Okeria tossed me a half dozen metal rings all stuck together. “That took a little longer than I thought it would, but you’ve got your part ta play for the moment. Get that teleport anchor ta the next crystal. I’ll keep ya in touch if we end up needin’ your help somewhere else.”

“Anything I should know before I go?” I asked as I sent the anchors to my inventory. “You’ve got cameras everywhere. Is Keratily fighting Inopsy alone, or does she have reinforcements?”

“Alone. And from her body language alone, she’s pissed.” Okeria said with stone-cold seriousness. “The first blows haven’t even been exchanged yet, but she’s screamin’ somethin’ about how Inopsy managed ta get outta the crystals.”

So she didn’t know about Annette yet. All she knew was that whatever destroyed those crystals was most likely in the process of destroying one right now–not that it was a person doing it. And a relatively weak one at that.

I summoned a much smaller version of my hydra and let it climb on top of my head. “Anything strange about Viri? Is she sneaking off to make deals with Scalovera or Endra?”

“Nah, she’s fightin’ right alongside Thorn. Looks like she’s got a little crush on the big guy, though I’m not sure if it’s romantic or idolistic. Start walkin’ and I’ll join ya until ya get outta here.”

He pushed himself away from the table and swiped open his interface. Countless little screens surrounded him in a dome, then compressed down into his helmet in a split second. If he was managing to take in that much information without fail, then he was one-hundred percent right in insisting to stay as a support. All we had to do was get strong enough to justify leaving him out.

“So nothing wrong with our troops as of yet?” I asked as we walked down the hallways, quiet for the first time in days. “This feels so… wrong. Empty. Like we’ve already lost, and we just haven’t figured it out yet.”

Okeria smacked me on the shoulder. “Don’t get down. Your mental state affects your performance a whole lot more than ya think, and we don’t need a pessimist out there doin’ some of the most important jobs. Don’t forget that you’re the backup plan for literally every facet of this operation.”

“As if there wasn’t enough pressure on me already.” I rolled my eyes and forced oil through my armor. “Do I need to stay with the teleporter to activate it, or can Annette do it on her own?”

“Annette can…” Okeria trailed off, then spat a curse. “Drown me, I knew I was forgettin’ somethin’. Annette don’t have a teleportation anchor, and I wasn’t preparin’ for a function when she left. You’ll have ta get one ta her, then run through the city ta the next anchor before Keratily overpowers Inopsy.”

“That’s a little more work than just planting an anchor, you know.” I laughed warily. But somehow, it took some of the weight off my shoulders. Like the fact that I’d have a more direct effect on everything made me more confident. “I’ll run there as fast as I can. Is it safe to take a completely straight line?”

Okeria shrugged as we rounded the corner to the room that led out. “I ain’t got a clue, sorry. It’s not one of the places we designated as high-risk, but I’ll send two drones with ya ta scout ahead. Take these, too. Just in case ya get somethin’ great from Keratily.”

He pressed a dozen more Okeria-connecting pills into my hand, all contained in a neat little glass tin. I stored them away in my inventory, mentally placing them next to the teleportation anchors.

“If that happens, it’ll be a wonderful miracle.” I gathered my clearance and shoved it at the wall. “Keep an eye on Viri for me. Playing stupid like she has is a really good way to make people think less of you, and she has a nearly perfect core for sneaking away to do shady shit in the heat of battle.”

Okeria tapped his head. “Already done. Oh, did ya upgrade the rest of your armor yet? Because now’s probably the last few minutes of downtime we’re gonna have for the next week or so.”

No, I had not. I only had four pieces of oilblossom armor, which left another five for me to corrupt. I had enough potential to do it, but I’d completely forgotten about it. And I didn’t have enough time to bother with the specifics, so I just opened my core and shoved everything in there with the intent of making everything into oilblossom pieces.

Potential drained out of me like I was a broken pipe. More than I’d expected, and suddenly I stood before the tear in just my casual clothes. My core function had taken the pieces that were already corrupted for some reason, and when I swiped away from the working function, I saw that it had also taken potential for those pieces.

“It’s doing something weird.” I sighed. “I really should’ve waited. If this reverts everything back to level one, I’m going to be at a massive stat disadvantage.”

“I doubt your benefactor would do that.” Okeria assured me. “And if it is, I’ve got a set of armor that I can loan ya with pretty high stats. Not quite as good as the maximum ya had from your pieces, but better than the minimum.”

//CREATION COMPLETE.

//FULL SET CREATED: OILBLOSSOM.

//PIECES HAVE BEEN CONSUMED TO BECOME A PART OF A GREATER WHOLE.

That sounded… good, I guess? Or it could be an absolutely huge mistake that I’d have serious trouble recovering from. Maybe I’d need that set Okeria just offered me after all.

//OILBLOSSOM-SANCTUARY(//CORRUPTED,Professional).

