Chapter Fourteen: Who’s Afraid?

［Hello, there,］

The family of foxes was completely oblivious to the presence of Rook, who stood just a handful of steps away.

Rook stood still, not sure if movement while this close might give his presence away. He wasn’t scared. Seeing the young cubs, he thought it more likely that if they did notice him, they would likely just run away.

Pleased that the experiment worked, he smiled as the foxes continued on their journey, leaving him standing alone under the trees.

［That went well. Pretty cool, huh? They had no idea you were there.］

“I can’t believe it. They really couldn’t see me.”

［Well, technically, I think they could see you. They just couldn’t smell you or sense you. Animals are funny like that. Sometimes, they ignore one sense if the others say something different.］

“Huh? Do you mean I am not invisible? I thought you said…”

［I never said you would be invisible. The stealth core doesn’t say anything about sight. But if the targets don’t know you are there, why would they trust their eyes over more developed senses? I think you were right to stand still. If you had moved, it probably would have spooked them.］

“You could have mentioned that before.”

Rook mentally voiced the command to open the window that Obi had created.

“Skills”

A new window appeared in the air; this one was full of words.

SKILLS

CORE: RESTORE/CURE

Basic cure: Negate the effects of poisons and negative status effects.

Proficiency: 5 / 100%

CORE: RESTORE/HEAL

Basic heal: Increase the speed and effect of natural healing.

Proficiency: 10 / 100%

CORE: DETECT

Detect life: Locate life signs in the surrounding area.

Proficiency: 45 / 100%

CORE: STEALTH

Hide presence: Sound, smell, and aura are suppressed.

Proficiency: 10 / 100%

CORE: CREATE WATER

Fountain: Create water in exchange for mana.

Proficiency: 3 / 100%

CORE: CREATE FIRE

Spark: Ignite fuel with a focused blast of extreme heat.

Proficiency: 23 / 100%

Rook had collected quite a few skill stones from the campsite. Presia, a fire mage, had several, and the cook, Gred, was a healer.

Rook was particularly happy to have the cure and heal skills, and tried to not think about the fate of their previous owners.

The bandits also had some skill users, and amongst their dropped skill stones were two that Rook had been eager to test.

The detect and stealth skills would make things much safer as he navigated the deep forest. These skills would be invaluable aids to an elite scout.

The detect skill allowed the user to feel the presence of any living being nearby. When he first tried using it, it even detected insects and birds, and Rook was overwhelmed as the awareness of life everywhere blasted his consciousness like a waterfall. Luckily, he could adjust it through his will, and now it would only hunt out larger animals and people.

Obi had even been able to route the information into the map. The previously sparse window was now full of small, moving orange dots. The range of the skill was not very far. He could detect no humans at all, which was a relief, although not knowing where Willis had gone, and if there were in fact people looking for him, was a fear he still could not dismiss.

The stealth skill was also a great find, although perhaps not as much as Rook had initially thought. At best, it seemed that it could help him hide, should something dangerous appear.

With these skills at his disposal, Rook continued on his journey through the forest, still using the golden flag marker to set his path.

He had not activated all the skill stones he held, although as soon as he heard he could use them, that had been his first impulse.

Obi had pointed out that his magic was limited, so it was better to focus on getting familiar with a few skills first.

He had learned that each stone had a proficiency level. The more he used it, the more he understood it. By raising the proficiency, the stones would grow with him, increasing their power and utility. He was disappointed to learn that proficiency did not transfer between users. All the stones he was carrying were reset, so he could not use the more advanced abilities he had seen the mercenaries use. He could still use coins to force the proficiency to rise, but Obi cautioned against it for now.

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They had a limited number of coins and no way currently to replenish the ones they used. For now, they had selected the ones that appeared to have the most utility for their current situation. Heal and cure were obvious choices, as were detect and stealth. Finally, Obi had suggested a basic fire skill and a water skill. This would provide him with the ability to start a fire, and supply him with unlimited clean drinking water, two invaluable skills for camping in the forest.

He also had the magic tool that could create water, but that relied on coins, while the skills could be powered by MP. Mana points, as Obi called them, were his internal reserve of magic. It would naturally recover over time, so as long as he didn’t overuse his skills, he could continue to use his new abilities without depleting his coin supply.

While the heavy rain had stopped, the forest was now filled with mist and fog. Occasional showers still passed through, making traversing the forest harder, but aiding Rook in hiding the traces of his movements.

He had added a hooded cloak to his wardrobe that helped to keep him dry and warm, as well as some gloves to protect his hands.

Rook had never been allowed to wear gloves before. A bondsman was not allowed to disguise the sigil on their palms. In the back of his mind, he realized that things would become far more complicated once he found a way out of the forest.

He knew he could not survive on his own. He needed food at least, and the rations he carried would not last forever. He could forage a bit, but he had no knowledge of what was safe to eat. He could try to hunt, but again, he didn’t know the first thing about preparing meat.

Survival outside the forest would certainly add new complications, but considering that survival within the forest, even with his new abilities, supplies, and tools, was far from certain, Rook did not want to spend too much time thinking about it.

Instead, he marveled at how his life had changed in just the span of a few days.

