Sharpfang and I slowly made our way back towards the dock together, through the forest. He had to go slow due to the bullet wound in his side. He told me how they had planned for Grizzle to ambush the tower while he took on the creatures in the building. Grizzle setting off the trap had messed everything up while he was getting into position.
He had gotten all the creatures, but the bullet wound had him dodging and retreating out a window. Once it was light out, I could see a grazing wound on his snout. That was an insanely close miss and he was lucky he wasn’t dead.
Once we got nearer to the docks we went slower. Sharpfang had been silent, but there was nothing to say. He had technically passed with two pendants. While I didn’t have to give them to him, he had killed those creatures.
Stealing his achievement would have left a bitter taste in my mouth. While we hadn’t gotten along before, he was just competitive. And I was the best. If I had to go up against me with Mes helping, even I would have felt inadequate.
I came to a stop where the tree line ended and there was just short grass, a few buildings, and then the dock. “Let’s stop here, I said quietly.” Sharpfang nodded and we hid in the tree line behind some bushes.
“I think I can smell at least two, maybe three creatures out there,” Sharpfang said. His sense of smell was better than mine. I couldn’t make anything out. “Can’t make them out, the breeze is shifting, and they have moved about.”
“Probably the buildings, there is no other cover,” I replied. “We have another day to wait before Bloodclaw comes back.”
“I won’t be much use,” Sharpfang said quietly his voice struggling not to break.
“If they weren’t aiming to kill us, I would suggest you be a decoy to draw out the creatures hiding. I think we retreat a bit, so they don’t smell us, and rest up. Go back in during the night,” I replied.
“Sounds good,” Sharpfang said. We retreated and found a large rock to wait on top of. I shared my food and water with him. We hadn’t gone back to get his pack. It only had supplies and I had more than enough.
We waited silently, I dozed, while staying awake. Just keeping my eyes closed and listening for any movement. Sharpfang fell asleep from exhaustion and blood loss. He woke up just as it was getting dark. He panicked for a moment before calming down.
I slowly got up and began to stretch. “I didn’t hear anyone,” I replied.
“Thanks for keeping watch, sorry I fell asleep,” Sharpfang said. I just moved on. I wouldn’t want to talk about getting injured, so I decided just not to say anything.
“Well, we should move out in a few hours. Let’s eat and drink,” I said while I got supplies out of my pack. That was when I heard a twig break and froze. I quickly pointed in the direction, while setting down the pack. My claws coming out. Sharpfang pulled out two daggers.
“What do you think Sharpfang, you like the food?” I gave him a look and he quickly caught on as I moved away.
“Nowhere as good as the island. But dried rations aren’t bad. Why this one time-“ I ignored the sound of him talking as I quickly circled around to the side of the approaching creature. It was a rat, a large one slowly approaching the rock we had set up our camp on. He had two daggers in his hands.
Not one of the people in our group. I moved up behind the rat. But his instincts were on point, and he spun around, slashing out. I leaned back, avoiding the blow and moved in slashing out with my claws. He kept his daggers close and swiped out towards my paws.
“Ah!” He let out a shout as a dagger was thrown into his back. I moved forward and went low. My claws ripping out his hindleg. The rat collapsed as I rolled back up to my feet and turned towards him. He was down on one leg. He twisted an arm back and I feinted towards my right and then dodged left. He threw the dagger and it missed me.
I rushed in before he could throw the second one. Kicking off the ground, I leapt into the air, I backflipped over the kneeling rat, my claws lashing out. He was too slow, bringing his last dagger up to defend. His head and snout were sliced up into ribbons. I landed behind him.
He collapsed without a shout. I could still see his chest moving, so he was alive. I approached carefully and dodged back as he lashed out with his dagger. I stepped in and cut open his neck. The rat finally collapsed to the ground dead.
I didn’t hear anyone else besides Sharpfang and myself. “I don’t hear anyone else, you?” I asked towards the rock. Sharpfang stuck his head up.
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“No,” he replied.
I took the blue pendant off the rat and made my way back to Sharpfang. “Thanks for creating that opening,” I told him.
“Still doesn’t make us even. I have seen you fight. You would have won eventually,” Sharpfang said. “Even if it was a rat from the Silent Mischief.”
“Silent Mischief?” I asked, while cleaning off my claws and the pendant.
“Rats live in groups called Mischiefs. There is a ranking or hierarchy of a sort. Southpaw and I are from the Blade Mischief. Lots of focus on bladed weapons. A tradition from before the Covenant Church. We are from one of the senior mischiefs. Grizzle is from the Food Mischief. A lesser Mischief.”
“That rat there, didn’t say a word even in death. That is a sign of a rat from the Silent Mischief. They are at the same level or a bit above the Blade Mischief.” I processed all the information about rat politics that Sharpfang was telling me.
