The longer Kyle stared at the cooler, the more certain he became. The shrikes weren’t mindless, but they were instinctual hunters. For whatever reason, someone had drawn them closer to the city. Coupled with the relaxed attitude from the trolls guards and multiple evacuated sections, a rough picture of the situation was beginning to form in Kyle’s mind.
The bigger question boiled down to whether or not he should even get involved. There were different forces at play, and part of why the Verdant Republic had even bothered to hire him was to act as a neutral third party. And I’m doing a fine job of that, he thought dryly, looking at the piles he’d created inside the shrike den. Ultimately, Kyle knew that he was already far more wrapped up than he should be.
[ARE YOU READY TO RETURN, DR. MAYHEW?] C.H.A.D.D. asked, quieter than usual.
“I suppose so,” Kyle said, turning to leave the hollow.
[ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE THE BOX WITH YOU?]
“Nope. I’ve seen it, you’ve scanned it, and we’ve spent plenty of time here.”
[ARE YOU SURE IT WILL NOT BE NECESSARY?]
“I’m sure,” Kyle said, before a grin spread on his face. “And I also know you’re looking for excuses for me to violate our salvage agreements, which isn’t going to happen.”
The drone was silent, which was all the response Kyle needed. He couldn’t fault C.H.A.D.D. for trying, but he wasn’t going to fall for that trap. He looked at the bodies of the shrikes once more as he left, anticipation causing his pulse to quicken slightly. I’ll be hunting a lot of these before we’re gone, Kyle thought. Shrikes made dangerous prey, and he hoped that they would provide a meaningful reward.
The duo made far better time with Kyle not worried about stealth, and soon they were crossing the second cordoned area and back into the populated portion of the settlement. The contrast of the silent quarter and the bustling activity was still a shock. Kyle had to force himself to focus as the rapid change in input from Synaptic Barbs momentarily threatened his balance.
Kyle worried about how that piece of his Adaptive Anatomy would change as he progressed into C Grade, though there was little he could do about it. He hadn’t had a chance to test very often, but he assumed investment in Perception, Vitality, Willpower, and Intelligence would help him navigate it the best. It was a fortunate thing he’d chosen to specialize in those attributes to an extent, otherwise he feared that he’d have struggled much more.
The 2 troll guards were waiting nearby, and Kyle walked over to them as they looked him up and down. “It’s done,” he said flatly. “Now, what’s the quickest way to my next destination? I’ve got plenty of time left to cover ground today.”
The trolls shared a glance, and Kyle could see the incredulity on their faces. He crossed his arms. “Look, we all know that there’s no way the 2 of you stood a chance against the shrikes. I did you, and Prindas, a major favor. It was evident that this has been an issue for quite some time.” He didn’t want to let on everything he discovered, but wanted to make a clear statement that this was a bigger job than expected.
The trolls looked at each other once more, and the taller of them cleared his throat. “We don’t doubt you, Courier. It’s just a little hard for us to believe that you cleared out a group of shrikes this quickly, and without injuries. You don’t exactly strike us as a Fighter, ya know?”
“I may not look like one,” Kyle said, meeting the troll’s eyes with barely contained frustration. “But I’m still more than enough to handle some wild beasts. Feel free to check for yourselves; just know that I expect delivery of my reward when I return to the capital.”
The troll he’d been speaking with visibly paled, and nodded. The other stepped forward, seeing his colleague’s discomfort. “We’ll see to it, Courier. Your next stop is Jell’or, a settlement on the outer border of the jungle.” The troll gestured to a side road, which wound through the outskirts of Prindas. “Just follow the road, head left when you see it fork. We wish you safe travels.”
Kyle nodded his acknowledgment, and took off without another word. He was almost certain that these “guards” had tried to set him up to either get injured, or even killed, by the shrikes. The fact that the Council approved him to fight only deepened his suspicions. Did they want him dead to point at the Resistance? Injured, so that he would be delayed in his delivery? Or were they hoping to buy time since he was ahead of schedule?
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Questions swam around his head as he traveled, activating Ignition to increase his pace once he was a few kilometers away from Prindas. If he kept his pace from the capital to Prindas, the journey to Jell’or would have taken another 7-8 hours. Though he intentionally avoided his top speeds, his current pace would get him through the jungle in under 3.
Ultimately, Kyle wanted to speed up his timeline. He didn’t like being manipulated, and the easiest way to avoid it was to give his would-be puppet masters no opportunity to adapt their plans. Last-minute changes and adaptations result in weaknesses, sloppiness. And Kyle could use that to get a better sense of what was happening. All under the auspice of efficiency.
[DR. MAYHEW, I BELIEVE YOU MISSED SOME STRANGLEVINES.]
“I’m sure I did, C.H.A.D.D.” Kyle said.
