On our way, we had two more encounters.
The first, another lone wolf, was taken out in the same way as the one slung over Tarren's shoulder. He placed it side-by-side, unphased by the weight.
I stayed a few paces behind Dahlia, in the middle of the pack. I think everyone felt safest with me in the middle. Especially me.
RYAN: How do you do that, with the arrows?
DAHLIA: Practice.
RYAN: Is it magic?
DAHLIA: It's a skill.
RYAN: You can just train to move arrows by themselves?
DAHLIA: Yes. In fact, why don't you start training now?
RYAN: Really?
DAHLIA: Training to mind your own business.
RYAN: Oh.
I lagged back to where Tarren and En were.
EN: I'm going to tell you this because it's something you should hear.
EN: You shouldn't ask people how their skills work.
TARREN: It's rude.
EN: Skills are the lifeblood of any fighter. Information can mean life or death.
EN: And it's rude.
RYAN: Sorry, I didn't know.
EN: You hid information about your own skill.
TARREN: And poorly.
EN: You knew.
RYAN: ….
That shut me up for a while. We hiked through the forest in silence. I summoned my remaining two orbs, as each could fit in my pocket unopened. Maybe I should have waited, but I was bored. Coin, slot, candy.
The orbs were labelled, respectively, "Follower: Peasant (Lv20) (UCN)" and "Fire Bomb (UCN)".
The firebomb seemed useful and self explanatory. The peasant follower on the other hand seemed off. Menu and I needed to have a talk.
RYAN: Why did I get a person in one of my orbs?
RYAN: That is so messed up.
MENU: It was one of a potential pool of options...?
RYAN: You know what I mean.
MENU: What can I say?
RYAN: You created a person.
MENU: Congratulations! You're a father.
RYAN: Not funny.
MENU: What are you thinking for names?
MENU: Sport? Guy?
MENU: I love a good Guy.
RYAN: Not funny!
RYAN: What am I going to do with him?
MENU: Or her. Or them.
RYAN: What am I going to do?
MENU: You could leave them in the orb.
MENU: They won't know what's going on. Before the orb is opened, they won't even exist, not really.
MENU: Like a chicken egg from the store.
RYAN: But they're a person, right?
MENU: If you open the orb, they will be a person.
RYAN: Maybe I should open it and let them free.
RYAN: They can just do whatever they want.
MENU: I imagine they'll follow you.
RYAN: I can tell them not to.
MENU: But then they'll just be obeying an order you've given.
RYAN: You have a better idea?
MENU: Open the orb. Let them follow you.
MENU: Based on level, they're twice as strong as you.
RYAN: What? I'm level 10?
MENU: Or so. I don't know for sure.
MENU: But I know he's stronger than you by far.
MENU: Actually, twice was wrong.
RYAN: You can be wrong?
MENU: Shut up.
MENU: Anyways, whatever you do, don't open it here.
RYAN: Yeah, I think that would be Not Good.
I tucked both orbs into my two front pockets. They bulged a bit, being slightly smaller than a fist, but they fit. If I had to, I could probably fit another one or two in each. It was unlikely they could fit in my back pockets. That is, without looking super weird.
Dahlia raised a hand and Tarren and En stopped.
She couched slightly. I mimicked her instinctually. En and Tarren stayed upright.
DAHLIA: (It's a spiked tren. I'm going to try and kill it whole.)
Tarren nodded. En raised their arms (?) and whispered a spell.
EN: (Shadow Cling.)
Darkness, from under the leaves and the shade of the many trees, began to stream towards Dahlia and wrap around her. She looked as if she was in a slightly darker part of the forest than the rest of us. I turned to En to ask what was happening and Dahlia vanished from my periphery.
I jerked back. She was still there, but it was hard to focus on her. Without concentrating, she slipped from view, even while immobile. En moved their head in a slow nod.
EN: (It still isn't perfect.)
I wanted to ask En about their spell. What they had done, why it wasn't perfect. I had learned my lesson for the day though; I didn't want to get on En's bad side.
I turned my attention instead to Dahlia's target. She had moved an arrow from her quiver, and it was floating beside her head, aimed at the beast.
The spiked tren was a small thing, not unlike an armadillo, but with a coat of pyramid spikes. It had two feelers just below its eyes, and used them to poke and prod the ground. One pulled back and into its mouth, then returned to the ground. It was going at its own pace, slowly grazing from the forest floor.
