Soul Summary:

Available/Used Vessels (Gathered): 1/0

Available/Used Vessels (Granted): 4/264

| Wielder |

| Construct {Serpent Chakram} |

Melee (0/1)

Ranged (0/1)

Neutral (0/1)

| Soul |

Soul Bond (250/250)

Active Bond {Ice Basilisk} (1/1)

Soul Form (X/100)

Soul Control (1/1)

Soul Capture (5/5)

Soul Call (5/5)

Summoning (1/X)

Withdraw Soul (1/5)

All looked in order, so Rory got his bare freckled ass off the ground, turned in a circle, aaaaand realized he had to pee. So he went to a nearby tree, did his business, and summoned his serpent chakram. Then he turned in a circle yet again and slumped.

It had just occurred to him that he had absolutely no idea what to do next. He had never learned anything about being a Soul Warrior… for obvious reasons. What did he know about hunting anything, never mind snakes?

Sighing, he picked a random direction that looked like it had less vegetation, shrugged, and walked that way. After only about two minutes of swinging his chakram in front of him to clear the brush, Rory learned the first rule of hunting: being naked sucked. His feet hurt and might have been bleeding from all the sharp and hard crap on the ground, the skin on his arms and legs sported scrapes and cuts, and a random missed branch had made him feel extremely vulnerable and exposed.

Recognizing both his frustration and ineptitude, he stopped.

This is insane. I need to use my brain.

The problem was, he had no clue what to do. How did one hunt?

Luckily, the problem possibly solved itself when he heard a soft shuffling sound to his right. Twisting in that direction, Rory noticed a snake slowly slithering its way into the same area between trees he was in. It seemed to him the thing had just been wandering by and Rory happened to be there as it did not seem the least bit aggressive. In fact, he wondered if it knew or cared he was there.

As it approached, he examined the slithering little guy a little more carefully. He saw that it was primarily black but had occasional stripes of red, yellow, and white and was about five feet long and one to two inches thick.

Of course, Rory had no idea which snake was which so he didn’t move a muscle.

Good snake. Don’t bite me.

Rory watched as it slithered closer. Soon, it was in reach.

Okay Rory, now’s your chance…

Moving slowly, Rory raised his chakram and bent his knees. He was neither trained nor meaningfully practiced in the use of his weapons, but he had killed his fair share of small creatures before. He could do this. Hopefully.

The snake continued on its jolly way about ten inches from his completely exposed right foot. Just as the snake’s head was about six inches past his toes, Rory thought, I hope you’re not a friend of Lucifer’s and slammed his white chakram down. If the snake detected the threat, it was too late because in a blink the white circle was embedded three inches into the soil and the snake's body was twitching next to his foot, its head a few inches farther, having rolled away.

Rory let out a breath and fell onto his butt, watching his scaly victim. Just as the twitching stopped, gray myst floated up from the body and was absorbed by his chakram. Interestingly, it moved into both weapons equally even though he had only used the right. He felt tt was excellent news that he would not have to consciously balance out their use.

After the absorption, his weapons glowed briefly, the white one with white light and the black one with black. Rory thought maybe he should name the blades. However, after a few moments of thought, he decided to hold off until he could speak to Leilah because he wanted to name the black one Lucifer, after her brother. But he feared she might be opposed and he didn’t want to be presumptuous.

Pulling up the outcome on his silently vibrating commo, Rory was pleased by what he saw.

{Adult Blackstone Snake} slain…

Calculating…

10% Myst Gained…

First, Rory reflected that he was glad the ghost did not bother with decimals. He hated math. Then he moved on and decided he was pleased with the outcome. Sure, ten percent of his second gathered vessel was nothing in the big picture, but it was the most he’d ever gotten at one time and the first with his new Soul Weapons. It felt right that it was a snake. Unfortunately, this one wouldn’t help with the lighting issues.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Leaning over, he picked up the snake’s body. “Well, at least I have some food.” But his smile fell as he made a realization. “Not that I can cook it.”

Walking back to Lucifer’s lair while carrying the headless thing across the back of his neck and down in front of his chest, he met another snake. This one was smaller than the adult blackstone. He had actually almost missed it because it was brown and patterned to match the tree branch it was wrapped around.

He had only randomly found it by slicing at a nearby branch and then throwing it to get it out of the way. When his projectile made contact with the branch the snake was on, it hissed and curled tighter around the branch.

Realizing he had another opportunity, Rory threw his black chakram at it the same way he had at Bernael. His goal was to either get it on the ground or just straight-up kill the thing. Rory managed neither. What he did manage to do was miss. Badly. It was awful and embarrassing. He felt himself blush and was glad nobody was around to see that pathetic attempt. Mortified at himself, Rory went to retrieve his weapon and then tried again.

He attempted an underhanded throw with his right hand, which he was only slightly more experienced at thanks to the tunnel rats from his scavenging career. The white chakram made contact with the branch – but not the snake – and stuck there. While the throw missed, it did cause enough of a disturbance, shaking the tree sufficiently to make the snake lose a bit of its grip. Rory immediately lined up another throw and, using the same motion but being careful to actually aim, he whipped his black weapon forward with his left arm.

