Checking in

With his much larger Storage space and how used to it he was by now he stored all the weapons, potions, food and drink he thought he'd need inside and simply set off from a sprinters bullet start directly towards the fog bank. Unencumbered and with his high attributes he arrived at the fog bank in less than 20 minutes withdrawing his mace as he slowed.

"HERE I AM!"

Jogging into the fog bank with one arm raised he sent a quick burst of fire into the air and cast Radiance on his mace, he continued to shout as he jogged and was soon set upon by the zombies hiding inside.

[11 exp]

[13 exp]

[12 exp]

[11 exp]

[10 exp]

[14 exp]

[14 exp]

[11 exp]

The numbers started to rack up and he leisurely retrieved the different cookware and pennies which dropped, each hit destroyed a zombie and their numbers were too few to cause any kind of concern.

"Garlic! Finally, thanks guys"

Within 15 minutes he got his notification and wondered why he even bothered with the missions.

[Congratulations Hermes, you are now level 11]

Ignoring the sounds of more zombies approaching from multiple directions he simply turned on his heel and sprinted back out of the fog, dodging past any of the slow creatures which stumbled into his path.

He was out of breath by the time he got back, however magically augmented he was he was still human and that had certainly been a work out. He stored what he had on him, stripped down and confirmed his ability to upgrade

[Dimensional Transfer LV 7]

"Nice, I'm out."

He immediately transferred back to his room, this time finding himself in the ensuite and stretched.

"Ah soap, conditioner, my old friends!"

An hour later he checked his phone, there were a few messages and plenty from Tom, clearly using whatsapp as a daily log of things to remind Daniel of when he got back into town. After checking the update with the System he messaged the three way group the other two had been talking on to let them know he was in town.

Daniel: "Back in town, good progress, level 11, current plan to take you back in 1 week Melissa, but probably sooner, that doable?"

Daniel: "Also how free are you both to come round tomorrow to talk about the situation, Tom, I think you're going to like some of the things I found, here's a taster – Dwarf tomb"

Both were typing their responses and Daniel laughed to himself thinking about how crazy this would seem from their ends. He'd only been away 3 and half days when he'd told them he wouldn't be back for a couple of weeks. There was no way they'd have sorted their lives out enough for this.

Tom: "Already?!? I'll call in sick tomorrow and be there in the morning, you hurt?"

Melissa: "I'll be round in an hour"

It was about 9pm now, and it looked like he'd be having a later night than expected, but it would be worth it to speak with someone who wasn't a voice inside his head.

Daniel: "No worries, I'll grab some drinks. Tom, sounds good, I'll likely be able to take you across in about 3 weeks, probably sooner, you think that's doable?"

Tom: "I'll just quit tomorrow, I've already talked to my family about my long holiday, just got to get the timed postcards ready"

Melissa: "We'll need to figure out who else is coming, this is getting too fast, I'll talk to Sarah, Tom said you'd already thought of Josh and Maria?, he's added more ideas to the chat. Read through the previous messages in the chat group before I get there. I'll bring the drinks"

Having received his marching orders he sighed, laid down and started reading.

Tom had been busy, there was more information there than he could possibly digest and there didn't seem to be any order to it. Rubbing his head he tried to ignore everything that wasn't about colonists.

-"combining the gems may make higher level…."

-"To estimate the potential seasonal changes you need…"

-"The most basic roles in the early stages of a settlement builder game require a higher focus on wood and…."

-"In the long term it may be necessary to actively seek out people with appropriate skills and knowledge, bringing them back through any means. To restart society safely we will need scientists, historians, medical professionals, and teachers. It won't be long before we run out of people who you can easily convince and that you can trust enough to outweigh their uselessness. This would both be the downside of developing your transfer skill quickly and your responsibility as time progresses. Luckily, your skills are ideal for kidnapping"

"He actually said kidnapping… I hate to admit he's right and I would potentially be saving these people from being dumped into a hostile world 3 years from now but Jesus Tom, let me enjoy the magic for a while longer can't you?"

After finding a couple of actual suggestions he especially liked the idea of Tom's cousin, an MMA fighter called Beth.

When he heard Melissa letting herself in downstairs he headed down to meet her and they immediately embraced.

"What the hell happened? How are you back so quickly? Did you get hurt?"

She was checking him up and down and then raised her eyebrows.

"The magic body things working out well then?"

"Weren't you looking for injuries? Just say the word if you want a private dance"

"Ha, so? You hurt?"

"I'm fine, every time I level up I get healed to full, not even a scar, which is lucky after the Beaver shark incident"

"The Beaver shark? You're joking!"

"I know, so stupid, I made a pair in to moccasins though"

"Alright funny guy, let's get some food on"

"It's true! You brought food? You hungry"

"I figured you would be – Veggie stir fry and peanut satay, no meat"

"Thanks, I am actually but the situation over there is pretty good, still meat heavy but improving, oh, I caught a grizzly bear today, gonna take awhile to work through that beauty"

She stopped unpacking the food and after a second started unpacking the drink instead.

"You "Caught" a grizzly bear? Just how strong are you now?"

"It was actually really easy, this one didn't seem to be magic at all, and I had a couple of spears to be fair"

Drinking deeply she just continued looking at him like he was a mad man.

"Maybe we should talk about all of this later, how have things been here? Do you think you can make it next week?"

"I can make it, I've trained Stephan up as best I can but told them I would be leaving any time, said I'm moving to Canada with an old flame"

"You sure you're ready?"

"Is the camp?"

"You know it, we have a log cabin now, hot water and everything, the beds massive"

She nodded while she drank, he couldn't tell what she was thinking but decided to press on.

"I already sent some soap over while I was upstairs and it didn't take much energy at all, if you make a list I'll send whatever you need over and if you want we can push it back by a day so I can get enough silver from transfers to get another house"

"No, no need, I've got an essentials list ready as you said, it's better not to waste transfer energy if we can help it. I think Tom would explode if we make him wait any longer, bad enough I'm coming first, you still sure about that?"

"Yeah, I want you there with me"

They were silent for a while as they cooked, Daniel breaking it with a sudden thought.

"Besides, I got you a gift over there, I think you're going to like it"