"Please tell me you thought about bringing a map," I said, "I completely forgot."
"I did," Vel said with a grin as a roll of paper appeared in her hand. "I took maps from the scout HQ, both in Niu and here."
"You are the best," I hugged her from behind.
Vel spread the map on a table and pinned it in place with small stones. The map was of the entire Twilight Jungle main cavern. It was hard to express how big it was. The ceiling was at least a dozen kilometers high, enough to let actual weather patterns happen. Roughly converting the measurements on the map to metric, I would say the cavern was around two hundred kilometers across. How it stayed stable? Probably magic.
At the center was the aptly named central pillar, where the adventurer's guild was based, and dotted around were several dozens villages that ranged from smaller than Niu to large cities. Niu and Nis were in the south western quadrant and the nearest village looked to be at least a week of travel away.
"Closest village is Asril," she pointed, "we can get there in a week. The problem is that it's not that big. Ideally we would go to the capital but it's on the other end of bloody the jungle."
"So, Asril, then the guild, then Amiril?" I asked.
"And probably any village in between," she traced a path with her finger, "to pass the message and stock up on provisions."
It would be a two months long journey at least, without accounting for how long we would stop at each point.
"That's one hell of a trip," I whistled.
"Let's take it one step at a time," she said and pulled out a regional map. "Between here and Asril is another ruin as well. I was thinking of exploring it to see if we can't find another one of those secret chambers."
"Sounds like a plan," I nodded.
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I spared one last glance to Nis as we left. The jungle would slowly retake the area. In a few seasons, only the walls would remain and in a dozen only crumbling ruins would. Perhaps new settlers would come back before this happened, or they would build in top of the remains. Only time will tell.
I sent a small prayer to Gaia to watch over those who had been taken. Whoever had done this, their days on this world were counted. Even if it took a hundred year, we would find them.
"Let's go," I said.
Vel took of into the jungle and I followed.
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System Log
Your group had defeated [Young Taratect Hunter (Rank 2, Level 10-15)] x 15
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Experience gain reduced by 50% for fighting enemies below your rank
Experience gain reduced by 10% for fighting a familiar enemy
Reached Level 24
Your group had defeated [Young Taratect Hunter (Rank 2, Level 12-17)] x 17
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Experience gain reduced by 50% for fighting enemies below your rank
Experience gain reduced by 10% for fighting a familiar enemy
Reached Level 25
+5 SP, +2 AP
Your group had defeated [Young Taratect Hunter (Rank 2, Level 16-21)] x 14
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Experience gain reduced by 50% for fighting enemies below your rank
Experience gain reduced by 10% for fighting a familiar enemy
Reached Level 26
The way to our first camp was through another taratect hunting ground.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Taratect spiders were usually solitary ambush predators. Hives, like the one close to Niu, were few and far between. thank Gaia for that. The spiders liked to create their nests in twined trees, plants formed from multiple smaller trees melding together into a single one as the tree's chaotic appearance concealed the spider and its web more easily.
They then strung thread around their tree to be alerted when a potential prey approached. For anyone without Night Vision and a good eye, the incredibly thin web was almost invisible. This made the trek through the area a lot slower than expected.
After a few hours, we decided to make camp inside one of the twined trees and rest for a while. Vel stayed there while I set off in search of a fresh meal.
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I carefully used the point of my dagger to disturb a web. The thin filament moved ever so slightly and the effect was immediate, the red eyes of the spiders appeared through the foliage first before it exposed itself for a better view.
My first arrow hit the creature dead on and paralyzed it for a second. I took this opportunity to test my new ice shard spell, the sharp and thin shard of ice formed in front of me and flew towards the creature with unnerving accuracy. The projectile sank in easily and the spider screeched in pain, or maybe anger. I fired a second arrow, without enhancement, and hit the bottom of the thorax. It finally succumbed.
