“You two all ready to head off then?” Falk asked as he stood with them at the mini-gate, preparing to leave town as well for a bit.

“Yep,” Thera told her uncle brightly, trying to be optimistic about things in complete contrast to Ben who was groaning beside her.

“No. I’m already envisioning things going horribly wrong.”

There were still a couple weeks before the invasion points opened up but given that he and Thera would be going to a number of them, they were leaving a bit early to get the lay of the places to see where they’d be fighting and how they’d be of the most use they could, something he wasn’t remotely looking forward too. He could already see it being an outrageous amount of work that he wanted no part of as he once more wondered just what in his skillset made him think doing that was going to be a good idea.

<Not your skillset, your affection. Unless you think you can talk Thera out of it?>

No chance. It’s fine, I’m going to complain but I’ll put up with it and who knows? Maybe I’ll even survive the ordeal.

His teacher just patted his shoulder, understanding the feelings Ben was going through.

“Just do your best, both of you. And remember, when things get started if it looks like they’re going to go wrong, just run away.”

“Uncle, we can’t do that.”

“Sure you can,” The yeti shrugged. “If it gets to the point that that’s your only option then it’s better to live and fight another day.”

“You got it, Falk,” Ben told him, suddenly a lot brighter after getting that little piece of advice from his teacher. “We’ll flee at the first sign of danger.”

“...Seeing as how the first sign of danger is going to be the points opening up, at least try to tough it out for a little while.”

“Fine, don’t mind me, we’ll do our best and come out on top. And you? Off to see our beautiful superweapon?”

“Mmh, gotta give it one last look to be sure. Even if it got me my third tier, this is my last chance to try and fix it up if need be so since I won’t be seeing you both for a while, make sure you survive.”

“We’ll both be fine, uncle,” Thera told him, trying to reassure him with the bit of worry he was doing his best to hide from his face. “I’m one of the most powerful mages on the planet. Nothing’s killing me or Ben while I’m around to say anything about it.”

“Ha, good. In that case, I’ll see you both sometime after the points close.”

They parted with that, the two going off to their first location, a city neither of them had visited before but had been chosen as an evacuation point for the injured by virtue of its size, the presence of a gate, and the lack of any nearby invasion points to complicate things as they went to the large building waiting just outside of the network that had already been set up to be as obviously a hospital as possible for anyone coming through who might not be familiar with the area, going in to talk to a waiting receptionist who was there helping to guide some of the ongoing setup.

“Hello there,” Thera greeted, her card already at the ready with the relevant information displayed. “I’ve come to look at the area I’ll be working, I was told I was expected.”

“Ah, Thera, yes, right this way,” He responded professionally, not acting in any shock to have an awakened skill holder before him before he got up and led the two down the halls, off to the director of the place to handle them from there.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

That very director gave a polite bow and a tired smile, clearly exhausted from who could guess how much work leading up to that point as she took over.

“Welcome, it's a pleasure to have you here. It’s not going to be the most complicated but I’ll show you around.”

She led the two from there to a different area, going back down the hall they’d already walked to a large open area only a little past the entrance, more beds and mats already shoved in there to prepare for what was sure to be a flood of coming patients in only a matter of days as the director went on to talk.

“We’ll be doing our best to arrange things by order of severity so any time you arrive just head straight to the first zone over there, don’t worry about getting in the way of anyone, I’ll be managing that section myself so if you have any issues you can just let me know but otherwise feel free to use your own judgment to get started on those you see. As for those strange gates you’ll be making use of, well they’re just behind those two doors. We’ll have them open when things actually start but for the moment we’re keeping them closed since they’re drawing too many eyes and curiosity from people who should instead be working. Infinite hells, we’ve already had one complaint from someone wandering through to a fort beyond which was a whole thing…”

She trailed off from there, even if it seemed like she wanted to complain more as Thera spoke up.

“Alright, we’ll just need to use them to inspect the various other points we’ll be working between then and we’ll get out of your hair.”

“That’s fine, just let me show you one last thing.”

She led them down a side hall after that, showing them another room that was filled with bunks stretching to the ceiling, not a setup that would make for any convenient acts of healing but instead serving another purpose.

“Where you both can rest between everything,” She explained. “Just take a couple beds in whatever downtime you get amongst everything else you’ll be doing since it seems you’ll be particularly busy.”

It looked like it was going to be a largely miserable experience but at least once they were going to be stuck there it would be a place to rest as everything went on, even if sleep was going to be a precious commodity as the battles started and progressed.

On the plus side, Thera’s up to her second level of sleep resistance so she might manage okay. Except the skill is mostly for staying up, isn’t it? At the very least, I haven’t seen it do a crazy job with helping her wake up but maybe that’s just another couple levels for any noticeable difference. Either way, I can wake up so I can wake her up, it will be fine.

He could see that she wasn’t looking forward to it either, but then, there was nothing to be excited about given what was to come. What mattered was that their accommodations were set and from there they said goodbye to the director for the time being, going from there to the thirteen gates waiting for them, jumping through to what waited beyond.

Behind the first gate they went to was something they’d already expected well enough. A fortress, same as some of the ones they had seen scattered around craftsmans’ tower during the first wave, had been constructed when the invasion points had been marked, with more surrounding it sure to be off in the distance but not currently visible due to the high walls blocking the view, with the main thing they had to notice being the person waiting for them.

“Thera I take it?” The individual asked, getting a nod.

“Yes.”

“Plus her tag-along,” Ben added, getting him a look but nothing else as the person went on.

“Alright, both of you with me and I’ll show you where to stand for your time here.”

They were led up a staircase immediately in front of them and shown where they could stand along the edge of the wall, giving them a vantage point to attack from where other mages and archers would be positioned as well.

“We’ll have our warriors doing what they can from outside the wall so just make sure you aim farther out when this starts. I’ve been told you’re powerful, just try not to catch anyone in your crossfire if you can help it unless there’s an emergency great enough for the situation to call for it.”

“Understood, you don’t need to worry about that,” Thera told him, already thinking about what she’d be able to do from that position with her magics. “I’ll be able to manage things fine.”

Another nod and with it came an end to that very short tour, with her having seen the only place she was expected to be while Ben had no expectations placed on him beyond what any other mage would deal with, letting the two of them go back through the gate to explore the rest, finding where they’d be working in each one and getting a lay of each area in preparation for a day that drew ever closer.