"Hey, Loran!" Loran is snapped from his thoughts as he hears Yang calling out as she walked up to his side. "You bored out of your mind yet?"

"I think the insanity started setting in a while ago," he said with a deadpan stare. "How about you?"

She sighed. "At this rate I'm going to go pick a fight with Zed for the hell of it."

"If you do let me know ahead of time, okay?"

"So you can help me, or start prepping the popcorn?"

"Yes."

That managed to get a chuckle out of her and a small grin from him. Unfortunately, the levity wouldn't last for long, as they both knew that they were still days away from Ziege Basin.

"How much longer until something interesting happens?" Yang asked.

"We should be about a day away from Iron Ant territory. Soze said we would start provoking them along the way to gain some more EXP before the raid."

"Even after all the farming we helped them do?" Yang asked.

After taking numerous hunting parties into the woods to track down Iron Ant Drones, the players of the raid expedition were all above Level 24 at least, with a few reaching Level 28, matching Yang.

Loran shrugged. "It doesn't hurt to be too careful. Besides, they may have fought the individual Drones, but I shouldn't have to tell you that fighting a swarm is infinitely worse."

"True..."

"I never got to ask, how's the new armor?" Loran asked. Hearing his question, Yang grinned and pulled out her new equipment with [TOGGLE ARMOR]. As one of the Tank players who would be expecting to take a lot of damage during this fight, she was one of the few players to be given a full set of new armor. Yang's new set was about as bulky as her old Maple Wood set, but was covered with large chunks of Iron Ant carapace that were polished to a mirror shine.

[NAME]: Reinforced Wooden Armor

[QUALITY]: Common

[TYPE]: Equipment(Body)

[DURABILITY]: 800/800

[STATS]: 30 Armor

[AFFINITY/REQUIREMENTS]

END: 30

STR: 30

[DESCRIPTION]

A set of wooden armor that has had pieces of Iron Ant Carapace pressed into its surface. The heated carapace has become more rigid after cooling, but the iron within and the wood beneath provide the necessary flexibility to avoid shattering.

"I see you've gone back to having the most broken defense in the village again." Between Yang's new armor, her high Endurance, and the [TOUGH HIDE] Skill, her average Armor was now 62, surpassing even The Monster in terms of damage reduction, and her massive HP only made her even more terrifying.

"What can I say, not taking damage seems like a pretty good idea," she says as she unequips the armor. "Althoughh..." she holds up a hand, and a bead of mana rises from it. "Healing is also pretty good."

"You learned magic?" Loran asked, mildly surprised.

"I'm not that good at it. I couldn't even learn the Skills myself," she said begrudgingly. "Fortunately, I'm only interested in the Basic Heal spell, so spending a few points to learn that isn't so bad."

Yang's ability to heal herself was limited at the moment. With her Intelligence and Spirit stats at 10, the Basic Heal spell could only turn 1 MP into 1 HP, essentially just giving her an extra 100 HP. while still a significant increase, it wasn't that much compared to her already impressive 1125 HP. Putting those Ability Points into Endurance would have actually made her significantly tougher, but Yang wasn't worried about that.

More endurance might make her harder to kill, but magic gave her options that she wouldn't have otherwise. The Basic Heal spell could be used on others in an emergency, and she was also practicing offensive magic in her free time. Yang already had the highest Armor and HP in the village, she didn't need to think about surviving damage anymore. With her foundations as a Tank established, it was time to beef up her offensive capabilities.

Loran nodded, understanding her reasoning. "What exactly are you having trouble with? Getting the shapes right?"

"I wish it were that simple," she said, shaking her head. "I'm struggling to hold onto the mana."

Loran's eyes widened. "Even with Mana Sense?"

"Yeah. I tried learning the Skill on my own but that was near impossible. I spent a whole day in sensory deprivation and barely managed to feel anything. Even now that I have it the mana feels..." she paused as she thought of the right word to describe it. "It's slippery I guess? I can move it well enough, but the shapes feel weird."

"That's... honestly a little shocking." For Loran, shape manipulation seemed like an incredibly simple process. All it took was concentration and visualization. He could understand having trouble without the [MANA SENSE] Skill, but after learning it the system seemed to make the process so much easier to the point of feeling effortless. "...can you show me?"

"What?"

"Show me the Basic Heal spell. I want to see if you're doing anything weird."

Yang looked at him skeptically for a moment but shrugged and began casting the spell. With the bead of mana floating above her hand, she began pulling it in every direction to make it expand. It took her nearly a minute, but after a few mistakes, she finally managed to make the mana disappear and become the invisible healing spell. "So? How was that?"

"Yeah, I think I know what the problem is," Loran said confidently. "What are you imagining to make it expand?"

"I guess I'm trying to pull on it?"

"Try imagining the bead expanding on its own. Like it's just filling up the space you want."

Yang wasn't sure how that was supposed to make a difference, but she did as he suggested. She then had to stop herself from gasping as the bead began to expand much faster and with far less effort from her. She didn't have full control over it and nearly lost control of the spell, but this method was clearly much faster. "Why was that so much better?"

"The way you visualize what you want has an effect on the mana," Loran explained. "Mana naturally wants to dissipate like smoke, but by trying to pull on it, you inevitably end up imagining a counter force that you need to pull against." He shrugged. "It's not impossible to do it the way you were, but the more you let the mana do what it wants to the easier it gets."

