Despite our best efforts and the removal of all the trees, Ava strode over to our group frowning. We were all soaked in sweat, the sun at its zenith. In Danny's case, some of that sweat was evaporating into the air at a visible rate but the woman didn't seem bothered so I didn't comment on it.

"You have done wonderfully, but still did not finish up the details I'd assigned. Can you concede that we will have an additional day of training?" Ava asked, keeping her hands at her sides while looking us up and down.

"A bit unfair, but I agree we could have done better," I said, wiping off sweat and crossing my arms. My friends nodded since we'd already discussed what we would tell Ava when we weren't able to finish her task. Danny was already mostly dry and Sam was still trying to catch his breath. Maybe I pushed a bit too hard to try to finish and get out of the extra day.

"Understandable, and that is because it was unfair. I'll admit I didn't think you three alone could clear that many trees before lunch. Much less add the features I'd recommended. Recalculating your capabilities as they are boosted by magic will be imperative for me to assess your development. Now, lunch. Then I want you all to finish the training area before dealing with your usual responsibilities."

We all groaned, but trudged past the smirking woman. I couldn't help but recall all the times she'd run us through our biannual physicals and then essentially grounded with physical training. The outcome of that had now saved our lives for the entire duration of our stay on the surface. If Samuel, Daniela and I weren't as fit as we were, I doubted we would have survived the first day.

With food in our bellies, we got to work on the training space. This part was almost too easy. Twelve casts of my formed a six foot tall, doubly reinforced wall that sprouted right out of the side of the hill hiding the Bunker. My pickaxe opened up a few holes on the unsupported side of the wall for Sam to thread his vine fence. After raking an astounding amount of charred grass courtesy of Daniela and Anthony, while waiting for my mana to recuperate, I raised a dozen for him to make the fence.

Ava scrutinized the training area for a full ten minutes, but eventually nodded. The three of us let out sighs of relief and took a well deserved bit of rest. There was still plenty of light left, but we sat with our backs to each other and recounted how the day had panned out so far. The consensus was that it had been extremely productive. With the realization that we wanted to make even better use of the day, we groaned to our feet and split off across the Bunker clearing.

Sam rushed over to grow another batch of fresh food and tend to the herd. Danny, with help from Anthony, started to work on clearing out the stumps that led to the old road. She even snagged the pickaxe from me.

As for me, I started to work on the infrastructure of the camp overall. Using the passive form of my Defensive Materialize Skill, I consolidated paths from the vestibule to the edge of the farm as well as towards the old road. My mana consumption was obscenely high. While I'd gotten used to the mild discomfort of using and regenerating it almost constantly, I was exhausted when I plopped into the benches before the Metier Crystal. Since the makeshift meeting spot sat all of us, we'd opted to use it for our meals moving forward.

The heat of the day lingered inside the vestibule, but the thorough coat of sweat I wore helped to stave off the majority of my discomfort. It did mean that I needed a shower of some kind as soon as possible. When the others made their way over to join me, Danny's arms laden with food, I asked Ben about the shower.

"Well, I got it rigged to take from a container above it. Had to splice in a two way valve, but the heating element takes more power than any of these batteries we've got up here. None of the ones your grandmother was able to adapt to function while subjected to mana were ever very portable."

"With how dirty and smelly I am right now, I'll take a cold shower any day. Plus, it's like a billion degrees out. Who would want a hot shower?" Daniela and her mother both raised their hands. "Never mind. I don't know why I asked."

"You two do know I have magical fire powers, yes?" Daniela asked.

Ben and I exchanged a look. I had to resist the urge to facepalm. Even with everything we'd experienced and how much we'd been using our Skills, our basic thinking was still a bit... Bunker-locked.

"I'll get it set up after dinner then. Just need a hand getting it through the door now that it's fully assembled. I can set it just outside of the vestibule so it will give everyone a tad more privacy," Ben said.

"Put it around the east wall. I'll make a little open top shower room and tomorrow I'll make a basin to store water for back to back showers," I said, already picturing the space in my head.

"Early tomorrow or after your training, Ronan," Our groaned response just made Ava's smirk widened.

While we continued to eat our food, a bright flare of light from the Entity pulsed over us and I felt something being sucked from the air. It wasn't something I perceived with my skin or saw with my eyes, but somehow I knew that it had pulled its influence back.

"Greetings. It appears my plan to interact with you has been put on a much more restricted course than I'd hoped," the Entity said. The light pulsing with its words was weaker than before it had expanded its influence yesterday.

"What's going on?" I asked, tensing at the serious tone of the sapient rock.

"Nothing for you to be concerned about. There is, however, a substantial amount of wildlife moving through this area. Most of it is unattuned, and that has cost a pittance to divert, but there are still many Attuned. My reserves have been taxed just keeping them away, but I believe I can manage a brief conversation."

