"Why all the secrecy, Ron?" Sam asked.

He was covered head to toe in less than stellar smelling goop. The life mage had spent the rest of the week I used to Infuse dealing with a compost pile. Him, Ben and Ava, actually managed to deal with some Q0 worms that were eating our crops. Sam had somehow used his Trait to influence the bundle of nerves and digestive tracts that were the creatures. According to him, they would help him mitigate the drain on soil nutrients that his magic enhanced growth was having on the farm.

Nonetheless, he looked eager to return to the toil of his farm.

I'd asked everyone to stay around the crystal after lunch. Technically I was supposed to be heading for bed, but my surprise couldn't wait until I'd managed to readjust my sleep schedule.

"I'm done. Well, done for now. With this, we'll be in the best position we can to venture further out," I said. While talking, I spun around and flicked open a crate that I'd done my very best to keep out of sight for the last week.

Gasps of surprise erupted from everyone present, except my uncle. He'd been right beside me as I worked on the infusing projects’ final stages.

Their other tasks forgotten, my friends reached slowly into the crate. Alan hovered as close as he possibly could to them while they turned over their new gear. Ben and Ava did their best to hover over their shoulders while my uncle and I stood back, arms crossed, smirks wide.

"How did you manage all of this? When did you manage all of this?" Daniela asked, eyes still glued to the harness and dagger with a little tag that read her name.

"The Entity gave me a crash course, and I've been working on these during my night shift. You all didn't think I just spent it staring it out at the stars, did you?"

"Honestly? I kind of did," Daniela replied. She was suddenly very interested in one of her loose curls. Samuel was similarly looking away from me, half-turned, as he eyed his own breastplate. I could only describe their expressions as sheepish.

"Man, that hurts deep guys. But, I'm too excited so I'll push past those wrongful schemas about my personage and tell you about my loot crate."

Just to remind myself, I focused on the five pieces I'd made. Their descriptions populated in my vision.

I'd managed, with marginally more success, to replicate the dagger process with the other fang; Near identical weapons in all but the overall shape of the blade. For whatever reason, the second dagger blade had come out a bit wavy.

Next, in order to get a better hang of Infused Material modification, I created a shield for myself. Taking the chitin plate that had mostly saved my behind during the Blaze Ant fight, I slapped four of the smaller Q0 plates. Two on the top and two on the bottom made the whole thing look like a fat H. After using some Infusions to actually weld wolfhound bindings to the back, I had enarmes that wouldn't be melting off right away. Hopefully.

Lastly, I combined everything I'd managed to practice into armor for Sam and Danny. For the more agile member of our little party I crafted a harness with overlapping Q0 plates that gave her a fair bit of protection while minimizing movement restrictions. Her armor had used up most of the wolfhound pelt bindings, but it allowed her to have the harness on by itself or over her current body armor. I didn't have anything that could serve as an adjustable strap, so I made it tie at the waist.

For Samuel, I kept the design super simple. Two of the larger plates, one in the front and one in the back, bound together by shoulder straps and a tie belt at the waist. Two of the Q0 plates acted as small pauldrons over his shoulders. As for the Infusions, I'd used higher Quotient ones to test out a theory of mine.

If my level to Infusion ratios were correct, then each subsequent level was three times the previous one. It would also explain the requisite effort to get to higher Quotients. If creatures only provided you a fraction of their own Pith and that fraction was relative to their level, Metier Quotient 5 was a ways off. I was sure there were more specifics that I didn't know about, but the multiple of three factor had been consistent throughout my Infusing .

Regardless of my own magical speculations, my friends were ecstatic with my success. Before I could even get another word in, both were already slotting the armor on and Daniela twirled her daggers. “Amazing! It’s giving me +0.2 to my Strength. I can see the change!”

The flash of red that came from her spell chains formed, then fizzled for a moment. "I can't gain the bonuses from both Items?" she asked, confused.

"Right. Well, the first I am hypothesizing that is because it is a Q2 Item, hence it boosts its Attribute as if you’d gained two levels. We’ll revisit that if we can make some more higher level items. As for the multiple item use? Haven't been able to figure it out. From what I can tell, it feels like some kind of magical interference. Mana from one Item doesn't play nice with the other, so they don’t stack. Or something else entirely." I threw in a shrug. "Still working out the whole 'we have magic and magic items' bit of this whole thing. At the very least, it gives you some options. I haven't had much time to really figure out the minutiae of the Item Traits, but at the very least they will offer us more protection than mundane armor."

"Ronan, this is astounding. We must discuss this. This exact outcome is what I believed would let us circumvent a major problem in creating the Implants," Alan said when he was finally able to gather his thoughts. He'd been clutching my H shield like it was going to run away from him.

"I'm probably not the best person to talk to about that, but feel free to run any questions by me. The Entity is obviously your first choice, and you might be able to look over my first item. That garden shovel, as flamboyant as it is now, isn't what I would call optimal. Dale might be able to give you an outsider perspective too. He's watched the final Infusion for most of these, and usually I am lost in the process while it happens."

