The revelation was troubling and not just because of the obvious potential threats to our faction.

What really bothered me the most was just how rare our reward seemed to be. The question weighing on my mind was, what if we go to all this effort to build the structure, only to find out no one else in the world had one?

It would mean that not only were we potentially advancing our faction too fast, opening us up to greater threats, but we'd be doing it for no reason at all.

I folded my arms over my stomach.

The cabin walls seemed tight, and the rest of the meeting became background noise. It's not like Jared really needed me to be involved all that much anyway. Essentially we'd already agreed to allow all new additions to operate mostly independently. We'd tossed around the ideas of an imposed militia requirement, but it was still in the works on how to enforce faction defenses.

For the time being, Faction LM would establish teleporters, and provide help in the event of a major assault from the surrounding factions.

With each territory we added the surface area that needed attention or defended grew that much bigger. Logistically becoming more and more challenging to defend.

On a positive note, adding more territories meant that our main territory was more shielded from attacks to our borders.

The conversation drifted to what the new factions offered in terms of trade and specialties. Something about mage weapons and agriculture, or alchemy…something like that.

It was hard to focus.

Just when it felt like we'd taken real steps towards reuniting with humanity—with my parents, it all started slipping through my fingers.

I wanted to pay closer attention, I really did. But the sinking feeling in my gut was too much to ignore, and I sank lower in my chair.

"Layton."

I sat bolt upright, startling everyone in the room.

"Jared, can you give me the footnotes later?" I asked, sliding my chair back.

Jared tilted his head. "Well, yeah."

I jogged to the door. "Come find me once you've wrapped things up here, OK?"

Before he could respond I was out the door. My feet landed on stone pavement, and I turned about seeking the source of the familiar voice.

"Have you ever considered adding any stats at all into Sense?"

"Ehh, what's the point? Anyone who has to sneak around can't really be all that dangerous."

A shadow shifted to my left, and two burning bronze orbs materialized seemingly from the abyss.

"I think I know some bandits who might disagree."

A smile stretched across my face, and Mischief dropped softly from the top of a two story wooden building. Just the sight of my friend helped ease some of the tension building in my stomach.

It was past evening with the sun well behind the mountains. Uniform lamp posts illuminated the mountain village casting long sprawling shadows of the native pine trees that adorned the scenic pathways.

A light shiver crept up my spine, but not one of fear or discomfort. Mischief was the embodiment of power, each controlled step displayed grace and dominance.

I shook my head.

That's interesting. Was this his resonance bias going to work on me? Whether it was or not I was happy to see my friend.

I rested my hands on my hips. "Oh yeah? And where might they be?"

Mischief sat on his haunches and exposed his pearly white canines in a menacing sort of way.

"No place you'd want to visit."

"You're right about that." I chuckled bitterly. "Man, I really could've used your help. I kinda messed things up without you."

His eyes closed and he bobbed his head slowly. "That doesn't surprise me at all."

"Uh-huh….Why don't we get out of here? I'm dying to hear how well you did without me."

***

Leaning back I rested my weight onto my palms as my feet dangled carelessly over the sheer cliff edge, Mischief lounging comfortably a few feet away.

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The mountain cradled the valley below. Bundles of glowing light reached above the treelines acting as a testament to the gathering population centers near Faction LM.

Enjoying the view we spent the next hour catching each other up on everything we'd done. Who would've thought Mischief was going to have a family reunion? I was excited to meet bracken and the other cats, but maybe not all at the same time. Getting mind blasted by over a hundred voices in my head at once wasn't top on my list of things I was excited for.

I reclined my head and watched the moon play peekaboo behind the thick fall clouds.

"It sounds to me like you're just prolonging the inevitable with those two. Aggard would've been doing you a favor."

"Maybe." I breathed. "They really are annoying."

A cricket chirped somewhere nearby and the sounds of the night filled the quiet. Gravel shifted as I laid on my back looking up into the heavens. I didn't think that either Xander or Sadie deserved to die. They were hardly older than I was and I knew for certain I was just flying by the seat of my pants.

"And what about the teleporter? Are you still going to build it?"

"I'm really not sure." I rested an arm behind my head, like a pillow. "What do you think I should do?"

