CRASH

A quick slash with his claws and the tree fell.

FWIP

A quick throwing motion threw a near-silent spike into a tree.

CRUNCH

The rock broke apart from a simple punch.

BOOM

A fast roundhouse kick to the top of the rock sent it flying until it hit a tree, making it break apart at the point of collision.

Darren stopped and took a look around the clearing that he had been practicing in for the past few hours. It looked like a small army had been told to let loose in the clearing as there wasn't a single spot that had been spared from the resulting destruction. Trees were either knocked over or split in half, rocks in the surrounding area had either been caved in or crushed, and even parts of the ground had been pounded in.

It seemed that the recent upgrades, courtesy of the Rock Eater Wildlings, had gone well. Satisfied with the test, Darren began to walk back towards his base and thought on his progress for now. It had passed a solid week since the events of Counter Village being threatened by the Wildlings and things have been slow for a time.

First, his improved powers. The fight with the Alpha Rock Eater may have been finished quickly, but only because Jack had his spear lodged into its eye at first and because the Wildling was slow. Darren needed to improve himself and so he went to the Evolution Chamber for the first time. There seemed to be some sort of opening near the "head" of the building to let him in and when he stepped inside the entrance closed right back up as if there wasn't a hole there just a second ago.

Then suddenly he was connected to the building like organ much like his Swarm, but more in-depth with him having an instant understanding of what he saw. Darren could see entire strands of DNA flowing through his mind due to the enhanced connection between himself and the Evolution Chamber which housed different possibilities of evolutions and upgrades for him to choose from. While he could choose to upgrade his Swarm as a whole, he decided to focus on himself first so as not to leave his base unprotected through his evolution and improve the rest later when he was surer of the upgrades.

The first of the things Darren focused on was improved strength and durability from the DNA of the Rock Eaters. This would allow his hits to leave a stronger impact in the event of more close-quarters combat, something that would likely happen during his time as the Swarm leader. Next, for a ranged option, Darren decided to incorporate the hydralisk spines into his forearms. While he wouldn't be able to shoot them out at a moments notice, he could still throw them with enough speed and precision that throwing them one at a time didn't matter. And focusing on precision, Darren found that he could use night vision and infrared sight if he just focused hard enough. Definitely an edge against anyone who though him a normal Magi. With his recent testing, Darren was satisfied and decided he would incorporate the improvements to the Swarm as soon as possible.

On his walk back to his base, Darren passed by Counter as it was in the same direction. Some of the lookouts spotted him and gave a few friendly waves in his direction with him returning them in kind. Though, another reason he came by was to also check on the roaches and hydralisks that were currently nested underground around the village perimeter.

During the party after the Rock Eater Wildlings, Darren had met the village leader. He was a kindly old man named Richard who had lived in Counter for his whole life. The people seemed to greatly respect him for reasons that Darren didn't know of, but it didn't matter at this point as Darren and Richard had agreed. Richard was thankful for Darren arriving quickly enough to save Counter from any further damage, but he also asked Darren for continued protection. In return, Richard offered whatever the village could provide for Darren such as information about current events and trade with other local villages.

The plan that Darren made was to keep a contingent of roaches and hydralisks buried around the perimeter of Counter and to have a constant patrol of zerglings in the forests that surrounded the village. The zerglings would harass any threats that tried to reach the village while the main contingent would fortify themselves at the right positions to prepare for an oncoming force of enemies. Finally, a larger amount of Zerg would come directly from any of Darren's local bases to reinforce the village as well.

The old village leader tried to dissuade Darren from giving so much support to Counter calling the village, "unworthy of such help" but Darren insisted that since he saved the village, he was now invested in its continued survival.

Darren continued to walk back to base and finally made it back to the part of the forest under his direct influence. Any part of the forest touched by the purple creep flourishing through a complex symbiosis between the creep and the natural greenery. The moment he stepped on it, he could feel an instantaneous change as he suddenly felt lighter and more empowered along with an undercurrent of calmness filling his being. Darren had learned that while the creep did subtly support those that Darren had deemed as friends or allies, the creep also seemed to know when enemies or unknowns approached it and would act accordingly.

