“Happy Birthday, Sarah!” Ben said as he walked into the family's small apartment that was overflowing with people. Beyond the immediate family were Kevin and several other kids from the settlement.

  “Thank you! My mother says if a perk appears exactly 16 years after birth, it should be any moment now!” Sarah said, barely containing her nervous energy.

  “I’m sure it’ll be good—whatever it turns out to be.”

  “Remember, you gain most perks by what you do, not by what’s gifted to you,” Deepika said.

  “Yes, Mom! I know!” the birthday girl said while rolling her eyes.

  “Can I talk with you for a moment?" Deepika asked Ben.

  “Sure, how can I help?” Ben said as they stepped away.

  “Bring me a magical tree,” she said deadpan.

  “A magical tree?”

  “Yes, well, an energy-infused one. I heard about your need to transport food to the city. If you can get me the appropriate material, maybe I can create a box that can carry a lot more than a bag of holding. It turns out that leather isn’t ideal for this sort of enchantment when it comes to sheer volume. Metal would be best, but that requires Tier 2 cores. With energy-infused wood I should be able to craft a chest that holds large quantities of food.”

  “Wow. That would be amazing. What about weight?”

  Deepika shrugged. “We will have to see. I think it should reduce the weight sufficiently, but we won’t know before we have tried. And of course, it requires the right wood.”

  “Can you be more specific about what to look for in a tree?”

  “I discussed it with Luz. Probably any Tier 1 epic tree would do; rare ones, if they have some link to spatial magic. Of course, Tier 2 would be amazing, but we haven’t seen those yet.”

  Ben nodded. “That’s…”

  He got interrupted by a loud scream and was close to drawing his axe when he saw that it was just Sarah, jumping up and down in joy. He nodded to Deepika. “You are probably needed over there,” he said, laughing.

  A few minutes later, things had calmed down a bit and Sarah came over to Ben, followed by her parents and Kevin.

  “Guess what I got!”

  He chuckled. “Something good, I guess. Does it say ‘you are now a member of the Protectors’?”

  “Yes!”

  “What?!”

  Howard, Sarah’s father, facepalmed, and Deepika laughed out loud.

  “It is called [Squire] and as long as I am being trained by a [Knight] or a knightly organization my perk and attribute development is accelerated!”

  “Will you train me? Please?”

  “What is the one thing I have always told you?” Ben asked.

  “That I will become a Protector eventually?”

  “That too, but what I meant is you’re young, and I won’t agree to anything unless your parents,” he said, looking at Deepika and Howard, “consent.”

  Sarah’s head whipped around, laser focused on her parents. “Can I? Please?!”

  Howard and Deepika looked at each other.

  “Training is fine. Dungeons are a no-go,” was Deepika’s verdict.

  “But I was already training with Barry and the other Protectors? The systems clearly think I am an adult now. Shouldn’t I be treated as such?”

  Before her parents could reply, Ben waved goodbye. “I’ll leave you to it. Sarah, congratulations again! I am sure you will make great use of your perk.”

  ***

  Ben was in his office, taking a final look at the Energy-powered map that the systems had gifted him. It integrated into the table, was managed via his status interface, and displayed everything within the Protectorate zone as a 3D miniature. Areas beyond that lacked that level of detail.

  Old Man’s Hill—the area of the forest that Ben had been wanting to visit when the system hit—was where the grove of trees was located that the systems had gifted him. He remembered the slow and slightly awkward walk with the exoskeleton he had been forced to wear at the time and compared that to his current body with an attribute of 20.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  He shook his head; the last two and a half months had been crazy. But now was not the time to reminisce. He grabbed his pack and walked toward the gate where he could already see the rest of his party waiting for him.

  As per their original plan, Luz would be joining them, and they hoped to be back within a day or two. He nodded to her in thanks.

  “Luz, just to be clear, nothing is going to happen to you out there. Your safety is our number one priority, and as you know, we won’t be going too far from home.

  “Also, unless we are in the middle of a fight, feel free to direct us as you see fit—this trip is very much about finding Energy-infused natural resources for you and the other crafters.”

  Luz patted him on the back. “I am not worried at all. You all have kept us safe through all of this—why would a little hike change things?”

  Allison gave the woman who had been a friend of hers for many years a side hug and nodded along.

  “Let’s go!” Ben said, and the team left the gate, which was positioned in the north side of the palisade, and turned right, east, and up the mountain.

  They were intentionally not rushing but instead taking their time, on the lookout for whatever the Blue Mountain Forest had to offer.

  Unfortunately, the first things on offer were a couple of dire wolves that thought they would make for a good breakfast. Fortunately, they were easily taught differently, and a couple of cores were added to their inventory.

