Brandon walked into the garden and the woman turned to face him. She was eerily nonhuman. Her eyes were too catlike, her smile almost looked painted on. She had shoulder length black hair, and her skin was nearly white, it was so pale. Her lips were the crimson of blood, and the yellow color of her eyes, unsettled Brandon. She was shorter than him, only 5 feet maybe, but she was still intimidating. “Welcome to the maze’s center, Brandon.”
Brandon started at the mention of his name, his hand going to the hilt of his sword. “How do you know my name?” he asked, making sure to keep his eyes and mana sense on her. She felt similar to the old wizard.
“I know your name because I am working with the system of course. I am here for you to ask questions and administer your class change.” She smiled wider and Brandon took a step back.
“Okay, what does that mean?” He asked this in a more confident voice, he was not as confident as he sounded, it was a false bravado, but it helped him to feel at least a little better. Brandon would do his best to survive if it came to a fight, but his fights thus far proved he was woefully inadequate to be her match. He could feel her overwhelming power difference.
“Oh, it means that I look at the time you spent in the maze, and I offer you classes to match your accomplishments! Isn’t that fun?” She didn’t wait for a reply before continuing. “Hmmmm, lets see, you gained swordsmanship and mana sense… No! Mana sight, how impressive. You defeated the old man, good, he needed it. You even learned telekinesis! Very impressive. I suppose I must include field medicine as well, hmmmmmm. Okay, here is how we do this!” The woman snapped and 5 notification windows appeared in front of Brandon.
[Class Change: Swordsman Lvl. 1 (common)]
[Swordsman]
Stats/level
Strength: +2
Dexterity: +1
Stamina: +2
Endurance: +1
Magic Power: +0
Free Stats: + 1
The basic class of swordsmen. This class can be earned by any who practice the sword. Many sword skills and passive abilities related to swordsmanship may be unlocked with this profession as well as 2 starting skills.
Noticing there were no skills listed under starting skills, Brandon asked, “What are the starting skills for the swordsman class?”
Even her laugh was unsettling, it was as if she laughed breathing in instead of out. “I’m sorry dear, none of that information can be displayed. Each class has 2 starting skills, you’ll get some choice in the skills. Not much but some.”
Brandon didn’t dislike the swordsman, but he moved the window away to focus on the next one, magic just felt like a safer option over all. He liked swords, he liked them a lot in fact, but magic could help him fight at a distance, and while he had been gaining magic power rapidly, he felt that would stop soon enough. The next window was the mage class.
[Class Change: Mage Lvl. 1 (common)]
[Mage]
Stats/level
Strength: +0
Dexterity: +1
Stamina: +1
Endurance: +1
Magic Power: +3
Free Stats: + 1
Harnessing the power of mana, you have learned the basics of magic and could become a mage! Mages can fight from afar but are not very physically strong. It is taxing on the mind and willpower to be a mage, can you achieve it? Many magic skills and passive abilities related to magic may be unlocked with this profession as well as 2 starting skills
[Class Change: Magic Swordsman Lvl. 1 (Uncommon)]
[Magic Swordsman]
Stats/level
Strength: +2
Dexterity: +1
Stamina: +2
Endurance: +1
Magic Power: +2
Free Stats: + 2
Combining both the abilities of swordsmen and mages, you have forged your own path separated from the two. A magic swordsman uses magic and swords both to overwhelm their enemy. You have used the blade and magic to kill and want to refine both. Many swordsman and magic skills and passive abilities related to both may be unlocked with this profession as well as 2 starting skills
[Class Change: telekineticist Lvl. 1 (Rare)]
[telekineticist]
Stats/level
Strength: +0
Dexterity: +0
Stamina: +1
Endurance: +1
Magic Power: +8
Free Stats: + 1
Harnessing the power of mana, you have learned the basics of telekinesis and foregone other magic and could become a telekineticist! Telekineticists can fight from afar but are not very physically strong. It is taxing on the mind and willpower to be a telekineticist, can you achieve it? Many telekinesis skills and passive abilities related to telekinesis may be unlocked with this profession as well as 2 starting skills
The last window simply listed all of the 4 classes he was offered and let him choose between them. Brandon briefly considered the profession about telekinesis. He wanted to be better at telekinesis and at ranged magic, but swords are cool. Swords are cool. Brandon thought as he picked the magic swordsman class.
As soon as he picked the class he could feel his body being overwhelmed by energy, he felt stronger, healthier, he could feel that he had even more mana as well. Brandon checked his stats quickly.
