We stood there waiting for about twenty minutes before the barrier dropped without a sound. It honestly disappointed me, because I thought it’d make a funny pop noise. I sighed as I watched the slight shimmer in the air slowly dissipate and thought to myself. And so it begins, huh? After the barrier dropped, we all sort of just stood there and awkwardly looked at each other. Then, though it took a moment, Mrs. Fletcher and her group slowly picked up all their meager belongings and left soon after. We all waved goodbye to Mrs. Fletcher's group, and gave each other hugs and farewells. I did have to admit, while Mrs. Fletcher may have floundered when we were all first brought here, she really did seem to be happy. At least, happier than I ever remember seeing her back home. She gave us all a big hug and made us promise her that we’d be safe, before they finally turned and headed off towards the plains.
As I watched them slowly disappear into the distance, I sighed and looked out towards the forest. Last night, Cylkia had told us that as one last parting gift, she had Xi and Halfi clear out the forest around us. Supposedly there were no monsters or beasts for about a day's ride. She had made sure to make it clear that just because they had cleared out the monsters, that didn't mean we could afford to relax. That made sense of course, but the best benefit of there being mostly no monsters was that it would give all of us a chance to get into a real rhythm.
I turned and glanced at everyone, curious to see if they were ready to go, but was caught off guard when I noticed we had all frozen in place. I frowned when I realized it was because there was a standoff happening. We were all looking at each other warily, but it was Sam and Kai who were almost staring each other down. I rolled my eyes and sighed, but after a moment, Kai pursed his lips and looked away. Sam turned to the rest of us with a victorious grin on her face and a glimmer in her eyes. I exchanged a look with Sarah who just shrugged, and I shrugged back before turning to the rest of them again. What an enigma the mind of an extrovert was…
Sam, who still had that victorious grin on her face, held out her arm towards the forest and with a flourish, spun her warmace in a circle, “Well, our future adventure isn’t going to just wait on us!”
I raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged and slung my bag over my shoulder. Eh, I mean that’s not exactly wrong I guess. I eyed Sam, who was now standing in front of everyone giving everyone roles and directing people into their places. Hmm… I guess that must’ve been what the stand off between the two of them was about. I exchanged another look with Sarah, who gave me an amused grin, and rolled her eyes as Sam dropped her into the back of the formation along with me. I smirked and followed everyone as they started to head off into the forest, happy to fall into the back of the group again. Though, it was surprising that Sarah was with me as well this time.
We headed off into the forest, quiet as we all awkwardly got more of a feel for each other. The fact that this was real life put a damper on small talk, but not for long. It took a surprisingly short amount of time before the forest filled with the sound of laughter and our loud conversations. As I fell into my old habit of tailing behind everyone and eavesdropping, I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to each of them. It was… peaceful, honestly, and it reminded me so much of the times I would tail behind everyone as we all ran back home. Nostalgia rocked through me and I dropped back, relaxing and really enjoying myself for one of the first times since I was dragged here.
I enjoyed myself, and time flew by quickly. It wasn’t even that long before, after about 4 hours or so of walking, Sam called for a break. We all let out groans of relief, and collapsed onto any rocks or fallen trees we could see. Personally, I wasn’t all that tired, and so I just leaned against a tree trunk, humming to myself. Seeing as how it was still our first day, it wasn’t long before everyone was all rested up, and Sam got to work. Quickly, she organized all of us and gave each of us different tasks. Though, she did insist that we would all take turns running to the river and grabbing water for everyone to drink for when we left.
When she’d told Sylphie to go first, I had stepped forward and argued that I should be the only one to do it because of my sprint skill, but Sam had shaken her head and stopped me before I said anything else. She insisted that it should be a group responsibility, and it was unfair for just one person to do all of that work. I’d opened my mouth to argue and say that it really wasn’t an issue, but she had raised her hand to cut me off again. She went on to say that since the likelihood of running into a monster was much higher, and would especially be higher in the future, it would pay to be able to fight it off as a group. Hence why I would not be doing it all on my own. I’d sighed and reluctantly agreed, but only if I could do most of the trips instead. Sam had been all too happy to oblige with that request.
