"You... brought us a piece of your crystal?" Ian asked, stuttering at the end.

While we'd been inside negotiating, the blonde had retracted most of the bindings on the crystal that were obscuring it. As such, when our group returned to the outside and the Weirdians started to gape at the Entity, I took the opportunity to deposit Dennis on top of the cart with supplies. Rommel spotted the weary man, and stayed by his side just in case he decided to wake up and roll off the cart for some reason.

"That's the short of it," I said, finally moving to slap a hand on the crystal. "This is Wec. Currently we've been dealing with some beast issues while it is in transit, but once it is settled into the town, it should be able to give almost all the benefits of Wildwood. Plus it will grow stronger over time, but that will require more of a detailed explanation."

"But... wait. How did you... the distance? The creatures?" Ian seemed to be struggling with words, but Maurice stepped in. He placed a firm hand on his father’s shoulder before stepping forward.

"Dennis and Godfrey put me up to speed with the whole 'Skill' situation. I may not be a fighter, but there isn't a damn thing that happens in this town without me hearing it. People getting juiced up on Gifts is not hard to cause a stir in the gossip train in town," the man said, pointing to the snoring satyr and far over his shoulder as if to indicate that was where Godfrey was. After a quick check of my minimap, my suspicions were confirmed but I focused back on the conversation.

"Great, then this will make things easier. We want you to receive one of the Implants for the sake of communicating and starting to acclimate people, Ian. We aren't at the level of making them widespread, but the more they become familiar the faster the transition can be and the stronger the town grows for it."

"Me?" Ian asked in surprise. "I'm just an old man too stubborn to keep his head out of people's business. You'll have to make do with Maury."

"Uh," I said with a bit of uncertainty. It wasn't that that didn't sound like the right idea, but Clara had explained that Ian was the leader of Lake Weir. Not giving the leader the Implant would present some possibly awkward optics to the future of the Dreg Warriors.

"Son, I can read you like a book," Ian said, shaking his head and leveling his gaze at me. "You don't worry yourself none about this town while the Clarks still breathe. My daddy and his daddy ran around in this dirt, and now it's my son's turn to run around in this dirt."

"Maybe I can just walk? Running doesn't serve much purpose if you aren't going anywhere," Maurice said, looking sidelong at his father.

"Now, am I going to have to whoop your butt? You know damn well what I was talking about Maurice!" the boney handed old man wagged a fleshless finger in his face.

"To clarify, Ian is the leader of the town, but Maurice has been running it the last few years that his father has been getting up there in age," Clara said, unperturbed by the antics before us.

"She's always business, isn't she?" Maurice said, turning to his father.

"You'd do well to take a page from her book from time to time." The old man whacked his son in the back of the head enough to send him reeling, but not to the ground. The group let out a chuckle before Ian zeroed back in on me. "Clara, and by extension, you fine folk have our full support. Already your presence is making a difference, and all you've done is give the people a spectacle."

"I also made a giant ramp over your wall," I said, causing the eyes of the two men to widen. "But I'll fix it, no problem."

Once Clara was able to get them calmed down enough, she explained the process for the Implant and formally introduced Wec, who practically gave the two men heart attacks when it spoke. Maurice got the spiel on the benefits of the Implant, even for a pre-Fall person, and a promise of a brief orientation at the hands of Clara once the process was complete.

In went the thorny head, and out came a new Dreg Warrior. It was a little frightening how quick the process was becoming. Considering all that time Alan spent in research down in the Bunker, I suppose I can't complain about it being replicated by our sapient alien rock friends.

"I have triangulated a position optimal for future and current access," Wec said when Maurice was off with Clara. Ian lingered curiously as I spoke with the 'IT magic department'.

"Isn't your Influence going to be too small at this Category? How are you going to cover the whole town?" I asked.

"I will be able to cover the North, North North West and North North East areas of the town. By my calculations, if I am able to absorb the current Dreg of the hunters I should be able to expand to cover a bit further south as well."

