Opting to keep Ava happy, I had the rest of the Bunkerites take the day off. I didn't miss the huge wave of relieved sighs that escaped them as many ambled off towards the farm or back down to the Bunker. Maybe I was still working them too hard, I thought. Dismissing that particular managerial problem for later, I found myself back in my crafting room adjacent to Bec. His glow was still weak, but I could tell there was a marked improvement from our arrival. Probably Daniela chunking ants and spiders. The thought of Danny fighting spiders solo or with Anthony gave me pause, but I knew she wouldn't take risks without sending out a warning. She had scouted out the Dreg's territory with just airhead Devon...

"Focus Ronan. Don't waste so much time. When you aren't being threatened on all sides you can deal with your sprawling trains of thought," I told myself, making a concerted effort to set the paper down and read.

Most of it outlined what I'd already been doing: controlling the output of my Skills, pushing and withdrawing to have better control of each spell chain. There were a few suggestions for how my enhanced attacks could be used to hem in creatures, while also punishing them. Walls didn't have to just defend, they could also be used offensively. Shelving those for the moment, I saw the bulk of the exercise Ava wanted me to work on. The short version was that she wanted me to 'roll with the punches'. Adjusting my movements to lessen the blow by moving with the hit instead of receiving it fully. She added a note stating that she understood there were instances where there wasn't an option to do this, but the practice would be key to avoid mounting damage in prolonged fights or in intense quick fights. The final piece of her training was her suggestion on how I could train said ability while also building.

"'Attack yourself'??" I asked out loud. I could have sworn I saw Bec's light twitch, but I couldn't be sure. I wanted to go and ask Ava just how she thought that was a good idea, but I opted against it. Better try, and possibly fail, than just go to her for the direct answer. One doesn't gain as much that way.

Having given everyone the day 'off' I decided to take one myself and focus on getting the hang of the training. The training yard to the east of camp was still very much empty and sandy, especially after we removed all the trees. I spent several minutes warming up with some simple exercises, making sure I was comfortable with my gear. Even with the redistributed weight after Infusing my helm, it still stuck out almost a foot on either side of my head. After thirty minutes of light cardio and mock dodges that made me feel silly, I decided that trying to hit myself with was just the best option for training. Possibly work explosions into the mix. I feel like Sam is going to be getting a real good bit of training himself...

"," I called, somewhat hesitantly. It was half powered, so that an eight foot pillar didn't just skewer me outright, and to conserve mana. I'd aimed the spike back right at my chest from where I was standing. While I'd seen at least a hundred of my spikes manifest, I hadn't really been on the receiving end. If I hadn't interposed my shield in anticipation, I would have been kabob'ed. As it was, I grunted and fell back as the Force Dispersal Trait of my shield activated and washed me with a significant amount of heat.

The ground was as comfortable a place as any to groan as I gathered myself up for another attempt. Fast, but it seems it didn't pierce my shield which is good... I found my feet, set them and decided not to do anything fancy other than to take the brunt of the impact and see how it worked its way through me. So, I released the spell chain and a spike struck my shield. Almost immediately my feet left the ground, removing any strength advantage I might have had against the blow. However, right before my feet left the ground I felt something.

The sensation didn't have anything to do with Ava's training, but somehow I knew it had to do with my own Traits. Am I feeling the force dissipation of my Limestone Skin? Is it working in concert with my Osseum?

For the next two hours I proceeded to bruise myself blue. Even regulating the mana expenditure of each of my each blow still took its pound of flesh. Subconsciously, I started to angle my shield better to deflect the blow up, instead of getting knocked off my feet each time. Once I managed to really feel the blow through my body, the ripple of force became almost obvious. It certainly felt like I'd been working on a ‘see the forest for the trees’ way when it came to my Limestone Skin, instead of managing each blow individually. The more hits I took, the more I got a hang of directing the force. It wasn't anything refined enough to actually use, but when I forced the impact to travel away from my weapon arm, the blow barely affected my grip before it transferred into the soil beneath me.

I almost didn't want to break for lunch, throbbing muscles notwithstanding, but a throat clear sent via the comm-plant from Ava sent me shuffling over to the vestibule. While I hadn't really been working out, or moving for that matter, tensing with the blows was much more of a strain than I realized. By the time I slumped onto the feasting table, my legs were jelly and I'd let my helm thud onto the table. My face missed the porridge Juan had cooked up by mere inches....