We didn’t stick there for long, and once Mason and Cyan had finished boiling and cleansing the water, we each filled our water bottles and we continued off into the forest again, all of us falling into the formation that we had agreed on earlier. Just like we had discussed earlier, Mason and Cyan wasted no time and dashed off into the forest, their laughter quickly vanishing as they got to work. I obviously couldn’t see what they did, but I knew that they spent most of their time hunting and keeping an eye out for monsters or enemies. As the rest of us continued making our way through the forest, wary even with Mason and Cyan keeping watch, we kept conversations to a minimum. Every once in a while, they would come back from scouting and watch duty, and we’d all let out a sigh of relief as we welcomed them back. They’d laugh and say hi, before offering up whatever food they had found while foraging. Sam would call it, and we’d all take a quick break, using the time to snack on the bounty, supplementing our rations that we had made back at camp.
The breaks and meals were one of our most vulnerable times, but Sarah, Diane, and I were always on high alert in case a monster came out of nowhere and attacked. Even though none did, especially since it was still the first day, it was still a good precaution and I was glad to help. After we all finished snacking, we’d then continue making our way through the forest, casually talking to each other and keeping an eye out. Until the sun set and it became dark, we worked together like a well oiled machine, which was made even more impressive when you realized we were all just a bunch of teenagers. As the sun got close to setting, and darkened the world, we would all stop and look for a good spot to begin to make camp. Once that was all set up, Sarah, Diane, and I would take turns at night keeping watch, waking each other after a few hours to swap.
Time passed by quickly and thankfully. I had always thought keeping watch at night would be exhausting, but it wasn’t really that bad. Even with all the walking during the day, and the extra trips to the river to grab water, keeping watch at night surprisingly didn’t mess me up too much. Though, that was probably because I was able to sleep in while Sam, Sylphie and Kai broke down the rest of camp and prepared breakfast. It wasn’t usually much, but it was nice to have something to start us off in the morning.
As we all made our way through the forest, I amused myself by watching the others and noticing their habits. During the day, Kai, Sylphie, and Sam would mostly just work on their mana exercises, which were incredibly interesting to watch if I was being honest. In fact, if it wasn’t for how focused they got, I bet they would have started making fun of me for watching them so intensely by now. Even though they all had different spells and abilities, they would start their practices the same. They would each hold out one, or both, of their hands and squint their eyes as they focused hard and strained. Then, after only a brief moment, a small ball of multicolored magic would suddenly pop into existence, appearing above their hands. It would stay still for only a moment before it would start pulsating, gyrating, and flying about. Each of them had different habits and things they would focus on, but so far I had seen them make it dodge around their fingers, spin around incredibly quickly, change shape, and even dim or brighten.
It was incredibly mesmerizing, and I enjoyed watching it the first few days of us traveling. To be fair, it was one of the only things I could do to amuse myself. I was never really good at making conversation, and the other’s were so focused on their ‘jobs’, and making sure we stayed alive, that I didn’t want to act so carefree. Still, I was itching for something to do besides walking, doing the drills that Xi had taught me, and watching the magical orbs fly around. I had thought it was just me thinking that way, so it really surprised me on the third day, when, after walking for about 4 hours, Sam turned to us all and loudly declared that she was sick of walking and was going to go off and fight something.
We all stared at her, our expressions ranging from absolute surprise, to worry, before Sarah suddenly spoke up, “Wait, but Sam you don't have any combat abilities or skills do you?” Sarah asked, concern evident in her eyes.
Sam waved her hand dismissively and gave Sarah a huge grin, “Oh, sure I do! I can cast smite, and Cylkia showed me some pretty cool hand to hand moves when we were training together. Besides, I'm not going to go fight an adventurer or something, just a goblin or something small. Those are supposedly really weak right?”
I frowned, thinking back to my fight with the goblins. I mean, it hadn’t been easy, and at the time I thought I might just die, but they had gone down relatively quickly once I had managed to land a hit. Well, I mean, it was probably about as easy of a fight as it would be for any small human. I frowned and eyed Sam. The thing is though, I also hadn't had any combat skills or any training. With all the training Sam had received from Cylkia, and the fact that the goddess had given her a combat skill, she could easily kill a goblin or two I bet. The issue wasn’t necessarily having a combat skill though. It was more so what I did remember that Xi had told me about goblins, as a species.
