I drove bay Outpost withiy.

  Soohan I would have liked I found myself on those stairs leading into the earth. As I desded into those depths, I received 2000 ts and a Round Token made of the same pearlest material as the Hero Token. Which reminded me, I should really use that when I got back to the valley. That would be a loyal ally in a world where there could never enough support. Plenty of hostiles forces though. I needed all the help I could get.

  The strengthening of the Psifield iunnel was a soothing calming presence. Something about it seemed to prop me up, and helped me to recall my purpose here. Even if the field had yet to ect to the Nexus ba the Valley, I k was just a matter of time. I had started to uand that the Psifield influenced my thoughts aions. Though other things seemed to be pulling at my mind, heart, and perhaps even my soul. I couldn't find stable ground.

  The Probes had dug out four cavernous rooms. Three of the rooms had two Robotics Facilities apiece. I immediately set those up to build Sehe fourth area had twes in it. With those we could break down just about anything and use the resulting resources to build just about anything else. I had a lot of future pns for that process. All in good time.

  The two Probes that were digging out these rooms had shifted to digging a separate tuo the north. My thinking was that it would be good to be able to pop up anywhere iy that I wanted, moving unseen by Corpo eyes. I really ought to thank Megan for this idea, I wonder what she'd like?

  I began tinkering in the Fes. I had the Probes tunneling North haul the waste rock back here to break down instead of banishing it to the void. Sure, it greatly slowed them down, but I'd already decided not to be in a hurry anymore. We could take as long as we o aplish these goals, so long as we remained ued. My first project saw me start assembling the parts for a rger freight elevator. I wasn't going te up and down those stairs anymore. My legs were still ag. Ohe elevator pos were done, I had Buzz and Jitters start breaking dowairs, while I assembled what I could.. A few hours ter, we had a w lift to get bad forth from the depths. As a bonus, the Sentries should be able to use it, so they wouldn't have to stay iunnels.

  With that out of the way, I assembled some basic furniture, and even a feliances. It started with a table, a few chairs and a bed, then came a couple es and soon a stove for when I could stock the rder. I had to tweak and bined a few different schematics to get a proper oven with a stove top from the odd colle of things my Robo-Buddies had sed into the assemblers' database. All of that work made me realize I hadn't had anything to eat or drink quite a while. My stomach made noises firming that it too had noticed the ck of sustenance. Fuck, I o take better care of myself.

  I took the lift up, with Buzz and Jitters floating arouo try to find some food that wasn't going to mess my guts up. It turned out there was a diner just up the street. It served what something called they called fusion cuisine here. After a brief moment of feeling lost by the odd options, I ordered a noodle burger. This sisted of a "meat" patty and some "vegetables" ed in lightly fried noodles, soaked in a sau a bun. The sauce was something you might find on a Lo Mein dish. Tasted better than I'd thought it would but still didn't quite taste right. I had a ed lemoea with my meal that wasn't too bad. I grabbed a few more of those s of tea, to throw in the fridges back at the outpost.

  I made up my mind to head back to the Valley in the m. There was no point iig around here, the Probes knew what to do.

  My sleep was mostly peaceful, barely any troubling dreams at all, and I awoke in the m ready to head out. 5:00 AM seemed like good time to get started. I took Jitters and Buzz with me to the van a rolling. The elevator had been a great idea.

  The drive out to the Valley was uful, just the way I liked it. Whe to the bridge though, I discovered a problem. There was grass growing everywhere. Minty smelling purple grass. The same grass that teo grow by the waters of a Moon Well. From the bridge all the to the cave following the overflow als. Like the grass Arasaka would have seen, at the badnds outpost. Fuck, I should have thought of this already. I groaned in frustration. I might have even banged my head into the steering wheel a few times.

  Well it's not like I didn't have a few ideas on how to take care of that problem. I just had to get started on the solution.

  'Hey Meadran, I'm ing up. See you soon.' It would be good to see the massive tree person again, ahe breath of the forest once more. Every time I left here felt the ck of both mana and life.

  'Hmm. Good to hear from you Young One. We were starting to get worried.' A sense of peace filled my mind at tact with him. The Valley really was being my home, in a way my house on my old Earth never had been.

