The strings Fex used snapped as the crocodile opened its mouth. Definitely not the animal crocodile that used to live on earth… Now it went for Lana who had to get in the water to get Caser out. Lana created a stinging nettle plant and threw it into the crocodile's mouth. She slammed his mouth shut. As she did she used the leverage of closing it to flip and put on her stage-2 armor alone. She landed on its back and put her foot on its head and extended the spikes.
She expected that to be the end. The croc started to submerge and she felt it start to roll. She added her white energy and quickly stomped on its head again, this time with more spikes. She ended up in the water but soon she saw the black beast blood leaking into the water.
Gasping for air after moving faster than she had in weeks, "well… that was exciting, wasn't it…"
Shalt was staring at her. "I thought humans were supposed to be weak."
Fex grinned, "humans are full of surprises."
Lana got out of the water and went to Caser. "Are you okay?" Turning to the boys, "can one of you pull that croc out and see if Caser wants a bite? It might help him regain some stamina after all that chasing of the fish."
She sat down and invited Caser into her lap and let him eat from here. "My dress is water-logged now. How do women fight in dresses?"
It was more of a rhetorical question but Shalt responded, "I don't know but I have never seen a woman move like that before. Can all humans do that?"
She laughed, "no. Most people don't care to learn, actually. With people being able to have abilities, most are not even interested in true fitness. Just like with vampires, they specialize. Vampires don't want to use beast gear thinking it makes them weak. Many ability users feel the same way. No other skills are need in their minds."
"You can get beast gear that augments your ability, making you stronger. You can also get gear that is strong in the things you are weak in. The thing is, finding what suits you. For me, I work with plants. Gymnastics and acrobatics are some things I got interested in when I was very young and kept me alive."
"This means I can't use certain things because they negatively impact my capabilities. Which is fine. That's how I ended up in this really cool dress and boots. Humans who wish to grow strong have been doing just that. I went off on a tangent again… sorry!"
She looked at Caser and he was sleeping. "perhaps we should get some sleep… Let's put our backs to the mountain." She picked him up and headed that way for the boys to follow. Walking in a wet dress and boots was horrendous. She decided she would change and let it dry off her body.
Back at the base of the mountain, she put her tent up after placing Caser on the ground. The boys kept watch. She put her bed roll in, then her bag and Caser. "What watch schedule do you want?"
Shalt responded, "you rest, we'll split the shift." She nodded then zipped the tent and went to sleep with Caser in her arms and the silence crystal activated.
The next morning, very early she woke up and decided to turn off the crystal feeling well rested. The minute it was off, her heard growling and her name being called urgently. She unzipped the tent hastily and saw the biggest rats she had ever seen. They were definitely of an unusual size.
She was back in her pants outfit and on the move. It wasn't that these beasts were strong but there were at least 20 of them. Her only thought was at least they were not breathing fire at us. She raced to fight the nearest one and it shot a green liquid at her. Shit! "Caser, watch it, they spit acid!"
Caser was using his roots and she decided that would be best as well. She sent roots in the direction of the ones Fex and Shalt were fighting. She saw several dead already. Who knew how long they had been fighting. She got her whip out infused with her white energy and started slashing, cracking, dodging.
It was truly hard with so many ganging up on her but she noticed Shalt was getting tired. Caser was stressed but using his roots with his claws ended up big a beneficial tactic for him. Lana wrapped all 4 of the ones on her in her roots and spun around with her whip. They all had no heads by the time the spin was over.
She noticed two were flanking Shalt and were getting ready to spit. She withered the whip in her hand and shot another out of her hand. It hit Shalt and got him out of the way. They ended up spitting acid on each other but they were immune to their own acid. One went for Shalt's throat while another went for his foot.
Fex was almost done with the higher number he had, it was up to Lana. She threw another infused vine at the throat of the one going after Shalt's throat and watched the head separate from the body. Shalt was starting to sit back up and realized what she had done. Caser had gone after the foot rodent and trapped it with his roots then ripped its throat out. He looked so proud of himself. Lana laughed, "Okay, you can eat one!"
Fex looked around and complained, "Why did you only have four!"
Lana quipped, "because 12 thought you looked tastier. Hazard of good looks!" She chuckled. Fex was always talking about how good looking and charming he was. He did attract the girls in their class, though so she thought maybe some were into that.
She took on a more serious tone, "sorry I didn't wake up. I have to sleep with that silence stone on in case I wake up screaming. Vorden's not here so it's the only safe way."
Fex nodded, his expression sobering up. Lana looked to Shalt who was staring at her, "are you going to collect the crystals?" She noticed Caser was now eating a second unusually sized rat. "That's your last one, Caser."
Shalt got up off the ground and did as suggested. He seemed somehow diminished but she didn't know what to say to make him feel better. "Did I hurt you?" she asked.
He shook his head. While he handled crystals, she grew something to eat and quickly consumed breakfast. She left plants up with the intention of using this area to rest, just go up the rock to the alcove they slept in before. She told them her idea and they thought it was good one.
"Why didn't we do that to begin with?" Shalt asked.
"I didn't think there was any danger in the area. I see no tracks or anything. Did you think there was a threat?"
"You do know I'm just a vampire, right?"
"Aren't you all vampires?" Lana was confused.
"Vampires have different strength levels similar to humans but we have names for them. Evolutions."
Lana looked confused. She tried to recall anything Quinn may have said but she had been super busy with her own thoughts while here. She realized that was a dangerous thing.
Fex continued as he observed her expression, "Vampires have evolutions while humans just grow in varied ways. We have Halfling, Vampire, Vampire Noble, Vampire Knight, and Vampire Lord. Leaders are at the Lord level. Each level invokes a painful process as our bodies change and grow stronger. This happens when we reach a peak at our current level and are challenged heavily to become stronger. Quinn was a vampire when I met him but evolved into a noble when he fought a vampire knight on the training planet. Myself and Shalt are regular vampires but I'm at my peak to becoming a noble. I need a challenge to evolve."
Lana nodded. "What is evolving like? Is that why Quinn keeps getting taller and more adult-looking even though he's my age?"
"It's quite painful because of exactly that. Depending on how much a person was challenged, blood may be needed. If it's too bad, a vampire's body could consume itself and they could die in the evolution process. It's best to have someone present in case blood is needed."
"But aren't you younger than Shalt?" She looked between the two.
"I'm a direct descendant which means I received special training all my life. Those in the tenth were denied any such thing so they are the weakest. They have noble-level vampires but even those are weaker than nobles from the other families. Generally one needs to be a noble level to be considered an adult but more important than that is to be able to beat 10 death bats to get their rings." Fex showed his to her. "This allows a vampire to walk in the sun."
Lana looked at Shalt's hands. He had a ring on his finger.
"Understand we are allowed to work in teams. I didn't defeat the bats on my own. But as a team we all beat enough that we earned our rings. The others were at the peak of becoming nobles, I was not. Half of them evolved during the various fights. I'm considered an adult just a weak one because I have not achieved noble status yet."
"Are you close?"
He nodded. "I am. I don't have all the special training Fex has so he's stronger than me and probably closer. Part of me attacking Edward and Timmy for the blood crate was to get experience but mainly to move to another family so I could get stronger."
"Are there any beasts on this planet that would challenge you to evolve?"
Shalt shook his head, "I don't think so. Advanced is the highest we have. The land mass on this planet is not as big as it was on earth. It suits our purposes but it's why we have a training planet to begin with."
Lana nodded. "So you need a vampire or a strong human to challenge you to evolve," she smiled.
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