The Connected System

Loch appeared in front of the monster before it could charge. Onyx was already swinging. The axe connected with the side of the monster’s head, cutting deep. It growled in pain, twisting to the side. Loch stepped forward, swinging again and again, lines of blood appearing in the thick fur. The monster stomped again, the ground shaking.

Keeping his balance, Loch caught a tusk on Bulwark. He swung Onyx, aiming for the bone. The axe cut into the tusk, throwing up chips of bone. The tusk was incredibly tough, Onyx barely cutting into it. The Katshituashku bucked, all four feet slamming into the ground as it thrashed its head, jerking Onyx out of Loch’s hands. He batted at it with Bulwark, causing spikes to protrude from the surface of the energy shield, small bolts of lightning crackling across its surface.

The spikes pierced the side of the monster’s head as it swung toward Loch. The impact lifted him off his feet, sending Loch flying. He landed hard, rolling across the ground, coming to a stop. Hands on the ground, he pushed himself up, watching the monster turn to face him. Harper was gone, he couldn’t see where she’d gone.

Standing up, Loch stared at the Katshituashku as it slowly stalked toward him. It had registered him as the biggest threat and it was being cautious.

“Come on,” Loch said, holding his arm out.

Onyx appeared at its full size.

The monster slowed, letting out a low growl as it raised its trunk. Loch threw Onyx, the axe cutting into the trunk. The thick muscle kept the axe from cutting all the way through, but a stream of blood shot out, the end of the trunk hanging limp. With a roar, the monster gave up on caution. The stiff-legs slammed into the ground as it charged at Loch.

Harper appeared on top, both tonfas slamming down into the back of the monster as Elora leapt in from the side. She raced alongside the monster, blade cutting a long line. The monster’s speed worked against it, pulling it ahead of Elora who kept her blade embedded, causing the weapon to cut a longer wound down the monster’s side.

It bucked and twisted, trying to throw Harper off, pulling away from Elora. Loch Activated Windstep, appearing in front of the monster as it was turned to swing a paw at Elora. Activating Precision Strike, Loch saw a few yellow points appear around the monster’s body. There weren’t many beyond the typical neck and joints. Activating Cleave, Loch swung with as much power as he could at the one weak spot near.

The neck was at the right angle, exposing it for Onyx’s swing. Cracks of energy erupted on the impact as Loch and the Ability pushed the weapon deeper into the monster’s muscle, striking bone. The Katshituashku bucked, twisting toward Loch. He was knocked to the ground, pulling Onyx out and leaving a wider wound. The monster was shaking, blood pouring from many large wounds. It was nearing the end of its life but was still dangerous. With hate in its eyes, it took a couple steps toward Loch.

An ink black bear slammed into the side of the monster. The two rolled, slashing and clawing at each other, kicking up dust from the hard packed dirt. The inkbear was already starting to lose what little detail it had. The edges were turning to smoke, drifting away, the black color turning gray. Pieces of it were ripped off by the enraged Katshituashku. The inkbear was doing some damage, its claws cutting lines in the thick fur of the monster.

The two beasts came to a stop with the Katshituashku on top of the inkbear. With one swipe of its paw, the inkbear disappeared, leaving a black stain on the ground. With a roar, the monster turned back to Loch, taking an unsteady step forward. Onyx struck, cutting deep into the creature’s head. It stopped, eyes wide in shock as small bolts of lightning crackled around it. The body gave one last shudder and it dropped to the ground as Onyx disappeared, a great spray of blood erupting.

YOU HAVE SLAIN A KATSHITUASHKU

Loch watched as a large amount of multi-colored lights drifted up from the monster. They danced and swirled through the air, streaking off to float into every member of his group. He got a large amount, followed by Elora and Harper, with even Julia receiving some. Turning, as more notifications filled his vision, he saw the scavengers stepping out of the woods. He motioned to Barbara. She took one look at the giant monster and sighed, reaching for her skinning knife.

YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE ACHIEVEMENT: KATSHITUASHKU BANE

YOU HAVE FOUGHT AND KILLED OVER A KATSHITUASHKU. YOU HAVE EARNED +2% TO ATTACK AND +2% TO DEFENSE WHEN FIGHTING KATSHITUASHKU.

YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE ACHIEVEMENT: ELITE KILLER 2

YOU HAVE FOUGHT AND KILLED MULTIPLE MONSTERS THAT WERE CONSIDERED ELITE, BEING AT OR NEAR YOUR LEVEL WITH ADDITIONAL STRENGTH BASED ON THEIR TIER. YOU HAVE EARNED +3% TO ATTACK AND +3% TO DEFENSE.

Dismissing them, Loch wondered just how many of these monsters were out there. He didn’t want to run into a pack of them. The Achievement told him that it hadn’t been a singular beast, but there would be more. This one had been Elite, he hoped that the rest wouldn’t be. Loch wasn’t sure he’d be able to take one on solo.

“What was that thing?,” Harper asked, cleaning the blood off her tonfas with a rag.

None of them were experts at caring for weapons, but knew enough to clean them as soon as possible after a fight. It was something the hunters had instructed, learning it from their days hunting deer in the woods before the Connection. Cerie had helped a bit more, with the knowledge she held in her data. But without a true blacksmith, there was only so much they could do. Special weapons like Harper’s tonfas could repair themselves over time, using the ambient Spirit in the world, but continuous use prevented that.

“I do not know,” Cerie replied, her eyes glowing green. “Not something I have records of.”

“I do not know either,” Elora added. “It is a fearsome beast. If such a thing had existed on Tirna or any worlds of the Silver Bark, we would have known as it would have been hunted for its strength and resources.”

“This thing is native to Earth,” Jenny exclaimed, walking around the monster. “Never heard of a myth about an elephant-sized bear with a trunk,” she said with a chuckle.

He felt a warmth spread though his body as Julia walked by, sending a wave of Healing Spirit his way. She moved from person to person, healing their wounds. Loch gave her some time to finish. She cast her Ability on him one more time before sitting down cross legged, entering a meditative pose. Loch wondered if she had a Spirit regeneration Skill.

“Spread out,” Loch ordered, once Julia was done resting. “This thing came out of nowhere, let’s check to make sure there aren’t any others or any additional surprises.” He turned to the other scavengers, who were watching Barbara start working on removing the monster’s hide. “See if there’s anything else of value.”

“Yes sir,” Stuart said, motioning to the others.

Loch watched them all walk off. Jenny had stayed behind, standing near the busy Barbara, eyes moving along the treeline. Loch gave her a nod, thankful she’d thought about staying behind and guarding the harvester without being given an order. It was probably because she’d spent so much time with him, she was starting to anticipate what he wanted when he wasn’t sure what he wanted.

It was the part of leadership he hated, having to think of every little thing. He should have thought about having someone remain behind to watch Barbara’s back, but he hadn’t thought of it. Loch knew he had to do better.

He walked toward the Grand Oak, feeling the waves of Spirit emanating from it. The wind swirled around the clearing, pushing long dried ash out of the burn pits. Both ash and wind were swallowed up by the Grand Oak.

“What are we going to do with you,” Loch said aloud, stopping ten feet from the tree.

It was growing in the middle of the drive path between the two large pits, the canopy spread out with the leaves just hanging over the pits’ edges. The lower branches were high enough for Loch to walk under, but he didn’t. The waves of Spirit coming off the tree didn’t scare him, but he just felt it wasn’t worth walking around the tree. He didn’t think he was in danger or the tree would be harmed, he just didn’t want to take the risk.

The Grand Oak was something that could potentially benefit the Clan in the future. They had no use for it now, but someday.

Maybe.

If not, they could charge others for access to it. Barter for needed equipment, items, food or coins. Cerie had said that different regions of the world would produce Resources with different affinities, this Grand Oak was like that. The Raptors they had fought by the power lines had lightning aspects to their hides. This tree seemed to have fire and lightning, at least he assumed that was the other affinity judging by the name and the coloring.

