What makes grass deadly?
Well… for some good measure, throw in some mana, make them loyal by default, and suicidal by choice, and you get a formula tested for extinction.
On top of all this, if someone adds in some intelligence, what would you say?
For the first time, Tetsu’s inner sage gave out one free and clear instruction. Revealing no details, Sage warns Tetsu that his next step would be his last. The elephant grass was even more of a bad news than Tetsu anticipated.
His intuition, followed by the sage’s wisdom, also confirmed his deepest fear. These opponents would cut down his safe house and find Tetsu beyond its mind fuckery.
The Verdentide’s suicidal attack still left many doubts in Tetsu’s head. They sliced through rhino armor like butter, but couldn’t damage him inside a small puddle of water.
Many uncertainties, doubts, and warnings shrouded his current quest. Yet an idea bloomed in his head and a smile crept onto his lips.
“Stay.” He orders the fat rhino. “I’ll get your body back in no time.” He promises with a smile.
Rhino’s danger sense warns it before it can peek around the tree. The stupid human didn’t have any sense, so he peeked, and the look on his face proved her theory.
An unbelievably strong creature lies on the other side of this mountain and she has but one choice: leave her body behind or create a new one. The risks simply outweighed the benefits. She understood this and didn’t mind the stupid promise the human made.
Not backing away is one thing, and provoking a powerful enemy for minimal gains is another. One meant pride and honor, while the other was sheer stupidity. And she would forgive the human as he was born stupid.
She takes a step back and waves with her head for the human to follow. Her skill pointed to a perfect reserve nearby. With that, she can level in a week.
Her eyes met Tetsu’s. She saw his eyes reflect his fear and more, while two inches lower, a smile challenged the challenge.
How was he portraying two emotions at once? She didn’t know. Little did she know, so didn’t Tetsu.
Before she builds the courage to go closer and poke him out of his trace, the stupid human yet again promises the impossible.
I’ll get it back he says with that creepy smile. In no time, nonetheless, he says. His own eyes doubted his statement.
It’s been four hours since Tetsu promised the impossible. Now every second the rhino taps his feet, half nervous and half worried. The system’s timer kept her informed as she waited, while Tetsu prepped for the quest at hand.
As always, Tetsu made a simple plan. Hit and run. The prey should stay in the dark, while Tetsu gets away with the huge chunks of rock.
He summons his vault and smoke orb, transferring the smoke into several charcoal shards, while he transfers his mana into the vault. Four hours later, he sits down in meditation to recover his mana pool. He senses Rhino getting impatient, but surely it knew no time meant Tetsu didn’t know how long, right?
Tetsu plans to test out yet another theory as he alters his current plan. He had to get a reward out of the quest after all, otherwise, it wouldn’t be a real quest.
Once his resources were full, he researched the vault two more times, then filled the smoke orb with his mana. After getting lost in a new rune, he discovered, and receiving an angry stare from the rhino, Tetsu completes his final preparation.
He assumed she stared in anger. Yet those beady eyes only made him laugh and get choked for the umpteenth time.
After recovering his stats and checking his mental status, Tetsu raised his palm and stretched, counting down to his last confrontation with the darn hive.
Tetsu ran across the safe side of the hill, where the Zephyrglades couldn’t sense or see him. Each step he took lands precisely on a mark. Every mark triggered a rune that threw several shards of charcoal over the hill. The shards flew and disappeared behind the tree.
“Theory one confirmed.” Tetsu acknowledges the invisible veil that protected them this far. With the last rune activated, he takes a sharp turn, following the flying charcoal shard.
He stops at the tree and bows, thanking it for everything. Before it registers Tetsu’s intent, he goes lower and sprints back up into the air.
With all his might, he throws his vault over the tree and onto the other side. Taking advantage of the fall, he squats lower and pushes off to his left in a mad dash.
Several feet away, he throws his smoke orb. This one purposely aimed lower and closer to the Verdentide. Next, he dashes away in the opposite direction, emerging out from the invisible veil.
All his preparations were done in half a day, but the battle took only five minutes.
Stolen story; please report.
Tetsu emerges out of the veil with his goal clearly in sight. Smoke covered the planes as Tetsu used it as cover, dashing closer to his target. He notices gaps in the smoke, because of some shards not exploding.
“Darn, those runes.” He curses and spots the elephant grass distracted. “Second theory confirmed.” His frown turns into a smile.
The Verdentide’s [grass] were low-level and equivalent to a mindless beast, but these elephants’ grass can sense and detect mana signatures.
Tetsu had a gut feeling that he had to outsmart his opponent, as he can’t outrun or overpower them yet. So, with a simple plan, he contained and released his mana into the smoke orb. Once it hits the ground and releases all of his signature mana, Tetsu can use his tag-along skill, which costs must less mana, and get away with the loot.
This confirmed his theory that every single animate or inanimate object contained a unique mana signature. While he himself was forced to sense mana, he assumed the big bad grass could sense mana even better. To put money where his mouth or mind is, he assessed the risk and took a logical step.
He gambled with his life to prove a point.
All went according to plan thus far. Now, all he had to do his touch pieces of the rock, use his skill, and run like crazy to safety. Yet his inner warrior stopped him.
