Carmen’s cooking hadn’t killed us, but my stomach was still growling a little, like it was complaining to me about what I’d subjected it to even though almost a day had passed. No point trying to make it understand that when your missus lovingly makes something for you to eat, you eat it. No questions asked. Actions first, consequences later, and boy had there been consequences. Let’s just say the bathroom back at the house was off limits.

  We were back out in the fields, lying prone on a hilltop, watching a group of deer nestled between some trees towards the bottom. We were still working our way through the southeast quadrant and had managed to clear around twenty percent of it, just beyond where the cave was. More precautions had been taken since the prior events. Davies wasn’t looking to lose more soldiers. Scouts had been sent out the previous day, tasked with marking the location of animals on maps that had been distributed to the various teams that had been sent out.

  That was another change. There were multiple ten-man teams sent out, staying closer to each other so we didn’t have another bovine stampede. We also had tank and armoured vehicle support, just in case we came across a large contingent of animals or even worse – specimens like those scorpions, but so far so good. None of the scouts had reported anything out of the ordinary.

  “You want to give it a crack?” Kian asked, lying next to me. To his other side, Charlotte and Kaelyn were whispering to each other. I’m pretty sure I heard Kaelyn ask if perhaps they could find another home to stay at, so Carmen didn’t feel the want to cook for them again. The cheek – after she’s the one who remarked how good the food was!

  “Too many of them hidden among the trees,” I replied, peering through a set of binoculars at the copse of trees, with spring-coloured leaves providing extra cover. The deer were taller at the shoulder than most men, the stags among them with splayed antlers that looked like extensions of the tree branches. It was hard to tell how many there were. Maybe fifteen or twenty, their dark brown hides appearing between the gaps in the trees every so often.

  I had discussed wanting to test myself and see if I could clear multiple similar level creatures at the same time. I felt my larger mana pool, combined with my increasing familiarity with my abilities and my rifle would allow me to take on around the same number of deer we had in front of us. That is, if they weren’t in cover, given my only offensive ability was the [Fireball].

  “But I have an idea. Carmen.”

  She was lying prone, assault rifle in hand though it was a good three hundred metres or so to the trees. She looked over at me.

  “When I ask, do you mind shooting into those trees. Scare them into running?”

  She nodded and turned back to the trees.

  I’d spent some of the yesterday – when I was sure my stomach wouldn’t be troubling me further – to learn to control the Threads of Mana. Using what I knew of the [Gravity Circle], I’d worked out how to have a similar effect with a [Time Circle], but I’d refined it beyond what the System packaged ability could do.

  Creating the anchor points and the circle was easy enough, but I could take it further than only three targets like the other two circles I had. I figured the number of anchors on the outer circle would correspond to how many targets could be trapped. And the mana I filled each anchor with – like globes – would dictate how long the effect would last.

  I stood up to put it into practice, laying a [Time Circle] down, that extended beyond the copse of trees. It looked like a thirty spoke wheel, with bulbous ends on each of the spokes, leading to another anchor in the centre of the wheel, within the woods. I channelled mana into each of those bulbous ends. I had a rough idea of how large the globes needed to be for each minute of time I wanted the effect to last and once I’d filled all thirty globes, I was barely breaking a sweat. I most certainly wasn’t feeling any fatigue.

  It was a bit like doing a quick warm-up before a gym session. I wasn’t sure if this was just a natural side-effect of having had the Divine stone for a few days now, or the result of me pushing my limits so often. Maybe a bit of both. And I still felt like I was only scratching the surface.

  “You guys ready?”

  “Sure,” Kian said, standing up beside me. Kaelyn and Charlotte nodded their heads as they listened in. “What’s the plan?”

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  “So, we’re gonna get closer and once Carmen flushes them out, they should run out and hopefully in the same direction and my trap should slow them.”

  “Not loop them?”

  “Nah. That would just send them back in. They should be slowed for two or so minutes, and I’ll take out as many as I can. Any that I can’t is for you two. Charlotte, you stay back here or as close as you need to be to heal, without being in danger yourself.” I looked over at her. “And once we’re done with these ones, we’ll get you to take the next set.”

  I grabbed my rifle and slowly walked down the hill towards the copse of trees, the other three following alongside me. Carmen stayed back on the hilltop and behind her was the armoured transport where Davies’ team remained. They were happy enough to let us get the SE coins we needed. The plan was to keep everyone levelling at the same speed, so they’d get their chance too, though everyone agreed me getting stronger as quick as possible was the best way forwards. There was a certain…comfort in being important. In being needed.