"Very well. Ian, any objections to placing down the crystal... wherever it is it says it's a good spot?" I worried his head would come off with how fast the old man shook it.

"Whatever you need. We've been dealing with any number of issues thanks to the waves, but having a Metier Crystal to help is an amazing improvement. If it wants to go on top of the school, I'll carry it up the stairs myself!"

"Unnecessary. Between the dormitory and academic building will suffice," Wec said simply.

Without further delay, Anthony plodded towards the designated spot. As infinite as the poor ant's stamina seemed, I could practically see its relief when Samuel released it from its bindings. Like a dog getting comfortable, it spun in a circle before flopping to the ground. We all stood by, petting the creature, as Wec lifted itself off the cart. If moving the crystal, Implanting Maurice and just generally throwing the town into disorder hadn't brought a crowd, the walking Entity Cluster certainly did.

Just like Bec had done many months ago, Wec turned into a crystalline spider to clamber right onto a wide crack in the concrete between the two buildings. Instead of remaining in its hexagonal prism shape, the crystal solidified its limbs to form a hollow pyramid-like shape with a thick section of the iridescent crystal running up the center. We held our breath collectively as Wec reshaped itself slowly. When the last of its body stopped moving, a familiar membrane of pressure enveloped me. Its Influence was set.

The moment, however, was quickly broken.

"Hmm. It appears there are a number of creatures flanking to the east," Wec remarked. "Two appear to be of sufficient Quotient to ignore my Influence and push the rest towards the town."

"What!?" Ian yelled alarmed.”There was already an attack earlier today.”

The man wasn't a fighter, so I took the initiative with the information. "Wec, keep me posted. Current time frame?"

"Current speed suggests one minute, fifty three seconds...fifty two secon--"

"Got it." I cut off the Entity before it could literally count aloud to our demise. Instead, I pulled up my comm-plant and screamed the announcement wide. "Full scale attack on the east side. Retain a single Implantee for communication on the west wall. Wild Guard, move out!"

The stomp of feet, the flash of a few movement Skills, and over a dozen bodies hurling towards the east marked the start of the battle. I snapped my helm back over my head and checked that my friends were ready. Sam's femur club was held loosely in his palm and Daniela was twirling her daggers, having mounted a suddenly-spry Anthony. "Go ahead, I'll pull up the rear!"

The two didn't even turn as they flashed towards the wall. Sam clambered onto Anthony behind Daniela and I just barely saw his decentralized nervous system connect to the ant's thorax.

"What do you need from me?" Ian asked. His voice was steady, the sign of his initial surprise vanished for practised efficiency.

"We aren't going to run the town, or take over anything. All we want is for humanity to crawl out of the mud the Fall threw us back into. Strengthen your people, and we'll deal with breaking the waves that crash against the walls," I said, cracking my knuckles before jogging in the opposite direction of my friends. If we were going to be fighting, we couldn't leave an easy in like an ramp at our back.

---+---

"Three days... How are there even still things for us to kill!?" Daniela whispered from her slumped position on the wall.

"Feels like a month," Sam followed up.

"Not as bad as that time we found that old shooter game in Teach's terminal," I said, wiping the latest spray of blood off my face.

Even removed, there was an uncomfortable tingling as the crow tendril's blood tried to burn through me. Thank the Entities for Limestone Skin. Not everyone was quite as lucky. The healers moved deliberately from person to person, running glowing hands over wounds, strapping bandages made from leaves that sped up healing and one even lanced an eerie blood-red light right into people to heal their injuries.

For his part, Samuel was just a wet noodle, except for his eyes. With each twitch of his eyes, a finger thin vine wrapped around an ankle or wrist before healing energy pulsed into the person. He focused his efforts on the tankers, whose injuries were most severe and whose physical stamina was most depleted. It had been almost a day since the tankers received the Affliction, which not long after was followed by the one. It was a dangerous place to be in, since it had led to further injuries, but it was a necessity.

