Observing the raiders’ executions and discovering Cain’s twisted corpse made Samantha deeply uncomfortable. The source of her discomfort was not the coldly efficient way in which they were slain, however, nor how their bodies were stripped of goods and carelessly tossed aside. What unnerved her so viscerally was that a dark part of her–the same part that killed the Rat King in a fit of rage–celebrated their demise. It drank in the scene with satisfaction and whispered into her ear, ‘justice’.
She shook her head to clear her mind, trying not to indulge the thought. The ease with which she felt such vindictiveness frightened her, but she didn’t know how to fix it. If she were being honest with herself, she didn’t even know for certain if it was something that needed fixing. Was it wrong to feel more than simple relief that some of her enemies no longer would threaten her? If it was, then why did it feel so…?
When Lord Braxand started speaking to his family about what their next steps would be, she was glad for the excuse to put off looking for answers.
She eavesdropped on his various conversations for about an hour before deciding she’d heard enough to justify leaving. By all appearances, he was making plans to take over an underground safehouse that the raiders had marked on hand-drawn maps. There were no supplies stored there, but it was large enough to house everyone and would protect against spirit beast attacks better than tents would.
Samantha briefly studied each of the three maps before she canceled [Spectral Projection] and snapped back into her body, trusting her mind meridian to keep the memory fresh.
“Thanks, Silas. I’m back now.”
Silas hopped off her lap and stretched, “How was it?”
“The raiders are dead and the Braxands aren’t chasing us, so… better than I was expecting!” she admitted.
He sent her a feeling of contentment, “Good! Do you need anything else? I want to get a snack. I missed plants in the desert.”
She smiled, “Just be careful and don’t go too far.”
He proudly drew himself up to his full height, “Don’t worry. I will stay close enough to save you. Just call and I’ll hurry back.”
She stifled a chuckle as he disappeared into the nearby underbrush, “Will do.”
Before checking on how Harold’s experiments were going, she pulled out a notebook and writing brush to draw her own version of the maps she’d seen. Though she could remember them clearly at the moment, it was beneficial to have a physical version as well. Focusing on the maps’ shared features, she did her best to draw a map that was an approximation of all three versions.
First, she drew a large dotted circle that represented the ‘line’ of buttes, mesas, and plateaus that she had entered the floor inside. At the bottom of the circle was a star, presumably marking where Lord Braxand’s camp currently was. In the middle of the circle she put a dot, which all three maps had identified as ‘Centra’. Surrounding Centra and branching out towards the dotted line were jagged lines that represented the ‘Great Gulfs’, which she assumed were the canyon system they currently resided in. None of the maps had any consistency in how the branches were drawn except a small section closest to the star, which somewhat resembled an ‘L’. Within that branch was a river that apparently led all the way to Centra. So, apart from that branch she opted not to draw any in for now.
The last things she drew were a series of markers designating various locations throughout the desert. There were a couple oases and a few small towns listed, but most of the labeled areas were raider safehouses or other such places. There was also a single marker in the ‘L’ canyon labeled ‘Delver’s Outpost’.
Her own version of the map now drawn, she went over to visit the alchemist.
“Any progress on that berry?” she inquired.
He sighed and shook his head, “From what I can tell it’s exactly as described. No special qi concentrations or alchemical properties. Admittedly this environment limits my testing capabilities, but I’m confident in my findings.”
Samantha shrugged, “Well, I appreciate you looking into it.”
He rolled his shoulders and stretched, “I admit, it was nice to do a bit of alchemy without the threat of immediate death! Speaking of which, should we get moving again soon? We could be getting chased down as we speak, right?”
“About that…”
As she explained what she had witnessed while ‘scrying’ the Braxands and shared the map details with Harold, he visibly relaxed.
“Ha! Good riddance. In that case, what do you say to taking it easy for a day or two before traveling to the outpost? Appreciate the shade and cooler climate for a bit?” When he saw her frowning at the suggestion, he raised an eyebrow questioningly.
“We have no idea what dangers are in these gulfs. It’s better to keep moving and camp sparingly so we can reach the outpost quicker.”
He looked like he was considering arguing for a moment, but ultimately acquiesced, “I can admit you’re the expert in this case, so I’ll defer to your judgment. I’ll be packed in a few minutes.”
----------------------------------------
The four of them traveled in a single-file line: Silas in the front, Samantha in the middle, and Harold riding his sand spider in the rear. The spider’s body sagged a bit closer to the ground and it moved slower than usual due to Samantha’s filled pack glued to its abdomen, but the group as a whole was moving at a pace it could easily keep up with. She felt a bit bad saddling it with her heavy equipment, but it didn’t make sense to keep carrying the weight herself. It had taken a bit of convincing to get Harold on board with the idea, but after pointing out how staying light on her feet would make her a more effective fighter if they were attacked he was almost eager to oblige her request.
