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Moving camp during the free day was allowed, and in the early morning, the Australian-New Zealand camp appeared closer to theirs, a mile to the west, its back to the fog, a natural barrier, as it was considered off limits. An anonymous Dartmouth student coined a nickname for their neighbors: the Auszeals. Some even suggested Zealaus, because of the resemblance with zealous, but it didn’t catch.
On the three other sides of their rivals’ camp, defenses were built, a labyrinth of spider webs, with dog-sized tarantula patrolling within it. The Body Cultivators guarded the few accesses. Then the Chinese joined, making a giant half-circle around their temporary bosses.
Why their rivals had come there was obvious, they wanted to assault Dartmouth. Ariana tasked Peter to get two spiders for her, one alive, and one dead. He Warped in Stealth and cut a monster's head with the cleaver; throwing a sack on top of a second monster. The girl managed to tame the living beast easily and left the carcass in her tent for later dissection.
With that task done, they proceeded to Redroar’s village on foot, for the pure physical training. A five-mile jog was not the hardest Peter had ever done, but it was torture for Daniel and Naomi. Regina coped well enough, stopping a few times, and Ariana didn't break a sweat.
"You're late," the Barbarian snapped when they showed up on the training grounds.
"Sorry," Peter said. "We had to inspect an enemy camp before we came."
"Don’t expect me to stay overtime. We'll work on your strengths and weaknesses. Ariana, you and my kids will go and hunt bilghies."
"Ariana will use her pet—"
"Pets, plural, now," the girl opened her rucksack and produced Shredder and the spider.
"Iiiiii!" Redroar screamed, jumping back. "Put it away, put it away!" Her cubs had about the same reaction, hiding behind her.
Shaking her fear off, the mercenary continued: "Use your pets to kill a bilghie… Choose an old male trailing behind the herd, and skin it. The hide is good for clothes or armor. Kids, you have to be brave and accept to be around that… abomination."
"Moooom," a girl wailed.
"Then domesticate two more bilghies and bring them here," Reroar ignored the cub's plea. "Does your ability require you to make a bond with the creatures you tame?"
"Depends," Ari said. "If I want to keep it, yes."
"Don't. There's a bounty for mounts. I'll take the reward, and you the satisfaction of a job well done. Don't rush at the herd until my litter explains to you what to do. Off you go," Redroar flickered the back of her hand. "Naomi, go to the village and ask my husband to allow you access to every bounty on the planet."
"I'm n-not m-made f-for this kind of j-job," the girl stuttered, scared by the prospect of fighting.
"Analyze patterns, see what you can learn, and report back. We’ll take it from there. Now, sweet cheeks," she turned toward Regina, "Peter told me you are a healer using dolls. I'll have to train these two brick heads to fight for real but later I'll show you how to craft figurines. My folks had a souvenir shop, back when this planet was not a shit hole and I was a cub, and we made our products ourselves."
"Thanks," Regina nodded. "Can I watch you training them?"
"Suit yourself. Try to learn from it."
"Thanks!" Regina cheered and went to sit on the grass, propping her back on a fallen tree.
First, Redroar spared against Daniel. She was pulling her punches, but the man was faring better than the day before. She was correcting his stance and footwork now and then, and Peter tried to memorize her indications.
T'was a hard fight, back in the camp. It helped him progress.
“Now, imagine you have a bounty on your head, and see me coming at you,” Redroar told Daniel. “What do you do?”
“For sure not going into a close fight,” the man laughed. “Use a gun?”
“A gun, huh? Why don’t you try? Shot at me.”
“For real?” Daniel asked. “I mean... I have rubber bullets on, but it still hurts.”
“Only if you hit me,” Redroar said. “Go for it.”
Hesitantly, Daniel pulled out his revolver and tried to aim at a leg. Redroar moved the leg out of the way a fraction of the second before the bullet hit. Despite his repeated exclamations of ‘what the fuck’ he didn’t manage to hit Redroar at all. The next bullets missed as well, until the gun clicked empty and she held her claws at his throat.
