Abyssal Border Wall Protocol: Ch 12 (Rough Draft) (Patreon)

Update on drafts, i changed it so that the border warriors are required to watch 90 seconds of content from the female progenitors before they sleep or are allowed to level with their XP.

Chapter 12: Moving Day.

I sat on Strider in front of my house with River hitched to the cart behind us.

The cart creaked once as River shifted her weight. Rope stretched. Harness leather groaned. The stacked poles, tools, food boxes, feed bags, and every other piece of my life worth dragging forty-eight miles sat under tarps behind her.

The house looked like it had lost a fight with a tornado made of swords, lots and lots of swords, and any other metal sharp object you could think of.

The front door was gone. The side of the house had holes punched through it. The porch sagged. The yard was trenches, stakes, black stains, broken boards, and all the violent little ideas that had kept me alive.

I checked the clock. 11:58. Two minutes until sixty-four slugs appeared.

A chime sounded and a little envelope icon lit in the corner of my vision. “Oh, good,” I said, tightening my grip on Strider’s reins. “Perfect time for mail.”

I opened it.

Message received: Elizabeth McKnight.

Elizabeth to Justin:Room open. Mom/Alison talk. Send Earth materials cheap. Linked storage 500XP. Exclusive food/potion listed. Can sell goods. Love you.

Message cost paid by sender: 2 XP.

“Okay… looks like she got the personal crafting room open, Strider; that’s good. She talked to mom; link storage sounds useful. Wonder what exclusive means. Let’s check the shop.” I said, pulling up the system menu.

System menu:

Countdown: 0:01:06

Leader Board.

Female Progenitor content.

Abyssal Border Warrior Status page.

Map. (locked).

System help.

Tower shop.

I navigated into the tower shop menu, and sure enough there was a new tag I could filter by: Exclusive. I opened it and the list filtered down to two items. A bundle of hard tack biscuits and one health potion.

“Well, Liz, I know you said you were never a good cook, but thanks, the potion looks helpful also.” I decided not to buy them yet but kept them in mind, using the shop as a poor man’s storage inventory for now.

3…

2…

1…

The countdown ended and the world folded. Well, space folded in the area the slugs would appear. Sixty-four slugs dropped into existence.

“Come on, Strider, let’s roll out,” I said lightly kicking my heels into his sides.

System message:

WARNING: Failure to travel the prescribed distance will result in 128 monsters spawning at the next spawn time, or 64 monsters with one being of a high-level variant.

Travel the prescribed distance to avoid increased difficulty.

“Shit, so not just more, but harder also,” I whispered.

Strider started walking down the road, and the lead rope attached to River went tight, and she started following. The slugs screamed behind me as I kept moving down the road.

It only took a few minutes for the first XP notices to appear.

XP Gained: 30 XP.

Skill gained:

Riding, level 1, Novice.

The XP started rolling in even before I passed Hank and Linda’s farm. I had 499 from the day before and needed to figure out what I was going to purchase. My choices had expanded lately: get stars, new skills, items, or the tower upgrades for Liz.

By the time we passed the fenced meadow with the tree, four slugs had died. By the time I reached Hank and Linda’s driveway, 10 were dead, and the XP was still reaching me. I guided strider to the front of the house with River behind me and looped their reins and lead around the hitching post.

“Best do one last check before I leave for good,” I said, making my way into the house.

Liz sent me another message… well, it was a shopping list.

Elizabeth to Justin:

Crafting materials. Advanced tools. Metal! Can sell shop. Love you!

I could hear her excitement as I read the message. “Right, 799 XP, I should just get the link storage space with Liz; that way I can transfer whatever I want.

“System purchase linked storage space between progenitor Elizabeth McKnight and me.” I used her full name, not wanting the system to fuck this up.

System Purchase request:Linked Storage Space.Linked protector: Justin Barnes.Linked progenitor: Elizabeth McKnight.Cost: 500 XP.Current XP Pool: 799.

Function:Creates a shared storage alcove between approved protector and progenitor.Mundane material placed within linked storage may be accessed by either linked party.Storage capacity: 500 pounds.Transfer cost: 0 XP while items remain within the approved storage limit.Living creatures cannot be placed in linked storage.

Confirm purchase?Yes or no?

“Yes.”

Purchase confirmed.XP Pool: 299.

Linked Storage Space created.

For a second, nothing happened, and I stood in Hank and Linda’s entryway feeling like an idiot who had just bought invisible furniture during the end of the world.

Then a square outline appeared on the floor and in the air beside me. Orange light traced a shape about the size of a small closet,taller than me, as wide as both my arms stretched out to the side, and deeper than an arm's length. The air inside shimmered like heat over pavement.

