Audio-only readers, please be aware this is a notification-heavy chapter.

Reid spat out another few grains of sand, then went back to work with the carving knife. The naturally mottled pale blue skin separated and peeled back as Reid sliced through to the relatively thin layer of meat. Most of the thing's insides were organs, but he had committed himself to preserving as much of the creature's edible contents as he could manage.

Plus, he wanted to finish quickly, and then focus on talking through his next steps with Nyx. Reid had more than a few things on his mind. When the work was done, he scanned back through everything.

Congratulations! Your Faction has cleared an enemy camp. Sole Contributor: Hugo Vux Enemies Defeated: 12 Prisoners Freed: 19 Casualties: 0 Distributable Experience: 1,000xp (F)

NOTICE: A member of your faction has performed a feat of service for the first time. A feat-specific title may now be bestowed on the eligible individual.

Choose One:

Decorated Earned for contributing to a questline Slightly increases other's perception of the awarded.

Decimator Earned for eliminating more than 90% of an enemy force Slightly increases feelings of fear and unease in all foes.

Savage Earned for wiping out all enemies without taking prisoners Causes fear and unease in foes. Slightly increases prowess when attacking enemies.

Crusher Earned for eliminating an enemy fortification without suffering any serious harm Slightly increases the efficacy of skills and stats when attacking enemy fortifications. Slightly reduces the efficacy of enemy attacks and skill resistance.

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Questline Stage Completed: The Beast Lords - (Stage 6 of 10) Secret Challenge Completed: Finished Stage 6 in less than 115 days. Secret Challenge Completed: Complete Stage 6 with 50% losses or less

Secret Challenge Failed: Complete Stage 6 without any forces succumbing to surprise attacks

Bonus Experience awarded for completing secret challenges!

Achievements Upgraded!

Venator V -> Venator VI (Earned for engaging and defeating beast lords in solo combat)

Invulnerable II -> Invulnerable III Earned for defeating two beast lords without taking any losses

New Achievement Earned!

Disbelief (Earned for seeing through, ignoring, or powering through the illusions created by a beast lord)

Disbelief Reduces the effect of all illusions, mirages, myths, and fantasies. Slightly increases understanding of sensory falsification magic.

Final Experience Awarded: 20,000,000 xp (F) Accelerated Growth Experience (.37) Awarded: 7,400,000 xp

Experience: 37,786,001 / 52,428,800 -> 74,005,001 / 104,857,600 Level: 45 -> 46 Control: 550 -> 570

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Questline Stage Unlocked: The Beast Lords - (Stage 7 of 10) NOTICE: You are the only faction that can currently access this questline.

The first of the higher beast lords have fallen. Your audacity in challenging the beast lords continues - but how far will it take you?

Stage 7: Defeat the Sixfold Flash. (Level 49). Secret Challenge: Complete Stage 7 in less than 150 days. (149d 22h 06m Remaining) Secret Challenge: Complete Stage 7 with at least 20% of troops suffering no attacks from the enemy Secret Challenge: Complete Stage 7 with 60% losses or less

Reid had... not given too much thought to Hugo and the Vuxarinans. Every time they came to mind, it always turned him towards feelings of guilt - and threatened to pull him off course.

Now, somehow, Hugo was off on his own knocking over Belar's camps. Reid's first reaction was worry about Hugo fighting alone, and about how the rest of his group was doing. But over the time he'd spent butchering the chameleons, Reid had started to consider the matter more.

Nyx had told him, in not so many words, that he needed to avoid doting over others, or they'd never find and gain power for themselves. In a sense, her words had come true through Hugo's actions. He'd proven that growth was possible to his people, and managed to accomplish one of his goals of helping his people directly by removing one of Belar's bases from the board. He'd also managed to do it while entirely alone, which spoke to a level of combat ability Reid had honestly not expected from the man.

What the notification didn't give him was any indication of how the other Vuxarinans were doing. He hoped for some insight into their condition, but what if they were struggling? What if everyone but Hugo had died, and that was why he ventured out to take out a Belar base?

Reid came back around to thoughts about stepping in to help, but stopped himself. Not interfering had led Hugo to the gains that were now allowing him to make real moves against the interlopers. Changing tactics now wasn't the right choice on Reid's part. That could stunt Hugo's possible growth - and Reid was still more interested in taking out the beast lords than the company's people. The last time he'd fought them, Reid wasn't even close to where his level of ability was now. It wouldn't be a challenge or a potential for growth, but more like... a chore. Very violent cleaning.

Reid solidified on the idea that he'd avoid interfering until and unless he finished his current endeavors. Well, all of that with one small exception.

He distributed all of the bonus experience to Hugo, and gave him the Crusher title. Hugo wouldn't want the Decimator or Savage options, nor their effects. Decorated would have been acceptable, Reid figured, but it didn't really help in a fight. If Reid were in Hugo's shoes, he would want Crusher's offensive and defensive effects over some idea of people's attitudes changing towards him. Hugo was already a lauded prince, so he didn't really need that.

