* Pierce {Hand stone} Special Attack Bronze 1

* Iron Rank: Use melee weapons in a piercing strike to penetrate, especially through armour.

* Bronze Rank: can be used in ranged attacks.

That is a simple and very much-required upgrade. I think it was the flying stag thing that pushed the skill over the edge. My throwing of weapons is getting pretty good, but maybe I should also learn the bow. We will see. I don’t have time right now.

I am spending most of my spare time making my bronze rank armour. Well, I am not making it yet, mixing would be more accurate. I am trying to get the right formula. I have adjusted the Sand aspect so the resin is stronger and clearer, but I am thinking of Ardisia.

I know a lot about what Ardisia will become at Bronze rank from what Farrah looked up before I summoned her. She would be bigger with more vines. She would move faster and float on water. She would also have a toxin in her thorns and be able to make grappling attacks when she is absorbed inside me rather than just thorns.

My armour needs to be more flexible for that. I don’t know how many vines she will have or where the best place for her to manifest them is. I had experimented with the iron rank armour, but I thought of them all as limiting. Ardisia needs room to move where she will.

I had always been thinking I had three alchemy ingredients I conjured, but I had more. Ardisia is a plant. She does not mind if I take cuttings, leaves and flowers. Soon, she will also have a toxin. I was trying to get the essence of magic from Ardisia to mix with the resin/sand mixture I had. It was not working.

Maybe it was because Ardisia was not yet bronze. Maybe I was missing something. Maybe it was not possible. I felt that it was, though. If I could add Ardisia to the mix, maybe she could control the armour or maybe manifest on it. It was worth persevering.

It was more fun teaming up with Sibs and Harry than with Val and the others. They didn’t have ulterior motives. This is putting a barrier in my friendship with Val. Marcus needs a strong hand guiding him. Belle doesn’t really want to be fighting in an arena. She just wants to fly. She said they often hit the limit of the bronze-rank mirage chambers. Saskia has come out of her shell and is a competent adventurer. She can get quite creative with her illusions when she puts her mind to it. She doesn’t always put her mind to it.

Sibs and Harry are both competent and easy to get along with. When we go into the mirage chamber or the Astral Space, we always focus on a different area of our fighting techniques and skills. This is very helpful for advancing. I learned the Melee Instructors picked out people for this course, as it is quite specialised.

Right now, I am practising the stalking part of Savage Stalker. Sibs and Harry were not far away, practising their own skills. The movement skills involved walking silently but also in a way that wouldn’t attract the eye. It was making use of the terrain, and all of it was taxing the brain to keep going and simultaneously maintain aura diffusion and misdirection. I needed to keep at it until it was second nature.

Blend was working hard, as was my Hunter Step. Kai was sending me information on what was around, and that allowed me to pick a path of least monsters. This was a scouting mission designed to stretch me in these skills. I was on a timer and had to stay unseen.

The increased number of Kais was fantastic for scouting. Their bronze-rank senses were sharper. They were more robust and a lot faster. Being able to keep up with bronze-rank monsters was a nice change. I was looking forward to it myself.

“Ah, heidle poop!” I said, annoyed as I dived to the side, just avoiding the pair of Shrieking Swallows that dove at me. They were bigger than a normal swallow, about the size of a rooster, and they were bronze rank. I left Ardisia on the ground as I raised a shield and pulled out some earplugs. My ears were still ringing from that first pass.

I never thought earplugs would be standard equipment I carried. I carried all sorts of equipment. These swallows were bronze, so their shrieking was as much physical as magic, so I could blunt them with earplugs.

They came around for another pass, and I ducked behind my shield. It was iron-rank and coated in bronze-rank resin, so it would help blunt the magic in the shrieking. The earplugs were soaked in resin as well.

The birds split up and were coming back at me from different angles. I am glad there were only two of them. We should be able to handle two.

One was ahead of the other, and I caught it with Hunter Tether. It tumbled to the ground but was not caught by the iron rank skill. I was about to dive for it when I was hit by the shrieking from the other one. It was only blunted by the earplugs, not stopped. I got dizzy for a second and rolled, putting my shield between us.

The bird bounced off the shield and flew into the air again. I rolled, looking for the other bird, but I only saw feathers where it had landed. One of the two Kais there had blood in its mouth, but they had a stunned look as they had been on the receiving end of a shriek. There was a feather on one of Ardisia’s thorns.

I looked for the bird. It had made it to a low branch, but one of its wings was not working right. Two Kai’s were climbing the trunk behind it.

I followed the other bird with my peripheral vision. The plugs had muted my hearing, but my nose was fine. The second bird was coming back at me, and I brought up my shield again, but this time, I changed the Resin. The Srieking Swallow let loose at me with a shriek, and I just weathered it. It was blunted, and I knew it was coming. I was branched and stayed braced through the short, dizzy spell.

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Again, I brought up my shield to defend against the attack, but instead of damaging the shield and flying off to have another go at me, there was a wet splat, and the bird was having trouble flapping its wings as it was covered in quickly drying resin. It half-flapped and hopped, trying to get rid of the resin.

Ardisia caught it in a tangle of four vines, her thorns piercing the feathers and sticking to the resin. The bird shrieked at Ardisia, but she was immune to the attack, being more plant than animal. The two nearby Kais were dashing over to help Ardisia.