“Well,” I said. “That is new.”

I stepped closer and stuck the end of my naginata into the orange square.

Access denied.Equipped protector weapon.Place item with intent to store.

“Right. No stealing my weapon. Good call.”

I looked around the entryway and grabbed a little ceramic rooster from a side table. Linda had loved those things. She had them everywhere. Roosters on plates. Roosters on towels. Roosters judging you from shelves.

“Sorry, Linda,” I said. “This is for science.”

I set the ceramic rooster inside the orange square.

The rooster vanished.

Linked Storage:Ceramic decorative poultry figure.Weight: 1.2 pounds.Stored by: Justin Barnes.Available to: Elizabeth McKnight.

I stared.

Then a message popped up.

Elizabeth to Justin:WHY DO I HAVE A ROOSTER?

I laughed so hard Strider snorted outside.

“Oh, thank God,” I said, wiping at my eyes. “It works.”

I focused on the linked storage again. “System, can Liz put stuff in from her side and I take it out?”

System help answer:Correct.Approved linked progenitor may place items into linked storage from attached crafting space.Approved linked protector may retrieve items from linked storage when system access is available.

I grinned. “Liz, that rooster is proof of concept. Please don’t sell him unless the market is hot for ugg… beautiful, wonderful kitchen birds.” I did not want to insult Linda’s menagerie of cocks. I need to get her XP, hell… no, focus; we can deal with that later.

No message came back, but I could almost hear her laughing.

The XP notices kept rolling through the corner of my vision.

XP Gained: 30 XP.

XP Gained: 30 XP.

The murder garden was still working behind me in the ruined remains of my childhood home.

“Okay,” I said, heading for Linda’s sewing room. “Let’s fill the magic closet.”

The next hour became a free-for-all as I methodically worked my way through the house, barn, and workshop. I would place items in until the weight limit was reached, then close the door. Liz would unload the items into her tower space, while I got the next pile ready. When I could open the storage closet door, I would fill it up once more.

I gathered everything from the sewing room, which was quite a well-stocked farm wife's sewing room. If you have ever seen one, then you know what I mean: bolts of fabric stacked to the ceiling that had been bought while on sale, balls of yarn, and more sewing needles and knickknacks than I knew they would be used for.

“Zippers, I get, but what the hell is this…” I said, pulling at the wired scrunchy springy thing. I shrugged my shoulders and tossed it in the storage space.

I found the sewing machines last.

One was electric, which meant it was now a heavy table ornament with gears, needles, belts, screws, and a foot pedal Liz might be able to cannibalize. The other was old. Black metal body, gold flowers along the side, and a hand crank that turned with a smooth little clack.

“Oh, Linda, you wonderful crafty woman,” I said, hauling it toward the orange closet.

Linked Storage:Weight limit reached.Current stored weight: 498.7 pounds.

“Liz, clear the rooster room.”

A few seconds passed.

Linked Storage:Current stored weight: 0 pounds.

“Thank you,” I said, shoving the hand-crank machine in and the electric one for good measure; maybe she could convert it to magic or something. I had no idea but figured it was worth a shot. It vanished, along with boxes of thread, cloth, yarn, old clothes, a basket full of buttons, and enough fabric scraps to make Liz either rich or drowned in material.

XP Gained: 30 XP.

The murder garden kept paying me while I liberally borrowed from the farmhouse for the woman I loved. Life had gotten strange.

The bedrooms came next. I stripped closets of work jeans, flannels, coats, belts, socks, gloves, blankets, sheets, curtains, towels, and anything canvas. If it looked like Liz could cut it, stitch it, stuff it, sell it, or turn it into bandages, into the magic closet it went.

Then the kitchen got its turn.

I had missed a stupid amount. Mason jars by the case. Lids. Rings. A canning funnel. A huge pressure canner. Vinegar. Salt. Sugar. Baking soda. Cornstarch. Spices. Dried herbs in little glass jars. Cheesecloth. A rack of empty bottles under the sink. I packed it all in until the System complained, waited for Liz to unload, then packed more.

XP Gained: 30 XP.

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “I hear you. Keep dying.”

The barn and workshop were where things got heavy.

Hank had stacks of metal rod tucked behind a shelf, old leaf springs piled near an anvil block, and a set of blacksmith hammers hanging on pegs as he had once planned to become a frontier wizard. Files, rasps, chisels, hand drills, brace bits, clamps, wire, chains, hinges, nails, screws, bolts, washers, and two coffee cans full of mystery metal parts all vanished into the orange square.

