Chapter 30
The hard ground made Danny long for the beds of the Heavenly Qi Sect temple he had first stayed in during the Tutorial. Sam had led them to an area of the clearing where tents had been set up. They looked nearly identical to the ones used by the Brotherhood, except better maintained. Sleep had come quickly, but nature’s mattress had left his back and neck aching. The forest floor in the clearing seemed harder than normal. Danny wondered what caused it.
After rising, Danny prepared to begin his morning cultivation session. Before initiating the meditative state, he decided to check his Status.
Danny Moore
Condensation (1%) Human Beastmaster
Bloodline: King of Beasts
Body: 8 (24.5)
Qi: 7 (21.5)
Soul: 11 (33.5)
System Functions:
Identify
Class Abilities:
King’s Tribute
Treasure Sense
Lupine Ferocity
Skills (3 / 4):
Weeping Willow Dances on the Wind: Staff Technique
Qi Manipulation
Purify
It seemed strange that he had not progressed through the Condensation stage. Sure, he had only recently broken through, right before the Tutorial ended, but he had continued his daily cultivation sessions. How hard would it be to get a one percent increase? He knew from his manual that he would need to work his way to 100% condensation to advance to the next stage. This might take longer than he had originally thought…
There was something approximating a knock on the tent wall. It was difficult to properly knock, given the fabric surface of his temporary abode. “Hello?” Danny called.
“It’s Sam. You’re needed,” came the reply.
“Uh— I’m kinda busy in here. Can it wait?”
“Whatever.” Sam snorted. “Do what you gotta do, big guy.”
Suddenly realizing what it probably sounded like, Danny tried to clarify, but Same had already gone. He quickly threw himself into cultivation, using the pain as a way to escape the embarrassment. The burning that coursed through his body seared away any concern he had for misunderstandings. This morning’s session felt particularly intense.
Afterwards, Danny noticed that he felt better. Physically better. Some of that dull internal ache from losing the Wyrmlings had eased. He had tried not to dwell on it, but secretly, Danny was scared that he might have done permanent damage to himself with that army stunt. Due to a severe lack of knowledge, Danny didn’t really know much about his class. What happens when one of your Bonds dies? How many can you have at once? These questions, and more, had not been answered by Aspen. At least the fairy had given him a lead.
In light of feeling the improvement, Danny checked his Status again. The number next to Condensation still read 1%. He sighed.
Danny tried not to let the disappointing result affect his day too much. When he exited his tent, he noted that the workers were all back at it again. He took the time to survey them and realized that their Levels were low. Like, how-are-you-even-still-alive low. Most were in the teens. A couple even had Levels in the single digits. None were even close to the Level 50 mark. The first big milestone. Except for the ones with masks.
He only saw one mask that wasn’t Maxwell or Sam. They had been much more average-sized than Sam. They carried two swords, one on each hip. The whole aesthetic actually looked pretty cool. That one had been Level 52, a Ranger as well. That was the most striking thing. Every single person Danny saw was a Ranger. The workers, the masks, all of them. He wondered if it was a requirement for being recruited.
Although, Sam had made it sound like they took anybody in. He had been upset by how the Brotherhood’s mischaracterization of them had prevented them from recruiting more people. Maybe it was just a coincidence? It couldn’t have been how their Tutorial was set up because the Brotherhood had a variety of classes.
He was in the middle of that thought when Sam and Maxwell approached him. Upon their official introduction, Danny had gotten the idea that she ruled from above, sticking mostly to her treehouse headquarters. That didn’t quite match with their first encounter in the woods. Now, as she walked through the camp, he wondered what the purpose was for all the ceremony yesterday.
“Danny.” She greeted. Ash sat watchfully next to Danny.
“Hi.”
“Where’s the other one?” She asked. Sam tensed at the mention of Mario.
“Around here somewhere, probably still sleeping.” Was Mario the reason for their visit? Did something happen? They were obviously distrustful of him, and for good reason, but if anyone had an excuse to sleep in, it would be Mario.
“Then I guess you’ll just have to relay what I’m about to say to him when he wakes,” Maxwell said. “We have a group heading out on a mission in less than an hour. I want you to accompany them. You and Mario.”
“What’s the mission?”
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“You’ll be filled in on the way.”
“Does this mean we’re good? We’re on the same side now?”
“Think of it as… a test.”
Danny wasn’t really sure what to say next. Everything seemed so sudden. It caught him off balance. Maxwell didn’t seem to mind. She repeated that they were expected to be ready to leave within the hour and left. Ash loosened up. Danny had noticed that she got anxious around new people. He hoped she wasn’t too overprotective. Indy, on the other hand, seemed a little too uninhibited.
A dozen yards away, the fox was sniffing the breakfast of an unsuspecting worker. Knowing that this would not end well, Danny began to quickly move in that direction. His fast walking turned to a jog when Indy licked at the wooden bowl of… stew? The fox seemed to like whatever it was because he greedily gulped down tonguefuls of the stuff.
Danny waved his arms like a madman trying to get the animal’s attention. “Indy, no! Bad!” he shouted. The only thing he accomplished was notifying the worker of the breakfast burglary. The man scowled at him when Danny finally got control of the fox.
“I’m so, so sorry,” Danny said. The nearby workers burst out laughing. Even after the Integration, friends still found the time to laugh at each other's misfortune. It reminded him of his own friends. Danny remembered when he had been working at the warehouse with TJ and he had dropped a box. While it was unfortunate, that kind of thing happened enough that most people didn’t make a big deal about it. This package, however, was labelled FRAGILE in big red letters. When it fell, he could have sworn everyone in the warehouse could hear the sound of the shattering. That incident became the butt of TJ’s jokes for weeks. The memory brought a smile to Danny’s face.
