Burns was both surprised and overjoyed that Morgan was back. The tablet further increased her appreciation. She halted their conversation to give the tablet to an aide, describing all the information she needed. That short interruption over, she focused back on Morgan.

  “The ship will be ready in two or three more days,” she glanced at Mara, who nodded slightly. “Your decisive actions perhaps saved thousands of lives. If I had any awards, I would pin them on you myself. But, well, maybe we’ll need to make some new awards.”

  “Thank you, but not needed. I...”

  “It is needed,” Burns cut him off. “Not for you, not to stroke an ego,” she raised her hand and pointed through the wall. “It’s for them. So that people can have inspiration, examples, and yes, even damn heroes.” Morgan stood there awkwardly as she continued. “Times are tough, the shit has hit the fan, and many of those poor bastards got random skills that allow them to change the color of a spot on the wall, or make slightly better soup. You,” she pointed into his chest, “have abilities that make a difference. And you made the choice to use them to help people. Not everyone does. I have dozens of reports of groups of bandits attacking people. Robbing them of tokens or killing groups of innocents for no reason.”

  She calmed and finished sternly. “Some people are lodestones. We are the direction that humanity needs to follow. We need to give the people three things. Purpose, direction, and motivation. For some, simply surviving is enough. Others I can order tasks that give them something to do. It’s you that gives them the motivation to do it better.”

  “If our civilization collapses… collapses more,” Burns said. “We will revert to the strong ruling over the weak with cruelty. Believe me, I have read the books. History is never kind to weaker people when there are upheavals. Rifts aren’t needed to add monsters to our world. We already have enough.”

  She swept a hand around her spartan office. All the piles of books were gone. It was just her desk and a few smaller desks with aides. “We are planning to hand this office over to the next elected governor. It will be their problem then. Well, maybe mine. I don’t know if anyone else it running for the office.”

  “Mara told me there is a General coming?”

  “Yes,” Burns said. “He sent a scout who said they would be here in another ten days. A womanizing, narcissistic, pompous ass. Who isn’t worth the cloth his uniform is made of. Also, to be completely transparent, my ex-husband. If anyone deserved to be shit out a goblin, it’s Edward Osmond McAfee.”

  “I will take your word for it,” Frank said, walking into the office with a soft rap on the door frame. “Morning report, Ma’am. Nothing significant last night.” He clapped Morgan on the back. “Someone said a guy came flying in last night. Figured it was you, lad. Good to have you back.”

  “Thank you, Master Chief,” Burns said. Taking the small stack of papers from Frank.

  “Catch up later,” Frank said as he left just as quickly as he had appeared.

  That day, Morgan went out with the escort to the docks. He went without the Warden persona. No helmet or armguard. It was just an excuse to spend more time with Mara. There were no significant threats on the outskirts of the city. There were twenty-one people, including Mara and Morgan. The proper escort, two five-man teams, and then the rest were engineers. Morgan observed the five-man teams dealing with the threats. Everyone had a role, and they worked together very well. They even killed a troll. Morgan almost stepped in, preparing to summon Midnight Razor. Then a kid in the back of the group yelled, and a massive flaming javelin flew from the sky and skewered the troll to the ground. The kid then collapsed onto his partner’s shoulder.

  At the docks, Morgan helped by moving things around. The engineers were busy working on the ship, so the escorts walked around dismantling things. Morgan joined the escorts. He got to see his first use of the Wrecking Ball, the global skill. A box appeared.

  ::Aid in Wrecking Ball? You cannot leave the area without canceling the process.::

  He accepted. Two minutes later, the large fishing boat lying on the pavement was gone. Where it had been, lay raw materials. Wood, metals, and even some leather in tight, neat piles.

  “We can do this with a building too,” said the bright-eyed leader of one escort group. “But it takes forever with less than thirty people. Only with old-world stuff. Anything new, it just doesn’t work.”

  Morgan examined the piles. The wood was all evenly sized planks or thick beams. The metal was all is small ingots.

  “That’s incredible,” Morgan said, “What about all the rubber and plastic? I don’t see any of that?”

  “Gone, or something, haven’t really studied it much,” the bright-eyed guy responded.

  The group spent about four hours there, converting small shacks and other abandoned vehicles into piles of resources. Morgan checked in with Mara twice before she apologized and told him she was trying to concentrate. If something happened, Sophia would message.

  They had just met back with the engineers carrying large and heavy loads of resources when Morgan felt a low tone resound through the city. Everyone stopped and looked to bright eyes.

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  “That’s Pyro’s gang. We’d best get back to the Citadel,” bright eyes said.

  “Pyro?” Morgan asked, looking to Mara, who shook her head.

  “Yeah,” bright eyes responded. “He has been raiding the outskirts of the city. Killing monsters, but also robbing or killing anyone else who is in the area. Got about a hundred in his gang. They hadn’t pushed this far into the city before.” He drew his sword and repositioned his shield, looking around expectantly. “We tried to hunt them a few days ago, but they have some hiding skill or something. They disappear whenever we try to fight them head-on.”

