Chapter 65: HBA – Chapter 64 – Arc 5 – There was no answer, but it was close enough?

“Physical or Magical confrontational preparations can be split into three categories.”

 

“Long-term prepping, where an Individual focuses on himself and his capabilities.”

 

“Mid-term prepping, where multiple Individuals focus on themselves and their teamwork.”

 

“Short-term prepping comes when your understanding of long and short-term prep work needs some extra juice.”

 

“All three have positives and negatives.”

 

“Long-term prepping takes a long time to bloom, yet provides the greatest advantages”

 

“Mid-term prepping can be achieved without help from others, yet results multiply with them.”

 

“Short-term prepping might or might not work. It is more of a wild card, but depending on the scenario, it might just work” 

 

“Just be prepared for the side-effects.”

#Quote - Ancient saying, passed down from one Shaman to another - Origin; Unknown

 

*

 

Central Continent - Southern Forest - Survival Tribe - Tina

A long time ago, at least to the current her, Tina would have never imagined staying with only one Mate her whole life.

 

She also never would have imagined she would become part of a Tribe. Or even consider what being part of a Tribe meant. After all, Honey Badgers were solitary creatures. Yet, now she was not only part of one, she even led one as the Head Shaman of the Tribe.

 

Unlike what a Hunter represented in the Tribe, Shamans were much harder to define, Tina felt.

 

Hunters brought food and security to the Tribe. That much she had known instinctively.

 

Shamans being female, on the other hand, tied them to the Tribe differently. They were the Mothers bringing forth the next generation, feeding the next generation, and raising the next generation. 

 

Yet, Tine knew what it was to be Mother and the responsibilities Mothers possessed. Despite knowing that, a clash inside her began to manifest. 

 

In the past, before she gained her current form, Tina had freedom. Freedom to roam where she wanted and where she needed to be. Now, though, she could not do that as in a Tribe, a Mother gained security and ease in exchange for freedom. 

 

Hence, Tina, burdened with her responsibility and loss of freedom, searched for a different meaning in life. She sought a purpose telling her what a Shaman was and would probably do because that was what she was now, a Shaman.

 

How and why exactly her mind decided to experiment with everything found in the Forest, Tina did not know. All she remembered was one day, the Instinct deep inside her became unbearable, and she began nibbling on the most random things to see how they affected her. 

 

Once those days passed, she began experimenting with what would happen if she ate different things at the same time.

 

Once those days passed, she began experimenting with what would happen if her White Flame touched any of the things she ate. 

 

First, she used her White Flame on the mushrooms, roots, and flowers found everywhere in the Forest. When that brought forth no results, an inspiration came to her to try mushing everything into one thing. 

 

Then she'd use the White Flame before trying out the mixture.

 

Once again, nothing happened. Then another inspiration came to her. Tina found a rock with a large and round indented surface. Inside, she would put some water alongside mushy mushrooms, roots, and flowers. A dose of her White Flame completed her desire.

 

That became the first moment things changed for her. 

 

When the White Flame and Water mixed into one with plenty of mushed stuff thrown into the mix, the Flame began to mingle around the mushed parts far longer than ever before. 

 

At the same time, the Water changed colors. To Tina, it was as if the Water absorbed stuff from the mushed bits of everything.

 

However, only after she began sacrificing small insects into her mixture did actual changes occur. The insects would burst into a momentary blaze if a small one. With no Badg’Er eating it, everything it released got infused into the mixed mushy bits of everything, which in turn chose to dissolve thanks to Water.

 

How or why it happened that way, Tina did not know. What mattered was everything vanishing from her eyes and leaving behind a puddle of colored water infused with some kind of effect.

 

Siping from it, Tina found nothing occurred to her at first. However, after some time, her gaze began to wander slightly. Colors blazed into existence and mixed with everything. The new colors combined with everything solid transformed into new bizarre shapes. 

 

It lasted briefly, but Tina would not forget that moment her whole life. And ever since that moment, everything she made with that method carried those effects. Only it did not take long for them to stop affecting her at all.

 

Experiment after experiment, she searched for the thing that would give her experiences beyond the basic once a female represented in the Tribe.

Then one day, she made something that knocked her out completely. That experience made her Dream so deeply, she remembered very little of it. And that was despite being very experienced in regards to Dreams.

 

Still, she did remember two things.

 

During that deep Dream, she received a revelation regarding her cub, Alexander. 

 

The following revelations told her of his upcoming birth. It told of his temperament and probable behavior. It told her how to treat him. 

 

And that was what she did for the next five years.

The other thing she remembered clearly was a very impactful DING!!!

