Sanders wasn’t doing anything important by the time that Riza had found him, taking him aside with Daven and sitting them both down on a quickly conjured set of chairs.

“Are either of you hungry?” She asked, jumping straight into it.

“A little,” Daven replied while Sanders simply nodded.

“Good. I’m not able to use [Heal] on anything other than a demon yet so it’s time for you two to get in some practice; you’re going to be curing hunger with [Heal],” She explained.

“You’re teaching us to use [Heal] like you?” Daven asked, sounding interested.

“Yep.” Riza sat down too. “I learnt how to do it shortly after I got [Heal] so it shouldn’t take too long.”

“Wow,” Daven was impressed. Sanders throughout seemed passive involved, although he hadn’t gotten up to leave so it was good enough.

Riza launched into a somewhat hastily-prepared speech about the nature of health and starvation, awkwardly messing up a few times.

She felt a bit like a teacher, explaining the connection between hunger and health and then going into the mechanics of just what hunger is.

To some extent, everyone understood the energy you got from a hearty meal. Even without the scientific, technical understanding, it seemed that they did have a solid idea of what was going on, which was a good sign.

Daven was very involved, asking questions, clarifications, and even sharing how he understood everything to work.

All of this was building the foundations necessary for the skill.

Once the final question was asked, it was time to practise.

The pair of them nodded when Riza told them to try, a green glow appearing for both of them.

Two faces of concentration met Riza’s, Daven’s glow vanishing in a huff of disappointment.

“Shit. Didn’t work,” He sighed, looking at Riza and then following the direction of her head towards Sanders, who was now totally enveloped by a green glow.

The seconds passed in tense anticipation as the pair of them watched the utterly stationary Sanders.

One, two, three, the glow vanished like that.

“It’s worked,” Sanders said, not sounding particularly pleased.

Riza stifled the excitement within her.

“But not because of what you said,” He clarified.

“It wasn’t helpful?” Riza asked, sounding a little confused.

“No. I listened to the soul. The body is merely a vessel. It’s the soul that hungers. They require energy and essence too. I listened to the soul, what it needed, and I fed it,” He explained, completely befuddling Riza.

It, it still worked, but in a completely different way? The body is a vessel for the soul. Sounds like spiritual mumbo jumbo but if it works…

“Okay… I’ll try again,” Daven was nodding, sounding resolved as he sat back in his chair and a green glow consumed him once more. Seconds passed, overtaking how long it took Sanders, until the glow vanished, a large smile on Daven’s face.

“It worked!” He said, sounding ecstatic. “You were right!” He turned to Sanders “It’s all in the soul.”

“H-how do you know how to do this?” Riza asked Sanders. I’m relying on basic biology classes but you’re obviously not.

“It’s what the skill told me when I got it.”

“You can understand that?” Every skill Riza had purchased injected information into her brain, about essence and manipulating it and activating the skill but it was all pseudoscientific, half-connected ideas that sounded as lucid as a fever dream to her. No way she could wrangle it into an applicable theory.

“Not at first. [Resuscitate] was the most helpful, teaching me about the soul. It taught me what to listen for.”

“And you?” She asked Daven.

“What Sanders said. It reminded me of [Heal]’s instructions and all of a sudden, it just clicked-“ He clicked his fingers, “Like that.”

Two, surprised faces looked back at Riza as she entered the room. Lefie and Meren were sitting around a table, previously engaged in conversation but now occupied by the intruder.

“I thought you were still practising?” Lefie asked.

“I’m taking a break,” Riza explained, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “I’ve made some progress.” She leaned forward excitedly. “I used [Heal] on a demon.”

“That’s amazing!” Lefie shared her excitement while Meren looked on quizzically.

“But that’s only one skill and you have a lot more.”

“Yes but it’s what it represents that’s important. I can use [Heal] without sight, showing it’s possible to use all my other skills as well as them being even stronger than before. It’s a huge breakthrough.”

“That so…” Meren replied, tapping her fingers on the table. “Actually, it’s good timing that you’re here. You might be able to help me.”

Riza cocked her head, urging the woman to continue.

“I have a new spear skill that lets me infuse my spear with essence by soaking it in local essence except… I’m struggling with actually doing that. I was talking with Lefie about it before you arrived,” She explained.

