He saw a flash of color, and then something slipped out of the forest. It had a long, segmented body, alternating tan and blue. A giant centipede maybe, except the legs were so short and thin that it seemed to glide across the ground.

It pounced towards the [Merchant] guard with two huge ribbed pincers outstretched. The guard held his spear firm, and the monster veered away at the last second to glide away back towards the forest. The other guard threw his spear at the retreating form, but the monster effortlessly dodged it.

By the time Brin thought to summon some glass to shoot at the thing, it had already entered the trees. He snapped off an [Inspect] before it was out of sight.

Heath Worm Level 24

Brin wanted to go after it, but the rules about not leaving the road had been clear, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to catch up with it. He wondered what would happen next. Myra and Davi were both tense and ready for action, but no one else seemed that alarmed.

His [Monster Sense] Skill let him sense the presence of monsters, and now that he was concentrating on it he could tell that the thing was still nearby. But that sense slowly faded away as well. The Heath Worm was gone.

The guard who’d thrown his spear fetched it and returned to the road while his friend covered him. Pio came running, had a short conversation with the guards, and then blew his whistle. The wagons started moving again.

“That’s it?” Brin asked the [Merchant] lady Duelna, but she just shrugged.

Pio hadn’t brought Marksi with him, and he turned back towards the front of the train, but Brin jogged up and stopped him.

“What was that? What’s going on?”

“Just a little bug.”

“That was more than a bug! That was a level 24 Heath Worm, whatever that is.”

Pio gave Brin an impatient frown. “It is what the System says it is. A worm that lives in heath. Were you very frightened?”

“Not at all! If anything I’m annoyed that it ran away before I could get a crack at it,” said Brin.

Pio patted Brin on the shoulder. “Of course.”

“Why’d it run away?”

Pio sighed. “It’s a bug! Bugs are very dumb, and cowards. Nothing likes to hunt prey that can fight back. Dumb bug sees something it’s never seen before. Maybe a healthy snack? It comes closer, only the snack isn’t afraid. The snack looks like it wants to fight back. Dumb bug decides to go find something else to eat. Any other questions?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, but turned to leave again, with his very expressive “don’t follow me” walk.

There was nothing left to do but go back to Myra and Davi.

“Am I crazy, or was that totally normal or something?” asked Brin.

“We saw lots of monsters on our last trip,” said Davi. “I guess it’s normal.”

“What? Really?” asked Myra.

“No,” said the Duelna, guiding the wagon on which she and Myra sat. “Times are strange. In the past, I’ve driven from Blackcliff to Steamshield and back ten times in a row without seeing a single monster or bandit. In those days, it was a common sight to see solo travelers or people walking in groups of two or three. Monsters stayed away from the road and out of sight. Seeing one leap out at us on the first day out of town is certainly unusual.

After that, he didn’t find it hard at all to remember to keep his head moving. He scanned the treeline, and kept his [Monsters Sense] at the forefront of his mind.

A few minutes later, he felt a little twitch from it, but whatever set it off was far away.

“You feel that?” asked Davi.

“Yeah. Wait, you have [Monster Sense], too?” asked Brin.

“I earned it during our last trip. Kevim helped me hunt the monsters to get it,” said Davi.

Brin had earned [Monster Hunter] before System Day, so he thought the [Monster Sense] it had given him was unique to him. Apparently, only the +10% to Strength that had been folded into [Warbound] had been for getting it ahead of System Day, and everything else was part of the Achievement that anyone could get.

“I don’t have that! How close is it?” asked Myra. She was already unwinding the unbreakable string from her wrist, but Davi raised a hand to stop her.

“It’s gone now.”

“I bet it’s still hanging around nearby,” said Brin.

“They do that,” Davi answered with a knowing nod. “Pio told me that even though you rarely see beasts or monsters, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. They’ll follow wagon trains like this for miles or even days, waiting for someone to slip up. That’s why you should never go out there alone. There might be something out there waiting for someone to wander away by themselves. Predators are naturally wary of attacking groups, they want to pick off the strays.”

“That thing didn’t seem to be afraid of charging our group,” Brin pointed out.

Davi scratched his chin and then said, “Oh! I bet I know what’s going on. Predators in the wild will sometimes charge a herd of prey animals to try to get them to run away. They’re hoping they’ll leave their young and infirm behind for easy prey. That flight instinct is something we have to take a lot of care to train out of our herd back home. Now our dumb cows will just sit there and let wolves gnaw on their thick skin until Poco can get there and take them out. A few bites are preferable to the risk of sprains or broken ankles that can come from a stampede. I bet that Heath Worm was charging us to see if we’d run. It probably thought we were prey animals because we’re in a herd. Predators don’t do that.”

