The Calm Before the Storm(1)

"Finally," Loran groaned as he entered the North Gate of the village.

After resting up for a day, the players set out for home early the next morning. Making their way back to the village had been even more peaceful than the trip out had been, as this time they kept close to the mountains for most of the trip. It had also gone a little faster as several of the slower players had chosen to increase their Agility after the raid.

However, none of that really mattered to Loran at the moment. Just like they had arrived at Ziege Basin in the evening, they had gotten close to the village late at night, and everyone decided it would be best to just keep marching for an extra few hours so they could get home already. This, unfortunately, meant that Loran was far more tired than normal, and even with his superhuman stats, he could feel a mild but persistent soreness in his legs from marching for almost 18 hours straight.

"I still can't believe how tired you get," Yang said, stifling a yawn herself. "How did you even stay up long enough to set up for the raid?"

"I was really curious about that new spell...also the pre-fight anxiety probably helped." Loran yawned again. "I feel like I'm about to pass out..."

Yang was about to say something but paused when she heard voices coming from up ahead. "Sound's like some people woke up."

Loran's eyes widened. "Oh fuck they're going to pester us with questions."

"Oh come on it won't be that-"

"Nope, fuck that, not dealing with it." Turning left Loran began moving away from the river. They were currently in the expanded section of the village, where the building team had been constructing the larger cabins for everyone. The section had made a lot of progress over the last few weeks, and would likely be finished by the time they left for the next raid, but as far as Loran knew only a few people had been willing to move in because the builder team was still constantly moving in and out with supplies, creating lots of noise at all hours of the day.

With this in mind, Loran simply picked out a random hut and went inside, ignoring Yang as she called out from behind him.

'If someone already claimed it they can yell at me later,' he thought as he pushed aside the leather curtain that hung in the entrance. 'Right now I just need to...'

"Oh damn, this place is nice."

Loran hadn't bothered to look inside the huts that were being constructed until now, thinking that a structure roughly the same size of an outhouse couldn't be that impressive; however, he quickly realized that he had underestimated how much effort the builders were putting into this project.

Loran was a little shocked to see it wasn't just an empty room. The builders had created some rudimentary furniture, including a shelf-like table that stuck out of the wall and a sturdy-looking chair. However, Loran barely noticed this as his eyes quickly locked onto the bed made from animal furs.

"Oh fuck yes."

The bed looked like a wooden trough that had furs and other soft materials piled inside to function as the mattress. After weeks of sleeping on the ground, the idea of a bed sounded heavenly. Sure, it wasn't an actual mattress, but compared to sleeping on dirt and grass it still had to be softer, right?

Loran lay down and let out a relieved sigh.

'So much better than dirt.'

There was no pillow, but that didn't matter, Loran closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him. His thoughts wandered to the events of the last few days. He managed to get that last little bit of EXP he needed to max out [EXTREME PERCEPTION], and just like he assumed reaching Level 10 reduced the cooldown rate to be equal with the activation time.

'I wonder if I could use it like Sprint now?'

As powerful as his new Skill was, it was dangerous to have all of his passive Skills deactivate for so long. Using it in short bursts should be his primary method of using it, and if he was ever in a particularly tough fight he can go all out.

'Hmm...I'll still need to get used to no sensory Skills for those short bursts, but I think I can manage. But what abou-no.' Loran rubbed his face. 'Stop thinking, it's time to sleep.'

Loran's mind was racing with ideas. New spells, how to use his new Skill, and wondering about new Skills; he was exhausted but he just couldn't stop. He knew he would pass out eventually, but he wanted to sleep now.

He opened his eyes, staring into the darkness of the hut.

'I better get to sleep soon...tomorrow is going to be interesting.'

~~~~~

"Loran!" Yang shouted as she watched him disappear into the small hut. She sighed. 'Whatever, someone will probably yell at him later.'

She could understand the sentiment though. She was equally tired, she just was willing to deal with the other players if it meant getting back to her shelter with Yin.

Yang continued walking but was quickly forced to stop again. More than fifty players were trying to cross the bridge, and many of them were being held up with questions, creating one hell of a traffic jam.

"Fuck...this is going to take forever..." Yang began looking around, beginning to feel like Loran had the right idea. She then looked at the river and had a strange feeling.

'Was it always this...small?'

The river hadn't actually changed in the slightest, but for some reason, Yang couldn't shake the feeling that the large river was less imposing than she remembered it. Almost as if...

Yang's eyes widened as she realized the source of the feeling. She then walked up to the edge of the water and jumped across. The river was an intimidating 20 feet in width, but Yang had been able to cross such distances with ease for a while now. It was only the existence of the bridge and habit that made the water still feel like a natural barrier.

Landing on the other side, she began walking towards her shelter when she suddenly heard several loud splashes. Turning around, Yang saw several other players attempting to do the same thing she did, but with much less success. Some of them simply overestimated their Strength, but most of them fell into the water after colliding with each other in the air.

'These idiots need to be in less of a rush.'

She had just turned away when she suddenly heard a shrill cry from a girl landing in the water nearby. She started moving closer to help when she realized that it was Yin.

"Are- are you okay?" Yang asked, just barely holding back her laughter.

"I'm fine," Yin said quickly. "I just...thought I could make it."

"Well yeah, but isn't your STR, like 20? That's a lot but not quite enough for a jump like this. Don't you jump through the trees enough to know that?"

Yin said nothing, but Yang felt that something was...off about her expression. Something familiar. She blinked as an old memory surfaced.

"...What were you trying to do?"

"What?" Yin asked.

"That face, you only make a face like that when you've tried to solve a problem and it didn't work. What did you do to try to cross the river?"

Yin's eyes began darting around like a child caught doing something they knew they shouldn't have. "I...I tried to kick off the water..."

Yang stared silently at her sister for a moment, too stunned to react. But that didn't last long.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

"Can you not!" Not even her Yin's unnaturally black skin could hide her blush. Loran had joked about Yang's voice getting louder after learning [BURNING RAGE] but it really did seem like Yang's voice was now able to carry across the whole village.

"Wai-wait! You actually tried to pull off some anime 'running on water' bullshit?!"

"With all of the impossible feats we are already capable of would such a thing be so extraordinary?"

"No bu-heh-but with those arrow 'techniques' you came up with it's a-heh-almost like you're trying to an anime character!" Yang clutched her stomach. "What's next Sis? A shadow clone? Oh! Oh! How about you try some hand signs to cast spells!"

Having nothing left to say to her sister, Yin simply shoved her deeper into the water and began walking away. Yang got up a moment later and chased after her sister, trying to apologize but still stifling giggles as the two girls made their way back to their shelter.