“Second IQ test, and you failed it too... You see me, right? Do you think a few pew-pew will stop me? If you see me coming at you, run as fast as you can, throwing money and valuables behind you. I’ll stop collecting and you’ll escape with your life.”
"Hey, are you paying attention?" Redroar snatched Peter off his daydreaming. "Your turn. Take this," she threw him a hundred-inch stick, the equivalent of a javelin or a spear. "I saw what you did to him yesterday. Try to do it with a weapon and plant that stick into a tree. Preferably executing the skill only with the weapon."
"Oh!" Peter exclaimed.
Facing a large tree, Peter began to execute a series of thrusting motions, adding his Warp. It was indeed a hard task. As the System had previously said, his ability had a special sense to it, stopping short of obstacles. Doing with his index finger has been more... instinctive, and easier. Not that he was eager to stick his arm inside a tree.
For the first ten tries, the stick reappeared before it hit the tree, banging on the bark. The eleventh time, Peter reduced his motions to the minimum, thinking hard: C'mon skill, let it go forward.
All of a sudden, there was a hard shock in his hands, the wooden shaft meeting more resistance than before. It was stuck inside the tree, for ten inches. He pulled it out, trying twice before managing to Warp the staff out.
"Does it hurt the trees if he leaves holes in it?" Regina asked.
"Err… no, I’m sure they regenerate. It's a very sturdy species," Redroar said.
"Good," Regina nodded, satisfied.
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I'll stab those dry saplings over there.
Half an hour and a Mana pill later, his movements have become swift and efficient.
"Now try that against yours truly," Redroar said. “Come at me with everything you got, I won’t attack back.”
Knowing better than not obeying her orders, Peter tried his best but aimed at Redroar's shoulder. In the worst-case scenario, she'd receive a flesh wound. Nevertheless, however hard he tried, Redroar was evading his attacks with ease, hitting his head with a twig when she thought his footwork was faulty.
“Now, let’s say you see a bounty hunter coming at you, what do you do?” Redroar asked, forwarding a hand to signal him to stop attacking.
“Err... run as fast as I can, and throw money behind me?”
“Are you stupid?” Redroar let out a roar of laughing. “Use a gun. I said a bounty hunter, not me. With me, you run. With somebody else,” she raised a finger, “shot. Good. You’re improving. If you train hard, one day, you might stand toe to toe with me," Redroar said.
"Thank you," Peter bowed. "But this is not that day. You’re seeing the future, right? That’s how you’re avoiding bullets and my hits."
Redroar froze. “How did you figure it out?”
It was an Inspect, but Peter opted for looking smart, to impress Regina. “Like our detective stories say: when you take out the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, is the truth. And I saw you move even before Daniel moved his index. Thus, you can see in the future... by a few seconds?”
"That’s a secret, and it will stay so,” she frowned.
“It goes without saying,” Peter bowed.
“Stay here and train whatever you want, I'll take your missy and show her how to craft stuff in my workshop."
"You did great, I'm impressed," Regina whispered to Peter, biting his earlobe before following the Barbarian to the village.
Left alone, Peter took a few minutes' break, then decided to test something else. He was already using Kinetic Impulse to throw things, or even shoot bullets, but what if he tried to use it after the projectile left his hand or was fired? Imagining a line of Mana linking him to the javelin, like a rocket’s guiding wire, he aimed a throw as far as he could. It worked from the first time, and he was able both to accelerate the spear and to divert the hit a yard to the left.
The Mana consumption, though, was huge, and he had to rest again. Taking another Mana pill so soon after the other was out of the question because it caused nausea and disorientation. He went to sit next to the tree Regina used; just the thought she had rested on the same spot was giving him romantic vibes.
"Yep."
"Well, go for it."
"Really? That's amazing. Imagine a projectile that passes through every protection!"
