Though there were a couple other options presented to him that were attractive, as soon as he saw that Wind Manipulation at the Copper tier was available to choose, there was no other option. Its description had changed somewhat, but knowing that his Wind Manipulation would permanently be at the level that it'd always been while using Divine Transformation was a huge plus.
Wind Manipulation (Copper (I)): You have claimed the Storm as your first Divine Authority, and your mastery over the wind has grown. The weak Wind Manipulative abilities of the hatchling coatl have been strengthened as you have delved into this Divine Domain. This Skill grants you the ability to more accurately and powerfully influence the winds that surround you, as well as to send your consciousness into the wind at your leisure. Your Divine Transformation currently inherently grants a Copper level Wind Manipulation Skill, and while under the effects of the Divine Transformation Skill to a Storm Coatl or its subsequent evolutions, the Wind Manipulation Skill will ascend one tier (currently, to the Silver (II) tier). Usage of this Skill depletes MP at a rate inversely correlated to your Fixation and Intelligence while scaling in potency at a rate directly correlated to your Fixation and Intelligence.
The description given to him was heartening, showing that his personal control over the Skill was growing markedly. That it would provide an immediate and huge boost to his power for the final siege was nothing small either. As soon as he'd made the Skill selection, TJ was excited and ready to rush to experiment with it. He pushed the party to find something new to hunt, just so he could test out the new Skill, and they were only too eager to oblige.
"Do you think I'll get a lot bigger when I evolve?" Molly asked, her face a strange mixture of emotions that TJ couldn't quite place.
"Eh," TJ waffled as he listened to the much clearer voice of the winds report nothing nearby, "no idea. I'd guess that yes, but nowhere near as large as my Divine Transformation will get? I think that as Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan got a lot bigger than Xolotl ever got. Not sure exactly how all that works or if it's true, but I had a vision of Kukulkan as a god, and he was miles long."
"I don't want that." Molly muttered as she continued walking. "Even if I got as big as a horse I don't think I'd want the Skill any more."
"I'd guess that if that's what you want, then that's what you'll get." TJ replied. When Molly looked up at him disbelievingly, he continued, "The System allows for choice. If you're trying to stay smaller or whatever, I think it'll probably accommodate you. I don't mind getting bigger, though I'm not a fan of being so long right now. Maybe down in the valley where it'll be harder for things to sneak up behind me and stab me, I'll be happier to slither around. Anyways. I got distracted. I think you'll be fine, and if you say to the System that you don't wanna get too big, then maybe you won't."
"Sure." Molly didn't seem convinced. "I guess I'll just… hope that works out."
"I think it will. If it doesn't, I'll work with you to get something figured out." TJ tousled her hair jokingly and Molly ducked away from the attention, though she didn't seem upset.
"Whatever, geezer."
"No, that's what I call Stanton, I'm just an old man, not a geezer!" TJ picked a pinecone up and tossed it at Molly. She ducked it and jogged away laughing. Considering his job done, TJ refocused on whatever was around them. There wasn't much movement, and he got the distinct impression that the monsters had pulled back further and further into the mountains. After an hour of no luck in finding any more monsters to kill, TJ made the decision for everyone else.
"The monsters know that we're hunting them, and they're avoiding us. If we keep pushing in, we might find some, but there won't be many. If we're unlucky, someone'll end up hurt or even killed, and I'd rather we wait a day to get some of this experience instead of getting anyone killed in the hopes of getting a level today. Any complaints?"
Though a couple of faces showed slight disagreement, nobody voiced anything, so TJ led the rest of the party back to the safety of the city. After all, it was past noon, and there remained precious few hours until nightfall. They made good time through the forest, especially since they weren't searching out pockets of enemies any longer. Every step drew them closer to the walls, but TJ prepared himself and the rest for any potential ambush. Peter had lost his eye to a last-minute pukwudgie spear, and TJ wasn't going to let that happen again.
There was no final attack from monsters, and he suspected that there'd be nothing nearby until well after night fell. What the "rules" would be regarding the siege were entirely beyond him, but that was something the System refused to explain in detail to anyone, beyond the fact that it was going to last for 18 hours to be followed by a fight with the Boss. He tugged, but there was nothing for it. The System so frequently was forthcoming and generous with information, but whenever it wasn't, there was nothing to do for it.
Back at the town, the party quickly parted, though Molly stayed near TJ. There was something vulnerable in her face, but he didn't know what to say about it. Or if he should say anything in the first place. So, he said nothing at all. He set most of his things to the side and looked down at his Raven Mocker's Remnant on his right wrist. That and the Minor Shroud were far and away his best equipment at the moment. He could help create more armor out of the tanned javelina leather that they had hundreds of pounds of extra sitting nearby, but TJ knew that he needed to focus on things for the strongest people in the Tutorial. The rank and file had equipment already, and if he could create Copper tiered equipment for the people who'd take the brunt of the assault from the strongest monsters, that would do much more.
