Monster Sense!
Immediately, Joe felt a feedback of some kind, a seeming combination of his sense of touch, hearing, and to a lesser extent of sight. The feedback seemed incredibly strange, and Joe struggled with it for a bit, simply throwing arrows out into the massive field of white that seemed to pervade this new sense before he came to grips with the feeling. He was able to sense the direction of a monster in a general direction, and notice its form? Is it a form… the physical presence of it? When I can see it?
It was a strange sense of overlay. A spotlight… or a laser dot… maybe? It lit up the monster to be somehow more obvious in his sight. As he tried to understand a bit more, he realized there was a sense of a monster below to his right, but he couldn’t… It’s below the wall? Past my line of sight! He quickly took several steps forward until the wall slid past his line of sight and the monster came into view. Several soldiers at the base of the wall stepped forward to beat back at the monster, but none seemed hurt yet, and Joe sighed in relief. Seems like it’s actually in my neighbor’s area of defense… but… Joe didn’t wait and let the arrow fly, striking the monster and causing it to immediately curl up in agony before dying. When it did so, the army men below raised a cheer but Joe was already stepping back to his arrow bucket and continuing to fire.
The monster sense seemed to remain on for a few moments. Maybe five seconds? How much… Joe initiated again. Monster sense. The skill flashed outward again, and this time Joe noticed the sense radiate outwards. Huh… I can see it… so… about the speed of sound? Maybe? A sound based skill that interacts with my skin to let me know direction and with my eyes to orient it in space? Pretty… nifty… but… Joe cut his distraction off immediately and put that exploration into the ‘learn later’ category. Regardless, Joe found the two new skills fascinating and struggled to not be distracted. After a few moments, however he was able to fall back into his pattern again, this time flashing out a monster sense every dozen seconds or so while also taking his time to study a new monster every once in a while to begin filling up his monster guide. Despite his efforts, questions, plans, and explorations for these new skills rapidly filled up his mental to-do list.
Joe called for arrow bucket refills another couple of times as darkness truly settled, and he actually became a bit angered when he looked down to find his arrow bucket almost empty and only a couple arrows left.
“Arrows! Now!” Joe growled out angrily, but Gwenvair’s reply froze his anger.
“That is all, Joe. There is no more.”
Joe looked down, finding the bucket empty, and sighed. Only six left. This… Joe thought furiously, wondering what to do next even as he brought up the last of the arrows and fired them, his mana points still usefully holding mana, although they were all now well below the quarter mark. The last arrow flew, and Joe quickly looked around, turning to the Matriarch first to warn her of his lack of defenses. When he looked to his left, he blinked in surprise when he saw the Matriarch was gone. He looked the other way and found the person on his other side also replaced by someone else. When he turned to look behind him, he saw another group, an obvious leader with a group of apprentices or pages clustered around her. Huh… change of shift?
“Are you my replacement?” Joe asked politely, if with a bit of exhaustion.
“Yes, I am, great Eccentric,” the woman replied quite politely with a bow.
Joe shook his head, “No need for the bowing. Too many monsters right now. Please take the wall, if you will.”
“Immediately, Eccentric.”
Joe sighed and waved her to the front even as he began walking down steps. He looked back, then blinked tiredly as he realized he’d left behind the bucket and stools. He turned and picked up all three exhaustedly before moving back down the stairs before dropping them out of the way on the lower wall level. He collapsed on the stairs next to the other four and smiled.
“Well… that was tiring.”
Gwenvair giggled brightly even as Kilniara and Garnedell both smiled with pride.
“But you still completed it, Joe,” Garnedell gushed with a bit of hero worship.
Joe offered a single snort as laughter, “Yeah… but I’m going to sleep well tonight!”
Everyone else nodded, the other four offering small laughter for a poor joke. They stayed like this in silence for a few moments before Joe sighed deeply and stood.
“Well... it keeps going tomorrow, right?” Joe asked Gwenvair as he glanced at her.
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“Yes, it should.”
“How long is a normal tide?”
“Three days is the shortest, the longest we have had is five days, although that only happened once.”
Joe kept his mouth shut and only nodded, not wanting to invoke Murphy’s law with an offhand comment and simply nodded. Really hope it’s not the latter!
All six walked down the stairs, the other four chatting excitedly while Joe walked doggedly. They headed back through the main area with Gwenvair leading the way. Soon, she veered off to another path and Joe interjected in the conversation.
“Hmm… this is not the way home. Where are we going?”
“My mother wished to offer you a place to rest here.”
Joe nodded, “That’s smart… would be good for while the tide’s going on, but I need more arrows. I’ll need to go back into the city and retrieve what I ordered.”
Gwenvair quickly nodded, “Of course. We will send some servants to retrieve as many as possible in the morning.”