  “Guerrilla tactics,” a young woman said. “Ambush the weak, hide from the strong.”

  “Exactly.”

  They made it back to the Citadel with no issues. They heard explosions and loud growling from the city behind them as they left.

  Morgan told Sophia.

  Later, Morgan told everyone his story about the ships and asked if anyone wanter the rapier. No one did. Frank asked if Morgan would go with him and a group tomorrow morning to investigate the opening of a possible dungeon.

  “It would be a morale boost for the men having you there, lad.”

  “No problem,” Morgan said. “I’ve been spending so much time out alone. Maybe some time with a group will be good.”

  “The team tomorrow is only a little green,” Frank said.

  “Green?”

  “New,” Frank said, chuckling. “We got a couple of new kids in the group. But four of the twelve are really solid guys, are about level fifteen, and capable leaders. I’ll add you in as a melee damage dealer.”

  That night, Morgan floated above the ruined city. He went to the area where the noise had originated, but only saw large mounds of monster corpses. He followed the trail of destruction out of the city until it tapered off and he could no longer see it from the air.

  He landed, then bent and sniffed deeply. The scents were mixed, but he could smell two or three distinct people. One smelled slightly of oatmeal, and the other two of fresh wood, oak and maple. It was hard to distinguish the smells from each other, but not to follow them. They had used some talent or skill to remove their tracks, but the smell still drifted off through the city.

  Following the trail was easy, with the scent leading him. Outside the city, they had moved along an old dirt road beside the same tracks Morgan had flown over on his way to the Citadel. Half a mile later, Morgan found the hideout of the bandits, or at least the entrance they had used. Under a bridge, where the tracks spanned a river, was an access door labeled water service personnel only. All the smells went in through that door.

  Morgan crept as quietly as he could down the stairs and up to the door. In the black and white of his dark vision, Morgan could just barely discern the faint indent of a symbol on the door.

  Sophia informed him.

  Morgan replied sarcastically.

  Shaking his head, Morgan left the warded door to explore for more rifts and monsters to kill. He had gained almost an entire level out at the fleet, but almost nothing in the group in the city. A window popped up as he checked his progress.

  ::Title Progress 32 of 100 - Kill more elite invaders to unlock this title.::

  ::Title Progress 418 of 1000 - Kill more dungeon invaders to unlock this title.::

  Blood drinker was at 45 out of 100 and he had 24 more cores to absorb. He cleared two more rifts that night before he hit level 21. And was surprised to see a title.

  ::Congratulations! You have cleared Thirty Rifts::

  ::Title Granted - Dirty Thirty - You can clean grime from any item or object::

  Morgan complained.

  For his attribute points from leveling and closing the rifts, he put one point into strength and one into dexterity.

  ::Your current attributes are Str - 40, Dex - 42, Con - 30, Wis - 18, Int - 22::

  He also chose a skill.

  ::Uncommon - One Hundred Cuts - Attack multiple times with a single cut, does less damage::

  His second skill choice left him at a loss. They were both rare crafting abilities.

  ::Rare - Kinetic Buffer - Knowledge of Runes that absorb kinetic energy for later use::

  ::Rare - Silvered Lining - Create a lining for armor that provides the glamor property::

  Morgan asked.

  ::Rare - Silvered Lining - Create a lining for armor that provides the glamor property::

  Morgan said after he selected the skill.

  Morgan returned to the Citadel. Reported to the aid about the location of the bandit hideout and the rune on the door. Then he settled into the workshop to make a few linings for his and Mara’s armor before sunrise. The materials for the crafting were cheap, and Morgan could afford to make hundreds of the linings. But he settled on ten for now. He didn’t know how long it would take.

  It turns out crafting was harder than just thinking about what you wanted and it popped in front of you. Morgan had the knowledge of how to make the lining, but he didn’t have the physical memory of how to do the sewing. The first lining took twenty minutes, then fifteen. Finally, he got the hang of it. His high dexterity no doubt helped. The next two he made took twelve minutes each. That was as fast as he thought he could make them without some giant leaps in his skills and abilities.

  Holding the lining up to the Faceless Bastion, he tried to figure out how to install the lining. The lining itself was shimmery and felt like a thick cloud. Once the two objects touched, he got a notification asking if he wanted to insert the lining into Faceless Bastion. With a yes, the lining was absorbed like water into a sponge. Faceless Bastion now showed.

  ::Faceless Bastion - Rare - Weight: .5lbs. Properties: Increases Audio Reception, Glamor, Upgrades 1/2::

  He did the same with the armguard from Annabelle.

  ::Mage Slayer’s Armguard - Epic - Weight: 1 lbs. Properties: Second Skin, Magic Absorption, Glamor, Upgrades 1/4::

  With an hour left, he made four more linings. Then he packaged two each for Frank and Katherine, and took two to go wake up Mara with his surprise gift.