"Guys, you are gonna wanna see this," Danny said through our Implant Comms. I'd almost forgotten about the feature again, but made a mental note to myself to send a message back to camp if we decided to rough it overnight.

"Care to elaborate at all on that?" Sam sent back in reply. There was tension in the blonde's usually carefree demeanor for some reason. I even noticed the strange nerve connections from his Trait curl and unfurl around his hands.

"You two just head directly north, then take a right at the next big road. I'm in the corner building about a block down." The connection clicked shut a moment after.

"She's gonna lead us into trouble you know?" Sam said, sighing heavily.

"Usually I would say that I'm counting on it, but we aren't in the Bunker. I just hope it's not another problem to deal with," I said. I took Daniela's bag from Sam and we picked up the pace through the woods. My senses were just barely able to keep up with our increased speed. The effort of keeping my attention spread out, while also looking for potential threats kickstarted a mild headache that I had to push through.

While moving through the woods, we noticed evidence of some recent clear cutting. In the Attuned Earth, plants seemed to grow quicker by default even without being actually Attuned or aided by magic, making the stumps all around us an intriguing surprise. The second surprise came in the form of sprawling fields of cultivated food.

It was one whole cleared space, but there were a variety of split sections. Rows upon rows of cabbage, watermelon, some kind of pepper, tomatoes and a kind of bushy grass covered nearly every foot of the land. The line of trees ringing the space also looked too uniform to not have been purposefully planted. As I followed the edge of the field, there was yet another surprise on the far side. What looked like a grove of fruit trees cast a shadow over some of the crops. Bright orange orbs hung heavy from the trees.

"Oranges..." Sam said, breathlessly.

"There have to be humans close by. Why else would all of this remain so organized? There is no way this survived over two decades while keeping those cleared rows of plants," I said. My eyes roamed the fields off in the distance, but a grove of pines blocked my vision further to the east.

Originally we'd planned to continue north into the town proper. If the fields were extending westward from a settlement then that would be the best option to pursue instead. Sam and I shook off our wonder and slinked into the dilapidated building beside Daniela.

The structure was a one story building with raised ceilings, it’s cracked and crumbling concrete walls were sporting numerous holes with a layer of ambitious grass attempting to claim the gaps.. The woman waved us over and had us crouch down behind a series of rusted, overturned cabinets.

"I've seen some movement from both ends of the farmland, but nothing clear."

"What do you mean 'movement'?" I asked. I couldn't hold a bit of the heat from entering my voice. Did she already forget our conversation on cooperating with each other?

She held her hands up in a placating gesture. "This just happened, Ronan. And I say movement because the wind isn't blowing but the bushes on the west and the pines to the east are moving. Nothing I can pick up without going out into the open."

I bit back the retort I'd been crafting. Seems Sam isn't the only one tense about being out here. The presence of the farm also pushed adrenaline through me without an appropriate release. If there were humans that would change our goals. Short term that is. The other Bunkers could still use a hand in rejoining the surface.

My cheeks puffed as I let out a deep breath slowly. Instead of dwelling on my leap of reasoning my eyes roved the tree lines. Sure enough, some of the pines were swaying in an erratic pattern. From our spot several hundred feet away, nothing but the shadows cast by the trees were visible.

On the opposite side of the trees, amidst the bushes, a figure stood surrounded by shivering bushes. I leaned forward as much as I could out of the building.

"There is someone in the bushes for sure. I can see them in the shadows but they aren't moving. Something else must be all around them," I let my friends know.

Almost an hour of agonizing silence passed as the figure in the bushes waited for something. That something apparently was lunch time. Just when Daniela started to pull out a quick snack did the thing in the bushes emerge.

Out of the cover of the tree, my senses screamed at me. Some primal response, similar to what the Geode Palm had inflicted me with. The distance was much too great for me to identify the creature with my Implant, but I was fairly certain it was Q6 or higher.

My friends tensed right beside me, staring down at the humanoid making its way across the field in front of us. Enormous palm fronds sprouted from its back like wings, but otherwise it was a green copy of the other Tendrils we'd encountered. Samuel twitched next to me, but didn't say anything as a strange group exited the pines to the east. If I hadn't been so focused on the approaching group I would have paid more attention to the peculiar manner in which the trees swayed out of the way.

Troubles processing the sight were had.

For lack of better words to describe them, an orc, two dwarves and an elf sauntered out from amidst the trees. However, they weren't completely those things. It was as if a human canvas had received a severe splash of those mythical creatures.

