"I guess I can't wait too much longer to choose," Emma mused. "Delaying due to uncertainty is one thing, but I'm not losing a bonus just because I can't make up my mind."
That said, she saw no need to choose right this instant, and dismissed her status page. Absently kicking a few burning sheets of paper around the tent, Emma made sure that the entire structure was either alight or soon to be, before settling back down in her chair. All the sound cancelling wards had gone with their casters, so sooner or later someone would notice the flames and come investigate.
"Hopefully before I need to put this out myself," Emma grinned, slumping in place and doing her best impression of a statue.
Emma wouldn't have been nearly so sanguine if she were actually on fire; but thankfully, flames tended to spread far more slowly than Hollywood portrayed. In reality smoke inhalation killed far more people than the fire itself, and that was something she didn't have to worry about.
---
[ALERT: Administrator attention required!]
Felix cursed as the notification broke his focus, and his latest attempt at connecting with Scholomance with it. Shaking his head, Felix turned his attention outside the Dungeon Core, eager despite the circumstances to see what the System deemed so important as to bypass his Do Not Disturb setting. Recent upgrades had expanded his arsenal of Demons, enabling him to maintain eyes in the sky through the deployment of Vultures. They weren't quite as stealthy as the birds Emma preferred to possess, and needed to eat a lot more, but they were still undeniably useful for reconnaissance.
"Nothing out of the ordinary so far," Felix frowned, as his scout circled above a scene that had become commonplace in recent weeks.
[Anna Culling - Level 2 Tamer]
"She has a class," Felix marvelled, as he watched the wolves she'd stolen from him wreak havoc upon their former comrades. "The first outside the family that I've seen. Or should I say outside the immediate family?"
[Correct. Mana levels are now sufficient to support secondary awakenings. Lineal descent is no longer required for System activation. Cases involving natural onset of magical potential are also projected to rise 800% month-to-month, accounting for improved ambient conditions alongside a far greater chance of involvement in life and death struggle compared to previous peacetime society.]
"Huh. Overmind did say people would start adapting eventually, I guess that time is now. On the bright side, maybe with this, I can finally find some proper stars for my show besides Emma? If I can ever get this damnable connection to work, that is."
Turning his attention back to his work, Felix issued one final command, pulling his remaining Wolves back in search of easier prey. He wouldn't bring Anna to his Dungeon yet; she deserved a chance to grow outside, and she was likely to visit soon of her own accord anyway. Felix held her mother captive, after all.
---
"General, you're alive!" A panicked soldier exclaimed as he burst into the tent. "Where are the others?"
Not deigning to reply verbally, Emma pointed to the burnt pile of bodies in the middle of the floor, tilting her head slightly.
"Ah," The soldier winced. "This could be a problem."