“So deadly?” I asked.
“They are a very small mischief, and the training their members go through is intense. To never utter a sound no matter what during combat. They like to brag they managed to kill a couple paladins while fighting against the Covenant Church during the crusade against the rats. But that is ancient history.”
“After seeing Paladin Bloodclaw, it is hard to imagine. Also, I heard him step on a twig. Not very silent now, was he?” I asked with a small grin.
“Oh haha, my side, don’t make me laugh Mittens. If I ever go back home and share this story, it would be hilarious. We should get moving. The smell of blood will carry,” Sharpfang said. I nodded and put the food and water back in the pack.
We set off for the docks. Sharpfang hung back, while I went forward checking the buildings one by one in the middle of the night. I heard breathing and the rustling of fur. Entering from a rear window, it was easy to kill one creature on watch while the other one was sleeping. I took both their pendants, putting me at nine blue pendants and one red one.
I finished checking the rest of the buildings just in case. There were no more creatures hiding about the dock area. I was happy with how many pendants I had managed to get. Even the loss of two pendants to Sharpfang wasn’t that bad in my mind. Getting three creatures in a building would have been risky, even for me. One mistake and it would be hard to maneuver around inside with how large I was.
These buildings were the standard size, which made them on the larger side for mice and other smaller creatures. But small for cats. My combat style was all about movement, which meant buildings needed to be handled carefully.
Once that was done, I made my way back to Sharpfang out in the open. “You get them,” he asked me.
“Two creatures. I checked all the buildings, that’s it,” I replied.
“Good. I would have been useless in a fight,” he said.
“You helped me out a lot in the last one. Let’s go find a place to stay until Bloodclaw comes back tomorrow. You think anyone else will show up?” I asked.
“Knaves. That fox always likes to do the least amount of work, but he is canny. If anyone will come back tomorrow, it will be him. Mary and Shiversnout are probably struggling. Too timid. They will need a lot of luck to get two pendants each before the last day. Blackfur…he is dangerous. He comes from the Water Caravan. They are quite adept in combat and ambushing. He is just overshadowed by Mittens of…?”
“Cats don’t have groups, I think. I grew up with my mom, but she didn’t like to talk about her family too much. It made her sad. They were all killed for heresy. My father wasn’t around much. And history in public school was all about the good creatures killing the bad ones.”
Sharpfang let out a snort at that. “Public school, completely useless for the most part. I hated every moment, but at least their was Mischief school where we rats learned the true history. Vowing never to forget.” There was an edge to Sharpfang’s voice at the last part. If I had to guess they were crushed by the Covenant Church in some way.
But fighting the Covenant Church was impossible. It was just too large and too powerful. The crusades were over. The bad creatures had lost. Now we all had to live with the reality as it was, not as we wished it could be. That meant becoming an assassin in service to the Covenant Church.
We made our way into a building near the dock. Sharpfang lay down in the corner. I went up on the roof to keep watch and call on Mes. I left him food and water on a table in the building but took my pack with the gray etched stone that glowed. I couldn’t risk it being discovered.
‘Avatar,’ I mentally called out and Mes appeared.
‘Hello user. You have been doing a great job so far. Keep it up.’ I rolled my eyes at how excited Mes got at me killing other creatures. ‘The creatures in white are not nearby. The one you saw had energy coursing through them. They might suspect something with how Danger Sense works, but its traces are incredibly faint.’
‘Should I be worried?’ I asked.
‘I don’t believe so. If anything they might suspect you have some natural talent. Such a thing isn’t impossible even if it is incredibly rare. But stealth skills might be a priority to end energy based skills. But check your interface.’
‘Interface,’ I called it up and the screen appeared.
Experience: -17,400 EXP (+900)
Features: Interface, Avatar, Skill Attunement
T1 Skills: Movement (71/100) +14, Listening (50/100) +12, Balance (44/100) +8
T2 Skills: Danger Sense (32/100) +7
T3 Skills: Claw Combat (33/100) +9
‘That rat counted as a mini-boss for tutorial purposes so I was able to award you more experience since he had a larger soul. Your skills really improved, since you used them in combat.’ Mes floated around in front of me and my eyes went wide at how much they had all increased over such a short period of time.
‘Isn’t this a lot?’ I asked.
‘Well, you focused on the fighting, not the skill. It helped it integrate or attune with you better. It is integrating into your subconscious. You are noticing the skills less and they feel more natural now.’ I nodded at this. Mes was right. They felt less like corrections and more like ingrained knowledge.
‘That is why fighting and killing is the best! Far better than crafting or farming. This is just the first step on the path of killing hordes of creatures and getting really strong.’ I liked the idea of getting strong. With how much EXP I needed, well I would have to kill hordes of creatures to get more skills and features.