"What the hell happened to you?" I exclaimed as I turned to the crystal.

"You didn't think all that tinkering I did to your brains came free of charge did you?" the crystal retorted. I groaned in frustration at the piece of rock’s cryptic tone. Thankfully, it seemed that was enough to get it talking again. "While I would like to talk for longer, I do not have as much energy restored as I need for full functionality. Please, update me on my sudden location change and what has happened so I can optimize my information delivery."

I did a double take, but started retelling what had happened since we'd last spoken with the Entity Cluster. From the fight with the Haze Wolf, to the trip back, snips of information about the Bunker and the potential for getting more implants as well as the trip to retrieve the crystal. The light within continued to thrum at the same rate, without further comment through the whole development. At some point, Sam and Danny came to check in on me as the sky darkened. When I explained that the crystal was awake, but didn't have much time, they urged me to finish the tale.

"That is sufficient. I do not need many more details. As it would appear, you three have gathered enough pith to draw the attention of larger predators in the area. I will be able to assist moderately with that, but it will keep me in stasis a while longer. Keeping up the costs of your mana chains has put a significant strain on my energy stores."

"Don't you need to be closer?" Sam asked, looking over his shoulder at the hill the Bunker entrance crested.

"No matter, I got it!" The crystal replied in a chipper voice. Then to the jaw dropping horror of all of us, produced crystalline spider legs out of its body. The protrusions looked similar to the ones it had used to bind us before, but much more solid. One of those appendages waved at us before sinking into the ground and dragging itself forward, sled and all.

We stared in awe as it climbed right up to the edge of my spike wall and slowly oriented itself to the north face. "Would you be so kind as to remove these two spikes, Ronan? Being centered on your region will be the most optimal use of my deterrent."

Shaking myself of my stupor, I pulled the hatchet from my belt. Using the backside of the tool, I hammered away at it. I could hear the cows on the other side lowing in confusion, but I worked quickly. The sky had started to lose its orange and I didn't want to be outside during night time, even with the crystal here.

The spider shaped crystal rose up and half dragged itself into the gap before dropping heavily. "That should do it. I should be able to speak and maintain the field within a few days. It will be faster if you three acquire more Dregs to bank. As I noticed you all realized, it helps restore my energy when I purge them. Now, I bid you three--"

"Wait, one question before you go. What are these mana chains you keep referring to?" I blurted out. I could see the light inside the crystal flicker, as if it was thinking over what I'd said.

"That would be your Skills. However, I do not have the energy to really delve into that at the moment. Purge more Dreg, get more answers. You three are supposed to be Warriors after all."

With that, the crystal winked out except for a tiny flare of light in the center. In exchange for the glow, the strange static that I’d felt while excavating the crystal permeated the air around us. I let out a breath I'd been holding as I relaxed. If the deterrent field didn't work, then we would have died that first night. I just hope it can keep away whatever that cat was from a few days ago. I smiled as the thought crossed my mind. A few days ago. We'd been on the surface for quite a while now, and it had almost slipped my mind. With the crystal as secured as it was going to get, we retreated to the lobby area.

I'd completely forgotten about the fire ant, and when the creature hissed in our direction I nearly turned it into a kabob. Daniela cried in alarm at my response, jumping between us and the creature. "Don't hurt Anthony!"

"You named it? Not only that, but you named an ant, Anthony?" I asked incredulously. "How do you know that thing isn't going to attack us in the middle of the night. I thought you’d finished it off out back when you joined us earlier."

"He will do no such thing!" Danny said, holding a hand to her chest as if I'd wounded her. "He's behaving. All I need to do is pull on my mana every so often and he mellows out!"

I cocked an eyebrow at her words and turned to Sam. The man looked dead on his feet, but shook his head when I focused on him. "Did you do something like that with Raymond? Use your mana to mellow the bull out?"

"Sorta? It was more like when I used my mana, Ray didn't see me as a threat. I think the tomatoes really helped though." The man scratched his chin in contemplation. "Maybe it's because we share attunements with the creatures. Another thing we will need to ask the crystal."

"Yeah! And I have to pick a bone with that big rock. I'm Quotient 3, he's got two Skills to answer for," Danny complained while gently stroking Anthony's carapace. I shivered as the insect seemed to snuggle into her side. Giant bugs were not my thing.

"We'll have to try to figure out some stuff on our own. I have a sneaking suspicion that the crystal isn't going to be as active as we would like."