Joe nodded, “I’m going to probably need double for tomorrow. We probably need to warn the woodworkers. And I’ll need that for every day of the monster tide. We should…”
Gwenvair interrupted him, “We will tell them. You need to rest and recover. They will build until the final day.”
Joe smiled, nodding his head, “Tell them I will pay for it all, even if the last day is not a monster tide, I will pay until the last day, but after I need no more. They will have the same pay as before.”
Joe realized that he hadn’t really explained what was important for a good arrow.
“Oh… uh… they must be absolutely straight! I cannot have an arrow that is bent or warped. Please check to make sure they are so, if possible. Just take an arrow,” Joe interrupted his speaking to pull and arrow out and then glanced around the courtyard they were now in until he found what he hoped was a flat surface before continuing.
“Find something flat… as flat as possible. If you take the arrow and put it on the flat surface, you can roll it back and forth and look at it carefully to see if it is flat! Make sure the arrowhead is off the end… only the shaft should be tested. Roll it and look carefully to see if it is flat. Then check the fletching and make sure the feathers are well attached. Um… I think that is all?”
Gwenvair nodded and laughed, “We’ll make sure. Get rest!”
Joe smiled, very grateful, “Thank you! I really need rest.”
The other four waved at Joe as he took off, slipping into a room before he closed it quietly behind him. The room was spacious, but what interested him more was the hot bath already poured for him. He cleaned himself quickly and threw himself into bed, exhausted. The bed was too tempting for him to lounge in the hot water. His body was fine, although a bit well used from the rapid fire for the last few hours, but it was the headache Joe found more exhausting. He fell asleep quickly although he made sure to diligently power level his job changing skills once again.
* * *
Gwenvair watched as Joe left for his room, exhaustion obvious in his entire being. She turned to the healer, Chulnan, and spoke.
“As the eccentric’s, please find yourself any room available.”
The healer quickly bowed his head, “My thanks, First in Line for Matriarch.”
Gwenvair bowed her head slightly, and the healer took it as his dismissal, as was only appropriate and slipped from the room. She followed him with her eyes before finally turning back, her eyes flicking back to where Joe had left the room, hoping to catch a last glimpse of him.
He’d already left, and while Gwenvair sighed at the loss, she could only remember in awe as he experienced the exhaustion without it crippling him. She shivered then felt Kilniara sidle into her side, her own body shivering. They glanced at each other and then began giggling, their laughter growing even as they collapsed into each other’s arms. The two didn’t stay outside, Kilniara heading to her room and Gwenvair joining her there.
“How could he fight for so long!?”
Gwenvair laughed but agreed, “I have seen others endure for quite a long time, but none so long as he has and he was still able to endure past his endurance. Even then, he was able to walk home without help.”
Kilniara shivered, “You should see him when he exercises in the morning.”
Gwenvair stared at him, “I know he exercised and pushed beyond his system endurance. Was it… so much?”
Kilniara grinned, “We exercise past system endurance several times each morning. We do so several times and rest between each. Joe does not rest, he spends the entire time exercising much more strongly than we do while helping or training us. Then we immediately leave for the rest of the day.”
Gwenvair breathed, “I can believe it! He was… unending.”
The two fell silent after that for a moment, simply in the moment. The moment stretched until Kilniara finally sighed deeply. She glanced to Gwenvair, then smiled slyly.
“Do you wish to join me this evening?”
Gwenvair looked at her with some surprise, “You would accept me?”
Kilniara laughed, “Of course. It is wise for us to come together.”
Gwenvair smiled at that.
“Today… what Joe did… I knew he was powerful, but to stall the entire line!”
Gwenvair returned Kilniara’s glee, “And fight the entire day and even evening!”
Kilniara shivered, “But… why … Why did he wait to unleash his power until the end?”
Gwenvair breathed deeply at that before shrugging, “I… I do not know. His earlier strikes were terrifying. I sensed nothing, even as he mesmerized the monsters to fight amongst themselves. Nor did I sense anything when the monsters became immune to his mesmer spell. I… do not understand… why he would choose to infuse his attacks at the end.”
Kilniara shook, “They were… so strong. I know that one can infuse strikes… but his were so…”
Gwenvair nodded, “And a range infusion as well!! I thought that impossible!”
The thought made her giddy with excitement, then she quickly sobered, before grimacing slightly. This... is dangerous... Kilniara also fell silent, saying nothing but was excited. Neither were awkward as they simply enjoyed one another’s presence. The silence remained for several moments before both sighed then looked at each other. Kilniara began giggling loudly and Gwenvair forced herself to relax and joined with Kilniara in her joy, falling onto the bed. The laughter continued until they calmed, breathless, but then the two were once again excitedly speaking with one another. The conversation continued with good humor and laughter long into the night.
* * *