Before

How could the lizard-folk make Kalanthia move to avoid them? It seems strange at first to think that creatures a bit smaller than me are enough of a threat to make a predator like Kalanthia willing to give up her established territory, but after parsing through her memories a bit more, I understand why. It’s the same reason as why few animals mess with hyenas in the savannah, that wolves are the one of the apex predators in North America, and that ants are a threat in the rainforest: numbers.

Kalanthia could – and did – kill lizard-folk easily. In ones, twos, and threes, that is. But just like humans, the lizard-folk didn’t take that lying down. Unlike most animals which, having become prey to a predator would start avoiding the area, the lizard-folk started moving out in greater and greater numbers, actively searching for the threat to their group. When they found her den and attacked her on her way out for a hunt, she decided that the threat to Lathani was too great and moved out.

I’ve finally got an answer to a question which had been percolating in my mind for a while: why would a creature like Kalanthia be willing to live in an area with such relatively little Energy when she could easily carve out a territory in a more Energy-dense area? Well, she didn’t want to expose Lathani to the threats even deeper into the valley, and she figured that the lizard-folk would stick to their own territory. Since that was in a higher density area, she figured that moving to a low-density area would be enough to avoid the threat. Clearly, she was wrong.

I do find it interesting that they merely disabled her and took her cub. Even if they expected Kalanthia to eventually die from the poison, looked at coldly and objectively, it doesn’t make sense. Why would they dismiss the threat which had killed so many of them that they actively started searching for her, but then take a creature which was clearly no threat to them? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to kill Kalanthia and leave Lathani alone? Or even kill Lathani as well because she could potentially be a threat in the future: nature is rife with examples of animals instinctively killing the infant offspring of their threat in order to preempt threats in the future. And why take Lathani with them?

The answer: their approach makes no logical sense. At least, not if I’m looking at the animal kingdom. If I look at humans, however… Humans have been known many times to take the infant creatures of other species for a number of reasons, caring little about the adults if there’s nothing in it for them. I’ve even got a whole Class centered around the taming profession, and am currently helping raise some raptorcat cubs, hoping that I might be able to Tame them later. Could that be the reason?

But if it is, then that means the lizard-folk might actually be self-aware… Nicholas said there weren’t any civilized races here, but who knows what he classes as civilised? Either way, what’s for sure is that the lizard-folk are both capable of tactics and using poison. I don’t know whether it’s something they adapted from some other creature, or if it’s something they created themselves. I mean, it could be a natural gift, but given that this is the first time Kalanthia has been aware of them using it, that doesn’t seem likely. Unless they have a subspecies capable of producing it that Kalanthia hadn’t seen before…

Possible, but it seems more likely, everything taken into account, that the lizard-folk are more advanced than the animals I’ve seen so far here. That’s going to make things harder. An intelligent enemy is always going to be more difficult to outmanoeuvre or defeat than a dumb one.

But that’s for later. First I need to actually get there.

*****

Bash. My mace swings one way. Thump. My mace swings back. Each blow has landed, the larger and stronger cousins of the killer chickens letting out coughing sounds of pain as my weapon cracks or caves in bone at each Strength-powered swing.

The first few hours of our journey haven’t exactly been without incident, but I find myself surprised at how easily we tackle the threats. Relatively easily, that is. Stats and practice are really paying off. Even my bow skills have improved, my increased Dexterity helping with my accuracy and general feeling of fluidity. Though, with the cubs strapped to my chest, using a bow is a bit awkward so I’ve been using my mace when we’ve been too surprised for me to tuck them somewhere safe. I can really see my increased Strength coming into play, each blow having so much more effect than when I first used the knotted branch of wood. It helps, for sure, that I’ve also improved the mace itself, a chunky piece of stone fixed into the head with rope and pitch giving it weight and heft.

Then, of course, there’s Bastet. She’s a whirlwind of teeth and claws and death, few creatures standing up to her for long. Those that do generally have some sort of defensive feature which I’m usually able to overcome with my mace and strength. We’re a good team – she’s quick and her claws deadly; I’m significantly slower but I have ranged options and my bludgeoning-type damage is deadly in a different way.

These older brother versions of killer chickens are bigger and stronger, not to mention more numerous, but we’re getting through them like a scythe cutting through wheat. It only takes me one or two blows to put the creatures down for good; even less than that for Bastet who’s using her natural weapons to great advantage. In this particular battle, it’s like a rematch with my previous foes. We’ve both upgraded, but the gap between us has only widened. The killer chickens are so evidently outmatched, but for some reason they’re still attacking.

A killer chicken darts forward to snap at my throat, perhaps hoping for a lucky blow, but I just reach out to snatch at its neck, taking the split-second of surprise before it attacks me again to swing at its body. With such an easy target, it only takes one blow to cave in its rib cage on one side, leaving it down for the count as it struggles to breathe.

It’s amazing how so many life-death encounters can inure one to the terror of mortal danger. And frankly, these chickens are so far from that terrifying monster of the deep that it’s almost laughable. I’d have been dead if I’d been snagged by even one of those tentacles, unable to cut through the skin as I was. These over-sized farm animals are really just corpses walking.