“You just mentioned wolves. They run in packs,” said Brin.

“That’s different,” said Davi.

Myra shook her head, still looking worried. "So they're just going to leave it alone and let it hunt us?"

Duelna let go of the reins with one hand to pat Myra's knee. "If we had more [Hunters] with us this run Pio would probably send someone after it. As things are, it's not worth the effort for a small thing like that. You saw how quick it was to flee. It won't bother us if we stay with the caravan."

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"I'd still feel better if it was gone. I bet if Zilly was with us she'd be able to find it," said Brin.

Duelna chuckled. "Don't remind me!"

"Maybe I can do something," said Davi.

"What?"

"We'll see. Just get some glass ready to shoot if it appears again."

Brin nodded and summoned a glass javelin. He could use his Skills to propel his real spear, but he didn't want that to leave his hands, and the spear in his ring was for real emergencies.

Summoning the javelin was simple enough, and then he spent some mana improving the glass. It would never be as good as something made in the shop, but it gave him something to do while they walked.

An hour later, he felt [Monster Sense] go off again. The monster was close this time, just out of sight in the trees.

Davi played a chord with his Oud, not going into a song, but just playing the simple up and down, repeatedly. The music had some magic in it, and while it wasn't directed at him, he still felt the general effect. Come, we are weak and defenseless. We don't see you. Strike while we aren't watching.

Brin began chanting his spell. “”

The Heath Worm appeared right on cue, darting in towards Brin, moving with the same eerie smooth swiftness. Brin waited until he was sure he was too close to miss and threw the javelin, shooting it with his power.

The Heath Worm jumped over it, but the javelin exploded when it hit the ground, and the beast shrieked in surprise. It turned and veered back towards the forest, but suddenly stopped as something pulled it to the ground. He saw a thin line of thread. It was wrapped around the monster and then led back to Myra.

Brin dashed forward with his spear. He pushed mana into it, and the spear seemed to come alive in his hands. When he thrust outwards, the spear felt like it was pulling him forward. He stabbed straight through the Worm so easily that he thought he'd missed again until he saw the monster wriggling and trying to free itself with a spear pinning it to the ground.

Davi stopped playing and ran over. He stomped and crushed the creature's head beneath his boot.

You have defeated: Heath Wyrm [24] Experience split between members of your party.

"Yes!" Brin cheered and gave Davi a high five.

Even Myra looked satisfied as she reeled in her thread. "Maybe I should get [Monster Hunter]. How many more do I need?"

Even the two guards in front of them looked impressed. The only person who didn't look pleased was Duelna, who just shook her head in exasperation.

Brin pulled the spear out of the monster's guts and started to clean it by rubbing against the grass. Davi's boot was splattered with guts, and he rubbed it against the grass as well to little effect. Myra scythed through a patch of grass with her thread, then wove it together into a rag. She handed it to Davi, who used it to clean off his boots. Her magic seemed to change the texture of the grass, turning it into a cloth that was nice and absorbent.

Myra had an instant-toilet-paper-anywhere Skill. [Weaver] was overpowered.

"Is there anything we should do about this?" Brin indicated the corpse.

"We can't exactly carry it with us," said Davi. "I wonder if any part of it is valuable."

"Maybe Pio will want it. Pio!" Brin turned to the new voice. It was Zerif, the [Caravan Master]. The person who could legally kill him if he put a toe out of line, and this probably counted as an entire foot of out line.

Zerif didn't look mad, though. The short man burst out laughing at the expression on Brin's face. "Oh, the things you young people get up to! Hilarious! And you've defeated a beast that was pestering us. What a wonderful service to the caravan! Do you want this carcass Pio? Pio!"

Hogg arrived with Zerif, took a glance at Brin, at the dead monster, and then at Davi. He gave a single shrug, to indicate how thoroughly he didn't care about any of this, and then walked away again, probably just impatient that the caravan had stopped moving.

"I'll leave this to you, my friend," Zerif said as Pio arrived.

Pio stomped towards them, storm clouds hanging over his head. "Unbelievable. Tell me my ears lied to me. Tell me I did not hear that thing I heard. You lured a monster to attack my caravan? You had this idea and thought, yes, this is something I will do?"

