*Oscar POV*
“Did you have to wiggle your tail so damn much?” Oscar
I am currently face down on the tree branch. It only took me around an hour to resist Monk on my first cluster, as he calls them, of acupuncture points. However, I have thirty of such clusters. Of course, I sped up considerably on every one, the last five were ten minutes each. It’s currently mid day, though it feels like it should be next week.
And it hurt like shit on every single one. Imagine having a big spike shoved into you, but it isn’t making a wound, and you also feel like you're on fire. With every cluster, it was this assortment of feelings until I managed to expel it. At first, I didn’t know exactly what my mana felt like, but slowly learned.
Mana is kinda like a cool river, nice and refreshing, but at the same time not cold enough to make you sick. Not that specific, I understand, but you have to understand that I barely fucking understand what the hell it’s supposed to be.
So yeah.
I hear the little sadist while he’s trying, and failing, to massage my back with his feet. I didn’t even ask him to, but he felt like he wasn’t finished with my unbelievably sore body.
“Of course I did. Makes you wanna want it gone all that much faster!” Monk
[And he takes a sick joy in giving his owners hell.]
“I had a feeling after the first few fits of hysterical laughter, but I just couldn’t tell.” Oscar
A sharp pain that I have come to be familiar with, burns its way into my lower back. He had, once again, stuck his bastard tail into my back, but I was sick and tired of it, and it no longer served any purpose. I decided to grab the little shit and fling him at the nearest tree.
I reach back at him, feel something warm and furry, and chuck it, and am surprised by the results. He goes flying at the tree before clamping onto it like a monke-- scratch that he is a monkey. The thing that surprised me though, was that I seemed to be stronger. I know my own body, or knew in this case, and understood that he shouldn’t have went that fast. Looking at my arm, it also seems to have a bit more meat, and not just fatty meat, nono. Now my arm looked… well, not skeletal.
It would appear that whatever Monk was doing, it was having serious effects.
“Enjoying yourself there kid? I see that my fun is over for today. And don’t worry, I won’t go and leave you to your fate, that loses me a one of a kind owner.” Monk
My brow started to twitch ever so slightly.
“Why do I feel like I’m nothing but a trading card to you?” Oscar
[Wow, Monk, you seem to be slipping! It only took him 40 hours to figure out what he is in your eyes!]
‘Okay, this is starting to scare me. This guy is supposed to be very powerful, and also the closest thing I have to a “Otherworld For Dummies” book. I don’t want to piss him off too bad, but at the same time he grates at me to no end.’
Monk seemed to be slightly pissed at Gung, but I was feeling a little insecure.
I may not like this guy, but I’m practically useless without him. I mean, yeah, my survival chances aren’t that high at the moment, but without him, they can only go down.
Hard.
Though the next words were a little… well, not what I was expecting.
“Gung, can you stop that? You’re gonna give the kid a fucking heart attack! Kid, I only like getting reactions out of you, I’m not gonna kick you to the curb after having my fun. As long as you don’t make a toy out of me, I won’t make a toy out of you, understood?” Monk
I looked at him confused, but nodded my head all the same. This was the first time he had ever acted this, well, serious. It was reassuring, however the whimsical attitude of Monk returned not long after.
“Now, let’s go bear hunting! Yay!” Monk
I knock my head back into the branch.
“Hahhh~... wonderful, just fucking wonderful. I assume you have some plan that won’t end in me dying or being horridly disfigured?” Oscar
“Of course I do! Who do you think I am?” Monk
‘Well that’s g--’
“You're gonna jump on it!” Monk
‘...’
*3 Hours Later*
‘Ah finally, a beehive.’
After Monk actually explained the plan, I could help but realize the fact that it would work. Bears seem to be prevalent in this forest, after all, according to Monk, two had went underneath my tree while I was asleep. They don’t seem to be all that territorial in a world where they aren’t Alpha predators.
Interesting.
Monk told me to look for two specific kinds of flowers to set up the trap we were going to use. Apparently these are all types of flowers the bears here can’t seem to get enough of. Something about the smell. I was surprised when Monk told me about this, I mean, I know for a fact that these didn’t exist back on earth.
He said that they used to exist on earth, but magic disappearing destroyed all of them.
Also interesting.
I gathered them, after several failed attempts and actually getting a few cuts on my hands, fucking rabbit, and then set out to find a beehive. Well, a normal beehive.
Turns out this world likes making different kinds of normal creatures that are simply fucking terrifying. I came across three different kinds bees on my journey to find this one…
I start shivering from the memories. Note to self: never look at a Purple Wasp Queen.
Never.
I motion to Monk while waving the flowers around.
“Alright Monk, what the fuck am I supposed to do with these?” Oscar
“Just crush them together in your hands and sprinkle it on top of the beehive. These ones shouldn’t attack you, unlike the others. I can’t remember why, but just know that they won’t.” Monk
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
‘Huh, so my walking, talking wikipedia article actually has a limit. Who knew.’
