“Damn, that really hurts.” Julian groaned, massaging his battered shoulder.

  “Hold the lantern and give us some light while we gather the ore,” Harvey said, picking it up from the makeshift post.

  Harvey and Hannah scrambled around the cave, picking up as much material as they could and loading it into the minecart. Fighting outside the tunnel meant the pieces were more scattered than Harvey’s earlier battles, and they only found 2 of the cores and a little over three-quarters of the iron he’d expect from 3 elementals. They didn’t feel comfortable venturing too far from the tracks, so when they’d finished a brief sweep, they headed back towards the surface.

  “You made your point,” Julian said.

  “I wasn’t trying to make a point,” Harvey replied, the strain of pushing the minecart much more bearable with Julian pulling from the other end. “I really believe keeping the cave a secret is going to be best for everyone long term.”

  “Still, you were right. We’ll do our best to hide it.” Julian replied.

  “I don’t think I could’ve killed one of those with every arrow I have. It’s a bad matchup for me.” Hannah chimed in.

  “It would be a bad matchup for me, too, without my marks,” Julian said. “To be honest, I was surprised to see you fight like that, Harvey. I didn’t know you could use your shield on your fists.”

  “Me neither. I’ve always used it defensively, but I couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work.” Harvey replied.

  “It’s like you're punching with your mind. That’s pretty awesome.” Julian laughed.

  “ He definitely punched it… with his fist?” Hannah asked, confused.

  “Your class gives you mostly Endurance and Wisdom, right?” Julian asked. Harvey confirmed with a nod before he continued. “Mine gives me Strength and Vitality, and Hannah’s is Dexterity and Endurance. Best guess is that magic gets better with higher Wisdom, right?”

  “Yup, definitely couldn’t throw a punch like that normally,” Harvey replied. “I’m struggling enough with this damn minecart.”

  "Hence, Wisdom makes punch go boom... a la punching with his mind!" Julian laughed.

  “Well, duh!” Hannah mocked. “I know that. I just meant he wasn’t using telekinesis or anything.”

  “That would be so cool! Do you think that’s possible now?” Julian asked.

  The group chatted until they reached the surface. Harvey buried the cores and infused ore at the bottom of the crate with the rest before piling the normal iron next to the back door. Without Gabe to help keep watch, they decided to each take a few hours while the other two slept inside.

  Julian and Hannah were obviously exhausted from their rescue operation and hadn’t gotten more than a few minutes to eat before helping get everyone settled and being whisked to the depths. Harvey had already rested, sitting by the fire, so he offered to take first watch.

  His mind buzzed as his plans for the coming days fell into place. Now that they had more hands in town, they could start rebuilding in earnest. The first step would be to build a wall around the outpost. Julian had said most of the survivors were still relatively low level, and they would need a way to make sure nothing too strong could easily wander into town and start wreaking havoc. The outpost was going to get louder as more people showed up, and was likely to catch the attention of surrounding predators.

  Then they could start leveling, hunting parties going out during the day, while having a safe place to recuperate at night. As soon as a few more veilstriders created their first skills, the outpost should be able to comfortably handle everything the forest threw at them until the undead start arriving. He’d been surprised to hear how fast the Bloodrunn and Carrionwing Julian and Hannah ran into were getting stronger.

  The voice during the vision had said something about the trial restricting the levels to match the veilstriders, but he’d thought it was referring to the undead. It made sense that the forest dwellers would be the same. Otherwise, nobody would’ve survived longer than a few minutes here. He wasn’t quite sure if this trial was taking place in some empty world or if everything was simulated by whatever put them in this trial.

  In any case, stronger beasts meant more essence and more merit. His last kill had brought him to three and a half thousand merit, and he needed 10,000 before he could start forging. Sure, he could do his best to patch up the equipment and try to teach himself, but why fumble in the dark when he didn’t have to?

  He would do his part to help fortify Veil’s End, and with his luck, that would probably include fighting off any beasts getting in the way of their logging efforts. He’d wander down to the cave every day to kill any elementals that wandered up, and once the outpost was safe, he’d start smithing.

  His status screen had an empty line for a profession, and it looked like his race level was half his arcanist level. If the System recognized blacksmithing as a profession, not only would his work help the outpost, but hopefully, he would get a power boost himself.

  He let his mind wander until it was time to wake Hannah. She groaned like an angry teenager slapping at their alarm clock when he went to wake her, but dutifully got up and took his spot outside. It didn’t take long for the warm sleeping bag to lull him into a dreamless sleep.

  He woke up to the same snow white light streaking in, and was surprised to see a few people out and about when he left the forge. His clothes were dirty and torn, but for the moment, he had nothing else to wear and wasn’t going to sit naked in the brisk morning while he made a poor attempt at washing them.

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  He walked over to the general store and waited in a short line while people ordered their breakfast. He made small talk with the others, introducing himself and listening to their stories. Most were similar, but all shared the simple fact that they were on the brink of death when Hannah and Julian found them. The potions each veilstrider started with didn’t last long, and almost nobody knew how to fight.

  One man complained that, despite 25 years of experience as a taekwondo instructor, he’d never trained to fight carnivorous zombie birds.

  Harvey had been one of the last to arrive and was near the back of the line when Elena walked in.

  “Good morning, Elena. How did you sleep?” Harvey asked, a genuine smile on his face.