With us now more settled, we discussed what would be the most beneficial question to ask. Ben had technical questions about what the Crystal was made of, Ava wanted to ask about the effects of mana on the body and both my friends wanted to know when it would be possible to acquire more Skills. When I remained quiet, the whole group turned to me expectantly.

"What? This is a group discussion, we can all decide what to ask. We should be quick, Entity has a knack for winking out mid conversation."

"That is not entirely representative of what has happened. I thought we'd come to an unders--" The Entity said before I raised my hands in a placating gesture.

"I'm just kidding. Don't let Danny's temper get a hold of you again," I said pointedly. The brunette across from me blushed furiously and looked away while the crystal pulsed inquisitively. "We appreciate all the help you've given us so far."

"To get back on point," Ava started. "Considering you were the one who thought about enlisting the Entity in our attempts to return to the surface, why don't you act as our liaison? We can give you our questions and you can optimize when we ask them."

"Are you all really okay with me picking what we ask?" Everyone nodded as if they'd agreed on this before.

"It would be terribly inefficient to discuss what we should ask every time someone gets a question; it is even more inefficient if the Entity has limited time," Sam pointed out.

With that out of the way, I considered the questions everyone had, as well as the ones I'd been stacking up in my own mental list. Knowing the plan for the next few days of training, I focused on a question somewhere between Ava's and one of my own. "My Attributes grew without getting a Quotient rise. How exactly does that work now? I can't imagine that I'd be able to grow stronger than I've already become thanks to the levels."

"That would be correct, were you solely human," The Entity responded enigmatically. Thankfully, none of us had a perchance for dramatized conversations or the Crystal probably would have continued being vague. "That is to say, your Attunement changed you fundamentally. As I am sure you all know, using mana extracts... a cost, lets say, from your body. Yes?"

"I believe so, yes. I get this pain-soreness-gut-wrenching feeling thing. Danny spikes crazy fevers and Sam gets woozy. All of these have debilitated us at one point or another."

"Indeed. This feeling should also be minimized as you grow more accustomed to your mana."

"What does that have to do with Attributes?" Danny asked. "My Strength and Mobility have gone up, but the change is a tenth of what we would get from a Quotient."

"Ah yes. Well, as I mentioned before your Attributes are computed values of an extensive list of factors. The reason why I opted to show your Attributes to the mathematical Hundredths place was because anything beyond that is constantly changing. Up, down, steady. Unless your body makes a concerted shift so your average is higher, or lower, that number will remain steady.

"As for what your mana has to do with Attributes, well, the longer you remain within a Quotient the more likely it is for your body to stabilize. This, in turn, lets you achieve higher averages. That level of... comfort, shall we call it, is a good indicator that the power you wield can be used more efficiently and effectively."

"So we should opt to stay at each level for as long as possible?" Sam asked, tilting his head. I was sure he was running all kinds of scenarios where we wouldn't be able to ignore a level up.

"Yes and no. Growing your Metier Quotient will increase your survivability, and it will also let you passively grow your Attributes at a higher level. And no, because the creatures around you will certainly try to take your Pith and there is only so far comfort will train your body before your attributes plateau in your Quotient."

"Okay, there are like three questions wrapped up in that one, but I'll keep it on topic. Why would growing your Attributes at a higher level be more important than doing so at a lower level? If I understand the way the math has worked so far, we've all become 10% better than the human average with each Quotient. A little growth at each quotient would add up greatly," I said, frowning at the Entity. There is so much we don't know.

"That is correct, however your gains would be mirrored at higher Quotients. Beyond the first threshold of levels you will also gain more power with each Quotient and be forced to stay in them longer regardless due to the jumps in Pith cost. Training as you have been doing will be key to improving your Attributes and Skills. Quotients and Traits, however, will be just as important for you to close the gap on the other beasts on the planet." The light inside the Entity flickered for a moment. "The nighttime neighbors are waking up. I will attempt to join you in the future, but if the volume of creatures does not decrease it will be difficult."

Without another word, the light in the Entity Cluster shrunk to a pinprick. The sensation from earlier returned, this time spreading out from the Crystal as if blanketing everything around us.

"See? I told you you'd be the man to ask the right questions!" Sam said, smiling and scraping his leftovers onto Blobby's bulk. The slime jiggled in elation as the food sunk out of view. After exchanging looks, everyone else also disposed of their food onto my pet, before heading into the lobby.

I held my head in my hands as I tried to piece together the information the Entity had given us. It was true I tended to overthink things, and there wasn't much I could do with the information other than file it away as something good to know. It did mean that we could push ourselves to eek out some Attribute gains passively, however we could, while focusing on getting more Quotients. Getting some confirmation that we haven’t been wasting too much of our time was definitely a comforting thought. My train of thought derailed as Danny shouted. "Dibs on the first shower!"

