Jacob made his way over to the patiently waiting Aurelius who looked like he was done playing with all his toys and was waiting for his parents to come back to pester them for more. Aurelius waved to Jacob and said
“What happened to you? You looked like the punching bags I had back at home, actually they look better than you do right now.” Jacob scoffed, he could feel the bruises and scabs still healing too aching at various places but he did not want to give Aurelius more satisfaction by admittiing anything. Instead he asked a question.
“How did you finish them so fast? When we fought together you could only slowly crack them.” Aurelius replied casually showing off the stone weapons in his hands as he did.
“Not that difficult once I got my hands on their weapons but I could have destroyed them bare handed too if I wanted, that is not an exaggeration just a simple statement.” He said those words with confidence that only came from someone with experience, Jacob still curious asked another question.
“If you can handle these stone statues easily, were you the one who took care of the giant tigers too? I have not seen them around since I came back, not even their corpses I bet they taste delicious too though.”
“Actually, I was still hunting some stone hands when I heard the roars of the giant tigers. Their roars happened one after the other, as if someone was hunting them quickly I did not see who did that to them but I ran towards the first dying roar as soon as I heard to see what happened but only blood was left behind. No corpse or anything remotely similar to innards could be seen as if something else bled onto the stones.” The reply from Aurelius left Jacob inquisitive as to the identity of who or what killed the giant tigers and almost without a trace at all too.
‘Imagine being the first to get a Job but still so far behind all others even Aurelius got his Job whatever it is only a few minutes after me if he is to be believed, so far he has given me no reason to distrust him. Well the road is long, so long as I’m alive I can achieve more.’
Jacob nodded after awhile and suggested to Aurelius that they take a quick break before heading out to continue finding the source of the creature controlling the stone hands. Jacob hoped he could finish the search by the end of the day so he could start with his kobold reaping plan tomorrow.
During Jacobs’ adventure with Aurelius, Riley unable to sit still and continue thinking about how to advance her skills and abilities. She constantly paced up and down irritating Brian to no end as her footsteps continually echoed around the area of the house they were in, as separating was never a good idea Brian did not move further into the house so he reluctantly put up with it.
Riley got her mind more worked up as she paced, she wanted to test her new capabilities. Jacob could jump so far and the way he moved was like a flash of lightning when he came to save Brian and her the first time. He only got faster when he came to save them a second time even managing to finish off the kobolds by himself during the second time. Riley wanted to see what she could do even if it was just exploring the ruined city around them. Riley spoke out almost squeaking as she did.
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“BRIAN! Lets go explore the city, maybe we can get a beautiful weapon just like Michael! We will be able to take down those stone hands easily, I did not tell Michael earlier since I wanted to surprise him but I already have one of my skills unlocked I can use it to take down the stone hands! Lets go lets go!” Before Brian could give any reply Riley was already walking out ready to take down any thing stopping from obtaining a weapon of her own. Brian having no other choice could only follow reluctantly, he might not even be able to stop her if he tried.
Thus, Riley and Brian head off for their first adventure without Jacob. Luckily for them they were moving along the edge of the city and not within the center, even so the stone hands were near endless from their exploration with Jacob in the day so that kept them on their guard ready to dodge in a moments notice. Even upbeat Riley moved cautiously through the streets, peeking around corners and with each step she was ready to dodge away on her tippy toes. Brian covered her back begrudgingly, even while Riley was being cautious somehow her focus was only on what was in front of her. She had never looked back once while they were exploring, however even with that their first encounter with the stone hands without Jacob went well.
Four stone hands shot out, 2 towards Riley and 2 towards Brian. The two stone hands aiming for Brian shot out like a bullet simultaneously, however this a new and improved Brian sporting much higher stats. This time he charged straight into the two stone hands believing in his new found endurance, he took the bullet like hits on his forearms. Both stone hands crashed into him like a truck, this time however Brian did not fly away merely forced back a few steps by both hands, Before the stone hands started withdrawing for another punch, Brian rushed forward both hands still up and aching. He drew his right hand back, stabilised his foot and punched out twisting his waist as he did to give it extra punch. He landed a solid blow on one of the stone hand causing it to shatter a little, he would need to land even more blows to destroy the stone hands and so he did as the slightly damaged stone hand slowed a little. He did not want to risk his legs and cause destabilisation hence he kept to punches slowly but surely destroying the stone hand
Brian levied another punch this time with his left continuing the attack from before the stone hand chipped yet again.He heard a shout from Riley as he recalled his left, Brian hands were already scratched and red not daring to look away to see whats going on with Riley. Hence, he continued punching one after the other keeping a constant guard within the first few seconds preparing for the second punch from the undamaged stone hand. As expected another punch came from it, as Brian was prepared his left forearm still guarding his head, blocked the punch easily as he pushed himself back as the punch came to absorb the impact better. While he was continuously demolishing one stone hand at the expense of his own arms while blocking the punch of another one.
Riley already finished one of them and was running towards another, an essence infused green right hand shot towards the last of the two stone hand with yet another shout. The stone hand tried punching back to counteract the force put forth by Riley however the same happened to the stone hand before, it was not the strength put forth by Rileys’ small fist but the skill that the green essence represents. It completely exploded the stone hand outwards as soon as it made contact with the skill.
Riley punched upwards with her right hand as if in a victory pose, but her eyes flitted to Brian and saw that was still fighting against one more stone hand and his own arms did not look good at all. So with essence to spare she began moving towards the last stone hand sprinting as fast as her short legs could carry her, her right first shining green again. She shot past Brian shouting for him to dodge as she did and punched out causing yet another stone hand to explode.
Brian stood there mouth gaping wide open, it took him 20 plus punches to finish off a stone hand and that red haired women finished it in one. He thought she was joking when she learned a skill already since none of his was unlocked and had long requirements. But that explosion proved him dead wrong, Riley looked back at him with a dazzling smile on her face and punched out once again in a victory pose oblivious to her surrounding this time.
Brian smiled wryly as his senses came back he thought with his experience in kick boxing he would have an advantage over a women but she had an explosion punch how was he supposed to compete with that. Looks like he would be relying on her instead for this period of time maybe even longer.