Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Silver sat down on the floor of his tent and crossed his legs. Taking a moment to go over the breathing exercise that Jim had taught him, Silver closed his eyes and began.

At first it took him a while to clear his mind. He sat listening to the sounds of the camp outside, and his Kobold just outside of the flaps scratching.

Probably scratching his ass again, Silver thought. The miniature werewolf monster that served him looked similar to the Alpha he saw in the command tent. It was short-haired, with a Doberman-like face, large wolf ears that were always upright, and with silver streaks among its black fur instead of red. Must have been part of the same litter. He’d learned from Edwin that they were raised and bred similar to dogs, but with better living conditions and more rights.

They also couldn’t talk except in yips and barks, but perfectly understood Common, the general language all of the races spoke. Humans and Belvaun had their own language, with Common being the original language of the Picton, but Common was more commonly used on the Continent, seeing as it was first discovered and settled by the Picton.

Silver shook his head. He was getting distracted. He tried thinking of how meditation was done on Earth and drew a blank. He’d never meditated before. He thought it was a waste of time. He’d rather stream anime or play games.

“Urgh!” Silver stood up and left his tent. His Kobold looked up at him curiously from where it lounged on its side on the ground.

“Uno,” the name he gave the beast when it was assigned to him; he was lazy, and nobody would know. This world didn’t have Spanish. It cocked its head, showing it was listening. “Have you seen Tara?”

Uno slowly sat up, stretching, face screwed up in thought. Its rough tongue darting out to wet its dry nose. The monster started to shrug, before suddenly seeming to remember something. It got up and pointed off toward the medical tents.

“…the medical tents? Are you sure,” Silver asked reluctantly.

The beast nodded emphatically.

Silver sighed and thanked the young beast before heading off. Silver received a few glances as he walked by, but most people were busy with their own things at this time of day. The march would start again before soon, and people were busy preparing. Everyone besides the Picton. They rarely did anything, and he had only seen one of them in a fight. It was Mern. He seemed to be the only one willing to engage in combat. The rest just stayed in the medical tents and healed the injured.

Mern also rarely fought. He would shield people in fights occasionally to prevent casualties, and only really fought once. Manipulating gravity to crush a beast into paste, before harvesting said paste and going off to experiment with it.

As Silver walked by a large tent flapped open, and out stepped the devil himself. Mern stopped as they both made eye contact, before giving Silver a ‘friendly’ grin that sent shivers down his spine.

“Silver, my friend, I was not expecting you! Come in, come in. I was just going to go find you. I figured you forgot about me after the first day. You seemed busy trying to find a place to fit in.” He held the tent flap open, welcoming Silver into his dark tent.

Silver contemplated his options before deciding not to run away. He would conquer his fear named Mern today! Be a man~, he sang inside his mind.

“Um, sure Mern. I can’t stay long, though. I was looking for Tara.”

Mern nodded his head, “Yes, yes,” he hissed slowly, drawing out the words, “She is easy to find. She was hurt while scouting today. She found a cave that had a small entrance into the deep inside. Ambushed by Deep Lurker Imps. Nasty things, Deep beasts. Luckily there were only a few and she escaped with some broken bones and a nasty Filth infection.”

“Filth? I’ve heard of that. It’s a branch of magic, right?”

“Indeed. A powerful one. It is the divine magic of Peta Pans; god of Wealth and Filth. Only beasts and those favored by the god himself can use it. We have a human mage in camp who helps at the tents who is a follower and uses Filth.”

Mern made a face when speaking of the man in question. “Not a fan of Peta Pans?,” Silver asked, his curiosity outweighing his trepidation in the company of the creepy humanoid.

“Hmm?” He blinked, as if confused by the question. “The way you use phrases is odd sometimes. But I like it.” He smiled. Silver shivered, covertly covering his manhood from this creepy predator.

“To answer your question, though, I have nothing against the god of wealth. I just do not prefer his Filth aspect followers. They are stinky.”

Silver could not help but laugh out loud at that, taken by surprise. “Wait, wait, I think I know who you’re talking about. Nevan? The skinny hobo man? Never wears a shirt. Smells like Kobold shit all the time?”

“Yes! Him!” Mern punctuated each word, getting louder as he agreed with Silver. “I have never even seen the man go near the latrine! I do not understand why he smells so bad!”

Even though the last few words were hissed in the strange tone of the Picton, Silver didn’t even mind. He just continued laughing and bantering back and forth with the big, grey man until they heard a knock outside of the tent, causing them both to sober up.

“Can I come in,” a voice called, causing Silver’s heart to skip a beat.

Mern looked displeased, but did not let it show in his voice as he told them to enter.

A second later the flap was pushed back to reveal Savarti. Her ears stood tall on her head, her silver-grey hair hanging freely for the first time since Silver had seen her. She was out of her armor, wearing light cotton trousers colored a deep peach, and a sleeveless white top that ended just above her belly button, giving Silver a glance of her toned abs and sleek fur.

Her eyes rested on Silver for but a moment before returning to Mern. “You were supposed to be in the command tent for the meeting.”

The man himself rolled his eyes dismissively. “I don’t answer to that Siphon. I am here for my own reasons. As are you. I do not understand your kind’s submissive nature to the Siphons. You aren’t even beasts. It’s not an instinct. You do not need to follow his every order. You yourself are a Black Knight. You’re not inferior to him or me.”

Savarti was putting her hair back up into a ponytail after catching Silver staring. She did not answer at first. She finished with her hair, then took a casual stance in front of Mern and crossed her arms.

“Who is the most powerful person in this camp?” Mern glared at her.

