The day was growing long by the time that Dharen had returned to the site of the previous battle. Though the corpses of the fallen humans had grown still, he found himself eyeing them carefully as he proceeded. He had observed the area for a time before entering, careful of any Nulzan that may be in the area. However, he was slightly less concerned during the daytime than he would be under the cover of darkness.

He grimaced when he saw that the Nulzan he had defeated was no longer present. Though monsters they might be, the Nulzan apparently cared enough for their dead to retrieve them. He brightened slightly at the thought. His plan might turn out better than he had imagined.

It had been the constant clicking that had caused it to form. Though many monsters made various noises to intimidate their prey and, yes, the sinister clicking could be considered intimidating, Dharen had felt that it had another purpose.

Unlike many other monsters that he had faced, the Nulzan had been highly coordinated. While their abilities had been fearsome, and their numbers had been overwhelming, the coordination was what had stuck out to Dharen. They had communicated among one another.

He combed through the clearing, on the lookout for his quarry. After some time, as the daylight began to fade, he found it. A small piece of a Nulzan’s brain, pulped and sent flying through the air from his hammer strike. For a moment, he questioned his own sanity.

In order to steel his resolve, he examined his Blessings once more, swiftly finding the one that he had been looking for.

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Progenitor’s Blessing: Senses of The Faceless One

You have been blessed by the Faceless One with a small hint of his powers.

Following the consumption of a creature’s organic matter, receive the ability to understand its speech, mannerisms, and script.

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His mouth twisted, and he felt his gorge rising. Regardless, he pushed down the sensation. Before he could back out, he dropped the pulped brain matter into his waiting mouth and swallowed. After a moment of revulsion, Dharen calmed down.

He waited for an indication that he had been successful. There wasn’t one. For a moment, he became worried that he might have eaten the wrong pulped brain. But after thinking upon it, he realised that he had received no indication when he had consumed the dead Del’s bonedust either. He simply had to work under the belief that he had been successful.

Looking at a nearby corpse, curiosity quickly overtook him. He strolled over to the deceased warrior, placing his hand upon the soulseed that split from the skin upon the man’s forearm. With a deep concentration, he pulled at the soulseed, attempting to extract its power. Sweat beaded on his forehead at the mental strain, running into his eyes and setting them to burning; he was eventually forced to cease his efforts. Though he knew the power that a human’s Seed could hold, he was unable to extract it for himself. It simply felt empty. Soulless.

With his light running low, he climbed a nearby tree and waited. Having prepared for this eventuality, he summoned a small vial from his Spatial Ring. The Merchant district had a right to be in uproar; he had been quite busy the night before. With Softstep, his already-quiet footfalls were nigh undetectable. With Miasmic Cloak, he could blend into the shadows. And knowing that he would be unable to procure what was necessary in a legitimate manner, he had done what he needed to survive.

The vial was one of many objects that he had acquired extralegally, being far too expensive to actually purchase. While he was unable to maintain an enchantment with his low Wisdom that would allow him to see during the night as if it was day, the elixir contained within would work just as well. He downed the mixture, recoiling inwardly at the thought of so much money flowing down his throat.

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Instantly, the jungle brightened. What had before been tumultuous shadows and dark depths became something far more mundane. Even so, Dharen had no illusions that the jungle was a safe place. Discounting the Nulzan, there were various dangers such as roaming packs of Ilcrest or even the enormous winged snake-creature that had made its home in the canopy. He did not wish to encounter it again.

With the aid of the elixir, he traveled carefully through the jungle. Every so often, a brief noise would force him to slow his pace and hide within his cloak of shadows. Though he was not one to shy from a fight entirely, he had another objective.

It was a flash of light that finally gave him the opportunity that he had been awaiting. Shaking his head at the foolishness of an Alliance that chose to foray into the jungle during the nighttime, he set off. He jumped from branch to branch soundlessly, wary of attracting unwelcome attention. Eventually, he reached his destination, only to see a group back out through the teleporter once more, beset by the Nulzan. Unlike how Dharen had seen previously, this Alliance party managed to escape without losing anyone.

Their prey escaped, the Nulzan milled about for a moment, making various clicking noises at one another. Dharen strained his ears, but he was too far away to be able to make out more than slight noises. He needed to be closer to hear.

Just as he was about to move in nearer to eavesdrop, the group of Nulzan blurred as they dashed away. Had he been without the aid of the elixir, they would have been lost within the darkness.

Instead, he was able to track their path through the jungle as if they ran about in the daylight. He followed from behind, careful to avoid alerting them to his presence. After a time, they arrived at a shocking sight: a small village within the jungle, as primitive as it was.

Not a human village, that was clear. It lay high up in the treetops, far from the soil. Dharen looked down, and knew that even his Vitality would be hard-pressed to protect him from a fall from such a height. Small bridges connected the majestic Skywoods, where the Nulzan had scored out alcoves to house themselves. He could make out faint singes and burn marks in various locations, presumably the result of the raid that had forced the tribe into a clustered Awakening.

His quarry approached the strange village, making clicking noises that Dharen understood to be greetings to the nearby Nulzan on watch. Dharen practiced to himself, softly clicking his tongue in a brutish imitation of the creatures. Not for the first time, he lamented that his Blessing did not allow him to speak the language of the creatures that he partially consumed; it only allowed him understanding. Still, that understanding was enough for him to adapt a rudimentary speech. It was as if he knew the language, but could not perfectly form the sounds themselves. Still, it should be enough.

He moved a ways into the distance and returned to the ground. Quietly, Dharen dug through the soil, his high strength allowing him to create a sizable hole easily with his hands alone. Once it had been widened to his liking, he removed his pack from his shoulders and placed it inside. Though he had one cubic meter of space in his Spatial Ring, he had managed to fill most of it during the previous night, leaving him unable to conveniently store all of his things. For now, a burial would have to suffice. He covered the pack with soil, smoothing it out before hiding the evidence.

Should things truly go awry, he would have to run, and unfortunately the awkwardly cumbersome pack might slow him down. He’d simply have to return for it during the daylight hours should the need arise. While it would be difficult, if he broke enough distance and tread carefully, he would still be able to grow his strength alone in the jungle. Given enough time, he could return to the City strong enough to act.

He grimaced at the thought. Still, he would prefer to not have to do that. It would be far slower than working among allies.

Nicking a nearby tree’s surface lightly in a recognizable pattern to help him find the pack once again, Dharen climbed once more. He resumed his watch of the Nulzan tribe, listening and mentally practicing his communication. He also noted the various mannerisms that could be used to portray certain ideas, keeping them in mind.

Eventually, Dharen found himself approaching the village while cursing his foolhardiness. He was deathly aware that only 48 hours prior, he had been running for his life from these same monsters. Still, he continued on. Duende had a veritable army; he would need his own.

One that he could be sure wasn’t infiltrated by Duende’s influence.

After all, surely they would have no need for duplicity. If they wanted to kill him, they would simply attack him - in which case he would run. As difficult as it had been, he knew from his recent experience that he was fast enough to make his escape. Either way, it was preferable to the dagger in his sleep that he might receive while under the protection of a human Alliance.

He walked across a nearby branch, no longer employing any form of stealth. He was quickly noticed. A pair of Nulzan appeared in front of him, short daggers held in their upper arms and lower arm claws bared.

Dharen looked at them, and held his arms in the manner that communicated friendliness. As well as he could anyway, considering he only had two arms and the Nulzan had four. He clicked his tongue in the speech of the Nulzan, hoping that he spoke correctly.

“No kill, only speak.”

Dharen cursed inwardly at his garbled accent.