[Chapter 23. A small Home in the Forest]

  He summoned three travel drones and four additional Reconnaissance drones.

  `Fly to the city. Scan for females that catch my interest. Hover above them and notify the travel drones for pickup. Bring them to me.′

  The drones split instantly, each type accelerating at its own optimal speed. Next he turned and summoned a few cargo drones.

  "You will acquire housing. A mobile camper, a large shed, a pre-built home. Something comfortable."

  One of the cargo drones vanished from sight.

  "Are you certain this is a wise allocation of resources?" Iris asked. Her voice was calm, posture perfectly still.

  Searanox turned to her, his mouth curved upward, teeth briefly visible. As he was fully turned the smile was nowhere to be seen.

  "I am sure, Iris. We have been working hard. We deserve some recreation. And consider it as resource acquisition, we want a place to sleep in, comfortable bedding and a secure location from the elements. We also want allies. Loyalty is more easily secured through shared experiences and the promise of safety."

  He stepped back, his eyes dark with intent.

  "This is not a two person game. I want a party. If not in the main team, then nearby. Who keeps order if we are both gone?"

  The logic was sound. Uncomfortable, but sound.

  Iris inhaled slowly, already calculating outcomes and contingencies.

  "Understood. I will prepare a secure location for our new acquisitions."

  She scanned the forest, evaluating terrain and sightlines. Her gaze settled on a small, secluded clearing hidden deep among the trees. In a single fluid motion, she activated Blade Step, vanishing in a shimmer of arcane distortion and reappearing at the center of the clearing. The ethereal Zweih?nder formed in her hands, its blade humming with power. She swung, trees fell cleanly, trunks severed with surgical precision. Undergrowth vanished.

  The ground leveled beneath her movements. Within minutes, a defensible camp had taken shape, a temporary base carved from the forest itself.

  "I am ready, Searanox," she called out.

  He smiled, the skin tightening at the corners of his eyes. while ten more cargo drones fly off with the command to gather all the food they can get from local supermarkets.

  "So it would seem, now we just have to wait for the cargo drone to bring us your temporary residence. When our guests arrive you will make sure they don't run away, my dear."

  He sat down on a log before continuing, "It's almost time. The Mana Infusion will begin in a few hours. I did all I could to bring us to level 15 and I did it, now we have to wait and see if it was enough."

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  Searanox did not have to wait long.

  The first Reconnaissance drone pulsed with an alert, its signal painting a clear picture in his mind. A young woman, late teens, jogging alone through a park. She was of average height, with a lean, developing figure with shoulder length dirty blonde hair tied back in a messy ponytail.

  It was still a strange sensation to just know something from so far away and many places at the same time. It was almost disorienting to be in so many places at once and yet not. The drone's assessment was blunt: aesthetically pleasing, young and female.

  He gave a mental nod, a travel drone swooped in silently, its anti-gravity field enveloping her before she could even register the breeze. She vanished from the path in a faint distortion of light, the drone flew for a few minutes then a bit later emerged in the clearing. The young woman still like a statue on top the drone, the drone itself vanished in blue sparks. The young woman came stumbling out of the sparks gasping in confusion.

  Before she could scream, Iris moved. Not with violence, but with a simple, overwhelming presence. The half-wolf Eldritch Knight stepped out from between the trees, her silver strands in her mane catching the light, her amber eyes calm but unnervingly intense. The girl froze, terror rooting her to the spot.

  This was not a kidnapper. This was something out of a nightmare, or a fantasy.

  "You are safe," Iris said, her voice a low, steady rumble that was more calming than it should have been. "You will not be harmed. But you will stay here. Understand? "The girl, trembling and wide eyed, could only manage a weak nod.

  "Iris honey, you are scaring our guest, come here." Searanox said calmly while patting his thigh.

  She stopped, a slight twitch in her ears before she padded over to him.

  "Who are you?" the girl stammered out.

  Searanox looked at her and gave a small sigh.

  "Call me Searanox. We mean you no harm... But in a few hours, the world you knew won't exist anymore. The rules of it won't apply anymore, for there will be no one enforcing them. At least that's what I believe will happen..."

  Searanox scratched Iris behind the ear, "Iris lets wait for the rest, I don't want to repeat myself." She growls softly as she nuzzled into the touch. `She behaves like a puppy.′

  The drones started to come in, first were cargo drones that brought food, he commanded them to dump it at the edge. in less than ten minutes a literally mountain of food was created.

  `I have forgotten about the ten times multiplier, that have the be tones of food from just one... and I send out ten of them.′

  In that moment a cargo drone descended through the canopy and dropped a large living unit, it landed with a loud thud. The pre-build home looked just like a storage container that undergone a home-renovation. On first glance one would mistake it for a typical home, just in box shape. Then seemingly without rhyme or reason, the cargo drone began to simply throw out the entire contents of a furniture store in front of it. Table, chairs, beds, an entire bathroom, everything imaginable was dropped there.

  "Iris, you will be in charge of that..." He motioned to the pile of furniture and the cloud of blue sparks above it.

  Afterwards he turned and walked towards the growing pile of food at the edge of the clearing. Bending down slightly to pick up a glass of sausages. With a twist the lid pops off, he picked two more things from the pile. He was eating as nothing out of the ordinary just happened.

  All the while the young woman just watched from the sidelines, mouth slightly agape from witnessing something skin of a fever dream.