He wanted more.
One more reward he can earn by putting his neck on the line.
Was the award worth it?
No, but they wanted it anyway.
“Sorry, I thought I was done experimenting on u guys.” With a quick bow, he apologizes.
His heartbeat resonated in his ears and his body slid into hyper mode. Tetsu picks up a rock and hurls it at the tallest elephant grass.
Once the rock left his hand, he knew why he never played sports. Needless to say, his aim was terrible. The rock went crashing into some poor Verdentides before it could even reach the tall grass.
Lucky or unlucky for him, the tall grass noticed Tetsu and launched its counterattack within a split second. The tall one grew taller as it approached Tetsu with frightening speed.
Tetsu activates his skill and taps all the broken fragments of rock around him. He waits for the pointy end of the elephant grass to arrive and dodges back at the last minute. Using the rocks as anchor, he flips back, raising the rocks at the same time.
The elephant grass figured the human was up to something and switched tactics mid-flight.
It spread wider as a green sheen spread throughout its body. Its comrades notice this sudden power hike and shift their focus, finding Tetsu between some smoke and rocks.
They didn’t need permission to spring into action. Once they spotted their prey, all of them activated a similar skill. Each glowed a different hue of green, growing taller and stronger.
Before they overlap this skill with another, a massive presence appears behind them, at a distance. All of them, including the one about to skewer Tetsu, shift their focus to the new target.
This one was four times stronger than Tetsu and had a similar mana signature.
“Echo vault.” Tetsu’s smile grew wider.
He steps back and rips the tip of the elephant grass, carrying his loot and reward away to safety.
Five minutes of confusion and chaos.
Smoke appeared from nowhere, alerting the elephant grass. Later they detect a foreign presence and order the clueless Verdentide to attack. With no response from their dead soldiers, they scour and find the human.
[Human. Level:01]
“So weak.” One scoffs and reports to their queen.
Underestimating its prey, it attacked alone. The weak human being able to lift those heavy rocks shocked it for a second, but knowing its own capabilities, it charged forward. After all, their attacks were capable enough to slice harder rocks.
Yet again, underestimating the human, it used but a fraction of its strength, or maybe it wanted to present the human alive to its queen.
It pierced through the first rock with ease, but the human had stacked the rocks in a line. One after another, it pierces through the tough metal in its path.
The second rock reduced its speed, the third snipped its power, while the fourth rock claimed both its power and momentum. Already burning up vital energy, it decides to increase the power output. But before it could act, the human appears far behind the warrior and closer to the queen.
“Another deception?” The elephant grass shifts its power back into its roots, wanting to change direction and...
‘Slice,’ it loses connection with its tip. Someone had cut its upper body.
The smoke clears and the humans disappear once again. His mana they sensed near the queen was yet another distraction.
Tetsu thanked his lucky stars as he held his bleeding chest under the tree. The elephant grass went through four rocks and still had the force to cut him. Lucky for him, the wound was shallow and the incubation grounds will help a speed recovery session. Without the environment, he would’ve surely bled to death.
His bravery and stupidity shocked the baby rhino, which he assured to clarify in a bit.
Rhino splashes her face over the rocks and begins consuming their properties. The rock broke into tiny fragments as they entered the jelly, before settling down at the bottom: her lower rocky half.
The process was fascinating for five minutes, but Tetsu soon got bored and concentrated on his quest reward.
He held the tip of elephant grass in his hand and with a quick info, he understood how stupid he had actually been.
{Zephyrblades is one of the top officers among the Zephyrglades races. They have skills granted by their queen, which helps them command Verdentide. Not only their form, but their powers are also way more dangerous and durable than Verdentide. Their skills vary based on which class or role the queen assigns the individual. They all look alike within a small ground but have various classes and skills amongst themselves which help serve and protect the queen better. Only volcanic affinities can burn through their tough exterior. Unlike some warriors, they are susceptible to slash attacks. Level: 08}
Tetsu wanted to open his stats and thank his luck for the victory. But the low number made him doubt if he even had a smidgen of luck. Even more embracing was his level.
“Level one!” Exclaims Tetsu. “Even after all that?”
His disappointment only increased as the fat rhino grew thinner and taller.
{Quart: node. Level: 05}
“Oh, fuck me!” His yell gets him a stern look from the rhino. “Not literally.” Whispers Tetsu.
Rhino wobbles as Tetsu decides to make a run for it. Without attacking, the rhino spits out a smaller chuck of rock and looks at Tetsu.
Tetsu’s mind first reminds him of the day he puked out the rhino’s jelly body and how she ate it later. “She should not know that, right?” Tetsu raises an eyebrow.
She tilts her head in confusion and pokes the slimy rock toward him, forcing him to accept the rock.
“Sorry, but I can’t eat rocks and grow like you. Believe me, I wish I could...” He babbles on about various crap as the rhino gets impatient, until she shoves the rock onto Tetsu’s leg, forcing him to stop.
Tetsu picks up the slimy rock in surprise. The rock weighed relatively less than he remembers. Did he grow stronger? He checks his biceps, dropping the rock onto his foot.
In the end, the rhino had to choke him yet again!
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