I woke to find myself in an unfamiliar room lying on an unfamiliar bed. The pain in my head was far less than the last time I entered the Trance and seemingly power leveled my skills. I looked around the room and noticed Alyssa asleep in the bed next to me wearing a hospital gown. That’s when it hit me, I was in the infirmary that we had previously approved construction of. I was curious as to where they decided to build it because that was a decision that hadn’t been made yet. I didn’t see anyone around so I decided to get up and find my clothes. Which were conveniently placed in a trunk at the foot of the bed.

I dressed then looked over to Alyssa who was still sound asleep. I figured forcefully waking her up twice in one day was less than advisable so I let her sleep. At least she looks like she’s actually resting now. I stepped out of the infirmary and was slightly shocked to see the amount of development that had been completed. How fucking long was I knocked out? The new bunkhouse was half built and the granary was peeking up over the Admin building at the far end of the settlement. The militia and guard headquarters building was off to my right and the armory was ‘growing’ up next to it.

I rounded the corner and ran headlong into Choox’il. She smiled as she saw me and spoke before I got my mental faculties together. “How is your head Dream Walker?”

I looked at her in confusion, “Fine, uh, Dream Walker?”

“Yes, the skill you demonstrated yesterday, my people call it a Dream Walking skill.”

“Is it common?”

“More than people think, almost all of the females of my species have at least limited proficiency with the skill, though what you did with it was… breathtaking.” She shivered at the last statement.

“Eh?” I looked at her in confusion.

“You don’t even realize what you were doing, do you?” Shock spread across her face at the realization.

“Not exactly, no. Mind sharing?”

“Well, how do I explain?” She brought her pointy painted finger nails to her chin in thought then looked at me, “I am not able to enter the Dream myself, but I can watch when others do. What you did was something I have never seen before.”

“Eh, ok, still doesn’t tell me what I did?” I was starting to get impatient.

“Sorry, you basically shifted through thousands of possibilities until you reached the one that best suited your needs. It was incredibly difficult with my level of proficiency to keep track of the shifts in the Dream, but I got the gist of what you did. And before you ask, you were indeed successful.” She explained with a look of reverence.

“So Alyssa is doing better?”

“She is, she was a little upset she lost her private room. She is otherwise in good spirits. I have been counselling her on potential limb replacements. She should be ready to pick her replacement limb this afternoon. If you’ll excuse me, I was on my way to check on you both.”

I nodded and she turned the corner and I continued on across the settlement and headed to my apartment. The people I passed gave me a wide berth, clearly concerned I may pick one of them as my next sparring partner. I smiled when I saw Junipher sitting on the steps leading into the Admin building. She smiled when she saw me and walked up and kissed me full on the mouth.

“Well hello to you too!” I smiled back into her full black eyes.

“Hello, Karl, how do you feel?”

“Good. Just a slight headache.”

“Mmmmm, you should stop doing that until your attributes are higher. Even the oldest and highest leveled of our Seers only venture into the sight every couple of months at most.”

“I honestly don’t know how I am doing it. It seems to come with a need.” I looked down at her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders and began walking up the stairs to my office.

What I found there made me want to run in terror. PAPERWORK! THE HUMANITY!

“How am I supposed to go kill shit when I have so much paperwork demanding my attention!?” I complained as I sat behind my desk and Junipher took up position on the couch.

“You need a secretary. I’m certain not all of that is of import.”

“Veep!”

“Yes, Karl?” She said hesitantly.

“You’re my assistant, sort this mess for me!”

Her orb stilled in my vision and for a second I thought she may have stopped functioning. Then she buzzed in humor.

“I’m a Virtual assistant, I can’t physically manifest, though I can check the settlement roster for any residents with the requisite skill set, or even class.”

“Fine, do that, also, why don’t you hit me with my notifications. Administrative duties SUCK!”

Junipher laughed as I perused my notifications. As I thought, the three new skills I had gotten recently had been worked overtime. I had reached Advanced rank in both Reaper’s Wrath and Soul Tracking and each sat at level 105 and 173 respectively. Unwilling Monarch’s Foresight also had reached level 183. All of this translated into massive attribute boosts. I pulled up my attributes and was shocked at what I saw.

Karl Brunett

43

Merciless Reaper of the Foolish

1

HP

3630

ST

1800

350

MP

2200

Strength

218

70

Perception

314

15

Endurance

145

25

Charisma

12

Intelligence

108

Agility

140

50

Luck

3

Wisdom

112

Before the massive power leveling of skills within the Trance I was sitting around 150ish in Strength, and somewhere around 75ish in Endurance. Both of these attributes contribute to my Health, and Endurance was a flat translation into Stamina *10. With where my stamina sat before I had to be a little conservative in its usage. Now I felt like I could go hog. My Perception also seemed to have jumped quite a bit, which was probably why I was able to hear people haggling in detail down in the market as if they were in my office.

