Alea was waiting for us and there was a small crowd to watch us depart. I spotted my parents and grandmother at the front, it seemed they had taken some time off to see me take a step towards adulthood. Next to them were Vel's parents. It looked like both groups were engaged in some light discussion.
I reluctantly let go of my girlfriend and let my mother take me into a bone crushing hug.
"My little Lili," she said with a bright smile, "all grown up now."
"Mom," I said with a blush, "everyone is watching …"
She let me go but I was immediately pulled into another one armed hug by my father.
"I'm proud of you Lili," he said, "now go show them what you can do."
He let me go and gently pushed me towards Alea.
"Go big sis!" I heard Lusha shout from the crowd. I gave her a smile and a small wave.
"You made an impression," Vel whispered.
We both stepped in front of Alea.
"Liscura, Velatha," she said in a solemn voice, "are you ready for your trial?"
"Yes," we both answered with a salute.
"You have your mission, prove to the world you are ready!"
The small crowd cheered and we sprinted out of the village.
----------------------------------------
The first part of the journey was to get to the edge of the outer barrier. We mostly avoided any monsters we came across. The populations inside the barrier were managed by the scouts for training and I didn't want to step on their toes. It took around half an hour at a light jog. Once at the edge, the barrier was incredibly obvious to my mana perception.
The dome was large enough that the curvature was mostly invisible from up close. I tried to press a hand against it but stumbled. It had offered no resistance whatsoever, only an electric tingle along my arm. I couldn't find any spells on the surface of the bubble, I suspected that I would have to find the anchors for that.
"How does it look?" Vel asked.
"Like a giant soap bubble," I said, "pretty boring."
I stepped through the barrier and the electric feeling washed all over me.
"It tingles," Vel said as she stepped through behind me.
"I have a feeling that any monster that touches this isn't going to like it," I said.
----------------------------------------
Pretty much all children were taught how to orient themselves in the jungle as soon as they were old enough to go on missions in the barrier. One of the primary means was something akin to celestial navigation. The crystals in the ceiling acted had fixed points of reference.
According to the map, the ruins were to the east of the village. In between us and the ruins was about a full day of running, a small valley, a river, and probably a lot of monsters. The barrier and scouts kept the populations in check near the village but the further you went, the more dangerous it got.
The map wasn't precise enough to plan a definitive route but we already had an idea of where we should go.
"Let's avoid the marked taratect grounds," Vel said, "I've seen enough of them for a while."
"Leaves us with the lizards," I said with a grimace.
The Yellow Jungle Lizards were territorial beasts. They fiercely protected their nests and had earth magic at their disposal. I had never seen one in person but from what I had heard, they were less of a pain to deal with than taratects due to their more direct approach to combat.
"If we go this way, there is cliffs with caverns according to the map," I pointed to a place at the center of the lizard's domain, "we can probably camp there for the night."
"Sounds good," Vel said.
----------------------------------------
We found our first lizards only an hour or so later. Three of them inside a small clearing, a nest with pearly white eggs at the center. One of them was sleeping curled around the nest, another was resting on a nearby boulder, and the third was heading out.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
[https://i.imgur.com/m34sicw.jpg]
Identify
[Adult Yellow Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 25)]
[Adult Yellow Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 23)]
[Adult Yellow Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 24)]
Their levels were a lot higher than us but the difference was not always an absolute indicator. A high level but stupid monster could get killed by a weaker and smarter opponent, as long as they could dish out enough damage. The trio would make for a good test of our skills. If they proved to much, we had the option of retreating to the trees. The lizards were not good climbers.
"I'll setup trap runes to corral the one guarding the nest," I whispered to Vel, "and focus on the one on the boulder. You handle the one moving out."
Vel nodded and moved out with her stealth active. I readied three arrows and aimed for the lizard near the nest. I enabled [Spell Combat] and readied a chill rune. The magic circle appeared near the tip of the arrow. I held it for a few seconds until I heard a cry. My first arrow set a trap between the nest lizard and the one that had left. A second later I had shot a second one to cut off the boulder lizard from the nest lizard. Finally, I placed one between me and the nest lizard who was now penned in.
The one on the boulder had started to move and I fired my fourth arrow. This one was loaded with a damage enchantment and the cold touch spell. Lizards were cold blooded animals and consequently weak to ice magic. The arrow struck its flank and sunk deep, a patch of cold started to spread on the monster's scales. From the noises it made, it was not happy.
I took a glance at where Vel had trapped her own target in creeping vines. The plants were constricting around the lizard who had made several spikes of stone appear around it. I assumed that Vel was out of the line of fire.
The nest guardian had started to create a small mound of earth to hide itself and the eggs. I wanted to spare the eggs if possible, I was curious if they made for a good meal. I cast an air bullet and shoved as much mana as I could inside the construct. The spell impacted the lizard and the burst of air shoved it over the earth it had been molding and into the open. I followed it up with a water blade which left a large gash.
With the traps around, I focused on the boulder lizard again. It had honed in on where I was hiding and I spotted the three spikes of earth it was charging just in time. I jumped down from my perch and grabbed a branch a few meters down to slow down my fall before landing in a roll on the ground.
It was somewhere I didn't want to be when two earth controlling lizards were focused on me. I quickly threw a flame bolt their way to keep them on the defensive. It worked and the nest lizard used its magic to raise a wall. Its friend fired two more spikes that I intercepted with a water shield.
I fired a second cold arrow at my attacker. The projectile being much faster than a spell was not intercepted and I saw my target slow down again. It seemed that the cold did a lot of damage to them. I saw the magic activate under my feet thanks to mana perception and jumped to grab a low branch. Below me, a mud pit had started to form.
I flipped myself on top of the branch and fired another arrow, this one loaded with the scorching touch spell. Being warm blooded did not provide them with an immunity to fire it seemed. The arrow scratched the scales of the nest lizard but delivered their payload nonetheless.
The system chimed in my mind, a quick glance with my second partition told me Vel had dealt with her target. I jumped to another branch to avoid more stone projectiles and with my stealth active, I soon managed to confuse them. Vel took advantage of it and started to entangle the nest lizard, who was still on the ground.
The boulder lizard tried to slice the thorny vines apart with stone but I stepped in. I fired yet another cold arrow and followed it up with a water blade. The razor sharp streak of water sliced open the lizard's throat, its breath slowed and, after a few seconds, the notification rang in my mind. Its brethren expired soon after.
System Log
Your group has defeated [Adult Yellow Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 25)]
Your group has defeated [Adult Yellow Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 23)]
Your group has defeated [Adult Yellow Jungle Lizard (Rank 2, Level 24)]
Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
Experience gain increased by 20% for fighting a strong enemy
Experience gain increased by 20% for fighting a group
Reached Level 12
Gained 10 SP, 2 AP, 1 CP
Vel walked out from behind a tree on the other side of the clearing. Behind her, some animated branches were dragging her prey towards the rest of the corpses.
"I think we found our meal," she said.
I picked up some of the fist sized eggs from the nest and placed them in one of my pouches.
"You want to make a lizard omelet?"
"Why not, an egg is an egg," I shrugged.
I pulled out my dagger and started to skin the largest lizard.