Reid closed out the rewards menu and shook out his arms. He imagined himself shaking away the inclination to check up on the Vuxarinan natives, and waited until the topic fell away before he started to turn focus to his own notifications.

For the first time in this tutorial, Reid had failed a secret challenge - and it was fine. Nothing bad happened. Heck, he'd even still managed to gain a level. It sucked that he didn't complete it, but staying out of the chameleon's attacks had proved impossible. Reid knew he had a bit of perfectionism in him. An... achievement complex. But he didn't get stuck on the loss of potential benefits like he imagined he would. Nyx had been right all along about his unnecessary stress over timers, though that didn't mean he was going to stop trying for them. The tutorial was free rewards, and Reid was going to claim as many as possible.

"Nyx, if there's a percentage on a secret challenge, and I'm the only person, that means the whole thing applies to me, right?"

"Twenty percent of one, rounded up to a whole number, is one. So yes, your challenges on this stage are the usual timeline, 'don't die', and don't let any attacks hit you."

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"How much resistance do I need to stop all attacks?"

"That's not really feasible. You'd need to dodge everything, or repel everything. We do need to keep working on your resistances, yes, but that isn't the magic bullet to solve this problem."

Reid bit his lip for a moment, then smiled.

"Nyx, was that a hint that the answer to my question is a powerful ranged attack with brock?"

"That would be one way to attempt the challenge, yes. But you need to improve your throwing form to make it work."

"Now that sounds like fun."

#

A week and a half passed by in a blink as Reid traveled towards the next target while he worked on himself. He wasn't intentionally going slow or meandering, but was simply taking a balanced stance to the travel.

The number of paving-stone contraptions within his threadspace grew, and with them, more springs ran into the 'junction'. Reid could already tell that if he kept going and set restrictions on every single thread, he would need to somehow expand the connection between the spaces, and potentially expand on the junction space itself. It was added to the list of things to bring up with Nyx, once they got to the topic.

Affixation was also going well, and he'd again gotten himself close to or at the limit for most of his stats. The one on the docket for the next seven days was Dexterity. Nyx had been insistent on the extra time, and had been surprisingly involved in the process.

"You've worked on throwing things before, Reid - but this needs to be a step further than that. You want overwhelming power, at range. Your fight against the Guinea Pigs was a good example of how lobbed, arcing trajectories can be useful - but also showed how good something like a straightforward throw can be when you do it right. Similar example, you threw quite well and quite accurately in the warrens against the vicipods. In both of those cases, you weren't overexerting yourself, but pacing yourself. Your goal, here, is to get a tool in your kit where you can operate near your theoretical limit. It isn't about quantity."

Reid spun brock in his hand.

"So it's like... a closer, in baseball? Throw a few times in triple digits, and you get the job done."

"Exactly right."

"Well, I always wanted to be able to throw a fastball. Not like my normal throws, I mean. Like a professional pitcher can."

The smile was audible in her voice. "It will be interesting to see how well it works in practice, and the physical toll on your body is going to be monumental. Our week here might actually go long, if you get things even a little bit wrong. But yeah, you've got the right idea, and I have hours and hours of slow-mo-replays I can pull from your memories to guide you."

Reid changed his grip, and activated a vortex to make the ball a slug variant.

"Let's get started."

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Reid put Requiem on the ground, and grabbed a solid brock from his pauldron. He made sure the creature before him wasn't reacting to his presence, then squared himself in a pitcher's stance towards the Sixfold Flash.

Ahead, orange arcs of lightning crackled from each of the mutated Tamrid's arms. Even at this distance, Reid could smell ozone as the electricity fried the air itself. The creature had just casually slaughtered some omnivores and was now performing some sort of territorial display. One of its three sets of fists slammed the ground and sent small vibrations into Reid's legs. The middle set of arms slammed against each other, and orange arcs exploded out to slam into trees on either side of the creature.

In a word, this oversized Tamrid looked formidable. Its beak, parted as it screeched, was serrated and sharp. The crop of feathers adorning it gleamed against the light of the sun and accentuated the orange lightning that writhed and popped around itself. Even getting close to the thing would probably fail the secret challenge.

Reid took a deep breath. Power, strong and fine in its application, flowed into every muscle group he needed.

He brought his hands together, and kicked his leg high enough that his knee passed his elbow. His hands separated as his knee dropped. His full body rotated. His arm wrenched and felt like it might explode as he whipped the projectile forward. His raised foot touched the ground and his weight shifted to the front foot as his back boot scraped itself through the dirt. Fully extended, Reid released the slug towards his target. The momentum of his movement took his throwing arm across himself again and slammed his wrist into his hip. His planted foot twisted as the rest of his body followed the violent motion. He kicked his back foot back to the ground to arrest his momentum and stabilize himself.

The slug rocketed forward with eerily silent motion. The only notable noises the action had made were Reid's feet scraping the dirt, a breezelike sound as the slug traveled - and the booming impact.