The only saving grace for the lower leveled people was the reprieves Level Ups gave them. Considering the fervor with which the Tendrils and their trains of monsters had been assaulting Lake Weir, I was fairly sure it was the only reason we hadn't caved. Nevertheless, the fighting was taking its toll. A slight message popped up in the periphery of my vision and I let my eyes drift over towards it. Even with the comm-plant, written messages were the purview of the Entities.

---Influence stabilized---

---Full effect of dissuasion field is in effect---

"Can I get the layman translation, Wec?" I sighed, directing my thoughts via my comm-plant at the Entity. This still drew the attention of my friends, since I'd opted to say the question out loud.

---Creature attraction field has been removed---

---Remaining incursions should contain only the members of the Tendrils---

"No more beast trains, then... About time."

"Good news?" Sam asked, quirking an eyebrow without actually turning his head.

"Seems Wec has made himself cozy enough to push out all these weaker creatures," I explained.

"Heck yes!" Daniela shouted, thumping the ground with her fist and getting an annoyed chit from Anthony, who was laying down beside her. "Sorry, buddy."

"I'm just glad the bulk is over for now. I think I've had my arm broken at least three times since we started this whole endeavor," I groaned, flexing the fingers on my left.

Thanks to the stream of vile crows, even those at Q0 and Q1 that seemed to flock the town, my H-shield had been taking a heavy toll. When another gaggle of anoles and chameleons rushed up from the south east, I had attempted to pull the same tongue-sticking move from our first encounter, only for the whole thing to explode into scorching hot chitin shrapnel. Had I not been covered in , the Item's critical failure would have left me worse off than the chameleon that attacked me. Thankfully, the explosion did enough of a number on the creature by cauterizing its tongue very painfully. That gave me the chance to close the distance with an X of .

Less fortunately was my need to rely on to cover the huge gap in defense my shield filled. Lacking a medieval defense trainer, I had probably been using my shield poorly. Even with that being the case, I'd developed an effective system of countering and charging that fit well with the force dispersal Trait. When I was trying to disperse the force with a quarter inch thick stone plate, the whole effort was a whole lot more jarring. No matter how much mana I empowered with, the Skill only formed faster instead of thicker. When I finally took the time to Amplify it using my helm, the Skill had the audacity to only thicken another quarter inch, but instead get passed on to one of my nearby allies. the Skill had changed to. While that addition had been a gamechanger for reducing the damage the frontline tanks and I received, it didn't solve the issue and habit I had of blocking with my left arm.

It was during those rambling, exhausted thoughts that every hair on my body jumped to attention. Without even needing to look around, my eyes and the eyes of every defender in Lake Weir spotted the black shadow enshrouded in purple that flew far in the distance. The appendage made a slow, arcing pass before heading back northwest. Back towards where the Corrupted Entity had gone and where the Death Zone was.

There is still work to be done.

"Why is it taunting us like that?" Samuel asked, finally gathering enough strength to rise to his feet with a hand from one of his own .

"I think it knows it can't take us alone," Daniela answered. "It's not the first time it's passed us by, remember?"

"Yes, how could I forget it?" Sam said, shuddering. "That makes it five since we saw it over Wildwood."

"It's smart, or at least whoever directs it is. This means that it is scouting us out and these attacks are either meant to probe our strength or wear us out," I said, sighing.

"I don't think I like either of those options, Ron," Sam said, helping Danny to her feet.

All I could do was nod my head as I ran through a few plans in my head. With Wec stabilized, we would have to move the developments of the towns into high gear-- at the very least Stonecrest and Wildwood. If Lake Weir remained the battleground, I didn't think the town would be able to make many strides outside of subsisting. I didn't want to leave the town hanging, but if we didn't build up the rest of our resources then all three towns would fall like Summerfield.

"Danny, I need you to do me a favor."

"I'm not gonna like this, but go ahead," Daniela said, standing straight, cracking her back and retying her brunette waves into a tight bun. The fire gills and the lines of red that spiderwebbed away from them stood out against the grime and mess that we were all caked in.