First, the creep sent out a subtle influence that either made creatures approaching it to turn away and feel uneased by being in proximity. If that failed then the creep would "report" back to the nearby Creep Generators and base to prepare its defenses. With the Creep Generator's defenses at the ready, any initial attackers should be slowed down enough so that Darren's forces could respond appropriately. Spiked tendrils from the ground, corrosive acid from above.

Darren began walking faster and slowly sped up until he was sprinting at top speed through the forest aided by the creep giving him a small but incredibly helpful boost. In no time, he made it back to the base just in time to see a new battalion of Zerg birthed and ready for Darren's orders. One order to join the rest of the defending army for all combat-ready Zerg and an order for new overlords to scout later, and Darren made it to the Evolution Chamber to begin upgrades. One of the many perks that Darren had learned of the Evolution Chamber, alongside the ability to upgrade units, was that all Zerg units could upgrade within seconds, but only if they had access to some creep generated by a Hatchery, Lair, or Hive. The order to send the upgrades went through in an instant and Darren could feel a wave of satisfaction through his link to his Swarm as it evolved further. He walked out of the Evolution Chamber and began a quick inspection to catalog his Swarm when he was pinged by one of the roaming packs of zerglings.

"Quickly now, knights! I want to make it back to town before nightfall. My bed awaits," a shrill voice sounded.

"Of course, Magi Cael," a tired voice replied, "We wouldn't want you to be inconvenienced."

"As it should be," the shrill voice said.

The lead knight just sighed again. He looked behind himself and observed the small contingent of knights that had been ordered to escort the Magi alongside him all on horseback. Each of their faces betrayed a measure of exasperation from the Magi's words, though only a trained eye would be able to spot the signs of such. This was to be a standard patrol of the land until a rumor that a pack of Wildlings was in the area was heard. Later reports confirmed the rumors and that the pack was heading towards Counter Village. A runner from the village hadn't arrived yet, and as such, he was worried that there was no village left to send a runner.

And thus, the reason that they were here. A group of knights supported by a local Magi to be sent to Counter Village to confirm whether or not an attack took place. If an attack didn't happen, great, if it did, hopefully, there was still enough to at least count the bodies of anyone unfortunate enough not to get away in time. One of the knights trotted up to him.

"Sir, what should we expect?" The speaker was a young knight. Freshly shined armor, wide eyes, questioning a superior officer. New blood.

"I mean, it's my first assignment and I'm not exactly sure what we're doing."

"Were you here for the debriefing, Jones?"

"No sir," Jones said with a slightly ashamed expression, "I was helping my family with a few chores and realized I was late later." The old knight gave Jones a stern look.

"Well, helping your family is a good thing, yes. But you are a knight Jones. Remember to do your duty and be on time." Jones flinched slightly.

"Yes, sir." He took a quick look at the new knight and turned his focus back in front of him.

"Anyway Jones, this is a check up on one of the outer skirting villages. It shouldn't be anything too worrisome at the moment, but if it is something bad prepare yourself for a fight. Got it?" Jones gave the older man a determined look.

"Yes, sir!"

"Good," he said as he turned back, "Wouldn't want anything bad happening on your first mission nephew."

"Thanks, Uncle Abraham."

The group continued onward going further into the forest as the road paved with stones soon lessened into a trail on the ground beaten by constant travel. Many of the knights silently cursing the constant rambling from Magi Cael. The man seemed to love the sound of his voice. About another hour into the journey, with Magi Cael still rambling of how he would single-handedly save Counter Village with a simple conjuration spell, Abraham noticed something strange. Immediately, he held up a clenched fist and the party stopped moving except for Magi Cael who noticed the lack of movement a while later. Just as Abraham was about to give out his orders, Magi Cael spoke in his shrill voice.

"What's the holdup! I said that I don't want to be too long from my bed!" he said like a petulant child.

"Quiet," Abraham replied.

"How dare you sa-"

"We're being watched." At that Cael became silent and started quickly looking at every angle with a distressed look. The knights slowly pulled out their weapons and examined the surrounding area more calmly and slowly trying to spot anything that would give away their observers.

However, no matter how much training a knight had, none of them could exactly see into the ground beneath their feet.