For his entire life, Rook lived and labored on that tiny plot of land. His simple life revolved around caring for the livestock. Each day, a copy of the day before.

Now he was free, but lived on the edge of a sword. He had magic and wealth, but was lost in a sea of trees, full of wild animals and possibly even more dangerous threats.

As he climbed over rocks and fallen trees, Rook pondered how his life had changed so completely and suddenly. He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice the change in the atmosphere.

［Stop!］

Rook froze. As he recognized the panicked concern in Obi’s voice, he immediately realized that something was strange.

The forest had gone silent. The map was once again absent of the orange dots signifying animals in the area.

Sweat was forming on the back of his neck. Something was coming. Something dangerous.

Immediately, he pulled a totem from his storage. A small, oddly colored rock that had caught his attention earlier. He dropped it in preparation for hiding in his soul space.

They had already been through this drill several times. He had noticed larger animals approaching through the map and had disappeared into his soul space, waiting for the animals to pass by.

This was different. Unlike before, there was nothing on his map at all. He remembered a similar feeling when he had been traveling with Thayn and Willis in the forest. That time, nothing had happened. After a while, the sounds returned, and no predators ever appeared.

Thayn had said that the quiet was the best indicator of a highly dangerous beast. A top level predator that could suppress any other wild beast in the forest.

Rook kept his eyes on the map. There was still no sign of anything nearby. At the first sign of anything moving towards him, he would get Obi to bring him inside. He felt confident that he would have enough time to respond as long as he paid attention to his skill.

He stayed still, waiting for the silence to break. Ready to flee the moment he noticed any danger.

It was a good plan, considering that he was a simple village ranch hand who had no experience in the wild places. Because of that, he had no inkling of how truly naive his approach to the forest had been.

He was knocked to the ground, face first, before he noticed anything at all. The attack came from behind, from the shadows, moving with lightning speed from his blind spot.

Before he had a chance for his brain to even register what had happened, teeth closed on his arm, sending excruciating pain throughout his body.

［GETITOFF! GETITOFF! NOW!］

With no warning, Rook was caught completely off guard. Obi was even more shocked. His senses were still tied to the boy, and if Rook missed it, there was a good chance that Obi would, too.

After the initial shock, Obi tried to pull Rook inside. He tried and failed.

The ability didn’t work the way he thought it would. Something was wrong, and the simple action that had never been a problem before simply failed to activate.

Rook screamed in pain, while Obi panicked. In a moment, he realized that the action of pulling Rook into subspace was failing because of the large animal with its teeth buried in Rook’s arm.

Obi wasn’t sure why, but he could tell that the problem was centered onto Rook’s arm. He needed to break Rook free from the monster’s grip.

［Push it off! Roll! Duck and cover! Get it OFF!!!］］ Obi commanded, but Rook was too busy screaming in pain to notice.

They couldn’t even tell what was attacking. It was black. Big, black, strong, heavy, and very, very deadly.

Rook felt like something was trying to rip his arm out of his shoulder. The sharp, vice-like grip was pulling away, tearing his skin and making his mind go black from shock and pain.

The attacker was sitting on his back at the same time, pressing him into the ground, while the teeth continued to try to separate his arm from his body.

“Spark!”

They still hadn’t added any offensive skills. The spark skill was only enough to start a fire, but with nothing else, Rook and Obi seemed to merge their thoughts into this one desperate plan. They focused the spark skill on his arm. More precisely, the mouth attached to his arm.

Strangely enough, it worked. There was an angry yelp, and the teeth released their grip on his arm for just a moment.

That moment was all that Obi needed, however. In that instant, Rook disappeared from the forest.

Reappearing again in the cold, darkness, Rook was still crying out in pain. He had never felt something so painful before.

Immediately, Obi focused the heal skill stone on Rook’s shoulder. A light green glow appeared all over his body, but if anything, the pain was only getting worse.

It took several minutes before Rook was able to think clearly again. His face was covered in tears, and his arm still felt like someone half succeeded at removing it from his body. The heal skill was quite weak. It helped to slow the bleeding, and perhaps sped up closing the wounds, but Rook remained in more pain than he could ever remember.

There was nothing Obi could do to help, either. All he could do, was already being done. Rook’s MP was slowly ticking down, while Obi maintained the healing.

The danger was removed, for now. The attacker, still outside the soul space, it was likely angry and confused as its prey had vanished. Unable to enter, Rook, was safe.

Obi was also confused and angry. There was still no sign of the beast on the map. For some reason, it was not appearing. Obi wondered if the skill was faulty when new orange dots started appearing.

They were all coming from the east side. Spread out, but still in a group. Their marks, clear on the map. But the attacker was still invisible to the detect skill.

Obi could see the beast through the totem, and was amazed and frightened by what he saw.

A large jet-black shape was searching for its prey. It would jump into a shadow and immediately pop out from a different shadow.

It was difficult to make out its identity as it was simply black, with no other features, save for its brilliant white eyes, and teeth.

Finally, it stopped, raised its head, and howled.

The jet-black wolf looked off into the direction of the approaching orange dots, then disappeared into thin air as if it were a mirage.