Broken Anomaly

Marcus awoke with a start, gripping his chest, mostly on instinct. However, he quickly realized that the pain and pressure that his heart had felt was now only a faint sensation.

His thoughts immediately shifted to what mattered most. He glanced around rapidly until his eyes landed on Stella, who was calmly sitting in a chair, quietly staring at him.

“How does it feel?” she asked, her expression a mix of curiosity, concern, and just a hint of anger.

“It doesn’t hurt like it did yesterday,” Marcus answered, rubbing his chest. “My chest is sore, though.”

“How much mana?” she asked, grabbing a notebook from a small table beside her.

Marcus brought up his status window, quickly examined it, and answered, “The same.”

Stella tossed him one of his devices. “Spend some of it.”

Marcus caught the thrown device and didn’t hesitate to follow her instructions. He knew that she was most likely asking to see his regeneration speed, so he spent as much as he could.

Even when his mana was nearing its limits, he didn’t feel like his entire body was being drained.

“Speed?” Stella asked, her pen tapping the notebook, ready to take notes.

“I want to say twice as fast as before, but it’s not, it’s a bit slower than that,” Marcus replied, his eyes fixed on his status window.

“Good,” Stella said, closing her notebook as she stood up. “We’ll see if we can make it stronger after a few more levels. Agreed?”

“All business today?” Marcus asked in a playful tone, expecting Stella to respond similarly. But Stella simply turned and walked away without another word, leaving him to stare after her.

Marcus knew Stella enough to know that her current attitude was only about twenty to thirty percent about him. Most of it was because the others were still missing and no clues had been found that might suggest where they might’ve gone. There was also the added weight of having to run the entire settlement on her own.

If Alex and Anna were still here, then she could’ve delegated some of her current tasks without issue. But since they weren’t around, she had to entrust them to people she didn’t know as well. This caused feelings of uncertainty to gnaw at her.

In fact, the only reason she worked so well with Lydia was in part because she needed to trust someone else, and she basically forced herself to trust Lydia. Thankfully, Lydia had more than earned Stella’s trust at this point.

Marcus got up and stretched a bit. He did so in a crude manner, as he really had no experience with exercise. He was the only one in the group who didn’t work out in some capacity, whether it was before the integration or after.

Alex was a workout junkie by choice. Anna had it ingrained in her to always have a body fit for combat. And both Stella and Eric had what he could only assume was a messed-up upbringing that, similar to Anna, forced them to always be fit, though he had noticed that it wasn't necessarily for combat.

As he thought about how little he knew of Eric and Stella’s past, a memory of a confession assaulted his mind. One of the few times that Stella had spoken about her childhood.

He clenched his fists, his brow furrowed, and for a moment, a faint scene appeared before him. Different this time, like they always were, with his mind trying to interpret her worlds.

“…one day, if he isn’t already,” he muttered under his breath, his mouth only completing his thoughts.

He took a deep breath, trying to let go of the anger. He knew it wouldn’t be easy and that it would gnaw at him for the next few days, but he couldn't allow himself to dwell on it, at least not right now. He still had work to do, and hopefully that same work would help him keep his mind distracted.

Leaving the cabin, he grabbed something quick to eat and headed toward the lake. The memory still gnawing at the back of his mind.

As he walked, his mind began to wander in an effort to fill the silence. He began to ponder where everyone might’ve gone. First, he thought about Anna. He was sure that she went back home.

“She said she wanted to know where her family was, so it makes sense,” he told himself as he recalled her words at the campfire when they returned from the incursion.

Next, he then thought about Alex, and he paused, making a small frown. He knew Alex couldn’t have gone to his house since he was an out-of-state student. The distance between here and literally anywhere else was already pretty big to begin with.

Anna’s house was about a thirty-minute drive, at most. Alex’s on the other hand, was on the other side of the country. Marcus completely discarded the idea of Alex going home.

“Could’ve followed Anna,” he said, not really sure of how possible that was.

Finally, he thought about Eric, frustration taking over his face. No matter what explanation he conjured up, it didn’t make sense. Eric was already the type of person to leave on a whim and without any explanation, regardless of the state of the world.

“He could’ve gone to the city. The dungeons might be at a higher level there.” Marcus paused for a second, considering what he had just said. “Why didn’t I think about that earlier? He’s totally in the city!”

In that moment, all other thoughts become irrelevant. He forgot about his current project to charge batteries, the project to bring the water closer to the settlement, he even forgot about the solar panels he had recovered from the school’s small weather station.

In this moment, his only focus was on going to Stella, with the small hope that this revelation would somehow ease her worries, if even a little.

He turned and sprinted toward her office.

----------

Stella woke up feeling rested and energized, if a bit sore from sleeping on the floor.

After blinking away whatever remained of her sleep, she looked around and realized that she wasn’t in her office anymore. Instead, she was in her soon-to-be demolished personal cabin.

Not long after, Lydia, having heard the rustling from inside, entered. She quickly explained everything that had happened the night before.

From how she found them unconscious in a pool of blood—blood that seemed to belong entirely to Marcus—to how she discreetly brought them both back to their cabin. While quick, Lydia made an effort to add as much detail as possible when recounting the events.

At first, Stella was worried about Marcus. Worried that she had done something that would leave permanent damage. Worried that her work wasn’t as stable as she thought and that after she passed out, it became unstable and harmed him in some fashion.

But after carefully observing him for a while and using her skills to examine his condition, she determined that, at least in terms of mana, he was completely fine.

Soon, that worry shifted to anger. She was angry that he hadn’t told her that he was being hurt as much as he was.

She had assumed that he was feeling something, but she wasn’t entirely sure, since she herself didn’t go through anything remotely similar when she created her core. Though her core wasn’t created as near to her own heart as his was.