Astute as always, my uncle picked up on my deflection. He immediately presented himself as a target for Alan, giving me a look as he led him out of the vestibule. It was hard to hide my snickering.

"Sneaky, Ron. I suppose the important question now is what is the plan?" Ben said, crossing his hefty arms. Ava had been talking in hushed tones with Daniela while Sam was still struggling with his armor.

"Two days before we head out again. Should be enough for me to switch my watch schedule with Teach and my uncle. Goal should be the same, try to get as close to the city as we can. Getting more people onto the surface will improve our chances all around and that requires more titanium. Plus, we might encounter more Tendrils. If we come across any small groups we can handle, following them wouldn’t be the worst idea."

"That works for me. I got the last of the worms handled yesterday and I've got a decent chunk of grass grown for the herd. Raymond still is chunking through a huge amount of tomatoes, but I think we can handle that today," Sam said. He finally managed to adjust his armor. He cut an impressive figure now that the unrestricted food and constant physical exercise had let him fill his form some.

"How about you Daniela? I don't have any objections but how has your training been going?" Ben said, taking a seat at one of my stone benches.

"Poorly. Better than before, but not great at all." The woman's mood dropped a bit, but not entirely. She was still twirling her daggers with a smirk on her face.

"Is that what you've been doing? Actually, I've been out of touch, focused on the crafting stuff. Samuel, did you even get your Skill?" I asked, suddenly remembering I hadn't checked in with him.

"It's alright. I can forgive your astoundingly large oversight since it got us this sweet gear. My new Skill is called . It lets me give a temporary boost to all Attributes. About a Quotient level's worth, actually, even if it only lasts ten seconds per cast."

"That sounds amazing!" I said. Already, ways of exploiting the Skill were flowing through my mind.

"Has its uses, yeah. But anyhow, I am okay with two days."

"Danny? Any objections?" I asked.

"Nothing much is going to change for me in two days, so not a problem really. I'll work with Anthony to start bringing more logs back to the camp. At this rate we won't need you to make a wall, Ron. We'll have enough logs for our own palisade." She shrugged and played off her frustrations, but my Perception highlighted the tightness around her eyes like a beacon.

"Well, better get to it then," I clapped my hands as I rose to my feet. "Now, anyone seen my gelatinous companion?"

---+---

Two days later, we were once again standing on the path towards the old road. This time, we were considerably more prepared, and stronger. My hubris hadn't reached Greek-hero levels to think nothing out in the wilds could deal with us, but staying stagnant in the camp would get us nowhere. We needed more resources to bring the others out of the Bunker. And we needed to know if there were humans that survived.

Parting with my uncle was much more touchy feely this time, as the two of us had mostly reconciled. When he let me out of his death-grip hug, his eyes had set in a firm stare. "You will find what you are looking for."

He then proceeded to crush Sam and Danny, as well as Anthony. If Blobby hadn't mitosed right out of the way, the slime would have also been a victim of my uncle's affection. The two smaller Blobbys rolled further down the path and waved at the group. If the thing could talk, it would have been hurrying us along.

"You all heard the slime. Stay safe, okay? Running away is always an option," Ben said, handing over the rucksacks he'd packed for our trip. We were determined to stay out at least one night, even if just to set up a forward base in one of the broken down buildings.

With the last of the goodbyes out of the way, we trudged on through the woods. Once again, the trip was uneventful. We did manage to spot the first true bird creatures far in the sky. It was only a series of vague silhouettes, but it brought a whole new set of terrors to mind. Getting plucked from the woods like worms for a meal was not a visual I wanted to live. Regardless, before long we were back on 301 weighing whether we should head north or south.

Now that we were a higher Quotient, I was tempted to head closer to the Geode Palm. Fortunately for our health and wellbeing, a small bird decided to risk the tree instead of us.

"What's a swallow doing here?" Sam asked. He was squinting at the creature from the road intersection.

"Is it not supposed to?" Daniela said, shifting a bit closer to inspect the blue chested bird.

"Well, it's not impossible but I wouldn't expect a bird from the Bahamas to be all the way--" Sam's explanation was cut off as a crack of thunder reached us. The swallow had reached for a coconut on the ground, possibly aiming to pick it up. It hadn't even made contact with the shell before the coconut ripped itself apart. Glimmering shards of crystal shredded the bird into red mist. We watched as the Pith rose out of the hardening corpse and suffused the tree.

"Well, that made the decision quite easy. Let's never mess with that tree," I said, already turning around and walking down the road. My friends weren't far behind.

We walked in tense silence for a few minutes, keeping a watchful eye on the increasing number of ruins around us. It didn't take long for us to reach the site of our encounter with the Dreg Tendrils. Unsurprisingly, my reinforced wall was still there and I finally saw the true extent of the blaze Daniela managed to contain. Several of the trees were scorched half way up, but that bark had fallen off to reveal still healthy patches underneath.

"Should we just fortify this spot?" Daniela asked. "You already have half a wall up."