[Status]
Level: 1 [0/50 exp]
Class: Magic Swordsman
Health: 125/125
Mana: 220/220
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 12
Stamina: 12
Endurance: 10
Magic Power: 10
Free Points: 2
It’s so interesting how much stronger I feel now that I have gotten 8 more points. Well 10 when I use the free points.
“So, how does our burgeoning magic swordsman feel? It is not the most common of classes, but it isn’t so rare either. I think you will do well with it. How fun. You have two hours to pick your skills and practice with them. After that, you will enter the tutorial.” The strange inhuman woman said this then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Ding.
[Skill Selection Available.]
[Skill: Lunge level 1 (common)]
+10 piercing or slashing damage
Step forward with a quicker step than you normally could. Slash or stab during this step dealing extra damage to targets hit.
[Skill: Mana Bolt level 1 (common)]
Channel your mana into a bolt that you send forth to smite your enemies. The range and damage of this bolt is based on how much mana is poured into it and how efficiently that mana is used.
[Skill: Arc Slash level 1 (Uncommon)]
Channel your mana into a blade infused with your mana to overload it.
Slash with this overloaded sword to create a short ranged arc of mana that slashes opponents in front of you. Damage and range are based off the damage of the weapon and amount of mana used.
[Skill: Sword Manipulation level 1 (Rare)]
You may more easily and efficiently manipulate swords you have infused with your mana. This skill is passive and makes infusing and manipulating infused swords much easier. Allows rudimentary telekinesis with sword type weapons.
[Skill: Magic for Blood level 1 (Epic)]
You may sacrifice health to infuse your body with mana. The mana will carry both the life and death affinities. At lower levels, this skill will restore one mana per health sacrificed.
I am definitely picking arc slash. Sword manipulation and mana bolt seem good, both are probably my longer ranged options. Magic for blood feels like a trap. It may be good, but Sword manipulation still seems better. In the end Brandon selected the arc slash and as soon as he did, the knowledge of how to use it and the feeling of how he can infuse the mana in such a way that it would overload entered his head. Brandon didn’t try it yet though, he instead selected sword manipulation. Once he did, he felt even more knowledge than he had gotten with arc slash entering his mind. He found that infusing mana into swords through force as he had been was extremely inefficient. There was a way with much more finesse, and he could even detect the needed mana to perform it on a given sword now.
The combination of the two skills together made him understand arc slash even more and allowed him to see ways to refine the skill before he had even used either. Brandon examined his Mist Steel sword and he could feel it would take 120 mana to fully infuse it, so he did just that. He sat and worked his mana into the hilt and blade, sliding between and around the particles of steel. The sword slightly glowed as he filled it up. Once the sword was full of his mana, he used his telekinesis to lift it into the air, notably, it did not require any attached strings of mana anymore. It was also easier to manipulate than even the needles had been before. He moved the sword around playfully, slashing at the air, thrusting, making it turn in circles. Testing it, he was able to make it move as fast as he could with throwing it before without having to throw it, just through the telekinesis alone.
This is much more useful than I even assumed. I knew it would make it easier to do, but this is almost as big of a step from first learning telekinesis to finally using it with my short sword.
After testing his sword manipulation for a few minutes, he felt himself getting dizzy. It did cost less mana, but less was not none. He made himself rest for a while, even eating some of the food he brought with him. A jerky sandwich wasn’t the best but it helped him stave off his hunger. Once he was mostly recovered it was nearly time for the dungeon to be over. He stood, lifting his mist steel sword above his head, he felt he needed 24 mana to overload the blade as a start, so he infused 24 mana, which took him less than half a second in the already infused sword and he swung. When he did, a pale blue arc of mana slid out of the blade as he slashed with it. The arc went a little over 5 feet before disappearing into the air.
“Wow,” Brandon looked down at the sword in his hand, the light glow fading. “That was so cool.” Brandon continued to practice his arc slash a few more times. On the last slash, he infused 48 mana instead, and he noticed the arc increased in both distance and power. It went somewhere between twelve and fifteen feet and left a gouge in the ground where it passed.
Now I really feel like a spellblade. I wonder how easy it will be to use in combat. Ding.
[Congrats on receiving a class! You are in the 62% of humanity who passed and received a class! You are in the 7% of people who got a class of the uncommon or above rarity. Congratulations! You will now be sent to the tutorial. The map feature has been unlocked for all humanity, the language pack has been installed for all of humanity. You will now hear people speak to you in your native tongue and they will hear you speak in theirs. Goodluck!]