I stepped forward and spoke up, grabbing her attention quickly since I very rarely brought attention to myself if I could help it, “Just be careful Sarah, remember how Xi told us that they may be one of the weakest races, but the trick is that they are rarely alone. If you find one, there might be another dozen hiding in the woods behind it. Don’t just go in swinging, you could end up getting swarmed before you know it.”
Sam pursed her lips, and nodded slowly, “You know… that’s right, I do remember Xi mentioning that at one of the bonfires… hmmm… fine, I’ll try and find a kobold or something. Mason or Cyan can keep an eye on me if it gets too rough, right?”
Mason rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway, “No, I totally get it. It's been pretty boring these last few days, and I feel like after all that talking up from Cylkia, we’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing.”
Sam stomped her foot and sighed with exasperation, “Exactly! I’m ready to do something! We’ve just been cooped up in that barrier or under Cylkia and their watchful eyes, this is the first chance we get to experience something in this world! You've all played video games before, it's time for us to level up, right guys?”
We all looked at each other, considering what Sam had just said. She wasn’t wrong, Cylkia and the others had kept all of us cooped up. It was appreciated, but it still felt like we were all still just in the backseat, watching the events play out as if we had no control over anything.
I sighed and eyed the others. And that was just coming from my perspective. As far as I was aware, I was still the only one that had been given the chance to fight any monsters, and that wasn’t even to say that I’d even fought that many or leveled up that much. Besides that test that Xi had given me, I hadn’t actually been able to test myself against any other beasts, or hell, even the others during the practice sessions. I was just as much out of my league as the rest of them, I just happened to be the weakest of them all. I pursed my lips and looked at Sam again. I wanted to go with her, but when I looked back at Sarah, Diane, Sylphie, and Kai, I noticed that they seemed… reluctant. I mean, I guess I couldn’t really blame them for being tentative about the whole thing, but they had to know that this was pretty much just our future, right? As I glanced back at Sam, I could tell that she had come to the same conclusion.
She rubbed her hands together and grinned at everyone, “Okay, well that's settled! I’m gonna go hunt down a kobold or small monster, unless I can’t find any, in which case I’ll just end up coming back I guess. You can all just set up camp and hang out in the meantime. Might as well just cut it short here if I’m gonna be wandering around in the forest ya know?” She laughed and turned towards the forest, “Hell, I might even level up! I’ll see you guys at least by dinner tonight? If I don’t come back by then, come find me, though I doubt you’ll have to.”
With that she shouldered the mace that Cylkia had gifted her, and without even looking back, started marching into the forest. We all eyed each other, but shrugged and waved goodbye to her before turning to Mason and Cyan. They rolled their eyes and leaned in towards us and whispered that they’d make sure she came back alive, before they activated their skills and leapt into the trees, dashing from tree to tree until even I couldn't see them anymore. It still amazed me that they could do that. Made me really wish I had one of those skills, instead of my sprint. But, oh well, good for them, ya know?
I gave an appreciative whistle, which made Sarah laugh and turn to me, “Pretty cool right? It always blows my mind when they start flying around like that. I wonder if I could learn? I know it's not necessarily a ‘warrior skill’, but wouldn't that be so fun?”
I smiled, and glanced back at her before ducking under a branch and resting on a rock, “Honestly, I was thinking the same thing ya know? The only drawback would probably just be that it could only be used in a forest or jungle. But you know… according to Cylkia, there are quite a few of those in this world, I guess the people here haven’t ravaged the wilderness like back home.”
Sarah grinned and triumphantly raised her arm, “Ha! You’re of course correct! I just wouldn’t have to live in a desert or by the ocean’s and I’d be a lethal machine! I knew it wasn't a pipe dream!” She turned and punched Diane in the arm, smirking as rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue.
“It might not be a pipe dream, but I doubt that you're going to be jumping around in the trees in full armor! That just ruins the whole element of surprise ya know!”
Sarah looked away dismissively and waved her hand at her, “Psht, who said I'd be wearing full armor?”
Diane slapped her hand to her face and groaned, “Sarah, girl, your skills and abilities all revolve around being super tanky and using a shield! You're obviously gonna be a tank! AND TANKS WEAR ARMOR!”
Sarah slyly looked back at Diane and winked at her, “Yeah… but how scary would it be if you got ‘shield rushed’ from the sky!? I could defeat the enemy before they even knew what was happening!”
