Chương 60: A Modest Private Airstrip

Just as she'd suspected, Scarlet awoke once more in the pit. While she wasn't happy to be proven right, she also wasn't unhappy the way she had been the first time she'd woken here. That was until she glanced at the Trial notification in the corner of her vision. A new line stood out among the familiar text. [Trial Initiated: Survive the Endless Horde] [Objective: Survive three waves from all five layers of the Sunken Land… Current Progress: Layer 1 of 5 | Wave 1 of 3 Time until next wave: 00: 03: 59] Great.

Lovely. So not only did the Trial not 'save' progress, it also automatically began the countdown the moment she entered the pit. If the timing was consistent, she'd already been in the pit for about eleven minutes. She wondered if it were possible to enchant a hair tie, or something, to wake her if she was significantly displaced while sleeping. A thrill ran through her at the thought that her new knowledge already was proving useful. Scarlet wished she could study everything at once.

'If wishes were stat points, I'd be the most powerful person on this portal world,' she sent to Maus. He sent back a memory of them blowing out a candle together on his first birthday. It reminded her of the simple wish she'd made that day: that they'd both be safe and well enough to share many more birthdays just like that one. If she wanted to fulfill any of those wishes, she'd need power. Full stat saturation was still an absolute must, but gaining the stats was no longer the goal.

They were a means to an end, a necessary step towards tapping into her own potential, and just one of many she would need to accomplish before she went back. As the timer ticked down, she considered the additional steps she'd need to take. That included approaching the other Factions. Turning her head from side to side, she studied her neighbours.

Her gains in Perception let her see more than vague outlines, a happy revelation that lasted only until she realised the people fighting in the distance were no longer unfamiliar alien creatures. They were both Vulpian. She felt the cage walls closing just a fraction tighter.

As if she needed the reminder that even in a Training World she was a bug in a jar, kept in line by contracts, half-hearted promises, and the manoeuvring of powerful people whose power and status had bred such casual entitlement that, for a heartbeat, she could almost believe she was back on Earth.. Rage warred with indignation. Suddenly the mana suppressors she was wearing felt less like training aids and more like anchors, keeping her stats static. Meditation faltered as a burning ember flared hot in her chest.

Spite was just as much a motivator as ambition, and if he thought this would slow her down, he had another thing coming. [00: 00: 02] Ready for round two? she asked Maus. Ready, Boss. Scarlet flexed her fingers and let herself smile. <-… -> For the next few weeks, that was how life went. In the morning she'd fight, primarily working on her physical stats while internally refining her mana control and exploring the potential synergies between Empathy and Meditation.

Maus, with his growing spatial sensitivity, was now able to wake her before she was teleported into the pit, slowly training her own mana sensitivity at the same time. Then came a recovery meal. The afternoons were for lectures and training her mental Stats. Lesson by lesson her enchanting improved, and level by level she worked through the labyrinth box. Evenings were for exploration. After her meal she would retire to her chambers to 'Meditate.'

Cross-legged on her bed, she would sit for hours studying the web, working on her own unique form of psionic enchanting, and, as had become one of her favourite pastimes, carefully prising apart the enchantments she found on the items around the villa. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Despite once describing enchanting as transmutation, there was no reason that what had been done could not be undone.

The magic could be disrupted and picked apart, like pulling a single loose stitch that unravelled an entire sweater. Perhaps most exciting of all was another discovery she made, thanks to her relentless grinding. The Historian couldn't sense her work with shadows. Or perhaps he could, but instinct told her he didn't know the full extent of what she could do when she combined shadow manipulation with psionics. Had he known, he would never have given her as much freedom as he had.

Scarlet worked to combine her powers, to explore psionics, and enchanting, and mana manipulation as well as she could under so much scrutiny. She was never foolish enough to connect with the shadows around the Historian. Part of the reason she had yet to be discovered was simply because he wasn't looking, and she intended to keep it that way. So, she wove her plans into her practice, disguised her practice as training, and concealed her personal projects with play. She pushed, and she pushed, and she pushed.

Rest became a distant luxury, sleep a short reprieve she was thrust into at the end of her limits, and every morning she woke in that pit and prepared to fight. The cycle continued, and Scarlet grew. <-… -> Kain P. O. V. All things considered, Kain was doing well. He'd contacted his grandma and grandpa and confirmed they were still alive, and the lack of news from most of his close friends was, in this case, about 50/50 on being a good thing.

