Jacob came to his senses, slightly appalled by his train of thoughts with 3 trails of essence entering Jacob prompting him to move to the floater with its neck still gurgling blood and moved to finish it off. Another stream of essence entered Jacob, he looked around confirming no more enemies are around and he squat down to check whether the floaters had anything that he could use. However apart from their sharp claws and left horn nothing else was of note, Jacob was reminded of how ancient warriors on Earth cut off ears or pluck out teeth to show off their kills. That thought chilled Jacob to his core and he wondered he would ever reach such a level of insanity, no matter which way he thought about it there was no point in carrying rotting pieces of your fallen enemies around.
However...the sharp claws can be used as pseudo throwing daggers, Jacob brought Flowing Water to the digits of each of the floaters with a grimace throughout even though he knew it was useful cutting off a being that was living and breathing just a few moments ago still churned his stomach. Even if they were after his life, that did not change the fact that they too were thrown into an unknown environment. If Jacobs’ right arm was not aching still he would not have thought to use the wickedly sharp claws that caused the wound, taking a look at his right arm 4 angry streaks could be seen though the bleeding had long since stopped which should be thanks to Jacobs increased Vigor a nasty cut that Jacob received just a few minutes ago would still be bleeding now if no pressure was applied and he certainly did not have the free hand to do so. He ripped off a large swath of black flowing silk to bundle the digits so he could carry them all at once.
If those floaters were not monsters it meant that humans was not the only race thrown into the Tutorial there could be Adventurers from other races running around right now, they were also more equipped for combat then humans with naturally lethal claws along with supernatural senses. Humanity was in a major disadvantage if there were more naturally inclined combat races like the floaters, his friends might already be dead if not worst. With those grim thoughts in his mind, Jacob stomped towards the campfire hoping that the 4 survivors were not killed when Jacob got spotted.
Jacob heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that they were still alive all four of them, their eyes carried shock and fear in them. His face darkened again when he saw what was stuck around the campfire that he did not notice when he was further away, remains of what seemed to be one of the unintroduced 5th member of the group before he departed. The smell filled his nose the smell of meat being cooked, hair and clothes all burning and melting at the same time from the heat. That nauseous smell invaded every fiber of his being causing him to shiver, he threw all the sticks as far away as he could from the group currently being tied to the makeshift fence if even he was nauseated from smelling it for those scant moments. He could not imagine being through the entire process of what happened to the 5th member.
After finishing the deed, Jacob moved to the group they were still visibly trembling which was understandable as Jacob was probably covered head to toe in yellow blood given that they did not know each other for long. The group would not have recognised Jacob even if he wasn’t covered in dirt, blood and grime walking towards them as if they were next on the chopping board. With that thought, Jacob called out.
“Its me, the guy who separated from the group after entrusting her to your care. Ah right I didn’t introduce myself before leaving, my name is Michael Castus. I’m glad to see you all again.”
Jacob nodded his head towards the red haired lady and gave them all the biggest smile he could give to put their mind at ease, with that he moved forward to cut their bindings moving towards the now awaken but still silent red haired beauty first. He noticed she managed to tremble even harder than before the air around seemed to vibrate along with her as he drew closer. He ignored the tremble best he could, after removing both the bindings around her wrist and the ankles.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“How did you manage to sleep through the entire opening sequence of the tutorial?” Jacob inquired of the red lady. The lady responded with a noticeable quiver, her voice came out in dulcet tones ringing pleasantly in Jacobs’ ear.
“I have no idea either but waking up to glowing eyes and a nightmarish face was definitely not on my to do list, thank you for rescuing us Jacob. I am glad to see you too considering you just saved us from those nightmarish monsters.” Jacob quickly replied with his conjecture waving around some of the claws he collected with the rest wrapped in a bundle of the flowing black silk the floaters wore.
“They might not be monsters at all but another race that was thrown into the Tutorial like us, they seem to have better combat capabilities than us though. Look at these sharp claws that they have it can easily cut through our skin, they also showed some form of tactics they knew to try and surround me if all of them moved as fast as the first 2 that launched attacks at me. You would be seeing them with my corpse instead.”
Jacob quickly got to the others and freed in order, Alexander, Turner and leaving the muscle bound oaf for the last to keep him as uncomfortable as Jacob could. They all thanked Jacob profusely clearly still shaken by their capture. Jacob inquired what happened to them while he was away and they gave a summary of what happened.
They entered the forest smoothly with nothing of note happening, while all 5 were still present with the red haired lady being carried by Alexander they began to look around for food, fruits and nuts whatever they could find. As they tried to pick whatever looked like various edible fruits and nuts, the food all dissipated as soon as any of them made a grab for it as if the fruits and nuts never existed to begin with. Realising that something was wrong with their surroundings that was when their environment started warping into what they saw now, with withered trees and creaky branches. Nothing remained of the lush vibrant greenery, only desolation remained which prompted them to run in the direction opposite of the still setting suns. That led them to encountering the floaters or at least they thought so, as none of them saw the floaters until they awoke tied up to the makeshift fence. The floaters most likely sensed the group further away then they could see and moved with their inhuman speed to quickly knock the group unconscious.
Jacob gave them a completely different version of what he encountered as he did not know any of them well enough to give them the truth hence he gave them a fake given name, even he did not have an analysis skill so he highly doubted the 4 of them would have any so instead of learning about the Tutorial from the Suzerain and absorbing the essence needed to advance his Grade from the chapel. He found other survivors who obtained chance happenings or so the survivors told him, in which they happily shared their knowledge on how to advance his Grade and provided him with enough last hits on the stone hands to gather the essence needed. Jacob complimented the non- existent group of survivors for their generosity and said he hoped to emulate them so he would share what he learned with the current group. He explained that after obtaining his Job he separated from the survivors as they had explained to him, instead of the forest being safer than the city it was in fact filled with much more dangerous beasts higher up on the grade. So he left to look for the campfire group as soon as he could.
After lying through his teeth, Jacob told them that he would lead them back to the city after resting here for the night explaining that after arriving he would help them Grade up too so it would be safer for the group as a whole. The group agreed knowing that they have no alternative the floaters setting a good example of what could happen if they do not get stronger and settled for the night after giving their 5th member whose name was Ronald Thompson a burial of whatever was left of his remains. A large cross marking his burial site they also put out the fire as it would be a signal flare to whatever lurks in the forest and other unsavoury types. The group moved in the direction where they saw the moons rising from to both make some headway back to the city and avoid the site of their trauma, after moving a significant amount of distance away the group implemented a watch system approximating the time each person gets to sleep roughly. Leaving the matter of going back to the ancient city for tomorrow as none of them were ready to handle traveling back to the city mentally or physically. Jacob alone climbed up one of the trees saying he would keep the first watch so the rest could get proper rest, once again plugging Flowing Sword up to its hilt into the soil. As Jacob watched the 2 moons hanging in the sky slowly setting as the Suns did.