Chapter 20
Oskar was still grinning at the PUB's antics as he looked with heavy eyes at the sky through the sheer fabric above, sinking into the steady sound of wind and the flashes of color from Sora in the winds overhead. He couldn’t stop a weary yawn and regretted it immensely. A sharp pain flared in his ribs.
That was the longest personality filled tirade the PUB had ever gone on. Sharing common or system information apparently took very little energy, but anything that required processing or improvisation was much more draining.
He had the distinct feeling his PUB knew more about the state of the world, his Wayspring Wanderer class, and why he was here, but Oskar had been too swept up in surviving to dig for more info. Besides, He knew he had to earn Insight, and he wasn’t sure the PUB would have previously had the ability or energy reserves to articulate the answers.
The World Gambit he’d gotten, even without the obvious give-away of step one indicating more was coming, was obviously only a piece of something larger. Like the problems here were a symptom of something greater, which totally made sense. A planet didn’t just start dying overnight. With no other information, he could only speculate, though.
Speculation doth butter no parsnips.
Oskar felt uncertain about resting while Fox was surely recovering from her own injuries. Touwon, who he felt moving around nearby, was likely tired as well. Oskar glanced over at Fox, who was watching him worriedly. She was obviously still in pain.
Moving hurt so much, and he felt dizziness. The pain was getting worse, too. He’d used more energy than he’d thought messing around with the PUB, and it was catching up with him. He suddenly felt completely drained of energy, and his breathing was harder to manage.
Something is wrong.
Searching inside himself, he felt like his body was crashing, and his body was using everything it could to help. Penny had made her way over and buried her head under his arm, which was enough to seal the sleepy deal, pain or not.
***
Waking up with a start, he sat up and hardly winced with the effort. Either he’d been asleep for a week or more, which was impossible, or he was healing at a prodigious rate. Touwon sat wearily nearby, holding two waterskins.
He barked a few words that Oskar deduced were cursing, pointing back and forth at Oskar’s Bracer and Goggles, chattering with clear irritation. He then made a hand gesture that ended with him biting his thumb and then dropped the full waterskins at Oskar’s side before rolling over and laying down.
Seeing notifications blinking, he opened them with a thought and saw that his PUB had sent out over two dozen Gambit notifications to both Touwon and Fox to give him water with a failure condition of letting him dehydrate and die, adding: // And it’ll be all your fault. Murderers! // to the end of each one.
He still felt desperately thirsty, but a final notification clarified that the PUB, of course, knew a little more about what was happening than Oskar himself. Grabbing one of the waterskins, he took a long drink as he expanded the blinking little red light in the corner of his vision.
// So, it’s a good thing druids are so empowered by Wayspring water, because Touwon’s been pouring this stuff down your gullet all night. You’re welcome. Also, good news!
Ability Unlocked: Ancestral Connection
Despite Druid classes being lost to this world, there are still whispers of knowledge that can be Gleaned from the sky, the earth, and from within. Ancestral Connection is the first step to truly becoming a Wayspring Wanderer. This comes with a few perks:
Wayspring Efficiency- Your body is better at maintaining hydration. You also now have the ability to absorb moisture in the air. You’re in a desert, lol. That’s not going to be very useful, but there you go anyway.
Since you’re a Druid, however, it still synergizes incredibly well. Wayspring water gives you specifically a much longer health and magic buff than normal.
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Basically, it looks like you can regenerate health and capacity as long as you have access to Wayspring magic. Water works better for you and you no longer drink water like a greedy little pig. Wait, what’s a pig?
Nature’s Gleaning- When receiving Inspiration because of an especially harrowing fight or event, you have a chance to learn a skill or ability, usually, but not always, related to the insight received. This also increased the overall amount of Inspiration you receive from all sources.
For example, if you were to survive a deadly poison, you might learn an ability to resist… or inflict poison yourself! Knowing you, you’ll inflict poison on yourself! Ha!
