Chapter 06

REGROUP

PART 1

The walk back to shore passed in relative silence, leaving Jackle ample time to finish updating his notes, including amending the section on the Bubble spell in regards to casting, as he was starting to get a better feel for it with practice in the field.

It took about the same time to re-emerge back on to shore as it took them to reach the forge, thanks to Mara's terraforming magic that had lifted them up to forge, most of the ‘climb’ back had been leveled out.

Emerging from the water, Jackle released his concentration on their bubble, only realizing as he did so that it was the first time he’d dismissed it intentionally. Nothing like field training after all.

“Three hours right? You're a bit ahead of schedule.”

Kali's unmistakable tone called out to them from what was left of a charred tree trunk near the shore, with the owner of said voice sitting atop the debris with a large and lumpy burlap sack by her side.

Seeing their third, Mara returned her question with another as she headed over to greet her friend.

“As are you. How'd your pickings fare?”

Hopping up, the ranger hefted the sack over her shoulder to the accompaniment of a clamor of metal.

“Most of it was smoldering slag, but I found a few choices pieces to add to the stash. You?”

Seeing Kali eye the stone chest floating next to them, Mara put a finger to her lips, miming a secret.

“It's a surprise~ We'll talk back at camp once Anvi returns with dinner- If he managed to catch something.”

Chuckling as she hopped down from her perch, Kali clapped her friend on the shoulder, happy to see her safe return.

“Oh, I wouldn't doubt that. It's the ‘bringing-it-back’ part that concerns me more.”

“Heh- Is he still obsessed with the that mammoth-panther thing?”

“The Blair? Yeah, no, he's still keen on that hair-brained idea. Can't seem to convince that moron that suplexing isn't a viable hunting technique, let alone for something ten times his size.”

Joking about their thick-skulled teammate even made Jackle crack a smile as he followed the two women back to camp, their chest of gold gliding alongside him.

With Kali having scouted the surrounding area, and given a safe departure from the forge, Jackle didn’t see an immediate need for constant vigilance, so he pulled his grimoire back out as they walked, flipping back to where he’d left off on Mara’s light-based ‘lockpick’. But… despite the distractions, he still found concern eating away at him, causing him to cast a wary glance back towards the forge.

Mechanicals were erratic by nature, unpredictable at best. There was every chance they could still attack them, even at this distance, yet his mentor seemed unbothered, almost nonchalant even.

Shaking his head to try and dismiss his worry, Jackle tried to assure himself that Mara knew what she was doing, but some part of him refused to relent, still uneasy with the whole situation. Mechanicals couldn’t be trusted- To them, life was as arbitrary as time was irrelevant.

Turning his attention back to his grimoire, Jackle attempted to drown out the little voice in his head, but the next section proved just as obtuse as the last, music theory of all things, and he struggled to keep his focus.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“All this just to pick locks? My arse. What the heck has been brewing in that head of yours Mara?…”

Muttering to himself as he dived into ‘harmonization and resonance’, Jackle somehow managed to grind out the entire topic by the time they made it back to camp, where, as he put away his grimoire, it appeared they weren’t the only ones with a surprise to share.

Ahead, two shapes sat around a mid-day campfire, abating the icy claws of the humid coastal breeze, but only one was familiar. Anvi, seeing his companions, promptly leapt up to greet them and introduce their guest at the top of his lungs.

“Oi! This is Franderinak, or Fran if you’d li-iii-ke!”

Next to him, the similarly bulky shape cut him off by leaning over and licking his face with a tongue that stretched from chin to hairline.

‘Fran’ as he'd named it, looked like someone tried to breed an emu with a bear, the bottom half had back-bent legs covered in leathery skin, while the top half looked kind of bird shaped, but only if you replaced the feathers with an abundance of fur tipped with razer sharp claws, then paired it all off with a toothy grin large enough to fit someone’s head.

“Is that a Pynma!? And you named it?? Are you mad? Ohh that's a dumb question- What were you thinking!?”

First to recognize the creature Anvi had brought back to camp, Kali bolted towards the camp without another word, intent on levying a good smack or two upon her pupil for being so bone-brained, leaving Jackle and Mara in her literal dust.

“Forgive me, but I'm not well versed in the more niche creatures, what's a ‘Pynma’?”

Turning to her friend, Mara seemed surprised at his comment.

“You should know about these from your adventurer's test… They're vicious pack hunters.”

“Oh. Yeah… I got an exemption on the written portion, apparently they thought I knew enough already, being an archeology professor and all.”

Tilting her head to the side as she massaged the sudden emergence of a throbbing vein in her temple, Mara looked at him like a mom would look at a messy room in need of cleaning.

“Okay. Whelp, I'm not teaching you any more spells until you brush up on your Beastiology, or you will get yourself killed out here. There's a few books on the ship I think, skim through those and let me know when you're done.”

Sighing, Jackle could understand her ire, even if it made him feel like a kid occasionally. He had enough wits about him to know that Mara was a far sight older than he was, and her words came from a place of experience. Knowledge of beasts had never seemed that important, but she was right. If he were going to continue adventuring with them, there was no telling what they might encounter, and such ignorance could easily get them hurt.

Shaking her head at the situation, Mara pointed to the creature currently being showered in love and affection by their companions as if it were a small house cat.

“Pynmas are almost exclusively found in packs that routinely lay down their lives for one another, but they hunt like ravenous beasts. They'll eviscerate a man in seconds if caught off guard, and a single group can devastate a countryside. Thankfully, they don't breed that quickly, but hunting them is a problem because the pack’s aggression goes the the roof with each you kill. A single Pynma is actually a higher threat class than an entire pack because they're usually very erratic. Oh, and they can outrun ships, with land-based trade caravans their usual fare.”

“Oh… My… Somni… And he named it?? Why am I surrounded by loons?”

“Ha- We're all mad here. Or do you still think that you're an exception?”

“I mean, Kali’s… Mostly normal right?”

“Pfft- You've clearly got no idea what that girl gets up to in her off-time. Ask her about the ‘Millennium Project’ sometime.”

“The what?… By the Threads, what have I gotten myself into?”

As they joined the others at the camp site, ‘Fran’ immediately approached the pair and began intently sniffing them with its fist-sized snout as the other two followed it over, Kali reaching to scratch at its neck as she approached.

“The fur’s surprisingly soft, which certainly accounts for its price, even factoring in the hazard pay.”

Anvi, taking offense to her statement, turned to Kali with a look of disbelief.

“You're not suggestin’ sullen of my poor ‘ittle Fran are ya?”

Raising her hands in innocence, Kali immediately backpedaled on her statement.

“No-no, certainly not. You’ve got me convinced, you’re her pack now. Just don't let her get too hungry.”

Joining in as she reached out to pet the pointed ears of the Pynma, Mara seemed to notice something odd about the creature.

“I don't see any wounds on this one… How'd you get one on its own, let alone name it?”

Puffing out his chest to demonstrate how proud of himself he was, Anvi eagerly dived into recounting how he'd set off to forest north of them to hunt for their dinner, only to be stopped before he’d even gotten to the tree line as Fran approached him, clearly in shock and starved to exhaustion.

After sharing what rations and water he had with the pitiful creature, he tried to leave it so he could hunt, but the Pynma had been intent on tailing him, so in the end he decided to bring it along with him into the woods.

On his word, she'd been remarkably helpful in finding trails, but for the life of him, neither of them could find anything beyond insects in the jungle, until they finally found out why.