The orc had more of a green-grey hue to it's skin, while two prominent tusks yawned out of her mouth. Otherwise it might have been any teen from my simulation lessons or pre-Landfall media. The dwarves were short and hairy. In excess. The elf was reedy thin with what looked like hot pink matte skin. He had sharp pointed ears and earlobes. That last feature was not common in elven lore as far as I knew, and the skin really depended on what fantasy story you were reading. Considering there were fantasy races swaggering up to a plant man corrupted by a magic poison, I made a mental note that I probably didn't really know anything. Not anymore, anyhow.

My ears strained to hear, but I was only able to pick up a word here and there. “Fail”, “pay”, and “unfortunate” from the Tendril. “Attack”, “wildlife”, and “damages” from the orc woman. The Tendril's demeanor didn't shift at all, but I noted the bushes behind the Dreg creature stirring once again. That didn't bode well for the other humanoids.

"They are gonna get attacked," I said. Some kind of agreement had been broken and the Tendril wasn't on the breaking side.

"What can we do?" Sam asked, a slight quake in his voice. I knew that if we had to jump into action he wouldn't hesitate, but his feelings were written on his sleeve and clear in his voice.

"We wait," Daniela said flatly.

She was gritting her teeth and I knew she was ready to jump in the mix. However, she was more than smart enough to know that something more was going on here and exposing ourselves wouldn't be a good outcome.

With my focus split on my friends, I missed when the Tendril had turned around and walked away. The humanoids hesitated, as if wanting to go after it but fearing a response to that behavior. When the elf placed a hand on the orc to hold them back, the entire group sighed in resignation and started to walk back towards the trees.

As soon as they did, the Tendril flicked his fingers without turning around and creatures tore across the cultivated field to get to the mixed humanoids.

Three boars the size of a small car charged out into the field. Their stomp left chopped salads in their wake and trails of steam drifted from their snouts. The glimmer of crystal on their tusks told me all I needed to know about their Attunement even if I was out of range for the Implant.

The elf immediately turned and heaved the ground right in front of the boars. It wasn't in the same fashion as I used . Massive trunks of wood pried themselves from the ground to slow the porcine threat.

The move gave the other humanoids time to gather their wits. Fiery hair sprouted from the orc woman, and the dwarves held hands. It was an odd display, but when I watched a patternless spell chain form like a crown above the grey-green woman's head and around the dwarves' waist, I knew it wasn't just for show.

Sure enough, the orc woman's fiery hair swelled and took on the shape of a hand. With it, and the help of another well-timed surge of wood from the pink man, they held off the three boars from reaching the dwarves.

The elf pulled a machete from its belt and started to wail on the closest boar. With impressive speed, the elf managed to stay out of range of the boar's tusks while giving it the thousand cut death. The orc lady was hair wrestling one of the other boars into a smoldering submission, but the third was moving to flank the whole group and the scattered logs the elf had raised.

The dwarves were still locked together even if their spell chain looked thicker than any I'd seen from my friends.

"They aren't going to make it," Sam whispered.

A string of expletives found their way out of my mouth before I focused on the third boar's trajectory. A mental slam later, and the ground right next to the Orc lady swelled. Two pierced the boar in the chest, halting its advance and eliciting a squeal audible from our building.

The stone gave the two dwarves enough time to finish the longest Skill I'd seen. A chunk of the earth right behind them rose up into the air. The tilled and organic rich soil immediately halved in size, creating small clumps of hardened stone. Said stone then accurately propelled itself like a hailstorm into the boars.

Having anticipated, or at least planned for, some aspect of their companions' attack, the elf and orc had disengaged from their foes just before impact.

The boars were sturdy enough not to get shredded by the stone hail like the swallow, but I doubted they would be more than pudding after they were buried under the attack. A dust cloud rose up out of the ground, but the Orc and Elf were quick to dart in and deal finishing blows to the entombed creatures.

With a start, I realized that the Tendril was nowhere to be seen and the opposite tree line was as still as could be.

"Ron we need to move," Daniela said, urgently.

"What, what happened?" I asked, turning on a dime expecting something had snuck up on us.

"No, I saw what you did. When they go collect the Pith, some of it will give us away!"

The pieces clicked and I was getting ready to head off into the woods alone when Sam grabbed my wrist. "The bodies aren't disintegrating."

"Wha-"

"They are extracting them from the rubble and they aren't breaking down," he clarified.