“Oh.” Like a flaming spear that lights people on fire. “If it’s ‘local essence’ and you’re struggling, maybe it’s a problem with where you’re trying it? If you want fire, you’d want to go to a volcano. Here, all the essence is either pure or earth from all the renovations Daven’s been doing.” Or something else, Riza thought privately, a nagging feeling at the back of her head.

“Volcano?” Meren shook her head. “But the location is the issue?”

“Maybe,” Riza shrugged. “I don’t know how your skills work. It could also be with how you’re trying to activate the skill, the manipulation of the essence itself. It’s more complicated than it might seem.” As I’ve recently discovered.

“How do you use your skills, then? Lefie mentioned the ‘Old One’ helping her but she lost me.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault he doesn’t give you his blessing,” Lefie interjected with mock indignity.

Riza thought for a bit before answering, going back to when she first learnt how to use [Leech] on her own.

“It’s second-nature now but when I started, I really struggled to use even [Leech]. What ended up working for me was imagining how [Leech] affected essence. There was essence inside me and inside whatever I was targeting and I imagined that essence flowing from my target into me. It’s a bit more complicated than that but that’s how I still learn to use new skills.”

“So it’s visualisation…” Meren nodded to herself. “Most skills I get are pretty easy to use—I just stab things—but this one told me to ‘become one with my soul’ and the world was just an extension of myself like my spear. It was a lot,” She chuckled.

“I can imagine,” Riza smiled lightly, hunching over and resting her head on her arm.

“Are you tired?” Lefie inquired.

“It’d be a miracle if I wasn’t. So much has happened and I’m not even done yet! There’s still [Raise Dead] I need to use before we leave and then the rest of my skills… [Essential Leech] and [Parasite] are also high priorities.”

“Will you isolate yourself again?” Meren asked, sounding a little concerned.

“I have to. It’s the quickest way. No distractions.”

Silence pervaded as Lefie joined Riza in resting her head on the table. Riza’s hand trailed over lazily, fingers digging into Lefie’s hair absentmindedly.

After a few moments, Meren spoke.

“It’s amazing that you’re both so eager to keep going, after all that’s happened.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not like I have a choice,” Riza replied, disconnecting her link with the rat on her head and subsuming herself in nothingness. The world felt heavy.

“Is that really the case?” Meren asked, sounding worried.

“Everyone else seems to think so. Mesandra, Adewyn, Andreya… I’m too strong to be a non-entity. It’s kill or be killed.”

Meren didn’t say anything afterwards, probably chewing that over. Riza felt Lefie shifting her head under the gentle caress of her head, just like a cat.

Kill or be killed. Might makes right. Dog eat dog. So many sayings for essentially the same thing. There is no escape from the reality of the situation. The only option yet is to topple it entirely.

Is that really the case? Level 45 enforcers of the law will strike down anyone that threatens the status quo. There are surely only a handful of people stronger than that. To not be killed is to be a big enough threat to the entire army that you could overthrow it. The intrinsic consequence of survival is necessary domination.

There is no coexistence without strength. Either, I’m stronger than the entire fucking empire and let them live or I’m strong enough that mutually assured destruction is the inevitable outcome of a conflict. Any weaker and they will just kill me because that’s the result of me getting any stronger.

It doesn’t matter if I want that or not. They’ve forced me onto this path.

“Maybe a longer break will be good. You look pretty stressed out,” Meren said, catching Riza’s attention.

“Tell me something new,” She sighed.

“That’s it. You’re definitely taking a break. Come on, get up. Both of you.”

Riza crawled back into her isolation room, entire body aching from the ‘games’ Meren had put them through.

But she was right. They certainly took a weight off her mind. And onto her body.

Pulling herself back up onto the cushioned bench, Riza nearly collapsed, her body so tired from it all.

She only had a few hours left of being awake but it was prudent to get in a bit of practice before going to sleep.

[Message]s were sent out and before long, a beast demon trotted into the room.

This was a natural one, meaning it followed Harold’s orders and not hers so she had to get her hands dirty.

Her dagger made short work of it, holding the head tightly as she dug the blade into the skull. All that power made it trivial.

She dragged the body over, placing it on the bench beside her before finally getting to work.

Sleep had claimed Riza only after she had accomplished her goal. She must’ve worked long into the night, prolonging slumber, although the lack of light was messing with her circadian rhythm anyway.

Thankfully, it seemed that the breakthrough with [Heal] really was a breakthrough. The fundamentals were all there, and how to use them was figured out through that skill. It was remarkably easy to apply what Riza had learnt to [Raise Dead] and the last thing she had managed before falling asleep was cuddling with a surprisingly obedient, hairless dog on her bed.