Ever since he was a kid he could use both hands mostly equally for which he was thankful. And again he appreciated it at that moment as his weapon slammed into the body of the exposed snake and sliced through it, embedding itself into the branch. One end of the snake fell to the ground and the other dangled loosely, slowly dripping blood.

Pumping his fist, he checked his commo on the way to retrieve his weapons and the snake’s body.

{Adult Wooden Sleeper Serpent} slain…

Calculating…

22% Myst Gained…

Wow. And he had thought ten percent was a lot from one creature. Upon reflection though, that amount made Rory think it was probably more dangerous than its size intimated, which to him meant venomous.

If he had a way to store the thing, he could keep the head and maybe use the poison for something. Not that he knew what that something was, but one never knew in the slums. Anything could be useful or sellable. And it was never truly safe there.

That said, he knew he didn’t have place to store it and wishing for things never got him anywhere. When he was at the tree, he leaped up and grabbed the body, while at the same time recalling his Soul Weapons, making them vanish into myst. He knew he had to be within physical reach to recall them using his Soul Power. Or actually… he used to have to be within reach.

Maybe that’s not true anymore. Hmmm. I should try some things… maybe my range increased.

Rory was absolutely sure that in his Ranged tree – if he eventually earned enough vessels to open it – he would find the ability to recall them from farther away. But that was who knew how long into the future. Again, he had more immediate concerns. The primary of which he had made absolutely no progress. Neither of those creatures created light. Ugh.

He did manage to return safely to Lucifer’s nest and decided to drop off the snake bodies just inside the hole. He couldn’t very well carry them around.

That done, he sat down and pondered his next steps. He had failed to find anything that could light his way. In his mind, that meant it was time to reassess. First, he asked himself if he sure that light was truly necessary.

I suppose I could work my way out of the facility without light. I’d probably end up with a broken toe or three, but I could. The problem is, I’d also need to find my way out of the mine tunnels above. There’s no way I can find my way to my clothes and then out without light. So, yes, I absolutely need light.

That decided, he reviewed his two attempts at hunting for something to give light. First, neither snake lit up. Failure on all fronts there. Second, Rory was no expert on snakes. In fact, he knew pretty much nothing. What little he did know though, was that lots of snakes were venomous.

Right. Being poisoned is bad. So I definitely don’t want to get anywhere near poisonous snakes with poisonous fangs that can poison me and make me dead from poison. Yeah… so that means I need to attack from out of reach of said fangs. Thankfully I have weapons that can attack from range. Yay me. The problem is, I suck at throwing them. And that means I need to practice. ‘Cause… poison bad.

While Rory knew he didn’t have time to practice a ton, he felt it would be worth a small investment of time to improve his ranged capabilities. And he as he quite literally could not find his way home, he really didn’t have a choice.

So a few moments later, Rory found himself in an open clearing not too far from Lucifer’s cave home. A few feet in front of him was small glowing tree with a strange swirling bark pattern he liked the look of. It was only as thick around as his lower leg and half again as tall as him. Figuring it would make a good target to start with, he stepped further away from it to create about a ten-foot distance.

Here goes…

And he began his practice. Starting with an underhanded method, Rory threw his Soul Weapons. He hit it most of the time, although he often missed his specific target high or low. While practicing throwing, he also used that opportunity to test his recall range. In doing so, he discovered one pleasant and one unpleasant fact. The former was that his recall range was about two feet past his extended arm’s reach, which was a great improvement. The not-so-great realization was that recalling and resummoning his chakram repeatedly tired him out.

The lack of ability to measure his Soul Power was very frustrating to Rory. He felt it left him vulnerable as all he had was his exhaustion level to determine his Soul Power. He wished he could research the topic, but unfortunately, his commo was useless when it came to Soul Power. And as he didn’t have GalNet access to look up solutions, he was stuck. Sighing, he resolved to simply go up to the tree and pull out his weapons after each throw. It was monotonous, sure, but what options did he have?

After a bit, he switched to an overhanded throw and missed more than he hit. After some trial and error, Rory discovered that holding it more with the fingers than his palms increased his accuracy. That revelation helped as he noticed and obvious increased in his hit rate. He decided it had definitely been worth the investment of time to experiment with his grip. It would help him hunt and thus find a light to get home.

After he was satisfied with his accuracy in underhanded and overhand throwing, he tried the sideways throw again and found that to be many times harder. Rory made the rather terrifying and humbling realization that it had been utter luck that he had barely managed to hit Bernael with either, never mind both, weapons.

After thirty minutes of non-stop practice with all three forms, Rory lay panting on the ground. His arms, shoulders, and chest were tired and sore and he was covered in sweat. Worst of all, he thirsty as hell.

Bloody brilliant, Rory. Work out without any water around. You’re a bloody genius. Shaking his head at his own stupidity, he looked around again. Well, the snakes need water too, right? I just have to find whatever they use.

It occurred to Rory then that he hadn’t gone deep inside Lucifer’s nest yet and that he might find something to drink in there. He probably wouldn’t be able to see, but it could be worth a try. So he got up, walked up to the tree, ripped his weapons free of them one last time seeing sap go flying, and turned around to head in the direction of the nest. It was just then that he heard an unfamiliar cracking and moaning sound from behind him. Turning around he found that the little glowing tree was moving by itself.