Diane rubbed her temples with her thumbs and gave me a long suffering look and sighed. I could see the look of defeat in her eyes, and realized that this was definitely not the first time that they’d had this conversation. And the way the others were just tuning it all out? Yeah, Sarah had definitely mentioned this before. I smirked as Diane turned to Sarah and started arguing with her about how much her idea sucked and bided my time until Diane made the perfect comment.
She stomped her foot down and hmmphed, cutting Sarah off, “Besides! Anyone with half a brain would see that coming and dodge! You’d be just putting yourself at a disadvantage for no gain!”
I laughed at that and grinned mischievously. “Oh I don’t know… if I was hunting down a group with a heavy duty tank, and then all of the sudden someone dropped out of the sky and crushed me with their shield, I'd be pretty shocked… Hell, I would go so far as to say it was a crushing tactic, and I would never have seen it coming!”
Sarah smacked me on the back and beamed at Diane, who flipped me off. Kai, who had apparently been listening in, started dying, laughing so hard that even Sylphie looked up, confused.
“What's wrong guys? Oh no… Is Sarah talking about her tree tactics again?”
That of course made Kai laugh even harder, and Sarah hmpfed at us all, her victorious grin turning into a pout. “I think it's pretty awesome! And look, Matt even thinks the same! Besides, I'll be way heavier with the armor, so when I jump down on them it'll just straight up crush them! It's just scientific fact!”
Kai managed to take a deep breath and wiped the tears out of his eyes, “Look Sarah, I'll give you that, but how are they gonna be surprised when you're loudly clinking around up there? Diane’s sort of right, anyone with half a brain would notice you and just dodge!”
Sarah frowned, and rubbed her chin thoughtfully, “True, very true.. Wait, didn't Halfi have some kind of silent footfall skill? And didn’t Cyan mention having a vanish skill? Maybe I could just learn one of those and surprise them like that! I'll just have to ask Mason and Cyan when they get back for lunch!”
Diane shook her head again and slapped me on the shoulder, “Welcome to team Firestorm, Matt. The group where half the time we're just trying to stop Sarah from enacting her crazy ideas!”
Sarah gasped and clutched her chest, her eyes wide in mock outrage. “Crazy ideas? What crazy ideas!? I’ll have you know, you just don’t understand my genius!”
Sylphie sighed, “Oh, don't even get me started Sarah! On our third day here, you were trying to get Xi to throw you at trees while you were using shield bastion! What'd you call it again… a human cannonball?”
Sarah gasped and put her hand to her chest once more, “Woah woah woah! You're telling me that wasn't an amazing idea!? What are you gonna do if you saw me flying through the air at you!? The answer is nothing, because I'd be plowing through your defenses instantly! It was pure genius!”
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Sylphie glared at her and rolled her eyes, “Yeah, until it doesn't work! Or, more importantly, they dodge you! What are you going to do then!?”
Sarah laughed maniacally and grinned, “Psht, then I wouldn't miss!”
“Yeah, but what's to stop me from shooting an arrow through you before you notice?” Mason dropped down from above, scaring Sarah and Sylphie, who were so busy arguing that they didn’t realize who it was and let out a short scream.
“Come on Mason! We were having… a discussion! Would it kill ya to warn us before… wait this is a perfect example of what I was talking about!” Sarah said while folding her arms triumphantly. “We had no clue he was there! Now imagine if that was me! We both would have been dead!”
“Wait, what’s going on? And what’s that about you both dying?” Cyan’s voice came out of nowhere, her form suddenly materializing out of the shadows.
Sarah was much too invested now, and didn’t even flinch as she whipped around towards Cyan. “Cyan! Perfect, just who I was looking for! Did Halfi ever tell you about a silent step skill or something like it? Preferably something that could make a fully armored warrior vanish?”
Cyan pursed her lips and hummed to herself as she thought about it, “No, I'm not sure if he ever did, but… wait, this isn't for your knight ambush tactics is it?”
She averted her eyes and whistled nervously, “Nooooooo…”
Cyan laughed, “You're not fooling anyone ya know?”
Sarah sighed and batted her eyelashes at Cyan, “I know I know… wait, is it dinner time already? I hadn’t even realized the time!”