  Up and through the cave, which had even more offshoots now. I supposed that the stant search for resources tinued, I wished the Robo-Buddies all the luck.

  Surprisingly, Lumi met me at the entrao the Valley and after some scratches and rough housing, he ran off bato the forest. What had that been about? I still got the sense he didn't want to be here, nor did he really like me. As a panion he was off.

  At this point, there was nothing but forest, the whole of the Valley was absolutely flooded with trees. I was staring at a kaleidoscope of different colored foliage. Even Meadran himself had grown a bit more, not as dramatic a ge as st time but still noticeable. Do Trees of Life ever really stop growing... no of course they wouldn't. The rim of the Valley now had a fully built cobblestorail around it following the path set by the Pylons there. Photon ons and Keeper Statues had been pced by each Pylon, this pce was about as defended as we could make it right now.

  The trees weren't the only ge, there was all manner of undergrowth now as well. Various bushes and many types of flowers all pying their parts in the cycle of life being created here. Movement outside the trails and paths built by the silver Wisps would be difficult at best. Yet as I desded the undergrowth seemed to lean away from me as if to not get in my way. At one point I reached out to one bush to pluck a berry out of it and it seemed to lean into my hand almost like a dog seeking affe. I gave it a pat and it shivered. Okay, that wasn't the wind. What was this?

  'Meadran what's up with the pnts and trees?' Trying to project my full meaning over our e.

  'They are happy you are home, Young One. Druids are ever bound to nature and all the subjects thereihe favor of the Druid. We are all ected.' His thoughts were deep and carried ages of meaning. Even at the speed of thought, it would take a while to process all of his message.

  'There is someone you should meet, Young One.' Meadran seem excited. Some had e into the Valley? A momentary sense of arm filled me.

  'Huh? Where?' I ran to Meadran isnd, and there they were. A nine foot tall skinny tree person, a treant with Golden leaves and dark walnut colored bark. It waved at me enthusiastically, while perf some kind of dance. I could tell it was excited and happy to be here. I started chug at myself, of course in was a reant.

  'While his e is still growing stronger he ot yet talk mind to mind. This is Faergin a desdant of the First Trees and one who walks the path of Lore.' Meadran projected a sense of family and closeness.

  "Pleased to meet you Faergin. I hope you find what you are looking for here." I tried to project friendliness. After all trees seemed to be the best people so far, if Meadran was any example.

  Faergin was a charming tree, waving his arm branches around and doing a shuffle with his stubby legs. His dang was a joy to behold. He was full of joy and verve. One day soon he'd be able to talk and acc to Meadran, he would then be able to tap into a lot of informatiohe Great Tree work. Information Meadran himself couldn't access. Faergin would also be able to train my spells into new figurations. I'd desperately needed a mentor, hopefully he would be willing to fulfill that role.

  My magic was still a strao me. And nothing I tried seemed to help me find the best ways to utilize it. Sure, se had bee almost sed nature to use, but perhaps there a more effit way to use it, or could I shape it differently to get better results. What even ted as dirt anyway? Though all that usage did seem to improve the shaping process over time. Why was the shape used the right one? How would I go about safely shaping my own spells? Hmm.

  Which turned my mind to the fact that often notifications didn't occur when things improved. Also, I never remembered to check with my BTy progress. That was my only source of information on my progress right now, and I o uand it more. My frustration at myself was boiling but I tried to let it go, I could only try to do better going forward. I had a feeling my life would depend on knowing my information, down to the st detail, one day.

  However, none of those s ged the fact that my focus right now was trying to solve the problem of being observed by Corpos. We could do that by developing cloaking teology or by redug or masking energy emissions from the Pylons, maybe... absolutely both, so I could expand my base and my outposts in peace.

  Alina had been king away on several topics of research. Adapting Khai teology to Human cyberware, designing AI cores for vehicles like the Dragoon, the Arbiter or the Scout, since I saw a need for a broader range of bat options. Lastly, she was researg how to miniaturize several pieces of tech for use in personal armor or even for the Probes like a cloaking field, revolving shields and maybe even small arms psma ons or disrupter beams. The Probes especially when infused by Wisps had more than proven their worth and their loyalty. I had no reason to not tio utilize them going forward, other than the pain caused by losing them. I'd like to develop ways for them to serve in that role while redug those potential losses. We might even have to build something pletely from the ground up.