"Because of the mana chain stuff you were asking it about?" Sam asked. I didn't realize when he had gotten our meals set out before us, even going so far as to pluck some tomatoes for Anthony, but he had a plate ready for me.

Nodding and taking the offered food, I chewed and contemplated. Based on the time we'd spent on the surface, those in the Bunker would be expecting us to return the following day. I didn't want to miss out on even a little bit of time working on our defenses, so I delegated some of my plans to Daniela. The brunette didn't look happy about it, and made sure to extract a promise that I would not attack Anthony, but she agreed in the end.

Thanks to Sam's ability to grow food, we hadn't depleted our rations nearly as much as we'd expected. However, getting more variety would be key and the only place we could get it was the Bunker. When I asked about the dead cow, Sam shook his head explaining that he didn't feel comfortable with the way the meat smelled. While disappointing, I trusted my friend's judgement. Even if Sam was the most overly cautious out of us three, it was never without reason.

As the last of the daylight vanished along with our meals, I noted a good and bad thing that Anthony brought to the table.

"He glows..." I said, looking at the warm light coming off of the insect. Apparently, it not only generated heat but a bit of light. It allowed us to save on the battery powered lantern we had, but would probably annoy me at some point in the night. When I voiced as much, Danny told me where I could shove it and turned to face the wall. She did keep a tight leash on her new pet though. At least I know she isn't totally carried away.

Before heading to bed, I replaced the two crossed spikes before our entrance. The presence of the crystal and the herd made me feel much safer, but it didn't hurt to be cautious. We did, however, forgo the night watch. I ran over the last few days in my mind, processing how the surface had been. It was an exhausting place, drawing everything we'd learned in the Bunker during our survival training to the logical extreme and then past it. However, even as I considered the mortal danger we'd encountered I couldn't wait to get back outside. The world was a blank canvas, and we were the hungry artists.

---+---

A blink brought me back to the present. Breakfast had started off the same as the last few days. The biggest difference was Danny making a list of all the things we would need here on the surface. At the top of it was more plants for Sam to grow, followed by ammunition and a replenishment of our rations, just in case. As a side thought, I asked her to check if Ben had a mattock somewhere. The woman lifted an eyebrow in my direction, but I waved her off. When I asked her what she wanted to do with... Anthony... she glared at me.

"I want you to make him a stone pen. I would take him down to the Bunker with me, but I don't think they would appreciate it." She looked over to the ant who was eating some tomatoes Sam had handed it, and smiled. When she tried to pet it, its mandibles snapped on her hand. I jumped forward, expecting her to be injured but she just cooed at the insect. Small bleeding cuts opened on her hand, instead of the violent burns I'd seen on the herd outside. Still stunned by the ease with which she was enduring the injuries just for the sake of petting the creature, I turned to Sam.

The man coughed into his hand and shrugged. "Don't look at me," his eyes practically screamed. He didn't say anything, otherwise he would have gotten an earful from Danny.

I mulled in my head how I was going to make a pen for a rat-sized ant while guzzling my breakfast. You didn’t need to breathe when you were busy. Plus, the bland taste didn't even register as my mind whirred with possible designs. Before Danny even left to head down to the Bunker. I had already broken the barring spikes at the doorway. The three foot tall pieces of rock made a muted thud on the ground before rolling over to where the other broken spikes were piling up. Over the course of our time on the surface I'd accumulated an astounding amount. Fifteen of the ones with a foot wide base and several of the smaller ones.

I heard my friends talking while inside, but I was focused on getting the pen complete so I could resume building our defenses. Possibly even start on an external building. Considering the method I'd used to bind creatures so far, I formed a triangular structure of thick spikes. There were wide gaps between the large spikes, but I hammered in the smaller, broken chunks to fill in the gaps. I looked at the two foot by four foot triangular prism and smiled. It looked ugly as all heck, but there wasn't a single gap large enough for the ant to squeeze through. When I called Danny out to see my masterpiece she gave me a scalding look.

"I expected something better from you, Ronan," she said, rubbing at her temples. She looked sadly at the ant that was trying to burn a hole through her pants, and completely ignored me. "Sorry that mommy has to go on an errand. Your Uncle Ron and Sam are going to look after you okay, Anthony?" Chomp. The fire ant ignored Danny's attempts to be cute, instead tried to once again wiggle out of her grasp.