Cyan shook her head and eyed the forest before turning back to us, “Yeah, I ended up leaving pretty early so I could forage for some berries, but I saw Sam on my way back. It looks like she got caught up with a monster on her way to the river, so it must have gone well. How did the hunt go Mason?”
Mason grinned and laughed loudly, “Oh pretty well if I do say so myself! Sam sort of just ended up wandering around for a couple of hours until I got bored of watching that. So I went searching around until I found a nearby monster, and gently nudged it towards her.”
We all laughed, then suddenly, there was a loud rustling from the forest. We all went silent and warily eyed it, all our hands edging towards our weapons. We all tensed, but then, after a moment, a very disheveled looking Sam jumped out, “Guys! Oh my god that was so much fun! Alright, so I may have gotten lost for a while, but don’t worry! I found a monster after only a short while! I think Xi called it a zhaarst? Ya know, the ones that are kind of like a really really fat chicken with scales? And then like, a turtle shell on its back? Yeah… I smited it and it just… BLEW UP! Feathers and scales went everywhere! Oh my god, I even leveled up, and wow… I mean… I never did crack, but damn did that feel great!”
I raised an eyebrow at that, but felt a smile creep on my face. It really had been a great feeling hadn’t it? I hadn’t told anyone about Xi’s test of course, since I had no doubts that Xi would follow through on their threats if they ever did catch me telling anyone else. Maybe the next time Sam went out hunting, I could join? I knew my sword slash wasn't all that strong, but it would be a nice test to see how far I’d come.
Everyone welcomed Sam back, all of us taking turns clapping her on the back and joking with her about how we’d thought she was gonna come back empty handed. Diane was incredibly curious about the zhaarst, and wouldn't stop asking questions about what it had looked like when it was alive and how it had moved around and attacked. Though, to be fair, we weren’t all crowding around her. Sylphie didn't even say much when Sam came back, focusing on her mana skills, and Mason, who had seen it all, just hung back by the fire we had set up and started helping Cyan with dinner.
Kai gave another one of his boisterous laughs, before asking the question we had all been thinking, “So… you killed the monster and leveled up, but did you actually get anything from it?”
Sam looked at him, a glimmer in her eyes, “Oh yes… I didn’t get any gold or anything, but guys, I got something even better…” With a flourish, Sam opened up her bag and proudly dumped their contents out on a nearby flat rock. It was…
A gasp escaped my lungs as I took in the glorious loot she had gotten, “Is that fresh meat!?”
Sylphie's head shot up so fast that she ended up losing focus on her mana shaping causing it to peter out with a loud pop, “Did I hear what I think I just heard!?”
Sam boastfully strutted around the rock, a grin on her face, “That's right everyone, I may not have received gold or gems, but I managed to get myself some zhaarst meat! No more dry rations and berries, because tonight, we dine like queens!”
We all cheered, and Sam and Diane raced to the woods to chop down and find some more wood. I raced off to find some kindling, before hearing Sam call out to me, “Hey Matt! I don’t think any of us actually know how to break down one of these, did Xi ever teach you?”
I froze and then eyed the meat, realizing why it had seemed sort of familiar. It was sort of just like a whole chicken that you’d be able to get at the grocery store, “Oh! Xi told us it’s just like a fat chicken right? Have y’all never broken one down? I’m sort of surprised Halfi didn't teach either of you?”
“No? Have you… broken down… a chicken before man?” Kai gave me a look, raising his eyebrow and eyeing the zhaarst again.
I nervously laughed but nodded after a moment, “Yeah, I used to help break down the chickens for dinner back home. It's not too hard, just a bit messy. Could one of you get me something to throw the guts and giblets into? If we had the time I’d make a killer gravy, but I don't know if I could do much with that except use it as bait for Cyan and Mason's traps.”
Everyone stared at me slack jawed, until Sylphie finally sighed and handed me a bowl, “You're cleaning that out religiously after, I was intending to make a soup or broth with that.”
I grinned and thanked her, turning back to the chicken and cracking my knuckles. Despite what I'd told them all, I hadn’t actually broken down a complete carcass before. However, when I'd taken Biology I had done a deep dive into the anatomy of a chicken for an assignment, and ended up pretty far down that kind of wormhole real late one night. As I stared down at the zhaarst, I smirked. Thank God for the internet. I got to work and started tearing it into pieces, humming as I prepped it to be cooked.