Needless to say, the moments right after waking up but before clarity returned to her brain, Riza was really surprised at all the weight Lefie had put on.

That misconception was quickly cleared up, however, as the beast demon jumped off the bed and retreated back into the nest once her powerful grip had let it go.

Seconds passed with her frozen, shifting through memories, and then embarrassment hit, her face turning red at the realisation at what she had done.

Swiftly filing the memories away for later deletion, Riza found her rat and placed it back in its rightful place atop her head. She hadn’t kept track of a single critter for as long as she had with this and that, in turn, gave her valuable information.

Such as: it never slept, never needed food or water, never moved without an order, and there was no limitation for how long Riza could borrow its senses.

With [Raise Dead] finally working, the last of the preparations were completed.

All the humanoid demons were stored near the nexus of the nest, were the hives that birthed new parasites were as well.

She was slightly hesitant to start, wondering whether it would really work, but, nevertheless, she got to work, killing the first humanoid demon and crouching before it, hands making firm contact with its taut, smooth skin.

The seconds passed, the essence flowed, and, eventually, life returned to its form successfully.

Riza subdued her joy at the result, knowing there were still the rest to get to.

Three more demons successfully raised, Riza fell onto her ass, breathing heavily as a massive weight was taken off her chest.

Progress.

In total, that was six humanoid demons under her command and able to level. Tiffany and Harold were staying here to hold down the fort. One of the newly raised ones would join them, specialised in [Intrinsic Tank] to allow for long-distance mining with Harold.

That left only three humanoid demons to take with them to the quarry. That was enough; Harold and Daven were only two men and look how far they had come.

There was a ‘starting package’ of skills, as Riza called it, that most of her humanoid demons would take. The three mage skills of [Well of Spirit], [Well of Essence], and [Knowable Essence], in addition to the linguistic skills of [Linguistical Immersion] and [Translation].

That consumed all five levels but that was only just the beginning.

Lefie and Meren were occupying the four new demons, taking the necessary time to teach them the language, while Riza went and retrieved Tiffany.

In addition to the five main skills, new demons were typically raised to level 8 as well, considering that was a relatively easy task to accomplish.

Partying up Tiffany with the others, Riza once again left the demons to learn while her and Tiffany dragged out the oldest demons from the breeding grounds.

At this point, they were around a month old and, hopefully, juicy enough to have plenty of experience to share.

It took a few tries to kill a demon with a level cap of eight, seemingly the highest a regular beast demon could get.

What happened next hurt a little bit. With all the breeding and growth, there were hundreds of demons squirming around down here but by Riza’s calculations, it would take nearly a hundred of them to die to level each humanoid demon up by only three.

Necessary expense, she reminded herself. With additional levels, the demons were basically just regular people at this point.

Eighty deaths later, their level finally clicked over to level eight and Riza wept for the lost growth.

All of those demons were the ones she had initially gained from other nests, the oldest and strongest ones.

Shaking those thoughts off, she sank down into deciding their skills.

The first one was obvious; [Manipulate Air] and [Intrinsic Tank] were taken and then [Maximise Mastery] to reduce the number of trips. Once that was done, she gave the demon its orders and off it went.

The remaining three were harder to decide. What did she want them to be able to do? The rest of the group chimed in with their opinions; Meren suggested someone else to fight on the frontlines with her and Sanders and Daven agreed, each boasting about their skills from their life before.

Daven suggested one who copied Mesandra in case they’re in another situation where they’re wanting for food. Lefie added a hybrid of plant and water could perhaps be powerfully synergistic.

Another life user was an option but there were so many questions that it felt too experimental for one of Riza’s first demons.

What I really need is to punch above my weight. [Essential Leech] is a five-skill investment and a massive time investment and ends with just one skill that I really want. Not something to start with.

It seems that damage scales stronger than defence so I’d want a true glass cannon.

Lefie deals the most amount of damage here. I haven’t run the numbers in a while but she can take out a humanoid demon in a matter of seconds. And she’s incredibly unoptimized.

Let’s reserve one demon for improving her build. High damage, single-target, lightning path.

The strongest two-skill synergy has been staring me in the face for months. [Heal] and [Essence Transformer].

[Essence Transformer] has reached level 10.

You can choose to spend a skill point to upgrade the skill or turn the skill into a passive.

