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Chapter 18 - Billy Logs Some Hours

Chapter 18 - Billy Logs Some Hours

Billy was relieved to hear that the mission wasn’t simply hours of hitting mundane trees with an axe. No, Roland had found a notice requesting as much magical wood as possible, with hints that living trees could be found near a meadow hidden within the nearby forest.

Billy guided the group with gusto, wand and shield at the ready. They hadn’t made it three feet into the forest before being attacked by large birds. They had made quick work of the flying pests and had even looted a small amount of meat that Billy couldn’t wait to eat later.

The forest reminded Billy of home, though it was obviously packed with way more creatures. That was ok. The brief encounters with tiny monsters gave the party the chance to familiarize themselves with each other’s combat styles. Rhinus really hadn’t been kidding about specializing in defense. When rushing in for an attack, he moved sluggishly, evidently weighed down by his full plate armor and his hammer. When moving to intercept a beast that was attacking Billy or Roland, however, the tank could move as lightly as a dancer, speeding in to defend.

Roland, for his part, was a little more of a mystery. Or, at least, a variable. When Rhinus had taken a scratch from a particularly quick monkey, Roland had taken out a few vials of water. He channeled a spell into the first bottle, then took a sip. He made a face, marked the cork of the bottle with a letter, stored the vial and went on to the next. He did the same for the second vial, storing it in his bag. On the third vial, he smiled, took a second sip, then passed it to Rhinus with an encouraging nod.

“That’s the one,” he said proudly. Rhinus threw back the vial. The cut on his face quickly healed, disappearing completely within moments.

“So,” Billy asked, “what’s wrong with the other two?” He eyed Roland’s bag dubiously.

“Poison,” Roland said, as if that were enough of an explanation.

At Billy’s confused look, Rhinus explained. “Roland can transmute liquids into other liquids. He’s just… Well… He’s not super good at it, yet.” He shrugged as Roland protested.

Did that make Roland a healer that accidentally made poisons or a poisoner that accidentally made healing potions?

“I’ll have you know,” the alchemist said indignantly, “that I’m 97% successful with the transmutation process. The only important variable is, well, the effect of the potion.” He seemed to deflate at that. Billy could sympathize as his Gift wasn't super straight forward, either.

“So, you make life saving elixirs and deadly poisons, but you can’t tell which one is which unless you test them first?” Billy was mildly horrified, but mostly impressed. That sounded pretty badass, to be honest. He tried identifying the vials with his own Gift, but he didn’t seem to get a ping on any of them. Maybe he needed to be injured first, since consuming a healing potion might cause harm if it had nothing to heal.

As they continued farther into the forest, Billy got a surprise. His Gift was pointing him, for the first time, in two directions. He got the distinct feeling that one way was towards the trees and the other was towards danger. Maybe a monster that was guaranteed to drop something good? Deciding to use it to test their teamwork, the party veered off towards danger.

What they found was an elk. A lightning variant of an elk, to be precise. Rhinus held his hammer outstretched towards the beast, but clearly wasn’t moving as fast as he could be.

“It hasn’t attacked us,” he explained. “If it isn’t attacking, my Gift doesn’t register it as hostile.”

Billy just shrugged. “Well, Roland. How about you prepare some healing potions in advance?”

Roland looked over, confused. “The shelf life of my potions isn’t that great. An hour, tops.” He looked down at his feet, obviously embarrassed.

“That’s perfectly fine,” Billy said. “We’re gonna need em in, oh, I’d say right about now.” Not waiting for Roland to sort his vials, Billy rushed in, shield at the ready.

The elk raised its head at the sound of Billy’s charge. With a snort, it started charging, too, but in a different way. Electricity crackled between its antlers, forming a growing ball of energy above the beast’s head. It wasn't a total surprise. Most beasts tended to have some sort of mutation when entering the E-ranks. Elemental variations were pretty common as mutations went.

Billy stopped his charge, having aggroed the elk. He shot a quick fire bolt at the beast’s face, but it just glanced off. Just as the elk reared back to fry Billy with a ball of electricity, Rhinus came rushing in. The elk shot the large ball of crackling energy, but the tank swung his hammer. Lightning collided with the glowing hammer, sending the ball of volatile energy smashing right back at the monster. “You’re crazy,” he shouted back at Billy,” sweat already beading his forehead.

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The elk grunted as its own attack slammed into its face, pushing it back a few feet and momentarily dazing it. Electricity flowed off of the elk and into the surrounding forest, scorching trees and churning up dirt. Snorting, the beast rocketed forwards and turned to engage the tank, stomping its hooves and swinging its antlers in an attempt to impale the human.

“You’re useful now,” Billy shouted back, as he raced to the side, trying to flank the overgrown deer with a superiority complex. “Roland, potion to Rhinus.” Now that the elk was distracted and fighting Rhinus, Billy channeled his mana into his wand, producing a beam of fire. He really would have liked to produce a concentrated beam, but he wasn’t there yet.