“Liz asked for metal,” I said, grunting as I dragged another leaf spring over. “She is getting metal.”

In the garden shed, I found seed packets in tins. Beans, squash, tomatoes, carrots, corn, herbs, flowers, and things I had no name for. Linda had labels on everything in her neat little handwriting.

When I was done, sweat ran down my back, my arms shook, and the XP notices had stopped. Sixty had died; the last four did not seem like they would be joining the party.

Total XP: 1,799

I checked the time, then looked toward the road.

“Okay,” I said. “Back to running for my life.”

Back on Strider and River pulling the horse cart behind me, I headed down the road. It was nothing but fields till the main county road. Each field had green plants in it; some of it was wheat or corn or soybeans. It was hard to tell this early in the season, as I had never paid much attention to what my farming neighbors would plant each year.

Skill increased:

Animal handling, level 16, Novitiate.

“All right, all right, another level in animal handling that’s good. Just four more till I get another technique.” The road to the county road was three miles. Once I got there, I had a choice. Left or right. South or north.

“South will take me to highway 5… after, shit, how far was it, like fifteen miles. North will take me into town, past the bridge. The highway is straight; it’ll be easy to travel the 48 miles I need to. Only problem with that is the cities, and other guys. Lots of people will probably be on the highway…” I folded the map and put it back in my backpack, focusing once more on riding Strider.

The animal handling skill and riding skill gave me confidence on horseback. Riding still basically did nothing, save for the trickle of information that now seemed more sure in my head.

The yellow sign came into view, two black arrows pointing in opposite directions. Two paths that my life literally depended on.

“North. Bridge then town then out into the mountains and farms. No way am I dealing with the cities; they are going to be overrun with monsters and survivors.” I made my choice. I would stay to the backroads as much as I could. I would still find towns and the like, but they would not be as bad as running into one of the major metropolitan areas, at least I hoped.

I turned, then considered my unspent XP. “That’s not doing any good sitting there, right? System is a star still 100 XP?” I asked.

System help answer:

Star cost:

Level 1 stars are 200 XP.

Level 2 stars are 300 XP.

Level 3 stars are 400 XP.

I spoke, “So, the XP increases by 100?”

System help answer:

Yes. Until level 10, when each star costs 1000 XP.

“Okay, I think I get it… Hum, that means I can get eight stars right now. Or give Liz a thousand to get the next tower room. Or I upgrade a few skills or get new ones…” I thought as we moved down the county road to the bridge.

“Sorry Liz, you might have to wait a while; I think ensuring I survive is more important right now…”  I thought out loud.

This was one of those choices that felt like it had no right or wrong answer. Even if I min-maxed, it was more how I applied the improvements I chose. “Traps have been how I’ve gotten this far, but that takes a lot of set up, and is no good on the road… I need to be faster, stronger, and ready for one-on-one combat… I can always improve traps when the time is right. But the surprises, when I’m not prepared, that’s where I need to shore up my weakness.”

Thoughts finally organized, I spoke, making my choices, “System, purchase two stars in motion, two stars in recovery, one star in body and one star in sense.”

System purchase request:Two Stars assigned to Motion.Two Stars assigned to Recovery.One Star assigned to Body.One Star assigned to Sense.

Cost per Level 1 Star: 200 XP.Total Cost: 1,200 XP.Current XP Pool: 1,799.

Confirm purchase?Yes or no?

“Yes.”

Purchase confirmed.XP Pool: 599.

Aspect divergence warning:No Aspect may exceed the lowest Aspect by more than fifty growth points until level 10.

The first Motion Star hit.

Power rushed through my legs like someone had poured lightning into my bones. Strider shifted under me, and my body answered before I thought. My knees tightened, my hips moved with the saddle, and the reins felt connected to more than my hands. The road sharpened. Pebbles, ruts, Strider’s breathing, River’s hoofbeats behind us, all of it came together as movement.

The second Motion Star slammed in after it.

My heartbeat kicked hard. The world slowed a fraction. Strider’s ears twitched, and I saw the motion before he made it. River’s lead rope tugged, and my hand adjusted without pulling her off balance. I felt faster. Not superhero fast. More like my body had been stuck in mud my whole life, and now someone had washed my joints clean and added oil for good measure.

“Okay,” I breathed. “That one is going to matter.”

Then Recovery lit me up.

Heat bloomed in my chest and spread outward, down my ribs, across my shoulders, into my arms and legs. Sweat broke out across my skin. My calf wound pulsed under the bandage, then tightened with a deep itch that made me hiss through my teeth.

“Fudge, that feels gross.”