"What to do, what to do?" TJ muttered to himself as he sorted through the materials that were all around. Ideally, he'd have some sort of ranged weapon for himself to use when he wasn't using Divine Transformation in this siege, but what could it be? He realized that the Sacred Weapon that the Acolytes got from their Class contained some Skill rolled into them that facilitated the weapons' use. Thus, he couldn't just make a bow and hope that it'd do anything good for him. So far, hurling rocks was about all he could manage to do, and while there was plenty of loose rock and building material laying around, that was inferior to a real weapon, as far as TJ was concerned. Should he make himself a spear or something? That would be simple enough, but he didn't really have a good material for its head…
"Do you think they're alive?" Molly asked, pulling TJ from his idle thoughts and planning.
"Hm?" He asked.
"My parents. Do you think… they're still alive?"
TJ stood tall and met her gaze. The teenager was sitting with her back against the wall of the general store, her knees pulled up to her chest and her face looking down at her feet. As he turned to look at her, her teary eyes met his. He dropped the materials he'd been looking at and walked over to sit somewhat close to her.
"What kind of a man is your dad?" He asked, somewhat changing the subject.
"Kinda scary." She admitted. "He can be angry sometimes. We got in a fight that morning that this was all beginning because of what I was wearing to school. He wanted me to wear a jacket because it was cold, I called him controlling and manipulative. He was about to respond when I got pulled away to the System."
Though he realized that it was way too late for someone to just be leaving for school when the Integration happened, TJ didn't mention that weird inconsistency. Instead, he asked, "What did you think once you were finally able to get to some measure of safety?"
"That I wanted my mom and dad to come help me." Molly sniffled.
"I can bet that he wants nothing more than to be able to protect you. I'm sure he's fighting like hell right now, just like I am, to make sure he can save you. You don't need it, but I'm sure he's busting his ass like crazy for it."
Molly sniffled again, but nodded. TJ sat and let her gather herself as he waited. There was plenty of movement around them in the stronghold, as more and more people gave up on finding any more monsters to hunt today. The teenager leaned against him for a minute before pulling away.
"Thanks, Uncle TJ."
He smiled. "You're welcome. You wanna help me with this crafting stuff?"
"Sure!" Molly replied as she nearly bounded to her feet. To be fair, TJ realized that he absolutely could do so as well, but he felt too old to do that, regardless of his Attributes. She offered a hand out to him and he pulled on it as he thanked her.
"Do you have any plans for things you want to make?" TJ asked the girl as he continued trying to think of something to use as a weapon for himself.
"I was wondering if I could use some of the metal we've taken from homes and carve it out like this." Molly started to explain her plan for creating what were effectively lawn darts. In fairness, Farid's spears and plenty of scrap metal seemed like they'd inspired a good weapon for her. Now that he thought about it, TJ realized that Molly had much of the same problem that he did in this siege, that her usefulness would be impeded by how long she could keep up Divine Transformation.
They consulted back and forth with each other as TJ lamented his own inability to use the metal and other materials that were left over from before the Integration. Using a spear with a metal head would cut his total Attributes down by quite a bit, since it'd disable Primal Savagery.
"Why not use one of those glass-edged clubs that the Mexicans used in ancient times?" Molly asked. "They're real dangerous, and there's natural glass somewhere!"
"Not a bad idea, but there's nothing volcanic around here, so far as I know." TJ replied. "I'll have to look into finding some obsidian to make one of those. For now, though, I don't think it's possible."
TJ resigned himself to using a less impressive weapon when the time came for the siege, but he still wanted whatever levels he could get before then. Savage Shaman wasn't nearly so production focused as Savage had been, but if he was using higher quality materials, he'd get more experience than he would have as a Savage. But where could he get any of those? He didn't have any more Elite monster materials, and the Gila Monstrosities needed more time for their hides to tan—
He facepalmed before asking, "The wendigo we killed. Where's its corpse?"
"I think that someone brought it to the front door of the store? Someone would do something with it there, I'm sure."
"Thanks. Good luck on your lawn darts. Hope no lawyers are around to sue."
"My what? To sue?"
"Ask any old person and they'll know what I'm talking about." TJ waved her off. "Just a fogey making a joke."
TJ left a sputtering teenager in his wake as he jogged off to take the best parts from the wendigo for his own use.