Knob’s skills turned out to be invaluable against the numerous brush adders as the small group traversed the mangrove roots. His light tendrils were able to spread out in all directions and uncover the hidden serpents within their woody hiding spots. It was clearly paying off for Knob as his power level quickly advanced, and Barry was able to watch Knob progress up the manipulation rankings with impressive speed. Luckily manipulation was the least popular skill, so once Barry knew that Knob had a manipulation level of fourteen it was easy to track him on the ladder which provided live updates. Barry also kept a close eye on the other stats on the ladder, and seeing the progress of others both terrified and motivated him. Every time one of the top ten power level initiates moved further ahead Barry felt like he needed to push himself even more.

Given Knob was handling all the beasts Barry decided to focus on improving his illusion abilities through trial and error. He managed to increase the distance he could control his clone to up to around forty metres, and he built up his abilities with his illusion chain to the point that he could form a massive three-metre-long chain if desired. If the chain was real, it would likely be completely impractical, but as an illusion he thought it might have some effective uses and provided the element of surprise. All his practice eventually rewarded him with another magic and power level, bringing them in line with his item level at nine. This put him in front of Tuti for the first time in terms of power level as she was still stuck at level eight, but Barry kept that secret to himself. Still somewhat rattled from his initial interaction with Knob he decided to throw his two points into willpower, coincidentally also bringing it to level nine, and pushing him into the top one hundred in the skill for the first time.

Even Tuti was starting to appreciate Knobs skills and her initial unease was slowly fading away. Swirly got along well with Knob, occasionally surprising the awkward man by jumping onto his hunched back or shoulder before immediately bounding back off. Knob for his part would spin around and swing his arm in feigned annoyance. It had basically become a little game the two played to break the monotony of forest hiking and monster killing. Barry had seen the occasional smile on Knob’s face although the man tried his best to hide his enjoyment, and he wondered if the whole concept of fun was a foreign thing to Knob.

After finally exiting the mangroves Barry and his group found themselves in another section of forest containing pine trees spread out at oddly specific intervals, like they were in some sort of plantation. The trees were each exactly ten paces apart and all the exact same height. They had greyish-brown, straight trunks that slowly tapered towards their peaks around ten metres high, with rows of branches and spiked green leaves heading out in all directions evenly. This was the first section of forest that any of them had passed through felt more manmade than natural. However, as strange as this place was, what was capturing the attention of Barry and the others most was the smoke billowing up above the treetops, not too far away.

“There must be people up there,” Tuti whispered.

“I think you’re right,” Barry replied quietly as he instinctively hunched down.

Knob didn’t say a thing but began shuffling his fingers awkwardly whilst Swirly sat bolt upright on Tuti’s shoulders, eyes wide and ears erect.

“What should we do? It’s right in the direction of the purple light, if we want to keep moving forward we will have to go through there or make a wide detour,” Tuti said.

Barry tilted his head to the side in thought, he hated that the simple act of running into other people was such a concerning experience, but he understood that this world was nothing like his old one, and making assumptions about others could cost you your life.

“We should try and scout it out a bit so we know what kind of group it is, but most likely we will just go around them.” Barry finally decided.

“Fine,” replied Tuti as Knob just nodded his head in approval, beads of nervous sweat already forming on his brow.

The group carefully and quietly snuck forward towards the source of the smoke by moving between the pine trees for cover. It didn’t take long for them to start to be able to detect people talking, and Barry was surprised to hear so many different voices. They could also hear sawing, hammering and other construction noises which was unexpected. A few moments later and a bit more sneaking forward and they caught a glimpse of the scene in front of them. The first thing they noticed was a group of people of varying races carrying pine logs from recently felled trees in the direction Barry was currently facing. There were lizard men, humans, orcs and some other race Barry had never seen before that after a quick inspection he realised was called a possant which looked like a bulky, overgrown, bipedal possum creature. But more surprising was the fact that they were all working together on what looked to be some sort of fledgling village. There was a collection of completed and half-built homes, a perimeter wall, and a large, strange bonfire. Barry couldn’t believe it, only around eight days in and these people had already begun to set up a proper camp. It was equal parts impressive and confusing as they still miles from the target purple light in the distance. However, all these thoughts would have to wait as they were far too close to this group for comfort, and it was clear that this clans’ numbers far exceeded Barry’s own group.

