My focus was razor sharp as I summoned a spell chain on my left hand and another on the right. Groaning as the mana flowed out of me, I cast a thick stone spike vertically out of the ground. With my other hand I tugged on the hardened sand to form four smaller spikes sprouting from the larger one. The pronged dummy was complete. Without missing a beat, I dismissed and resummoned spell chains to both of my hands and joined them together to raise a triple empowered . The earthen structure towered out of the ground, then compressed down to its impressive eight foot height.

Then I took a knee to let the wave of discomfort wrack its way through my body. It wasn't entirely bearable, but at the very least it didn't incapacitate me like before. Once I managed to shuffle out of the way, my friends engaged the stone constructs. Danny let out a volley of three . Unlike her usual flashy attacks, these were much more muted. The red and orange glows of the fireball in her hand were much more compressed. The brief second she held the attack in hand, my eyes were swimming in the flames.

A wave of heated air passed me over as she cracked the top three tips of the dummy. Her accuracy had always been amazing, and now it was starting to incorporate the lobbed magical projectiles.

While I watched her charge up another attack, a spray of rock fell over me as Samuel attacked my empowered spike. A vine twice the size of my Skill cracked like a whip. The tip of the plant disintegrated in a spray of green matter, but so did the section of stone that Sam attacked. Samuel gestured with his arms, the vine responding to each of his subtle movements. I'd never been to an orchestra, but if he didn't embody a conductor I didn't know what did. The massive organic limb reduced itself chunk by chunk, but soon the was all but rubble. Dramatic as he was, Sam plopped straight to the ground.

A conflagration of fire and bits of stone pelted against my Limestone Skin. The heat was mostly abated, but bruises formed along my back. Thankfully, my regeneration was already replacing the five percent health Danny's collateral damage had done to me. Considering the discomfort of dumping out my entire mana pool, the fiery rock barely hurt, but I still gave Daniela a glare.

"You still splash too much with the empowered version," I complained.

"It's a fireball! What do you expect? We can't all think about where your attack is going and make it happen," she said. She had to pause to dab at the sweat off her body as it steamed.

"She does have a point. The accuracy of your attacks is a whole other kind of scary, Ronan," Sam said from the ground.

"Hey, I'm not the one with the crazy leaf tentacle taking up half the training area," I complained. When none of us said anything for several seconds, we started laughing. It was a relieved laugh and an excited cackling.

The first half of the week had been an utter mess of experimenting and wasted mana. However, once we'd figured ways of circumventing the 'limitations' and 'side effects' of our Skills, our flexibility had jumped to an astounding degree. For all of us, the main factor we were able to tune was the scale of our Skills. Daniela and I focused on regulating the intensity of our attacks, as well as precision. In Samuel's case, he had to figure out how to effectively use his vines offensively.

The results of our near ceaseless efforts over the past week and a half were sprayed around us in rock form.

"Impressive! That was a magnificent display of something that should have been physically impossible!" an energetic voice called down to our group. All of us spun in surprise to see Alan smiling at us. His eyes were wide and there was a twitch in his step. Almost literally. The man had trouble standing still.

Ava and Ben flanked the brains of the Bunker as he trudged forward excitedly. They revealed a second person, as they moved down the hill. My uncle. The greeting I was about to call out froze in my throat as all the conflicting emotions I'd kept bottled up these past weeks, bubbled to the surface again. While I managed to wave at their approach, it wasn't much of a greeting. Sam and Danny on the other hand shook hands vigorously with the new surface arrivals and motioned for my uncle to join us. After a moment of hesitation, I saw him start to walk.

"Children, please, tell me what you've discovered. These two," He pointed over both shoulders. "have been keeping me apprised, but they also told me that us old timers can't quite perform the same as you. I would love to know how that works exactly."

Alan leaned forward on the ball of his feet. As he stood, he nearly hovered over Daniela and was close to bumping heads with me and Sam. His deep blue eyes bore holes into ours. We all took a step back, letting the man realize he'd been over excited. When he didn't react, Ben stepped forward and placed a hand on Alan's shoulder.

"Let them catch their breath, Alan. They just finished training, and I think everyone will benefit from a talk over a meal. Yes?"

"Why, of course! My apologies. I will catch you all once the food is ready. I must look at that plant over there. And that rock. Oh! And look, some of the fire is still smoldering." With that as his excuse, Alan proceeded to comb through the remains of the Training Area.

"Did we ever find out why he talks like that?" Daniela asked.

"Danny, it is rude to pry into people's past like that!" Ava gasped, scandalized.

"He was only sixteen when you all entered the Bunker though, wasn't he?" Sam asked, looking between our group and the man poking his .

"Alan was very close with our family," my uncle said. He stepped up beside Ben, wringing his hands all the while. "Your grandmother spent a lot of time looking for people from all over the world to work with and Alan was her protégée. This was only made all the more intense after we were locked away in the Bunker. I fear that losing his family made him latch on to Ingrid and her work. When she passed, well, it became much worse."