[Essence Transformer]+

Convert health into essence

Conversion rate: 20 hp/sec

Efficiency: 50%

[Essence Transformer] (passive)

50% of health regeneration is converted into essence regeneration

Efficiency: 20%

The active version of the skill likely won’t contribute to [Essence Monarch] and without [Lone Wolf], it’s still only 5% but the important stat becomes constitution rather than spirit.

[Knowable Power] means power will also get exceedingly large by level 25 and with enough health regeneration to rival constantly using [Heal], it’d be a powerhouse in close combat. Not to mention, 50% of all stats from [Essential Leech] will have a massive impact on the build.

The biggest drawback is the small essence pool, requiring an investment in essence. That would have to happen after [Root of Constitution] is taken.

One demon for health-essence recycling. Let’s explore what that can do.

For safety, the last demon should probably be a life user. Having a [Resuscitate] or [Resurrect] at hand could be crucial, not to mention [Overhealth] temporarily increasing the durability of everyone.

So that’s it.

Riza proceeded to apply the stats and purchase the skills for all the demons.

Now, all that was left was to name them.

Entity Manager Excess Essence -0.26 es/sec

Entity Name Skill Level Health Stamina Essence Cost (es/sec) Daven Raise Dead 27 218/218 122/122 66800/66800 -1.94 Sanders Raise Dead 27 130/130 114/114 67100/67100 -2.01 Harold Raise Dead 8 100/100 100/100 678/678 3.98 Tiffany Raise Dead 8 100/100 100/100 100/100 3.98 Gas Tank Raise Dead 5 100/100 100/100 100/100 2.48 Nessy Raise Dead 8 798/798 20/20 20/20 3.99 Jupy Raise Dead 8 20/20 20/20 798/798 3.79 Ascles Raise Dead 8 20/20 20/20 798/798 3.79 Name Nessy Level 8 Health 798/798 Stamina 20/20 Essence

20/20 Power 1 (39) Constitution 41 (369) Endurance 1 (1) Vim 1 (1) Essence

1 (1) Spirit

1 (1)

Health Regeneration

14056/day Stamina Regeneration

200/day Essence Regeneration

1519/day

Skills

Primordial Strength

0th Tier

[Well of Power] (10/10) -Learned

Power is multiplied by 3

[Well of Constitution] (10/10) -Learned

Constitution is multiplied by 3

1st Tier

[Knowable Power] (10/10) -Learned

10% of Power contributes to Constitution. 10% of Constitution contributes to Power

Requirements: [Well of Power] (5/10), [Well of Constitution] (5/10)

Linguistics

0th Tier

[Linguistical Immersion] (10/10) -Learned

Greatly enchances your ability to decipher a language

Cost: 1 es/min

[Translation] (10/10) -Learned

Communicate innately in any deciphered language

Ka

0th Tier

[Meditate] (passive) -Learned

Regeneration is multiplied by 2 while one sense is subdued absolutely

Blood

0th Tier

[Knowable Power] (10/10) -Learned

10% of Power contributes to Constitution. 10% of Constitution contributes to Power

Requirements: [Well of Power] (5/10), [Well of Constitution] (5/10)

Name Jupy Level 8 Health 20/20 Stamina 20/20 Essence

798/798 Power 1 (1) Constitution 1 (1) Endurance 1 (1) Vim 1 (1) Essence

1 (39) Spirit

41 (369)

Health Regeneration

500/day Stamina Regeneration

500/day Essence Regeneration

44388/day

Skills

Primordial Magic

0th Tier

[Well of Essence] (10/10) -Learned

Essence is multiplied by 3

[Well of Spirit] (10/10) -Learned

Spirit is multiplied by 3

1st Tier

[Knowable Essence] (10/10) -Learned

10% of Essence contributes to Spirit. 10% of Spirit contributes to Essence

Requirements: [Well of Essence] (5/10), [Well of Spirit] (5/10)

Linguistics

0th Tier

[Linguistical Immersion] (10/10) -Learned

Greatly enchances your ability to decipher a language

Cost: 1 es/min

[Translation] (10/10) -Learned

Communicate innately in any deciphered language

Ka

0th Tier

[Meditate] (passive) -Learned

Regeneration is multiplied by 2 while one sense is subdued absolutely

Metamagic

0th Tier

[Maximise Mastery] (10/10)+ -Learned

Multiply intensity of an active essence skill by 3

Cost: Variable

Name Ascles Level 8 Health 20/20 Stamina 20/20 Essence

798/798 Power 1 (1) Constitution 1 (1) Endurance 1 (1) Vim 1 (1) Essence

1 (39) Spirit

41 (369)