“I don’t like this, let’s get out of here,” uttered Tuti from just behind him.

Barry nodded in agreement and signalled to the others to back away, which they did with care not to snap a twig or rustle a fallen leaf. Leading his group, Barry began to turn just as a familiar yet strange prickling sensation rushed through his body, someone had just inspected him. He spun his head around and froze as he saw a group of four people standing only ten or so metres behind them. Barry didn’t even have time to comprehend how exactly this group had managed to sneak up on them so easily before the woman in the front spoke.

“Well hello there, welcome to our humble village.”

The woman in the front was human, a level six perception specialist, holding a bow. She had dark skin and deep brown eyes. She was tall and thin, yet oddly muscular, with short curly black hair and a beautiful yet serious face. Her words may have seemed friendly, but Barry got the impression that it was more of an act than a genuine comment. To her left was a level five, strength specialising, possant man. He was short and stocky, standing approximately four feet tall, with dark brown fur. He had large, blue eyes that were the size of Barry’s clenched fist, each surrounded by a white circle of fur to make them stand out even further. He had a wide, down-curved mouth, two huge round ears on either side of his head and a blank expression on his face. To the woman’s right were two lizard men both level four, not dissimilar in appearance to the group Barry and Tuti had recently fought, although thankfully Draco was not one of them. Barry glanced at Tuti who was standing rigidly with clenched fists and then at Knob, who looked so nervous it was like he wanted to world to swallow him up.

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“Hi, I’m Barry and this is my group. Please excuse our rudeness, we mean no harm. We were curious as to what all the commotion was around here, and intrigue got the better of us. We were just heading off,” Barry said.

“Hi Barry, my name is Breya. There is no need to leave in such a hurry. As you can see from our many makeups, we are quite the inclusive community, and we would love it if you came and met our of our esteemed leader who has made this place possible,” Breya declared.

“Thank you so much for the offer, but my group and I have other plans,” Barry explained.

“That is such a shame. It would be quite rude to slip away without seeing what we can offer here,” Breya continued.

“I feel terrible, but we really must be off,” Barry implored as he started to walk to the side away from both the village and Breya.

“Unfortunately, I must insist that you come meet our leader, it is policy around here,” Breya urged, as the men around her stepped apart slightly to further block Barry’s escape, at the same time as a few more people appeared to their side and some of the workers from before started to make their way towards them from behind.

They were trapped, outnumbered and in quite the predicament, and it was clear that Breya was telling him what to do, not asking. With a quick concerned glance at Tuti and Knob, and not wanting to risk starting an unnecessary conflict.

Barry reluctantly turned back to Breya and smiled sheepishly, “A quick hello can’t hurt. We wouldn’t want to be rude after all.”

Barry and his group were escorted into the budding village by Breya and a group of six other people who acted more like guards than a welcoming party. Although she smiled and spoke in a friendly manner, Barry couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable around this woman. There was something forced and unnatural about her demeanour. They walked past the wall, as well as many stick and stone huts. Each cone shaped hut was around five metres in diameter and had clay walls with a wooden roof. The homes were small and basic by old world standards, but luxurious compared to what Barry had been using as a place to rest so far in the training grounds. There were dozens of people, generally ranging between level three and level six, all working in some capacity or another. There were people building huts, some repairing garments, some cooking and others attempting to shape and forge tools. Most of the work was being done by hand, but a decent amount of people were using their magical abilities to aid them in completing their tasks, such as a vixant builder who was able to summon and mould small amounts of earth to form the walls of the huts. In total there were at least three fully finished huts and another seven unfinished ones. It appeared on surface level to be a flourishing community. However, Barry couldn’t shake the feeling that something was a bit off. On the one hand it was impressive that someone had managed to connect all these different individuals from so many different races, but it was also suspicious. For a start, there were lizard men happily working with humans and other species, a far cry from the attitudes of the previous lizard men Barry and Tuti had encountered. However, despite his uncertainties, Barry felt he could do nothing but bite his tongue and stay alert for the moment. Tuti did not have the same reservations as she whispered into Barry’s ears,

“There’s something weird about this place, it feels icky, and that woman is creepy!” Barry grimaced, worried that Breya would have heard her comments, giving Tuti an understanding and agreeing look as they continued walking.