  Heading towards the Nexus, I stopped by the pany Store to see if there were any new quests or worthwhile sales. No such luck. Other than a huge batch of something called burrower mites, nothing was disted right now, and I really didn't like the sound of those things.

  Everything along the trails looked lush and rown, the air was humid and rich with mana. Even the Ley Line below our base had gained a molden hue and seem much strohan before. Heh, I even spotted the Forest Cockerel, well I guess it was a actually a rooster now, and almost as tall as me. Damn, mana really did affect growth, ahe creatures that were immersed in influeeo live far longer lives. That seemed strao me, terintuitive, or was I overthinking it? Something to ask Faergin about when he grew up. Huh, did that mean I'd live longer?

  Then I ran into the two Sentries, I had queued up so long ago. They kind of reminded me of a giant Roomba. About four feet tall and six feet in diameter, though that was broken up by the rge crystalline sphere that acted as their energy core.

  'Greetings, Executor.' Even without being infused by a Wisp these robots seemed much more aware than the uninfused Probes. Was that a result of more energy, or more data ste, or maybe eveer g? Hmm, there were so mahings to ponder.

  'Keep up the good work.' I told them while already plotting on how to improve them. I reached the Nexus more than slightly worried about how the Sentries would have a hard time in buildings. They were certainly powerful but would be easily avoided by using doorways.

  I spent the few hours p over schematics, as well as Alina's research, trying to find ways to apply the results to the problems at hand. As fortune would have it, one of the Probes had sed a Optical Camoufge cyberackage from somewhere. That helped by giving a baseline parisoween a huma of bending light that ractical versus the Khai method of altering field effects to blend every energy signature into the background fields, including light, heat, vibration and Psi energy. We tried merging the two and after tless failures one simuted result had produced a success. We built a prototype in the Fe. Layers of extra crystal circuits embedded into a suit of armor that bihe principles of both teologies. Testing showed that it was a success. A small field rojected around the armor that muted all signals and emissions and even worked as excellent optical camoufge.

  Sadly, it wasn't perfect. The energy requirements were rather rge, so it had to be in a Pylon's area of transmission. That really didn't help right now, but I was sure we could figure something out ter. Perhaps striping options would work, after all no one here should be searg for Psienergy.

  The prototype involved cloaking the Photon ons. They already required being built o a Pylon so no worries about the energy requirements.. However, trying to fire while maintaining the cloaking field overloaded the circuits aed the on's crystal after just a few shots. No go. Wait a minute. What was the on factor in all Khai tech? Pylons! Why don't I just alter the Pylons. If they were the oo gee the cloaking field we could then ihe effeto every piece of Khai tech around the Pylon itself. Of course, that didn't fix the armor issue but it was a resolution to the corporate spying problem.

  The Pylons, as it turned out, were very difficult to alter. To start with, the schematics were semi-locked. That meant all pns were missiions of the circuitry. Certain other parts where not allowed to be messed with under Khai w, no ging the structure of the crystal itself, for example. However, the tr surrounding it was fair game though. Heh, we could just work around the problems.

  By the m, I had a w Pylon prototype that could gee a cloaking field, creating almost any appearance of any type of emission desired, but it had a cost. The Psienergy cost caused the transmissioo be decreased to just two miles in open air. It wasn't a terrible problem, as we were going to need a ton of Pylons anyway. But that wasn't the only issue. Things in the field were rendered into the image effectively disappearing, however the field would distort around them when they fired, or moved too rapidly. Only for a sed, but it roblem. No where near as bad as that Predator's shitty cloaking field though. Suck it, hunt boy.

  I threw my hands up, it was good enough for now. I was sure I could improve it ter anyway, as I leveled my -Smith...Son of a bitch, I'd do again.

  There robably a solution in the expanded knowledge I would've gained by leveling up. Argh, I'm su idiot. I ended up shrugging it off, we'd still gotten the job done.

  Finally, I could expand our influehout w quite so much about Corpo interferenow, I could turn my thoughts to a few other issues that had built up.