“Who saved our lives against that Tier 4 Blood Beast? Who allows you to take whatever you want from the corpses for your experiments? Offers mana crystals from his own stores for the mages? Allows the warriors of the camp access to martial manuals from his own library? Offers Siphons not aligned with him an opportunity to live and follow his orders, when they could possibly be a spy from his enemies?” The last part was obviously aimed at Silver.

Mern still refused to answer, but had also lowered his head. No longer meeting her gaze defiantly.

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“The Belvaun follow the powerful. Whether that be a powerful Picton’Mithal, Belvaun, or Human does not matter.”

“I get it,” he hissed in annoyance. Silver just looked on from the side. “What did the annoying fish stick thing say.”

Savarti sighed, not bothering to push her luck by correcting his rude way of speaking about Jimmithy.

“After the village, he wants to go back and explore the cave. He decided on a small team. He wants to capture a few Imps to bring back to the city; send them to the capital, or even the Empire itself across the seas. An alpha was spotted amongst them, so he needs the elites together for this. Me, you, Gervase, Calix, Yana,” she paused, giving Silver a side-eye, “and him.”

A huge grin split Mern’s face. “Oh~,” he said, drawing out the word. “That’s interesting. Tell him I’ll be there.”

Silver looked between the two of them. What just happened? Did he just get volun-told to do something dangerous? Is this what Jim meant when he told Silver to pull his weight? Whatever these Deep Lurker Imps were, they could hurt Tara. She could take a punch from a Tier 3 and be totally fine! He would die! He would seriously die! Did they not know he was going to die?

“Do not worry, Silver. I will protect you. Just stay with me,” Mern stated.

Savarti didn’t say anything, just snorting and turning her head away, looking at something on the wall.

“Mern, what’s this?”

“Hmm?” The Picton turned to look. “Ah, that. It’s a recipe I’m working on for a Tier 4 accelerant. I want to repay The Fish so he’ll stop thinking he can tell me what to do because I owe him. The less side-effects, the better.”

She nodded then turned to leave. Silver and Mern waved her goodbye, while Silver stared at her tail hypnotically until she disappeared behind the flap.

“You like her?”

“Wha-what?” The question caught Silver by surprise. He momentarily didn’t know what he should say. He barely knew Mern. They couldn’t be considered friends, even if he had learned that he wasn’t that bad. He was at most on the same level as Edwin; a good acquaintance that he managed to hit it off with easily.

“Not trying to meddle in your affairs. Just curious. I’ve seen how you look at her. I don’t think she’s used to being stared at like that.”

“Well yeah,” Silver admitted. “I like her. She’s beautiful. She’s strong. She’s fluffy.” It was Mern’s turn to laugh at that.

“Do not let her hear you refer to her as fluffy. The Princess of Desiccation; Fluffy. That’s great.”

Silver raised an eyebrow at the name. That was a scary title.

“Well enough about me. I should probably be going. I want to try talking to Tara if I can. I need to ask her some things about meditation.”

“Meditation? Silver. I am Picton. We are the foremost mages in the world, and you want to ask a human snake woman about meditation? The reason she is stuck as a Tier 2 currently is because she advanced using accelerant drugs. She does not meditate. Not well, at least. The backlash has had her stuck in Tier 2 for 3 years. Ask around camp. She’s a shame to the Siphons and will never be an elite.”

Silver felt a little indignant hearing Mern talk about her like that, but held his tongue. Honestly, he didn’t know Mern or her well enough to speak up for her. He didn’t know anything about her personally. But a part of him, as a human, was offended to hear Mern talk down about her.

“Well what do you suggest?”

“Tell me what it is you are struggling with?”

Silver described to Mern his experience with meditation so far. Mern offered advice and wrote it down for Silver. Even offering tips on how to improve his meditation based on research Mern had done on Siphon physiology and their version of meditation. They were still mid discussion when the call to clear camp came.

Mern invited Silver to join him later that evening as well, and Silver accepted the invitation. This seemed like it was going to be a lot more complicated than Jim had let on.

Later when the evening arrived, Mern offered Silver refreshment.

“Moon Sliver larvae, they are a delicacy. They offer no benefits to a Siphon, but they are delicious nonetheless and something both of our races can enjoy.”

Silver had wanted to reject the offer, but seeing how eager Mern was for him to partake, he bit the bullet and picked up one of the glowing blue insect larva. Taking a moment to prepare himself, he shoved the whole thing into his mouth, biting down. The flavor exploded in his mouth. It tasted tart and sweet, like lemonade, but with a consistency similar to applesauce, that made it hard for Silver to swallow at first, no matter how delicious it tasted.

He was proud of himself for not gagging after shoving the still living creature into his mouth.

Mern seemed proud of himself, finding something that Silver enjoyed on the first try, before bragging to him that they were exorbitantly expensive and how he saved them for a special occasion.

Apparently to Mern, befriending Silver counted as a special occasion. Silver was touched. He was slightly ashamed of his earlier reactions to Mern and his people. He still thought they were creepy, but he’d try not to discriminate against them because of that now.

Mern continued to help him as the sun went down, before they moved into actual practice, trying out things until they worked. Eventually, with Mern’s continued assistance, Silver was able to sink into meditation with little effort, finding his core within himself, and learning to move his energy throughout his body to saturate and strengthen his cells, mutating his body.

For the next two days Silver socialized with Mern, and occasionally Edwin. He also visited Tara in the medical tents. The other Picton stilled creeped Silver out, but he didn’t avoid them as much as he used to. Tara seemed touched that he had cared enough to visit. She seemed lonely when he saw her on a stretcher before she noticed his approach. She joked with him for a while before he had to leave when the call to clear camp came. She seemed sad to see him leave, but gave him a small smile when he said he’d be back to check on her that evening.

The next day, the group reached their destination.

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