It didn’t take them long to reach the centre of the village to a building much larger than the rest. It was the same simple design as the other huts but on a much larger scale, at least triple the radius and double the height. Their group was ushered into the large open doorway, and it took a moment for Barry’s eyes to adjust to the darker room in front of him. Once they did Barry was able to make out the figure of a large man sitting on an even larger chair in the centre of the room. As his vision cleared Barry could see that the man was in fact an orc. The orc was wearing a flowing brown cloak and sat bolt upright on the throne-like chair. In his right hand he held a long, glowing blue staff that passively sent out glistening sparkles of light into the air around them. The orcs eyes were red and unfocussed, as if they stared straight past Barry and his group towards some unseen object in the distance. From his bottom lip were two moderate sized teeth that protruded up and out at an angle away from the man’s mouth. Instantly Barry activated his inspection skill to see exactly what they were up against.

Inspection:

Race: Orc

Level: 5

Stat: Mana

“Welcome fellow initiates,” the orc boomed, cutting through the silence. “I am Yeldrim, leader and founder of this community.”

Barry stepped forward in response, “My name is Barry, this is Tuti and Knob. Oh, and this is Swirly,” he said nodding in the ape’s direction. “It’s quite impressive that you’ve been able to put all this together so quickly,” Barry continued.

“Many hands make light work. We are a community here; all are welcome. In fact, why don’t you stay?” Yeldrim added.

Barry frowned internally at the comments. This whole thing was just too weird. How did so many people form a community like this so quickly and how was the leader only level five. Plus, like Breya, this Yeldrim’s words seemed hollow somehow, almost like they’d been rehearsed. It was unnatural.

“Thank you for the offer, but we are quite happy in our little nomadic group,” Barry replied.

Yeldrim continued to look straight through Barry with his emotionless expression as he spoke, “This training grounds is a dangerous place, but there is safety in numbers. We have shelter, food, and community. I think you should reconsider your decision.”

Barry opened his mouth to politely refuse again but surprisingly Tuti cut in before he could, “Barry, I’ve been thinking, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to stay here.”

Barry was taken aback by the comments, it seemed so out of character for her. Just a few moments ago she had wanted to leave this place because it gave her the creeps, and now she wanted to stay?

“Tuti, are you serious?” Barry exclaimed in shock.

Frazzled, Barry looked across at Knob who just glanced away whilst shaking his head.

“I’ll take that as a no from him,” Barry thought as he again turned his attention to Tuti. “Tuti, are you being serious, you really want to stay?” he asked.

“Yes, I think I’ll stay, I’m tired of all the fighting, it seems safe here,” she replied in monotone.

“What on earth is going on, this isn’t like Tuti at all,” Barry thought.

But what could he do? He had stupidly walked right into the heart of this village in the hopes of avoiding an unnecessary fight, to then start something now would be idiotic, and probably suicidal. Plus, what would he be fighting, he couldn’t force Tuti to leave if she didn’t want to, and no one had been aggressive towards them.

“And what of you two?” Yeldrim asked, interrupting Barry’s thoughts.

“Uhh no, thank you but no. Please don’t take offense but I’m not about to join a random group five minutes after meeting them,” Barry answered.

Although in his mind Barry understood how contradictive that statement was given he’d basically done that twice when joining with Tuti and Knob. He thought he heard a grunt of annoyance as he declined the offer once more, but it didn’t seem to be coming from Yeldrim, it seemed more distant. But Barry quickly moved on as he looked at Tuti one last time.

“Tuti, are you really going to just split up our group like that after all we’ve been through?”

“Yes, this place is nice,” she replied cooly.

With that Barry and Knob turned around glumly and started to walk out the door and out of the village, leaving Tuti and Swirly behind.

Barry had kept alert as he and Knob left the strange village, ever wary of an attack or ambush, but nothing happened. Tuti didn’t even walk out to wave goodbye as they exited, she remained in that weird hut with that weird orc and weird villagers. Barry and Knob left in the same direction as they had originally come and kept walking until Barry was sure they hadn’t been followed and they were well clear of any potential eavesdroppers.

Turning to Knob, Barry exclaimed “What the hell just happened? Please tell me you found that whole thing as fucked up as I did? I just can’t believe Tuti would have left us like that.”

Knob stared at Barry with hardened eyes and spoke, “Manipulation.”

“What?” Barry asked.

“She was under the effects of someone’s manipulation… someone strong,” Knob shuddered.