Besides, the power grid was still on, even though emergency broadcasts had informed everyone this was probably temporary. A lot of the grids simply weren't being monitored, and one had apparently been taken over by mana-wielding electrical lizards. That was certainly a problem. It just wasn't his problem yet. If he followed his sister's instructions and headed to her place, it probably wouldn't be for a while, and that was good enough for him.

He was at his family's private airfield – a modest strip of land with a hangar and a landing pad. He was there with two of the people he'd grouped up with after the beach battle. He'd also managed to track down the guy his sister had insisted he bring, though Kain couldn't understand why. They guy looked too naïve to be real. He was the definition of a golden retriever personality, if said golden retriever had decided apocalypse attire meant LARP as a fantasy wizard.

"Raj, Sombra, thanks for coming out, and for helping bring all the gear." Kain glanced at the small wagon full of equipment they'd managed to drag through the to the airfield as they all worked to load it. Kain was once again grateful his father had kept their Bell 407GXi despite his mother's protests to 'upgrade'. Then he turned back to fantasy-puppy and introduced the group.

"So, this is Raj. She is an actual modern-day blacksmith, which is incredible," Kain gestured to the young woman who was loading her equipment into the helicopter before gesturing to the taciturn man helping her.

"And that's Sombra. He is our current combat specialist." Then he turned to the young man.

"Would you like to go ahead and introduce yourself?" The guy gave an earnest smile and waved.

"Hi, I'm Myka, with a 'y'. I am, or I guess was, a pharmacist. I'm actually not sure why I was invited here, but Kain said Scarlet asked me to come, and she basically saved my butt back at the convention, so." He shrugged and made a vague 'hear I am' gesture.

"Anyway," he continued.

"I have gotten pretty good at killing monsters. I unlocked this skill called Meditation that's super great for helping me train my mana control, so I'm already kind of a mage, but I'm thinking of going for a hybrid build. Maybe doing some alchemy. That's gotta be a thing, right? I mean, it's like trope 101, and while I haven't unlocked a Skill for it, there is a solid group of us on StarNet working towards that.

"It's slower than molasses, but every site is kind of slower now, so..." He recognised he was rambling and trailed off with a smile.

"So, that's me right now," he concluded There was a beat of silence. Then Kain smiled, clapped his hands together, and said, "That was pretty neat, man.

"And yeah, we're on StarNet. It doesn't have a group function yet, but we do have a private forum. We'll add you so we can coordinate.

"Anyway, I know things are pretty weird right now, so thanks, everyone, for coming." Raj shrugged, already finished sorting all their gear into the helicopter.

"Yeah, things are pretty grim right now, but my Gramps lives up north. Says it's easier to run a forge that way, which is true. I know the roads are pretty messed up, but it'll be good to be closer. I haven't made contact with him, so it'll be nice to see him." A pained look crossed her features before returning to pleasant neutrality. Kain gave her a reassuring smile.

"We'll see about the fuel situation," he said, patting the helicopter beside him.

"And I'm not sure what things look like up there, but we'll probably be flying blind. If the Wi-Fi is this bad, radio towers can't be much better." The unspoken if there's even anyone around to monitor them went silently unacknowledged between them.

"You too, Sombra," Kain said to the taciturn man.

"I appreciate you answering the call and making the hike."

"Can't move forward if you stay in place," Sombra uttered with a nod What could have been an awkward silence instead became something more thoughtful.

"Okay, well, we'll be heading to a small town to meet up with my little sister, so I'm not quite sure what to expect. But if nothing else, I know she'll be prepared." He laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Always so prepared." If anybody caught the edge to his voice, nobody called it out. Just as he prepared to begin the flight sequence and get everyone situated, a panting voice called from behind him.

"Were you seriously going to leave us behind?" Dan shouted. The final member of their original group burst out of the treeline, loaded down with his own bag, and waving Skillit, his cast-iron implement of destruction.

"Gained a ghad-damn tracking Skill trying to catch up to you." The kid laughed, but there was an undeniable hint of anger and hurt in his voice. He and Kain looked at each other for a long moment before Kain turned to the group. Raj and Sombra both nodded, while Myka gave a confused little shrug.

"All right then. I guess it'll be the five of us," Kain sighed.

"We'll debrief in the air, set some goals, and see..." He closed his lips as he realised just how literal the next words might be.

"... if we survive first contact with the enemy." He grimaced.

"Or just survive." Then he climbed into the helicopter, the group trailing behind him as they headed off into the unknown.