Two days had passed since Inferno placed the Thermocules in Lana. Darsi, Vooni, and Rico stayed to continue helping while Nix and Pon headed back to prepare for the next Regional Lord.

Nix was sitting comfortably on the Turtle House couch while Shae napped with her feet on his lap. The Inferno Leader stared at the Necro-Crafting Interface. After raising his craft level to 100/500, his Salvage ability started yielding better items from the bone quills. He decided to leave the quills until the level was maxed out; they were primal bones, after all. The thought made Nix frown slightly; the enormous stack of quills outside of the Turtle House far surpassed anything he imagined. According to Leva, that was only a small fraction.

[Bone Manipulation]

) Identify

) Living Project

) Non-Living Project

) Salvage

"Non-Living."

[Please choose your project.]

"Lake Otter."

) Non-Living Project

a) Bone Growth: Enables the growth of existing bones, requires a source.

b) Bone Grafting: Enables the grafting of two or more kinds of bones, requires a source.

Nix studied the Lake Otter puppet that took up a good portion of the living room floor. When Nix was first cast into Northern Titania, he encountered obscenely large otters in the Lake surrounding Bachoni. At the time, he had no use for otters that grew up to four or five meters in length, but with Khione looming in the weeks ahead, he decided to expand his range of puppets.

On the shore of Lake Bachoni was a Trading Post ran by an older man named Hoot. Nix had done some trading with him before leaving the area. Both the Trading post and Bachoni could be accessed through the Turtle House's Auction hub. Apparently, the otters bred like crazy; every few years, the town would hire Titans to come in and clear out the shallower parts of the Lake. This meant that pelts, bones, teeth, and claws were available by the tens of thousands. He purchased enough supplies to make one Emperor puppet but unexpectedly, a rare [critical crafting] had created two.

[Emperor Clandestine Lake Otter] [Bone Fragment: Ced'Far][Claw: Yandro][Jawbone: Neptiphago]

"Yandro and Neptiphago? Are those both dragons?"

Nix smiled at the drowsy Salamander. "They were. I can salvage components from them. Check out the stats these three add."

[Clandestine Lake Otter: Emperor] [Bone Fragment: Ced'Far][Claw: Yandro][Jawbone: Neptiphago]

[Ced'Far: Bone Fragment]

Increased Amor by seventy-five percent. magic

Increased Strength by fifty percent.

[Yandro: Claw]

Slashing V: Claw attacks have a high chance of inflicting [Bleed] on their target.

Hamstrung: When attacking the legs, [Hamstrung] has a fifty percent chance of inflicting [Slow] on their target.

[Neptiphago: Jawbone]

Heal V: Instantly casts a single target heal that recovers half of the target's health. The cooldown is five minutes.

Graft these components onto the Clandestine Lake Otter?

"Yes." Clandestine Lake Otter (S) was created.

Shae pursed her lips slightly. "It shrunk slightly. Is that normal?"

Nix shrugged. "Maybe. Necro-crafting is new to me, so I'm slowly figuring it out." The Inferno Leader stood up and walked around the puppet. The snout of the creature had rounded slightly and now sported some very impressive-looking teeth. The webbed feet were tipped with curved talons that would make walking impossible. "Shit... Did I wreck a damn Emperor puppet?"

"What's the matter?"

Nix knelt next to the puppet and held up one of the enormous paws so that she could see. "These would be fine in the water but definitely won't be okay on land."

Shae stretched her body slightly before moving to a sitting position. "It's one of your (S) puppets, so you can't afford to cast it aside. Maybe combine it with something you already have."

Nix nodded in agreement; the issue was that he used up a good portion of his Emperor puppets in the last few days. He made four ravager puppets, using them to enhance Rabi, Sasi, Semmi, and Wind's armor.

"Orions have retractable claws; it may work for this."

Nix considered the possibility for a moment before discarding it. "I wanted something that could function equally well on land or water. I'm worried about what adding a feline would do to its water abilities."

"What if you combined it with two puppets. Another water creature and then the Orion? Shouldn't the water abilities manifest with two of the three parts being aquatic-based?"

"In theory..." Nix would do it if he could be sure. Unfortunately, the mutator interface didn't predict the result. "I do have a few Sea Hunters left."

Several months earlier, while rescuing Wilo in Elementia, Nix had made hundreds of animations to save the elementals that Hierophant had captured. The end product was the [Sea Hunter] and the [Air Rhaptor]. The Sea Hunter resembled a leopard seal with heavy armor and teeth straight out of a nightmare.

[Sea Hunter][Clandestine Lake Otter (S)][Orion]

Nix studied the queue. "I don't want the result to be too large. Going to miniaturize this; .75 should be fine."

"Using the .25 would be too small?"

Nix nodded. "I noticed that mutating objects usually increase in size."

[Sea Hunter][Clandestine Lake Otter (S)][Orion][Applied Miniaturization Text: .75]

[Critical Crafting]

Hotter (SS) created.