Honestly, it was pretty weird how the zhaarst apparently got obliterated by Sam’s smite, but still managed to leave behind a whole raw carcass. Huh, weird. The fact that it had scales was actually pretty nice, though I still had to pluck off almost all of the feathers. Thankfully, Cyan handed me a six inch blade which made it way easier. I pursed my lips as I finally managed to remove all of the feathers and got to the real work. I removed the head and hung it upside down so that the blood could drain, and then gutted and skinned it, which I'll have to admit was a bit harder and messier than what I was expecting. I sighed and looked down at my bloody arms. Damn I'd really need a bath after this.
I cocked my head to the side and smirked as I heard them setting up and lighting a fire behind me. Then, a thought hit me and I laughed and turned to them and called out, “Hey guys! While I trim off the rest of this and skewer it to roast, would you mind finding some herbs? Maybe we can make it taste a bit better like that oglebon did!”
Sam, who honestly didn't look much better, laughed and waved at me as she darted into the forest to procure some herbs, throwing this over her shoulder as she ran off, “Great idea Matt! But uh… After you skewer it you should go wash off, you look like you just escaped a horror movie!”
Mason rolled his eyes and followed after her, grumbling half to himself and half to me, “God damn it, he obviously meant that Cyan or I should go find some… You’re never gonna find any herbs!” He cast me a look and rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry though, I got you bro. I’ll make sure to find something if all else fails. Though… she wasn’t wrong though, you should go wash all that off man. You're a bit of a bloody mess dude.”
I raised an eyebrow at that but nodded. I must really look pretty bad, which is sort of crazy since I was actually trying to be pretty clean the whole time. Back home, Mason had been in the same biology class as me, so I knew he wasn't that worried about this kind of thing. Especially after we went to the local university and saw a cadaver. Thankfully, I'd tried to clean the zhaarst away from the others, so the rest of them probably didn’t know how bad I looked right now.
I blushed and raced around the others who were laughing around the fire, calling out to them as I sneaked by. “Hey guys! The zhaarst is good to go, just gotta skewer it and start roasting it over the fire now! I’m gonna go head on over to the river and clean up, be back in a bit!”
Sarah looked up from where she was tending the fire, and peered into the forest to try and look at me, “Thanks again Matt! We all appreciate it! Where are you go- oh… Heading to the river, right?”
I shook my head but couldn't resist chuckling, “Yeah, Mason and Sam said I was a bit of a mess… So I figured that while the zhaarst is cooking and Mason and Sam are grabbing the herbs, I could wash up! I'll be back in a bit!”
I dashed off into the forest, heading straight towards the river as I dodged around trees and hopped over little rock formations. I heard them wish me luck and go back to laughing and talking to each other as I raced behind me. I glanced down at my arms and chuckled. Yeah, I probably wasn’t going to live this one down… But oddly enough, I couldn't really find it in myself to care all that much. I smiled and ducked around the trees on my way to the river. I don't know if I’d ever have expected to be this happy and relaxed in a life and death situation, but I wasn't about to start complaining. These last few days… they had been the most fun I'd had in a long time, hell, if ever. And that was even taking in the trudging through the forest every day.
I felt a small smile cross over my face as I considered everything that had happened since I had been brought here. Things were still fresh and new every day, and it felt like I was learning and experiencing more than I ever did back home. Hell, even just the environment seemed to change all the time. The trees, the river, the rocks, the grass, and hell, even the little animals that I saw flitting about in the distance. I could spend a day walking under these massive trees, their tops reaching into the sky and their massive leaves providing a lot of needed shade, and then spend the next walking through rocky outcroppings and pine trees, the forest ground covered in pine needles, mushrooms, and clovers. The vegetation made absolutely no sense whatsoever and I bet a biologist would have had a field day studying just the plants alone.
Even just the little monsters and animals that raced around were so odd and different. Mason and Cyan did an amazing job keeping an eye out for any monsters and the like, but they couldn’t do it all. Instead, they chose to allow any minor monsters, or the animals that we had been taught were non harmful or passive, walk on through their watch. They varied, but the zhaarst was an example of one of those, but not the only ones. There were also the minks, which were sort of like prairie dogs mixed with squirrels. They loved to chitter at us on our way through the forest, hopping around us and keeping watch of us all with their massive eyes trained on our every movement. I personally thought that they were adorable, though Sam thought that they were really creepy and weird. Then there were the wild birds that were so colorful they would put the birds in any rainforest back home to shame. They darted back and forth so quickly that I didn’t even know what they really looked like.