I shifted back to the broken wall. Sure enough the dwarves were reaching into the mound and hoisting the boars out. The orc and the odd-colored elf worked together to extract the last body. Their discussion didn't last very long, but it was heated. The orc pointed to my stone spikes, their tips cracked inside the closest boar. The only word I was able to hear even with my senses tuned in was the word 'alone'. The others in the group looked around as if even more uncertain.

In what was a clear command, the orc pointed towards the pine trees while dragging one of the boars. She spoke some words into the elf's ear and he shot off into the woods. I might have imagined it, but the tree trunks looked like they parted out of his way. The pair of dwarves kicked at the ruined crops until the orc woman shouted at them. "Get a move on!" That was loud enough for us to hear.

The three of us remained mute for several minutes, staring at the scene of carnage and destruction. My mind was running at a hundred miles a minute, so I forced myself to take some breaths to calm down. As if having noticed my discomfort, Sam hit me with a and the energizing mana helped clear my mind.

"What's the plan, Ron?" Sam asked.

"I was gonna ask you guys what you think," I replied, meeting both of their eyes.

"Best guess? Somehow fantasy creatures mutated on the surface just like every other wonky thing. Not only that, but they are also smart,I doubt these fields or those trees got planted by themselves," Daniela said, crossing her arms and huffing. Clearly she thought that she had it all figured out.

"Could they be the sources of the humanoid tendrils?" Sam said, then snapped his fingers as if a lightbulb had gone off. "Wait, what if those are humans?"

"They just up and started cosplaying?" Daniela retorted. "I don't think people would have that kind of time after Landfall."

"No, no. I mean what if they are humans. They just look that way because of their Attunements. Heck, look at us. We've already changed and we've not been on the surface that long."

"Then we follow them. It doesn't take a genius to know that Tendril intended to kill them. We're going to need more information if we are going to try to interact with them. You two know more than anyone that I would love for them to just be changed humans, but we can't risk it," I said. I was already straining my eyes to search after the path they might have left and where we might follow out of sight.

"You mean like how you interacted with those ?" Daniela said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, the Tendrils are technically our enemies. The boar was gonna get them and I couldn't just let them die like that..." When she and Sam gave me wide smiles, I knew they were teasing me. Always the gullible one. "Hilarious, yeah yeah. Har Har. On a more serious note, Danny, do you think you can trail them without being spotted?"

"Can I spit fire?" she asked, casting a look towards the trees in mock disinterest.

"Can you?" Sam and I both asked in unison.

"Idiots I tell yah." She shook her head. "I sure do hope those are humans so I can finally stop having to deal with you numbnuts. One has more plants than sense and the other more rocks than brain. Maybe that lovely tusked lady will want a new friend. Yes, I will follow. Keep you posted on the Comm-plant."

"The what?" Both Sam and I asked confused. In unison again.

"The Comms. On the Implant. The Comm-plant."

"We'll work on that one. Go, get going. Take Anthony. I think he's been antsy to run loose a bit."

Her voice echoed in my head as she huffed and sprinted down the trees. "And you thought I was the cringe one with the ant puns." All she had to do was give our Fire Ant companion a wave and he followed. The two faded from view shortly.

"What's next for us?" Sam asked, turning from me to Blobby.

The slime had been silent and on good behavior the entire trip over. However, it was currently slapping its appendage against the ruin as if trying to eat the broken concrete. I tossed him a rock chunk from the ruined wall, and the slime wobbled after it like a dog playing fetch. Except it wasn't a dog, or a stick, and the rock disappeared into its gelatinous body.

"We'll follow slowly, but I'll prepare a small shelter for us here just in case. As good a place as any right now."

I matched words to action as sealed one of the damaged walls and I cast three more back-to-back to box off one of the corners of the building. After reaching Quotient 4, my spikes rose to seven feet with their regular cast and my barriers now rose up almost two feet. It wasn't a terribly big improvement, but the cost had remained the same. The backlash of the casting also affected me less than when we'd first come to the surface.

Sam and I offloaded most of our loot and supplies into one of our bags. Daniela hadn't bothered to take her stuff when she started tracking the potential humans. We had just enough for two days and enough water for the day. Traveling light was essential if we were going to be pursuing the group.

Less than five minutes after we'd begun our eastern trek parallel to the road did we hear Daniela's voice through the Comm. "Nothing dangerous as of yet, but you two are going to want to see this. I just... Get here please."