The current travel strategy she had devised was simple. Silas would scout ahead for as long as he could maintain [Translucence] and then they would group back up. Samantha would watch their immediate surroundings in spectral form until his ability came off cooldown and they started moving again. They had barely started their second travel ‘cycle’ when Silas encountered their first major obstacle.
“Stop!” Silas warned.
Samantha held up a hand to pass the command to Harold and he promptly halted his mount. Simultaneously, she sent her senses through her binding thread in order to look through Silas’s eyes.
Silas huddled underneath a dense, thorny bramble. Beyond the brush was a section of forest almost completely cleared of the thicket so prevalent elsewhere. Grazing in this area were hundreds of intimidatingly large cattle-like beasts. Most of the adult creatures had light brown fur and appeared to be taller than Samantha was. The tops of their heads sported two thick, curved horns that extended out to the sides. With how wide the base of the horns were and where they started growing out of their heads, it somewhat resembled a hairstyle that was parted down the middle.
“Good job Silas! I’m going to try and get a better look in spectral form, so come back to the group in case something goes awry.”
Once he started quietly backing away from the herd Samantha quit sharing her senses and returned to the area while incorporeal. Flying above the herd to evaluate how hard it would be to go around them, she was dismayed to see that her initial count of the group was low. The immense herd practically extended all the way from the canyon wall to the riverbank. Admittedly, there were several sections that contained a lower density of the animals, and some short stints where there were none nearby, but they shifted constantly. By the time her group made it to one of these gaps it likely would be closed already.
Wondering about how strong these beasts were, she floated over to an isolated one a couple miles away from their group and used [Inspect]. 7 qi points later she had her answer.
Gulf Buffalo (Rank 5 - Mid)
Highest Attribute: Strength (32)
Lowest Attribute: Agility (12)
A prey animal native to the Great Gulfs. To ward off predators these herbivores gather in herds which frequently change in size due to new herds joining or splitting off from it. The larger their herd, the more dangerous they become.
Seeing the spirit beast’s high rank and attributes made her cringe. If even the prey in these canyons were this dangerous she was afraid of what the predators would be like. She was curious what the final line of the description meant, but couldn’t make much sense of it without more context. For all she knew, it could just mean the buffalo became more aggressive or territorial while in a group rather than alone. In any case, she returned to her body and communicated what she’d seen to the others.
“...With all that being said, I think our best option is to use the canyon wall to get out of reach of the herd, and then move across it until we’re on the other side of them.”
“Remind me again why we aren’t just traveling that way all of the time? Seems like a lot less worrying and sneaking around than…” Harold gestured widely to the dense forest.
“Are you offering to have all of us ride on your spider?” she prompted.
“She’s already struggling with your bag and you want her to carry even more? You’ll exhaust her.”
Samantha nodded, “Then you do understand the issue. Climbing for hours and hours is tiring, even as a cultivator. You might be fine because you have a mount, but do you really want to risk me being too exhausted to fight properly?”
Harold shook his head and opened his mouth, but before he could speak an unnatural chill seemed to pass over their group.
Gulf Buffalo herd has used [Collective Potential: Detection]
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Qi Defenses Overcome!
You’ve failed to conceal your current location from the Gulf Buffalo herd.
Samantha shivered as she inexplicably felt thousands of eyes turning to look at her at once.
Gulf Buffalo herd has used [Collective Potential: Menace]
Qi Defenses Partially Successful!
Fear effect negated. Confusion effect negated.
-10% Resilience while within 100 feet of a herd member.
She heard a distant rumble of crashing and stamping rapidly approaching from the direction of the herd. Behind her, the sand spider let out a series of panicked clicks and warbles as it skittered back and forth uncomfortably. Harold turned more pale than she had ever seen him, and he whipped his head side to side as he desperately searched for the unseen enemies. Even Silas looked nervous, instinctually puffing up his fur and wings to look larger than he really was.
“Run for the wall! Go!” she shouted, breaking the aura of terror and indecision that seemed to be gripping everyone.
The sand spider turned and ran immediately, but in the completely wrong direction. While it still fled generally away from the herd, instead of getting closer to the wall it ran towards the river. Even Harold seemed to be confused because he didn’t make any attempt to right his mount’s course.