  “Hi… Harvey.” She replied in a mousey whisper. “Well enough, but Gary snores louder than a car.”

  “I can imagine.” Harvey laughed. “Were there enough intact beds in there for everyone?”

  “No, just one. The rest of us just used the sleeping bags.” She replied.

  “Well, at least you found some decent blankets,” Harvey replied.

  She gave an awkward smile before looking down at the floor between them, folding her arms like she was trying to hide in her own shadow.

  “So!” Harvey coughed. “Do you know what you’re going to eat? Looks like there are eggs and biscuits.”

  “Not sure yet. It depends on how much merit I have left. Gary asked me to get him some coffee, and I don’t know how much that’s going to cost.” Elena replied.

  Harvey blanched at the thought. Essentials were relatively affordable, but a luxury like coffee had to be expensive.

  “Why doesn’t he come buy his own breakfast?” Harvey asked.

  “He gave me merit to buy for everyone, it’s easier that way,” Elena replied.

  When it was Harvey’s turn, he turned to Elena.

  “Why don’t you go ahead of me?” Harvey asked.

  “Why?” She replied.

  “I wasn’t really paying attention to everyone else and want to see what the options are first,” Harvey said. He was lying. It would take her just as long to sift through the menu, but he wanted to make sure she got enough food for herself. It took some reassuring, but she finally agreed and stepped in front of him.

  He watched as she moved to the earth tab, mentally sifting through the options until images of cups branded with the major coffee chains of the world appeared. He couldn’t help but chuckle as an intricate order was listed beside her reflection, where the cup sat in her hand. The merit cost ticked up as oat milk, cream, and sugar were added until the final merit cost hit 237. She sighed as the cup materialized in her hand, and he was surprised to see a cream cheese bagel pop into existence next to it for another hundred. Only after that did she scroll back to the food tab and buy two simple breakfasts with eggs, sausage, and biscuits.

  When she turned to leave, Harvey frowned. Two boxes weren’t enough for Gabe, Amy, and Elena to share.

  “Here…” He said, quickly buying another meal and setting it on top of her stack before she could protest.

  Elena froze like a deer in headlights, then gave him a small, weary smile. “Thanks.”

  Before he could say more, she rushed out the door.

  Harvey bought his own food and strolled outside. He saw Julian standing on a chair near the campfire, talking to a large group of veilstriders sitting on the log benches he’d carved the night before.

  “Hannah and I need to set out again soon to find more survivors. We’re hoping there are a lot more people like you out there that we can bring back here. That being said, there’s a lot that needs to be done if we want this place to be anything more than a few old buildings.” Julian proclaimed, and the group listened with rapt attention. “I think our first goal should be building a wall around the outpost, unless anyone has a better idea.”

  When nobody spoke up, he continued.

  “We already have two woodcutting axes, and my friend Harvey found a decent supply of shovels and pickaxes that we can use to dig holes to prop up the logs. I’ll buy a few more axes and a supply of potions that I’ll leave with him before we head out. I won’t lie to you, this is probably going to be dangerous work. I know we’re all scared, but I also know that the more we fight, the stronger we become. It won't be easy, but hard work today will give us safety tomorrow. Watch each other’s backs and we’ll make it through this.” Julian exclaimed.

  The crowd cheered as Julian stepped down to meet Harvey.

  “I moved the useful tools out front while you were asleep so nobody would have a reason to poke around out back,” Julian whispered, pointing to two crates on the main road near the fire. “Come with me a sec?”

  Harvey followed him to the general store, where Julian bought three more axes and 10 health potions. They couldn’t afford a second slipsack yet, so Julian bought a simple leather backpack and emptied his own supplies into it. Loaded up with potions and tools, he handed the slipsack over.

  "Hopefully, this will make things easier. I played around with it yesterday, and it holds a lot.” Julian said.

  “Good to know, but are you sure you guys won’t need it?” Harvey asked.

  “We’ll be fine, and if today is anything like yesterday, it won’t be long before we can spare enough merit for a second one,” Julian assured.

  “Are you just going to do a circle around the outpost again?” Harvey asked.

  “Everyone we found was between us and the living half of the trial. We didn’t even find any corpses deeper in the dead zone, so we’re guessing Veil’s End was the farthest any of us got dropped. Instead of doing a full loop, we’re just going to cover more ground on the living side.” Julian said.

  “That’s good to know. Are you guys planning on coming back tonight?” Harvey asked.

  “Probably, but pretty soon we’ll need to go farther out than we can cover in a day,” Julian said. “Let’s see how today goes, and tonight we can meet with everyone to make a longer-term plan before we set out again.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Harvey said, tying the slipsack to his belt.

  “Please keep an eye on things today. I’ll grab Gary out of bed before I leave, but my guess is the two of you are the most capable fighters right now. I don’t care if progress is slow as long as we keep everyone alive.” Julian said.

  Harvey nodded, and they moved outside. Before long, Gary appeared between two buildings, an axe slung over his shoulder as he sipped his coffee. Amy, Elena, and Gabe walked close behind.

  “Good luck today, everyone! Work hard and stay safe.” Julian called out.

  “Yeah, you heard the bossman! Let’s get this done.” Gary added, turning towards the gate.

  Julian made eye contact with Harvey before rolling his eyes, waving as they began walking down the main road in the opposite direction.

  It was time to get to work.