After the gigantic man let out his harsh sounding exclamation, the group started discussing excitedly among themselves. While I couldn’t understand the words they used, their expressions and mannerisms gave me some idea of what was being said.
The slender man with the strange, partially crystal object in front of his eyes looked like he was in shock. His stuttered remarks sounded hesitant and disbelieving. I figured he was either asking about what the giant monster was or how I killed it.
The spearman, Salvador, was stroking his beard as he made remarks in a questioning tone. He seemed intrigued and contemplative. It sounded like he was expanding upon the thin man's questions more than raising entirely new ones of his own.
The two ax wielding warriors were far less reserved. The two had baffled looks on their faces as they badgered the overwhelmed man with questions. I was fairly sure the content of the conversation was beyond their level of understanding and the slender man didn’t seem to know how to explain things in simple enough terms for them.
Martin was asking questions of his own in a calm, even tone, and guiding the conversation. Seeing how the others continued to defer to him, I was reasonably sure that my guess about him being the leader was accurate.
As for the large man, he was silent after his one utterance. His face was quite expressive, though not in a particularly pleasant way. He regarded the others with alternating looks of indifference, annoyance, and impatience as they talked.
Eventually, Martin held up a hand, silencing the others. He regarded me once more, calling up new images on his interface.
The pictures were a little different this time. They looked oddly fake compared to the earlier display. The image showed the group returning to the village by the water before the display split into two copies. In the one on the right, the group returned on their own. In the image on the left, I was standing with them.
I felt a rush of shame at the sight of my wild, unkempt appearance but tried not to let it get to me. I was sure that these people weren't about to let a bit of tangled hair and muddy shoes upset them.
Martin gestured to the two pictures saying something in a gentle, questioning tone. Was he asking me if I wanted to go with them back to their village? The answer was obviously yes, but they didn’t understand the gesture I would normally have used to say so. I had to respond in a way they they would understand. Nodding like I had seen them do before, I pointed at the picture with me in it.
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Martin smiled before barking an order to his traveling companions. The slender man went back to work carving runes into the side of the pack leader while the warriors stood guard around the area. He had already carved the runes to direct the flow of mana in the monster’s body, so I wondered what he was doing.
Martin looked like he wanted to say something else to me, but he must have noticed the curious glaces I was sending towards his companions. With a gesture he led me over to the other side of the body so I could get a better look.
Some of the runes the slender man was carving were familiar to me, but not all of them. As he worked, I tried to puzzle out what the gory array would do. From the runes that I could identify, it was clear that it would gather the mana into a central ring of runes. The runes in the middle were harder to identify. They held some similarity to those designed to control the direction of mana, but were different enough that I couldn’t quite figure out what they were meant to do.
After carving the last rune in place, the man started rummaging around in his pack. I felt a pang of envy comparing his sturdy bag to my own threadbare one. To say that mine was ‘well used’ would have been a grievous understatement.
Thoughts about my decrepit bag were quickly put aside as the man pulled out a strange object. The thing was a cylindrical object, made from what looked like clay wrapped around a red crystal of some sort. Dozens of tiny runes formed rings around the object, serving a purpose I couldn’t immediately identify.
I watched in fascination as the man placed the cylinder in the middle of the ring of runes. Suddenly, the mana from the body started rushing into the small object. The amount of mana the little thing could hold was quite impressive, but it wasn’t able to draw all of the power from the body.
Replacing the cylinder with another one from his pack, the man proceed to drain almost all of the mana from the fallen monster. I watched the entire procedure with rapt attention, trying my best to understand the magics at work.
Focusing on the flow of mana with my mana perception, I was able to figure out at least part of what was going on. The runes in the center of the array were causing the mana to slow down and take on a more stable pattern. The cylinders would then absorb that mana, holding it in such a way that I doubted much would leak out over time.
Needless to say, I found the little devices extremely interesting. Having so much mana readily available would unlock countless possibilities. If this was an example of the technology the people held, I was very excited to see what else they would have back at their village.
The man used similar runes to drain the other bodies as well. Unlike the pack leader, these monsters didn’t have enough mana between them to require more than a single cylinder.
With the last of the mana harvested, Martin gave another order. The group fell into line, leaving an open space for me in the middle. I happily took my place in front of the rune carver.
Once more, I found myself walking through the jungle. For the first time in far too long, I wasn’t doing so alone.