"We are still really close to the camp. Going further might mean we run into more things, but there's no sense setting up where there isn't anything for us to work with," I replied.

"Could always set up a secondary farm. Let it grow by itself, and just check it from time to time," Samuel suggested.

"Not a bad idea, but I would say that's something for the future. Once we aren't looking over our shoulder for bloodthirsty trees or faceless humanoids. We'll go another mile and see if we don't spot anything noteworthy. We shouldn't be too far from the town."

My friends agreed, and the three of us opted to slink the edge of the road instead of walking out in the open. Even if it slowed our progress down, the trees prevented us from being clear targets. Less than five minutes of trekking and our layman's attempt at stealth proved beneficial.

Two humanoids, definitely Tendrils, ambled slowly down the road. One looked like he'd been green at one point, but rolled around in some muddy earth, while the other had a similar red tinge as the one we'd encountered before. When my eyes spotted them in the distance, I immediately raised a bunker of around us. It took 40% of my mana, but it helped block most of us from view. Anthony clambered up a tree, while Blobby camouflaged as a particularly squishy rock.

"What's the play," Sam whispered.

"Danny, how fast do you think you can close the distance?" I asked, trying to use my increased Perception to estimate how long we had before we were forced to act.

"Ten seconds, four if they get as close to your mound as they can."

"I don't think we'll get that lucky. I'll confirm their Attunements, then Sam will bind them both. You and I will try to take them out. As quietly as possible, if there are more we don't want to draw them in."

Nods from both of my friends. My hand curled around my pickaxe in nervous tension. When the pair was less than a hundred feet away, their information flickered through the Implant.

"Life on the left, fire on the right. Both Q2s. I'll focus on the fire one, in case it can burn through Sam's ," I whispered. A spell chain formed around my shield hand, its light hidden by the earth and the chitin.

"On my mark," Sam said. Daniela had her hands on top of the mound, feet curled up ready to spring. "3, 2, 1... Go!"

A spell chain formed around the two Tendrils’ feet. Wrist thick vines sprouted from the earth within seconds to trap their legs. The fire tendril managed to get its hand out of the tangle and I could see the uneven spell chain even from afar.

"Nope. !" The earth right behind it surged up and into the humanoid's shoulder. The hardened earth punched clean through the flesh, spraying orange ichor that smoldered on the ground. The spell chain fizzled in its hands. Tanking my mana again, I cast again. The four foot spike I'd first manifested thinned immediately, and another pushed out of its side and into the Tendril's kidney. Or at least, where I thought the kidneys would be on a regular human.

A flash of red pulled my attention to Daniela. The life tendril had managed to slither out of the vine's grasp somehow. Purple flowers had formed around its body, leaving a thin haze of pollen in the air. Instead of delving into that unknown mess, fire flowed down Danny's arms before encasing her right dagger. She then proceeded to toss it. The blade flipped once through the air, faster even than the dexterous brunette, and planted itself in the Tendril's chest.

Scorch marks formed around the wound and the Tendril's mouth opened wide in a silent scream. Whether or not it could scream I didn't find out as Daniela closed the distance and nearly lopped the Tendril's head off its body. The fire tendril tried to unleash another Skill, but I triggered one more time. My third spike removed its other kidney from the equation. The attack gave Daniela more than enough time to repeat the semi-decapitation move she'd done to the other humanoid.

Both slumped as Sam's vines tightened around them. Daniela took a step back, ready to strike out if one of the two Tendrils somehow managed to come back to life. When they both bloomed and disintegrated into mulch, she slid her daggers in her belt and retrieved the loot before hurrying over to us.

"That was--" Sam held up his hand to cut Daniela off.

"Don't even jinx it. We aren't much further from where we last fought some, so it is entirely possible there will be more. Ronan, think you could smooth out the aftermath?" My friend was right of course, so I called forth the passive effect of my mana and smoothed out where his vines had cracked the asphalt. The black tinged rock compacted very differently than anything I'd worked with up to that point, but I still managed to make it look somewhat natural. The mulch pile I swept into the many cracks on the road.

"Anything noteworthy in the loot?" I asked Danny as I met up with them.

"Infusions, as usual. Bone from the fire one and a tooth from the life one. Are you sure we want to hold on to this?" She asked, pointing at Sam's bag. I was sure she'd gotten rid of the strange materials as soon as she got the chance.

"Materials are materials. Your daggers came from a wolf's teeth, if you recall. I'll figure out what to do with them."

"Let's get going. If we are going to set up a small camp further away, having as much time as possible will be important," Sam said.

"I'll scout ahead, then report back if I see anything. I can move faster and more silently than either of you. Plus, if I get caught in a tough fight I'm sure you two will hear me." With that Daniela offloaded her pack onto Sam and took off down the edge of the woods. Her form, even with the dark red accents of her armor, was lost in the foliage within seconds.

"You know. If we are this strong at ambushes with Quotient Level 4, I don't want to know what actual ambush predators will be like," Sam said. His little comment sent goosebumps running down my body and I nudged him in the direction Daniela had taken.

"Come on. Better not stay out in the open then."