Kyle smiled as a near-constant stream of mana flowed into the stick he cradled in his right hand.  It already carried a few simple runic carvings in the middle, and once it got just a little longer, he’d be able to add the next set.  The quality of the wood is incredible, he thought.  Kyle methodically slowed the use of Infuse as stick absorbed the remnant energy, letting the golden glow fade as he deposited his ever-growing project back inside the spatially expanded zone within the World Tree Seed.

His experiments with the odd space had been frustrating, though not unexpected.  It seemed as though there was a virtually limitless space in which living plant matter could be stored; while anything that wasn’t entirely plant-based couldn’t go in at all.  He’d tried wrapping different items in vines, leaves, and even growing bark around them, but they failed to get stored each time.  By contrast, he could grow pogrits to maturity and store them inside the seed’s spatial storage with no issues whatsoever.

He'd hoped that his union with the World Tree Seed would let him circumvent some of those rules, and let him skirt the need for a true storage item.  Unfortunately, that was an expensive investment he’d still need to figure out someday.  I’m sure Jarberry knows where I can find something a little less costly.

While it wasn’t a strict requirement for him, spatial items became commonly usable in C Grade, and there was a certain expectation among the Collective Guilds that their contractors had access to one by mid-tier C Grade.  While smaller, specialized items weren’t too difficult to use, as Kyle had seen with the disk that contained his training tomes, binding and controlling a more generalized spatial object required a lot of mana and a lot of Willpower.  And credits.  Lots and lots of credits.

“C.H.A.D.D., how are we doing on expansion?” Kyle asked, focusing his attention on the drone, and by proxy, the chaddlings.

[THE PROGRESS IS MEANINGFUL, DR. MAYHEW.  SOIL QUALITY REMAINS RELATIVELY HIGH DUE TO THE ASH CONTENT, AND PLANTINGS HAVE MAINTAINED A STEADY PACE.]

Kyle nodded at that, reviewing the map that the drone projected for him.  “How confident do you feel in their ability to keep tending the forest when we’re gone?”

[NOT TERRIBLY, DR. MAYHEW.  WHILE THEY WOULD LIKELY CONTINUE TO DO SOME BASIC LABOR, THEIR LACK OF COGNITION AND PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITIES MAKES THEM GENERALLY POOR GARDENERS.]

“Fair point,” Kyle said with a grin.  He hadn’t expected any better, either, so it was likely time to put the small army of acorn-like soldiers back in storage.  With a mental command, Kyle and C.H.A.D.D. instructed the acorn soldiers to complete their current task and make their way toward the central lake, where he waited.  He already had a stock of ranged variants inside the seed, though he would leave C.H.A.D.D.’s latest creations, lily-pad like amphibious versions, to their work.  These were present in both the aboveground lake and cenote, cleaning contaminants from the water and removing algae buildup.

If Kyle’s dreams of a settlement were to come together, keeping clean sources of drinking water would be crucial.  From the moment he heard Jax mention that Kertan Six was going to be auctioned off, an idea started percolating, one that he’d run with.  The planet was in ruins, that much was clear.  Mining it for resources was extremely costly for larger organizations like Corthian Mining, and it wasn’t in a sector with significant strategic value for the Collective.

With all that said, Kyle saw an opportunity.  While he certainly lacked the credits to purchase an entire planet, he felt pretty confident in negotiating to lease space for a settlement.  Even if it wasn’t enough for all of Earth’s refugees, simply carving out enough room for a few reasonably-sized cities would go a long way toward helping them get the foothold they so desperately needed.  All the more if they could help in the restoration of the planet, with Kyle’s support.  They’d still need hard work and ingenuity to make themselves truly prosperous, but it would be a step.

He was just about to settle in to do some more resistance training with Genesis Engine, when he felt something wrong through Pack Leader’s Instinct.  Two of his chaddlings disappeared, followed shortly by a third.

[DR. MAYHEW,] C.H.A.D.D. began, as Kyle sent affirmation through their bond.

“I felt it, too.  Instruct the rest to avoid the area the best they can, we’ll go check it out.”

One of the things that made Kertan Six an attractive place for the Earthling survivors was its relative weakness.  Even before the surface was wiped out, nothing that lived here would be able to put up a real fight against the chaddlings.  Moreover, whatever destroyed them did it without a trace of conflict; wiping them out entirely.

If it was a predator, he needed to know more about it.  If it was a visitor, he wanted to meet them.  And if it was a trap, he wanted to spring it.  The Collective had learned of Kyle’s survival, and Kertan Six was still within Collective space, though not in the core system surrounding the Hub.  If a B Grade or greater was coming to get him, they wouldn’t have bothered with baiting him out by killing a couple of chaddlings, they would have come and taken him directly.  No, if it was a trap, they were baiting Kyle out because they weren’t confident in challenging him outright.

C.H.A.D.D. launched a deep scan of the area, while Kyle extended Auric Perception.  He even heard the snapping of small fern leaves from the pack, with the drone weaving in sonar components to its search.  He didn’t feel any other chaddlings get killed, though the aura of the forest felt different to him; dangerous.  Extending his senses, he soon understood why.