[IT WOULD BE WISE TO TURN AROUND SO WE CAN EXAMINE THEM MORE CLOSELY.]
“We’ll have plenty of opportunities to do that on our way back.”
[I WOULD PREFER TO SEE THEM NOW, DR. MAYHEW.]
“Right now, we need to focus on speed. I don’t want to give whoever’s out there a chance to prepare.”
The drone got uncharacteristically silent, and Kyle put the discussion behind him. He was serious when he told C.H.A.D.D. that he wanted to come back and study the jungle in more detail. With the road between Prindas and Jell’or virtually empty, he’d gotten glimpses of all sorts of different types of creatures. From small lizards to amphibians the size of horses, the level of diversity he’d observed was incredible. They mostly kept to themselves or ran deeper into the undergrowth as he blurred past, but several of the larger spined amphibians seemed interested in getting closer. Swarms of brightly colored insects and birds also flew close to the ground, adding more variety to his travels.
He passed a set of trees marked by familiar slashes, but decided to move beyond it without stopping. Kyle wanted to do some more shrike hunting, though he gave himself the same promise he gave C.H.A.D.D. There would be time for that later, once he had a better sense of things. As much as he hated political machinations, he felt like he was at least getting a little bit better at navigating them.
Before he knew it, his mind had wandered back to the different what-ifs, and he didn’t notice the movement behind his pack until it was too late. With an abrupt lurch, his momentum was halted as a vine dropped from above, snagging the roots that slowly extended from his pack. A moment later, he was hurtling a dozen meters upwards as the stranglevine pulled him to its main body along an overhead tree branch.
[OH NO, WE HAVE BEEN CAPTURED BY A STRANGLEVINE.]
“Really, C.H.A.D.D.?”
[IT IS A GOOD THING THAT THE COUNCIL TOLD US THAT WE ARE WELCOME TO USE FORCE IN SELF-DEFENSE.]
“I’m serious C.H.A.D.D. You can’t go doing stuff like this.”
[IN FAIRNESS, DR. MAYHEW, YOU ARE THE ONE WHO HAS ENCOURAGED ME TO DEVELOP. I BELIEVE THESE WILL ASSIST IN MY DEVELOPMENT, AND IN MY CAPACITY TO ASSIST YOU. FURTHERMORE, I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THESE PLANTS POSE ENOUGH OF A THREAT TO BE A MEANINGFUL DELAY.]
Kyle sighed, feeling the creeping movements of the vine as it constricted the roots protruding from his pack, slowly spiraling toward his body. Even without the use of Parasitic Resonance, Kyle was confident in his ability to escape the grasping tendrils. Identify showed him the mana flowing through the vine, and it was at best an upper E Grade creature. It possessed impressive sensory abilities and speed, but that was likely an adaptation to capture quick-moving or flying creatures.
While Kyle certainly fit the bill in terms of speed, he doubted that he would be in any meaningful danger if the vine constricted him. The acid it excreted was far weaker than the large sundew he encountered back on Earth, and given all of his improvements since then, he expected it wouldn’t even be noticeable against his skin.
Part of him wanted to prove that point to C.H.A.D.D., making an escape without using Parasitic Resonance. He was confident that he could, that his power was at a level where it wouldn’t be an issue. Kyle caught the feeling, and tried to push it down.
Breathe in, breathe out, he thought, ignoring the creeping vines that were now wrapping around him. It was possible to be frustrated with C.H.A.D.D., and not be punitive. Parasitic Resonance spread out across the plant, and with a minor effort he pulled. He felt the influx of mana as the vines began to wither, and grabbed hold. The stranglevine disintegrated faster than Kyle expected, and he barely managed to grasp hold of the tree branch above before the vine fell lifeless to the ground below.
A gentle snapping sound informed him the port into the pack had closed, and he felt a shift as the root that was protruding from the pack snapped off and fell to meet the vine that had been grasping it. He sat on the tree for a moment, looking down at the empty road below as he sat next to the withered remnants of the vine still on the branch. “You didn’t have to do that, you know. I would have come back.”
[I AM… SORRY, DR. MAYHEW. THERE IS SO MUCH TO LEARN ON THIS WORLD, AND I HAVE GROWN CONCERNED THAT WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO STOP AND GAIN ANYTHING FROM IT.]
Kyle sighed. “Everything we do benefits us, at least in some ways. Sometimes it just takes longer than we’d like.”
The two sat in silence for a moment, before C.H.A.D.D. spoke. [YOU KNOW, DR. MAYHEW, YOU’VE PROGRESSED FASTER THAN I HAVE SINCE OUR DEPARTURE FROM EARTH.]
Kyle thought about it for just a minute, then nodded. “That’s true.”
[SO, WHAT WILL YOU DO WHEN I FALL TOO FAR BEHIND TO KEEP UP?]