Everyone stayed silent. Then Jackson spoke up, "So uh... I take it that you're at least still a human then, not an alien or monster...? Just... Like a superhuman?"

I nodded, "I mean, that's a general explanation, but basically you're right Jackson."

That response settled everybody back down. It seemed the hardest part was now over and we could move on to reasons I had called for the council in the first place.

With the tension dissipating, Alex, with a glimmer of excitement in his eyes asked a final question, "So, out of curiosity then Thomas... How does somebody, say, become a [High-Human]? Cause I'll be honest, it does sound pretty damn cool... and I'm sure useful of course."

I laughed, it was honest-to-god human curiosity at full display, "Frankly, there is only one real requirement, which Kevin had managed to fulfill it our way here from Boston. One has to demonstrate unyielding loyalty to, well, me." I shrugged. "It sounds pretty over the top when I say it out loud, but I guess that is just the system's way of protecting the [Paragon] of the High-Human race."

Everyone say silent for a moment, then Dante spoke up, "what exactly did Kevin do?"

Kevin slunk back in his chair slightly at the question, and I couldn't help but laugh again, "well, this dumb-ass," I said while pointing at Kevin, "decided it would be a bright idea to tackle a group of Demon's that had surrounded me. Of course, he nearly got himself killed in the process, but I guess it was recognized as enough of a demonstration." I chuckled out.

Seeing the look of contemplation on pretty much everybody's faces except Rachel and Jackson, I had to put my hands up and stop everyone. "Okay, look, it could totally have different definitions of unyielding loyalty. I seriously don't want people to start jumping in front of me if we're ever in a fight all to see if they can fit into that category. Got it?"

I could tell I had actually hit it right on the mark, as Dante, Harrison, Alex, and even my father looked a bit embarrassed. Surprisingly enough, Antonio was more aloof to the whole thing.

"Well then, if everyone can hold onto their questions, I'd like to jump into a discussion over what I had planned for the meeting... I'm sure everyone would like to get some sleep, after all... There's quite a bit of work to do tomorrow.

Since nobody replied, I took that as a sign everyone agreed.

"Anyways then," I said, as I leaned back onto the desk in the front of our assembly of chairs. "As I am sure most of you probably heard one way or another, Kevin and I had an incident in the forest where he almost got himself killed again."

Kevin took particular issue with that perspective of events, "Hey! You're the one who told me to keep the thing occupied, and my agility stats aren't even that high."

"I stand corrected then," I responded neutrally. "Regardless, Kevin getting hit was pretty much the only way we really survived that fight anyway, as it gave me time to damage it enough. Priscilla, our new addition to the community was the one who really helped to finish it off."

"The reason I mentioned that though is because I want to make it a rule of thumb from now on. Whenever we venture into the forests or surrounding area, we need to do so in at least groups of three. So any further patrols will need to be upped by one person. I know Priscilla will be willing to help out, and Liam and William the other newcomers today also promised to be of some use. So it's not like we don't have enough people to do so, but that's my proposal regardless."

With everyone nodding their head, I continued, "So uh... Everyone in agreement just raise your hand?" I honestly wasn't sure what the best way to do it would be, but I figured any type of council has some model of decorum. It seemed dumb, but at least it would be efficient in determining who was supportive or not.

Sure enough, everyone raised their hand and it was settled.

"Say, Alex, you don't happen to have a chalkboard or anything, do you?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Nope. It's not like I'm a hoarder or anything," he laughed. "But! I do have a paper pad I had for some work-related meetings at the hospital." He said as he snapped his fingers in remembrance, " I can go grab it though," he said as he got up and walked to the corner of the room.

I had forgotten for a bit there he had worked over in the local hospital's administration team. Even if his medical knowledge wasn't anything like a doctor's, he still had some training in the field. I don't know why that had completely slipped my mind. I guess we haven't had too many serious injuries yet though, so it wasn't too much of an issue.

As he retrieved the large paper pad and handed it to me, I set it down on the back of the table leaning against the wall.

Grabbing a sharpie that was left out on the tabletop I wrote down the first thing we had decided, that is, to keep patrols to a minimum of three people.

To my satisfaction, it worked rather well. "Alright then, the second thing we need to discuss is another development in the forest..."

I hesitated slightly before deciding it would be best to just metaphorically peel off the bandaid and get it over with.

"After dealing with the [Treant] in the forest, Kevin and I discovered a dungeon," I said. I knew the word had some meaning to everybody present, but I doubted anyone actually know how they operated.

"So without sounding like a broken record, I'll attempt to keep the explanation fairly brief for everybody," I said. "Dungeons can actually be pretty great, considering they consist of a very straightforward environment to grind out some levels, they even have the added benefit of having items stored away in them... At least, that's how it was in Holy Arc, but with mostly everything playing out the same, I'll move forward on that assumption and we can verify it in the future."