  At one point, Ben was walking beside Allison. “Mom, you look younger than in the past.”

  She laughed. “That’s what every woman wants to hear! But spending a couple of hours on fitness every day will have that effect.”

  “Sure, but I think it is more than that. Losing some fat could have the effect of actually giving you more wrinkles, but that is not the case. You don’t just look fitter; you actually look younger.”

  Allison nodded slowly. “I know. I have noticed myself. I think the growing Body attribute has that as a side effect. I also discussed it with Barry and Tracy. We haven’t really understood how all of this works. Take you as an example, you are much stronger than before, but while you look lean and mean, it’s not like you have added enormous bulk to your frame. At the same time, there can be people that are twice as wide as you but have a lot less strength. Something to study…”

  A few hours into their journey, it was Anne that waved them over to a group of trees that were huddled closely together and their dense canopy created an area of darkness despite the bright summer day around them.

  Between those trees, a large patch of mushrooms had formed.

  Brown Cap Mushroom. Energy-infused plant. Tier 1. Common food source.

  “This is interesting — I have never seen the tag ‘food source’, ” Luz said.

  “True. Maybe something we should collect for Liz and Zack?” Allison asked.

  “Let’s try it first!” Ben said while breaking off one of the almost palm-sized mushroom caps and taking a careful bite. “To be honest, it doesn’t taste like anything special… but in fairness, neither do normal mushrooms if you eat them raw.”

  “Even if the taste is rather neutral – maybe they grow very quickly or have specific nutrients… I think our resident biologists would never forgive us if we didn’t bring them a sample,” Allison said as she got ready to collect a bunch of the mushrooms including the soil and the mycelium.

  “Excellent. A first find already in the bag!” Ben exclaimed.

  A short while later, Michael indicated that he had found something. They came together around a number of large rocks and, hidden below them, a gaping hole leading into a burrow of unnatural dimensions.

  Jamal looked at Ben questioningly, but before either could voice their thoughts, the ground started to shake and cracks opened up rapidly all around them.

  Ben quickly assessed he could jump clear, though others might not, so he lunged and grabbed his mother and Luz before the ground gave way beneath them.

  He held the two women close, shielding them as they fell through roots and soil; the rocks they'd stood beside fell first, slowing their descent. The roots slowed their fall, leaving him shaken but uninjured as he landed on his back in a dark, wide tunnel with the two women shielded by his arms.

  Anne and Jamal landed roughly nearby; Michael had somehow managed to grab roots on the way down and was following them at a much more sedate pace.

  “Is everyone ok?” Ben asked.

  Allison patted him on the shoulder. “You make for a nice airbag, thank you, son.”

  It looked like the others had only minor scratches and were otherwise doing fine. Ben’s skin was unbroken—his Constitution protecting him from the fall damage and rough landing.

  Looking up, they were four to five meters below the forest floor. Given how rough the terrain was, it should be no major problem to climb back up, even for Luz, who likely had the lowest Body attribute.

  However, Ben was curious where the tunnel they had dropped into would lead. He weighed the options.

  “How about Michael and I go check where the tunnel leads—only for a few minutes, then we get out of here?”

  Jamal raised an eyebrow, not really happy with staying back, but didn’t openly object. The others nodded along.

  Michael led the way, much sneakier than Ben. The first turn went right then sharply down, making it hard for Ben to stay upright, but bracing with both hands against the tunnel walls he managed.

  Shortly after, the tunnel opened into a large, almost cavern-like room. Michael signaled for Ben to stay back and slowly crept forward. After a minute he motioned for Ben to carefully join him.

  Taking extra care to remain quiet, Ben reached his friend and looked into the cavern that was spread out before him.

  The two defining features of the place were mushrooms and foxes—both unlike anything on Earth before Arrival Day.

  There were three large patches of mushrooms.

  Sapphire Mushrooms. Energy-infused plant. Tier 1. Epic crafting ingredient.

  They glowed intensely, their blue light brightening the cavern. Ben hadn’t seen many epic crafting materials yet, so they were certainly valuable—even if he didn’t know what they could be used for.

  In the far corner of the cavern a massive two-meter fox with night-black fur and silver eyes stood in a defensive position over her three kits. They shared their mother’s fur color and, despite being newborns, were already larger than any fox Ben had seen before Arrival Day.

  Shadow Fox. Evolved local fauna. Tier 1.

  Similarly to the eagle Ben had saved on his last trip back from Simonston, this was not an Energy-born creature but rather evolved local fauna.

  The kits whimpered—whether from hunger or fear wasn’t clear. Their mother stepped forward, baring her teeth but making no move to attack.

  “I don’t think this fox wants us in her home…”

  Michael only nodded in response.