Brandon blacked out again. This time when he woke up, he was in a forest leaning against a tree. Looking around the forest he didn’t see anyone else at first, but he did notice two things. There were no birds or animal noises. And beyond that, the forest was wrong in many ways. The tree he was leaning on was a loblolly pine, and the tree in front of him was a great live oak. Those made enough sense to be together, it could be a southern forest if he didn’t spot the red wood in the distance or the patch of acacia trees that were nestled together a little ways to his right.
As he was standing there, looking around, he saw another person materialize on the ground and open his eyes. The young man sat up quickly and looked around. Brandon noticed he seemed a little odd, his hair was burnt and frayed at the ends, and he was missing a shirt. When he materialized, he was holding a rake in one hand and both of his thumbs were a deep forest green.
Brandon spoke and the man turned to him. He was definitely older than Brandon but not by much. “Hey man, the language patch came out so you should understand me right?”
He grinned, “Thank God, I couldn’t understand anyone before the class dungeon. Who are you anyway?”
Brandon walked over and held out a hand to help him up. The man took it and Brandon spoke. “It is rude to ask before introducing yourself first, but I am Brandon.”
“Thysse. And same.” They shook hands and took a step apart. “Now where the hell did you get all that?” Thysse said gesturing at his equipment.
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“Well, about half I brought with me and half was in the labyrinth for the beginner class dungeon. They helped out a lot. Speaking of…” Brandon reached in his bag and took out the shirt he had been wearing and tossed it to Thysse. Here bud, It’s a little bloody and has a hole in the left sleeve but it's better than nothing.”
“Oh, thanks man!” Thysse took a moment to tear off the left sleeve, leaving a few dangling threads but getting rid of the part of the shirt with blood on it and pulled it on over his head.
“Honestly, I am more impressed you made it through the dungeon with just a rake. The groups of goblins would have given me trouble like that.” Brandon went back to his tree and leaned against it as they spoke, kind of expecting to be interrupted by another couple of people joining them.
“Did you say groups? I only saw three goblins, all alone, and it wasn’t too bad to fight them with this, the metal prongs at the end of the rake do good damage. It was nice to keep them at range too, if it had been more up close they may have hurt me with their daggers. The part that almost killed me was the fire trap I ran into, it burnt away my shirt.”
“Yeah, I had to fight goblins in a group, I barely made it by fighting dirty. Though, I don’t know if it is really fighting dirty if it is to stay alive.” Brandon laughed a little awkwardly.
“What did you do, throw sand in their eyes?” Thysse laughed.
Brandon levitated the needles, pulling them out of his pants. He briefly noted they were minutely easier to control but still required the strings attached unlike the swords. “Needles actually.”
“You can already use magic? Fuck me, that’s not fair.”
“No thanks, I have better things to do.” They made eye contact and laughed at each other.
“I’m hurt.” Thysse said, his hand over his chest, making his eyes big and pouting. “That was so mean.”
“Eh, you’ll get over it. Anyway, more importantly, how do you have green thumbs?”
Thysse went on to tell a marvelous story of a goblin biting off both thumbs and watching them regrow from a magic pool he found, but he broke only a half minute into the story. “Nah, I’m just kidding, it is due to a skill I got for my class. I’m a gardener, and my skill is called green thumb. What kind of class are you?”
“I am a spellblade.” Brandon used his telekinesis to draw his mist steel sword and let it float into his hand. “Magic and swords are kinda my forte in combat. Telekinesis saved me more than once.”
They kept chatting for a while, but no one else showed up, so after about twenty minutes, Brandon pulled out his phone and texted his only contact. “Hey, make it out of the dungeon?” He texted Kara and Thysse asked him about his phone working. Brandon explained the system changing his phone and had Thysse bring out his so they could swap numbers too. Not long after, 3 more people materialized around them in the trees, one falling off a limb of a tree and hitting the ground.
The three people were all very different. One was a woman with one side of her hair shaved off, relatively tall and very pale with brown hair. She had a long dagger and quite a few knives on her but was in jeans and a hoodie. She was the one who fell out of the tree. One was a relatively scrawny boy who looked around 18. He had short black hair and dark skin. He looked like he had just finished running a race, panting and sweating. He looked unarmed and scared. The third was a slim woman with korean features who had a staff with a clear gem on top and two bracers on her arm with three throwing knives in each. She had a streak of purple on one side of her long hair and a streak of red down the other.
