February 24, 2019, 8:59 pm. Just your typical Sunday.

We don't wait at the transmitter, cause that's not where the cleansing chamber is set up. To my surprise, not even five minutes after the quest is sent out, I have more than twenty Fallen who've accepted the teleport. They arrive in the former Fallen's compound, one in each of the huts with a former Fallen waiting for them. For safety, I only bring in one at a time. It slows things down, but seriously, I wasn't expecting this much of a rush.

Smoulder helps simply by being present, pressing her head against my cheek whenever I'm starting to worry or lose focus. And I have to keep an active focus on the connection to the matrix to teleport them in. A process I can’t augment with Focus if I want to have enough to teleport everyone.

By the time we're done processing the initial respondents, nearly forty Fallen are in the compound. Trellani is running checks on the Cleansing chamber and there's some amount of nervous chatter from the current Fallen as they wait. When Trellani asks for a volunteer, it takes a minute before a smaller Fallen steps forward. Their body is in worse shape than most Fallen, their left leg showing clear bone and both of their right arms just... missing. Trellani takes her time escorting the Fallen inside the chamber, having to adjust the stabilizing straps to make up for the Fallen's missing arms.

Then she climbs out and throws the switch. When the mana-dust clears, and the former Fallen emerges completely restored, with all four arms and a healthy leg, the reticence of the crowd is replaced by several Fallen trying to rush forward at once.

Which is when I step in. "Alright," my voice booms, thanks to a slight amplification using Twilight and Wind magic. "We're doing this based on your remaining ambient mana. I'll be pointing you out, and then you'll go in order. This is to make sure you're all as healthy as possible when we finish. Understand?"

There's some grumbling, and one Fallen looks like they're about to object, so... I crack the sky. Only a little. But I teleport a small area above me away, not making it neat. Which leaves an effect similar to a mana-storm strike, if a fair bit weaker.

In a level voice, I ask again, "Understand?"

This time, everyone lines up as directed, a few glances thrown my way, but no more objections. Smoulder nods in smug satisfaction as they get cleansed. I'm only paying partial attention, as another few requests for teleportation come through. When they emerge to see Fallen being actively cleansed, it makes things go a lot smoother.

The next twelve hours go by without much incident. I am starting to feel a little tired, but I've stayed up for 72 hours before I was superhuman, so I know I can manage it. Especially with Rufka bringing me tea that'll keep me awake. Too bad it doesn't function as a replacement for sleep.

Once I reach twenty-four hours from the time I woke up, the condition sleep-deprived is added, halving all my base pool regenerations, and requiring seven hours of sleep to clear. Doesn't affect Facet, at least. When Roberts attempts to heal it, he reduces the time required to clear it down to four hours but can’t get rid of the condition itself.

It's around hour thirty-five that we get our first real problem. The Fallen arrives simply enough, but they demand to be shown to our leader. Thankfully, Beth takes on the role, since I'm kinda tired, and still distracted. When he tries to attack her, I barely notice until he's slumping down at her feet.

A couple hours later, Vethel shows up, and demands to know what exactly we're doing in her Stronghold. Again, someone else answers her. Rufka this time, though I am standing nearby and nodding when appropriate. There's a moment of stunned silence followed by harsh laughter. Then a sad shake of her head as she walks away.

After she leaves, I return to playing with my aura, testing my ability to expand and contract it. Two hours of practice later, Tipan reports that someone visited the control matrix. But they can’t disable our modifications. Which makes sense, they'd have to be willing to shut it down or replace it to get rid of everything we've done. And it wouldn't even matter. We have the connections already.

Tipan was able to confirm it was an agent of the council, and we've passed the information to the K'mintar, but I learn nothing more.

When I hit hour forty-eight, my condition worsens to sleep exhaustion. Which reduces my regeneration of my main resources by ninety percent. Amusingly, it boosts my Facet regeneration by ten percent for some reason. When I mention that to Tipan, she asks for specific details. Then she says she needs to check some books. I've forgotten about it, playing a simple game of Astra's stride with Smoulder, pretty much at the limit of my processing ability, when Tipan comes back.

"There are a few similar records of sleep exhaustion increasing resource regeneration. The Dream, Sleep and Wisdom resources are all confirmed to be linked to having increased regeneration from exhaustion."

"That's funny," I slur out. "Being exhausted makes Sleep."

"I... Lexi, how many more are there?" Tipan asks, and it takes me a second to realize she's asking how many Fallen haven't accepted the teleport yet.

"Uhm... forty-two? No, forty-one," I say, as I realize there's a pending teleport waiting. As they appear in the designated shack, I turn my attention back to Tipan. She said something, but I missed it.

"What was that?" I ask. I could replay the memory, but that would require Focus. And that's not regenerating so fast at the moment.

"You only need to last another twelve hours Lexi. Then you can sleep," Tipan says, squeezing my shoulder before getting up.

I nod at her, closing my eyes for a second, before forcing them back open. Going without sleep is hard without caffeine. Even the teas Rufka was giving me stopped working after forty-eight hours. The System doesn't like people going without sleep, it seems. When I reach seventy-two hours without sleep, my primary resources stop regenerating. And my Facet's regeneration rate is doubled. Tipan seems fascinated by this, taking notes as I gaze into the distance.

