Ben walked over to his mother. “I have two single-use portal tokens. If possible, I would like to recruit Akira and the SEALs as well. Did you see anybody who would be higher priority?”

  Allison shook her head. “No, there are certainly lots of strong people around, but nobody that would stand head and shoulders above those, and even if they did, that group seems trustworthy. So, please go ahead, I think it is a great idea.”

  Ben didn’t know how long before the portals back home would open so he quickly made his way to his targets.

  Akira stood slightly to the side, apparently looking into his Status interface or reading a message.

  When he looked up, Ben held out one of the portal slips.

  “This is a single-use portal token. If you activate it, you will find a portal that leads to our home, the Protectorate. I don’t know what your situation is, but if you are looking for a reasonable safe space that is dedicated protecting people and helping them grow, I would be delighted to have you join us.”

  Akira bowed, but refused to take the token.

  “Thank you very much, Ben. I appreciate it. On Arrival Day I was visiting my grandparents in a small village—I am from Japan—there are mostly old people around and I am one of the few who keeps them safe, so as much as I would like working with like-minded people, I am afraid I can’t do it.”

  “Well, I want you to take the token anyway. First, if you are ever in danger and there seems to be no way out, you can use it to save yourself. Second, we have been on many evacuation missions from the system where we go to remote villages and take people into the Protectorate. I assume the portal would stay open long enough for you to get your whole village through. I am sure people won’t like leaving home, but we have food, warm water, access to a System Store that lets you buy an endless range of goods, and safety. We also have half a dozen dungeons that can help you grow your capabilities…” Ben closed his pitch with a wink and mentioning the dungeons did not fail to impress Akira.

  Hesitantly he took the token. “I will talk to my grandparents. The situation is not easy without electricity—I might take you up on the offer.”

  Ben approached Joe, who looked curiously at the token in his hand.

  “This is a gift,” Ben said as he handed it over. “I enjoyed the collaboration and if you ever want to join us, whether now or in the future, just activate the token and a portal to the Protectorate will open.”

  “Thank you, but we never discussed what the Protectorate actually is.”

  “The Protectorate of the Blue Mountain Forest is a settlement in a high Energy-density area in which no monsters can spawn. I lead it and in return for a safe space that offers unique development opportunities we have obligations to fulfill, for example, I need to grow the settlement from a dozen people originally to hundreds of thousands. The settlement is powered by dungeons that we need to constantly clear… You can probably tell, it is an interesting place.”

  “Joke’s on you—we would have joined even if it wasn’t interesting. We have been stuck in a very remote area on a reconnaissance mission since Arrival Day—obviously the mission is as dead as the country we conducted it for, so finding a way out was our objective all along.”

  “That’s great. The only thing you need to know, everyone in the Protectorate needs to support our values, Community—stronger together, Growth—ever forward, Safety—protecting everyone.”

  Joe looked to his men, who nodded, and turned back to Ben. “We are in.”

  “Okay, do you need to go back to where you came from?”

  Joe shrugged, “Not really. We have some supplies in our base, but nothing critical.”

  “Good, so why don’t you try to join us through our gate, that way we can potentially save the token for later, if that doesn’t work, just join us whenever you are ready.”

  Just seconds later, the portals rose from the same places they had initially deposited them. Ben gave a very short speech, thanking everyone for their commitment, then shook a few hands, especially those of Cass and Sebastian, as well as the young man’s who had led group three, and then led the group of Protectors that was carrying the bodies of their fallen, through the portal home.

  ***

  Ben sat on his bed, having just taken a shower. They had returned an hour ago. The first thing he had done was build the House of Healing. It was placed relatively close to the Academy as he hoped that there would be an exchange of insights over time.

  It was a building that improved healing in general and made healing perks and potions more effective. As not all injuries from their fight could be healed right away, he thought the 1,000 Settlement Credits were a worthwhile investment.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Then he had to go through the harrowing experience of informing citizens that their loved ones had not returned alive from a mission.

  It had been one of the hardest things he had to do. Fighting Drakniks seemed easy in comparison.

  He had also used their messaging system to call for a settlement-wide assembly in the evening. They needed to conduct a ceremony for the fallen and he wanted to combine it with a Retelling. They had so many people join since the last one that it made sense to do so, and it would help explain for what purpose they had fought the Drakniks. To defend all that they were building up with the Protectorate.

  It had turned out that the SEALs could not enter the Portal to the Protectorate. On balance, something that Ben approved as it limited security risks. They had, however, opened a portal on their own just minutes later and Allison had directed them to the inn, where they could settle in for now. After months in the wilderness they were obviously delighted with their new home.

