My sleep was refreshing. Awakening, however, presented me with a problem. The form this problem took was the head of a rge golden wolf using my stomach as a pillow. His noggin was very, very heavy. I didn't get too upset though. I figured some ear scratches would rouse him from slumber soon enough. A few moments ter his hiarted beating a frantic rhythm. Hehe.

  I gently whispered, "Wake up, Lumiar. I have a city to burn." I said it in a sing song voice. Worked for the Mongols, didn't it.

  His head rose as he shifted to gaze at me. "Are you really going to bury down?" He expressed doubt in his tone. Perhaps, it was disappoi. I kept getting the feeling he really didn't like me. I only wish I knew why.

  "Some of it, probably. I'll absolutely try to help other parts." I chuckled, "We'll see which parts get which treatment, I guess." Now that Lumi's head had moved, it was time to get moving.

  I mao fight my way to a standing wobble. Which I then transformed into a full body stretch. "Ah." Lumi promptly resettled his head a back to sleep. I s him.

  I waddled over to a stream to get a drink of water. Refreshing and invigorating. I would have drank from the pond, but miraculously I noticed fish swimming about in there. I don't care how magical the water is I'm not drinking water fish have pooped in. At least not without boiling it, and running it through a filter. Also, now that I was watg the fish, I spotted it glupping down algae and nibbling on a variety of water pnts. Amazing, the rising mana levels have given rise to life.

  I checked my interface, 10:30 AM. It had bee the day. Wow, I slept good.

  'How are you this m, Meadran?' I started doing some stretches and basic calisthenics, trying to get my blood flowing properly.

  'I am well, Young Ohe mana fills the air and the water and soon the nd itself shall be infused. Life, in all its forms, shall be renewed.' He was happy, and that warmed my heart.

  'Anythiending? Do we have any pressing issues to resolve?' I tinued my exercises. I'd have to remember to start a daily routine.

  'For the base no, I keep handling the expansion for now. You however have experiehat is overflowing. You o level and gain the boons therein.' Okay, that sounded iing.

  'Alright what do I o do.' Meadran talked me through the process. To start with, I had to access his menu options.

  [ Tree of Life Meadran is ected to the Great Tree work.

  Options:

  Choose Css

  Raise Level

  Create Wisp ]

  Per his instrus I selected Raise Level.

  [ Current XP: 3456

  Raising a level costs 1000 XP

  Raise Level? Y/N ]

  I selected 'Y'. I was curious about what was .

  [ Druid of Renewal has reached Level 2

  You have gaihe spell, Growth

  You have gaihe spell, Entangle

  You have gained, +2 Spirit

  You have gained, +1 Will

  You have gained, +2 Free Points ]

  That scroll of text was apanied by a jolt. Which was like, stant pulses of energy burning through my body and mind. I couldn't move or speak. My thoughts became sluggish for a few moments.

  Once I had shaken the remnants of the odd pulses off, I could speak again. 'Should I do it again, Meadran?'

  'Yes, once more.' There was a sense of amusement.

  [ Druid of Renewal has reached Level 3

  You have gaihe spell, se

  You have gained, +2 Spirit

  You have gained, +1 Will

  You have gained, +2 Free Points ]

  While not quite as intehis time, the pulses were still very distrag.

  My BTC shivered,

  [ Adjusting...]

  [ For reag Level 3 the pany Awards you,

  1 Prismatic Wisp. ]

  A huge shimmering Wisp appeared. While mostly just posed ht white light, as it danced around specks of every color trailed behind it. I didn't need Meadran to tell me that there was somethireme special about this Wisp. I could feel it radiating mana in vast quantities.

  'While there are many buildings and units this spirit might create for you, the best option at this time would be the pany Store.' Alright. Meadran hadn't lead me wro. I gave the order.

  The huge Wisp floated to a spot halfway between the pond and the Nexus, and just like that, became a building. That fast. The pany Store, was a structure that shifted and ged from one moment to the . Not just the shape, but the very nature of it's material. After watg it long enough to have to blink away tears, the only stant seemed to be volume. Though who could really say if even that was true.

  'You o touch it to ect it to the work. Then proceed to the Nexus and choose a css from the options there. You need a bit a ban your css.' there it was again, that sense of amusement, this time mixed with trepidation.