“The other way, Harold! There!” she called, pointing the correct direction. He hadn’t gotten far and heard her clearly, but when he turned back and saw where she pointed it didn’t look like he believed her. She was sorely tempted to abandon the man and focus on saving herself and Silas. In all honesty she might have, but for one important fact. If Harold and his mount got trampled, all her belongings they carried would likely be destroyed with them. While most of her gear was replaceable, the unopened letters from her parents she’d been waiting to read weren’t.
She grit her teeth in frustration, “I’m the expert, remember? Trust me and go this way!”
Apparently convinced by his own earlier words, he finally turned his mount and ran the way she pointed. Though the short exchange had only taken a few seconds, the rumbling had gotten significantly louder. With the sand spider being hampered by her gear and its legs being prone to snag on underbrush, its progress was much slower than she would’ve liked to see. She scooped up Silas and ran after them, keeping pace and constantly scanning behind them with [Prey’s Awareness] for the buffalo she knew would be hot on their heels.
They had stayed within a few hundred feet of the canyon wall in case they needed to make a quick escape, but it felt like forever before the wall was visible through the forest again. Though the sight gave her a brief spark of hope, it wasn’t long before she saw the first Gulf Buffalo charging towards them. At a glance she could tell that it was going to catch up if someone didn’t stay behind to buy some time.
“Keep going Harold! I’ll buy you time and meet up with you!”
True to his selfish nature, he didn’t so much as look back or wish her good luck.
“You keep going too Silas,” she sent, tossing him forward as she turned to stand her ground against the incoming spirit beasts. Another two had emerged behind the first already.
She put 5 points per second into [Swift] to boost her Agility to 33 and give her steps extra traction, then ran forward to meet the foremost buffalo head on. Just before impact, she activated her sphere of dominion, sidestepped its attempt to gore her, and slashed a deep cut into the joint of its foreleg. With the limb unexpectedly weakened, the charging beast tripped and collided directly into the trunk of a nearby tree. As it let out a bellowing cry and she prepared to face the next enemy, an antler spear partially embedded itself in the buffalo’s chest.
Acting on impulse, Samantha fortified her hand and arm with [Indomitable Body], sidestepped yet another gore attack, and punched the spear completely into the buffalo’s body as it moved past her. Feeling her mind begin to strain, she deactivated the sphere of dominion and time sped back up to a normal pace. A green blur used her extended arm as a launch point to jump over the speared beast and towards the third buffalo. Upon landing with talons extended upon the unsuspecting creature's shoulder, Silas chomped down on the buffalo’s neck with [Savage Bite]. The fist-sized hole that appeared in its throat caused it to rear and thrash, but Silas’s sharp talons kept him from being thrown off.
“We. Fight. Together!” Silas roared into her mind.
She was reminded of when they had fought the Alpha Iron boar and smiled ruefully. At the time, Silas had offered to be the distraction while she escaped to safety and Samantha had offered to fight together instead. It seemed the roles were reversed now.
“Together.” she agreed.
Several more buffalo emerged from the treeline and rushed towards their injured fellows, drawn by the cries of pain. None of her or Silas’s attacks had outright killed the beasts, and as the original three buffaloes struggled to get up and continue the fight everything devolved into chaos. It was all Silas and Samantha could do to dodge and avoid major injuries. Silas even started occasionally relying on [Jackalope of All Trades] to transport to Samantha and get himself out of tricky situations.
When Samantha saw the sand spider nearing the base of the wall, she instructed Silas it was time to retreat. They both turned and began to sprint towards safety. Without Harold slowing them down, it was clear that the buffalo wouldn’t be able to catch them.
Gulf Buffalo herd has used [Grazer’s Boon: Hinder]
Samantha nearly tripped as the vegetation near her sprung into action and tried to tangle her feet. The grasses and vines snapped towards her like vipers, but to her relief they were not specially reinforced by the art. Though many succeeded in wrapping around her, her strength was more than sufficient to tear herself free with little effort.
“Help!”
Looking back, Silas was not having as easy a time as she was. His smaller frame meant the plants were able to get a better grip on him, even as he bit and kicked at the foliage.
“Teleport!” she urged, seeing the buffalo closing in on him.
“I tried! It won’t let me.” he explained, his own fear rising.
She turned and sprinted back towards Silas, hoping to free him before he was trampled. [Jackalope of All Trades] would let her switch places with Silas or transport to him, but only if movement wasn’t impeded. Upon trying to switch with him, she got a notification that the plants restraining him counted as an ability-blocking impediment.