Her voice had a pleading tone to it. Sam and I looked at each other before we sprinted through the trees. With our enhanced Attributes we made short work of the mile and a half ahead of us. Anthony was there to lead us the last stretch through a thick series of trees and another small field of peanuts and cabbage. Daniela was crouched just behind a dilapidated building and I could just barely see the outline of another field beyond. Even through the trees I could tell it was much larger than even the one we had just left.

She didn't say anything. Her tanned skin was a shade lighter and even the red accent of her fire gills had gone from maroon to a faded pink. The brunette pointed to the other side of the building. I didn't bother to pause and crept up to the edge of the building. Sam was close on my heels as we peered beyond.

Civilization.

In every sense of the word, that is what we encountered. The sprawling field before us was being tended to by a number of humanoids. Not humanoids in the faceless, four limbs and a head sense of the Tendrils. Actual humanoids. Bulky, towering individuals carried heavy loads while dwarves pulled carts through the rows. Two of the strange colored, sharp eared people argued amidst crates of potatoes being loaded into the carts. A variety of orcs and the other races mingled up and down the road.

Said road led to what had to be a palisade. The trees that had surely been cleared for the farm stood vertically out of the ground to form a wall that stretched north and south out of sight. Even from half a mile away, I could see figures moving steadily along the upper part of the wall. While tracing the pointed log tips of the palisade I came upon the gate. Unsurprisingly, it lined up with the road we'd been skirting through our trip. Roughly wrought steel and metal sheets that vaguely resembled car doors hung from the gate's frame.

I was at a loss for words. Just out and about in front of the walls were more than two dozen people. More people than could reasonably fit anywhere other than the Greenhouse floor or the mess hall. Sure, most didn't actually look human but now I was fairly certain Sam's hypothesis was right on the money. On my second pass, I even spotted a few older looking people with mostly human features. At a distance it was hard to tell, but something told me they were people like the Bunkerites. Born before Landfall.

A pulse of energy invisible to the naked eyes flickered through my body. It didn't leave the tingly sensation I was familiar with, and instead felt like I'd pushed my body through an inflating soap bubble, but I recognized it. It was the area of influence of a Metier Entity Cluster.

Not worrying about possibly being spotted, I clambered up the nearest tree. Sam and Danny whispered angry warnings about me being spotted. Danny even tried to jump and pull me by the ankle, but I had already snagged the next branch. The western part of a city sprawled out before me. Beyond the patched rooftops and sporadic trees beyond the wall was something that sent a chill down my spine. Not in fear, but in surprise and amazement.

A crystal larger than anything I'd seen outside of simulations towered in the distance. It was a near identical copy of the Entity back at the camp, just magnified to insane proportions. Unlike what I'd expected, there wasn't a ginormous crater in its wake. Whatever the reason for that, I had no idea. What ran through my head were all the possibilities a behemoth of that size would open for us. The Entity's mention of Categories based on size suddenly made a whole lot of sense.

When the pulse of the crystal's influence flowed through me again it almost threw me off the tree. That one had packed a wallop, and that one had been felt by my friends below.

"Ronan, what the hell is going on?" Sam asked, forgoing whispering for the sake of answers.

The answer came without needing me to provide it. A primal string of roars echoed across the farmland, and the loud ding of a warning bell caused all of the people outside of the city walls to freeze. That's when the monsters appeared. Dozens of twisted animals and a sprinkling of humanoids tore out of the woods after the people in the open. My heart clenched as I saw how deeply outnumbered they were. However, that wasn't the only thing that clenched.

Inadvertently, I'd channeled mana into my shield and a surge of strength caused me to crush the branch I'd been holding in my left hand. It was something I would've never dreamt myself capable of doing. With what added up to 1.62 times the Strength of an average human it wasn't impossible.

I could already see the people fleeing, and many that would not be able to make it. A pair of younger teens with short orc-tusks lugged an older gentleman away from where he'd been weeding. The man struggled after them, but it was clear they wouldn't make it. A blue wolfhound and what had to be a younger version of the Earth Attuned deer we'd spotted on our first trip were giving chase. Many more were already pouncing on the cart full of potatoes as the men hid under it and swatted at a pair of corrupted wind squirrels.

The tree swayed as I couldn't take the sight any more. Instead of saying anything, Samuel handed me my pickaxe. The fire burning in his eyes and Danny's was something I'd seldom seen, but I knew what it meant. Arguing would be pointless, and they would be following me post haste.

A brief series of commands to Blobby and Anthony had the two creatures rushing to intercept the trapped men while the three of us booked it straight into the path of the two Dreg twisted creatures.