“Welcome strangers,” Brandon said, looking at the group of new arrivals but not approaching. His hand went to rest on the hilt of his sword again, but he made no motion to draw it. He was about to introduce himself but was interrupted by another ding.
[Welcome to the tutorial. 67% of humanity received a class of common rarity or above. You received an uncommon class putting you among the 7% of people who achieved this feat.
The tutorial is a training ground for you all, but unlike the Beginner Class Dungeons, you can die. You have been placed in temporary parties, you may leave the party at any time. Party leader selected based on performance in the Beginner Class Dungeon. In this tutorial, you earn points by slaying monsters. These points will decide your reward at the end of the tutorial. Good luck!]
Brandon saw a new window and pulled it up in his vision. The party menu listed everyone’s health and names. There was a small crown by his name and when he focused on it it identified him as the party leader.
“So, you’re Dylan, but which of you is Jade and which is Mia?” He pointed at the young man when he said his name and then looked between the two women who had just arrived.
“I’m Jade," the girl with the half shaved head said.
“I take it by your equipment, you are the party leader, Brandon?” Mia said. She smiled at him but seemed wary as well. There was a look in her eyes he couldn’t quite identify.
“I am. So, how do we want to do this? I assume we go hunting but it would be better to know each other’s abilities right?”
A round of introductions later it turned out Mia was from South Korea and had just started a voluntary military service career. Dylan was American like Brandon and was getting ready to start college and had been preparing for it. Jade was in university studying law in England. Thysse was from Zimbabwe and working on photography.
Dylan’s class was runner, he had no weapons at all and he had been in a desert dungeon, much different than what Thysse and Brandon had experienced. He had been running from a horde of sandworms about 5 ft long till he found an oasis just a few minutes before the dungeon had ended. The skills he had were a dash skill that let him move at four times his normal speed for just 1 second and a kicking skill that allowed him to kick at someone hard and do extra damage based on his speed but did not interrupt his pace in running.
Jade had been in a cave dungeon. She had spent most of her time avoiding the giant spiders and had picked up the long dagger from a corpse she had found. She earned the class warrior, but she didn’t feel super comfortable fighting any monsters close up. She had the skill cleave which allowed her to swing in an arc connecting multiple monsters without the blade slowing down or snagging as it passed through and the skill block which used mana to conjure a shield in front of her to stop an attack.
Mia had a rare class Jewelmancer. She had found a Quartz staff in the dungeon she was in. It was a maze similar to Thysse and Brandon’s but it had Kobolds in it. She could do all of the traditional magic of a mage, but she could use gems to imbue her spells with special effects. The quartz she had gave cutting properties to her spells. She had a mana bolt spell and demonstrated it normally, leaving a small scorch mark on a tree. Then she cast it through her staff as a focus and the mana bolt looked like a streak of silver more than a bolt of blue energy and left a cut a few inches deep across the wood instead. The other skill she had acquired was a skill to activate the basic magic effect of gems. It allowed her to activate the quartz to grow a short blade out of the end. It was 8” long and incredibly sharp so she could use the staff as a spear in a pinch. She had no other gems as of now but hoped to find some.
“Okay, when we are hunting monsters, we will use a formation with me and Thysse near the front. I have a good short range to medium range skill set, aside from me Thysse has the best melee weapon besides potentially Mia’s staff, but she is a mage and it would be best to utilize her range. Jade, you watch the rear and protect Mia as best you can from ambush. Dylan. I know the monsters are scary. You will be in the center. Your job is to watch out for me and Thysse. If someone tries to sneak around us, I need you to use your dash skill and combine it with your kick to hit whatever is approaching. If I am right, that combo should do a lot of damage.” Brandon laid out the battle tactic he had come up with to try and keep everyone as safe as possible.
“I am fairly competent with fighting, I could be in the middle and allow Dylan and Jade to watch our backs. After all, only the three of us have killed any monsters so far.” Mia said. She spun her staff, making the blade appear during the spin and leveling it out pointing at a tree to make her point. She smiled after.
“I agree Mia, but I think everyone needs to gain real fighting experience. Once Dylan is more sure of himself I plan to put Jade in the middle. We can best protect the one in the middle.”
“That’s fair,” Jade said, nodding along. Mia and Dylan nodded as well. Dylan did not speak much aside from when they prompted him. He seemed very nervous even still, often looking back and at the ground.