I had to resist the urge to look at Alan again. He'd always been one of the unpredictable elements of the Bunker, and honestly a great source of excitement if we had some strange question another of our teachers couldn't answer. The only thing we'd never been able to get him to talk about was the past of the Bunker or the time right before Landfall.

More than once, he'd been scolded by Elias for 'misuse of limited recreational resources'. We'd always benefited from it, but we'd never pried into why he had so many quirks. The presence of yet another link to my family added to the weighted chain of responsibility over me.

"It isn't your prerogative to deal with the past, Ronan," Dale said, placing his hand on my shoulder. I almost flinched, but I nodded my head in silence instead. Emotional perception had always been my uncle's uncanny ability.

When awkward silence followed the engagement between us, Danny clapped her hands to draw our attention. "I'm making the food! Ronan, you are going to have to make some more chairs since we are up to seven population on the surface."

"Danny, I don't know if I would call seven people a 'population'," Sam argued. He added the air quotes to emphasize what he thought about the brunette's word use. My two friend's mock argument alleviated the mood and everyone quickly dispersed into the vestibule and the lobby.

"Blobby, Anthony. Can you guys keep an eye on Alan for us?" I said, poking my slime partner in its gelatinous mass. All three older people jumped in surprise when I poked a nondescript mound that had blended in with the dirt. Blobby raised it's signature lime green gelatinous periscope to look around, then my words finally seemed to register. The slime moved its bulk out of the little dip it'd created for itself next to my workspace and rolled down towards the edge of the woods. The dog-sized silhouette of Anthony met up with my slime and they headed towards the Training Area. I couldn't deny that I wanted to see how our eccentric researcher would react to the two somewhat tamed entities.

"There have certainly been some developments since one of you two took a trip down below," my uncle said.

"What can I say? There's been more excitement and things to do on the surface than there has been since the Bunker's early days," Ben responded.

I tuned them out for a moment as I focused on the space around the Entity Cluster. It wasn't cramped, but it would be if I just added two more spots. A smirk found its way across my face as a sneaky way of using my Skill came to mind.

With a crack of my knuckles, I hardened the raised earthen sections of ground. The makeshift benches shrunk slightly as soil particles materialized in the gaps and were pushed closer together. With a twist of my hand, the section at the base of them received a boost of mana. Then I mule kicked the rock bench.

A loud scrape of stone on stone drew the attention of Ben and Dale as they saw me break off the seats. My uncle gave me a confused look while Ben just looked at me curiously when I repeated the process with the other three person bench. I didn't answer as I focused on and splayed my fingers out while focusing on the corners of the bench. My control wasn't perfect, so the bench tipped back in my direction. Four small prongs sprouted from the bottom corners of the stone bench. When I straightened the stone bench and tested my weight on it, the thing barely budged. Just as a precaution, I added another pair of prongs midway and checked it again.

"Tada!" I said, gesturing to the now mobile bench. Both men gave me an appreciative nod. I could tell my uncle wanted to say more, but he settled on a 'Good job'. With my prototype complete, I finished converting the other legless bench and created a whole new one from scratch. Or mana. Wherever the soil was coming from. It worked.

Ava, Sam and Danny came out not long after that, surprised to see that I'd made the equivalent of a Flintstone's sectional couch while they prepared the food. Considering all the other things we'd seen since coming to the surface, a piece of stone furniture was low on the list of surprising things.

"You just can't beat dirt grown!" My uncle immediately complemented Daniela on her cooking efforts and gushed about the freshness of the food. He was in charge of much of the miscellaneous task of tending to the fish in the hydroponics system and dealing with the waste water processing of the Bunker. If anyone was to judge the quality of food based on its origin, it would be my uncle.

"Sam has been working on something over in his farm for a while, but he hasn't let any of us approach. He barely lets Ben help him or keep an eye on him," Danny said between bites.

"And it will stay that way until I am ready," the blonde huffed.

Sometime during our meal, a ravenous Alan joined us. Daniela had even prepared food for the man's two non-human bodyguards, so when Alan plopped his butt on the bench, Anthony and Blobby took positions next to him. Everyone but my uncle gave the exchange a strange look since Anthony had propped its abdomen on the bench and blobby was settled in next to Alan. Instead of sucking in its food like the vacuum it usually mimicked, its appendage touched the food and it flowed into its body.

"Since when were those two ever polite eaters?" Sam finally asked.

"Oh? These two gentlemen? Why, they are wonderful conversationalists! You see, Blobby quite enjoyed when I fed him some of Ronan's mana infused aggregate and Anthony loved munching on Samuel's . From my observations, I believe it is a key part of their development. It will require some further study once you three return from your next excursion," Alan stated matter-of-factly. The amount of words he was able to get out between mouthfuls was impressive.