"Ron?" Sam asked, nudging me with his bowl.

"Say, who the what?" I said, jerking up and summoning a spell chain on hand. My eyes focused on Sam's frown and I dismissed the Skill. "Sorry, I must have snoozed," I said, yawning.

"Must have been a good one," Samuel said, pointing to the dark stain on the wood from where I'd drooled. Did I use to drool this much? Maybe I am pushing my body a bit too much.

"Sorry, trying to get a hang on how to train for Ava's comments," I said, spooning the now-cold porridge into my mouth. As soon as the salty goodness touched my tongue, the rate of consumption tripled.

"Same. I don't know how I am supposed to get my plants to try to attack me while I'm working," he sighed.

"Wait a minute, that's your training?" I asked, pausing lunch just long enough to gawk at my friend.

"Yeah, what about you?"

"I'm suppose to attack myself too, well, more like learn to roll with the attacks but it’s the same thing really."

The blond scratched at his stubble, frown deepening comically. "How have you been doing?"

"Just aiming my at my chest," I said, shrugging and immediately regretting it as my shoulders protested. "Don't you control your vines with your mind?"

Samuel waved his hand side to side. "Somewhat? It's hard to explain, but they listen the best when I am pantomiming an action."

"Pantomime them hitting you, then try to do that enough that it's reflex," I said. "That's how I've been able to improve my shield positioning."

"That... could work..." Sam's strange nervous system tentacle hairs bristled out of his palms as he ran them over the wood. It was clear from his expression he was running his own Skills through his mind.

Instead of disturbing him I went back to my meal and cleaned up. I wasn't sure if it was a result of the increased healing of having an Attunement, or my increases in the Strength Attribute, but I could almost feel my body recovering. The two of us sat in silence as we worked through our bottlenecks. When the other Bunkerites stopped by for lunch we spent a few minutes talking, once again regaling them with our adventures at their behest. However, not long after that, we headed our separate ways. If I wanted to implement my block training into my building efforts, I needed to get as much direct practice as possible. Back to the grind.

---+---

"I don't think she was including her own training in the exceptions for exhaustion," I said, muscles twitching even as I laid on the grass.

"Agreed," Sam groaned from beside me. The life attuned had stumbled back to the camp from the farm thoroughly whacked. Literally. He hadn't been able to get his plants to attack him subconsciously, but they moved unpredictably enough when given general commands. For my part, I'd been basically throwing myself at my vertical spikes and walls to practice minimizing damage and moving with my gear over dynamic obstacles. The afternoons were when I beat myself silly with targeted Skills to the chest.

The last week had been a whirlwind of pain and learning and construction for me. The inner wall was complete, and the trench on the border of the clearing was well on its way. While the bulk of my helpers worked on digging the outer trench, I helped to remove any trees in the way as well as work on the two removable half-log bridges I'd created in order to access the Bunker complex. When that was finished, I started to work on the actual 'keep' portion of the camp, opting to save the outer wall project for when I had a higher Quotient and more time. I focused on building some basic rooms as well as a hardened earth slope to reach the second level. I expanded on the shower area, adding a small reservoir next to the actual rigged system on the second floor.

Without the help of Jolene, or precise building tools, I had to improvise how I built windows into the second floor. Instead of building every wall with my augmented Skill, I left one of the outer walls open on each of the four rooms I made. Using half powered and then cutting off the pointed bit, I added some gothic-looking windows to the budding building. I didn't have any specific goal for the rooms, but they could at least serve as housing as the Bunkerites spent more time on the surface. Only so many people could sleep in the vestibule and lobby before they had to really rough it.

All in all I was content with how it turned out. Not only would each person have a room with a window and door, the second floor's roof gave a perfect vantage point over the inner wall. With the spiral ramp on the perimeter, the tiered first and second floors in the middle vaguely reminded me of the Tower of Pisa. Much shorter, but I also had plans to have the Bunker's Keep reach much higher. Wonder if that survived the end of the world?

Structure complete, training passable, and body thoroughly ragged, I took two days to recover. Really recover. I returned to the Bunker to rest on my familiar bed. I spent an unknowable amount of time fiddling with the Infusions that belonged to my mother and grandmother. The information from the Implant was cold, devoid of just what the blobs meant to me.

The most curious thing about them was the fact that the Infusions hadn't degraded like all the others on the surface. I wasn't sure if that was a result of their passing before being Attuned properly, or what had caused Daniela, Samuel and I not to change like the other Fallen from Wildwood.

