“Well, since we all agree on the strategy, I think we all deserve a little reward.” Adam said before touching Sun Bearer and having the golden platform atop the campfire to extend small dining plates upon which to place the fried meat for his new companions to enjoy.
Unused to consuming Nightmare meat, they were a bit hesitant, but when Adam began wolfing it down, that hesitation dropped somewhat.
The first to try it was Jacob, who had the best resistance out of the four of them as a Shielder.
After he tried it, Jacob did not find any apparent differences between normal meat and Nightmare meat. No, after chewing it somewhat more, he corrected his internal assessment. There was indeed a difference in the form of two unknown flavors that canceled each other out, thus preventing any bad consequences from happening thanks to the cooking method.
“It's not bad.” Jacob informed his team and the cook. “Could use some spice.” That said, his right hand went for the little pouch on his belt, and from its insides, he took out another pouch that looked to be the same size as the one on his belt.
After he unwinded the little knot tying the little pouch, he pinched a bit of the tiny white crystal and powdered it on the meat. All while he was doing it, from the corner of his eye, he saw the boy, now known as Adam, stare at the salt in his hand as if it were the juice of life.
Even the jaw had slowed down on its chewing as his whole attention was on the pouch and its contents.
“Want some?” Jacob asked as he offered the boy the pouch full of salt.
The GULP echoing was loud enough for all to hear.
Right after that, Adam’s tongue began to lick his lips, however, he did not reply immediately. Instead, he took his eyes away from the goodies and stared at his probable future but temporary leader. “Why did you not say anything when I asked about it?”
“We were still strangers at that point.” Jacob replied. His face did not betray a hint of schadenfreude at the boy’s question.
“And now we friendly enough to share a bit?” Adam inquired.
“Exactly.”
“Alright. I will buy the excuse.” Adam said before urgently grabbing for the pouch. Without any hesitation, his right thumb and forefinger pinched a bit of the white crystals before sprinkling it over the meat. The moment it was done and the pouch returned, Adam wolfed down a chunk of meat before chewing and swirling it around his tongue so that every bit of it enjoyed the newest taste added to it.
GULP
“Ugh… How I missed that.” Adam voiced out after swallowing down. “Would have been better if it was present during the frying, but I will forgive you for that.”
Ignoring Adam’s words for the moment and seeing their Boss indifferently eating more meat, it was clear that the meat was safe for consumption, so they too took out their spices from their pouches before eating.
Sharing a meal was quite the harmony-inducing ceremony between strangers.
It was a tradition that began an eternity ago when the First of the First of Men were still the leaders of Men and hence shared their hard-earned fruits of labor with Men and their lesser and smaller cousins, the humans.
Luckily, it still held enough sway in this day and in this age.
At least for the most part, Adam thought before ignoring it and using the flavor enhancer to eat everything available. Then, seeing that there was enough excess, a tiny little plea from him and that excess was used to enhance the flavor even further during the cooking process.
In the end, Jacob, Paul, Evelyn, and Martin watched Adam wolf down more and more meat as if there was no bottom pit inside his stomach.
“Are you alright with eating that much?” Paul suddenly wondered. “You do remember that we will be fighting soon enough?”
Chewing and swallowing, Adam replied. “Don't worry, I am still a growing Man. I can easily digest all this, especially since it's meat.”
“Alright. Then, at least let me remind you that we are somewhat on a timetable.” Paul elaborated. “While the death of the Moon Wolf saved us some time, our hunting side trip will offset that gained time. So if we want to finish everything before Dawn comes, we should be going soon enough.”
“I see... No problem with me.” Adam noted. “Though, it is a bit of a shame to leave all that meat and hide behind. Mon… I mean, Second Ranked Nightmare hide is quite durable.” Then, he pointed at the black-furred leather outfit he wore, though he refrained from saying the method of acquisition. “What you see me wear belonged to the same category before falling prey to me.”
Reminded of something, Martin was about to ask the boy something, only to be interpreted by Adam.
