Chapter 30 - Restoring Caisleán (Part One).

Søren backed away from the suddenly aggressive Fuervens, particularly putting distance between him and Neeka. He scrambled to deactivate the armor holo before he ended up skewered by Neeka's spear. This is not the reaction I was expecting! Søren felt something draining away from the jumpsuit, a slight weight being lifted. Neeka and the others stopped advancing, confusion partially replacing anger on their features. Hari stood protectively in between Søren and Ihza, but kept near Neeka as well.

"Neeka. What be, what's wrong?" Søren asked.

"You looked like enemy to north. Scrappers," Neeka explained. "They raided our lands. Took our young. Burned our crops. Pillaged and raided every few summers."

"They took my brother," Hari said, the Flayer's Axe dropping slightly though his claws dug into the wooden haft as he spoke.

Strik approached, spear still ready. "My mother was killed by them."

"My sister, Astin, was taken with Hari's brother," Ihza shared. She looked to Hari. "It is how we met. In shared grief."

Søren listened to each of them and pulled off the guardian armor helm he still wore.

"I am sorry. Did not want to upset or anger any of your," Søren said. He then pointed upwards into the sky. "The armor was something from Gateway."

Neeka nodded and dropped the butt of her spear onto the stone. The others lowered their weapons as well and gathered around Søren, though Ihza still cleaved close to Hari, keeping the largest of the Fuervens between her and Søren.

"Best not do that again," Neeka warned. "People of Home would not understand." She turned away from Søren and headed down the path to head back to Home, now named Caisleán. Hari and the others turned to follow and Søren brought up the rear, pulling the armor back over his head but retracting the visor. The return to Caisleán passed by quickly. They were greeted not by a sentry that had fallen asleep, but instead two alert and watchful Fuervens armed with spears and bows. Dusk had fallen by that time however and the people of the settlement were finishing up dinner and retiring to their homes for the night. Neeka brought Søren along with her and together, they stayed with her granddaughter and her family.

Neeka woke early the next morning and slipped outside to watch Lifebringer's resurrection on the horizon. At least, that was the belief of her people. That each night, the sun would die and be reborn. She had learned differently, high in the night sky among the bright stars of the endless black. During her time on Gateway, she had spent many days watching this world turn beneath her. It had been frightening at first, but in time, she grew to find peace and serenity in the small room with the window to the void outside. It was the only time in that metal tomb that she felt peace.

The rest of the Tutorial had been a torturous loop of fighting, death, and rebirth until she had escaped through a small metal tunnel into the room with the stone ring of the Gods. No matter what she tried though, she had been unable to discover an exit. In the end, she decided to hibernate as her kind could do, but apparently nothing had happened to wake her from her death-like slumber and she passed away. Now, reborn on home and mixed up in events of the Gods. What a mess I be in, she thought to herself. An exciting mess however.

The people of the settlement stirred around her and set about daily tasks and errands, prepared meals for breakfast and lunch, and generally got on with their day. Søren climbed down from Torza's dwelling and looked around the settlement. She hopped down from her perch on a nearby cliff and made her way back into the village.

Søren met with Neeka near the center of the settlement at the Waystone. The Atlantean runes on the stone still glowed brightly.

"Good morning, Neeka," he said to her. She hissed in return and nodded. "I don't know what'll happen. When the shard is put in place."

"What happen will happen," Neeka replied. "Worth it if Sehro can come back."

Søren nodded and touched the Waystone. A blue prompt appeared in his interface.

Congratulations Traveler! You have recovered a Resurrection Shard and may merge it with the Waystone. Would you like to install it now? Y/N

He tapped the icon to install the shard and stepped back. His inventory utilization dropped to lower than three percent. The ground around the Waystone rumbled and shifted, parts of it folding inwards on itself. The stone rose out of the ground, revealing it to be part of a much larger structure. The Waystone floated upwards, out of the ground, revealed to be a nearly twelve feet tall irregular shaped crystal, similar in shape to a lumpy pear. A white ceramic platform ten feet in diameter rose beneath it. The beveled edges were covered with Atlantean runes. Shards of the blue crystal were extruded from the stone and floated in a chaotic circle around the lower third of the Waystone.

The shards spun slowly on their longest axis, narrowest point facing outwards from the Waystone. Two more rings of the crystal shards joined the first, reminding Søren of the symbol used for atoms by the scientific community. A deep tolling bell sounded across Caisleán. The commotion at the center of the settlement had drawn everyone's eyes and attention.

Congratulations Traveler! You have begun installation of a Resurrection Shard.