Solid, strong bone slammed into the Tamrid's exposed chest. The area around the impact deformed, then rippled as the slug penetrated through its hide. Blood and viscera erupted from the wound as everything inside the creature was deformed and compressed. The Tamrid was knocked to its back from the force of the impact. Despite an obvious amount of damage, it writhed and screeched - still alive.

As soon as the creature fell, Reid recalled and prepped another slug.

He quelled rising nerves and flexed his arm as he again took his pitching stance.

The Tamrid had stopped writhing, and was now half-standing again. It was hunched on its back legs and its lowest set of arms. The top two appendages on its right side balled a fist and probed the wound in its chest. Its head swiveled to find the culprit that had caused the surprise attack. Reid had hoped to kill it in one blow - and assumed a heart and organs would be present at the point of impact. His aim had been dead true, but the beast either didn't have important anatomy there, or it was too tough to go down with just that one hit.

Reid moved his body through the motions again. Power tore at his muscles and his arm. By the time he released the slug, Reid's arm felt like he'd put it through a meat grinder. It was still intact, but the pain and fatigue were both immense.

He watched on in anticipation. Reid wasn't sure if he could make another fully empowered throw. If the projectile missed, or didn't kill the beast, he had to run. Engaging at close range would just fail the secret challenge and invalidate the past week and a half of work and practice.

Feathers shifted in the sun as the beast lord's angry eyes finally locked themselves in Reid's direction. They went wide, and Reid realized the beast hadnt noticed him, but the slug hurtling towards it. The beast tried to drop itself lower as it shifted its head to the side, but it was too little, too late.

The slug shattered the top of the beast's beak and obliterated its eye socket as it plunged deep into the creature's head. Reid's mouth dropped as his slug emerged from the back of the creature and gore painted the forest behind it. The tamrid toppled, and the remainder of the side of its head shattered when its dead body hit the ground.

Reid clutched his dead arm, and beamed.

#

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Processing the thing's body with his other arm was unusual, but doable. It reminded Reid that he should spend more time practicing a range of motions with the other side of his body. Being ambidextrous in battle could mean the difference between life and death, after all.

A notification popped into view as he was nearing the end of his work on the dead beast.

Congratulations! Your Faction has cleared an enemy camp. Sole Contributor: Hugo Vux Enemies Defeated: 23 Prisoners Freed: 8 Casualties: 0 Distributable Experience: 20,000xp (F)

Reid smiled. Hugo had cleared a second camp while Reid learned to pitch a fastball, and now he'd taken down a third. He was getting faster, and better. Reid nearly grew concerned, but stopped that line of thought when he realized he couldn't exactly talk about going irresponsibly fast without being a massive hypocrite. It was unfortunate that the system wasn't giving Reid more titles to award the man, especially considering to how easily it bestowed accolades on Reid. He distributed all the bonus experience to Hugo.

He wondered, more than a little, just how Hugo was taking those enemies down. What magic did the man possess? As Reid daydreamed, he took a look through his own update.

Questline Stage Completed: The Beast Lords - (Stage 7 of 10) Secret Challenge Completed: Finished Stage 7 in less than 150 days Secret Challenge Completed: Completed Stage 7 with 60% losses or less Secret Challenge Completed: Ended Stage 7 with less than 20% of troops suffering attacks from the enemy

Bonus Experience awarded for completing secret challenges!

Achievement Upgraded!

Venator VI -> Venator VII (Earned for engaging and defeating beast lords in solo combat)

New Achievements Earned!

Marksman (Earned for defeating a beast lord with high accuracy at long range)

Covert Combatant (Earned for defeating a beast lord without being seen)

Marksman Increases natural intuition of how environmental factors will affect ranged attacks. Slightly increases accuracy.

Covert Combatant Slightly decreases your observable presence when in combat or near enemies.

Final Experience Awarded: 25,000,000 xp (F) Accelerated Growth Experience (.40) Awarded: 10,000,000 xp

Experience: 74,005,001 / 104,857,600 -> 110,375,001 / 209,715,200 Level: 46 -> 47 Control: 570 -> 590

Reid nodded along as he surveyed his latest rewards. Both new achievements would be useful, especially if he continued to try and target the beast lords from a distance. He imagined it would also work when he was lobbing shrapnel artillery. Covert Combatant would pair well with Venator and let Reid set the tone for when battles actually occurred. The level gain was great, as well.

As Reid's eyes scanned lower, his smile went flat, then turned to a frown.

Questline Stage Unlocked: The Beast Lords - (Stage 8 of 10) NOTICE: Another faction can also access this questline.

Even the Sixfold Flash has fallen before your might. Press forward and prove your superiority.

Stage 8: Defeat the Raging Colony. (Level 49 + ). Secret Challenge: Complete Stage 8 in less than 180 days. (179d 23h 02m Remaining) Secret Challenge: Break the hive and win against the full force of the colony Secret Challenge: Eliminate the queen before killing any of her honor guard

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