  Another css? I barely uood anything about the css I had. Again, my trust in Meadran is all that pushed me forward. I touched the crazily ging building. there was a new form of energy pressed in this building but I had no idea about what kind of energy it was.

  [ Adjusting... ]

  [ eg pany Store to the Great Tree work ]

  [ You now have access to The Quest System ]

  [ pany Store Options

  Items

  Themes

  Units

  Heroes ]

  Great. More things I didn't uand. No, calm down. I could figure this out. Items proved to be a list of items I could buy for pany Points. Mostly ons like staves, and armor like my old robes. There were also a sele of potions and spell pos as well. Units had a list of special Probes and Wisps I could buy for pany Points. A Prismatic Wisp, for example, cost 100,000 ts. Themes and Heroes were unavaible at this time, thought the terms invoked some truly grandiose ideas. Yeah, I'd have to check bato this ter.

  That done I marched up to the Nexus. Ohere, I went through the same motions to get to the menu.

  [ You have selected Choose Css

  This will cost 1000 XP

  Choose Css Y/N ]

  Of course, I chose yes.

  [ Css Options.

  Please note, you may ge your Css iain circumstances.

  You may also Multicss. ]

  [ Tempr of Mental Healing

  +2 to Will

  +1 to Spirit

  +2 to Psi Resonance

  A Tempr of Mental Healing soothes minds and bolsters wills. Removing Corrupting Psychifluences.

  Starting Psi Teiques: Calm the Troubled Heart, ind ]

  [ Khai Phase-Smith

  +3 to Tech

  +2 to Psi Resonance

  A Phase-Smith studies and improves PsiTeology

  Starting Psi Teiques: Study, Implement ]

  [ -Smith

  +3 to Psi Resonance

  +2 to Tech

  ges and Coverts materials. Summons and Repair Units.

  Starting Psi Teique: vert, Repair ]

  Okay another list of options I couldn't begin to uand. Firstly, The Tempr wasn't even in the running. If for no other reason, than I didn't like the sound of it. The smith csses both sounded like they would allow me to uand Khai tech. Which could lead to making improvements or maybe adapting humao work with Psi energy. That appealed to me on a fual level. But which of the two to take? I had a strong sehere was some overp in their funs. However, the Phase-Smith sounded more academid I saw a o be able to vert materials, more than improving the already impressive Khai Tech. I ran that around in my head a few times.

  I nodded. -Smith it was. The energy this time was intrusive, it reached into my mind and started dumping energy in there. It was imparting knowledge. Knowledge of schematid teiques. Which would have bee, but I was human and now my head was being stuffed with highly advanced knowledge. So it felt like my head was about to fly apart.

  "Aaaaaaa!" Iween moments of agony, I thought I had a solution. Free points could be spent on stats. "Nnngggg!" I needed a bigger brain, right? Maybe, the Intelligeat would work instead. Anything to make it stop hurting. My voice was crag from howling. In pure desperation I put in a point to Intelligence, and ever so slightly things started to adjust. Information began to seem more anized. Another point and I felt my thoughts clear, the stream of data no longer a jumbled mess. A third point and I could breathe once more.

  I gulped the air, eager to fill my starved lungs. I went ahead and spent the st free point. My thoughts were clearer than they had ever been. "Hahaha!"

  I spent the several minutes calming myself as well as reviewing my status. While much of it was still fn to me, I no longer felt that it was pletely alien.

  I'd have to go over my new css abilities when I didn't feel like I just narrowly avoided having a heart attack. At least, I seemed to be growing. But was it in the right dire?

  It was with some caution that I ehe Khai Fe. Though that caution was soon thrown to the winds, as I ran my hands over the Matrix Engraver. It was a mae that burns a Psi circuit into a Khaydarin Crystal. Then I turo the Material Disassembler which broke dowy muything, into its basic molecules. , I examihe various Assemblers which turn those molecules into Metal, Psi Crystal, or Solidified Energy. Lastly, I studied the Nanes to build and shape materials into final products.

