When Jared’s consciousness returned to his body, he did a mental inventory of his previous injuries. He found them mostly, but not completely healed. His minor cuts and bruises were gone, but there was still a throbbing ache in his back, and his shoulder was a little stiff.
Maybe it was because he Ascended his Auxiliary class to an Ascension he had already achieved with his Primary class.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter at the moment. He stood, rolling his sore shoulder, and started down the stairs, Mimi in tow. Upon exiting the church, he made a beeline for the gates, hoping there hadn’t been too many casualties. His mind flashed to how he had last seen Eleisa, unable to regain her feet.
He quickened his step, and soon arrived at the gates. Soldiers were working to clear the destroyed parts of the palisade and help the injured. Almost everyone he saw had lines of dried blood coming from their ears.
Jared made his way out through one of the destroyed sections of the wall, estimating it to be near where he had seen Eleisa. He found her on her feet, leaning heavily against the wall, barely more than a shadow in the darkness. He released a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding when he recognized her.
She looked up at him as he drew near, her eyes unfocused. She tried to take a step towards him, but lost her balance and tumbled forward. Jared lunged, catching her before she hit the ground.
“Woah, there. You okay, El?”
She looked up at him blankly for a moment. “I cannot hear you.” Her voice was louder than usual, almost a shout, and hoarse. She grimaced for a moment after speaking, gesturing to her ears. Jared noticed the blood leaking from them, and figured her eardrums had burst.
He looked her over, making sure she didn’t have any serious injuries. He found only some tiny hairline fractures in weaker parts of her exoskeleton. The silver lines that marked where she had been injured while fighting the shellback prowler shone strong and unblemished.
As soon as she regained her balance, she gestured at the skorvok’s massive corpse. “Loot.”
Jared was exhausted, and by the looks of it, so was Eleisa. But he also really didn’t want all those potential materials to go to waste.
They walked over to it, and if Jared hadn’t known better, he would have thought Eleisa was drunk. She kept swaying and stumbling, often leaning heavily on Jared for support, her wings occasionally flapping ineffectually. Worry crept into his mind as he considered her. Sure, someone might have some weak vertigo after having their eardrum Ruptured, but he didn’t think it should be this severe.
He sat her down next to the carcass and offered her a potion that was supposed to speed the body’s natural healing. It wasn’t a true healing potion, but it was the best that Nameless had to offer, and he didn’t know what else to do. After taking the potion, she closed her eyes, either going to sleep or meditating.
He left her to it and assessed the dead skorvok. It had several holes in its hide and broken scales where his bullets had hit, and its right front shoulder was mangled. His final shot had punched through the muscle of its shoulder and chest, coming to rest in the beast’s heart.
He went to work harvesting all of the materials worth salvaging, starting with the scales. They weren’t overly thick, only about a centimeter, but they had a similar consistency to rubber; hard, but elastic.
Albino Skorvok Scale (Scarce, Average) – Scale harvested from the corpse of a rare albino skorvok. It is incredibly durable, and has evolved to disperse all but the greatest forces applied to it. Ideal for lightweight, protective armor.
Next were the claws. There were four on each of the six feet, and all were in good condition. Each was about the length of his forearm and wickedly sharp towards the point.
Albino Skorvok Claw (Scarce, Average) – Claws pulled from the corpse of a rare albino skorvok. Sharp and durable, it is an ideal material to make into a blade. Echoes of the skorvok’s cunning remain within.
Finally, he turned his attention to the head. First, he removed all the teeth, which came in two varieties. The first were the majority of the teeth and were about what he expected, about the size of his little finger.
Albino Skorvok Tooth (Scarce, Average) – Tooth pulled from the corpse of a rare albino skorvok. Ideal for arrowheads and other small, piercing weapons
The other teeth were the larger fangs, four in total, each about the length of his hand from heel to the tip of his middle finger.
Albino Skorvok Fang (Scarce, Great) – Fang pulled from the corpse of a rare albino skorvok. Larger and sharper than the smaller teeth, echoes of the skorvok’s lust for blood remain within
As he was handing the fangs off to Mimi to hold onto, a buzzing sound arose, like a choir of cicadas singing in harmony. He followed the sound, and saw that Eleisa was now glowing with a soft white light. The sound seemed to emanate from her as well, filling the air with strains of entomic music.
She seemed to notice his attention, despite not opening her eyes. “Do not worry. Continue harvesting and I will explain when you are finished.”
He shrugged, following her instructions. Next on his list of things to harvest were the eyes and the meat.
Albino Skorvok Eye (Obscure, Excellent) – The eye of a rare albino skorvok. Much of the beast’s magic has been concentrated here, giving it properties it would otherwise lack. Useful for many crafting disciplines.
Albino Skorvok Steak (Scarce, Great) – The flesh of a rare albino skorvok. It has a strong flavor that is hated and sought after in equal measure. When prepared correctly, can impart a number of buffs including
* Voice of the Eyeless: The sound of all your attacks is amplified, and your attacks have a chance to disorient
* Cold-blooded: You gain resistance to ice magic, and cold weather does not bother you as easily
* Sightless Stalker: Decreases the amount of sound you make, and increases your hearing
While he was harvesting the meat, he came across another organ that he was able to identify.