Core mastery requirement: Variable. Currently 35.

Current item mastery: 1

//SLYKENED-SOUL: While powered with Slyk Oil, grants an empowered interface and functions are 10+X% stronger in all facets.

Oils from stronger Slyk grant larger X values and drain their energy slower.

This armor grows stronger with the user’s blood-oil.

Upgrades at mastery [1]/22/49/76/???

Well, I’d definitely just lost a good chunk of stats, that’s for sure. And if ‘empowered interface’ was the same as the marking function on my helmet, then I’d also just lost a chunk of damage and damage reduction. It really didn’t feel like an upgrade in the slightest, except for the fact that it was one item to level up instead of nine individual ones. Of course, that could also mean it’d take nine times as long to level up.

I donned it anyway. The stat loss was instantly noticeable. “Looks like I traded raw power for stronger functions. If that includes all the functions from my trinkets, then it's probably a good trade in the long run.”

“Hrm. Too bad we can’t really gamble on the long run at the moment.” Okeria hummed in thought. “Ya want the other suit?”

“Let me try one more thing first.”

My ribbons fluttered on my shoulder, and I called on Sotrien’s Sin. Endless lost a little bit of its luster, and my armor greedily absorbed everything it had lost. I swiped over to see how many levels it had gained, and unfortunately, it looked like it was all nine pieces combined.

“Okay, that only gave me fourteen levels. This was probably a huge mistake.” I hissed and poured all the leftover experience I had into my new armor. The number ticked up six more times–one too low for the item mastery upgrade. “Shit. I need one more level on this thing.”

“Then use it. Put that function of yours that crystalizes experience on Keratily’s crystal and see if it gives ya anythin’ when Annette destroys it.” Okeria said with a little more insistence than before. “Inopsy’s sendin’ a message every few seconds that’s just in-combat gibberish, so he’s definitely on the backfoot. Get movin’, and good luck.”

I nodded and backed through the portal. It snapped shut the second all of me was through, closing Okeria and the facility in complete safety. All the civilians I’d rescued who weren’t fighting were in there, and so was our supply of healing stuff. Which meant one of Jun, Mortician, and I had to be here to get anyone in.

There was no time to waste.

I walked through the cafe that led to the reservoir as the faint sound of distant combat echoed through the city. Plumes of coloured smoke rose from random places, and even though it was broad daylight, everything seemed a little darker and murkier. It didn’t get any better when I stepped out into the empty street.

Abandoned was the first word that came to mind. Not a single person was out and about, not even a guard watching our home base. All the houses I walked past had boarded up windows and doors sealed with some kind of aqua-coloured foam, but there was no light or sound coming from any of them. Either everyone was hiding, or they’d protected their houses so looters couldn’t come in while they were away.

But that didn’t make sense. We hadn’t gone around announcing that we were doing an evacuation, so why was everyone gone already? Had Scalovera done something while we were busy with our own plans? Or did Okeria’s group let some info leak so the more nervous people would leave on their own, effectively lessening the amount of work we had to do?

I hoped to hell that it was the second option. {Okeria, are your drones active? Can you see anyone waiting in the shadows?}

{Yep–a good chunk of people are slinkin’ around in your area. Can’t tell if they’re hostile or just antagonistic, but they’re definitely not civvies. They’re fully armored and armed.} Okeria answered almost instantly. {Avoid the roofs and any alleyways that can only fit two people shoulder ta shoulder. That’s where they’re hidin’.}

The roofs? That didn’t feel like looters to me. {Those are probably Scalovera’s or Endra’s. Can you give me directions so they don’t catch me?}

{Mm… I can try. I can definitely get ya outta this neighborhood, but once the streets open up a little, it’s gonna be hard ta find a safe route. Be ready for combat in about ten minutes.}

{Ten minutes. Isn’t that too much time?} I asked as I started to speed up. {Annette needs help as soon as possible. And then I have to get all the way across the city to get her to safety again. Can we spare ten minutes?}

Okeria grunted. {Drown me, you’re right. Okay, give me sixty seconds ta gather enough info on the straight path ta Annette. Be ready ta go in loud or come up with some kinda distraction. Like, say, a massive hydra or somethin’.}

I was sort of hoping that I wouldn’t have to go loud from the beginning, since I had a feeling Keratily and Endra both wanted me dead. And we still weren’t one-hundred percent sure what Endra was up to. But if Okeria thought it was for the best, then that’s what I was going to do.

“Your turn, buddy.” I said and patted my hydra between its eyes.

Battery poured into my little friend. Petal-scales knit together and congregated into a mass of hulking destruction just like the one I’d used before. I didn’t stop myself, since that size had been my maximum a few days ago.

Stone and wood flew by me in a crunching spray. A shadow blocked the sun, and a deep bellow of excitement brought with it a promise of violence. My armor upgrade might’ve been a little better than I thought.