Health Regeneration

500/day Stamina Regeneration

500/day Essence Regeneration

44388/day

Skills

Primordial Magic

0th Tier

[Well of Essence] (10/10) -Learned

Essence is multiplied by 3

[Well of Spirit] (10/10) -Learned

Spirit is multiplied by 3

1st Tier

[Knowable Essence] (10/10) -Learned

10% of Essence contributes to Spirit. 10% of Spirit contributes to Essence

Requirements: [Well of Essence] (5/10), [Well of Spirit] (5/10)

Linguistics

0th Tier

[Linguistical Immersion] (10/10) -Learned

Greatly enchances your ability to decipher a language

Cost: 1 es/min

[Translation] (10/10) -Learned

Communicate innately in any deciphered language

Ka

0th Tier

[Meditate] (passive) -Learned

Regeneration is multiplied by 2 while one sense is subdued absolutely

Metamagic

0th Tier

[Maximise Mastery] (10/10)+ -Learned

Multiply intensity of an active essence skill by 3

Cost: Variable

After much struggling and heartache and trial and error, Riza finally managed to wrangle the system to showing all the skills in just one screen rather than having to trail through all the skill trees separately.

There was the slight issue of Riza running an essence deficit but she had a solution for that: Daven took [Heal+] which conferred 1 essence a second at the cost of 10. With [Maximise Mastery], this turned into 3 for 30. Daven’s current regeneration was about 38 essence a second so he could sustain the skill indefinitely and make sure Riza never ran dry.

In addition to the skills, Daven had been working on his earth shaping abilities and moulded bits of armour and weapons for all of them. Bracers, leg guard, breastplates, and helmets made from compressed stone were affixed to all of their persons, as well as a shield and sword for each. The important thing was keeping them alive.

To create room for these demons, that did mean she had to lose all the eye demons sitting in Droya, which was accomplished through Tiffany. Sooner or later, the demons would find out these nests were wiped out once they stopped receiving information from their eye demons but Riza’s nest was no longer connected to them so it hopefully wouldn’t be a problem.

Riza double and tripled checked everything she needed to do, asking everyone multiple times if there was anything she missed but the answer was no.

They were finally ready.

The grass was wet and dewy, early morning condensation from a night full of rain left it slick and moist. It shone from the diffused light of the sun piercing the all-encompassing fog all around them.

The squawking of birds could be heard all over, faint, black dots flying in the sky only to be lost in the mist.

Riza hobbled along at a slow pace, barely even moving. The ground was soft beneath her feet, the fresh air revitalising to her lungs. It had been so long since she had seen what it was like up here. She missed it.

A crow swooped down suddenly. She wasn’t scared. It landed right on her shoulder with practised ease, catching her attention. Receiving a nod in response, it hopped off and flew in a straight-line forward.

Riza ran, following it as best she could.

The distance wasn’t very far at all but, in this fog, it didn’t take long for where she just was to vanish completely.

The crow stopped abruptly, hovering just above the ground.

Falling to her knees, Riza searched the ground intently, finding what she was looking for: a hole.

Sitting on her haunches, she withdrew a map from her bag, unfurling it before her. It was the same one they had gotten in Sotton. They were currently right on the eastern edge of it. Upon her orders, birds flying to the west of her, taking their time before returning with news of the landmarks.

Translation was perhaps inaccurate but the rudimentary system she had worked out to squeeze precise information from her critters would have to do. Taking out her journal, she quickly drew the landmarks and her approximate location with a piece of charcoal, cross-referencing the map to ascertain her location and destination.

A bit more to the east. The fog was infuriating but they had to make do. If only we set out a day later.

With the new course calculated, Riza used [Message] and informed Daven of their direction. He was directly below her, holed up in a tunnel with Meren and the three demons. This was the only way to transport them without being spotted.

A reply came out, acknowledging the new direction but also asking for Riza to return. They were running out of fog.

Riza agreed, a few seconds passing and then the small hole opened up into a tight tunnel leading directly down.

She dropped in. The landing was harsh on her knees but she had the health to spare. The green glow lit up for but a moment before replaced by a white one, fog expelling from her hands to fill this section of tunnel.

