first watch outside, the rest in the general room of the beetle. Nyz locked the door to the cockpit and was preparing to lay down when he received an incoming call.

Grumbling under his breath, Nyz sat and answered it, finding Sen on the screen, as he had expected. Her hair was in its usual ponytail, and she wore a dark red sweater to hide her chest, as usual.

"Did I not make it clear I don't like prisoners bothering me?" Nyz asked.

"The only reason," she said. "I even count as a prisoner is because I can't get off the island unless Kal sends me off, Nyz. I'm free to do almost anything I want, otherwise. I can call you, use the net as long as I don't communicate with others, since Kal blocked that function somehow, roam most of the island, and do as I please in general."

"You're still a prisoner, to be used to force your father to act."

"That's actually why I'm calling," she said.

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "You've agreed to help us get it back by pretending to be a victim for him. I'll trust that if it happens, Sen."

"In convincing me of the truth," she told him. "That something really had been stolen from you two, you both made me aware of foul play my family's company has been performing for generations. I've done my own research, since I can at least look at things outside of here using Kal's computers, and have found even more than he didn't mention.

"I haven't spoken to Kal about this yet," she said. "But I want to make a deal with you and him, Nyz."

"I don't make deals with prisoners."

"I help you with getting the orb back," she told him. "And you help me force my father to properly and publicly acknowledge the thefts from the academy students. While I'm sure the two of you would eventually get the orb back even if you'd never learned about me, I won't be able to do this without the two of you helping me."

"You're right," Nyz said. "We don't need you, Sen. We took you prisoner to speed things up a little, but we could find it on our own, it would just take a little bit longer. So there's no incentive to help you."

What frustrated Nyz the most about the situation was that he had expected them to threaten her father with harming her soon after kidnapping her, not waiting two months for it. He wanted to just send her on her way, especially because she decided to annoy him regularly.

None of what happened was in the plan he'd been given.

"Actually, Nyz, I'm in favor of her plan," Kal walked into view, and from Sen's startled turn to him, Nyz knew she wasn't aware he was there. "I can already think of a way we can do it, too."

"Why should we help a prisoner?" Nyz asked.

"Nyz," Kal said. "Sen isn't a prisoner anymore. I've already verified her genuine desire to help us get back what her father had stolen, as well as that she truly wasn't aware of this darker side of Asterox Corporation. She's working with us because she wants to right that wrong, starting with helping us get the orb back."

"She's a prisoner, I don't trust her."

"She's not-" Kal started, then sighed, before pulling a chair into view and sitting down beside Sen, who moved over a little so they could both fit into the view of the camera. "Nyz, once we have the orb again, we're releasing her back, unharmed, as was the plan. The only difference from before is that she decided to help us after finding out the real reason we took her rather than us needing to convince her father we'll torture her if he didn't give it back using a simulacrum-"

"What?" Sen looked at him in shock.

"The plan was to make a clone of you using a simulacrum," Kal told her. "And torture that as evidence. It would fuck with your father's head when you returned and the debriefing showed none of that ever happened, especially if I mailed him fingers or something and you returned with all ten. I can whip up a clone in the next few days if you want to see."

"Uh, no," she said. "I'd rather not.

"Okay," he looked back to the camera, and Nzy glared. "Nyz, stop that. You're just annoyed because you think it changes our dynamic. Anyway, we're putting the plan with her trying to convince her father into action tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Sen looked at him. "I thought we had a few more days?"

"There's already a plan?" Nyz asked, then shook his head. "Right. You always come up with them rather fast."

"Yeah," Kal said. "I'm sending her back to Jusits tomorrow, and she's going to talk to her father about the orb. It's not as if he can figure out how to use it, anyway."

"And if she fails?" Nyz asked. "Then we've lost her, and she's not going to return to us."

"That's where you'll come in," Kal told him. "Once you return in a few weeks. If she fails, I have another mission for you. I do trust her, Nyz, and you know that she can't fool me, just as much as she can't fool you if you were here."

"Fine," Nyz grumbled. "I trust you. I don't trust that traitor, though."

"We're not talking about Taylor," Kal rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Nyz, I'm done with the thing I was doing, so I'm able to give you assistance now."

"What were you doing?" Nyz asked. "Other than the stuff you told me. I know there was something else."

"I was making mini-flying mechs," Kal told him. "Dragonflies, I'm calling them. They're not very large. Anyway, I just finished sending them out, I teleported them to Honlar using the relay you put in, then sent them onto your path. They're going to create a brand-new map of the area, scan every monster and where it's at, and then I'll use that data to construct a better route for you, especially since you have to deal with the venarus now. With how dangerous things get the closer you are to the main body, the more you'll need this planning, though I was already planning on doing this already. The only reason it took me an extra two days was because Taylor was having some issues and that mech needed some maintenance.

"Anyway," Kal said. "Get some sleep, Nyz, and I'll be navigation again come morning."

Kal ended the call before Nyz could say anything, so he turned in for the night. When morning came, he ate breakfast, changed, and then opened up the door to the general room, letting Wys in. Everyone else was already in their walkers, ready for the trip, so Nyz sat back in his chair and connected the comms once more.

"Alright, everyone," he said as a new route showed up on his monitor. "We have new information regarding the terrain ahead. A new route's been mapped out for us, and we'll be using Kal to know what to do in unexpected situations."

He knew that without him doing anything, everyone else could see the new route as well, one which would take them an extra two days to reach Virtul to account for changes in the terrain, monsters, and the venarus plant.

"How do we have information regarding the terrain?" Kacy asked. "Is he psychic or something?"

"Yes," Nyz answered as they began moving. "But that's not why we know. He created a bunch of tiny mechs and sent them out ahead of us last night. They scanned the-Kal, how did they not get attacked or something?"

"They did," Kal told him. "The main issue I ran into creating them was making them able to release Type 10 magic shots, generate protective barriers, and be able to defend themselves if attacked by monsters. It took me a full day to sort that out, had to delve into the archaic system of a mech that's, like, two hundred years old just to figure that out."

"So that's why you were in a greasy mech," Nyz muttered.

"Yeah," Kal said. "That's why."

"So this is Kal?" Lyan asked.

"Hey, Kaal!" Wys greeted him.

"Hey, Wys-20," Kal responded. "Anyway, since we have new path information, I'll keep your routes updated. You guys are about to find out why Nyz puts so much faith in me and my plans."