As the fire singed the beast’s side, it leapt back, putting a tree between itself and Billy’s fire magic. Rhinus slowed immediately, now on the offensive. Roland, having finally sorted his potions, threw one at the tank, who caught it awkwardly. The elk used the distraction to launch itself forward, electricity coating its legs as it came in with more than double its previous speed. Rhinus took the blow directly in his metal plated chest, flying backwards ten feet before slamming into a tree.

“Sorry!” Billy felt a twinge of regret. “I guess that’s why you needed the potion. Good job, Roland! Get some more ready.” With that, he sent another channeled beam into the elk’s side. He really had to practice condensing his beam attack. Half of the stream was deflected by the beast’s hide as it wasn’t concentrated enough to pierce through. This time, the beast ran away before doubling back, giving their tank enough time to down the vial of healing liquid and regroup.

“Rhinus! How’s your aim?”

They all dodged out of the way of the charging elk. Despite dodging in time, all of them took minor shocks from the beast’s lightning aura. Leaves burst into flames and branches split as the snarling monster rampaged through the forest.

“Aim?” Rhinus asked, confused. “I don’t have anything to… Oh. Come on, Billy, don’t be dumb. We can wear it down.” He gave Billy a stern look of disapproval before dodging another charge. The elk seemed content in charging in and out, bulldozing smaller trees in its path. Well, elkdozing.

“We could. But it would take aaaages.” Billy split from the group slightly, angling towards a larger tree. Then, in the least convincing voice he could, he yelled at the elk while limping. “Oh no, I have rolled my ankle. I couldn’t possibly dodge an elk’s charge.”

The monster didn’t disappoint. Seeing an apparently injured party member isolated, it honed in on Billy, antlers lowered.

Billy kept up the sub-par acting and yelled out in a halting, monotone voice. “Oh no… Don’t impale me. If only a strapping, young, handsome man could save me by throwing a gigantic hammer at this beast’s face. Ah… I’m too young to die…”

The elk, smelling victory, made its antlers blaze white hot with lightning. A low hum filled the forest as it shoved mana into its next attack. Dirt flew as its pounding hooves tore trenches into the soft ground. All of Billy’s hairs stood on end as the mana in its antlers grew more and more potent.

WHAM! The comically oversized hammer smashed into the elk’s face. The sound of bones breaking filled the forest. Both of its antlers snapped off as the beast went hurtling into a large tree. It didn’t stand back up.

Billy felt his core increase slightly in size. Oh, it was great to be a mooch! He idly wondered if he would get more of a benefit to his core from participating in a fight or from staying out of it and yelling directions.

The party regrouped as the beast despawned. Rhinus, struggling between pride and accusation. “You could have gotten hurt,” he chided.

“Yeah, well, it was worth the risk. We’ve got a healer, ish.”

Roland huffed at the jab, but didn’t reply, busying himself with his vials.

Billy bent over and picked up their loot. It was a monster core. The core seemed to hum with static electricity, making his hair stand on end. “Wooooorth iiiiiiit!” He happily pocketed the core. Just then, something else caught his eye. The antlers that had snapped off were still laying on the ground. They hadn’t dissipated with the rest of the corpse. “Jackpot,” he yelled, pointing out the extra loot.

Roland went over and pocketed the antlers. They fit surprisingly easily into the bag at his side. Definitely spatial storage. Then, they sat around, eating their customary post-battle snack, discussing possible uses for the monster core. Rhinus argued that a defensive item, like a shield or some armor, would benefit the most from the core. An enchanter could probably make the item deal lightning damage to any attackers.

Billy, obviously, suggested a lightning wand. The other two shot down that idea. Lightning was notoriously difficult to aim. Plus, party members like Rhinus tended to make that even more difficult, considering he was in full metal armor. Roland, for his part, suggested donating the core to the outpost to help with the defense. Billy scoffed at that. They had found a magical beast core. There was no way he was giving it away for free.

“Who would even craft us an item?” Billy looked over to the other two curiously. “Do we even HAVE someone at the outpost that can craft?”

Though some people had crafting-oriented Gifts from F-rank, it was common for a good portion of the population to pick up some sort of crafting skills along the way. As far as Billy knew, everyone unlocked their Gift during adolescence. Not all Gifts were created equal, though, so many never progressed above F-rank. You could learn many crafts without Skills, of course, but you could never really compete against someone with a specialized build.

The others shrugged. Roland took a deep sip from a cup of tea, then looked up at the tree canopy in thought. “Mayhaps the lovely Montgomery could make something. She used quite a few cores to establish the outpost, meaning she can, at least, work with them. She might be high enough rank to forge us something.”

Billy tried not to gawk at Roland. Was the alchemist smitten? He mused that it must be possible that someone or something other than a translation dictionary could captivate him. Still… Montgomery? He hadn’t seen a whole lot of her on the way over. He got the distinct impression that she was the no-nonsense type, though. She would step all over the poor alchemist. But, hey, some men were into that. Billy wasn’t going to judge.