Joe had a brief hope that the two bugs would attack each other, but he was not that lucky. He watched the grass lines converge and then move off from their intersection. To Joe, it seemed like they were looking for whatever had alerted them. Each one took a slightly different path. Thankfully, neither path was toward where Joe was standing as perfectly still as he possibly could.

Joe was pretty sure he could survive two beetles, considering he made it through a whole pack of goblins. Still, he wasn’t 100% certain. Those mandibles looked incredibly strong and sharp. So far, he had only been wounded by their carapaces. He was a bit dubious about finding out if one of those scythe-looking jaws was able to take off his leg.

Thanks to Joe’s additional height above the tall grass and his old love for geometry, a plan started to form in his head. He and the beetles had sort of a ‘Y’ pattern going, with the spot of the fake footsteps being the center point. If Joe got the right angles, he could earn himself a few seconds to engage one of the insects while the other one was distracted.

Joe picked a spot off to his right and behind himself for the side-squeak. That line would bring one bug straight to him and the other onto grasses yards away. If he timed it correctly, Joe might be able to kill one quickly, avoiding being double-teamed entirely.

He readied the quarterstaff and [Swift Strike] and wiggled his feet again, sending the sound to the spot he had chosen. The reaction was immediate. This time, Joe was certain that the phantom sound had been amplified, just as the actual sound from his feet had been hushed.

Both creatures charged straight toward the illusionary rustling. Joe had lined it up perfectly. With over ten feet between them, Joe watched the line of parting grasses from the closer beetle open right in front of him. As the bug skittered into sight, Joe swung as hard as he could, aiming right for the brutish bug’s forehead.

With [Swift Strike] accelerating the blow, its impact was devastating. A chunk of carapace that had been the monster's head cracked off and launched like a line drive through the grass. Joe was splattered by the goop the bug had instead of blood. His hands stung from the force that traveled through the shaft, but it was worth it to see the beetle crash into the weeds, dead from a single blow.

Joe hopped to the side as the other beetle whirled and dashed toward the spot where its counterpart had just been slain. The beetle shot past Joe, who quickly sent a ghost-sound rustling behind the bug.

Joe had planned to use that moment of the enemy’s confusion to get ready for the next beetle-charge, but a wave of vertigo unexpectedly washed over him. His eyes slipped out of focus, and his head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. A second later, the cold sharpness of [Iron Mind] dispelled the fugue.

Joe saw the goop all over his hands and felt more on his cheeks. He had a split second to wonder if that was the cause before he got back into the fight pose the gnome had shown him. This time, because he was off balance from the blurriness, his staff was too low.

The insect parted the grass again, and instantly, its mandible clamped shut around his weapon, effortlessly yanking it out of his grasp. Joe had a stupified moment as he realized every other weapon: the hunting knife, a handaxe, the goblin knife, even the torches that could serve as a club in a pinch, was stowed in the pack on his back, out of reach.

‘Idiot!’ he swore at himself.

He dodged another snapping strike from the monster’s long mandibles. The only trick Joe could think of was the same one he had used on the goblins. Looking at the spot between himself and the giant insect, Joe activated [Heartfire].

It worked even better than it had with the goblinoid marauders. The bug screeched and dashed away, not stopping for the entire time Joe was able to see its path through the grass. Grassfires must be a huge threat to them.

Joe started wiping the gunk off himself, but instead of feeling less loopy, he felt the metallic presence of [Iron Mind] becoming more forceful. He looked himself over and noticed that he had something stuck to the sleeve of his gambeson. It was a large spiny burr, about the size of a grapefruit. He tried to rip it off, only to find it stuck to his hand.

Siren Seed of the Beguilburr: Strong cumulative Domination effect.

‘Cumulative. That is not good.’ Joe thought.

Checking himself further, he found three more stuck to his ankles. His [Iron Mind] trait had probably blocked the first couple before he was even aware of them, but if each burr added to the strength of the domination effect, it is no wonder they were overwhelming the powerful dwarven trait.

Joe tossed the hooked burrs away before leaning on his staff and letting loose a deep sigh. He still had to find Kaid, and now on top of beetles, rats, and deadly thorns, there were also mind-controlling burrs in the grass.

He quickly looted the beetle corpse, gaining more small round pieces of carapace shell. He tried to loot one of the burrs but found [Coin Catcher] did not work on them, even after he smashed it into bits. All that he found in the seed pods was something he identified as ‘Pollen of the Beguilburr.’

There was achievement waiting for him. Joe was grateful for getting all these ‘First X’ advancements quickly. He was stranded in this plain of tall monster-infested grass with his companion lost somewhere out there. Any help was appreciated.

Achievement: You have just killed your first monster with a single blow. Your actions have awarded you the following choice of Traits:

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

[Tactician] That was a good plan. Increase your Calculation affinity.

[Ambusher] Sneaking is not cheating. Add [Stealth] to your learnable skills list.

This choice was not so straightforward. [Stealth] was one of those super useful abilities. Rogue and hunter-type classes benefited the most from it, but Joe had found that, sooner or later, every character needed to sneak past something.