RYAN: (Cute.)
TARREN: (Yeah. They make good equipment.)
I looked at Tarren. He flashed a mischievous smile that seemed out of character. Not that I knew any of them.
The arrow darted towards its target. It was swift and silent. Yet the spiked tren curled into a ball and repelled the arrow, snapping it in two.
DAHLIA: Damn.
The tiny pyramids began to launch from the creature's back. Several lifted up and flew towards Dahlia with a speed similar to her arrow.
Tarren was suddenly in front of her, the leaves where he was standing stirring in the air. He held his shield out and the pyramids struck them. Some disintegrated, but most simply fell to the floor. One or two seemed to bounce off before they hit the shield, but the scene was too fast to confirm it.
The remainder of the pyramids began to shoot out, coming mostly straight towards Tarren, with some approaching from above or his sides. A few tried to shoot past him. He blocked every single one. After hitting something, the propulsion vanished and they fell down.
The spiked tren's feelers were working double-time, pulling up the leaves and dirt as well. More spikes began to form on its surface, brown and green like what it had just eaten. These shot out with a lackluster speed. Tarren didn't make an effort to block these ones at all--they just collided with him and came apart.
The spiked tren began to run now, scampering away from its undefeated predators.
DAHLIA: Should we go for a live capture?
TARREN: I could go for it.
EN: I'd rather not waste any more time.
Dahlia sighed.
DAHLIA: No, you're right.
DAHLIA: I just wish I could get the drop on one, for once.
DAHLIA: Their instincts are far too good for their rank.
Dahlia sent out another arrow, made entirely of steel, save its brown fletching. The spiked tren moved to block, but the arrow pierced straight through its defenses. The feelers reached out in pain, then fell down. It was over.
Dahlia picked this one up, clipping it to her belt with a fish hook attachment.
Dahlia pointed at me.
DAHLIA: Make yourself useful and help pick the spikes up.
DAHLIA: And leave the ones made of leaves, please.
DAHLIA: We don't need any more trash.
I did as I was told, picking up the many surrounding Tarren, who hadn't yet moved. En drifted ahead with Tahlia.
TARREN: I would help, but I don't really bend over.
RYAN: It's fine.
TARREN: If I could help, I probably wouldn't. It would be boring.
RYAN: ….
RYAN: Why did you say that?
TARREN: To see what happens.
I finished picking them up, stuffing them into my pockets, and holding them in my chainmail shirt once I ran out of space. Yes, the back pockets were full too.
TARREN: Doesn't that make your armour useless?
TARREN: Your belly's wide open.
RYAN: I have to hold them somehow.
RYAN: Besides, I have nothing to fear with you around.
RYAN: How'd you do that, by the way?
RYAN: Without telling me about your skills or anything.
TARREN: Ha ha.
TARREN: I stood there and took it.
TARREN: I'm a shield user, which means I have shield oriented abilities and use a shield as my main weapon.
TARREN: Well, for me, it's my only weapon.
RYAN: Thanks for sharing.
TARREN: Thanks for picking up the poop.
I made a face.
RYAN: No.
Tarren smiled.
TARREN: Oh yes.
TARREN: Entirely waste from the tren.
TARREN: As it digests food, the nutrients it can't use are pumped into its shell.
TARREN: Which is basically everything, as it only eats mana.
TARREN: It can pump its stomach into its shell at once, if it's in danger.
TARREN: Doesn't make for very good attacks though, or defense in the long run.
RYAN: That's.
RYAN: Cool, actually.
Tarren looked past me to En and Dahlia, who had stopped and waited after getting a certain distance. Dahlia looked like she was talking, though I couldn't make out the words. The gist of it seemed to be En reassuring a frustrated Dahlia.
TARREN: Let's hurry up.
We caught up with them in a short jog, and they, seeing us coming, continued forwards. We were back in formation, though a little closer together.
DAHLIA: Hey. Ryan.
RYAN: Yeah?
DAHLIA: Sorry for earlier.
RYAN: No problem.
DAHLIA: ….
DAHLIA: Okay.
There was a little pause. A comfortable pause.
DAHLIA: Don't even think about keeping any spikes to yourself.
RYAN: I won't.
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