"Wait, how do you know about the excursion?" I asked.

"Those two like to talk a lot and I tend to like to listen. Plus, what else do you think the people down in the Bunker have been talking about? It's like someone gave them social media again. You'd think they would have learned some self control after a quarter century underground," he replied flatly.

"Well, I guess that's one way of bringing up the next topic of conversation." Ben set down his food and looked at me and my friends. "Are you three still going to head towards the ants?"

"Yes."

"Yep."

"Mmmhmm," I added since Ben had waited to ask his question while I was chewing on a baked potato.

"Ronan, what have I told you about your manners!?" my uncle cried. When all he got in response was a shrug and a round of laughter, he crossed his arms and made it a point to look away.

"With that decision out of the way, is there anything we can do to help you three before you go?" Ben asked.

"Well, we are going to be leaving the camp in your hands and everything that comes with that. I can't think of anything else," Sam said.

"You could force mama to cook," Danny said, eliciting a groan from everyone. Even Alan.

"Torture aside, I think I speak for everyone here that we want you to succeed." Ben had a serious expression on his face.

"Ben, we aren't going to push ourselves too much. Our goal is to hit the next Quotient before we try to travel the old paved road again. If things get too spicy, we'll run away or figure something else out. The surface has been nothing but wake-up calls, and for once I am not going to be sleeping in," I said, trying to convey my determination.

"Bad choice of words. He's definitely going to sleep in," Danny argued.

"Yes. He's never been much of a morning person," Sam added.

"Anyways," I said, ignoring the snickering from the people that were supposed to be the adults, " we are hoping it will be a short trip. While Ava's training hasn't raised our Quotient, the flexibility with which we can use our Skills has gone through the roof."

"What about your work with the Infusions?" Ava asked, gesturing to the series of crates now stacked in the corner of the vestibule.

"The Entity has helped me make a bit more progress on understanding Infusions, but I would like to increase my Quotient more. I think I am just shy of having enough mana to do some of what he's been teaching me."

"That's what you've done with the three times it's been around?" Danny asked.

I nodded. As it'd warned us, the Entity hadn't been present for most of the days we'd remained at the camp. "I'm trying to figure out how to make full items instead of Infused materials. Considering how many ant plates we have, I want to improve our armor so that we can take bigger hits."

"Why not just Infuse our guns?" Ava asked. Thankfully, Teach answered that for me.

"He welded the whole thing together." The man retrieved a hunk of metal from inside the lobby. While the gun looked mostly intact, the slide refused to move and the grip had warped enough that you couldn't put a magazine into it. Ben passed it around, head hanging low. "It was one of my favorites..." he mumbled.

"Okay, well, if that's all you got I think you three should take it easy today. We can handle the chores and tending to all the stuff. Only do what you want to do. Considering how hard you all have been working, some rest is well deserved," Ava said.

I already knew what I wanted to do with my day, but Sam and Danny looked a bit surprised with Ava's proposition of an off day. Had she said we needed to train more, I would have done more, but I was part of the school of thought that you should work hard and play even harder. Since coming to the surface, those two tasks just happened to be the same so far.

After that, we all quickly dispersed throughout the camp. Only Alan and the two pets remained in the vestibule. The harebrained researcher didn't say anything, but just observed everything I did as I prepared to Infuse. It wasn't the first time I'd seen him do that, but it was the first time he'd directed his analytical stare at me. It took all I had to concentrate and not shudder under his intense gaze.

Before actually starting on a new piece, I checked over what I'd accumulated over the week and a half of work. Two dozen small chitin plates, five of the torso-sized chitin plates and the wolfhound pelt we'd received. The small plates I worked with the Quotient 0 Infusions as I'd been doing. The larger ones, those we got from the Smoldering Fire Ants, I infused with their own Quotient 2 Infusions. I didn't want to start testing how a Quotient 0 Infusion translated into materials acquired from creatures with Quotient 2. The fact the metal shovel had taken three would have put my stock of Infusions behind if I hadn't wrecked a few chitin plates while testing. With my lack of skill, I wanted as much training as possible to be able to make better things in the long run.

Handling the threads of the higher Quotient Infusions had been an identical, if more taxing, process to using the Quotient 0 Infusions. I'd worried that the wolfhound pelt would have caught fire. When it did, but didn't actually burn, I called that a success. I didn't risk testing them under gunfire either, since I had plans for the larger plates.

Every piece I'd worked had turned out to be an Infused Material, and not an item. During my brief lessons with the Entity, it explained that Infusing worked the same way that the spell chains of our Skills did. There had to be a link between the Target, Intent and Potency. Materials had Potency, but no Target or Intent. Target is what shapes the item, while Intent is what binds it to an Attribute in the material. When those conditions were met, it would be recognized as an Item.

