Sage found the group reasonably pleasant, but he couldn’t forget that he was an outsider and that he was only here to gather resources. That brought his thoughts to the Memory Seed and reminded him to check with Tao Ba to see if there was a method to alter what it had recorded. Having a recording of the Universe Ring was already very revealing and not something he’d want to share with strangers.

The banter among the group continued for a while before Sage was told to join them the next day at the East Gate. After leaving the group he went to the Supply Master’s Office. On paper, everything was run by the government, and they were all Field Operatives. In practice, the place was more like a shop. After completing tasks and turning in resources they were awarded bonuses and then could pay to ‘expedite’ their equipment requisitions. It was something of a win-win for those in charge. They could allocate equipment to those they favored, and they could reclaim vital equipment from the field operatives at any time, but for the most part they let them buy and sell on their own merit. The Hexacrats had absolute control, but they allowed their people certain freedoms when they made themselves useful.

Sage found the weakest looking worker in the Supply Master’s Office and carefully insinuated himself into the man’s mind. All he had to do was make the man think that there was already a supply order waiting for him. Without even checking his paperwork, the man just waved and ran off to fetch the gear that was ‘already waiting’ for Sage. Without having much background in this world, Sage had no idea what special gear or equipment he’d even be asking for. Instead, the man just knew that he needed a ‘full set’ and let the fellow figure it out on his own. After a few minutes the worker returned with a ‘shell’, a hard-shelled grey hexagonal backpack. It was larger than the others he’d seen so far, and weighed near a hundred pounds.

Sage thanked the worker and then went back to his room. He opened the pack and found a lot of strange devices that he couldn’t determine the use of. For a moment he thought about emptying the whole thing into a Storage Bag, but if anyone ever looked inside it might draw too much attention. Instead, he just went through the pack and only moved the heaviest items into a Storage Bag. There was no telling what was important and what was useless without knowing how they were used so he just took the safe route.

The next day, he met up with the other five. They noticed that he had one of the Scyzur’s rifles strapped to his back, but didn’t comment about it before they set out down one of those underground tunnels that took them out of the base. As they traveled he learned more about what they were up to.

“Weeks ago we heard rumors and on our last mission we split up to confirm them. Unfortunately, Cross was injured, but on the bright side we got a lead. We found signs of a new Divine Amethyst mine. If we can secure it, we’ll be greatly rewarded. The only problem is that the signs point to it being in Flare territory.”

Sage nodded, “Ahh, you weren’t kidding when you said it would be dangerous. We certainly can’t let it fall into the hands of the Flares or the Scyzur, so I can see why you can’t wait for Cross to heal up. I’ll do my best not to hold you back.”

Psionic Crystals! Perfect.

Sage was already thinking about what method he might use to take away the Psionic Crystals. From the mention of a ‘mine’, it was probably a large quantity or at least required some effort to collect them. Without any further information, Sage could only be diligent and study the others in the team. Even if he didn’t plan on doing anything to harm them, it never hurt to be careful and learn their strengths and weaknesses. Such knowledge was also important to have a strong team, so he might even get away with asking them directly if he had to.

They traveled for the better part of the day, making their way carefully through the ruins of the city. Their pace was very careful and measured. They took their time to try and keep from being discovered, but they still ran into a few Scyzur groups. Thankfully, they were just small scavenging teams and not full blown ambushes like the one Sage had seen. The others in the group moved like a hurricane, wiping out the rat people in a flurry of action. Sage drew the rifle from his back and used Foresight to ensure his shot was true, picking off the last rat man that was unaccounted for and trying to escape from the clash.

Spark clapped him on the shoulder, “I knew he was useful from the instant I saw him!”

Cloud did not seem convinced, and just looked at him carefully, “Is that some sort of precognition?”

Sage kept silent. He tried to make himself seem mysterious, but it was mainly because he wasn’t sure about the rules of this world. If he were to show capabilities that were too outside the norm it could draw too much attention. He had chosen this method to fight mainly because of how powerful the Scyzur weapons were and also because it seemed like something a psychic could do. His other powers seemed too powerful or flashy for him to blend in with the locals.

Aurora came to his aid, “Just leave him be, Cloud. Don’t pry so much. He can fight and that’s good enough. Let’s keep moving.”

Sage watched carefully for the things they took from the ratmen, which really wasn’t much. Looking closely it seemed they only took objects that were constructed of Silver-Lead. Sage followed along and continued to build his collection of the ratmen weapons and ammunition. When he left the Hidden Domain, he would no longer have a way to gather more.

When night fell, they slipped into the ruins of an old building and Sage finally saw the purpose of some of the devices. One object that looked like a baton with a screw at either end and small spikes along one side was slapped onto the ceiling. With his powerful senses, Sage heard what sounded like a drill. Then the two screws shot out of the ends, each carrying a cable and embedding themselves into the walls at either side. Then a small bundle flew into the air, carried by telekinesis, and attached to the cable. It unfurled into a large curtain that completely blocked off the half of the room they were in. From the other side it looked remarkably like a run down wall, giving them a camouflaged hiding place and only taking them a few seconds to set up with their powers.

To the other side, someone else took out a device the size of a hardback book. It slowly unfolded into a box many times larger. Then another device was attached to the side of it and they used it to start cooking. For the most part, most of the equipment he’d been given seemed to be used for camping in secret like they were doing. They even had special devices to capture scents, hide their heat signatures, and deter insects.

The next day they continued on their trip, making their way out of the city and heading towards a pillar of dark smoke in the distance. They traveled across a stretch of yellow sand for a few hours and when they crested the hill of a sand dune, Sage finally laid his eyes on a Flare Base. He could only think one thing. These fellows sure like metal.