Ben and Sam hauled the unwieldy rectangle through the door and the need to shower jumped up in my list of priorities. Theorizing on the maximizing of our future could wait for some cleanliness. One usually does their best thinking in the shower anyhow.

---+---

Surprising no one, that night's sleep was the best we'd had since arriving at the surface. I hadn't realized how much the small commodities of the Bunker had shaped my life until they were gone.

Making the best use of my time the previous day, I'd actually created the little roofless space for the shower while showering. This left us to eat breakfast in a hurry and meet Ava in the training space we'd cleared away. The woman had her hair pulled up in a tight bun just like her daughter, and her eyes combed over us with vivid intensity.

"In order to optimize the time you spend training, which will be until noon, you three will create the exercises for each other. From what I have gathered, you have all developed different ways of using your Skills just from practicing. I would like to get the basics of those to be as natural as your movements. The week I have allotted, plus the extra day, will not be enough to accomplish this. Why might you ask? Because there is always something to improve." At this point she began to pace up and down, while gesturing to the ground around us.

"For your first round of training, I want you all to focus on precision. All of you attack with a certain... wildness. Daniela, you throw big flashy sprays of fire. Samuel, you always try to tangle without considering where your vines could be used more effectively. And Ronan, while your ability is extremely utilitarian it is costly and you need to really think about how you use it." Those are some on the spot comments. How did she break down our weaknesses so easily? That was a skill I wish I had. Before I could get too far into my train of thought, she laid out the exercise we would be doing.

The idea was that I would practice forcing to form a size based on my will. This would therefore reduce, or increase, the cost of the Skill. So far I'd been able to control a full power versus a half powered , but I'd never tried to regulate it based on size.

With that in mind, I would be creating the strongest and largest single spike that I could for Sam to attack with his vines. He was supposed to break down the entire structure from top to bottom, using only his Skill. For Danny, I would focus on making a people shaped earth dummy. Ava expected me to create a larger middle spike, then form four smaller prongs to represent its limbs. Daniela's goal was to accurately hit and damage just the ends of each then finally hit the body with a bigger attack.

It was an extensive, roundabout, but ingenious way of getting us all to train each other. It also benefited from wasting no resources other than our mana and the discomfort that brought. With the plan explained, and a brief moment that Ava took to measure something around our bodies, she left us to our own devices.

"I suppose I am up first," I said. My training relied on my friends destroying my targets, but considering how much time I would be spending regenerating mana, I also decided it would be as good a time as any to practice swinging my pickaxe.

After I set my tool-turned-weapon down on the ground, I focused on the space in front of Sam. The spell chain for appeared in my hand, but I held it tight. The ground below me was unconsolidated, so when the mana congregated around my arm, it responded in kind with its passive compressive effect. I pictured the top of the Spike reaching higher than the six foot maximum I'd discovered at Quotient 3. Not only taller, but also wider. The gut-wrenching feeling of drawing on my mana pool hit me like a physical blow, but I didn't drop the Skill. Instead, I buckled down and flicked my hand at the ground like I'd done with the Infusion threads.

The ground before Sam dipped considerably, then heaved, then exploded up. A four foot wide, eight foot tall spike of compressed earth pulled itself out of the ground at my command. It was beautiful. The sand and organic matter intermingled on the ground around me had been separated perfectly, leaving a smooth sedimentary rock version of topsoil just a few feet away.

Then I let myself fall to the ground. My two friends hovered over me as I curled into the fetal position, hoping to help ease the pain stretching my muscles like some medieval torture device. The world was agony for several seconds, but it slowly faded away.

"Ronan? Are you okay man?" Sam said. His hand was glowing green where I presumed he'd been trying to use on me. If it'd made a difference, it was lost on me.

"Yeah, I think so. I didn't exceed my mana pool, but it was a close deal. It also wasn't as intense as when I transferred those Skills to you guys and Ben, but... I definitely felt it. How long was I out?"

"Probably a minute?" Danny answered. "You dropped like a rock and I barely had time to catch you. I didn't think you weighed as much as you did."

"Are you calling me fat?" I said, taking Sam's offered hand to rise to my feet. My muscles twitched from the effort, but I pushed past it enough to give my friend a mock gasp.

"Rock brain," she said, punching me in the arm and causing my muscles to tense again.

Sam squared up against a giant piece of stone after he was sure I wasn't about to seize up again. His vine whip barely left chips in the stone after he broke off the tip. Once I'd recuperated enough mana, I cast a ways from the horticultural fanatic.

Unsure of how to manipulate my mana down without causing the spell chain to dissipate, I cast it quickly instead. The desired result was there, if completely inconsistent in both size and direction. The stone spike dummy had an upraised arm, while the other pointed directly down. One of its legs was thick and short while the other was a lanky little thing pointed forward.

"Didn't know you were into disco, Ronan," Danny said with a smirk, giving herself twenty paces to the dummy.

"This is going to be a long week," I sighed.