Chapter 50: Shades of Grey
Somewhat predictably, I ended up slumped in my chair inside the carriage, completely failing to fall asleep. I wasn’t that tired, as whilst the night time skirmish had been intense, it had also been very brief. Even the backlash from Last Stand had faded after digging into some emergency rations, so as it stood, my body simply wasn’t feeling all that sleepy, which left me awake enough to do some thinking. Pumpkin wasn’t making it any easier, having followed me back to the carriage and curled himself up around my neck, as per usual. He wasn’t falling asleep either, and clearly wanted to stay outside, given how he was actively resisting my attempts to store him away.
That was another quirk of my inventory: whilst it allowed me to classify living beings as belongings and store them, autonomy was still a factor when making the attempt. Ordinary objects never resisted, probably on account of lacking a mind of their own, so the only limit I’d found was size. Living beings, on the other hand, only went in when they wanted to, unless they were asleep, in which case it was guaranteed. Granted, I’d only had the chance to test this on Pumpkin so far, so it might not be the whole picture, but it made sense based on my observations to date.
The cat wasn’t what occupied my thoughts however, not when I’d just experienced such an intriguing ability, with a front row ticket at that.
“Last Stand,” I murmured, doing my best to recall exactly how it had felt.
Everything slowed nearly to the point of stopping, and in that brief instant, I felt like I was at the top of the world. The aftershock hadn’t been nearly as pleasant, but even so, having had a taste of that power, I couldn’t help but want more of it. It was at this point that I realised Harvey had never mentioned who used the ability. I’d simply presumed it was him: as he was both the obvious leader of our caravan, and the one who best fit the description of a commander. The fact that it had activated right after I heard him speak also lent credence to this theory, but it still wasn’t conclusive.
None of the Archers seemed like viable candidates for having it, for all that I knew they likely had some surprises in store, like the earthen spikes one of them had deployed. I couldn’t exactly describe why I was so sure on this point, except to say that none of them had the right presence to me; they were asocial wallflowers, one and all, and not what I would describe as a command material. No, I decided, if Harvey wasn’t the one to cast it, then the most likely candidate would be one of the drivers. They were all non-combatants, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t command: generals back on Earth didn’t take to the front lines, either, not in the modern era of warfare. Moreover, the express purpose of bringing the drivers along was to command the horses, and when someone had abilities meant to command animals, it wasn’t that big a leap to extend those same abilities to humans.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“I should’ve asked for specifics earlier,” I chastised myself, though it was half hearted at best.
Harvey was happy to entertain my questions, when nothing pressing was going on, so I could always ask him later. Putting that matter aside for after daybreak, I turned my attention to the last bit of information leftover from my Level Up.
[You have earned one item upgrade, to be applied to an item of your choice. Thematic considerations apply here, so choose carefully.]
On the face of it, this was a simple choice. A free upgrade to be applied to anything in my possession, so clearly, I should put it on whatever was seeing the most use, right? By this logic, I’d be best served applying it to my knife, seeing as it was my primary weapon. I’d have done it already, were it not for the second sentence in the description, which was causing me to doubt. Thematic considerations could mean many different things, but its presence as a warning strongly suggested that I’d get a better outcome if I followed a certain theme. What that theme was, I had no idea, hence the hesitation as I brought up my items page.
[Equipped
* 4.5” Knife (Smooth/Serrated)
* Shirt and Pants
* Gambeson
* Blackened Bracelet: Hides your Name and Class when worn
Inventory
* 9 Gilt (Frontier)
* Padlock (Locked)
* Mask (Cat)
* 2.5x Loaf of bread
* Bag of Oatmeal
* Cheese Wheel (9/10)
* 3x Chunk of Salt Pork
* 5x Orange
* Lemon
* Dirt]
I was wearing a rather haphazard assortment of items, none of which followed any theme I could think of. The same was true for my Inventory, which contained such common things as hard currency, a padlock, various provisions, and a block of dirt. Not the most inspiring of choices, I thought ruefully. Pumpkin picked that moment to whack me in the face with his tail, which would have been cute, if he didn’t have the power to leave craters behind with it.
“Pumpkin!” I scolded, because even though he’d held back considerably, my nose still stung from the blow.
At the same time, his jostling had led my eyes to drift, until they landed close to the top of my inventory screen, on an item that I’d glanced over but dismissed almost automatically the first time around. Now, however, I had an idea. The cat Mask hadn’t seen any use thus far, as there hadn’t been any threat that required me to hide my face. But now, looking from it to Saint? It was either a coincidence that both were cat themed, or the makings of a theme. I could have held onto the upgrade for later, but I was never the type to hold onto goods for the promise of an ephemeral tomorrow, so I did the smart thing and cashed it in..
[Mask (Cat) upgraded.
Processing. Please wait.]