"You should build it."

My head rolled to the side and I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Why? The only reason I wanted it in the first place was to find my family. Now I'm not even sure it would help me do that."

Mischief's tail flicked lazily. "I wouldn't be so sure."

"Oh really? And why do you say that?"

Darkness coiled around his pitch black fur. "Haven't you noticed it already? The system rewards us with what we need."

I sat up. "I'm not sure I follow."

"Weren't you listening when I told you about Bracken and the others?"

Of course I was listening, but I was struggling to draw the lines to why that would matter. Curious, I waited for him to expound.

"They were unthinking feral anomalies, I needed them to gain sapience. Every reward and title I earned took me one step closer to getting them there."

An owl hooted.

"Ok…"

Mischief let out a low rumbling growl. "Why would the system give you the blueprint if it didn't connect with someone else? That would be pointless."

The gears began to turn.

Would the system really just provide a teleporter without a destination? It would literally be the most useless reward ever.

"It wouldn't surprise me if the system did that." I moped, flicking a small pebble over the cliff edge.

"Are you sure about that?"

Then I really began to think about each of the system rewards I'd earned, disregarding the random loot drops from anomalies and chaos spawn.

I recalled the armor molds. Now that I thought about it, just a few days earlier, I'd specifically mentioned the need for more varied protection than just my barrier spells. It was only a few days later that the molds were rewarded. There was just one problem though.

"What about all those times where I just got random crap for the other members of my faction?" I shot back, pointing a finger.

"You LOVE helping weaker people grow, it's your sickness. Is it such a big surprise you get rewards to help you do that?"

I glared at Mischief. "You know, a sane person might consider my philanthropy admirable."

"I'm not a person."

I snorted. "Well let's say that you're right. What are the odds that my parents, of all people, actually have the same blueprints and the resources to build it?"

***

NEW BOISE

Martin stood with his hands on his hips. Glancing down into the hole that could fit a high school then back towards the interface displaying clear outlines and dimensions of each intricate detail of the interfaction teleporter.

"We're not moving fast enough, Bob." Martin squinted, regretting the edge to his voice.

"What do you expect? This isn't like any other project I've ever done. I mean, look at what we're dealing with here." He said pointing.

Several shimmering figures chopped away at one of the last remaining areas needing to be excavated. The figures had no distinct form aside from two arms that extended like shovels, while another floated a few feet in the air like a thin sheet. Thumping sounds echoed through the chasm with each heave of dirt.

Once the sheet was loaded with soil and rock it lifted autonomously from the hole and deposited its load, only to return again. It was nothing like Martin or anyone had ever seen.

And this one only Bob's ability, there were hundreds of other strange techniques and skills being deployed outside of this hole to prepare the stone, enchant materials and so on.

Martin pulled off his bucket hat—the kind you might see a fisherman wear—and rubbed his eyes.

"At this rate we're months away." Martin examined the hat in his hand. Layton always made fun of it, teasing him about wearing a fisherman's hat but never fishing. He smiled.

"We'll get faster. I've earned three levels by just digging this hole here. We'll make it."

Martin could tell, Bob wasn't just trying to convince him, he was reassuring himself also. Martin was tight lipped about everything happening on the borders, he didn't want to create panic with the builders.

He doubted that Bob or anyone else could read the tea leaves, but Martin could.

The mana spawn that had been a constant threat for months had died to a mere trickle. Lines were being drawn, powers setting their feet. The weak factions were being swept away. Not just the weak factions either.

It didn't help that the only other human faction and allie was no longer communicating either. They were still on the map, but the interface messages were radio silent. He'd sent representatives their way several days ago, but they were still not back.

He could feel it in the air. They didn't have months.

Looking at the blueprints again he consoled himself that at the very least it wasn't the largest structure he'd ever seen, but judging by the size of the foundation it could be upgraded to be considerably larger.

It was certainly impressive though.

"Bob, this has to move faster. Use whatever resources you need, even our fighters if that's what it takes."

The portly man nodded with a grunt.

Martin looked at his hand to see his hat crumpled under his white knuckles, he released it letting the green fabric slowly uncrumple. He'd made a promise to his wife to bring her to their boy, and he was going to see that happen, one way or another.

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