Chapter 3: Ch. 3 – Stalkers

"Damn, a Shadowalker. Why is one so close to our settlement?" she said, looking around in panic. "Run!"

She took off through the trees, running at a furious pace on all fours toward the settlement. I skimmed the treeline, running behind her as best as I could. To my left, I heard another howl, followed by another closer to the opening in the jungle. As I lumbered through the woods, branches opened gauges on my face and arms. It sounded like there were more of them, howling to each other as they closed in on us.

Dee stopped running toward the opening in the jungle toward the settlement. "It's a Stalker pack! We need to find somewhere to hide or they will surround us!" she yelled back to me.

She took off at a 90-degree angle under a branch. I jumped over it, only to be clipped in the forehead by another branch, dazing me for a moment. I don't need a magical health bar to know it hurts like a bastard, I thought. Up ahead, I got a glimpse at one of the beasts. It looked like a horrifying wolf, with dark brownish-red fur and teeth that were way too big for its body.

The wolf beast growled and stopped Dee in her tracks. She reached into her pocket, threw a blade at the dog, then spun to the left, running in a new direction. The wolf yelped and fell back, the blade catching it in the shoulder. I took the opportunity to follow her, hearing noises all around me. "This way!" she cried.

Dee went down a hill and into a cave, scurrying out of sight. I slid down the slope, ramming into the cave opening. My left knee buckled, feeling like it was hit by a hammer. I rolled back into the hole of the cave. "Dee?" It was even darker than the jungle floor, with no visible light.

"Quick! Put this on." She draped a cloak over the two of us.

"What does it..."

"Shhh," she whispered. "It's a scent blocker. Now quiet, or they will hear us."

We waited, fear still gripping us. At the mouth of the cave, I heard panting and the sounds of animals walking around in the brush. Eventually, the sounds began receding. "I think they're gone," Dee said, getting up. "I should be able to hear them if they come back. Looks like we will have to camp here tonight. Come on, there should still be a few good ingredients here."

She started off into the cave, leaving me at the entrance, still wearing the cape. I found the wall to my right and began slowly feeling my way further into the cave. Dee was so quiet that I could barely hear her walking ahead. My fingers felt the wall turning right, so I followed. Up ahead, there was a tiny streaming light coming from a hole in the cave, letting moonlight in.

"Careful," Dee whispered, sounding closer than I thought she was. "We don't know what lives in here." She looked down, scooping up a red, glowing mushroom and putting it in her pocket.

We passed under the moonlit passage, still on high alert. I could see veins of silver and red in the walls with a tingling in the back of my mind telling me that these were valuable. "Dee, what are these cave walls made of?"

"Hm? Oh, I don't know. They just look like rocks to me. Father comes in caves like these to get ingredients."

Curious. Can I see ore veins through the rock? Is that part of my 'CREATE' skill too?

Dee stopped ahead. "Let's stop here for the night. There's a little light for your human eyes, so you won't be so afraid of the dark." A smile crossed her feline features.

"I am not afraid of the dark. Just... what's in the dark. On a planet I've never been to," I replied, weakly attempting to defend myself. "I'm going to look around a bit."

I headed into a side tunnel, taking a look around. I approached a wall with glowing silver veins near the surface and touched it with my hand. Then it was as though my hand went through jelly.

I pulled my hand back in shock and gasped. "What??" Dee said, alarmed, crouching and looking around.

"Check this out!" I reached through the rock again.

[YOU HAVE UNLOCKED THE 'MINE' SKILL]

I jumped back again, this time the voice in my mind startling me. My arm burned again, so I rolled up my sleeve and glanced down. I had a new pickaxe symbol below the anvil. I looked over at Dee. "Apparently I have a new skill!"

Dee shook her head in amazement. "Humans with magic...this is going to take some getting used to. What does your skill do?"

"Well," I said slowly. "I guess I can reach into these walls and grab ores. I have no idea what the ore does, though. Should I get some?"

"Of course! What are you waiting for!"

With that, I reached in, thinking about how I wanted to grab the ore I saw. While I did, I felt a sucking coming from my tattoo, mainly the mana reading. I was reaching into the wall at eye height and I could see the blue number. It slowly ticked down; 7...6...5...

I quickly pulled my hand out. "The wall is taking my mana!"

Dee laughed and shook her head. "Your skill must be a mana per second usage. It's like when I go stealth. I can go almost invisible for mana per second. But using skills like that limit what you can do after, so it's key to use the skill as quickly as you can. I can't just wait in the wings in stealth while I stalk prey. I need to have already hunted them with other skills."

I thought about that. "How do I level my skills up? I don't have enough mana to do much at all!"

