"We'll tell you all about it as we work out"
Jurgen stammers, trying to quell his laughter at the memory, and we head into the gym, quickly changing into the provided generic workout outfits and gathering by the combat cardio station.
It's something only a mage could think of, a treadmill run, but with a 3D holographic game built in. Attack the passing targets and dodge incoming attacks without breaking your pace is the name of the game, and the werewolves are addicted. They spend hours here every day if nobody drags them to do something productive.
"Well spill pup, I'm dying to hear how Lala convinced you all to paint your nails"
They were almost done their half hour run on the combat cardio machines before Jurgen finally finished telling the tale of their spa day with Lala.
"So, you all went for a massage, found Lala and just got swept up in the flow?" The 3 with painted nails nodded agreement with my summary.
"The nails are really pretty by the way, you should get them done more often"
"They've got magically hardened polish too, won't chip even after taking a knife strike. If I can bribe the system into letting me have them I'm so using them next time" Jurgen agreed.
He's a bit odd for a werewolf, none of the sensitive masculine pride that usually has them exploding in rage at anything and everything. Plus he likes Disney movies and has no problem letting Lala pick out nail polish for him. Perfect dad material, once he finally finds his mate.
"Talk to Mary. I'll bet she would be willing to pay the extra mana to the system for enchanted polish if she gets to help pick the design." A deep voice cuts in.
"Karl, what's up man?" Jurgen asks with a handshake and shoulder hug "Good thinking on bringing Mary Mage, I'll bet she would be fine with covering my costs. We've gotta set up a system to trade cash or something for stored mana. So many cool things in this base that the non magical sorts can't use, and it wouldn't be right to ask a mage to exhaust themselves for days on end to buy us luxuries"
Karl brings out his phone and quickly types up a note. Sneaking to peek over his arm, I can see it's a summary of the monetary trade idea for Lala to write up a proposal.
"That will be a great boon to the city we're building for sure. Though the plan is to make it mostly non magical, since the ley line junction we're built on is a particularly weak one and we don't want to over strain it. But I came to find you all for another reason. We've got a fresh portal to explore, and the reported size suggests the whole 8 person team, well, 7 since Lala is a non combat member."
"Alright, we'll get showered and prepped. Meet you at the Jeeps in an hour let's say?" Jake finally gets a chance to speak, after spending our entire exercise regimen drowned out by talks of a spa day he didn't attend.
"That works. Oh, and I've got a surprise for you when we get there" Karl gives me a mischievous look and winks.
Have I mentioned how much fun Karl's surprises are? This should be interesting.
Precisely one hour later, we're all stepping out of the elevator, kitted for work. Lala is waiting by the elevator doors in a pair of pink coveralls that serve as her dirty job uniform.
I swear, Karl indulges that girl to no end when it comes to different uniforms for every task.
"Hey Karl, I've got a question?" He raises an eyebrow at my unexpected interruption "Why do we pack so many meals when you can summon?" Now that I've spoken it, everyone looks interested.
"My skill is summoning, it creates simple inorganic objects I know the layout of. To summon a piece of meat I'd need to use earth magic to create the flesh and know the exact layout of each cell needed. To make a soup, I'd need to know every ingredient and every chemical reaction that occurs during cooking. Plus use earth magic for the flesh, water for the liquids, fire magic to make it warm and arcane magic to blend and bind it all together. All at the same time."
Well that sounds impractical.
"The lunch rooms aren't actually a summoning, but a duplication. Every dish and ingredient they can produce has its information stored in the spell and simply identically copied when requested. The circles each took about a thousand hours of work by 4 different mages to build."
That's straight ridiculous. But amazingly handy.
"Can we add things to it if we find them?" Lala asks "Because a number of medicines from my world aren't available here, but if we could find them they would be really nice to have."
Karl ponders a moment before replying "I don't see why not. If we can bring them here, I can add them to our floor's circle in a fairly short time". Lala, is ecstatic at this, hopping on the spot with excess energy, before running to Karl with her phone extended.
"I drew pictures of the ones I needed the other day. I'll transfer them to your phone and if you see them, bring them back."
Now finally actually ready to leave, we turn to the Jeeps. Only it's not Jeeps plural, it's the wolves Jeep, and a shiny new, crew cab Toyota truck. Lifted with aggressive tires and a few obvious modifications, like additional lighting. With a machine gun in the box. Oh thank you Karl, I loved that thing. Maybe not as much as the mage himself loved the old Toyota, but it was an awesome ride.
Taking stock, I notice we're up to 6 boxes of ammunition, instead of the previous two. And there's the option to mount two other weapons on hard points at the back corners of the box. The windows look odd, so I open the doors, to find that the cab is armored. Looking underneath, I find the box is too.
"Are we expecting something out of the ordinary?" I ask, hoping for a negative answer
.
"Nope, intel says the portal goes to a mountain valley with a magical beast infestation. What looks like water buffalo that actually shoot water as an attack are the primary residents, but there's at least 3 species of predators and countless smaller magical herbivores. We're to bring back samples, and plenty of water buffalo meat. Research says that eating the magical beast meat strengthens the body."
The look he is giving me tells me it's related to cultivation, so the research team has likely only scratched the surface of its potential.
The drive isn't long, about a hundred miles, and at the breakneck speed that we're traveling, highway radar traps now long forgotten as local police focus on keeping their communities safe, it takes us barely an hour to reach our destination.
Stopped outside the portal, Mary does her initial drone reconnaissance, while Karl gathers everyone else around.
"What we're about to do here goes no further than this group understand?" He asks the wolves team in a harsh tone. They look confused, but agree, and Karl pulls 4 mana gems out of his pocket.
"The reason we're all so much stronger than we were is this"
He goes on a 5 minute rant, explaining the process of beginning cultivation and the benefits.
"Finally, I've found that meditation while circulating that energy through your body brings further enhancements. Not quickly, but noticeably. Eating magical beast meat should do the same. We've verified water buffalo is edible, but take care with anything else, as we don't know what might be poisonous."
Lecture done, he cuts the stones into pieces so him and Mary can guide the others through the process two at a time. The wolves process is much like mine, the energy changes once it reaches the first bottleneck in their system, becoming more animalistic to match their nature.
The humans on the other hand experience a different effect. It becomes more smooth and manageable, like flowing water or blood circulating in their system. None suffer any ill effects like Lala warned us of when humans from her world tried to begin cultivation this way.
I guess having arcane mages to guide and control the energy makes all the difference in the world from a safety standpoint.
The wolf led team is having a quick spar, getting used to their new power level, and I must say, it's impressive. I was well beyond even Jake in combat power an hour ago, but I'm not sure I could keep up with him now, despite my head start with this new way of gaining power.
Gotta hand it to good genetics.
Everyone finally ready, we load ourselves into the vehicles, the two wolves standing tall with rifles containing magazines with Karl's distinctive magical munitions markings while the Ramirez brothers drive and navigate. I'm in the box with the mounted gun while Karl drives and Mary navigates.
I notice this truck even has little velcro straps for my feet, making it easier to balance, but not strong enough to trap me in the box in case of emergency.
He really thought of everything when he had this one built.