"That...kind of sounds like bullshit."

"A little, but it is what it is. Maya already proved that mana responds to intent, this is probably just an early example of that."

Loran began to explain that impressing different ideas onto mana, which players were starting to call idea manipulation, required different stats for different ideas. Maya was still practicing with the anti-debuff spell but was the only one with the stats to do so. Several players had managed to learn how to make flexible mana constructs, and a few were able to figure out how to use fire magic. However, after getting some players that still had low Intelligence and Spirit to help, they discovered that even the basic stats were enough to exert some influence over mana.

Mana in New Eden Online was controlled directly through thought, and as a result, could be influenced even by the caster's subconscious. The best way to cast spells was to understand the natural behaviors of mana and align your thoughts to them.

As Loran finished speaking, Yang stared at him silently for a few moments before speaking.

"Can you try to sound a little less pretentious?"

Loran's expression soured. "Oh fuck off."

"No seriously, that last part sounded like a monk trying to explain the secrets of enlightenment to me."

"That's just how magic works, I didn't make the rules!"

"I know that, but that doesn't mean you need to sound like a kung-fu master trying to ascend to the heavens."

"Can you jus-OOF!?"

Before Loran could finish speaking, the player in front of him had stopped moving and he walked straight into them. Before he could ask why he realized that all the players in towards the front of the group had stopped.

Turning to Yang with a look of concern, and getting one in return, the two of them rushed toward the front. Along the way, Loran began to make out small snippets of conversations.

What he heard...

"...why are they..."

"...It's too early..."

"...tomorrow?..."

"...too many..."

"...fight that?!..."

...did not fill him with confidence.

It wasn't long before he was able to see Soze and Yin standing at the top of a hill. He ran up next to him.

"Hey! What's going...on..." Loran voice trailed off as he looked on past the hill, receiving his answer.

Iron Ant territory.

Despite the fact that they were a little over a day away from the previously marked borders, the Iron Ant Drones were here. Just as when Loran had found them with Alexx and Zed, the Drones were moving across long winding paths through the tall grass. Some of the Drones could be seen carrying away clearing away trees and bushes, expanding the clearing that extends into the distance. A few of the players with high Perception looked up and could see a few Iron Ant Soldiers hovering in the sky.

"You were right," Soze told Loran bitterly. "The increased spawn rates are messing with the ecosystem."

"I don't get it," Yang said. "Didn't the spawn rates increase for everything? Why are they expanding so easily?"

"Well it's not like they had much competition in the woods in the first place," Loran pointed out. "Before they just didn't need the space. Now that they have a higher population they're just weeding out the weak."

Soze's eyes widened. "This...this is bad."

"Soze? What's wrong?" Yin asked.

"The Iron Ants might have taken the basin already."

Several of the players nearby gasped, but most were skeptical.

"How?" Yang said, finding the idea laughable. "The Iron Ants and Mountain Goats have been fighting long enough for them to practically have a blood rivalry going. Why would they cave now?"

"The spawn rate increase helps the ants way more than the goats," Soze said quickly. "Insects reproduce faster than mammals and reach maturity sooner too. It will take time for any mammals to reach their new maximum population, but for the Iron Ants, it could easily have happened in a week or two. The raid we missed could have easily been twice the size of the one you guys saw. Do you think the Mountain Goat could survive their enemies getting that much stronger in such a short timeframe?"

The crowd went silent. Even if they were hopeful and said that the new spawn rates have only had time to double the number of Drones and not any of the more powerful variants, everyone had already heard about how the battle at Ziege Basin was a war of attrition. Having double the cannon fodder in that kind of situation could still have a huge impact. It was all too easy to imagine the mighty Mountain Goats being overwhelmed as a battle that already took hours suddenly doubled in length.

Suddenly, a voice called out.

"They can handle it!"

Everyone turned to the new voice and saw Alvor riding atop Van.

"The goats are fine," another voice, Zed, said.

"Is that another one of your hunches?" Soze asked, a small smirk starting to appear on his face.

Zed shrugged and said nothing else, feeling that he had made his point.

"Yeah," Yang said. "The ants might have the numbers, but the goats still have the terrain advantage. And more importantly..."

"They have Beskyd," Alvor said confidently.

Everyone in the village had heard about The Guardian Elder when Yang and the others returned from the basin, but hearing about the named monster's stats and Skills wasn't enough to understand just how overpowering she was. She was the most powerful entity they had seen in New Eden Online to this day and her Unique Skill gave her infinite stamina. Everyone who had seen her fight knew she wouldn't go down so easily. Even the system recognized her power, having her description say that as long as she lived the Mountain Goats would be fine.

"We're going there anyway," Zed said. "We'll find out soon enough."

Soze sighed. He was still worried. Part of the reason fighting in the raid wasn't too dangerous was that the Mountain Goats would be providing a lot of support. If they had really been wiped out, then they would be walking deep into Iron Ant territory on their own.

Still, as he looked around people were looking more confident, and it was true that the goats could be fine.

"Alright, we keep going." Soze raised his voice. "Sorry for the delay, let's-"

"EVERYONE PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" Loran shouted.

Loran's outburst surprised everyone, but they quickly understood the reason for his panic.

A massive force of Iron Ant Drones was heading directly toward them, along with several Soldiers in the sky.