...
* * * * *
*saku saku*
"Huh, I thought you guys would be camping out or something."
"Hurry up and get your ass in here, Rick." Bell is standing in a small depression among some mounds, keeping an eye out. There's grass, bush and shoulder-high shrubs all around. Further to the east, the famed hills of Sardon can be seen. Trees line themselves neatly on the hill, forming the forests that surround the various keeps and forts. Most of them had been abandoned by both [Monochrome Blades] and [Dawn's Moonlight] as they concentrate their respective forces into single encampments. This is to lower the success of raids and eliminate the need for supply lines altogether.
Rick walks toward Bell, seeing the small path into a cave, he walks in.
*sha*
Bell pulls a sheet of earth with grass growing on it over the opening to the cave before walking further into the cave. Shafts of light pour in from above, revealing a large chamber with a gradual slope leading deeper into the cave. Bell has to duck her head as she walks since the ceiling is slightly too low for her stature.
"Where are these lines of light coming from?"
"We drilled some holes, seems like the ground here is mostly made of limestone-like rocks. Watch your steps, there are some trap holes here." Bell got on all fours and moves her way to the right before heading toward the back of the cave. Except for the path she is on, the entire slope ends with a sheer drop several meters down, ending in a pool of water. Rick looks over in admiration.
"Natural trap, niceee."
"Get in here before I shove you down there." The felinoid is standing at full height, half-concealed by a bend in the wall. It seems there's a passage at the end of the cavern. Rick quickly follows, before stepping into a large chamber that's 10-odd meters wide and probably twice as long. Shafts of light also illuminate the room, highlighting the various rock furniture and plant woven upholstery. Far in the back, a large group of people are surrounding a smokeless fire.
"Damn, you guys have a mini rock cabin thing going in here." There's a slight twitch on Rick's face.
"Greetings, Rick-sensei." The gathered students turn in his direction upon hearing his voice and gave him a greeting. They turn back immediately toward the holes. The blonde youth raises an eyebrow before walking toward them, with Bell right behind.
"... and that's how you make it." Kun is giving out instructions, finishing a wooden pile in the hole.
*gakon gakon*
"Line the large ones on the bottom... cross it with medium ones, then cross it again with twigs, layer the top with tinders... like this?" Isnic builds a wooden pile in another hole a little away from the going fire, it's connected to another hole from the bottom. Basically, it is a U-shaped hole with a flat bottom.
*shi shi*
Kun removes the top layer of the pile to inspect her pile. "Pack the bottom and second layer tighter, otherwise you are fine." He then turns around and checks on the other students.
"Eh, how come there's no smoke from the fire?" Rick peeks over, munching on some jerky he had found on a nearby table.
*kon*
"That was mine."
The blonde youth holds out the piece of bitten jerky to Bell, who just turns away to look at the students.
"This is called a smokeless fire, this way you can cook and keep warm without anything seeing you." The black-haired young man keeps assisting the demihumans without turning and gives the youth a reply. "Alright, once everyone is done, we will have dinner and then head out after sundown."
"I'm going to get Till's group then."
"Eh? I was wondering where she was."
"There's another room further in." Bell walks to the far left wall before giving it a small push, the wall soundlessly turns to one side, revealing a hidden room where a small figure, a translucent figure and a few others are working in the far corner. Shafts of light filter into this room as well, giving it a soft ambience. She walks in nonchalantly, leaving the wall open.
"Damn..." Rick grabs the false wall and moves it back and forth, it did so without a sound. "Damn..." He gives another exasperated look of admiration before walking in.
"Remember, concentrate on the wind, otherwise it will become uneven."
A small girl is moving her hand slowly over a piece of rock, rounding it off, with small bits and pieces falling off of it.
"Ohhh, using wind magic to cut stones?"
*kon*
"What was that for?!" The youth rubs the top of his head.
The handful of students turn and look at their newly arrived teacher. Giving a bow before looking at him with a complicated expression.
"Are you some kind of idiot? Wind can't cut anything." Bell brings a paw to her face as the students whisper among themselves.
"But all the games have wind blades and wind cutting things all the time!"
"Rick-ni, when was the last time you saw wind cutting anything in real life." Till turns around to give him a pitying look, the students give him a similar look as well.
*funyu*
"It's okay, ignore him, he is a little stupid. Kun said to wrap things up so we can have dinner."
"Okay~"
"Yes, Bell-sensei!"
