The last two days had passed by in a blur. Ben had been talking with the newcomers, run dungeons with the team, helped with watch shifts and, to his delight, spent quite a bit of time training. He had participated in the morning sessions, one led by a monk, sparred with the other Protectors, and Tracy had supervised the additional sessions to acquire the [Fast Body] perk.

  Early on the third morning after the last mission, Ben left HQ for sprint training and noticed all twelve monks sitting before the Protectorate Pillar, watching him.

  “Auspicious blessings upon you, Ben.” The abbot greeted him while sitting with his brothers on the floor.

  “Auspicious blessings, Abbot. How are you this morning?”

  “Very well, thank you. If it is not too much to ask, we would like to talk with you.” The abbot pointed to the ground in front of him.

  “Of course, it is my pleasure. I also would like to thank you for the meditation class yesterday, I was not the only one that enjoyed it greatly.” Ben sat down, assuming a lotus position.

  “I am glad to hear it. We would like to align our understanding of your values with you.

  “First, there is community. This, for us, is Sangha, one of Buddhism’s Three Jewels. Cooperation, mutual aid, and shared practice are what we aim for in our monastery life. We feel this is what you are aiming for with this settlement.

  “Second, there is growth. We pursue inner growth, achieving wisdom, compassion, non-attachment. We feel that the growth you are aiming for is to benefit others and that you are aiming for virtue in your life. Your choice of motto for the Academy speaks of it and discussions with Barry and the man you call professor have been enlightening. We believe we are aligned.

  “Lastly, there is safety. Saving sentient beings is essential to us, however we aim to achieve that with Ahimsa, what you might call non-harm. We are willing to contribute to the safety of others, but our means are not to wield a sword. This is where we need to ensure that we are aligned.”

  The monk looked at him expectantly.

  Ben paused. He had never intended everyone in the settlement to become a fighter. When they had been fifteen, then thirty people, it had been necessary that everybody play a role in a militia, and even now that they were a hundred people more, he still thought it important that the vast majority be ready to seize a spear and defend the walls, yet he would never force anyone to violate their faith. Also, the monks were already contributing in many different ways. To refuse would feel both spiteful and ignorant.

  “I am incredibly happy to hear that our values line up so well with yours. I share your interpretation and we are fully aligned on you not needing to pick up a sword.”

  The abbot smiled brightly. “Very well. In that case…” He got up, again without using his hands; the other monks followed suit, and he put his hand on the pillar behind him to become a citizen of the Protectorate. Within a couple of minutes the settlement’s population had grown to 117.

  “Welcome as citizens! The next time we welcome a larger number of new citizens we will conduct a small ceremony that we call The Retelling to reflect on the brief history of the Protectorate. It would be much appreciated if you could attend.”

  ***

  A few minutes later, Ben, Jamal, Michael, and Anne stood outside the palisade with Barry and Tracy on the wall to provide guidance.

  They were doing interval training, sprinting between the palisade and the forest as well as around the whole settlement. Even with a Body attribute of 19, the workout was exhausting, but at the same time Ben continued to be amazed by the speed he and the others could produce. The trees blurred past. In breaks they did calisthenics—squats, lunges, and similar exercises to strengthen the lower body.

  About thirty minutes into the training they were exercising close to the forest border when Michael tackled Ben to the ground and he felt a stabbing pain in his shoulder.

  In a million years Ben would never have thought Michael would attack him. He was stunned. He felt blood running down his arm, and as he looked down, he noticed that the pain had not been from Michael’s tackle but rather a short arrow sticking into his shoulder—an arrow that might have struck his head or chest had Michael not tackled him aside.

  Michael was already jumping back up, trying to get to his weapons that he had deposited a few meters to the side. “Attack, north.”

  Ben looked north and saw movement between the trees—and more arrows coming in. He gritted his teeth and pulled out the arrow, then rolled to the side to evade the next attack. Fortunately, that brought him closer to his axe, which he picked up despite the pain in his arm. Jamal gripped only his axe, no shield; Anne, as ever, fought bare-handed.

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  So far they had been lucky that only Ben had been hit. Staying put invited arrows; retreating risked getting shot in the back. Unsure what awaited, he still knew the answer: “Charge them!”

  He led the way, weaving and ducking to stay a difficult target.

  As he ducked beneath the canopy, his eyes adjusted and he saw, other than expected, no humans but creatures that were relatively small, less than 1.50 meters tall, and resembled bipedal lizards clad in rudimentary scraps. They had green skin, heavy brow ridges, short tails, and pointed teeth jutting from an elongated jaw. They carried short spears and crude bows.