~~~~~

"Well, I suppose that's the best we could hope for," Rika said once Soze finished giving a breakdown of the raiding trip. He was going to wait until morning, but Rika happened to be up with the other crafters, processing more iron for forging. When he came to the Workshop to drop off the Iron Ant parts in his inventory they were in the middle of hammering a Soldier Blade back into shape.

The Workshop had undergone a transformation after they started preparing for the raid. With more players moving across the river they had torn down a few of the nearby shelters for more room, and filled the space with some newly designed furnaces for handling iron. The center of the Workshop was occupied by a new and improved bloomery made with clay bricks and redesigned so that it didn't need to be torn down after each use. On the far side of the Workshop he could see a few players messing around with large chunks of carapace, trying to heat them without letting them burn.

"I guess so... do you think you can get everyone's equipment repaired in time for the next raid?"

"Probably, but even if we can't it shouldn't be a problem," Rika said, plunging the blade back into the open furnace to keep the metal hot. "I was kind of expecting these raids to become a more regular thing so we've been working on extra gear while you guys were away."

"Enough to replace everything?" Soze asked, his voice tinged with shock before Rika shook their head.

"No. We're moving slower than before for a more balanced work schedule, and we have way less time before you guys plan to leave for the next raid right?"

Soze nodded. The Workshop originally had six weeks to finish outfitting the raiding party with equipment, but even adding the past two weeks they had spent traveling that only gave them four weeks to work in between raids.

"We'll go through the equipment that can be repaired the quickest, and replace whatever will take too long." Rika removed the sword from the heat and began hammering it again, their iron hammer clanging against the blade and the flat stone they were using as an anvil. "But while we're on the subject of crafting, how much shit did you bring back for us?"

Rika's question caused several players in the Workshop to pause what they were doing to look over at Soze. One of the crafters got too distracted and nearly shoved his hand straight into the furnace.

The Workshop had used up the best of what Yang had brought back from the first raid, all that remained were scattered Drone corpses with minimal iron content. Many of them were eager to get more of the higher-purity iron that could be harvested from Soldiers, Warriors, and Guardians.

Soze smiled and shook his head. "Well, you'll be happy to know that we have at least twice the haul from last time, and most of it is pure iron."

A round of cheers filled the Workshop, which was quickly followed by various shouts and curses as several crafters momentarily forgot that they were working with hot metal and open flames.

"Focus you dumbasses!" Rika shouted, still keeping their eyes on their own project. "Anyway, I'll make some space for everyone to drop off the materials later. Anything else?"

"That's about it," Soze said with a shrug. "What about you guys? Did anything happen while we were gone?"

"The builders that stayed behind have been getting more work done on the east side of the river. With Jorda and the others back they'll probably be able to finish in a day or two." Rika stopped hammering and plunged the blade into a pool of hot water to quench it. "I think Demeter said something or other about more plants sprouting, but nothing ready to harvest yet. Oh, Alan was working on another personal project."

Soze sighed. "What is it and has it collapsed yet?"

"It's a canoe."

Soze was surprised. "Really? Not some new structure?"

"Did anyone say the builders had to be limited to, well, buildings?"

"I guess not." It wasn't as if there was going to be a constant need for home construction, so the building team was going to need to find other ways to spend their time eventually. Some had joined the raiding party for this exact reason, so they could learn to fight with their unique character builds, but Soze was glad to see that the more risk-averse ones were finding their own paths forward.

"Knowing that guy, he's probably still up and working on it."

"Thanks, I think I'll go check that out before I go to sleep." Soze started to walk away. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay," Rika said as they pulled the blade out of the water, looking it over for any deformations. "Oh, and to answer your second question, he's already on his third prototype!"

"...Of course he is."