Sighing wistfully, she placed the ant in the stone pen and I wedged one of the larger broken spikes to block it in. The ant wasn't thrilled about being stuck once again, and the moment Danny got a few steps away, small licks of flame escaped through the gaps in the stone. Sam and I shared a wide eyed look, but Daniela just looked thrilled. The madwoman. With that, she wished us good luck and sauntered back into the lobby before we heard the thud of the closing Bunker entrance.

"She's crazy," I finally said.

"She just wants a friend, Ron. I may not be on the best terms with Raymond, but I think it may work out. Who knows, maybe it's like one of those 'pets' from video games. Or familiars, whatever the difference was." He made air quotes with his fingers and gestured to the mostly healed herd. "I think if I spend more time with the cows we'll be able to get them more domesticated. Which will in turn require pens and fenced-in areas, but food has to come first. I'm going to work on prepping the farm for more crops, if you want to help."

Looking at the mess the cows had already made of his first garden, I had a sneaking suspicion what he was going to do with what he grew. A gout of flame drew my attention, making the decision for me. "I'll help build you something to deter them from eating your plants. Just get me away from this thing."

Sam chuckled the whole time we walked to his farm. And farm it was. I did a double take as I saw a veritable network of growing tomatoes offshooting from the edge of the pond. A trio of furrows had been dug in the earth and even from where we stood I could see the dark brown of moist earth.

"How did you get all this set up!" I exclaimed. Suddenly, my efforts building the defensive wall felt minimal as I stared at what would almost match the grow area of the Greenhouse Floor in the Bunker. Not all of it was planted, but there were easily three hundred by four hundred feet worth of rows. Having worked for a few years with the growers after our daily lessons, I knew that soil grown plants would require less maintenance and balancing than hydroponics. This farm would change everything about our survival on the surface.

Sam explained that Danny's ability to heat stuff up let her dry out the area around the pond. After that, it was easy enough for him to manipulate his vines to tear up the earth. The explanation didn't make me feel any better. Regardless of my feelings, Sam outlined some of his more immediate plans and I was completely on board. Particularly setting up an area for the herd to graze.

"It will serve two purposes. One, it will draw the cows away from our main set of crops. Two, it should keep them interested in sticking around. The more familiar they are with us, the more likely we will be of domesticating this herd for real." There was a gleam in his eye that I hadn't expected. I knew he was passionate about growing plants just like his father, but apparently the potential of the surface wasn't only pushing me to new heights.

For the next few hours, we worked together to make a makeshift fence around the farm crops and started another to hem in the herd with plenty of space. The exercise pushed our magic so that we could properly reinforce what we produced. We discovered that the farthest Sam could extend a single vine was ten feet, but the further it stretched, the weaker it got. Setting up five foot intervals of stone spikes, the blond weaved his magic through mine. As an extra measure, while I recovered my mana, he made notches on my spikes to improve the grip of his vines.

More than once, I growled in frustration at how the pain of my casting affected me. Not only that, but Sam's regeneration speed was faster than me, making me the bottleneck of each section we worked on. My friend was supportive, as always, but it only served to bother me more. I wanted to be able to contribute more, but my body refused to cooperate how I wanted it.

Regardless of all my complaining, we finished the entire perimeter by lunch time. After the mental strain of forming the fence, we were wiped. The two of us rested, listening to the hum of wildlife that had returned to the area without Danny blasting stuff throughout the day. I kept an eye out and a hand on my holster the entire time, but nothing bothered us for a good while. Just when I was about to droop into a lazy noon nap, the lowing of the herd snapped us out of our mellow mood. Me and Sam shared a look, then took off towards the bunker.

My jaw dropped as I saw the herd stampeding out of my spike wall, knocking two of the stone constructs over in the process. The culprit paused before the leader of our bovine neighbors. Raymond stared at the tiny fire ant with disinterest as it chased away the rest of his herd. The bull glanced our way, snorted once, then went back to sleep. The fire ant, on the other hand, noticed our approach and turned to stare us down. A few small gouts of flame turned some poor grass into cinders and then it was off.

The creature dragged its makeshift leash behind it and headed northeast into the forest. Without waiting for Sam, I took off on the insect's tiny heels. If I lost Danny's strange pet project, she would take my head off. When I passed by the entrance to the Bunker, I saw that the sneaky bastard had cooked my spikes into ceramic and then cracked a hole for itself.

"Anthony, you fiery pain in my rear, get back here!" I shouted as I crossed the treeline, my Perception already straining to follow the small red blur in the forest.