“Dylan, you okay?” Brandon asked. He wasn’t too sure about leaving his back to Dylan, but he wanted them to work together as a party.
“Yeah man, I don’ know, I just feel like they’re still there you know? Those things hid in the ground, man.” He glanced at the ground again. Brandon could see how nervous he was and laid a hand on his shoulder. It is okay. You’ll be just fine.
Brandon had made sure they all added each other’s numbers and decided to see if there was a group chat function before They went off on their first hunt. There was a way to make a group text. He added them all to it and just sent a simple, “Hi, this is probably the easiest way to stay in touch.”
Before he put away his phone he saw a message from Kara. “Hey! I made it out safe. In a team of sorts now, I am in some beach area at the moment.”
He texted her back, “I am in a party of 5 myself, we are about to go monster hunting in the wooded area I think.”
“So, did everyone get a text?” he asked the group. After a chorus of positive responses he spoke again, “Okay, so let’s get into our positions. He had Mia Stand between Jade and Dylan. And he and Thysse stood next to each other making an inverted triangle. He tried to position it so there was only about 5 ft between each other. Once everyone seemed ready, he brought up the map function on his, well, I guess it’s a heads up display. Brandon brought up the map on his HUD and he did not see anything of note right away. Ding.
[The tutorial will end in 2 months, 4 weeks, 2 days, 23 hours, 50 minutes, and 37 seconds.]
“Wow… It looks like we have three months here. Let’s head over toward the redwood tree over there. It is a large landmark we should be able to find our way back to. I have a little food, but we will need to find sources of food and water. We will also need shelter too.”
They started walking in their formation, looking out into the woods trying to see what they could. It was eerily quiet except for the sounds of their footsteps. Mia spoke up as they walked slowly through the woods. “Isn’t it odd we haven’t seen any monsters yet?”
“Yeah, I expected them to show up as soon as we stepped through the trees.” Thysse said.
“I think it is one of two possibilities. We are either spawned in a safer zone, or if that is not the case, we are near a strong monster’s den. So long as we are careful, we should be okay to make it out. I am hoping it is the former though.”
They continued walking, Brandon starting to sweat in his jacket, especially on his back where the bag pressed the jacket to him. He took out a water bottle and drank some of it. Seeing the others gaze at him in envy, he gave half of it to Thysse and gave the remaining two bottles to the girls and Dylan to split between the three of them. He still had his canteen in his bag so he knew he could last a while longer. He also passed back the empty bottle he had drank in the class dungeon. “Keep the bottles, we will need them.”
“Thanks man.” Dylan said. “I really needed that, wish you had some more.”
“I can’t believe you even brought water, who prepares for something like this? You brought food, water, a bag, and everything else.” Mia said.
“Thanks.” Was all Jade said, she seemed shy to Brandon.
“You should have heard how he killed groups of goblins. He told that story before you arrived. See those needles he has in his clothes? He can control them with mana. Used em to blind a goblin and kill it when he was fighting three at once.”
“Huh?” Mia looked at Brandon with interest, “I was wondering why he was the party leader. Speaking of, you never told us your skills did you?”
“Uh, no sorry, I meant-” As he spoke, there was a loud rustling from his right, looking over, he saw a large deer with glowing blue horns shaped like lightning. It was not the back and forth jagged bolts he’d draw but like a lightning strike frozen as it struck the ground. Its hide was black but with shifting colors in the black as it moved as if there was a layer of fur under the top that was purple and blue. Brandon dove out of the way and shouted “Dodge!” to the group at large. The deer ran past but turned towards him as he rolled on the ground and got to his feet. Brandon used his telekinesis to draw both of his swords. He grabbed the handle of his Mist Steel Sword and sent the short sword dashing through the air at the deer.
As he focused on the deer he saw red text pop up above its head. [Thunder Deer. Level 3] Beneath that was a health bar like the goblins had. The deer lowered its head, aiming to charge at him bolts of electricity jumping between its horns. As it did, Brandon lowered his sword and charged up a normal powered arc slash. When the damascus short sword hit the deer, it sank a few inches into the front leg, causing it to stumble in its charge. Brandon used an arc slash as the deer stumbled, the sword slash left his blade as a pale blue arc and cut off the left horn of the deer then dug into its shoulder. Its health bar had only decreased by a tenth from the short sword, but the arc slash took a full half of its remaining health after.