The second Recovery Star came softer, deeper. My stomach clenched. My lungs pulled in air like I had been running and had only now remembered how to breathe. Old aches loosened. My hands stopped shaking from the hour of hauling metal and sewing machines. Hunger opened inside me like a trapdoor.

“Oh. Oh, that’s bad.”

The Body Star hit like a hammer wrapped in warm iron.

My spine straightened. My grip closed around the reins with more weight behind it. My shoulders filled out against my shirt. The saddle felt smaller under me. The naginata across my back no longer felt like a thing I carried, but a thing I could use.

Then the Sense star came.

The world got loud. Wind over wheat. Leather creaking. River’s breath. Strider’s heart beating under me. Far behind us, faint and wet, something screamed near the house. I smelled dust, horse sweat, oiled leather, dried grass, and myself. It had been over a week since I had taken a shower; things were getting gross.

I blinked hard.

“Okay. Too much. Manageable, but too much.”

My stomach growled so hard Strider flicked an ear back.

“Yeah, I know.”

I pulled the snack bundle from my backpack and started eating while we moved. Jerky first, salty and tough enough to make my jaw complain. Then crackers. Then dried apples. Then two granola bars that tasted like cardboard had lost a fight with honey. I washed it down with water from the hose of my two-liter CamelBak until the bladder sucked flat against itself.

“Wow,” I said, staring at the limp water pack. “Stars are hungry. I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

My body wanted more. More food, more water, more anything it could burn while the System reforged me from the inside out.

I guided Strider to the edge of the road and stopped beside a drainage ditch. River halted behind us, the cart wheels crunching gravel.

“Water break,” I said. “For me. Also for the two actual professionals in this operation.”

I swung down from Strider and almost laughed at how easy it felt. My feet hit dirt, and my knees bent with the motion. No stumble. No stiff-legged landing. Motion had opinions, and for once, those opinions were useful.

I refilled the CamelBak from one of the water jugs in the cart, then packed more snacks into the outside pouch of my backpack where I could reach them without dismounting. Jerky. Crackers. Dried fruit. A little cloth bundle of hard candy from Linda’s kitchen.

“Road snacks,” I said, stuffing the last bar in. “The tactical foundation of civilization.”

I let Strider and River drink from a bucket, then checked the harness and lead rope. River nosed at my shoulder until I gave her a piece of dried apple.

“Fine. A shared tactical foundation.”

Back in the saddle, I felt the Stars settling. The heat faded. The speed stayed. My senses stopped clawing at my skull and became something closer to a warning system. Still too sharp, but useful.

I opened my status and looked at the new Aspect spread.

Aspects:Body: 3.Recovery: 3.Motion: 4.Sense: 2.Mind: 1.Will: 1.Mana: 2.

XP Pool: 599.

“Okay,” I said. “Stars handled. Now I need to figure out how to upgrade some skills.”

I pulled up the system tower shop menu and filtered it by current skills and looked at how much it would be to upgrade the skills I already had.

The list appeared, and I went right for the things that might keep me alive on the road. “System, upgrade Riding to five, Wagoner to five, Mana Manipulation to five, Infuse Mana to five, Mana Trigger to five, Mana Detonation to five, and First Aid to five.”

System purchase request:Skill reinforcement package.

Total cost: 260 XP.Current XP Pool: 599.

Confirm purchase?Yes or no?

“Yes.”

Purchase confirmed.XP Pool: 339.

The System helpfully uploaded the knowledge in my head.

Skill increased:Riding: Level 5, Novice.Technique unlocked: Seat Hold.Technique description:Improves balance, leg grip, posture, and recovery while mounted during shying, turns, impacts, uneven ground, and sudden stops.

My hips settled into the saddle. Strider’s movement made more sense under me. His back rose, his shoulder shifted, his weight changed, and my body found the motion on instinct.

“Okay,” I said. “That helps.”

Skill increased:Wagoner: Level 5, Novice.Technique unlocked: Draft Rhythm.Technique description:Improves rein control, cart guidance, turn angle, load balance, pacing, and rest timing while driving a draft animal. Reduces wasted effort from the pulling animal when the cart is loaded and improves safe travel time before fatigue builds.

River’s harness tugged behind me, and I felt the cart in a way I had not before. The weight under the tarp. The drag of the wheels. The tiny pull to the left where the road sloped. The way River’s stride shortened when the load fought her instead of rolling with her.

“Oh,” I said, glancing back at the cart. “That one is for you, girl.”

River flicked one ear.

“Yeah, I know. About time I bought something for the employee of the month doing all the work.”

The mana skills came next.