The remaining hours are mostly spent on my feet, with Rufka at my side. Or Roberts. Josh and Beth too. Tipan... I still need to talk to her about the book, and while we're pacing, I attempt to do exactly that. But somehow, she misunderstands my question, and I end up learning about how Ivicka taught her to read when she was a cub.

Then Rufka is back, and I get another couple dozen acceptances. One of whom attacks the former Fallen who greets them. But after the first attack, we're prepared, and Roberts' barrier stops them in their tracks. They're detained, using one of the K'mintar's mana-spikes to drain them before attaching mana-blocking shackles. They'll receive just enough mana to keep them alive... I think. It's hard to remember Trellani's explanation.

She was pretty excited; I do remember that.

Less than ten minutes after the one who attacked, we get another desperate Fallen. But this one wants us to return with her to save her sister. She's been providing her sister her own mana. I recognize her, even through the fog of memory. She was one of the original three Fallen we saved. The ones who didn't bend under Ivicka's rule. Sad to see she wasn’t able to stay free.

Is that our fault?

Unfortunately, she was stationed in Aethire, so I can't teleport her sister out. I'm still apologizing to her when Rufka pulls me away and Beth explains that her sister is being extracted. It makes me realize there are other Fallen who might not know.

"We failed," I say, staring out at the ocean. There are still no waves. It feels like there should be waves.

"No," Rufka says, squeezing my hand. "We just haven't finished succeeding yet."

"Oh," I reply, nodding into her shoulder. "That makes sense."

At ten minutes, there are less than twice that in Fallen who didn't accept the teleport. There are few enough of them, that if I was still well-rested, I could Focus on them, and determine how they're doing. But I don't have the spare Focus for that. I barely have enough Focus to teleport all the Fallen, should they choose to accept at the last minute.

Somehow, the last ten minutes stretch out to feel like they're longer than the six hours before. It probably doesn't help that instead of walking the perimeter, I'm sitting and staring at the cleansing chamber.

But I can't shake the feeling that there's one more emergency I need to be ready for.

It never comes. My self-imposed countdown passes, and I release the strands.

The moment I let go, my mind snaps back to clarity. Rufka and Smoulder are with me. Tipan is sitting nearby, talking quietly with a far less quiet Trellani.

"Hey, you did it," Rufka says, squeezing my hand. I nod, accepting a long thin container full of a red juice. I take a long pull of the too-sweet drink, finishing it in one motion. At some point, I stopped eating. That was foolish of me.

"I should sleep," I say, looking around the compound. "But not here."

I don't wait for anyone to say anything. I've spent the last three days pulling people closer to me from across the continent. The effort it takes to bring my friends closer then teleport us all to Nexus point 392 is negligible in comparison. Then I open the door to Raz's. It says it's still another three hours before it'll be in proper alignment. But I follow the tether that still exists. And I push through it, teleporting us into Raz's lobby. Then I order one of Raz's ready meals, taking large bites out of some fresh stew while pulling Rufka after me up the stairs. I barely finish the large bowl before pushing into my personal room.

When I see the bed, I forget everything else, moving over and collapsing.

At the last second, I realize I've committed a horrible sin.

For the second time in a year, I've gone to sleep without cleaning my teeth.

...TPWM...

February 28, 2019, 9:17 am. The last day of February. At least in 2019.

The morning comes earlier than I expected, and it greets me alongside Rufka's fur covered... leg? Looking down, Rufka is reading a book, her leg sprawled across my chest. Smoulder is parked in her lap as she leans her head back over the side, tilted at an angle she's going to regret. Right as soon as I figure out how to-

My plans are derailed when Rufka sticks her foot in my face, causing me to panic and flip them both off the bed.

"Sorry Smoulder," I apologize as she hops free of my thiani, who is struggling to free herself from the bedsheet without tearing it. Which is when I strike.

After a good morning wrestle, we take a long bath together. Once I feel properly relaxed and clean, we join the others for... lunch. Wow, that really was a long bath. Yep, it was all the bath.

"Morning, didn't expect to see you up so soon," Beth says as we join them. "We've been talking about what to do now. Now that we're all level ten, we're going to need advancement points if we want to hit Copper. But we're not certain that's required. You took out a Sentinel without me. Congrats on that, by the way. And from what Wyonna's said, we don't need to be Copper to fly the Sanctuaries."

I blink at her, then hold up a finger, opening the menu and ordering food. I close it, then think again, and add another two meals to my order. And a drink with some kick.

"Sorry, you were saying?" I say once my breakfast that is totally not brunch is on the way.

"She was saying, we're ready to focus on going home," Josh says, smiling over the table at me. "There's some other stuff we can do while working towards that goal. But it's time to get off Akilo."

"Won't be that simple," Roberts says as he sets down his fork. "We've interfered with the Aetherium. They won't forget about it."