Marksi sat on Pio's shoulders, and also shook his head at Brin in disapproval.

"You too, Marksi?"

"Fool!" Pio shouted. "You think you know everything in the forest? What if it was a different monster this time, not some little bug? If you see a monster, you knock on the wagon. Like this! You understand? You need I should show you again?" Pio kept knocking at the side of the wagon until both Brin and Davi agreed that they understood the concept.

"Put my caravan in danger again and I will string you up with ropes and drag you along behind!"

Pio hefted the Heath Worm with one arm and set it on his shoulder. He glared at Davi and Brin again and then marched away.

Marksi stayed behind, but he was frowning at Brin and had his head turned away, acting upset.

"Aw, come on. Why are you mad at me?"

Marksi huffed.

"It was just a low-level monster. I wasn't in any danger," said Brin.

Marksi hissed.

"Next time I hunt a monster, I'll make sure to bring you along. But you can't blame me for this! It attacked me! I didn't have time to come get you," said Brin.

Marksi relented and stepped forward to let Brin pick him up and administer apology scritches. The wagon train started moving again soon after that.

"Hm. That was pretty mild. Pio must like you," said Duelna.

"If that's how he talks to people he likes, I'd hate to be on his bad side," said Brin.

"You would," Duelna agreed.

There weren't any more monster attacks by the time they stopped. The wagon train found a large clearing and made a circle, setting up camp in the middle. Pio had told Brin he expected everyone to work when the wagons were stopped, and he wasn't joking. Brin helped unharness animals, helped carry things to and fro for the impromptu kitchen that was set up, and helped set up tents for those who wouldn't be sleeping in wagons, like him. All the while he kept half an eye on the forest, watching for danger.

Dinner was a communal pot of stew, dished out into ceramic bowls, though there was plenty and it had lots of large chunks of meat. He sat next to Hogg on a stump near the fire. The day was still hot enough that the fire was uncomfortable, but something about camping meant that there needed to be a fire, and not just for cooking.

He took a bite, and the stew was pretty good, with a lot of spices he didn't recognize. Things you couldn't get in Hammon's Bog.

"They really don't eat too poorly, do they?" asked Brin.

"No, they really don't," said Hogg. "We're just visiting, but their whole life is like this. They take what luxuries they can get, the same as us."

What would that be like? He'd only been living like this for one day so he couldn't really say, but he thought he saw the appeal in it. Always a new horizon, always something new to see. You got to travel and see new things, but you never left home because you brought your home with you. It would be weird not to have a real home though, a solid location that stayed in one place that you could come back to.

Come to think of it, Myra might decide to live like this. Most [Weavers] did, moving from town to town, selling fabric and telling fortunes.

"I have to say, though, that Zerif is nothing like you led me to expect," said Brin.

"Oh yeah? Maybe he's exactly like how I told you and it's your eyes that are wrong."

Brin checked to make sure he wasn't near enough to hear, but Zerif was across the camp, laughing at something one of his guards was saying. "Well, ok, I mean he's high level so I'm sure he's skilled, but he's a little..."

"He seems like a smarmy little twit. A limp-wristed flatterer," finished Hogg.

"I wouldn’t call him a twit. He’s jolly!"

Hogg took a bite of his stew, seeming to consider it for a moment, before saying, "Zerif acts exactly the way he needs to act. Ship captains can also legally execute their passengers if they need to, but have you ever actually heard of that happening? They'd do anything they could to avoid letting things get to that point, especially if those passengers are part of the profit margin. And just because he’s in charge out here doesn’t mean that there won’t be consequences back in civilization if he abuses his authority. He needs to be able to get into every city and town he passes, which means that good impressions are paramount. Zerif is going to act the way that best sets his customers at ease and make the trip as pleasant as possible. Pio plays the bad guy."

"I guess I can sort of see it," said Brin.

"Let me give you a little tip. There are all sorts of people out there. Smart or dumb, good and bad, lucky and unlucky. Level doesn't always mean that much; sometimes it just means you were in the right place at the right time. But there's no one over level fifty who isn't a badass. Zerif is tolerant because he's strong, but he's definitely not the type of person you should ever deliberately cross."

"So I'm guessing I shouldn't try to kill any more monsters?"

"Huh? When did I say that? You should get as many as you can while we're out here."

Brin couldn't help but smile. "Can I start tonight?"