Time Remaining: 6 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes

TEK Required: 10,000

Søren then tapped on a notification to accept the Icon of Heroes mission. This added the mission to a mission log on the right side of his interface.

Build the Icon of Heroes

You have discovered a Champion among your people deserving of a reward after death. Build the Icon of Heroes to grant them the ability to use Waystones and respawn as the Travelers do. Citizens of Caisleán may contribute TEK to complete the icon.

Requirements

* Defeat an enemy at least five ranks stronger than you

* Take the essence of its strength and imbue it into an icon of your settlement

* 0 / 1 BP (build point)

* 0 / 5000 TEK

Rewards

* Installation of the Icon of Heroes

* Increase number of Champions to 3

* Gain 1000 reputation with Citizens of Caisleán

He added the build point immediately and dismissed the notification and minimized the mission log. He then brought up the settlement management menu and sorted through the list of options hidden amongst menu after menu. Probably best if I stick to basics right now, he thought as he came across a vehicle production facility that required a dozen components manufactured by a half dozen other facilities that required significant resources and components from other facilities. The tech tree seemed to be fairly streamlined compared to the processes required in modern manufacturing, but were far more complex than most kingdom management sims he'd played in the past.

Søren scrolled back to the top of the menu and started sorting different options into a few broad categories like Growth, Defense, and Production, and tagged them to make it easier to find those options later. At the top of his short list of ideas were improving the walls around the settlement, adding platforms in the trees for keeping watch, and upgrading storage and soil enrichment for agriculture. He caught himself before spending the build points to begin a project. Neeka will likely have some good ideas about this as well. I wonder if I could just give her control. This feels... too real to treat it like a game, but that is exactly what I keep finding myself doing. Treating it like a game.

He sighed and waved away the interface. He noticed Neeka was focused on her interface. Well, guess I can go over a few things in my inventory while I wait. Søren inspected the gauntlets and the helm first.

Guardian Gauntlets (Copper VII)

+2 STR

+2 STA

+60 HP

+25% melee defense

+25% ranged defense

+50% to avoid Disarm

The Guardian line of adaptive armor was created by the armorsmiths of Xavian IV using a mix of Atlantean and Xavian nanotechnology. The initial creation of the armor was widely praised for its ability to adapt to the different shapes of the species of the Grand Empire. The lightweight armor has many features to protect the wearer while allowing for unencumbered exoplanet exploration. The basic line Guardian Gauntlets can be retracted into the cuffs of any standard jumpsuit. They also make it significantly more difficult to be disarmed of items held within your grasp.

Guardian Helmet (Copper VI)

+1 STR

+1 STA

+30 HP

+10% melee defense

+10% ranged defense

Night vision increased greatly.

The Guardian line of adaptive armor was created by the armorsmiths of Xavian IV using a mix of Atlantean and Xavian nanotechnology. The initial creation of the armor was widely praised for its ability to adapt to the different shapes of the species of the Grand Empire. The lightweight armor has many features to protect the wearer while allowing for unencumbered exoplanet exploration. The basic line of Guardian Helmet armor can be retracted into the collar of any jumpsuit and provides increased night vision when fully equipped.

He dismissed the item windows and focused his thoughts and intent on his helmet. The visor retracted and then the helmet melted into the collar of his jumpsuit. That was cool and creepy. The gauntlets vanished into the cuffs on the sleeves of his jumpsuit as well, peeling away from his palms and fingers first and then sliding along the back of his hand and wrist. Søren brought up the item sheet for the Artemis Scout Rifle next.

Artemis Scout Rifle (Silver I)

+10 AGI

+75% ranged attack

+25% steady aim

100 - 200 base kinetic damage

2500 meter range

48 ammo capacity (6 hours to recharge)

The Artemis Scout Rifle is the pinnacle of Atlantean slug thrower technology, eclipsed only by Xavian plasma technology in terms of raw damage. Trace elements are coalesced from the air and surrounding environment to fill the magazine to capacity over time.

Neeka tapped Søren on the shoulder and brought his attention back to the world around him. The new citizens of Caisleán had gathered around the two, staring at the Waystone and whispering between themselves in small groups.

"I got mission too, for icon," Neeka said. "Already spent essence --- I mean TEK, to finish that part."

"Great! Sounds like we need to hunt something then."

Neeka snorted and her mouth dropped open in the near silent amusement common among the Fuerven.

"You not ready, Dirt," she said with amusement in her eyes and spun her spear around in a blinding motion before hitting Søren in the stomach with the butt of the spear hard enough to push him back a step. "Must train first."