"We need eyes on Summerfield. I don't know what we should expect from the town, but a fortified position in the hands of Tendrils is pretty close to a nightmare situation. Once that is done, we'll head back to Wildwood. Hopefully Alan will have something for us, because I am not keen on having a repeat of the bold escape that Dreg Corrupted bastard pebble pulled." My head was already throbbing, and the headache sent needles through my eyes. "That's all I've got. Maybe wait till dawn to leave, we could all use a break..."

"Don't have to tell me twice," she said, sheathing her daggers in her lower back. It was a rough thing that Sam had weaved, and it had to be replaced regularly due to the sharpness of her weapons, but it was an easier carry. "I'll get Devon up to speed."

The slightest of grimaces flashed on my face. Apparently, I could be read like a book. Well, at least by my friends.

"Any kind of business I have with tall and broody is none of yours, Ronan. I didn't criticize all the time you've spent with Clara, or that merlady Jolene for that matter. He's good people, good back up, and great at making an escape. If what you are suggesting is the case for Summefield, then him and I will be walking straight out of the pan, through the fire and into the damn coals. So, I will see you before I leave but you best keep your face in the mud until I don't feel like smacking it down a peg," Daniela hissed. She hissed all of that, and for the entire duration of the exchange I watched her gills flare so that she didn't even need to take a breath. It was an impressive talkin' to and left me properly mollified.

The latina shoved her way past me. Samuel sighed heavily and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Worst time, Ron. Worst time. He finally got the... what did she call it... cojones, to ask her out."

"What? Why am I just hearing about this now!?" I asked, turning around to go after Daniela. Not only was she gone from sight, the last of her armor disappearing over the crapshoot that was Lake Weir's wall, but Sam's grip on my shoulder held me firmly in place.

"Because you like to clash."

"Clash? What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, feeling my exhaustion and confusion mixing dangerously with my frustration.

"Devon? That Rachael lady? The entire Council back in Wildwood?" Sam rattled off, counting on his fingers.

"Deserved!" I growled, my voice slipping and drawing looks from the other Wild Guard, trainees and the few hunters from the town. Upon feeling their looks, I returned them and they all scurried away like roaches in the light.

"This. Stop, Ronan."

"Sto--" My friend's palm found my cheek perfectly. The smoothness of the strike actually drew me up short as my head rattled and the force was slowly distributed thanks to my Traits. The shock was more at Samuel hitting me than from the blow's damage.

"You are pulled too tight, Ron," Sam said more gently once my eyes finally landed on his. The glisten of tears on his blue eyes strangled the retort my lizard brain was getting ready to shout at him. "I understand things have been hard. Harder than any slog living in the Bunker might have put us through. But snapping at your friends just as you finally start to rely on us is no way for us to move forward."

I worked my jaw, trying to come up with something to say but my blabbering mouth failed me. There were no snide retorts, or anger in his voice, which meant it would be wrong for mine to carry those. When my brain couldn't work something out after several seconds, Samuel sighed. A much gentler palm met my face and his coursed through me, removing the slight sting of his slap and relieving any number of minor injuries I'd been carrying around since the last fight.

The blonde didn't say anything after that, making his way over to the group of healers. Thanks to my Perception, I could hear them discussing how they'd each gone about using their Skills to heal, and how they might be able to benefit from each other's techniques and focus. Samuel mentioned that talking with any old doctors in the town could be a good direction. The rest of the Life Attuned agreed quickly, their group scattering back into Lake Weir.

Sam's eyes and mine met one last time before he was over the side, leaving me alone but for the sentry posted on the wall who made a deliberate effort not to look at me. A small gelatinous appendage nudged my leg and I petted Blobby's uncloaked form.

"What am I doing, bud? Just because I'm not a fan of someone I push all my friends away in one fell swoop?" The slime didn't have an answer, of course, but at least he remained at my side. My thoughts were stormy as I made my own way over the wall and Blobby filtered himself through the rusted cars. A pair of Weirdians would be out to collect what meat they could from the mess of low Quotient creatures left beyond the walls. They didn't need my help, and I was sure my mind could use a break for more than one reason.