“There’s a skill at play here, or at least some sort of mana blanketing the area,” Kyle said idly.  Using Identify, he saw faint traces of a concept flowing through the mana, adding to the obscurement.  It didn’t feel organic, like the conceptual sharpness he detected from the shrikes, and he had to assume there was a technology at play.  Just as he was getting a sense for it, C.H.A.D.D. flashed a warning as the sonar lit up a location on the map.  At the same moment, the world disappeared in a flash of blue-white power.

~~~

Ger’Sinh waited.  His patron sent him to Kertan Six with a ripple of spatial energy, and even warned him of Mayhew’s general location.  He wasn’t afraid of a direct conflict, not against somebody whose breakthrough left them limited, but he would still take precautions.  In his first fight with Mayhew, he’d learned quite a bit about the man’s capabilities.  He was an excellent mid-range combatant, with the death-field skill he used even capable of breaking through his boosting skill at the time.  It was reliant on Mayhew’s Willpower, which Ger’Sinh assumed had only increased.  With all that said, close-range combat was not on the table for him.

If things went to plan, he’d never get close enough to see Ger’Sinh at all.

He’d been a little surprised to see the low-tier D Grade plant creatures shuffling about mindlessly, but he quickly sensed traces of the familiar mana within them courtesy of his tracking skill.  They all seemed to be moving in the same direction, so he slew a few of them.  He hoped that Mayhew would notice that they went missing, and investigate.  Once the creatures were destroyed, he deployed a few small domain discs, designed to both obscure his location, and draw Mayhew’s attention until he launched his attack.

Ger’Sinh ran his fingers of his left hand over the etched metal of the weapon he now held.  Though the backlash was significant, this upgraded mana cannon had killed a few early C Grades in a single blow.  The only drawback was the time required to charge the weapon, an issue he’d resolved with a custom-built hunting blind of his own creation.  It drew and siphoned energy from within, preventing the aura from leaking out until the very last moment.  His mana batteries were already loaded and ready, so all that was left for him to do was wait for his prey.  Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long.

With his Tracker’s Eye skill, he spotted motion just over two kilometers away.  The figure moved slowly, clearly looking for the missing creatures while working through the obscuring mana infusing the air.  Ger’Sinh suppressed a smile as he saw Mayhew’s condition, trying not to let it influence him.  The man wore a simple robe of white and green leaves, which was tied tight around where his left arm should have been.  Moreover, dark gray veins ran across the skin Ger’Sinh could see, clear evidence of residual damage.

The most telling piece of the story was the man’s aura.  It was clearly C Grade, but it fluctuated in odd ways, not giving off a consistent, stable impression.  At times it was impressive, but others it barely felt like he was a D Grade. All told, Mayhew felt weaker than any of the other C Grades that Ger’Sinh hunted up to this point, and a far cry from the challenge he’d expected.

Not only did Kyle not have any equipment, he looked to already be on death’s door.  Ger’Sinh was happy to finish the job.  With a deep exhale, he took aim, and allowed the cannon to drain two of his four batteries entirely.  He paused for a moment, then decided to drain a third, the maximum that the weapon could handle.  It would mean he wouldn’t get another full-powered shot, but the rest of his kit would be enough to finish the job.

Finally, the weapon hit its full charge.  An explosion of light and peal of thunder blasted out of the hunter’s blind directly toward his target, and Ger’Sinh followed-up with the second layer of his attack, not even waiting to see the damage as an explosion rang out across the forest.  He pulled out crossbow, and launched out a cluster of explosive grenades, each carrying a payload of toxic gas.

As the explosion from the first attack cleared, Ger’Sinh could just make out what looked like a wall of gray wood before the grenades struck it, spreading a dark green mist all across the wooded landscape.  So he upgraded his defensive skill, Ger’Sinh thought, racing through his contingencies.  He remembered the barrier from their first fight, but didn’t expect that to be the first C Grade upgrade Mayhew went with.  Most of his preparations were expecting an upgrade to the Willpower-based attack.

Still, with the cloud of deadly toxins surrounding him, Ger’Sinh was confident that his opening salvo was worth the effort.  Even if the defensive skill was powerful enough to block most of the original cannon strike, taking the defensive technique off the board would only work to his advantage.  Between poisons, explosives, and other long-range options, Ger’Sinh would simply whittle down whatever other resistance his crippled adversary could muster.  And then, he would reap his rewards.

Reloading his crossbow with several more concussive grenades.  Using the expensive D Grade explosives was an investment, but he intended to hold nothing back.  What was the cost of credits and supplies, when reaching C Grade was waiting on the other side?

He waited for a long moment, then frowned as the toxic gas began to disperse faster than expected.  His eyes widened as a shockwave of force ripped through the forest, directly toward his hunting blind.  Ger’Sinh jumped out of the way, just in time as his careful set up was blasted to rubble.  Now, the unmistakable aura of the C Grade washed over him, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

He landed in a crouch, staring with mouth agape at the figure standing unbothered in the middle of the destruction, looking entirely unperturbed.  How did he… Ger’Sinh began to think, but was cut short as another massive blast of force ripped through the air, which he only avoided thanks to his passive Bestial Instinct skill.  By now, the cloud of noxious fumes had been entirely dispersed, and Mayhew began to approach.

With a snarl, Ger’Sinh activated his boosting skill, Totem Spirit, and grabbed his whip and backup firearm.  Failure was not an option for him, and he would use every tool at his disposal if it meant killing the bastard who cost him everything.  It was kill or be killed.