Albino Skorvok Lungs (Obscure, Great) – The lungs of a rare albino skorvok. They have grown to almost double their regular size and contain a secondary voice box, giving the skorvok the ability to produce much greater sound. The memory of its titanic roar remains within.
It took Jared until the sky was starting to lighten to remove the massive pair of lungs from the beast, leaving only the skeleton and some other organs that didn’t seem to have much use.
Each lung was roughly Jared’s size, and he had no idea what he was going to do with them. Luckily, Mimi was just able to open a mouth wide enough to swallow them, creating an image that Jared dearly wished he hadn’t seen. When she had gotten both lungs down, Mimi held her stomach and turned her face green.
“Don’t be so dramatic. But I’m not surprised that filled you up. It should give you some good levels for your storage Skill, though.”
Saying that reminded Jared he had some notifications he had been ignoring.
Skill Sniper’s Fieldcraft has been upgraded from (Proficient IX) to (Skilled I)
Skill Sniper’s Fieldcraft has been upgraded from (Skilled I) to (Skilled II)
Skill Sniper’s Fieldcraft has been upgraded from (Skilled II) to (Skilled III)
He nodded in satisfaction of seeing himself improve in such a measurable way. There was part of the human brain that just loved seeing numbers go up.
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He collected Eleisa, who had passed out where she had been meditating, and went to find an inn. Her explanation could wait. For now, they both needed some sleep.
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Naomi had never felt so full. She didn’t even know she could feel full. When Jared had given her all of the other parts of the big white lizard, she had started to feel… not full, but not empty. That had changed when she had ‘eaten’ the lungs. She suddenly felt like she couldn’t eat another thing, her extradimensional stomach having expanded to its limits. Her discomfort was relieved somewhat when her Skill leveled up, but she was still stuffed.
She activated her copied Enhance Learning to help her Skill level up faster. It must have worked, because only an hour later, she got another upgrade.
Skill Extradimensional Stomach has been upgraded from (Skilled IIII) to (Skilled V)
Jared and Eleisa had gone to sleep, even though the sun was rising. When she got bored, Mimi looked at her profile, reveling in how much she had grown in so short a time. She was sure that if her mother and siblings were still alive, they would be positively drooling with envy.
Name: Naomi(Mimi)
Race: Mimic
Subrace: Equipment Mimic Lv. 20
Ascension: Improved
Hunger: Satiated
Stats:
Free points: 0
Physique: 21
* Physical: 11
* Magical: 10
Alacrity: 19
* Physical: 10
* Mental: 9
Projection: 20
* Evocation: 10
* Manipulation: 10
Skills:
Racial (3/3)
* Consume (Exceptional IV)
* Twinform (Exceptional II)
* Copy Skill (Unskilled V) – copied (3/5):
* Big Game Tracking
* Enhance Learning
* Crude Imbuement
Subrace (4/10)
* Equipment Eater (Exceptional IV)
* Extradimensional Stomach (Skilled V)
* Equipment Durability (Skilled III)
* Absorb Impact (Unskilled I)
Titles:
* Friend of Jared Moore
* Practical Cannon [Active]
In just a few days, her stats had almost doubled! And she had gotten a new Skill and a new Title! She looked them over, excitement at being able to be even more helpful bubbling up within her.
Absorb Impact (Unskilled I) – You have grown accustomed to acting as a weapon that exerts much force on your wielder, and yourself. You may now harness that force, helping your wielder and empowering yourself. When acting as a weapon, you may absorb some of the impact you exert. While in your non-weapon form, you may release all the energy absorbed in this way, empowering an attack. The amount of energy you can absorb increases per level of the Skill
Practical Cannon – Granted for pushing the limits of your nature and assisting in slaying a creature more than one entire Ascension above you.
When Title is Active: You have a 5% increase in control over your weapon form.
When Title is Inactive: You have a 5% increase in control over your non-weapon form.
It was a small boost, but it let her do even more. She had tested it, and now she could get even bigger than before! Although, it had hurt when Jared had used her to shoot that really big bullet. Hopefully her new Skill would help it not hurt so much next time.
Overall, she was happy with her progress and couldn’t wait to go hunting again.
----------------------------------------
It was around midday before Jared finally roused himself. Early in the morning, he had carried Eleisa to the nearest inn, dropped a handful of gold on the counter, and commandeered the two closest unoccupied rooms with instructions that they weren’t to be bothered. After carefully placing Eleisa on the bed in one room, he crashed in the other, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
He checked on Eleisa, but she was still sleeping. He left a note for her, then headed out to see how the town had recovered in the several hours he had been asleep.
The first thing he noticed was that the debris from the destroyed sections of the palisade had been cleared, and carpenters were hard at work stripping freshly chopped trees and preparing them to take their places in the wall.
He headed over to the barracks hoping to find captain Alexander and wasn’t disappointed. The man was standing over a map of the town, his right arm in a sling, giving orders and talking with a couple of other people near him. He looked up at Jared as he entered, a grin breaking out on his bearded face.