  Finally, Ben could take a look at the system messages that waited for him.

  Congratulations, through exposure to a poisonous environment in a high Energy-density area you have advanced your Direction.

  You have taken the second step on stage one of your Direction.

  You have gained Minor Poison Resistance.

  Continue to advance your Direction to evolve your Constitution further.

  Good luck!

  Ben was stunned by this development. The systems had hinted at the possibility to develop the Constitution not just with potions but also with other means, but that it could happen almost by accident was something he hadn’t expected.

  Minor Poison Resistance was certainly something that he was happy to have. He had never been sure whether [Resilient Body] would deal with poisons as well. Now, even if it did, the resilience would hopefully deal with things before they needed to be healed.

  That was a good development.

  There was one more message waiting—and Ben was keen to see what Mesa had described as a game changer.

  As a reward for coordinating and fighting in the first incursion of Drakniks on Earth you are awarded an advanced building for the Protectorate, the Energy Enhanced Evolution Chamber.

  The chamber is usually part of a larger higher education complex but was awarded ahead of time and is exceptionally valuable.

  By powering the chamber with Energy, typically via cores, an environment is created that stimulates perk creation and evolution for people Tier 2 and above.

  The awarded model allows for perks up to rare rarity. Add-ons and further upgrades for the chamber are or will be available via the Settlement Interface.

  Good luck!

  Game changer indeed! He hadn’t really had a plan on how to proceed with his perks. There were lots of insights, not least from the fight with the Drakniks, to dwell on, but he hadn’t had a lead on a reliable source of Energy as provided by the systems during tiering up, or the professor’s perk [Clarity].

  With the chamber that point would be addressed. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t absolve anyone from having a clear understanding of what they wanted to achieve—just like the Grove didn’t—but it would enable one to use those insights and turn them into perks.

  Thinking about the Grove, it was still useful. If he understood the chamber correctly he needed to feed it cores, the Grove didn’t need that for turning common into uncommon perks. For most people getting to Tier 2 that was still a very relevant topic. Even now Ben still had four common perks himself.

  As happy as he was with having got rid of [Frenzy] he wondered a bit what would be possible with a combination of [Clarity] and this new chamber.

  The loss of five Protectorate citizens outweighed everything, but this development offered a ray of sunshine in an otherwise very cloudy day.

  While he was at it he opened the Settlement Interface, something that Adam usually managed, but he was still in Simonston, this time hopefully without incident.

  He quickly navigated to the respective area and found one add-on available for the Evolution Chamber. Before he even read the description he was shocked by the price tag of 5,000 SCs. That equated to 50,000 Credits. 100 cores.

  What could be worth that kind of investment?

  ***

  Allison opened her eyes.

  It had been an exhausting day. Days. Weeks if she was being honest.

  The effort to manage the Protectors grew with every new batch they introduced, the never-ending dungeon runs, the missions…

  The last mission had been harrowing. Seeing the people you were responsible for dying and not being able to prevent it. Hearing about the assassination attempt on your son and not being there to stop it.

  And now Tier 2.

  The [Wild Ally] perk she had gained during the large fight had put her over the edge. The bear she was now able to summon—even if just for a short while—was fierce and powerful.

  It had not been an easy process to choose her Path. She wanted to stay close to her son and keep protecting him to the best of her abilities as they fought against whatever dangers this new world threw at them.

  But she also felt like she could help him and their family by focusing more on her role as leader of the Protectors. Especially given their need to scale up the population rapidly going forward. She was sure that Ben would press for more expeditions into the surrounding areas to find and harvest resources and it was only a question of time until they branched out to Tier 2 dungeons.

  In the end, she had made her choice and she was happy with her Path of the Mother Bear.

  The name of her first—and only—rare perk was also how she saw her role reflected. She would defend her family fiercely—in whatever role—but eventually she would also let them go their own way.

  But not now. Now was the time to press ahead.

  She went into the bathroom to splash some water into her face and stopped short as she looked into the mirror.

  The changes to her appearance over the last couple of months had been noticeable but gradual. A bit less gray hair, a few wrinkles disappearing.

  This was different.

  She had put her attribute points into Mind and Magic, not into Body. Still, she looked easily ten years younger, if not more.

  There was no gray hair left and, except for some laugh lines around her eyes, her skin was almost wrinkle free.

  It was a silly thing to think about in the face of all that happened around them, and she had never been particularly vain, but it was still something that pleased her, if she was honest with herself.

  Anyway, off to talk with the SEALs. She had plans for them.