  Retskul. Lizardkin. Scout. Energy-Born. Tier 1. Uncommon Challenge.

  Weapons. Scout. Sapient beings attacking us.

  The moment of distraction cost him. Another arrow buried itself in his thigh. The pain and impact made him stumble for a second, but he powered through and reached the first in the group. At a glance, he counted roughly a dozen, but it was difficult to tell.

  His opponent had just dropped his bow and was struggling to draw his spear from the sling on his back.

  Ben didn’t give him a second chance. Despite the pain in his leg, he took a proper stance that allowed him to get his body weight behind the swing with his axe. Even without [Cleave], he nearly cleaved the opponent in half. Dead.

  But the fight was far from over; with a glance he saw Anne and Jamal engaged, both bleeding.

  Two of the lizardkin were attacking him from the side with their spears. He turned to confront them, but as he did so, he saw another one aiming an arrow at him. He dropped to one knee to evade, which tore open the wound where an arrow was still stuck in his thigh. He saw a spear coming at him, but he leaned back and redirected it with his axe, exhaling deeply through gritted teeth. He felt [Calm] working in the background.

  He remembered he could do things bordering on superhuman. With a massive effort he sprang from his knees, vaulted over the spearmen, landed behind them, and used a whirling 180-degree swing to sever the first foe’s neck before the blade lodged in the second’s shoulder. He released the axe, punched the wounded foe’s neck, and felt a satisfying crack as its spine snapped.

  Aware the archer still hunted him, he spared a heartbeat to survey the field as he wrenched his axe free.

  Michael was on the other side of the battlefield, eliminating enemies in the backline. Jamal and Anne were fortunately side by side, but both were still bleeding and did not look to be in good condition.

  Barry’s mantras flooded through his head. He understood them. He liked them. He was committed to them. But there were always exceptions. “Jamal, Anne, retreat.”

  He didn’t explain his reasoning or check whether they would follow through. He ripped the arrow out that was still stuck in his leg, threw it to the side and … charged.

  From what he could tell, there were still half a dozen enemies left. He was aware that he was not invincible, but individually, these enemies were weak. He felt that he could take them unless they got lucky, and he still had Michael wreaking havoc.

  First, the archer that was still harassing him with arrows. He took a step behind a tree, delayed just for a moment to throw its aim off, and then charged with a couple of long, painful steps.

  Breathe. Enter. Stand. Strike… next.

  For the first time since the fight with the wolves he felt the flow return. Despite the stress and the pain, he felt centered.

  Three spear-wielders charged from different angles. He saw Michael closing in, so he focused on defense. He kicked one spear aside, nearly losing his stance as the reopened wound flared. He switched to one-handed wielding of his axe as he used the bracer on his off-hand to redirect another spear. The maneuver cost him a gash to the hand.

  Carefully he retreated, step by step, until… Michael launched a surprise attack on the right-most attacker, which gave Ben a second to throw his axe at the middle attacker, hitting him in the chest. He sidestepped, ripped the last enemy’s spear free, reversed it, and drove it through what he hoped was the creature’s heart.

  He took two steps to retrieve his axe, while looking out for the next enemy, but didn’t find any. “Anybody else?” he asked Michael, who shook his head.

  “I think two fled.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  Michael just shook his head again.

  “Thanks for the save earlier, man. That could have ended badly…”

  “Always.”

  Jamal and Anne had not retreated far before his order; they had taken out four of the lizardkin and were now waiting for them at the clearing’s edge.

  Both were still bleeding, the arrows still lodged.

  Ben could see Barry running toward them and more people charging out of the gate, led by his mother and Damien, who might have been on watch.

  “Fall back to the settlement,” Ben shouted with the full force of his impressive lung volume and nodded to his team to make the short way back home.

  Barry was already close to them, so he ignored the order; his mother had sent the others back but waited halfway to the settlement.

  Allison and Barry didn’t say anything; they just escorted them back behind the walls.

  As the gate closed behind them, the doctor—name still escaping Ben—came running, his sister right behind her.

  His mother directed them toward the reception hall on the ground floor of the HQ as a short-term nursery where the doctor used the medical instruments she had brought along to extract the arrows from Anne and Jamal. She and his sister then used their healing spells to care for the three of them who had been hurt.

  While Julia used [Healing Touch] on him, he raised an eyebrow. “You said life was boring here. Is this better?”

  She punched his uninjured shoulder and he chuckled.

  As before, the healing spells worked better on him than on the others, so he was back on his feet quickly, while Anne and Jamal would likely rest for hours.

  “Should we talk?” Allison asked him.

  Ben nodded and pointed at Barry and Adam to join them as he led them upstairs to his office.