Till and the students put the stones they were holding on the floor, dusting themselves off before walking away. Rick has both his hands on his head with a look of disbelief.
"Are you coming or not?"
* * * * *
*uppu*
"Oh man, I'm going to be sick."
"Who told you to eat so much." Bell leans back in her chair with her eyes closed.
"You have no idea Bell, the stuff they call food in Sardon, it's so bland. Try that for a few weeks and tell me you won't do the same when you've this in front of you."
"You do know this is just field cooking, right?" Kun gives the youth a dubious look.
"I know, you will make a hell of a housewife one day." Rick rests his head on the table with a contented look.
"Eh? Eh? Is Rick-ni proposing?! No fair! I will marry Kun-ni first!" The little girl suddenly got up from her seat.
"Well, aren't you Mr. Popular?" The relaxing catwoman teases the young man in question.
"Hmm... I can always let Bell cook from now on."
"Nononono, I won't mention it anymore." Rick has a small panic attack as he recalls Bell's cooking from the past.
"All joking aside, how should we split this up?" The young man gestures to the pile of pulsating blue and purple crystals on the table.
"We can just split it evenly, but that seems counterproductive."
The group have a gap in level difference. Till was already in her mid 20s when she first met the group. After doing things somewhat separately, Till is now in her mid 60s, Rick in his mid 50s, Bell in her late 50s and Kun in his late 30s. This is due to Rick actively training with the Feian guards and fending off users at Orllewintor. Bell and Till raided numerous times, with Bell killing most of the users each time. Kun on the other hand has been stuck with diversion and support, thus rarely had the chance to gain experience.
"Isn't it a no brainer? Just stuff it into Kun, we are going to be fighting head-on soon, so we need some balance."
"Yeah, let's do that~"
"Sounds good then, all yours Kun." Bell points her hand at the pile.
"You sure you don't want to split it evenly?" The black-haired young man scratched his face.
"We are splitting it evenly, hell, we probably owe you more if we count Bell's cooking."
"Yeah~!"
*kon* *kon*
Bell gives both of them a knock on the top of their head. "Go already, we don't have all day." The shafts of light have dimmed, only giving off a faint, orange light.
"Alright." Kun sticks his hand into the pile and squeezes a handful of crystals, they immediately shatter into particles of light and get absorbed into his hand. He keeps on doing it for a while, when the pile shrinks to a few pieces left, both Rick and Bell dump more on the table. By the time Kun finished absorbing the majority of them, he has reached level 60.
*chara chara*
Everyone's announcement tab starts blinking accompanied with a chime.
[Kun has become a ?????????]
"EH?!" x2
"?"
"What the...? Status!"
Name | Kun (#1) | Race | Human |
Alignment | None | ||
Level | 1 | Class | ???/Novice |
Guild | None | ||
Class Description | ■b?e -o u■õ a|þ B■si■ ?ier ■\i-ls. No st■■■? bo=-s aÓpi■?s. | ||
Strength | 11 | Agility | 13 |
Vitality | 11 | Dexterity | 26 |
Intelligence | 14 | Wisdom | 44 |
Charisma | 10 | Luck | 10 |
Points Remaining | 59 | ||
"It's all gibberish..."
"Check your skills."
"Skills!"
| Available Skills: |
| +Novice +Warrior +Mage +Archer +Craftsman |
"Eh?" Kun is slightly stunned.
"Eh?" x2
"Eh?" Till looks at the three of them expectantly.
"I have access to all Basic class skills."
"That would be great... if we haven't learned how to control mana. So it's pretty much useless?" Bell puts her face in her paws.
"Meh, a secret class is still awesome. Now we have plausible deniability."
"Hmm... why didn't you take these crystals as well Kun-ni?"
"Um... I couldn't." Remaining on the tables are some pulsating yellow and orange crystals.
"Oh, those, I think they were from when the guards killed those bastards."
"So they were from NPCs? Hmm..." Bell turns around and spots the harpy-like student across the room. "Isnic, come here for a sec."
"Yes, Bell-sensei." Isnic gets up from the table and excuses herself from her fellow students.
"Isnic, try squeezing this." Bell hands her a yellow crystal.
"Yes, sensei." Isnic squeezes the crystal with her claw, shattering it. It turns into particles of light before getting absorbed into her arm. "Eh? What's going on?!" She is covered in goosebumps with all her feathers standing straight up.
*gishi gishi*
Kun immediately gets a potion from his pack.