Skill increased:Mana Manipulation: Level 5, Novice.Technique unlocked: Mana Thread.Technique description:Improves fine control of personal mana through the body, hands, tools, weapons, and prepared contact points. Reduces mana drift during basic shaping.

Skill increased:Infuse Mana: Level 5, Novice.Technique unlocked: Steady Infusion.Technique description:Improves the process of pushing mana into held objects, weapons, tools, traps, and crafted materials. Reduces wasted mana during reinforcement.

Skill increased:Mana Trigger: Level 5, Novice.Technique unlocked: Set Point.Technique description:Allows a small infused mana charge to be held at a chosen contact point until touched, struck, pulled, released, or activated by intent.

Skill increased:Mana Detonation: Level 5, Novice.Technique unlocked: Burst Control.Technique description:Improves containment, timing, and direction of small mana bursts. Reduces backlash risk when releasing mana through tools, traps, weapons, or prepared contact points.

I pulled the naginata from where it rested along the side of the saddle and held it across my lap.

It was still ridiculous. Liz’s old walking staff with my broken mall-ninja sword bolted into the end. A weapon made from childhood, panic, and hardware from Old Man Tom’s garage.

“Okay,” I said, looking down at the blade. “Let’s see what magic does to bad craftsmanship.”

I focused on my mana. Before the upgrades, mana had felt like trying to flex a muscle I did not know I had. Now it was there. Warm. Blue-white. Coiled behind my ribs and under my skin, waiting for direction.

Mana Thread helped me pull a thin strand down my arm. It felt like drawing a fishing line through my veins. No pain. Just pressure, heat, and a strange awareness of where the mana wanted to leak away. My fingers tightened around the wooden shaft.

“Into the weapon,” I whispered.

The mana slid into the staff. The wood drank it first. A faint blue glow seeped along the grain, tracing old scratches, dents, and the places Liz’s hands had worn smooth. The bolts near the blade shivered. The steel gave a thin, hungry vibration that ran up my arm.

Infuse Mana caught the flow before it scattered.

The glow steadied, and the naginata changed in my hands. The weight stayed the same, but it felt better. More together. The staff, bolts, washers, and broken blade stopped feeling like separate pieces forced to cooperate and became one line from my shoulder to the point.

“Oh, that’s nice… real nice,” I said.

System Notice:Mana-infused weapon state achieved.

Infused object:Improvised Naginata.

Mana cost:5 Mana.

Effect:Improved structural cohesion.Improved edge stability.Improved force transfer.Minor durability reinforcement.

Duration:Ten minutes or until mana cohesion breaks.

Skill increased:Infuse Mana: Level 6, Novice.

I stared at the message, then at the blade.

“So, I can make my garbage weapon less garbage.”

Strider flicked an ear back at me. “That is huge, buddy.”

I pushed a second strand of mana into the weapon, smaller this time, holding it near the blade with Set Point. The charge sat there like a bead of heat under the steel, waiting.

Mana Trigger answered in my head.

Touch. Strike. Intent.

I tapped the flat of the blade point against a fence post beside the road and willed the charge to release.

Pop.

A blue spark cracked across the wood with a sound like a firecracker wrapped in cloth. The fence post jumped. A shallow burn mark smoked where the blade touched.

Strider sidestepped. I grabbed the reins and settled him with my knees. “Sorry, sorry,” I said, patting his neck. “Test fire. Poor choice.” I felt animal handling and riding working through, keeping Strider and River from bolting.

System Notice:Mana Trigger activation successful.Mana Detonation contained through Burst Control.

Mana cost:1 Mana.

Skill increased:Mana Trigger: Level 6, Novice.Skill increased:Mana Detonation: Level 6, Novice.

I looked back at the smoking mark on the fence post. My mouth went dry. That had been small. Tiny. Barely anything. And it had worked. For the first time since the System gave me the word mage, it felt less like a joke and more like a path.

I rested the naginata across my lap again, the blue glow fading down to a faint shimmer along the blade.

“Okay,” I said, voice lower. “Magic crap is now useful magic.”

Skill increased:First Aid: Level 5, Novice.Technique unlocked: Field Dressing.Technique description:Improves cleaning, binding, splinting, pressure wrapping, and basic wound stabilization under field conditions. Reduces waste of medical supplies and improves the chance of preventing blood loss, infection, shock, and movement-related wound damage.

“Okay,” I said. “Now I’m less likely to fall off the horse, wreck the cart, blow my hand off, or bleed out.”

Strider flicked an ear back at me.

“Yeah,” I said. “Low bar. Still clearing it, though.”