It took a couple more swings than just the first for the Kite's head to finally fall off. And they aren't very clean either but Tarfyr looks pretty exhausted. And I'm sure he could normally do it with one swing if I'm being honest. But right now it's pretty slow and gruesome.
The massive head of the creature thudding to the ground. More blood gushing from the exposed arteries at the neck. The smell of it is overwhelming so I end up putting some distance from it.
We all finally relaxed fully. Dreyfus has the Halberd and Sword guys picking over the monster while he and Mr. Thorpe talk for a moment.
The conversation between Thorpe and the mage seems casual on the surface but even I can tell there is a tension hiding underneath.
Thorpe has kept me close by and slightly behind him the whole time. His spear in his right hand and firmly held vertically a bit in front of me. He's definitely on edge and it's making ME on edge. I know these people are still strangers but they also helped us. So I don't know why he's acting like this.
Thorpe shifts on his feet, left hand on his hip while listening to Dreyfus talk about their journey. The old man speaking up "Oooooh you guys are comin up from Whital. I had heard they were gettin a lot of refugees from the Red Line down south."
Dreyfus grimaces. "Yes…it's been a nightmare over there. Villages burning. Cities filling up. Foods getting more scarce. Rivers poisoned. Money is running dry. Entire fields are being burned at the edges of the territory now as well." He shakes his head. "Their being boxed in. But they don't have anywhere else to go. Every other town or village is weeks worth of travel away. Took us nearly a month to get to Lanercost."
Thorpe's hand on his spear seems to tighten some. "Well I'm glad you got out of there. Organized Bandits are a serious calamity. But you certainly did pick a great time to move to Lanercost. Going pretty rough over there too."
Dreyfus smiles wryly and chuckles. "I think after the chaos in Whital we can handle some tighter central Grand laws. And the merc jobs haven't been too bad."
Thorpe smiles back, scratching his stubble with his left hand. "Certainly so. Take a few jobs there when I pass through. Perhaps we can group up some time."
The mage looks pleased by the notion. "That would be much appreciated. You have some serious skill with that spear. And the knowledge of the area would help."
Thorpe nods and sticks his left hand out to the other man. "Always willing to lend a hand. Especially since you saved our asses here."
The mage meets the hand with his own, giving a strong shake before breaking away. Looking down over to me. "I'm curious. How was your first experience seeing magic?"
My face brightens up. "It was incredible! The lightning bolt thing you did earlier was really strong. But the thing you did with the vines! I couldn't believe they could hold down something that big."
Dreyfus chuckles. "[Entangling Grove] is one of my more powerful spells. And I can even add additional effects to it as well…atleast if I have the mana to spare." Shaking his head a bit with a sigh. "But as you can tell spells like that take quite a while to put together."
I give a light awkward laugh. "Yeah I can definitely speed isn't magics strong suit. But I guess that's what people like us are for! To make sure you have enough time."
The mage nods. "You are correct. And you did a damn fine job. Beautifully executed."
Tarfyr grunts, his mouth opening into a wide grin. "You fight like a beast, cub. You do not disappoint."
I give the burly man a wide grin to rival his own. "Glad to be of help. Although think you were way cooler. You turned into a monster!"
Tarfyr laughs loudly, his voice bellowing. He looks like he's about to respond when Thorpe taps me on the shoulder. "We better get back to camp. I think we need a nice long rest."
I furrow my brows at him honestly. "Are you sure? Shouldn't we stick together?"
Thorpe gritted his teeth and rubbed the back of his neck. "I think we've taken up enough of their time as is. Don't want to get in the way of their hunt."
My lips purse, getting a little frustrated but I give in. "Alright..."
The old man looks over to Dreyfus and Tarfyr awkwardly. "We'll probably just rest for a day or two. Hope to see you lot around."
The mage keeps up with that wry tired smile. "Of course. Perhaps we'll bump into each other again. We'll be out here for awhile." The burly man behind him giving us a wave with his axe.
I wave back as Old Guard starts leading me away towards the new tree-line to the southwest.
I really wanted to talk with Tarfyr more and learn what his skills are but I could tell Thorpe didn't want me around these guys anymore. We worked really well with them so I am not sure what's wrong.
But I think Old Guard called Tarfyr a [Druid]? He doesn't at all look like the ones I've seen in books or heard stories about though.
Just as we move back into the forest I feel my skin crawl and that light prickly sensation on my back. In half a second I've spun around with my sword half out of its sheath on my back and readied to strike.
But nothings there…
We are just a few feet from the edge of the clearing the Kite made so I can still see the Mages group clearly. And nothing really is off.
I squint my eyes a bit and notice that their archer has joined them again once we left.
And he's looking right at us…
I think…at me?
Creepy…
A bit unsettled, I sheathe my sword back and turn to face Thorpe who had stopped to watch me. And his expression is a bit scary.
Cold and calculated.
I frown some. "Sorry…thought my…danger sense thing was going off…guess it was nothing."
His expression just seems to get more hardened. "Nothing to apologize for. We need to go." He states very plainly before turning and continuing to walk at a traveling pace.
His answer does little to quell my rapidly increasing concern. But I follow quietly and and quickly.
And now that all the adrenaline is gone I can definitely feel the soreness and throbbing pains in my body. Plus just the overall exhaustion. Which definitely slows me down a bit.
Thorpe seems to notice as he takes a small tincture out of a pouch on his belt. The little glass vial is filled with a bright red liquid that I am all too familiar with. It's the same stuff my mother usually gives me when I'm sick or hurting somewhere. I hated this stuff just as much back then. It never tasted good.