She reached Silas with a few seconds to spare–the nearest Gulf Buffalo still several dozen feet away. As she tore at the plants wrapping themselves around her bond, the buffalo lowered its head and seemed to stop dead in its tracks for a split second.
Samantha blinked. When she opened her eyes, her entire field of view was consumed by the dark black horns of the buffalo. She didn’t even have time to flinch.
You have died!
Cause of death: Gulf Buffalo’s [Charge] -> Blunt force trauma
Healing required for survivability: Moderate - No significant loss of body mass. Severe cranial deformation.
Estimated time to revival: 2 hours
“Where are we?”
Samantha opened her eyes and found herself, once again, in her library. Beside her, looking much like he did in life, was Silas.
A piece of cardstock appeared in front of her.
Congratulations, you’ve strengthened your bond with Silas!
You have permitted Silas to shelter within your dantian. Giving another being access to this space is no small matter for either party, and such a step is proof of your mutual trust in one another.
+1 Bond Ability Point
“What’s that?” Silas flew around the cardstock and settled on her shoulder to look for himself. Silas felt physically real to her in this space, just like his voice sounded like someone was speaking rather than he was mentally communicating with her as normal.
Before she could answer him he said, “Oh! You earned a new bond ability point?”
She did a double take, “You can read that?”
Not seeming to hear her question, he continued, “If this is your dantian… that means… we died. Both of us.” His ears drooped slightly at this realization.
She plucked him off of her shoulder and hugged him lightly to her chest, “Yes, but hopefully not for long.”
All her questions about this experience could wait. The idea of both of them being prime pickings for scavengers terrified her. Two hours seemed much too long for both of them to be unprotected. There was a theory she’d been meaning to test out, but hadn’t had a good occasion for it up until this point. She’d already established she could use [Spectral Projection] while dead, and that there were some arts she could use while incorporeal. By that logic, she should be able to…
“Hold on a moment. I’ll be right back.”
She willed an exit door to appear in front of her, and she opened it in preparation to step through.
“Wait! You’re leaving me alone?” he asked, his voice sounding small and frightened.
She gave him a few pets on the head, feeling guilty, “Never. This place sort of is me. While you’re here, we’ll always be together.”
He leaned into her palm, “Promise?”
“I promise.”
He nuzzled once more into her hand before hopping a short distance away. Then, she stepped through the door.
After checking that the buffalo weren’t lingering in the area, Samantha overlooked her corpse with a grimace. Her face had been completely crushed in, which would have been a disturbing sight even if it wasn’t her own face she was looking at. Not wanting to think too hard about it, she gingerly reached down and touched her spectral fingers to her body’s forehead.
Please, work.
10 points of qi later, [Flawless Healing Touch] activated and her face was restored to mostly normal.
Yes!
Since this art required her to channel energy through her skin meridian she likely wouldn’t be able to cast it on others while in this form, but she could at least speed up her own revivals this way. Furthermore, there was one other loophole she might be able to take advantage of.
She looked over to the sad, flattened body of Silas a short distance away and her heart ached. The buffalo must have trampled him while it charged her.
As she put another 10 points into [Flawless Healing Touch] to fix the final damages to her face, she leveraged [Transfer Vitality] to send half of the healing to Silas’s body through their binding thread. To her delight, his pancake-like body regained some of its volume, meaning it had worked. A final use of the healing art saw him wholly restored, and she felt the moment his spirit was pulled back out of her dantian and settled back in his own body.
She canceled her projection art and sat up at the same time as Silas did.
Congratulations, you’ve strengthened your bond with Silas!
After dying alongside your companion in battle, you have restored both of you to life! This is truly an experience few can say they’ve shared together, and is representative of a new level of trust Silas has in you.
+1 Bond Ability Point
Silas shook himself from nose to tail as she mentally brushed away the notification.
“I didn’t like that. It wasn’t bad, but not good either.” he explained, looking up to her as she stood and fetched her spear from the ground nearby.
“I know what you mean. We can talk about it more later, but let’s just get out of here for now?”
Signaling his agreement, Silas jumped up to perch on her shoulders.
It took less than a minute to reach the nearby wall and meet back up with Harold. When the visibly nervous man caught sight of her, she caught him breathing a short sigh of relief before turning indignant. “Took you long enough! You know how vulnerable I’ve been out here in the open by myself?”
Samantha closed her eyes for a moment and prayed for patience. She couldn’t believe someone was actually this aggravating. Realizing that she might get angry and start yelling if she addressed his complaint, she opted to pretend she didn’t hear it. “Those beasts were frighteningly tough. If that herd is any indication of what else is in this valley then we’re going to need a new strategy.”