“Veep, is there a cap on attribute points?”

“Not really. At 1000 points in a physical category you visibly stop changing, everything after that is largely alterations at a cellular level to accommodate the fusing of mana into your cell structure. At 10000 points you start seeing diminishing returns on your advancements but it never stops. If you survive that long you’ll probably no longer appear human to the mundane lower leveled populations.”

“Interesting, here’s another thought. Could I say, spend all day lifting heavy weights to boost my strength naturally? Meaning can attributes grow without input from the system?”

“Sure, it’s incredibly inefficient now that you’ve reached your Advanced Class, but it can be done. Usually what happens though is the System recognizes the action you take as a practiced skill and begins quantifying it as such, then it manages the growth from there. For example, finish reading your notifications, you recently unlocked a new Skill.”

“Huh?” I continued scrolling down the list of gibberish until I reached the notification she had hinted about.

Congratulations! You have revealed a Hidden Skill! Deja Vu - Expert, +4 Wisdom at regular skill intervals. “Haven’t I seen this before?” A phrase that regularly ran through your mind growing up that often warned of poorly made decisions and subtly helped guide you through your life.

“HOLY FUCK!” I shouted at the air. Junipher jumped from the couch looking for an enemy then her eyes settled on me.

“What is it, Karl? She asked bewildered.

I flicked the notification over to her and she gasped in surprise too.

“This, Deja Vu, is an experience you have truly felt all your life?”

“Yeah, kinda, just the occasional fleeting feeling. Like a millisecond waking dream that was eerily similar to what was happening to me at the time.”

“This would explain the visions then.”

“Indeed it would, also seems that the System latched on to it and decided to enhance it significantly.”

She chuckled a bit, “It sure has. So, what’s your big plan going forward, this is the first time you haven’t been fighting for your life in about a week.” Her black eyes looked at me hungrily.

I stood, swept her into my arms to a delightful squeal then carried her to my bed. “Fuck it, let’s see if we can instigate an orgy!” We laughed then commenced to make love. Soon familiar sounds echoed from outside and we knew we had succeeded in our task.

We finished some time later and I stepped into the shower to wash the sex and sweat off my body. I asked Junipher if she wanted to join me, she reached a hand out and decided the water was too hot for her liking and said she would rather find a natural water source anyway. I shrugged and enjoyed the sensation of the hot water cascading across my neck and down my back.

I quickly found myself putting together a plan to clear the rest of the town and gather what remained of the population back to bolster my settlement and hopefully reach Village status. I stepped out of the shower and dried myself then walked into my office and peeked out the window and chuckled. Suppose if we can’t find enough living people in the wild, me and Junipher can always instigate more orgies and get everyone pregnant. Though waiting almost 15, 16 years for viable fighters to grow up isn’t particularly efficient.

I greeted Junipher with a big smile and a big kiss then asked about the whereabouts of our team.

“I think Michelle, Courtney, and Stephen are still in the settlement, the rest left yesterday to complete their personal tasks.”

“Who?” I asked, confused by the names she was using.

“Sorry, Scheel, Valley, and Hawkings.”

“Hmph, I take it Phil and Bradley went to find their respective families?”

“They did, though they are both a great loss, Phil is the greater, his ability to soak up damage and hold our enemies attention was second to none. Do you plan to have Alyssa fill that slot?”

I looked at her thoughtfully and explained the realization I had come to in the shower.

“No, I want her to lead her own team. Our team alone can’t clear the town in the timeframe I would like. So, I’m going to have Eli form three teams aside from ours and Alyssa’s to bring the town under control and gather the people.”

“That sounds like a good idea, it also gives your fighters the chance to grow in their own strength. Which can only further benefit the settlement.”

A knock on the door interrupted our conversation and I called out for them to enter. Speak of the devil, I thought as Eli entered the room.

“Reporting as requested, Sir.” He didn’t snap off a salute but it was clear the man was uncertain what to do so he slipped half in and half out of mannerisms that had been drilled into him. That of a life long soldier.

“Relax, I’m no ‘sir’, I kill shit for a living.” I joked.

He quirked an eye at me and smiled.

I simply shrugged and continued, “I don’t really consider it work, so, anyway. You and Samantha have been doing a good job keeping the Guard in shape while I’ve been out. And you know what every good job earns you?”

He smiled wider, “More responsibility.”

I nodded and pulled up the settlement interface and sent him the offer. “Do you accept?”

He looked at me hard for a moment then nodded back and added, “Though, if you ever have need to fire me, please just hand me a pink slip.”

I laughed hard at that, “We both know that was a special case. Now, here’s what I need you to do. I plan to take back the city from the monsters, I need you to assemble three teams of seven to tackle the occupations that are blocking my ability to expand our territory. Secondary objective is the gathering of all survivors and guiding them back to us here.”

“Understood, do you think three teams is enough?”

“Hell no, that’s why I am gathering my team and once Alyssa is back on her feet, she’s going to get the same marching orders.”