This can lead to some wild abilities, and each of them is unique to you, your intent, and the situation that triggered it. Not sure if you got lucky or if unlocking it gives you a freebie, but here you go:
Passive Ability Gleaned: Meditative Proliferation
I have no idea what stupid thing this is, exactly, but it’s going through water at dangerous levels. You’re healing at about 30 times the normal rate, and it isn’t just healing things as they are, it’s fixing you. No, your leg didn’t grow back. //
Oskar blushed as he looked away from the empty space that used to be his right foot. Surely that hadn’t been pre-written, right? He had to have added the leg comment on when Oskar went to look down.
Or more likely it’s reacting to what the Goggles can see.
No answer from the PUB, but if it wasn't going to react to his direct questions, it certainly wasn't going to confirm his theories, so Oskar moved on, checking himself over.
He felt like he’d been in the hospital for two weeks, but he guessed he’d only been asleep one night since they appeared to be at the same Wayspring, which tracked with how he felt. There was no conscious activation of any ability.
Most of his pain was gone, leaving only a tightness in his chest and a faint yellow outline around his left forearm. His spear lay nearby, along with his prosthetic, which someone carefully removed and … cleaned? He reached down and pulled out the t-handle from his cargo pocket to make sure everything was tight. However, that someone, likely Touwon, had also done a full maintenance on the leg and foot.
I mean, that’s sweet and all, but strange, he thought. Maybe not though. Everyone helping everyone is how we're gonna get through this. He's just doing what he's good at.
He couldn’t help but like the Kobold. Both, really. Wildly resourceful, and an unexpected nightmare in a fight. Touwon’s usual distracted nature was laser focused in battle.
He’d been aware of Valla’s position and actions even while he was killing off the shadow copy.
Oskar guessed the shadow copies weren’t harmless distractions like he’d hoped, or Touwon would not have wasted the time to dispatch it. The angle the Kobold had been forced to throw at, though, caused the boomerang to clip the sand, unable to return after severing Valla’s leg. Oskar would like to see more of how they worked, but he’d have to wait until Touwon had gotten some sleep. The Kobold looked like he was laying face down in the shade nearby. Oskar had heard him grumbling until it grew quiet and was quickly replaced by soft snores.
Oskar replayed the fight in his head, trying to think about how he could improve. He knew he needed to practice with the spear much more, and decided to set time aside to run through the forms the PUB had shown him.
He'd not let himself get pulled into trying to trade blows with either Croc spearmen, which he knew was smart, but he shouldn't have had to run so far that he'd inadvertently put Fox and Penny in danger. They all lived, though. He was beyond grateful for his improving Body score and the druid class for that, and vowed right there to work relentlessly to get stronger. One thing was nagging him though.
Valla was terrifying... and she was out there, somewhere, alive. And probably pretty miffed at them, if the Gambit she'd initiated meant anything. What she'd done to Falk, though, was unnatural. So were those greasy strings of magic that seemed to swallow everything she'd pulled out of the dying Croc. Oskar actually felt a little bad for him at the end there.
That scream.
He didn't want to think about how Falk's primal scream had reminded him of his nightmares. All he could do was press forward and search for clues to locate Erik.
But he would never forget that scream. That and the shivering feeling he’d gotten when he was sure she’d generated a kill quest for them.
He looked over to check on Fox.
She was leaning back on the dune, resting quietly. Her face was looking upward toward the sky as the blue sun slowly made its way up from behind the dune, vainly continuing its chase across the heavens. The tint of the sky was slowly shifting from red to purple, which still confused Oskar, and was in no way how light from the suns should have acted, but he had to admit it was beautiful.
Putting on his liner and prosthetic and then crawling out of the tent, he stood carefully, letting the light-headedness subside before he walked over to sit beside her.
I feel awful. Even that took a lot out of me.
She looked more relaxed than he thought she might be after such a battle and an injury that she had apparently recovered from. She didn't look over at him immediately. Oskar thought he understood, though. Her whole life had just been changed. It was undoubtably for the better, but nonetheless, it was a lot. And there were likely to be long term ramifications.
He really wanted to talk to her, to check on her, but something told him to give her some time. So... he waited quietly. Well, reasonably quietly. He was still really thirsty, and couldn't stop himself from letting out a loud sigh after downing another waterskin in one breath, which baited a smile out of the small Kobold, but she said nothing, so Oskar waited.