I looked for the other bird. It had hopped to a higher branch and was sorting its wing out. I cast Hunter Tether on the lower branch, and the tethers reached up and dislodged the surprised bird. It flapped, but the tether, gravity and the damaged wing all conspired to bring it down. Then a Kai launched himself off the trunk and totally missed the bird, tumbling to the ground. The second Kai didn’t miss and got his claws into it.

The bird Shrieked and clawed back, giving Kai deep lacerations, but they tumbled to the ground, and more Kais piled on.

I checked how Ardisia was doing with hers, and it was in a thorny cage. She had lost some thorns to the claws and beak, and there were claw marks in her vines. The bird was weakly struggling, but two Kais were there clawing and biting, and feathers were flying. It looked like it had almost escaped if it hadn’t been stuck to Ardisia with the resin.

The shrieking came from under a pile of Kais, and a massive push had them tumbling. I saw wounds on more than one. I cast Hunter tether again, and the escape attempt was diverted, and the bird crashed back to the ground. I brought my whip down on it to give the Kais time to get back at it. Stone Kai landed on its back. He was heavier than the others, even if it wasn’t by much. That was enough for the other Kais to get there. I didn’t think the bird would be escaping again.

Something wet hit my side. My Hunter's Tether was still operating, and one of its features was that it stopped stealth. On the far side was a huge snake. Noisey fights bring in other beasts, and Shrieking Swallows are never going to be quiet. The edge of the tether was flapping against the shake ineffectually.

I looked at what had splashed against me, and it was eating through the Resin armour. I was still wearing my iron rank one, as I had not completed the bronze yet, being stuck on the Ardisia issue. My armour only had a few plated sections and a lot of chain links and space for fur and thorns to poke out. It was designed to defend against blunt attacks. Hence, there were a lot of places where liquid poison could soak through. My Resistant Fur was bronze rank now so I trusted that.

The Snake spat again, and this time, I got my shield up. When I lowered it again, the snake was gone. Shit no. I cast Hunter Tether where it had been and saw the tail slithering around to the right. I cast another Hunter's Tether there so it couldn’t stealth away and charged at it with my Quick Sharp.

My shield clashed hard against a swing from its tail. The attack was blunted a little by the Hunter’s Tether. Unfortunately, the shield was coated with soft, sticky resin, and it cracked, and half of it stuck to the snake's tail. At least it will have difficulty going into stealth with that.

I conjured another shield, overlaid a hard, spikey Resin and laid into the snake with my axe. It came at me with fangs as long as my forearm, and one pierced through the new shield, Resin and all. I twisted the shield, trying to snap off the fang. The Iron rank wood gave way before the fang did.

I got a face full of poison, and that got into one eye. I was starting to feel off. I created a Resin cover for the eye, taking away the excess poison, but it meant I was blind on that side.

I cast Hunters Tether again and another shield. I took a hit by the tail and went sprawling away. I was dazed with the poison and the hit I had taken. All I saw was fangs coming at me. Then they were blocked by a forest of thorns, and I slipped out a basic health potion I had made and drank it. It didn’t counter the poison, but did partially heal my damaged parts, including some of the damage caused by the poison.

I recast Hunters Tether to help Ardisia and re-created my shield. The snake was tearing into Ardisia, and she was still only in iron-rank. I slammed the head of the snake with my shield, using everything I had from Quick Sharp and Mighty Oak supplemented by the Reaper's Blessings. It didn’t go flying, but it did move, and I cracked my own shield, cracking a fang, which caused it a lot of pain. Poison was leaking uncontrollably, and some of it got on me. Ardisia absorbed herself back into me, and I felt she was more damaged than I had realised. The Kais were attacking, but the snake was big. They were digging in valiantly.

I changed the angle of my swing with the axe, hoping to take the fang right off as there was obviously a nerve there. Unfortunately, there was also poison, and it sprayed out. My axe went further and cut into the side of the snake's mouth, where it could dislocate its jaw to swallow large prey. This all upset it, and it tried to withdraw, but I recast Hunters Tether again. I Hit it again with the axe in the mouth joint. And again.

Then I was sent flying again from a hit I didn’t see. The snake was trying to get away, and the Kais were swarming over it, but they couldn’t stop it. I cast Hunter’s Tether again. And got up to attack. I am sure I have broken ribs.

I launched myself at it in a horizontal leap using Mighty Oak, leading with a shield. I missed the head and slammed into the body, causing my ribs to shoot pain through me. I reversed my axe to the spike end and slammed it down on the snake's body using the newly bronze Pierce. It went deep and stuck, so I hung on and was dragged a short way before the snake decided to get rid of me.

It turned its head to strike, but I was too close to the head, and I cast Hunter’s Tether again on the other side to draw the head away. I got my feet under me, pulled the axle out, and struck again. This time, I cast another Hunters Teather at the tail end to hinder that from coming to hit me.

The Kais had chewed through the snake's scales and were eating away at its innards. I saw the snake's tail go limp, as they severed its spine.

I moved painfully up and slammed the spike of the axe into the skull with Pierce and everything Mighty Oak had. It bounced. I think it might have cracked teh skill so I did it again, and then again, before hte spike finally went through into the brain. The snake finally died.

I lay against it, exhausted and covered in poison and blood. My ribs hurt. My everything hurt. This is what kills you in this Astral Space. You are wounded from one fight, and something else comes along.

Something was making its way through the bush toward me at a run. The bushes parted, and Harry and Sibs burst out to rescue me.

“You are a bit late,” I said.

They looked around at the dead sparrows and snake.

“You are not very good at this sneaking thing, are you?” Harry said.

“It needs work,” I agreed.