That’s not to say that the four-foot tall cold-blooded murderers couldn’t do me in if I get too cocky; I’m fully aware that for all my improvements, I’m only a few steps away from disaster. Still, the fact that I’m not even down by half my health by the time we dispatch the twenty-fourth killer chicken is heartening. I mean, I know that I wasn’t doing it alone this time, but still, I probably dealt with just under half the creatures, and that’s not a dissimilar number to what I killed before. And these ones were far superior in attacking power to the previous.

It seems so long ago, it’s hard to believe that I’ve only been in this world for a month or so. The fight over, I pull up my status screen to check my gains. There are no messages waiting for me: disappointing, but not overly surprising. I knew that after reaching ten in each stat it would become significantly harder to improve through effort, and that’s proving true.

Name: Markus Wolfe

Race: Human

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Class: Tamer

Level: 2

Energy to next level: 56%

Energy absorption rate: 19u/hr

Energy towards debt: 1%

Intelligence

12

Mana: 61/120

Wisdom

12

Mana regeneration rate: 300u/hr

Willpower

17+3 (+20%)

Health regeneration rate: 20u/hr

Constitution

13

Health: 72/130

Strength

12

Stamina: 16/60

Dexterity

12

Stamina regeneration rate: 120u/hr

Class skills

Dominate – Beginner 4

Tame – Beginner 2

Fade – Novice 8

Non-Class skills

Lay-on-hands – Initiate 1

Stealth – Beginner 9

Animal Empathy – Beginner 8

I’m pleased at the uptick in my Energy store: I’d started walking with nine percent and am now up to fifty-six. Most of that is due to the various battles we’ve engaged in, almost half of it down to this fight here. My Energy absorption rate has also been increasing as I walk further down into the valley. It doesn’t seem to be a linear increase, but has been growing faster and faster. It makes me wonder what the bottom of the valley is like if this is the Energy density of what’s still considered very much a peripheral area.

My health, stamina, and mana are all down a fair bit, but mana and stamina start ticking up relatively quickly. I cast a couple more Lay-on-hands, using some of that newly acquired mana and turning it into health points. Bastet’s looking a bit torn up too so I channel a bit of healing for her too. Fortunately, it’s all superficial stuff that she’d probably heal within a short time anyway. Still, no point in going into a battle already wounded. Not to mention that walking around while bleeding is probably a good way of attracting more attacks, which in turn will only delay us further.

Once we’re both almost fully healed, I walk around and toss all the killer chickens XL into my Inventory, fortunately managing to fit them all in one slot. Time to go: time’s a-wasting and I don’t know how much more of it Lathani has. Just because I’ve theorised she might have been taken for taming purposes doesn’t mean I’m right, after all.

By the time the sun is heading towards the horizon and I’m starting to give serious thought to where to sleep tonight, I’ve accrued another thirty-three percent from encounters, bringing it up to eighty-nine percent. If this keeps on, I’ll be levelling up in no time! And that’s just from killing the creatures since I haven’t been spending the time to dig out their hearts and cook them on the spot. I’ve collected a couple of the most useful-looking corpses, but the rest I’ve left to the forest.

A wary growl from Bastet brings my attention back to my surroundings. We’ve strayed into an area where the foliage grows more thickly. It’s hard to see very far as the trees are a strange type which seem to grow roots from their branches. Half-grown roots dangle everywhere, blocking my view. In between, different plants flourish, seeking the light which struggles to make its way through the canopy above. They’re surprisingly brightly coloured, or perhaps that’s just because the trees themselves are so gloomy. It’s like a strange psychedelic nightmare, frankly.

I’m wary, not only because of the limited sight-lines or Bastet’s own emotions, but because in Kalanthia’s memories, this patch of trees was much smaller than it is now. She hadn’t even passed through it, just seeing a few trees growing at a distance. I’m not sure how long it’s been since Kalanthia and Lathani made this journey, but not that long, I’d guess. Certainly not long enough for a small grove of trees to become an established forest-within-a-forest.

Sure, maybe this type of tree is the bamboo of this world, growing an inch overnight, but I would guess something more sinister underlying its growth. Call it instinct more than logic, but I want to get out of this area as quickly as possible. I would have gone round it but I was concerned that I might lose the path. We left the river a while ago to cut across one of the bends where it wends its way much more widely than we would prefer – if we get lost now, we could accidentally miss intersecting with the river again at the right point, or even end up going in circles. My Map is incredibly useful, but it only shows any detail around where I’ve been, and I can’t see where the river is on it. Not the bit of river we’re aiming for, anyway. Plus, I didn’t realise when entering the grove that it had grown so much.

With little choice but to keep going forward, we just have to keep our eyes peeled in all directions. The leaves rustle ominously around us, the vines swaying in ways that are just not right with the wind. Eventually, we get to a point where the roots are growing so thickly that we can’t get through. When I turn around and look behind us, I’m surprisingly not surprised that the way behind is impassable too, roots having grown with unbelievable speed to block the route.

Looking around with fear starting to crawl at my throat and anger starting to warm my belly, I see no easy way through the cage of roots: we’re trapped.