Lightning seemed to be common in the Northwood Territory. He had major aspects of it with his Abilities, but he’d assumed that just came from having Thor, the Concept of the Storm, as his Patron. But hadn’t he had some aspects before Thor became his Patron? Was lightning something this area had an affinity for?

What exactly was the energy of lightning?

Did having Thor as a Patron increase the area’s affinity for it?

The more Loch studied the tree, the more he was sure he was right. There were a lot of aspects of lighting to it. There were increased storms in the area, a lightning strike could have hit the tree and awakened its Spirit, which then drew in the remnants of the fire affinity from the burn pits.

The Grand Oak benefitted from being in the area and being near the burn pits.

All of it was speculation. There was no way to tell until they could harvest part of the tree and make something out of the material. That was a long way off.

Should they set guards to watch over the tree? Not that they had anyone to spare.

It had survived this long, it could survive longer.

And if the Katshituashku was any indication, the beasts and monsters in the area would leave the tree alone. Loch wondered why that was. Was the powers the Grand Oak carried something that the beasts could even use?

What would being around the Grand Oak all the time do for a beast's development? Anything? Would the Katshituashku have developed fire or lightning aspects and Abilities?

The Raptors had hunted under the powerlines. Even though the lines themselves were gone, they had been absorbed by the Worldcore. There would be some lingering affinity in the area from their existence. Was that why the Raptors had developed their lightning resistance?

He remembered the Triceratops they had seen. That thing would have been terrifying if it had a lightning affinity of any kind. Adding another trip to the powerlines to his never shrinking list of things that needed to be done, Loch turned away from the tree. It was hard, the Spirit kept urging him to look back. It seemed to connect with his Core.

With a sigh, Loch returned to the corpse of the monster. It was looking nasty as Barbara hacked off bits of hide. It was coming off in decent sized chunks, but there were a lot of them. Her Skill wasn’t high enough to let her remove the hide smoothly. A pile was growing next to her, the fur matted with blood, bits of muscle and flesh still attached.

Barbara herself was covered in blood and viscera. She hadn’t managed to get completely clean after skinning the fox back at Meadow Lake, not wanting to enter the water to bathe. The rain during one of the nights had helped, but she was a mess and just getting worse.

They were all a mess. None of them were clean, all covered in blood and dirt. Loch wondered if they’d gotten a shower system running back at the school yet. That was something that Patrick Verner, the Artificer, was going to work on. He thought it would be simple enough to rig up a gravity feed system. Loch had wanted him to work on the school’s heating system, it was starting to get cold at night and they’d need it when Winter set in. Patrick agreed but thought he’d be able to use some of the ideas from the shower system, or at least would get some experience from the shower system that would help with the heating.

Loch missed being able to have a hot shower whenever he wanted.

And pizza. Coffee. Beer.

Football.

Loch sighed. There was so much he missed.

Kelly.

Most of the time he could push those thoughts down because there was just so much to do. Almost non-stop, barely any rest.

“How’s it going,” he asked Barbara.

“A couple of hours,” she replied, wiping sweat off her brow with a blood soaked hand, leaving streaks of dull red. “This is hard work and there’s a lot of meat here.”

Loch nodded. He fought down the urge to provide some kind of motivation. It wasn’t needed. She knew what to do and Loch didn’t want to be that kind of leader. It had always annoyed him when bosses or authority figures would provide some empty words when they weren’t needed. People knew their jobs and what needed to be done, just leave them alone to do it.

“Dad,” Harper yelled out.

Loch turned, Onyx appearing in his hand and growing to full size. He looked around for her, seeing her standing at the bottom of the small hill where the trash bins had once been located. She was pointing toward the slope where the Katshituashku had come from. He relaxed, seeing that she was excited but not in a scared or worried way. She was almost hopping with joy.

“You have to see this.”