"Hit me!" Achievements Rewards: For making a plan on the spot and winning a 'Get the Flag' challenge: + 2 INT For designing a bespoke weapon (Cleaver+polearm): +2 INT For discovering new defensive and offensive applications of Warp: +5 Magic Power For your overall performance during the achievements: +2 in each Constitution, Concentration, and Will. You have reached level 23 and received 3 free APs. That’s fantastic! Peter closed his eyes for a second, considering things, his Character Menu in front of him. His weakest stat was Concentration. “And except helping you, I guess concentration helps me... concentrate?” “I’ll put my available points in it, then.” Peter Hillden, age: 22, Class: Impulse, Lvl. 23 Strength: 61 / Dexterity: 70 / Constitution: 34 Intelligence: 31 / Will: 41 / Concentration: 26 Charisma: 40 / Luck: variable / Magic Power: 30 Skills: Impulse (Apprentice): Kinetic (Novice), Warp (Apprentice), Electric (Novice), Tectonic (Novice), Physical Augmentation (Novice), Physical Restraint (Novice) Influence (Apprentice) Inspect (Apprentice) Sneak (Apprentice) Stealth (Novice) Loot (Apprentice) "I wish I could see my HPs and MPs," Peter sighed after closing the blue window. HPs=Level+Constitution x 10 = 570 Average HP regen rate: 6.8%/hour = [(Constitution x 2) /10] % MPs= Level+Magic Power x 10 = 530 Average MP regen rate: 1%/minute = (Magic Power x 2)%/hour SP = unvailable. “What are SPs?” Peter asked. "Stamina?" So... I can’t have it? “Not fair,” Peter mumbled, resuming reading the notifications. Average skills cost: Activation of Impulse, Loot, and Inspect: 25 MP; Activation of Kinetic, Electric, Tectonic, Physical Augmentation or Physical Restraint: 30 MP; Activation of Sneak: 20 MP, Activation of Stealth: 50 MP, Activation of Warp: 30 MP, Activation of Partial Warp: 5 MP. Chained Warp (a Warp activated within 5 seconds after the previous one): 10 MPs. Kinetic: 10 MP/attack; Electric: 15-30 MP/attack: Tectonic: 25-40 MP/attack; Maintaining Physical Augmentation or Restraint: 5 MP/second; Maintaining Sneak: 5 MP/second; Maintaining Stealth: 20 MP/second; Loot: 3 MP/second The costs didn’t look so big, but Peter realized combining skills was where things added up. An Impulse plus Warp meant fifty-five MPs, or thirty-five when chained, and abusing it could deplete his Mana Pool in no time. "Thanks, System. Why do some costs vary?” A cluster of chaotic noises attracted Peter’s attention. Two buffalos approached. On the first rode Ariana, with a hide rolled on itself behind, on the other, the cubs, cheering and somersaulting. Shredder was running around, barking. The girl let her slip down the buffalo, which was taken over by one of the cubs. Before leaving for the village, all cubs, as one, pulled their tongue on her. "My butt is killing me," she said, letting herself lay on the grass, near Peter. "Yeah, riding is not as easy as it looks. What happened to your face?" he asked, because she was full of scratches. "The mutts killed the spider as soon as it helped me hunt the buffalo. Shot it with slings. I was furious, spanked one, then they all jumped on me, and voila…" she pointed at her cheeks. "If you roll on the ground, they jump off you," he offered advice and a Health pill. She shrugged and closed her eyes. If she was sleeping or not, Peter couldn't know, but let her rest and went a little further to practice his new moves and warping a javelin in flight. An hour later, Naomi arrived and gave them some news. The Cultivators were extracting industrial amounts of ingredients for qi-pills from the third floor, and some monster parts. Ninety percent of the bounties asked for those types of ingredients. The ten percent remaining—paying much better—were for bandits, with a handful offered for people from Floor Two hiding there. Resistance or defectors. In the process, Naomi gained a plus-five in Intelligence and Concentration, a bonus. Yet the most advantaged one was Redroar, who had a large happy grin on her face. The girl had managed to find patterns in the bandit attacks, thus probable locations for their bases. Extra and easy money for a Bounty Hunter like the lioness. The group trained a bit together, fighting as a team, against Redroar. They gave their best— albeit victory eluded them—had lunch in the village, trained some more, and then returned to the camp in the afternoon, pretending they gathered herbs. Peter had bought a stash from the village. And all was smooth until midnight.