I do as he said and then start going up the tree as the plan stated. After climbing till I’m in the cover of foliage, I start to wait, that is, until a question crosses my mind.
“Hey, Monk?” Oscar
“Yeah?” Monk
“I’m supposed to use gravity to help me shove Gung into the bears head, right?” Oscar
“Yeah, great plan isn’t it?” Monk
“Well, I have a question…” Oscar
“Sure, just ask.” Monk
“Well… How do I not break my legs on contact with the ground.” Oscar
“Hm. That is a problem. I’ll let you come up with an answer while we wait. Consider this your first survival test.” Monk
‘Welcome back saidst Monk.
You weren’t missed.’
*Vira POV*
‘Please Old Ones, please send me back to the Temple! I won’t complain about the Scryers anymore! Just please send me baaackk!’
Remember when I said that Demon Hunters were training freaks? Yeah, well, that seems to be the only thing they're capable of. Torin, specifically, is a prime example of a Demon Hunter.
All his talk is… well… I’ll let you see for yourselves.
“Hey Vira, how do the Acolytes train? You all do train to be better at interrogating Demons, their kin and sympathizers, after all. Maybe my squad and I could make use of it in our training schedule. Knowing their weak points would be wonderful for taking them down quick and easy, so you can see why we would want to train in knowing them.” Torin
He was like a kid in a candy store when I told him what Higher Acolytes perform are tasked to perform and teach, and what Lower Acolytes like myself are taught. Apparently Torin thinks it will help him and his squad on hit missions if they know all the weak points of a human's body, so he has been pestering me to let him in on my notes non-stop.
Since yesterday.
He even woke me up in the middle of the night last night.
He scares the shit out of me.
Thankfully his squadmates are better than him.
Marginally.
“Torin, I love you boss, but could you SHUT IT! We’ve been hearing you talking about making new training schedules for us since yesterday, but pleaaasse stop talking about it already! And don’t try pretending that you don’t try brainwashing us into helping you! I was awake last night while you were whispering ‘Acolyte training’ into my ear! It creeped me out more than that time you made all of us have communal crapper sessions!” Duja
Duja was one of the members of Torin’s Squad. He was a warrior type, so that means medium armor and a focus on power and accuracy. He was a spearmen, though that didn’t stop him from getting a good amount of hand-to-hand training, as he has constantly alluded to while threatening to slug passers by who rub him the wrong way.
We are currently on our second day of the walk, and I’ve gotten the rundown on my companions.
First is Torin, the leader and guy that feels the need to cover his body at all times of every day. I have not seen anything about his body other than slight glints of his skin and the same scraggly beard he seems intent on not shaving. I only saw his eyes once, but that was more seeing something that reflected the firelight, in reality, I don’t even know what his eyes look like.
Then there is Duja, he is of foreign blood. He has very dark skin, like the bark of an oak tree. He also is very gaunt looking despite the strength he seems to possess. I’ve already seen it in action once, a fallen tree was blocking our path and with the help of Torin they both cleared it of the road. His personality is a an excitable one, no questions about that. His hair is black, his eyes look black, and he is tall, around 5’4”, slightly above average for the men of this era.
Other than him is Lavas, a very handsome mage boy who is the son of a bastard noble, not a bastard himself. I can only find that just a little strange. I mean, is he a bastard noble because of his father, or is he a regular noble because of grandfather and not being a bastard himself? Anyways, he has blonde hair and blue eyes and stands at 5’2”, the average.
Other than him, are the four I refer to as the grunts. Because that is literally all they do, grunt. They seem to be enhanced, which means they have Demon Bone Meal inscribed into their flesh, so I suppose their temperament isn’t all that surprising. Most men go mad from the effects it apparently has on the mind. They all look similar, have similar attitudes, and stand at the same height of 5’6”, way above the average.
We are halfway to Godric’s Hollow, and will soon come upon the Godric’s Haven, a small hunting village here. I’ve been seeing a lot of fallen over stone architecture and the occasional building, but haven’t a clue on why it’s here. This is a backwater portion of the kingdom afterall, locked in a chain of mountains. No army would come in here for fear of being boxed in, so why would there be the remains of a city?
Strange.
“I agree with Guja, Torin. I am sure that if we would find the techniques of the acolytes useful, the Captains would have offered a Higher Acolyte to help in our training; and if you ask them on it, I am sure that they would answer you themselves. They do oversee our regimens, after all.” Lavas
Torin grumbles out a fine and we go back to riding in silence, only the occasional neigh of the horses to fill the silence.
None of us, however, pay any attention to the fact that there is complete silence except for the horses. No birds chirping, and no bugs buzzing.
Simply silence.
For the moment at least.