Regardless of the reason for their permanence, the perfect icy marble that had been my mother and the still smoldering coal of my grandmother kept me company as I relived a day in the Bunker life. An hour of physical training in the gym, almost laughable with my strengthened body. Tofu meal snagged from Juan before he'd finished the larger batch of breakfast. Several hours of browsing the archive terminals for just about anything on construction and materials. Lunch. Rotating tasks between the greenhouse floor and the water treatment facility. Dinner. A round or four of 3D pinball at the terminal. Shower and sleep.

The whole thing almost felt alien. While it hadn't been six months since we'd returned to the surface, things had already changed and progressed more than our entire lives. Nothing on the surface was stagnant, because if it was, it was liable to get trampled by its neighbors. The lives of the other Bunkerites hadn't been nearly as hectic without magic in the mix, but what would a fully populated Earth have looked like? What would the overgrown and ruined buildings flanking the streets have looked like in their prime? Crowds so big that individuals were unrecognizable from one another? The scale of that still escaped me.

While philosophizing, a brunette blur did a three-quarter somersault right onto my chest. I had just enough presence of mind to flare mana into around my abdomen. The hardening rock plate was thin at best, but it took the blow easily before dissipating back into mana.

"Hey bum," Daniela said, feet still propped on my chest as she balanced herself on one hand. Her other hand was holding a small plastic bag, which was unusual in and of itself. Not many of those were still around compared to studier storage alternatives.

"Is there a time where you don't try to bother me when I am just resting?"

"Heard from your uncle that you've been moping around the Bunker. Figured I'd bring you something to remind you that the future isn't stuck in the past." To mark her words, she plopped the bag on my chest before curling her legs back to stand.

I huffed at her own esoteric wording before looking in the bag. A small spread of the meats of Wildwood, as well as several of the fruits they grew in the town, were a welcomed sight. The meaning, of course, wasn't lost on me. "Time to head back?"

"Soon. I'm going to need help, though. Bunker Buster help," she said, sighing and leaning against the wall. When all I did was pluck an apple out and quirk an eyebrow at her, she continued. "The ants. We need to push them back hard before they hit the camp with a surprise attack the moment we leave."

"Have you confirmed that they are sensitive to levels?" I asked, remembering one of the theories I'd heard for why Territories formed, not simply as a result of the presence of a Metier Crystal.

"Oh yeah," she said, smiling deviously. She tapped her eye before pointing at herself, clearly indicating our Implants.

"Hot damn!" I said, jumping to my feet.

"Hot damn is right," she said, forming a spell chain in her hand. The temperature in the room immediately climbed. It was like an open stove concentrated on her palm.

"Does Sam know?" I said, pulling her into a congratulatory hug before remembering our third musketeer.

"Told him just this morning. Been running around getting used to the power gain when I heard what you'd been up to," she said.

"He's not Q5 yet is he?" I said, suddenly aware of how detached I'd been from pretty much everyone while building and training. Even if people needed their space to work, I should have at least been checking in on Danny and Sam.

"No, but he said he's close. Something about having to deal with pesky worms not listening to his commands."

"Then we need to head out. If at all possible, I would like to confirm whether the ants have a Metier Crystal or not," I said, mind already drifting as I formed a mental list of what we would need if we wanted to head out the following day.

"Considering the trend, I'd say it’s unlikely we spot it by chance. It's probably with the queen, somewhere underground in their territory."

"Yes... Makes sense..." I absently placed my mother and grandmother's Infusions back amongst my minerals. My gear is here, but we would need to gather some food and water before leaving. Also, making sure we had at least some backup firearms would be a good idea. Definitely a few duffels for loot. Sam might be able to rig something so Anthony could carry--

"I'm the fire attuned, so why is smoke coming out of your ears?" Daniela said, poking me in the ribs before heading out of my room. "Dress me slowly because I am in a hurry!" she called from down the hall.

"You know I don't understand when you translate Spanish idioms, Daniela!" I shouted back.

"If you know it's an idiom, then you do understand!" She giggled. "Just get moving rock boy! I know you don't want to get left behind."

She wasn't wrong. The prospect of more magical power was a draw in and of itself, but it was merely a stepping stone to what it would let us achieve. I piled up my gear and a change of clothes on my shield before following up the stairs.