The problem wasn’t the demons consuming the fog too quickly—they seemed relatively light-weight in that regard—but, rather, Daven tunnelled too quickly that he left the fog behind.

No matter, Riza jogged the distance of the tunnel behind to where the fog was sitting stationary and sucked it back up.

They needed frequently stopped anywhere from ten minutes to an hour as Daven recharged Riza’s essence. It was annoying and massively lengthened the journey but these were the growing pains necessary for what she wanted to accomplish.

After that, Daven helped her back onto the surface, sealing previous holes while opening new ones for ventilation.

With all his practise, he was getting good at extending the reach of [Earth shape], affecting earth a metre of two away.

And so, Riza returned to her job. Some crows searched for landmarks, some for ventilation holes, whilst other hovered stationary in the sky, working as a compass of sorts.

Rather than her rat, it was a crow that perched upon Riza’s head whilst she was aboveground, lending her its sight. When she hopped belowground, it stayed up there, the fog poisonous to it. She instead had to rely on a humanoid demon for her sight at that point, taking one with her to locate the fog.

It was an annoying back-and-forth and initially very disorientating but, by now, she had gotten used to it. It was like constantly switching between security cameras, in a way.

The digging proceeded for what was hours without a single interesting thing happening. The crows were amazing sentries and with their help, Riza managed to avoid any and all settlements. A few times they had to cross underneath roads and farms but there was luckily never an incident.

The fog didn’t last terribly long, disappearing almost entirely by the end of the first day.

The crows stayed aboveground but rested on the ground to not draw attention whilst Riza rejoined the group below.

Daven opened up a cave and sealed the tunnel off behind them, as he had been doing periodically. Numerous air holes were cut out in the ceiling and their bags and packs were tossed to the side, bedrolls pulled out and laid down on some hard, earth beds.

Riza pumped a lot of fog into the room so it would last the night, and they slept.

This was how they travelled. It was going to take days to get to the quarry, and this wasn’t exactly swift, but it was safe.

Another day passed without incident, and then another.

But on the fourth day, midway into it, Riza sensed something. A nest.

Orders were immediately given, Daven halting his digging.

Sitting herself down, she dropped the shared sight and focused entirely on her senses.

[Meditate] was running, blocking out the smell of the afternoon, limiting her to just touch, hearing (for safety), and her essence sense.

The world undulated around her, essence flowing here and there in faint collections. She could feel, ever so faintly, a nearby rabbit, hopping out of a burrow. The way the essence moved throughout its system, pooling in its legs just before a jump. It pulsed and breathed like blood flowing throughout a body.

The air rolled like waves, dipping and climbing and moving under the weight of itself. It was ever-present.

Further and further out her senses reached. It felt even further than before. Has my range increased?

There it was. Right on the edge, a blossoming of feeling, so compressed and compounded it was anything but the natural world.

West… northwest. Mostly west. About… two hundred metres. Easy to avoid.

Exhaling the held breath, Riza clambered back to her feet, relaying the details to Daven via [Message]. Pulling out her journey, she noted the nest down with the rest of her landmarks. Should make finding my direction easy from now on.

With the fog having lifted, she could vaguely make out civilisation in the distance but with how slow they were moving, it hardly moved on the horizon. A static image like that made for terrible navigation but a nest, with her precise positioning of its location, would be an immense help.

Something to think about later. Tiny lairs underground with a demon to help me navigate.

The days passed, and a few more nests popped up in Riza’s sense, all expertly avoided. It was almost too easy in many ways but Riza just hoped it was merely a slow week.

As the days passed and more and more ground was covered, the villages vanished into the distance and a tiny mountain range burgeoned before them, reaching out and culminating in a plateau.

The quarry.

The mountains behind it looked to bisect this province in two, the quarry being the furthest that the range extended.

It was not looking good. The massive, geodesic dome that sat atop the cliff was nowhere to be found. Bits and pieces of metal panelling that looked like they belonged to it was strewn around the quarry and beyond, and the mountain itself that housed the dome was sundered. A diagonal line bisected it, the top half crumbling and destroyed.

Any of the standing towers that used to be there were bent and broken, some ripped out of the ground and flung far away, others half buried.

The sloped down to the quarry was now a harsh drop, whatever at the bottom invisible to where Riza was looking.

And then, there was the fire. A never-ending cloud of smoke hung above the quarry with numerous columns feeding into it. Riza could make out the orange light of fires illuminating the still-standing portions of the cliff.

The quarry was destroyed.