Even the bugs here seemed to be extremely similar to the ones back home, though with some variation and thankful differences. They weren't very aggressive, and seemed to be scared of us. They would skitter away from us when we passed nearby, and when we set up camp, I never had to worry about them crawling all over or trying to eat my food.
The trees changed each day, but so too did the various plants and other minor vegetation. There were flowers that had petals that spiraled, small patches of cacti that grew on the sides of trees and had blue spikes, and vines that wrapped around anything and everything, but didn’t seem to be smothering them. Instead they seemed to be actively helping them grow faster, larger, and stronger. There were branches that stabbed into other trees, plants that grew out of solid stone and rock, and trees that seemed to be growing upside down with their top halves being wider than their bases. The second day of walking, I even saw a huge mushroom uproot itself, and then saunter away on two legs!
As odd as it all was though, it definitely made me appreciate nature more than I ever had back home. It was peaceful… and as I ducked under a branch and around a tall plant that snapped at me as I got close, I heard the burbling of the river. I smiled, and let out a laugh as I picked up my pace. We had passed the point where the rejuve river and the main river met yesterday, and the difference was notable even now. When I reached in or bathed, it didn't heal the day's pains anymore, and it also wasn't absolutely freezing. Instead, it had a pleasant warmth to it, and I honestly had to make sure I didn’t fall asleep whenever I walked in.
I looked down at my shirt and pants and whistled. Sam and Mason weren't joking, I did look like I had gone through a bloodbath. When we had come here ages ago, we had all had to replace our clothes to more accurately help us get accustomed to this new world. I’d even lost my watch, though I didn’t necessarily mind since it didn’t seem to be able to tell time well here. Cylkia had made Baern conjure us all custom clothing replacements, which we had all appreciated. I could really start to understand why Cylkia always had him with her.
Having a mage like him, even for those few days, had definitely made life easier. Honestly, though they weren’t as strong or knowledgable as Baern had been, even just having Sam, Kai, and Sylphie around had been extremely helpful so far. While Xi and Halfi had been making us train our bodies and skills, pushing us to our limits and forcing us to learn as much as we could about fighting and the harshness of this world, Baern and Cylkia had apparently been training and teaching their students new spells, their effects, and more about the how of using their skills and abilities. When I'd asked Kai, he'd said that they had even learned a couple really useful ones, like a simple water purification spell (which he and Sylphie were still working on), a simple levitate spell, the map making spell Sylphie had been working on before we left, and a few others. As for Cylkia’s group, she had focused more on actual basic first aid, along with a detoxifying spell, and a few minor healing and pain nullification spells.
It was pretty impressive stuff, and I wondered what Xi would have taught me if I had been stronger? But oh well, I’d just have to make sure I became stronger when they trained us later at Cylkia’s mansion. I hummed to myself, and took off my shirt and pants, gripping them in my fists as I walked into the river, heading towards the rocks. Aggressively, I began by scrubbing them on the rocks to get off most of the gore before I could set them out to dry. Then I let out a sigh and bathed off in the river, watching as the blood and gore slipped off of my skin and drifted down the river, vanishing after a couple of moments.
I guess I couldn’t act like I had just been left out to dry. Xi had left each of us with a list of exercises, much like how Kai and Sylphie were doing mana shaping exercises, but much more on the physical side. Though I had a feeling Diane and Sarah weren't keeping up with theirs, I still did. Either while I was on guard duty during my night shift, or after nightfall when we stopped for the day, I would take an hour or so to ruthlessly and efficiently go through them all, pushing myself to my limits and feeling my muscles scream. Though, even then, they were nowhere near as rough on the body as Xi’s bootcamp had been. Granted, that was mostly because I didn’t have access to the rejuvenation river anymore, and so I couldn’t break myself and then heal it all back and then go right back to breaking myself.
I sighed and looked down at my arms. I definitely could tell that they were doing something to help my physique, though I wasn’t sure how much since it had only been about a week or so. I'd probably do them in the morning for today. I don't think I'd have enough time to do them now, before dinner was done. I’d just take the time to finish washing off and making sure I didn’t stink before I headed back. Maybe just take a little breather, I deserved one every once in a while, right?