*Blink, Blink*

"Oh no... That name!" Shae shook her head in dismay as she leaned forward to get a better look at the creature.

Sleek black fur covered a compactly muscled creature with webbed feet. It had a long body and neck and was slightly larger than the standard Orion. The rounded snout had elongate slightly, giving it a longer bite. When Nix manipulated the puppet's paw, five razor-sharp claws extended from their sheaths.

The wide grin on Nix's face said it all. "Best name ever!"

Hotter (SS)

[Heal V]

[Slash]

[Hamstrung]

[Stealth]

Mutated Creations may only possess three inherent abilities. Please make your choices.

Nix scowled at the message. "Heal, Hamstrung and Stealth."

The Slash ability on the Hotter (SS) has been disabled.

The Hotter (SS) has two possible operative choices: Night or Arctic Operations. Please choose one; this feature will be permanently attached to this individual animation. "Arctic." As soon as Nix spoke, the color of the puppet changed from black to white.

"Why only three options, Nix? Del can use all of her abilities."

Nix stowed the puppet and resumed his seat next to Shae. "Del's no longer a puppet. That Stalker is a creature of Colonial, the only one of its kind."

The Salamander gripped his hand in hers. "What's next after Chenzo?"

Nix used his free hand to open up a hud that displayed Oasis. "According to Gideon's report, the Fir'Dhassi are about to take down a Regional Lord that is inhabiting Inuit."

"You're going to Oasis?"

Nix nodded. "Their situation is identical to ours. Four Regional Lords and a growing anomaly. With the increase in levels, the Oasis World Boss is going to be difficult."

Shae leaned against him, pulling his hands down until he closed the hud. Her soft lips touched his for a moment. "I'm worried. Use your new puppet in Oasis instead of going in person."

Nix considered it for a moment before nodding. "Sure, I can do that. I'm concerned about Everspire. They have Regional Lords, but no one can find an anomaly."

Shae could feel it, too; the end fight was approaching sooner than anyone anticipated. "The Titans have killed three Regional Lords but are holding off against the fourth."

"Yeah... The Titans are waiting for us. Our rebuilt Titan Clans will have to step up soon. I hope they are ready in time."

Shae pushed against him until he was reclined on the couch; her red hair fell lightly against his chest as she hovered over him. "You have about an hour until the Chenzo fight. Want to spend that time chatting? Or..."

*************

Scarlette's pale features glowed when she laughed, a pleasant, throaty sound that made her husband smile from his position next to the Everspire holo-map. A tiny blackbird fluttered around her head, buzzing her with its wings before landing lightly on her shoulders. "Goodness, why would Nix give you a tiny bird form?"

The black bird pecked at her reddish-brown hair, causing her to laugh louder. Immediately the Titan Clan Leader covered her mouth with her hand. "They're going to run us out of here if we aren't quiet."

"Bears are good fliers, Mom."

Scarlett looked up to see Del and Nix enter the 3rd Floor of the TOC. "Looks like you have to go, Morti."

"Yep. We're going to swat Chenzo." Morti fluttered around her head once before heading toward Nix. Scarlet's smile widened when she watched Morti do a fly-by on Nix's. Although the Inferno Leader hadn't made it obvious, Morti had been given a lot of free time since she took up residence in the Dragon Fir Tree. Her son usually showed up with Ducky and the evolved Soup.

*************

Escavar War Camp 2300 hours.

A breach opened up next to the Quartermaster's tent, and moments later, three members of Inferno stepped through. In recent weeks, the members of Inferno had risen to near-legendary status among the players in Colonial. The sight of the waddling Morti, accompanied by Nix and Del, had become known as the precursor to a Regional Lord dying.

"Nix!" A flash of brown was all the warning the Inferno Leader had before two small arms hugged his waist. "Rabi loves his new Ravager armor!"

Nix chuckled and patted the tiny demon's head. "Where is everyone?"

Rabi grabbed Nix's hand and pulled him. "Behind the tent."

"Looks like we're the last to arrive." Nix let Rabi pull him to where Wind and Pon were standing. "Did you get a read on Chenzo?"

Rabi released his hand and nodded excitedly. "His skills are charm-based, and he uses a whip."

"Really?" Nix waved at his friends, noting that Wind was the only one of the non-fire users that hadn't brought headgear. According to Pon, his recent acquisition of horns made it quite challenging. Unexpectedly, Beta really liked them.

/Inferno: Semmi: Already formed the raid, Nix. Please join.

/Inferno: Nix: Give me a second to summon Ducky. Fey won't be joining us.

[Summons: Ducky]

Ducky appeared in front of Nix a moment later, flashing him a smile before hugging Morti's large head. "How's Fey doing?"

Nix shrugged slightly. "I'll check on her progress when we get done here."

Nix has joined the Raid.

Morti has joined the Raid.

Del has joined the Raid.

Ducky has joined the Raid.