"The only issue with the dungeons though is that if ignored long enough, dungeon breaks are a very harsh reality we'd have to live with if we don't cull out the monsters in there." I paused waiting to make sure everyone understood.

Taking the chance, my Father asked his question, "what exactly do you mean when you say 'dungeon breaks' Thomas?"

Before I could answer, Kevin decided he might as well jump into the conversation. "Sam," Kevin began, as he looked towards my Dad. "Even though things do seem to work differently here to some degree, I doubt dungeons would function too differently. I don't even know if Thomas completely realized this either, but my main concern is that this dungeon appeared within the boundaries of the Mana Zone..."

Hell, he was right. I just realized.

Kevin continued, "From what I've heard or seen, dungeon's absorb ambient mana, and from that mana spawn a specific type of monster. I imagine that the dungeon we found would likely be plant-based monsters of some sort. Regardless though, we are located directly next to a leyline, or mana source, and that's going to power up that dungeon to extreme levels in the near future."

"Quite frankly," Kevin began pointedly, "We're going to need to start culling that dungeon population, like... Now. I don't think we can afford to see what happens if it isn't contained right away. I'd hate to see what would happen if we had a dungeon break with the level we're at right now."

After Kevin's remarks, I realized that a dungeon break could happen in the very near future. I could already feel the effects of the Mana Zone beginning to intensify. At first, it was just a slight increase in mana, leading to some different effects on the ambient temperature. Now though? I imagined we would soon begin receiving buffs to our mana recovery just for being here... Which isn't a bad thing, until you considered the impact mana had on the monsters around here.

Monsters interact a bit differently with mana. They literally absorb it into their mana cores and grow stronger that way. Usually, Leyline's only caused the mana saturation to reach a certain point, before tapering off. It was never an indefinite process. Of course, that same mana saturation usually causes monsters to mature to a certain point since the more evolved the mana stone, the more mana it requires to continue growing.

Regardless, with monster biology out of the way, Kevin's point was true.

"Kevin's right," I announced to the quiet room. "It was my failure to not realize it until just now, but seriously, that's why we need everyone here, to think through what I or anybody else doesn't. There's no way we could lead a community by any one of ourselves."

With my pep talk out of the way, I continued, "I know we need to get this barricade up as soon as possible, but we are already making more progress than I thought we would. We've already got the entire stretch of the road ready to be barricaded, as well as a lot more wood waiting to cover the remaining areas. What I propose is that myself, Kevin, and one other person go out to the dungeon tomorrow to survey how bad it is, and attempt to cull out some of the population if at all possible."

"Who are you expecting to go," Rachel asked? She had been quiet up to this point, but I knew that her question was obvious in its implications. Despite the words she used, I knew she was really asking, who else are you expecting to get hurt?

"I won't force anybody to come with us," I said. "However, even if it's dangerous, the boon is too good to ignore. It's very much a possibility that going to the dungeon will save the entire community later. If we can level up enough, we may be able to be the turning factor if the horde of undead makes their way here. It really is only a matter of time."

There was a moment of silence, then Alex rose his hand. "I'll go." There we a second of protest from Rachel, but Alex retorted back with his own logic, "Rachel, I know nobody wants to see anybody put themselves in harm's way, you've already seen Thomas do plenty of that, but all of us here have families as well. No matter what happens there would potentially be somebody we'll leave behind. But, I also know this. I won't be able to protect my own family and everyone else here if I don't get stronger, and with what Thomas and Kevin just said, the dungeon here is the perfect opportunity to do so." he finished, and as a result, Rachel resigned herself.

"Kaitlyn is definitely probably not gonna like this..." she muttered.

"Alright then, Alex, we'll leave in the morning. Just make sure you fitted out with something more than just a gun, preferably something that can be used in a melee. I don't want to be deafened if a gun goes off in the middle of the dungeon, plus you won't be gaining any experience that way."

Alex brushed me off, "oh, I know. Still pretty salty about that by the way."

I laughed, "well then with that taken care of I can honestly only think of one other thing that needs to be addressed."

So, without a moment of hesitation, I asked, "Alex, you still have that radio of yours in the basement, right?"

"I sure do!" Alex replied.

"Awesome, I'd like to get that set back up again as soon as we can, I feel uneasy not knowing what's going on to the rest of the world. So if at all, let's get that set up and starting trying to figure out whether the radiowaves are still working and if there's anybody out there broadcasting."

It was this last idea that got everybody a bit excited. I don't think everyone had even realized how much they had been yearning for some sort of news from the outside, after all, it had been several days since we last had contact with anyone from outside the Zone.

That said, we called the council meeting, and I turned to the paper pad and wrote down the last minutes from the meeting. Cull the dungeon, & gets new from outside the zone.

"There we go," I whispered to myself. "Now with that finished, I can finally try and explore this... Ruler System."