"Which means we do have reason to get stronger," Rose says, elbowing Josh. "If only to make sure everyone survives long enough to get off Akilo."

"Mhm. Mum's not great at protecting people either. No attention span," Rufka notes stealing bacon off my plate before Raz is even able to place it on my table.

As I'm attempting to steal some of her green fruit in a pale imitation of revenge, Raz adds. "Copper-rank means your subclasses will be stronger too. Which will help if you need to make repairs."

This last is directed at Tipan and Rufka, who're the only ones who've had time to become competent Enchanters. That's the only reason I can think of as to why the subclass isn't offered to me. Maybe I should try to level one of the engineering subclasses? Might be useful for repairs.

Leaving the others to the meeting, I wander into the bathroom, my plate with bacon in hand to prevent idle theft. Inside, I double check and I still don't have any enchanting subclasses available, so I search through the engineering ones instead.

When I see Voidtech Engineer, I have to double back. That can't be... it's under the engineering category. There's no way... hmm. It's not like I can't equip each of the subclasses to see what they do.

"Subclass Equipped: Voidtech Engineer."

"Partial Credit for Banked Engineer Experience has advanced the subclass to Level 11. Partial Credit for Banked Enchanting Experience has advanced the subclass to Level 12."

"Voidtech Engineer Subclass Abilities Unlocked: 'Basic Enchantment Guide', 'Voidcraft, Rippledrives and You', 'Never in the Dark', 'The Wrong Tool for the Job is Better than No Tool', 'There and Back Again', "Fake it Till you Make it'."

I just stare at the second line. Then down to the first ability, blinking rapidly. It really is... I had an enchanting subclass all this time.

The first ability is pretty much what it says. It gives me guidance when I'm doing basic enchanting. Little nudges, similar to the [Melee Weapon] skill when I'm using my chakrams, sans warrior princess. Voidcraft, Rippledrives and you, is similar providing a lot more insight but only applies to anything related to interstellar ships. Or stations. And it's tied directly to the codexes I've had rattling around in my brain forever. Never in the Dark is...

I snap my fingers, and my forehead lights up, flooding the bathroom with a warm blue light. Guess they can't all be winners.

The Wrong Tool lets me create enchanting and engineering tools out of mana. They're temporary, and incredibly expensive. Just creating a basic scrivener, the tool Trellani uses for the most basic tracing, costs nearly a thousand mana. And only lasts for, okay, twelve hours isn't bad. But still, that's more mana than I'd regenerate in that amount of time. And using it reduces the amount of time it stays effective for. Pretty much a last-ditch ability.

There and back again... I collapse, laughing. It lets me build devices to grant me short range teleports. Theoretically, if I could get my hands on enough Copper-rank essence, it would allow longer range teleportation too. Up to a kilometre away. And they're only good for my personal use. I can't even make them for others. Though... I can share the design, so maybe not a complete loss.

Fake it is... it lets me create permanent Voidcraft enchanting components out of mana. Which is basically... everything. Every part we used in the chamber and the array is used in Voidcraft too.

When I check the cost, I almost faint. Creating a simple single direction mana-flow tube would cost ten-thousand mana. The ability isn't totally useless though. I can invest mana in chunks, slowly building up the parts. Also, I could create the parts to build a permanent scrivener. Only sixty-five thousand mana, total. With my current regen rate that's... only like, fifty-three days.

So, longer than I've been on Akilo.

Still, it should get cheaper as the subclass gains levels. And if we advance to copper-rank, my mana should shoot up. This could be very useful for getting the Sanctuaries repaired. Especially for rare parts.

Deciding to explore my other options while I’m here, I switch over to the regular engineering class. Which doesn't benefit from the banked experience bonus and begins at level 1.

Glad I chose the Voidcraft Engineer as my first option. I go through the rest of my subclasses, paying closer attention to special sounding subclass names.

I have one for Zanbia Friend, which goes to level three and is a wilderness survival subclass. It also increases my ability to communicate with Zanbia, which is pretty niche, but also pretty cool.

Then there's a subclass called Vigil's Shadow, which I can only assume is related to the Taken. When I select it, I get banked experience for being covert, which gets the subclass to level two. Its only ability is guidance on how to craft better magical and mundane disguises. Which for a basic level ability seems useful.

The final special subclass is Desh'mersa jockey. Which I decide not to unlock. Tipan's explained it to me before, and it's mostly focused on improved flight and toughness. But only inside a Desh'mersa ring. Probably could've used it back in the arena, but I'm pretty sure I didn't have it unlocked yet.

Smiling at myself, I switch my class back to Voidcraft Engineer. As I get to my feet, I glance over to the mirror and freeze. Then I take a few steps closer. I haven't taken a close look at myself in... weeks. Since the last time I stood in front of this mirror without Rufka to distract me.

I'm... sturdy. There's a weight to my stance I would normally associate with someone like Beth. Flexing my hands, I note the wraps look... good. Right in a way they wouldn't have a month ago. Like... I know how to hit someone and make them stay down.

But... that's just arrogance talking, I'm pretty sure.

I'm still no warrior princess.

...

Then again... I do have my own castle.