He quirked his eye at that last part as well, “So she’s good now?”

“She’s an abused teenage girl who latched on to me at the start of this shit. She thought she could tempt me with her body for protection, instead I refused her and made her fight by my side. So instead she grew her own strength and when it was finally tested she was found wanting.”

“So you gave her a win to get her back in the fight.” He nodded in understanding.

“She’s not good. But she will be. I’d put out a notice to all the young men in town to think twice about getting handsy with her.”

We all chuckled at that and I dismissed Eli to his task.

“Shall we go find our party?” I asked my sexy plant lady and held my arm out for her.

“Let’s.” she said with a smile.

“Actually, hold on a second.”

“Veep, connect me to Phil if you can.”

“He does appear to still be in range, wait one.”

A moment later Phil’s face appeared on my vision.

“Wassup, Beesh!?” He yelled as if I couldn’t hear him.

“Fuck dude, you don’t have to yell! Where you at exactly?”

“Oh, sorry, about halfway to Joe City. I can tell you right now that cars are useless, even a truck is pretty much a waste of time. I really should befriend one of those coyotes. Or a horse. This shit’s nuts.”

“Hey, two things. One. Have you tried to reach your other daughter yet, and two, I’m gonna push a settlement scouting quest to you. I wish we had gotten to talk before you dipped.”

“Yeah, no, I haven’t reached her yet, and thanks, the experience on that quest is good as well as the cash reward. I’ll see what Holbrook is like as soon as I find Kayley. If it’s a shit show like I think it will be I’ll guide them back to your settlement.”

“Thanks, bro. Oh yeah, you missed another Junipher induced orgy!”

“WHAT!?!? DUUUUUDE! Send me the video.” I laughed as he whispered the last part then cut the connection.

“Was Phil disappointed he missed the festivities?” Junipher asked with a lovely smirk on her face.

“Oh yeah.”

We stepped into the courtyard and I came up short when I found all the people I wanted on my team cuddling up together in various states of undress. At the center of the cuddle pile was one Stephen Hawkings. The grin on his face said everything I needed to know as it seemed that Junipher’s song and pheromones gave him an extra special experience. Courtney leaned back with the back of her head in his lap while Michelle and Samantha leaned on either side of him gently stroking his chest, stomach and arms. His smile got impossibly larger when he saw us approach.

“Howdy there, Gentleman and… Ladies.” The women flinched at my voice and untangled themselves from the happy young man and straightened their clothes.

Michelle gathered her wits first and spoke before I could continue. “YOU! Rrrrgh! I swear. I don’t know whether I should hate you or thank you two.” Everyone laughed and Junipher began to apologize.

“So, anyway, I need to know if you all still want to be on my team? In one day I plan to start clearing all of these monster occupations and encampments that are blocking me from expanding the settlement.”

The three previous team members all stated they were down for some monster hunts, considering they were all sitting on the edge of their own Class Advancements. I directed them to visit the Kiosk before tomorrow morning if they needed anything for our next adventure then turned to Samantha and asked her to sit with me and Junipher.

I noted with a wry smile that both Michelle and Courtney had grabbed one of Stephen’s arms and were dragging him away. Guess Junipher isn’t the only one who doesn’t mind sharing, though considering that missile he’s hiding in his pants, maybe there’s other reasons.

“What can I do for you?” Samantha said, clearing her throat.

“I watched the video of you coming to Alyssa’s rescue. The group of officer’s that arrived when she went down weren’t able to do much more than annoy the Lieutenant.”

“Yeah?”, she looked a bit apprehensive.

“I saw what you did, your mental blades cut it to pieces and the only time it was able to bring its weapon to bear you deflected it like a toy. Understand, I’m not making accusations here, just trying to understand, why weren’t you in the attack party to begin with?”

She looked down and shame was writ on her face. After a time she responded with wet eyes. “I.. I wasn’t confident in my ability. I knew I could throw energy about like a mage but didn’t realize my… full potential, I suppose.”

I looked hard at her and felt the Reaper stir within. “And now? Are you confident in your ability?”

Her eyes widened with fear and she stammered, “Oh god yes! I’ve been training with Eli, I wouldn’t be foolish enough to say I could go toe to toe with you, but I am completely confident in the use of my powers.”

The Reaper chuckled mirthfully in my mind and found myself chuckling with him. “Relax, I just wanted to know where your head was at before I asked you to be my team's new tank. You want in?”

She sighed in relief, apparently not wanting to get the same treatment as Alyssa, the excitement began to bubble up into her face. “HELL YES! I’m in!”

“Good, meet here tomorrow morning at sunrise.”

I turned back to a smiling Junipher, “I think everyone is terrified of me.”

“They just don’t understand the lengths you’ll go to fulfill your passion.” She said and leaned in and kissed me hard. If we keep this up no one will get any sleep and all the women will be pregnant before we head out.