  While the new knowledge rolled around in my head, I now had an intuitive uanding of these maes. With some time and effort I might be able to alter temptes and create specific things I o implement them. With my exposure to the Fe, I now could prehend the primary differeweeypes of Khai Smiths. The Phase-Smith could create emptes, but would struggle to source materials. As a -Smith materials would be plentiful, however, I would only be able to alter temptes I already possessed or could find.

  I had a suspi that the Ss the Probes had been so prolifi perf, would be able to serve as temptes. If so, that meant I could alter then fe human tech. Which use not only useful but necessary for any long term goals.

  Reag out through the Psi field I touched the signatures of Probes. A couple dozen different personalities of Wisp Infused Probes were active, yet only two had been his made them stand out in the Psifield. I called Scuff and Fix to the Fe. They arrived and I gave them pats. They seemed to like that. No clue if they really felt it, or just liked the attention. Ohing was being clear though. Khai Robots developed their own form of life after a time, and the Wisp Infusions enhanced and accelerated this process. They quickly uploaded all their ss. I thahem and they returo their tasks.

  Hours passed as I reviewed the data. Yes, these would work as temptes indeed. I quickly pulled up the sy Omaha. The circuitry to ie with smart gun teology was simplistic by Khai standards and full of unnecessary pos. I had the idea to use the tempte of the Photon on, for an example of Khai targeting circuits. Then I realized that no, that wouldn't do. The on circuits were designed for fixed ptform targeting. I needed something from a more mobile ptform. Ah, there was the Dragoon. A type of battle tank with legs. It had a slightly more plex targeting circuit with a certain level of adaptability baked in. Which made it perfey needs. Of course, several parameters would have to be tweaked, psma wouldn't behave like a solid projectile. Usually.

  The chassis and barrel of the Omaha could be redone in the brassy Khai Alloy, which was a very plex metallic molecule. It came in several variants, we would go with one of the medium strength ones here. Its tolerances far beyond most alloys avaible to humans. This would also allow for new more peing forms of ammo. Yes, the propelnt could be minute amounts of solidified energy. The bullet itself a lighter Khai Alloy. A finned design for better aerodynamics. Good.

  I could with time vert my pistol to fire psma rounds. But the gun would have to be rger and heavier. I already had a hard time handling it. So let's stick with solid projectiles for now.

  pile. One prototype tempte. Alina raempte through several simutions. She decred it viable. I had the Fe assemble one and then a hundred rounds of the new ammo. The on had still ended up heavier, by about a pound and a half. It was a brass colored version of the Omaha, a few tweaks making it a bit sleeker. When the ammo was done, I headed to the edge of the Valley.

  I would be shooting the mountainside, for the most part. This was only meant to be a stress test. Readying myself for extremely heavy recoil, I braced and squeezed the trigger. It didn't disappoint the kick otent, but I mao avoid getting kissed this time. Maybe I should pull ba the propelnt a tad, ure out a better recoil pensation system.

  After a few dozen rounds. I was growing to love my new gun. I had a feeling it would shred most things I'd meet iy. Well, we could test that. Back at the fe, I printed up a couple of armored ptes. One representing the best armor the Probes had sed iy. The other a light variant of the Khai allhly the same as what the Probes were rog.

  Testing showed that while both failed to stop the bullets. The human armor failed more dramatically. Heh. It was a skewed test anyway, the real armor of the Khai was their shielding teology. I'd have to test that out . Hmm.

  [ Omaha Khai Variant - Prototype

  Range: 40 yards

  Damage: 10

  Ammo: 9 round magazine +1 round in the chamber ]<

  Not bad for my first attempt. I took a break to grab some another fruit to eat. This time a golden pear-like fruit off of one of the blue leaved trees. Very firm texture, crispy and tart, not too dissimir to the apple but with its own distinct fir. Like the apple one fruit pletely filled my belly. I was sure it had something to do with the mana.

  I spent some time walking around and just enjoying the Valley. The walk was just to clear my head, a a few more idea percote uhe hood. Yet I leased everything was ing along nicely.

  Then I thought of what the Corpos would do if they found it. That could never be allowed. The horrid images my brain jured up, lit a fire under my ass to get back to work.

  I marched back to the Fe to spend the day designing new ways to protect this peace.

  Matustos