I sighed and closed my eyes as I relaxed for a moment in the river, smiling as I felt the slow current flow around me. Damn… I really could get used to this. I wonder if the river was this nice all the way till Cylkia’s domain? Wow… yeah that would be so nice actually. I really hope the other groups took the chance to enjoy it. I’d have to rub it into the other’s faces when I saw them. I sighed again and dunked my head under the water. What was I thinking? Of course I wouldn’t do that. I’d never done that before, what if they took it the wrong way and distanced me from them? Yeah, I’d just keep my mouth shut like always.
I shook my head and then stood up, shivering as the air hit my exposed skin. Fuck that was cold everytime! I shook off and grumbled to myself, heading back to where I had left my clothes and wincing as I put the still damp clothes back on. I don't think I'd ever appreciated having new sets of clothes back home, but damn would I kill for a simple washer and dryer. I’d just have to lean over the fire when I got back. Ugh, and then I’d smell like smoke for the next day.
As I dashed through the forest, heading back towards the others and the fire, I took a moment to think about the old world again. I wonder what the system had done with everyone's belongings? If I were to go back, would I be able to find my old lego and bionicle sets? What about the books I had been hoarding under my bed? Hell, what about my bed!? It's hard to just… Poof an entire existence, right? And that was just for the kids, what about Mrs. Fletcher? She had a whole family and had been alive for decades longer than us! I know she had never talked about her family or a husband or kids, but what happened to them? To their memories and experiences? She even had siblings and a couple of cats… Did she really just not exist in their memories anymore? I knew everyone’s pictures were wiped from the yearbook and social media, but how strong of a spell was that summoning spell? Fuck, how strong of a goddess was this Malxonus that she could perform it, and from what I could tell, perform it every once in a hundred or so years!?
I was so lost in my thoughts, that I yelped when I suddenly heard Sam speak up, dragging me out of my thoughts, “Hey Matt! What perfect timing! We just finished cooking the zhaarst! What a weird name right? I wonder if it’s another one of those words that the language barrier can't translate?” Sam, who always managed to notice first whenever anyone came back, waved me over to where she was sitting on a log with the others.
Cyan spoke up from where she was arranging berries in a line of biggest to smallest, “You know, I was thinking about that too! Like, there's also oglebon and even filken too! Isn’t it so weird the things that are automatically translated to English, but then there’s other words that just aren't? I wonder what the languages here actually sound like?”
Sylphie, who had been poking at the edge of the fire, looked up and blinked in surprise at Cyan, almost as if she was surprised that she would wonder that, “Right? I wonder if it's harsh like Russian or something, or really smooth like french, or quick and expressive like spanish!”
Kai laughed loudly and stabbed the fire with a stick, “Thank the gods that Cylkia is going to give us an actual education of the way things are here… wait… an education… at her mansion… Oh damn it! Guys, she’s just sending us back to school again!” We all laughed loudly, smirking at each other and fake groaning before Kai spoked up again, a mischievous grin coming over his face, “But you know what? I think I’m actually happy to go to school here! Haha! What the hell happened to us that made us happy to go to school?”
Sylphie hmmphed and went back to staring at the fire, “Speak for yourself Kai, I’ve always liked going to school…”
Everyone laughed at that, and we all settled down, finally digging into the zhaarst that Mason had been portioning out the whole time. Weirdly enough, for how much it looked and resembled a chicken, it didn’t taste anything like it. Though that’s no to say it was bad. It was actually quite the opposite in fact! It was sweet and savory, and in contrast to poorly cooked chicken, it was still so full of flavor and juices!
I honestly couldn't get enough of it, and I ravenously attacked the food on the plate that Mason had handed me. Even the berries were plump and tart, the sweetness adding a nice compliment to the herbs and smokiness of the zhaarst. I tore into the drumstick, and laughed as I heard everyone else happily eating as well. The worst part was that it was a pretty small animal, and I let out a loud sigh of disappointment as I ate the last bite. I still didn’t know how to feel about Cylkia and that odd look she had given me, but I also could respect what she had said. This world did have some bright sides, and I was interested in seeing what she meant by that. I was… excited. Yeah, that’s right… I was excited for the future.