As the deer staggered from the second hit, he saw a white flash. Mia had used a quartz mana bolt on the beast. He saw Thysse slam the rake on its side as well. Jade moved to try and stay between the beast and Mia, and Dylan did his best to stay behind Brandon. Their teamwork was by no means perfect. Mia’s second bolt almost hit Jade and only missed Thysse because he stepped out of the way. Brandon’s arc slash could have gone further than into the beast damaging Thysse if it had. Mia’s bolts were not much more effective than Brandon’s short sword but they had taken off a good chunk of its health with both landing solid hits. Thysse’s rake was about the same as the short sword and the bolts. The real standout was Brandon’s Mist Steel Sword and Arc Slash.
The Deer recovered and was enraged. It roared, raising its head into the air, the sound was a cross between the call of a normal deer and thunder. Lightning burst around it with Thysse barely stumbling out of the way to avoid being struck as the bolts struck the ground. The deer charged Brandon again, but he sidestepped and it charged past him. He tried to slash at it with the mist steel sword but he missed. He let go at the end of the arc he cut through the air and used his sword manipulation and telekinesis to send the sword chasing after the deer, catching it as it turned around to charge at him again and puncturing deep into its side. The deer’s remaining health bar disappeared and the deer fell to the ground.
“Those,” Brandon panted, “Are my abilities.” he stopped to catch his breath for a moment, “They take a good amount of mana but are fairly powerful.” Ding
[You have defeated the Thunder Deer lv. 3. Your party has earned 150 exp. This will be split among all 5 members. You also gain 40 points not split between members due to your contribution to the first kill of a Thunder Deer.]
Ding.
[You have leveled up. Granted minor status recovery]
[Status]
Level: 2 [20/150 exp]
Class: Magic Swordsman
Health: 135/135
Mana: 240/240
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 13
Stamina: 14
Endurance: 11
Magic Power: 12
Free Points: 4
Brandon stood and went to retrieve his swords smiling at the level up notification and the extra strength he could already feel from the level up. . He cleaned both on the Deer’s hide then sheathed them. He looked back at his party members “Mia, Thysse, good work. Mia, you will have to be more careful with those bolts, you almost hit both Thysse and Jade. Jade, good job staying between the monster and Mia. Dylan, try and stay between me and Thysse in a triangle formation. You could have attacked the deer when it dashed past me but I understand it was scary. We were lucky. That thing was stronger than the goblins but it had no strategy like them. Goblins could have dodged better and they attack at harder angles. I know it's a lot and I am sorry guys, but we need to do better to survive. That thing was only level 3 and it was a prey animal to boot.”
After Brandon was done, he dragged the deer behind him and got back into his position in line. “I’ll be more careful.” Mia said, “You have really strong abilities, that extended sword ability is crazy, but so is telekinesis! What class are you?”
“I am just a magic swordsman, it was a pretty cool option. I have sword telekinesis and the ability you saw called arc slash. Both seem pretty strong and I did practice with them but I don’t have a full handle on them yet.”
“I wish I had abilities like that,” Dylan muttered under his breath and kicked a rock into the woods.
Thysse seemed less concerned about the fight, “Why are you dragging that deer with you?” he asked.
“Well, we need food. I was thinking we can try and eat this. I did some butchering when I was in scouts. I don’t have a good knife or anything, but I think we can cut it apart and maybe have some food. Will you grab the horn I cut off? They may be something we can use too. Maybe we can make a spear for Dylan and Jade out of the two together and some long sticks.”
“Sure,” Thysse bent and tried to pick up the horn, but when he did, an arc of electricity went out from the horn into his hand. “Aargh.” He leaped back and shouted.
“Are you okay?” Jade ran up to Thysse to check on him, concern evident.
“Yeah, it just shocked me.” He lifted it on the end of his rake and asked, “Hey, got anything in your bag for this?”
“No, but, try and hold onto it. We are getting close to the tree and I want to set up a base there if possible. It is a good landmark if we are out exploring.”
“We have these maps, do we really need a landmark?” Thysse asked.
“That is true, but do you want to have to use the map all the time? It is easier if we have a visible landmark as well.”
They kept walking, the clearing around the tree was fairly large, it was over a mile across and the tree itself got bigger as they got closer. When they were a couple hundred feet away from the trunk they entered the shade of its canopy. The tree was not a redwood, it was much too large and the bark did not look quite right. On the far end of the clearing they could see a creek was flowing almost up to the tree before veering back around into the forest at the far end. It was only around 50 ft away, it would provide enough water for them to set up camp.