“Let me finish this, and we can move on.”
Shaking his head, he kept his mouth shut for the moment, but Martin was sure that, at one point, he would ask what kind of Second Ranked Nightmares the boy known as Adam had come across.
After all, specific Nightmares Spirit Crystals were desired more than others.
Once everything went down his gullet, Adam grabbed Sun Bearer, withdrew the Shroud infused into him, and subsequently shaped it into a Hard Light bubble and plate on which to cook and dine.
As such, the golden little show around the campfire vanished.
Instead, Adam picked up his backpack, wore it on his back, and waited.
“Adventurers first.” Adam said before his head and shoulders bowed slightly.
Ignoring it, Jacob centered his gaze on Paul. “Paul, we'll make a run for the next territory since there is no fear of catching anybody's attention for the moment.”
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Not saying anything, Paul instantly centered his gaze on the direction needed and began a light jog.
Right after, it was Jacob’s turn, only for Evelyn to follow right behind him.
The last to start was Martin.
“Keep up, kid.” He said before running after his companions.
Adam shrugged his shoulders at the provocation, deployed his Shroud just enough to envelop his body from all sides, and followed them. However, the moment a few moments passed, Martin looked back, and his eyes widened because Adam was not running after them.
Just as he was about to open his mouth and ask how he was doing it, Martin saw the grin on Adam’s face and simply decided to keep his mouth shut further. Still, from time to time, he could not stop himself from looking back and staring at the kid behind him moving weirdly yet gliding effortlessly on the ground as if it were ice and not rough terrain.
In the end, after about five minutes, he just could not contain his curiosity. He slowed down for a moment to not have to shout.
“How?”
“The question is not so much of how I am doing it, but how much will you understand?” Adam replied while directly staring at Martin’s brown eyes. Yet, contrary to how the relayed information could be interpreted, Martin felt no condescending sensations sent his way.
No, there was a genuine lack of understanding between them, and as much as Martin wanted to shout out a loud and clear TRY ME, he knew it would be useless. Without achieving the third stage of his Sworder Methodology, it would be in vain even if he heard it.
Seeing the slight drop of the shoulders, if not the dejected face, Adam could already imagine the answer. Still, despite how the man had behaved to him earlier, Adam refrained from hurting the man’s pride. It was easy to go down that lane and ruin a man’s future entirely.
No, Adam simply felt no actual reason to punish Martin that hard.
Nevertheless, another reason was that he did not understand how the man’s Methodology worked. Regardless of how the Methodology worked, even if he knew, Adam was pretty sure that while Martin was not a true beginner, he was still at the beginning stages.
“How about this?” Adam stated. “If we are still on friendly terms by the time you are able to do what I am, I will teach you the Inverse MoonWalk Technique. Or at least I will try to teach you.”
“What?… Really?” Martin instantly and unconsciously replied. “Wait. Are you sure you can do that?”
“Yes!” Adam dismissed the possibility of somebody denying him the sharing. “Don't worry about it. It's nothing special, well that special. It's just an application of a few Profound Laws and their interactions. In truth, I am not employing the technique either. I am just abusing the natural properties of my Methodology to mimic said technique. Even then, I can barely do it at this speed. Any faster? And my face will simply smack into something, much less use it in combat.”
Many words had been sent Martin’s way, but he simply ignored them in favor of focusing on the first one and shouted just loud enough for the others to hear him, turning their heads for a second before Jacob yelled in turn.
“Martin.” Jacob’s voice echoed. “Stop bothering the kid, or you'll be left behind.”
“Yes, Boos!”
Overall, because of the increased size of the ancient fairytale-like giant forest and the terrain, it took them about half an hour of constant running to arrive at the boundary of the desired territory.
At that point, the group of four Adventurers and Adam had to consider caution over the expedience of the traveling method.
“Pay attention from this point on.” Jacob ordered. “Kid, you'll be in the middle with Paul and Evelyn. The first enemy we see, I want you to use that ranged option of your spear.”