Isnic calms down, her feathers going back to normal. She clenches and unclenches her claws and inspects her wings. "I feel... stronger?"
"Eh? Can NPCs level up too?" Rick raises one of his brows.
"I guess?"
"It's only fair~"
"Um... thank you, Isnic, and eh, get everyone that's coming for the raid ready." The feathered demihuman nods at the felinoid before walking away. "We will figure this out later, we should get going."
* * * * *
*dokkan zuku zuku*
"Nice, they are really going at it!" A smile spreads across Rick's face.
"Yep, we kept taking out the groups that were close to the Sardon borders, so now they are stuck in these two outposts across from each other. They have been at a stalemate fighting back and forth for a while." Bell is crawling on the floor, below the tall bushes, while keeping an eye on both outposts.
"So what are we doing now?"
"We are going to end the stalemate."
"How?"
"Do you know why this place is called the Field of Ashes?"
"Eh... cause the ground is gray?"
"Not quite, when the dry season comes, everything here has a tendency to go up in flame."
"Okay... what does that have to do with anything?"
"It's almost the dry season now, oh, right, you haven't seen it in action before. Just wait for it."
* * * * *
I look at the various groups of ant-like people, spotting the catapults that are moving toward one of the outposts. I turn to one of the other winged students, he holds up 4 fingers. There's 8 students here, including Isnic who is holding me at the moment.
"Kun-ni, they are about to launch the catapults, get ready."
I look toward the faint puddle-like reflection that's almost completely hidden in the bushes just slightly outside the field of battle.
"We are all set, just give us the signal."
*kacha kacha kacha kacha*
I can faintly hear the sound of the logs swinging.
"Now!"
*doooon dokkan dokkan*
Flashes of light erupted from just outside the outpost, crumbling one section of the wall and leaving small craters in front of it. Fire spread in all direction, igniting the nearby bush and grass.
"Rick-ni, aim for the catapults."
"Holy! Did you see th. Ow! Right, catapults, tell Bell to stop hitting me already!"
I ignore their lover's quarrel since I already have my hands full. Conjuring gusts of wind, I fan the growing fires around the outpost toward the west and then finally the north, blocking off all but one direction of the outpost. I carefully control the wind as I watch the various swarms from the south forming into a snake as it slithers to the eastern side of the outpost. The 4 groups that were guarding the catapult have scattered, no doubt running from Rick-ni's arrows that caught them by surprise.
"Keep it up Rick-ni. Target the ones in the back."
As though on cue, the scattered ants in the south surged forward, soon joining the tail of the snake.
*ga ga kan*
I can hear the sound of metal striking metal as the two sides battle at the eastern gate of the outpost.
"Okay, Kun-ni, most of them are gathered up!"
*BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU BOU*
A long trail of large fireballs illuminates the night sky as though mini suns erupted from the ground.
*DON DON DON DOKKAN DON DON DOKKAN DOKKAN DON DON DON DON DON DON*
*iyaaaaa*
I shield my eyes as the rest of the students screech out in surprise, even though my arms blocked the light, I see a blinding whiteness.
*shi*
I can hear my clothing being ripped, suddenly, I am falling from the air. I release the wind that was fanning the flames and guide myself away from the battlefield. I have to make sure to launch myself up every now and then so that no one sees me from the ground. I focus on doing this for several minutes until I regain my eyesight, I then retreat to the hideout following the evacuation plan.
* * * * *
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
"Shit!" Bell grabs Rick by the head and dives onto the floor. Flashes of white erupt from the direction of the damaged outpost.
Thanks for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteYou know I wish the author would go into details on what the are doing at the moment when they are doing it and not until its all over and done cuz this is leaving me confused every now and then. Also the changing perspective is nice but letting us know who's persepective at the beginning would be good.
Wind cutting things... not on it's own, but wouldn't it be trivial to make a sandblaster type "wind blade"? otherwise if earth is in short supply, diamond dust.
ReplyDeleteDiamond drill, gunpowder dunno why these options not being explored
DeleteIsnt their earth unable to produce that old tech due to that aurora? why not bring it there? along with all the old science?
Electricity, gas power etc solar energy blah blah, why are they doing things old school when they could manufacture guns etc bombs blah blah... running why arent they making cars gliders, planes etc or even a bike from what I can see nothing limiting them from using science they dont have the aurora event in the game right?
They have a bonafide prodigy in there group use that brain lol and I think Belle has a science background as well?