294. NO CLASS: TABITHA.

It was late afternoon when I opened my eyes. I was still leaning against Težka. He was a marvellous fellow with soft fur. Someone had left me water and some food. I looked around to see Wiremu and Umreti poking in the dirt. I levered myself up and walked over.

“What have you found?” I asked.

“More small monster cores. They are very small, I suspect the queens had them, which means most are buried in lava underground. I imagine they have been destroyed.” Wiremu said.

“Or,” Ruku said as he walked up, “we come back in a decade to find some very interesting types of spiritual rock.”

That got Wiremu’s interest. I could almost see his senses spreading out to investigate. “It just feels like my normal lava.” he said.

“I imagine it needs time to absorb the spirituality that was released by the hornets,” I said, remembering the time Puia took to absorb different rocks and that he was an active elemental rock monster.

“Yeah, I wonder how long the rock in the mushroom cave took to absorb the spiritual flavour?” Wiremu said. He picked out what looked like a grain of sand but must have been one of the cores. He then encased it completely in Granite, so it was now the size of a plum. “Let's keep this and watch it over time to see how it changes.”

That is a start, but surely there is more. “What about the bodies? Can we salvage anything from them?” I picked up one of the hornets lying around and examined it.

“As far as I can tell, they will have alchemical value, but we don’t have the means to refine them or preserve them,” Ruku said.

“So there is nothing here to salvage?”

“Umreti has salvaged a number of wandering workers for his queen,” Wiremu said.

I looked at Umreti and the leather backpack he wore. There were hornets coming and going at a constant rate. He definitely had more than the five he started with. They were building their new hive in the backpack. These hornets are just creeping me out here. I know I will have to get used to them, but I think it is going to take some time.

“I am going to find a decent meal,” I said.

“The famous Five have set up camp about ten minutes walk that way,” Ruku said.

As I walked, I looked at my status. Engulfing Shadows went to the Master level from that. It was the prime Skill I used. I now have six master-level Skills, well behind both Ruku and Wiremu. I know Ruku said it is unusual for people our age to have a single master-level Skill, but I feel I am still lagging behind.

My Shadow Predator Class levelled as well. I haven’t really done a lot of fighting that challenged me, and that class had not levelled for a long time. This had been a challenge, particularly for the shadow skills.

Syphon Energy went up two levels, and Syphon Constitution went up one. The best part was one that didn’t show up on a status sheet. Nyx had grown. She was denser and more… solid is not the right word, but it partially is. She can affect the physical better. She is more resistant to light and pain. In fact, she now has resistance shown in her status. That wasn’t there before. Resistances to Light, Pain and Mental. Maybe her growth is shown indirectly by her status.

Mbili was tending a campfire, and there was a kettle on as well as a pot of stew.

“Nobody died, huh?” Moja greeted me.

“Not today.”

She shook her head in disbelief. I could sense Mbili nearby, but Tatu is usually caring for the animals, and he is not here.

“Where is Tatu?”

Moja humphed, “ran off to look at the mess you made.”

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I decided it wasn’t important and sat down with a bowl of stew. Something is different. I looked at my status, and there was no new class or anything. My Spirituality seemed stronger and more flexible. I guess if Nyx can grow, so can I? Then I spotted it. My base attributes had gone up. Spiritual Strength went up by two and Spiritual Agility by one. That rarely happens once you are an adult.

I heard Wiremu coming. He was scolding Tatu, “That was incredibly dangerous.”

“What was wrong with letting Qatil eat the hornet carcasses? They prey on her,”

“They will make her more spiritual and impart some small aspect of their being on her.”

“She already has a neuro poison, and making it stronger is not a problem.”

“That wasn’t their only aspect,”

I noted he didn’t mention the pain added to the poison.

“All the scavengers will be feasting, including Nne’s Sarie,” Tatu said.

I suddenly remembered he had a Brown Widow spider bond, and Sarie was a long-tailed bat. Dead hornets will be quite the feast for them. I really think they should be paying us to come on this trip, not the other way around. Coming back to visit in a few years might be interesting as this level of spirituality will spread out through the ecosystem.

I tuned them out until Wiremu came over, “I want to carry on to the gorillas,” he said, “seeing as we are so close.”

I nodded, “ I figured you would. They sound interesting,” He is probably hoping to raise his Animal Lore or something.

“They are a day away, and we could do with a couple of days' rest. It is supposed to be a nice spot at the bottom of their valley and the edge of the lake,” he said.

So, it is not just gorillas. It is also fishing. “A couple of days rest sounds good.”

It was a nice spot Wiremu found for us. It was on the shore of the lake, and he and Ruku caught us breakfast before they both headed off to find the gorillas.

This last fight got me thinking about my fighting style. I don’t usually think about that, as I am more interested in coins.

Nyx and I are very good against large numbers of fragile enemies like the Hornets. Other than that, my fighting style is hiding and then striking from the shadows. My Shadow Predator Class grows when fighting in and from shadows. Sparring with the team has got me used to stand-up fights and teamwork, but there seem to be two things I am missing.

The first is some sort of assassin class. Wiremu got Assassin from his Hunter Class. I got Shadow Predator from my Thief Class, which is not a fighting class. I guess Shadow Predator is my assassin-type class, but he has skills with attack bonuses, and I do not. None of my basic classes are fighting classes. That might be the difference, but it seems like I am missing something.

The second thing is I have no mounted fighting class. Riding is something I love to do, and it passed the Journeyman level a long time ago, but no specialisation to fight mounted has become available.

I thought about my fights. I don’t tend to fight mounted. Dusk has been my game-changer in several fights, but we fight separately, not mounted. I think I want to change that.

Ruku arrived back at about lunchtime, leaving Wiremu watching the gorillas.

“What do you know about mounted fighting classes?” I asked him.

“Not a lot. We didn’t tend to have mounted troops at sea. I had some theory in my Captains’ training, but that is all.”

“I want to learn to fight mounted on Dusk.”

“We should have arranged lessons in Freebourne.”

“I was busy in Freebourne.”

“You have the riding Class and want to specialise?” I nodded. “And you have the Agility Riding Skill if I remember correctly.” I nodded again. “Most mounted warfare is based on the Cavalry Charge, but that is more Modrica and Težka rather than you. The second most common is mounted archers or javelin throwers. Ranged attacks, but that is not you, either.”

“Modrica is good with the javelin when mounted,” I said.

Ruku nodded, “The type of mounted warfare you are best suited for is Raiding. That is your quick snatch-and-grab attacks or the quick attack and withdrawal type attacks. You have the speed, stealth and agility. How have you been training mounted combat?”

“I haven’t really.”

“Agility riding?”

“Not that either.”

“Right. There is a training exercise I have heard about but never seen called Ground Hogging. We make some targets that sit on the ground at different heights, and you gallop through. Some you have to hit with your sword, and some you have to grab and pick up at speed. Some of them will be flat plates lying on the ground. It will train you and Dusk in manoeuvrability and agility to turn to get them all in the time allowed. Once you get the hang of it, we can introduce other obstacles and even attacks.”

That didn’t sound like training. It sounded like so much fun. “When can we start?”

He grinned at me, “Let's see what we can find.”