System Log
You have defeated [Young Taratect Hunter (Rank 2, Level 12)]
Experience gain reduced by 50% for fighting enemies below your rank
Experience gain reduced by 10% for fighting a familiar enemy
Reached Level 26
I sighed. So. Many. Spiders.
Not a single lizard or turtle in sight, only bloody taratects.
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Finally, after half an hour, I found our lunch.
Identify
[Adult Blue Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 34)]
[Adult Blue Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 31)]
[Adult Blue Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 36)]
The nest was organized in a small artificial puddle, with the eggs laying on a bed of algae. The blue lizards, unlike their yellow cousins, used water magic. They were still vulnerable to cold and to lightning as well.
From my vantage point, I prepared an arrow and charged it with a shock tough spell. All three of my targets were having a bath and it would be foolish of me to not take advantage of it. The arrow whistled through the air and sunk into the head of the first lizard. The spell triggered and electricity coursed over its body and into the water where it shocked the two others as well.
I wasn't certain electricity really operated that way but I wasn't going to complain. With all three of my targets convulsing in the water, I quickly cast obscuring mist. The thick fog would make it much harder for them to target me while I was not impeded in the least thanks to my perception sphere.
A water blade shot through the air and shared a branch several meters to my right.
I cast lightning orb next and added an additional projectile with an application of metamagic. The two orbs flew through the mist arcing wildly and struck their targets. The lightning arced through the water once again. A system notification resounded in my mind. I used multishot to fire at the two remaining lizards and the fight ended.
System Log
You have defeated [Adult Blue Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 31)]
You have defeated [Adult Blue Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 34)]
You have defeated [Adult Blue Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 36)]
Experience gain reduced by 50% for fighting enemies below your rank
Experience gain reduced by 10% for fighting a familiar enemy
Reached Level 27
I dropped down from my perch and stored all three corpses in my necklace. A few of the eggs had popped due to the current but most were intact, I vanished them as well. It was time for some lizard omelet.
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Storage items made everything easier. When I came back, Vel had already started to prepare a base stew inside a big pot. The three fire stones slotted at the bottom of the pot made a fire unnecessary. She had added several mushrooms and wild vegetables and the smell was already heavenly.
"Honey, I'm back," I jokingly said.
"Welcome back," Vel gave me a peck on the cheek. "You found something?"
"Blue lizard nest, here are the eggs," I summoned a bowl and dropped the eggs inside. "I'll dress the corpses outside."
"Thank you love," she took the bowl from me, "I'll prepare these while you do."
I dropped to ground level and brought out one of the lizards. One would be enough for our lunch. I kept the other two in reserve for later. I pinned it by the tail against the trunk with a dagger. I made a small cut along the neck to let it bleed out. I collected some of it in several small phials.
Once the blood stopped, I slid the belly open. The insides started to spill out and I carefully separated the useful organs out. The stomach, intestines, and bladder were discarded, too much potential for contamination. I also didn't want to deal with the shit. I stored the heart and liver, they were tasty when grilled, and threw out the lungs, too spongy for my tastes. The head was discarded as well for similar reasons.
I used create water to wash out the inside of the ribcage and cast remove toxin to clean it. From there, it was relatively straightforward to butcher. I split the legs the body, removed the feet, and stored them. They were good to eat as-is. I cut the ribs from the spine, not an easy process with just a knife, and split them in multiple segments. Finally, I split the tail in multiple segments.
Vel took the ribs off my hand immediately.
On my end, I washed the trunk with more water and burned the waste. I also pulled a special incense stick from my pouch and lit it. The smell was designed to mask the scent of blood and flesh.
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The stew was divine. Vel had really outdone herself. I considered myself a passable cook but she was on another level. I wondered if she could grow aromatic herbs with her plant manipulation, or even fruits and vegetables. I could research the creation of salt with earth magic, then we would be able to open a wandering vegan restaurant.
Maybe once we retired. It was a nice thought.