The shovel, I realized, already had a Target and an Intent built into its form. While that might have also been true of the pistol me and Ben tested, it might not have been the right combination; the simpler explanation being that I just wasn't skilled enough at Infusing. Nevertheless, there were two things I wanted to do before we left the camp.

It was risky to experiment with Infusing using an Attunement I hadn't handled before. However, having better equipment would be vital to surviving longer in the wild. Pushing all those doubts and speculative thoughts from my mind, I fished out one of the Infusions we only had a single copy of.

It was among the first we'd acquired, but it had been the only one of its kind we'd acquired. As far as we knew there were Life, Death, Air, Water, Fire and Earth Attunements. We hadn't asked the Entity if there were more, but it wasn't important. The Death Attunement we'd only seen in the skunk. If the trend for that Attunement continued, I wasn't sure if I wanted to meet any more. I shook my head, focusing on the task at hand.

I set my pickaxe on my workstation. Even with the brief amount of use against my magical projects and enemies there were a number of chips on it. The pointed end even had a slight bend to it. It was a fairly standard tool. The five pound carbon steel head with a three foot fiberglass shaft had performed admirably outside of its intended uses. I aimed to improve that.

With a press of the mental button for my Skill, the little blob of mud and rock unspooled out of my hand. The dirt brown thread hovered in the air as I manipulated it with my mana. I watched the bar that represented my mana slowly trickle out as I contemplated how to infuse the pick. I doubted that anything would catch on fire like when I used the ant's Infusions, or vibrate like the Air Infusions, but it was still equally likely to hurt me.

Before I could hesitate much more, I flicked the thread at the steel head. Instead of letting go as I'd been doing previously, I retained a firm hold on the thread as it wound through the head. The draw hiked up significantly, almost to the same amount as infusing one of the Quotient 2 Chitin Plates. I grit my teeth against the discomfort inside me, but I wrapped the thread around and around the pointed end. When I got to the point of contact with the shaft, I tied a hasty knot in an X before continuing to wind it around the chisel end of the pick.

The steel groaned as if I'd placed it under the lab's hydraulic press. When I ran out of thread to manipulate, a surge of mana transferred from me into the tool, taking me to my knees. Or it would have, had Alan not been right over my shoulder to catch me. Neither of us said anything as the pickaxe transformed via the Infusion.

A ripple of crystal, similar to when I absorbed the Pith out of a creature, ran through the whole pickaxe. A brown light concentrated in the joint between the metal head and the shaft before crystalline growths sprouted from the material. I heard the fiberglass snap, but a pulse of mana surged within the weapon filling in the hollow space inside the shaft. I stared dumbfounded as the metal point elongated and the chisel shortened but widened like a fin.

The magic finally dissipated away, leaving a much deadlier version of a simple tool. I hefted the now much heavier weapon in both hands. The whole thing had to have gotten twice as heavy and the shaft didn't have a single bit of the hollow flexibility it once had.

"Marvelous. Molecular manipulation and force application all wrapped into one..." Alan whispered from behind me. "May I?"

My eyes remained locked on the newly enhanced weapon as Alan tested the short crystals sprouting from the top with a flick of his finger. A perfect bell chime answered the strike. As if it had been waiting for that response, the item's description flashed in my vision.

"I will need a detailed explanation on this process as soon as you are able, Ronan. This... this changes everything!" Alan said. His eyes had a fire within that made me flinch back, but he didn't attack me like I'd expected. He handed the Enhanced Pickaxe back to me without explaining what exactly changed before he vanished into the lobby.

Ava poked her head out and raised an eyebrow. I explained what had happened, getting an appreciative whistle from her when I showed her the pickaxe, and a nod of understanding when it came to Alan. "He went straight back into the Bunker. I wouldn't worry too much about it. He is probably getting ready to come up with some other crazy plan that puts yours to shame."

The woman returned to the lobby and I found myself a bit lost. After the intensity of the Infusion, and the rollercoaster of emotions interacting with Alan always was, I sat at one of my stone benches for the rest of the afternoon. I had one more thing I wanted to put together for our trip the next day; it wouldn't take too long to set it up if I got up early the next day. Instead, I worked on getting familiar with the Trait and feeling of increased Strength my improved Pickaxe gave me.

The light shining in from the doorways dimmed and my friends quickly returned for dinner. It was a muted affair compared to lunch. Alan was still down in the Bunker. Everyone appeared excited about my success with the pick, but Daniela cornered me after we all finished dumping our leftovers into Blobby.

"I've got dibs on the next weapon. And I want it before we go back out there," she pointed her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the old road.

When I lifted my hands up, accepting defeat, she huffed and stormed away to help Samuel clean up for the night. The rest of the evening went by in a blur and my internal clock was screaming at me to get up. It was time to give our fiery neighbors a warm welcome.