But then, she remembered his unique condition—his incredible recovery speed. Marcus had already told her about his bloodline, and it occurred to her that he might not have considered what he was going through to be out of the ordinary.

Stella took a moment to think, her anger toward him beginning to dissipate. The more she thought about it, the more she considered that his process was entirely different from her own. She couldn’t apply the same logic that she had applied to herself, especially to Marcus.

She then asked herself if she would’ve survived if she had done the same thing to herself. “Probably wouldn’t have,” she muttered to herself in response, remembering how quickly Marcus’s injuries healed.

Through that one question, her anger toward Marcus decreased even further, basically disappearing. It confirmed what she already knew—this was why he had volunteered last night. He understood that if anything went wrong, he was more likely to handle it than anyone else.

And he had been capable of taking the process without it causing any visible injuries.

When he woke up, through a series of small questions, she also confirmed, at least to her own satisfaction, that he was fine mentally as well.

She was astonished at the answers Marcus gave. The fact that his mana regeneration speed had almost doubled meant that he was basically in a permanent safe zone. If she could do that to herself, the speed at which she would progress would be incredible—though her advancement in magic wouldn’t be as significant.

There was one thing she didn’t like about magic, and it was the fact that unlike almost everything else, it had no numerical indicator for proficiency or the like. Once you learned a spell, that was it. It was added to your list with a brief description, and that was all.

At first, she had considered it to be because it wasn’t a “proper” spell, but upon further consideration, she realized it might be due to other factors.

Specifically, that spells seemed to be freer, or at least freer than skills were. She had nothing to base this on but, she was sure. After all, she had been able to alter the size and shape of her fireballs from the start.

She took a deep breath, calming her thoughts. “One step at a time. I’m going on tangents,” she told herself, realizing she had lost track of her original train of thought.

She headed toward the supply storage, grabbed something for breakfast, and headed for her office. While walking, she looked at the cereal bar in her hand. She wasn’t really hungry, in fact, the higher her level, the less hunger she felt.

“…or maybe the energy lasts longer?” she muttered.

When she was near her office, she began to consider that, at this point, it was more of a habit to go there. She had already given orders as to what to do for the foreseeable future, so her day consisted of training and checking the hub credits every so often.

She and Eric had initially believed that the safe zone upgrades were a one-time purchase, but it turned out they were wrong. They could in fact be purchased multiple times, though the price increased.

Slight safe zone enhancement (weakening): Enhances safe zone to further weaken enemies within. Cost: 18000 credits

Slight safe zone enhancement (recovery): Enhances safe zone to further increase recovery within. Cost: 19000 credits

But, considering the new prices, their previous purchases weren’t the ones that caught her attention.

Slight safe zone enhancement (mana density): Enhances safe zone to further increase mana density within. Cost: 24000 credits

Slight Safe Zone Enhancement (stamina): Enhances safe zone to further boost stamina regeneration within. Cost: 21000 credits

According to a conversation she had with Eric, mana density affected the speed at which mana regenerates. With both increased mana and stamina regeneration, the speed at which the residents of Solace got stronger and more proficient in their given areas would only further improve.

Solace Level 2

Store

Class

Management!

Credits 11577

“Getting there,” she told herself as she once again found herself with nothing to do.

Suddenly, Marcus burst into her office.

“He’s in the city! He has to be!” Marcus exclaimed with a hurried voice, his heart racing.

“Who? What?” Stella asked, confused as to what had Marcus so agitated.

Marcus took a deep breath and tried to settle his racing heart as he walked over to sit on a chair opposite Stella.

“Eric, he’s in the city. He has to be,” he began. “Remember what Lydia said? About the city being overrun by monsters and dungeons?" he asked, expecting a positive answer.

“Yes, I remember. And I’m also sure that Eric went to the city,” Stella said, crushing a bit of Marcus’s enthusiasm.

“Then, why haven’t we gone to get him?” Marcus asked, somewhat dejected.

Stella leaned back against her backrest and crossed her arms. “Who can go?” she asked in a semi-sarcastic tone. “Me? I don’t trust that the settlement will remain as stable as it currently is.”

She pointed to Marcus. “You? You currently have a thousand projects to do, you don’t have the time.” She then extended her arms, gesturing broadly. “Everybody else is considerably weaker than us. They’ll probably die on their way there.”

“Hmm,” Marcus pondered what Stella had just said. “Also, there’s that other issue.”

“I did say it, stable settlement. Didn’t you hear?” she asked, playfully this time.

With the enthusiasm gone and having shifted gears, Marcus became a bit more serious. “Has Lydia said anything?”

“So far, she has only confirmed three of them.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Marcus asked. “Do you want me to prepare something?”

“Seeing how that madman was able to push Alex away so easily. I want to wait for both Anna and Alex to return, at least.”

“We found a drone in the electrical lab. I’ll see if I can send it to Eric somehow,” Marcus said, fatigue clear in his voice.

“And I’ll try to weed the other ones out,” Stella said, ready to end the conversation, but she remembered something she had been wanting to tell him. “We also don’t know if Eric actually left.”

A brief silence took over, and Marcus frowned. “That’s it? You won’t explain what you just said?” he asked.

“All I mean is that people saw Anna and Alex leaving, but nobody saw Eric. It’s almost like he vanished.”

Silence took over once more. Their expressions had become somewhat playful during the exchange, but they became serious by the end of it. They now separated, each about to do their best for the settlement and their friends.

The sense of unease that had been plaguing Stella for days appeared once more. This time more prevalent than before. As if indicating that something critical was about to happen.

“Maybe it’s because I’m getting closer to the cause,” she said, considering the possibilities.