  I got as close to the trees as I dared before I put my hand up to signal Carmen to fire. The gunshot boomed through the air, the startled deer immediately running out from their cover. Carmen shot a couple more times to make sure all of the deer emerged and when they did, they were all trapped in my [Time Circle], just as I had hoped. All of their movement had reduced to a fraction of what it should have been.

  I loved it when a plan came together.

  I wasted no time, running as close to the deer as possible so I could take them down. The good thing was they had all gathered towards my left side, their legs moving through the air like they were in congealed jelly. I raised my rifle, shooting quick bursts – two lots of three shots at each of the deer’s head. Simultaneously, I threw out [Fireballs], two at a time. Two magazines and fourteen [Fireballs] later, all within the time limit of the [Time Circle], and seventeen deer were down, crumbling to the ground in a heap.

  I looked around at my friends with a beaming smile. “Eh? Eh? What do you think about that? Bloody brilliant, innit?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Kian said. “At least you didn’t knock yourself out.”

  “How are you feeling?” Charlotte asked.

  “Good. Good. Not tired at all.”

  “Shall we move on to the next lot? Get Charlotte her kills?”

  “Let’s do it,” Kian replied.

  We all returned to the vehicle and a few minutes later, we were a few hundred metres from a herd of sheep, though modified like the deer, each reaching as tall as my shoulders. They were grazing in the middle of a field of grass, flatland stretching beyond them that sloped gently upwards.

  “I count fourteen,” Kian said.

  “Same,” Charlotte added. She turned to me. “You good to do this?”

  “Yeah.” I turned to Carmen standing beside me. “Won’t need you for this one.”

  “Of course, master. I’ll just sit over here and look pretty for you.” She gave me a cheeky smile, dimples curving through her cheeks.

  “Is that possible?” I said. Carmen pursed her lips, a flash of indignation in her eyes. Then she punched me in the arm, right in the muscle.

  “Careful, River,” Kian said. “She might make you dinner if you continue.”

  I did my best not to laugh and Charlotte hid her smile behind her hand, but Kaelyn couldn’t stop herself, bursting into giggles at odds with her fearsome look. Kian was worse, practically keeled over, his chest heaving with every laugh! Who laughs so much at their own joke?!

  “What?” Carmen said, with the innocence of a child.

  “Nothing, babe.” I quickly gave her a kiss and a hug, glaring at Kian with a sharp shake of my head, but my closed-lipped smile betrayed my own amusement.

  “Alright,” I said, still smothering Carmen as I glared at all of them to stop laughing. I didn’t let Carmen go until the others had gathered themselves. “Let’s get on with this.”

  Carmen made her way back to the vehicle a few metres away, glancing over her shoulder with confused looks at the rest of us. I turned to the sheep and placed another [Time Circle], this time with only the fifteen anchor points, but I made them twice the size of the previous one.

  I gave Kian the signal, and he ran towards the sheep, using [Charge] to cover the distance quicker. It had the desired effect, the sheep running in all directions, bleating into the spring air. As soon as the trap activated, those bleats sounded like they were travelling through water. We all got a bit closer, but it was Charlotte who raised her rifle this time. Just like I had, she did two quick bursts of three shots into each sheep’s head. Once the first magazine was finished, she released it, flicked it out and the jammed the second magazine in. One burst. Second burst. Down. Next target. One burst, second burst. Down. She continued until all fourteen lay on their sides unmoving, a pool of their blood covering the green grass beneath them in red.

  We repeated the exercise three more times with other sets of the same docile animals. Another sixteen kills for me. Another fourteen for Charlotte. And eleven cows for Kian. The animals all gave the same amount of 118 SE coins each, but we hadn’t killed enough to trigger a rank upgrade yet. Still, there’d be plenty more time over the coming days. There was still a fair bit of this quadrant to clear, and then on to the next one.

  As we made our way back to base, Carmen with her head on my shoulder, the other three sat opposite and Davies’ team filling out the rest of the transport, I did feel the slightest pang of…I couldn’t say what it was. Regret? Sadness? We were systematically killing docile creatures to become more powerful. I knew it was because we’d need to face actual threats. Threats like those scorpions that could actually kill us. Eventually, maybe even threats like the Pantheon. But killing innocent creatures for nothing more than essentially sport – like I was playing a game left a bad taste in my mouth.

  I sighed silently to myself. Even feeling like that, I knew there was no choice.

  Our survival depended on it.