 

In truth, that was what eventually returned her to reason. 

 

Remembering it for a moment, Tina was quite pleased she had done what she had done. Although, at that time, she understood very little about it. Even now, it was not much better. But she was still glad of the DING!!! 

 

She was glad because, at that time, she had gained something called a Title; Pioneer. 

 

Aside from telling her, she was doing something very new. It taught her nothing. However, the Special Ability; Shamanistic Concoctions gained from it had made her more than happy. 

 

It made her ecstatic.

From that point on, Tina’s Intuition occurred much more frequently whenever something got involved with the Special Ability; Shamanistic Concoctions. 

 

Intuition told her to experiment with the dosages of the materials used. Intuition told her to combine her finished products. However, ultimately, the best thing that happened was Intuition telling her to add  Mana inside her Concoctions.

 

That had become the greatest surprise of all, as, before that moment, she had not known it was possible in the first place. 

 

Nevertheless, the thing that irked her the most was her own body. 

The more of those concoctions she took, the lesser their effects were. 

 

As such, she had spread her knowledge of Concocting with the other females in the Tribe. After all, they followed the Shamanistic Path. With them, she would learn more. Plus, it would help the Tribe, somehow. 

 

At least, she hoped, but the results were far less impressive than she first imagined.

 

All of them learned from her experience. All of them used her knowledge, yet somehow none of her fellow Shamans gained the Special Ability she possessed. 

 

Instead, they gained the Skill; Concoctions. 

 

When the females explained to her as best as possible, Tine realized there were benefits to the Skill. Yet to her, it simply could not compare with her Special Ability, for the simple reason that while they gained Stats, she gained an Intuition regarding concoctions.

 

This Intuition was much more powerful than the few Stats they gained.

Though, that fact had piqued her curiosity.

 

Thus, Tina began speaking with the rest of the Tribe regarding this phenomenon. What she learned surprised her as only one other Individual had something similar to her. 

 

Her Mate and Chief of the Tribe, Scar.

 

In the process of fighting and exploring his own fighting capabilities, Scar gained the Special Ability; Brawler Instinct. 

 

Nonetheless, those that followed after him gained Skill; Brawler. 

 

Just like in her case, the Skill; Brawler, the other Hunters earned, gave Stats instead of Intuition when fighting her Mate possessed.

 

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Still, Tina never actually understood the true depth of her Mate’s Intuition and its benefit towards fighting before the Nightmare Pit, made by The Maker, came into existence. 

 

Inside it, Scar realized he could lose himself in battle without truly bothering with his Life. As such, he figured out how some things worked. He figured out why some did not. 

 

Most of all, his Insights regarding Brawling got shared with the other Hunters, making them all stronger than before as their Skill Level rose.

 

Unfortunately, for Tina and everybody else in the Tribe, so far, only the two of them gained a Special Ability that could be explored directly and provide benefits for the Tribe. 

 

Because of that fact, Tina was unhappy with Alexander's Special Abilities. The first one only provided advantages to him, and even then, it had detriments. As such, Tina hoped his second Special Ability would deliver better results.

Thinking of Alexander, Tina realized she still had not seen him for the day. 

 

With practiced ease, her awareness left the Tribal Dream, and she opened her eyes to Reality. Yawning and stretching for a moment to get rid of her sleepiness.

 

Seeing no Son in the home, Tina left their family Den. A moment later, she found the Hunter responsible for the momentary security, which she doubted was needed, as almost everybody else was asleep. 

 

All of them were participating in the Nightmare Pit in some way. However, it would be later when all of them would try Cave Ambush. The first few times they tried it, it turned out to be a complete disaster, as the number of enemies spawned depended on the number of participants.

 

It was a massacre as everybody got swamped with too many enemies. As such, smaller teams got employed for practice runs. That way, they keep the number of enemies similar to what her Son had reported the first time. 

 

However, one giant battle every night was still the main event for the day. Scar wanted them to be prepared just in case. Still, Tina had a suspicion her Mate liked seeing the sight of so many Badg’Er following his orders.

Shaking the suspicion aside, Tina made her way to Alexander's special place after finding out about her Son from the Hunter.

 

When she found Alexander, he was laying on the ground on his back. Arms and legs were spread wide open. 

 

Tina shook her head once more as her Son’s sleeping pose oozed ‘Here I am, come to have a piece of me.’ 

 

Although, being in Tribal Territory meant very few large predators/bugs dared to intrude. Scar told her it had to do with the Tribal Spirit marking down its territory and scaring off larger predators/bugs.

 

Tina was a bit skeptical about that fact, but she could not deny the existence of the Tribal Territory Marker. 