On the other hand, Calculation was an affinity he had skills in: [Identify] and [Assess Wounds]. Joe promised himself he would figure out more about how affinities worked and what his only affinities were as soon as he got a chance.

Without that knowledge, he felt he was making this choice blind.

What finally settled the decision for him was that he was pretty sure he could find a [Stealth] skill crystal somewhere. He didn't think raising an affinity would be as easy. He selected [Tactician], hoping it would reveal more about how affinities worked.

Unfortunately, having just leveled, he was fully healed, so [Assess Wounds] was useless. There was also nothing new or interesting in the middle of this expanse of grass to identify.

‘Except for the one thing I’m here to collect,’ he acknowledged.

[Saddleleaf] (Item: Reagent - Common) These leaves provide minor enhancements to health and growth-type enchantments or crafting. {Verdant}

Joe smiled. He had never seen an affinity connected to an object before. He checked his gambeson again and saw it had the addition as well.

[Pocketed Blue Gambeson] (Item: Armor, Chest - Common) This padded armor provides moderate defense to your upper body. {Defense}

His newly improved Calculation affinity was enhancing his [Identify] in a tangible way.

As he looked around for something else new to assess, another spin of vertigo overwhelmed him, followed quickly by the chilling sensation of his mental defensive trait. Joe looked down to see two of the burrs were somehow back on his boots. A third one was creeping toward him, moving creepily like a sea urchin.

“Damn it!” he swore, a bit louder than he had intended. ‘These things are worse than ticks,” he thought.

As Joe reached down, yanking them off again, the grass beside him parted, revealing a set of sharp, mottled-green mandibles. The sharp, blade-like jaws sliced across his shin. Joe managed to avoid being trapped in the beetle’s pincers by awkwardly stumbling away from the creature. The burr’s fogginess was making him clumsy even with his trait. Joe’s staggering dodge turned into a full-fledged tumble onto the ground.

Knowing he was doomed on his ass, Joe made a wobbly effort, awkwardly getting himself back up onto his feet. He glanced down at the bleeding tear in his pants, spotting even more burrs on his legs. If each burr added to the strength of the domination effect, it is no wonder they were overwhelming the powerful dwarven trait.

Strangely enough, after so many years of heavy doses of painkillers, Joe was no stranger to trying to function in a fog. Granted, it had never been in a fight for his life before, but his muddled head was still clever enough to make a new plan.

Joe slipped out of his pack and grabbed as many burrs off him as he could, making one big sticky mass. Clearly, the burrs wouldn’t naturally stick to the beetles, but he betted the bugs were more susceptible to them than he was.

When the insect spun back toward him, Joe knew this was going to hurt, but he let it bite. As the bug chomped down on his leg, he jammed his hands right up against the creature's forehead and held them there.

In no time at all, the confusion was whisked clear of Joe’s thoughts by [Iron Mind]; at the same time, the beetle stopped still. The handful of burrs, even splitting their controlling effect between the two of them, were more than enough to stupify the large insect. Its mandibles grew slack, releasing Joe’s deeply slashed leg.

The Grassward Stag Scarab has injured you for 7 points of damage and has inflicted the {Bleed} condition on you. You will continue to lose health over time until the condition is removed.

Joe’s pant leg was immediately soaked in blood, but his hands were currently busy. It is likely he didn't actually have to heal with his hands, but now was not a great time to start experimenting. He needed to keep the burrs in contact with the creature.

It took a bit of effort, but Joe managed to scrape the burrs into a sticky chain that looped around one of the pincers. When he got the two ends connected and worked one hand free, he clapped it to his still-gushing leg.

You have restored 18 points of your health. Your current health is at 100%.

Joe could have healed a much bigger wound, but he was happy he didn’t need to. The healing removed the {Bleed} condition as well as repairing the damage. His leg still throbbed, but he could now focus on killing the beetle. Joe grabbed his hunting knife from the outside of his pack and finished extricating his remaining hand from the band of burrs.

As he was about to dig out his hand axe for some bug-chopping, he noticed the beetle drunkenly turn and begin to amble off. Curious, Joe resheathed the knife and slung the pack over his shoulders again. Even though he had to take a few steps closer to the monster to retrieve his staff, the bug ignored him, trudging slowly away as if on auto-pilot.

Joe followed at a distance.

The huge bug continued to move in a zombie-like waddle, moving in a perfectly straight line. The grasses were growing higher in this direction, now halfway up his chest, but Joe could plot their path. It was headed to a point further from the Brandy Mere but angled towards the Dourfore woods.

Thinking about the behavior, Joe had an idea of what might be going on. The burrs could be connected to a main plant, the actual Beguilburr. The sticky seeds' job was to enthrall creatures and force them to travel back to the mother plant.

It explained why he had only encountered beetles so far. Kaid had mentioned rats, but Joe had not seen any. While the burrs would not naturally catch on the bug’s smooth carapaces, a rat would not be so protected. Any furred predators in the area would easily be burred and enslaved.

So, too, would people wearing items of cloth or leather.

Joe was afraid he now knew what had become of Kaid.