“Well, if it isn’t the Hero of Fangsguard! How’re you feeling? I made sure to let the lads know not to bother you nor your lady friend while you slept. You earned a bit of rest.”
“I’m pretty good, all things considered. A little tired, but that’s just life. In my line of work, you learn to go without sleep for days.” His expression turned grim as he brought up his first line of inquiry. “Casualties?”
The captain’s face hardened to match Jared’s. “Some, but not as many as expected. You were right that if you hadn’t been there, Fangsguard would now be little more than a memory. Five guardsmen died, many more wounded. And almost everyone in town had their ears blown out for a while, thanks to that infernal roar. We were supposed make a lot of noise at it, not the other way around.”
“About that, you all seem to be able to hear fine. How is that?”
Captain Alexander pointed to one corner of the room, where a middle-aged woman was soundly asleep on a cot.
“Level nineteen healer. I mentioned her earlier, if you remember. She spent all night healing as many as she could. Finally collapsed from exhaustion and mana depletion about the time you carried your Kyrien back into town.”
Jared bristled. “She’s not my Kyrien, and her name is Eleisa.”
Alexander held up his hands conciliatorily. “Whatever you say. How is she, by the way?”
Jared frowned, remembering her complete lack of balance the night before, then the humming and glowing. “Not sure, but I don’t think there was any permanent harm done.”
“Glad to hear it. She was the first one that spotted the beast, you know. And while the defense we mustered was rather… pathetic, she allowed us to muster one at all. Don’t you two leave without letting me give her my thanks.”
Jared nodded. “I can do that. Any way I can help rebuild?”
“Bah!” Alexander waved him off. “If the men saw the ‘Hero of Fangsguard’ helping rebuild the town, they would have my head!”
“What’s all this ‘Hero of Fangsguard’ nonsense?”
Alexander blinked, taken aback. “You haven’t seen? Check your system notices.”
He did, finding a prompt he had missed while he was sleeping.
Hidden Quest complete! Silence the Terror
You have successfully hunted the Albino Skorvok which has been terrorizing the Azure Forest, and which razed Carrow’s Heath. Your actions saved the town of Fangsguard from imminent destruction, making you nothing less than a hero in their eyes.
Reward: 500 Gold Imperials, Title: Hero of Fangsguard
Hero of Fangsguard – Granted for saving the town of Fangsguard from imminent destruction. The residents of Fangsguard will sing your praises, spreading word of your deeds far and wide. You will forever be known as a Hero, for better or for worse.
Jared put his head in his hands, “Why?”
Alexander chuckled. “You can’t save a whole town and not expect them to show you a little gratitude.”
“I would be fine with a little gratitude, but this?”
“What’s wrong? Most men I know would love receiving that sort of praise.”
Jared looked him dead in the eyes to make sure he got his point across. “I’m no hero. I’ve killed a lot of people, both directly and indirectly. If I had moved faster, I might’ve been able to kill the skorvok before it razed Carrow’s Heath.”
“No, you would almost certainly have died.”
Jared whirled at the sound of Eleisa’s voice behind him, finding her standing in the doorway.
She entered, continuing where she left off.
“Do you not remember the Servant’s gift? Did you not use it to craft the weapons that slew the beast?”
Jared rubbed his neck, his face growing warm. “Well, yes. But-“
“But nothing. If we had faced the creature at Carrow’s heath, we would have fallen with it. If the GEAS has deemed you a hero, then a hero is what you are.”
“By your logic, that old woman should be the hero, since it was her gift that helped me kill it.”
“Ah, but it was not her that killed the beast; that honor belongs to you and Naomi. She merely provided you with the tools necessary.”
Jared threw up his hands in surrender. “Fine, I’m a hero. Whatever. What now?”
Eleisa’s ears twitched and she blinked, taken aback by the change in conversation. “To what are you referring?”
“What do we do now? We already did all the copper jobs in Nameless, and I doubt we’ll find many more monsters like that skorvok around here. Especially since, after that fight, we’re close to bronze. What do we do now?”
One of the other people in the room, an ipotane woman with red-brown fur who had been watching their interaction wide-eyed, stepped forward. “If I might give a suggestion?” After getting a nod from both Jared and Eleisa, she continued. “A tenday or two ago we received a letter from Panstrum, the closest city to the east, asking that all hunters and delvers higher than level fifteen go there. Apparently, they’re dealing with an infestation of some kind and need all the help they can get.”
“What kind of infestation?”
The horse-woman shook her head. “I don’t know, they didn’t specify in their letter. Just that they need every able-bodied hunter or delver of level fifteen or higher.”
Jared exchanged a look with Eleisa, understanding passing between them. “How long would it take to get there?”
Alexander spoke up again to answer. “Depends on how you travel. I would recommend against going on foot, as it would take you the better part of a month.”
“A month? Didn’t you say it was close?”
He shook his head. “No, I said it was the closest city. The next closest city is to the northeast three- or four-months’ journey on foot. We’re on the outskirts of civilization, what else would you expect?”
“So, if we aren’t supposed to go on foot, how do you suggest we travel? Eleisa can’t exactly carry me the whole way.”
Alexander laughed. “No need for that, I think I’ve got just the thing.”