 

After all, she felt it every time she left the Tribal Territory.

Ignoring her thoughts, Tina moved closer to her son. 

 

From a distance, her eyes told Alexander was sleeping as his chest slowly expanded and contracted. 

 

However, when she came close enough, her footsteps stopped at once. 

 

Right before the sleeping Alexander, a large cluster of rocks lay around. As if it was a natural thing. Only it was anything but natural. Tina was sure about that. It had been but a few days since she visited this place, and she clearly remembered a large stone standing where rubble existed now.

 

Curious about it, she ignored Alexander and stepped right beside the rubble of rocks. 

 

At first glance, Tina found the culprit, an indented paw. 

 

Moments later, her mind reached an obvious conclusion. Alexander had used his new Special Ability; Earth Bending. Seeing the damage he had done, pride flared in her mind. After all, she had produced such good offspring. 

 

Although, she could not take total credit for everything Alexander did, as Alexander was unique. However, without her, he would not have become what he was now.

 

Still, the happiness only lasted for a little bit. A reminder came to her. How Alexander did this, Tina cared not because she was still unsure if his new Special Ability could actually be shared with the rest of the Tribe. 

 

After all, Alexander followed a different Ascendency Path.

 

“Hngh” grunting away her displeasure, Tina focused on the rocks themselves. 

Specifically, she focused on the edges of the rocks. 

 

Something about them spoke to her.

 

By now, Tina knew when and how her Intuition guided her attention. 

 

Crouching forward, her left hand went toward one of the smaller broken pieces. 

 

Only something unexpected happened to her.

 

“Eee” 

 

Tina jerked her left hand back.

 

Pain manifested on the padding of her left paw. However, it was not so much pain that bothered her. No, it was a sudden intrusion into the padding of her paw that caused the reaction. 

 

It wasn't deep to be unsettling, but it was unexpected. 

 

Turning her paw up, Tina noticed the opened gash and the red flesh beneath the skin. Looking at it for a moment, blood began to flow out of the wound. Touching the flesh beside the injury a few times caused even more blood to emerge.

 

Taping it a few more times, Tina licked the blood away. The taste brought forth memories of old. Memories of beyond the Forest in which she lived right now. It brought forth memories of prey with actual flesh instead of insects.

 

Shoving away those thoughts before they rooted in her mind, Tina licked the wound until the blood stopped coming out. Thankfully, she did not have to do it many times, as she gathered a bit of her Mana towards the wound to accelerate the healing.

 

This small trick she learned from the Hunters. 

 

Once the wound stopped bleeding, Tina crouched again, only this time it was her right hand going for it.

 

With a sharp piece of rock in her hand, Tina paid extra attention to the edge. Bringing it closer to her eyes, she regarded the thinness of it. 

 

As she did, her Intuition flared and nudged her thoughts in one direction.

What followed was her holding this piece of sharp rock as tight as possible, only for her wrists to actually twitch and stretch in various directions. 

 

The moment she had done that, an epiphany reached her.

 

One moment later, White Flames came to life on her left wounded hand. They condensed into a White Flame Arm with a wrist, paw, and claws on top.

 

Somewhat careful to not cut herself again, the White Flame Arm held the sharp rock and floated away from her. Not too much, just enough space for the White Flame Arm to have enough space to experiment without any worrying. 

 

What followed was truly a different caliber from her previous actions.

 

Slice Swish Slice Swish Slice Swish 

Sharp stone met air and sliced it.

 

Hearing and doing it brought forth euphoria to Tina. 

 

The White Flame Arm ignored any of the restrictions she possessed physically. Hence the White Flame Arm moved with speeds she would have never been able to achieve. 

 

Even her Mate, Scar, failed to achieve the speeds she did at this moment.

 

Stopping for a moment, Tina examined the sharp stone once more. Only for a frown to come upon her. 

 

Tina realized her Intuition currently guiding her thoughts held a different agenda for her. Yes, the sharpness was there, and it probably had a lot of usages, both in combat and outside it. However, her Intuition sought something else.

 

Her White Flame Arm threw the sharp rock back into the rubble it once came from and vanished moments later. 

 

Then she focused exclusively on the pile of rocks seeking her attention. However, no matter how much time she spent frowning over them, with her eyes, she could not find the answer.

 

Yet, there had to be something. Of that, there was no doubt. 

 

Not giving up, Tina tried to find the answer once again, but no answer came. 

 

Not until part of her vision flowed over her Son. Then her eyes switched between Alexander and the rubble of rocks when her Intuition settled down.

 

There was no answer, but it was close enough.

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