“Alright.”
“Martin, you're the last one, as usual.” That said, Jacob took the lead from that point on.
Occasionally, Paul would interject for a better pathing, but overall, no enemy got sighted in the first ten minutes of their trek into the Bizards' territory. However, when the first Bizard, or Raptor as Adam knew it, appeared, an uncharged Radiant Bolt from Sun Bearer effortlessly slayed the charging Nightmare with a direct black on the head.
Watching the Bizard smoke away, the group of Adventurers stared at Adam, no, at Sun Bearer.
As if realizing where their thoughts led, Adam spoke up. “It looks powerful on the Nightmare Spawn, I think you referred to them as, but there is a marked difference between hitting them directly on the head and somewhere else. At the same time, Second Ranked Nightmares have remarkable Profound Energy Intrusion Resistance.” Then, affirming it even more, Adam explained. “Trust me, I've tested it. Unless I charge it for about thirty seconds and hit them somewhere vulnerable, it does not do nearly as much damage as you expect it to.”
“Maybe, but that is still a powerful ranged option.” Paul, the Ranger, said while gripping his wooden bow resting on his back.
“It is.” Adam nodded before firing another bolt at a random patch of dirt. “Do you see the difference?” He asked the only other ranged damage dealer in the group.
“Ah… It lacks the penetrative power?”
“Yes. The nature of a Radiant Bolt is Light to give it its shape, Force to give it the function of movement, and containment of the last ingredient, Heat. Lots of Heat.” Adam explained, and the Adventures listened because it was not every day that the inner workings of Profound Rules got explained. “As such, the moment the Radiant Bolt touches the target, the bolt explodes and radiates the stored head around the impact, burning that which it hits and which it can.”
“Useful.” Jacob commented before asking a follow-up question. “Can it be used to soften the armor as well?”
Blinking a few times, Adam instantly realized where the Shielder’s thoughts flowed. “If I manage the target in the first place? It depends on the quality of the armor, with the softening effect depending on the charge. Though, at some point, there will be diminishing returns since it would just not be worth the effort anymore.”
That said, Adam refrained from explaining the true depths of Sun Bearer’s capabilities.
“Still, useful to know.” Jacob added. “I've seen enough. Let's move on.”
In the end, Adam did not produce another Radiant Bolt because that ran contrary to the Adventures' plans of earning some rewards for themselves, especially Martin and Evelyn, by killing the Razor-Clawed Bizard.
However, unlike the Moon wolves, these did not run around in huge packs. Instead, they only ever traveled in groups of three to five. As such, every encounter was skillfully taken care of, with Jacob as the Shielder killing none and Paul only occasionally doing the deed with his sword when one went for him.
That being the case, the kills went to Martin and Evelyn, with Adam not claiming any on the simple excuse that he currently did not need more Pure Essence Strands.
Instead, he simply disabled them.
Regardless of whether the Adventurers believed him or not, there was bound to come a time when they would reach their main goal, the Second Ranked Nightmare.
Truly, when one watched it from a distance, one had to admit that it was huge indeed, but that would be its downfall as well.
“Should we search for a better area, or should I just do it?” Adam asked as he remembered the plan they had concocted together.
Jacob and Paul carefully observed the location before simply choosing to accept things as they were, instead of seeking perfection.
“Go.” Jacon finally agreed.
Seeing the nod, Adam left his backpack on the ground and settled Sun Bearer on his back. An application of the innate Force Aspect within the Shroud, the spear remained still as if glued to Adam's back. That done, he instantly jumped into the air to grab on the rough bark of the giant tree by which the group hid and began climbing it.
He stopped on the way up multiple times to evaluate the height he'd need for the Monster assassination attempt.
Then, when he was right where he felt he needed to be, Sun Bearer returned to his hands while the Shroud kept Adam glued on the rough bark to hold him still.
Once done, he stared at the Adventurers at the bottom and nodded.