I take it as he hands it to me. My face already forming into a grimace while uncapping the vial. I glare at the angry red liquid, questioning my life decisions before taking a deep breath and knocking the contents of the vial back into my throat. Preparing myself to gag.
But…it's not that bad?
My brows furrow, swallowing the healing potion. The familiar warmth is making me a bit homesick as parts of the damage to my body is repaired. Although it mainly only numbs the pain but that certainly helps. I'm just pleasantly surprised…how did this taste okay?
Mr. Thorpe chuckles as we're still walking. "The look on your face is priceless." He says with a smirk. "The weak stuff ain't too bad now that you've tasted the aged version."
Ah.
Starting to realize that the Healers draught might have destroyed my sense of taste.
Am I even going to be able to eat real food when we get back?
I must have had a horrified look on my face because the old man snickers and pats me on the back. "Don't worry about it too much. A proper cooks food will revive your dead tastebuds once we're back home."
His assurance falls on deaf ears as I resign myself to possibly never enjoying food again.
For the next hour of walking we keep pretty quiet. The fight with the Kite playing through my head. There was a good amount of it that I missed since I was getting that sound resistance from the mage.
The thought made my brows pull inward. "Mr. Thorpe. Have you used those little scrolls before? Like the ones that the mage had for the sound resistance stuff?"
Old Guard smiles. "Cantrips? Oh yeah, hundreds of times. It's why even having a low level [Mage] is such a boon. Havin quick buffs and spells at hand that anyone can use regardless of class is a massive help. And unlike spell scrolls, a mage can make them on their own."
"Ooooh. So spell scrolls are different?"
The old man nods, lifting a tree branch for me before we slide down a slight hill. "Spell scrolls are expensive, take several mages to make depending on the spell, and usually have something crazy saved in it." Thorpe visibly shudders. "Last time I saw a spell scroll go off a bunch of bandits had their blood solidified and turned into spikes that pierced out of their bodies." He goes quiet for a couple seconds, his expression haunted. "…I think about that a lot…"
At this point my eyes are so wide they could roll out of my head. "Uh…okay…anyway." I clear my throat while trying to shoo away the mental image of what the old man just described. "When you use a cantrip does it make you feel dizzy and head swimmy every time? Or do you get used to it?"
Thorpe raises a brow at me. "I don't remember it ever feelin like that for a cantrip." He admits, looking genuinely confused. "I'd get a little disoriented if I was near someone casting big spells, but that was only after I unlocked [Valor Theory] and I became more sensitive to mana."
He walks a couple more steps and then halts, causing me to bump into him. I stare up at him for a moment as he seems to be registering something mentally.
Finally he turns around. His expression is quite…complicated. His brows and eyes say concerned…but his mouth and nose is more of a scowl.
He sort of just stares at me for a few moments. My mouth forming a thin line. "You…you want me to check my window?"
He nods slowly, holding his spear with both hands for support.
I let out a long sigh. "May the blinded see."
_________________________________________
[[LEVEL-01]]
//Name: Liore Perro
//Age: 12
//Class: [Farmer]
//Status: [Wounded] [Cracked] [Bruised]
[[STATS]]
//Strength: 2
//Dexterity: 2
//Intelligence: 2
//Perception: 2
//Stamina: 2
//Resilience: 3
//Magic: 1
[[PASSIVE]]
[??????????]
[Slayers Aspect]
[Favored]
[Battle Theory] -> [Sword Theory]
[Threat Detection]
[Mana Sense] = [Weak]
[Mana Storage] = [Minor]
[[SKILLS]]
[??????-??????]
[Leap Stride]
[[CLASS QUESTS]]
[Plant A Seed]
_________________________________________
Thorpe hisses through his teeth, likely seeing me blanche at what I'm reading. "By god. Let me guess…you have a new stat…and two new passive skills and they both have the word MANA in them."
I nod slowly back at him, giving a sheepish look and the biggest shrug I can muster. "Is this…bad?"
The old man pinches the bridge of his nose. "No…it is not bad. In fact it's incredible. But also completely boggles my mind." He throws his hands up. "I mean we don't even know what actual level you are! I have noidea if you should be getting that this early or not!"
I shrink a bit at the outburst. "I'm…I'm sorry…"
The old man waves his hand dismissively. "Wait wait no. I'M sorry…I shouldn't be making a huge deal out of this… infact I really shouldn't be surprised by this at all." He admits. " It makes sense given what your other skills do. Some Monsters use magic skills and I'm assuming you'd be able to get those…or something…" he shrugs. "That's me just guessing really…"
He kneels down to get eye level with me. "Nothing is wrong with you. Whatever this hidden class is...it's just really damn versatile." He smirks. "And maybe I am just a bit jealous."
After taking a deep breath I smile a little back. His assurance helping. Which is good because I was definitely spiraling into my own head again. But this is not bad. This is positive! Magic is cool!
My tensed up shoulders relax and I look up to Thorpe. "So…does this mean I get Valor skills?"
The old man starts moving again, putting us back on the journey to camp. "I would guess so. But a lot of classes get access to Mana Sense and Storage at different levels and for very different reasons. So we won't know until you get something."
I nod along to the explaination. But now I just feel impatient. I wonder what sort of skill I'll get? It probably won't be anything like the spells Dreyfus has. But who really knows.
While we're settling back into our travel pace a very feint prickling sensation rolls over the back of my neck. My body spins around, hand resting on the hilt on my back.
But again…just like earlier…nothing…
I stand back up straight, scanning around the trees but seeing nothing but small critters and insects.
Sighing, I turn back around and catch up with Thorpe who had stopped to watch me.
Whatever he was thinking he didn't say. Instead he just kept moving.
But his expression was looking pretty scary again.