“You think this is funny?” The man scolded. “Your pet just ate my breakfast! How am I supposed to work on an empty stomach?”
“Please, Bill. I think you of all people could go without a meal.” One of his co-workers cut in. Danny had to bite his tongue to keep from chuckling.
“I- You-” Anger draining from his expression, the man, Bill, muttered, “whatever.” With another apology, Danny pulled Indy back over to their tent. He was surprised to see Bill walking over to them. A lecture in pet supervision was probably due, so Danny was prepared to accept whatever choice words Bill had for him. Instead, Bill just handed over the remainder of the stew.
“Here,” he said. “I’m not going to finish, not after he dug his face in it. You might as well give him the rest. Or share some with the big one.” He gestured to Ash.
“Oh– Thank you.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just keep better track of him from now on.” The worker returned to his companions. Danny’s stomach grumbled. How long had it been since he last ate? It had been one thing after another for so long that he hadn’t even noticed how famished he was. He turned his back so no one would see and snuck a few sips. It was salty. And not a whole lot else.
“Ash, you can have the rest of this.” She made short work of the leftovers, Indy whimpering all the while. “Hey, you had your fill,” Danny said to the fox. He left the two to their business.
___________________________________________________________
Danny tapped on Mario’s tent. The fabric swished. “Hey, You up?”
No answer.
“Sam and Maxwell came by earlier and said we are supposed to be ready to go on a mission in less than an hour,” Danny continued.
No answer.
“Mario, are you awake?”
No answer.
Worry began to creep its way into Danny. Mario had been on edge. Would he run away? Or worse, would he try something? The doubts that had been planted in his mind began to sprout. What if he wasn’t as repentant as Danny had originally thought? What if he hadn’t made the clean break from the Brotherhood that he said he did? The questions kept coming in a downward spiral. Danny unzipped the tent. It was empty.
The possibility that the beatings, the bruising, the rescue mission, and everything he knew about Mario being a lie was suddenly looking more and more like the truth.
“I can’t believe it,” Danny said ruefully.
“Can’t believe what?”
Danny whipped around. Standing behind him was Mario. His doubting had been unfounded. At first, it was relieving, but then Danny was overcome by guilt. Mario hadn’t done anything to make him question him. All of his second guessing had been from other people’s misconceptions about who he was. He couldn’t look Mario in the eyes.
“Hello… what can’t you believe?” Mario repeated.
“Nothing.” Danny smiled nervously. “I just couldn’t believe how long you slept.”
“I did have a pretty rough day.”
Danny broke past the awkward silence. “Anyway, Sam and Maxwell were looking for us, we have a mission we are supposed to go on.”
“What? Why?” Thankfully Mario took to the change in topic.
“Something about it being a test for us.”
“I expected that, to be honest. From the second we got here, I knew they didn’t trust me.” Mario sighed. “I wouldn’t trust me either.” Danny wanted to say, I trust you, I know you are a good guy deep down, but the guilt locked his lips shut. “What’s the mission?”
“I don’t know. They said we would find out on the way.”
___________________________________________________________
Clearing out a monster nest. That was the mission. With all the secrecy, Danny figured it would be some covert operation to strike at the heart of the Brotherhood, or something, but instead, they were clearing out a monster nest. They hadn’t mentioned using Danny’s powers on the monsters yet. He wondered if that was the real purpose behind the mission. Before, he would have raised a monster army for the Scouts with no hesitation, but he was still paying for what happened with the Wyrmlings.
The nest they needed to clear was inhabited by skeletons. Not just any skeletons, dinosaur skeletons, Osseosaurs, they were called. They all had uniform appearances: long tails, sharp claws, four legs, razor teeth, and horned snouts. It sounded like a mix of a velociraptor and a triceratops. All of them were held together with an invisible energy. Magic, probably.
With them was a squad of four. Allen was the one who had explained all this to Danny and Mario. He was the de facto leader of the group. His class: Ranger, big surprise. Kelsie was quiet around the newcomers. She was just shy, Allen said, but the way she glared at Mario when she thought he wasn’t looking indicated something else. Devin was one of the masked ones, the one who had two swords. And guess what? They were both Rangers. The last member of the group was the only one with a different class. An Illusionist named Kirk. He was the one responsible for the wall of brambles that hid the Scouts’ camp.
They used Kirk’s talents to approach the nest undetected. Trampled grass made their beds. The trees were scored with scratches which, in Danny’s mind, indicated a need to maintain their claws. Did that mean that they would grow, despite being skeletons? Danny was very curious about these monster’s physiology. The Horrors had been pretty interesting too, but he had been too busy trying to survive to think about it.
“Here we are.” Allen brought the group to a halt. “You two,” he said to Danny and Mario, “show us what you got.”
“By ourselves?” Danny asked.
“Yeah, we’ll step in if things get dangerous.” Danny had always cleared nests himself, and this time he had Mario, Ash, and Indy, but the Osseosaurs all registered as over Level 55, higher than Danny.
“And I’m sure you will be quick to save the Brotherhood guy, won’t you.” Mario remarked. Danny did have to admit, it seemed fishy.
“Those’re the orders. You can always head on back and I’ll let the boss lady know you bailed.”
Danny butt in with, “No, that’s fine. Right Mario? We got this. Between the four of us it should be easy. Plus, we have backup.”
“Whatever.”
Danny, Ash, Indy, and lastly, Mario exited the illusory foliage that Kirk had summoned to hide them. They had taken a few moments to discuss strategy. Danny held his staff out to one side. Ash lowered, tensing her body. Indy copied her, although in a much less intimidating way. Fire flared to life in Mario’s hands.
“Let’s do this.”