"Use the skills. Practice. The more you use skills and complete what your class wants you to do, the more advanced your level gets. I get experience from stalking and killing prey. Even escaping more serious threats gives me experience. But just beating a human over the head with a stick won't get me anywhere."

I laughed. It felt good to laugh. "Ok. So let's mine some ore then!"

****

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I spent about two hours testing my 'MINE' skill while Dee lounged in the cave. I told her to get a cat nap before I started, chuckling to myself. She didn't look as pleased with that one. Eventually, she curled up and fell asleep while I reached into the walls.

I grabbed five pieces of ore from various parts of the cave wall; two silver and three red pieces. I got faster about capturing ore, but the first few times took me a few seconds, wasting valuable mana. It took about an hour to recover five mana, so I could do about two mining attempts per hour. In between attempts, I studied the ore, finding out very little other than its appearance. The ore didn't have any pull in my mind to make an object like the fang or beak, which confused me. I also rested, feeling the weight of the day and the situation. I hadn't rested since I got here. At some point, I dozed off for a bit.

When I woke up, the moonlight was much brighter, the moon fully over of the cave. Additional light began filtering in from various cracks in the cave walls. My eyes had also adjusted to the low light conditions of the cave.

I continued my mining experiment, Dee still curled up asleep. Halfway through the fifth time of grabbing ore, my arm burned again, but I didn't jerk away this time. I finished getting the ore out, then looked down at my arm.

[NOAH]

[LV 2- BLACKSMITH APPRENTICE]

[18/20]

[11/15]

"Dee! I leveled up!" I shouted.

The sound echoed off the walls far into the cave. After the echo stopped, there was a brief silence, followed by an enormous roar.

I sheepishly looked at Dee. "Oops."

"Run!" Dee took off down the tunnel toward the entrance. I started running, following the cave walls a bit easier this time with my eyes used to the low light and additional moonlight. With a glance behind me, I saw what I had awoken; an enormous bear-dog creature. Its eyes were bright red and terrifying. It rumbled down the cave toward us, gaining speed.

I ran through the twisting cave, thankful we didn't go too far into the cavern. The monster seemed happy just scaring us out of its home, and receded into the darkness.

We reached the front of the cave, panting and looking around. “Sorry about that, Dee. I got a bit excited.” We heard another roar inside the cave, the walls shaking.

In the jungle was another long, eerie howl. The same as before. "Oh, come on!" I groaned. This planet was a death trap

Dee looked at me with a sad expression but looked determined. "They must have heard the Mecho's roar. We can't go back into the cave, or they will surround us. We're going to have to fight. I'm going into the tree to do my sneak attack and kill at least one. I have a scent blocker in my belt so they won't know I'm there. I'm going to have to use you as bait."

"Bait? What!"

"Sorry, human. Once it's down to four Stalkers, I'll try to fight the rest of them. Use your dagger if you can." With that, she darted up the tree.

Well, this is most certainly how I die. I grabbed my dagger, focusing on it. There was a new pull from the silver ore in my pocket. It wanted to combine with the dagger. But I could tell it wouldn't just be one piece; it was both. I took the ore in one hand and the dagger in the other, hearing the sound of howls and animals trudging through the underbrush. I focused on combining them and felt a jolt of power. My arm felt numb as my mana reading said [1/15].

[NEW MAGIC TYPE UNLOCKED - AIR]

Air magic? What?

Before I could think too much about the notification, a dark brown Stalker burst onto the hill above the cave and looked down at me. He looked around, raised his head, and let out a long, slow howl. It chilled my blood, putting fear into my heart. The fear of death. Four other Stalkers enter the clearance from all directions, making a circle.

"Look at what we have here. A lost little human out on a nighttime stroll," he said in a growling, low-pitched voice. "We've been out here scouting the Feka for a week now. Sure makes me hungry. Might be time for a snack before we head back."

"We should probably bring him to the alpha to consume, back at the city," another dog said.

"Quiet beta! The alpha doesn't have to know," he said with a gleam in his eye. He started inching toward me. I held the dagger in front of me, trying to look way more threatening than I felt.

Dee came down from the tree like lightning, stabbing a dog closest to the tree with a dagger. The lead Stalker looked around, confused. "Come back here, feline scum!" he roared after her.

They circled the tree, jumping at its base and barking, seemingly forgetting about me. I swung my dagger across the back leg of the nearest Stalker, a lightning bolt from the tip of the dagger. The dog yelped in pain, the others backing off. "What? What is this magic, human?" He couldn’t move his back leg at all, having gone totally electrified.

The three remaining dogs circled me, anger in their eyes. I stared right back at them. I swung my dagger, whiffing the nearest dog. It pounced and pinned me to the ground, jaws flashing.

Suddenly, another blur of motion, only this time it wasn't Dee. A gigantic black jaguar with black spots tackled the dog, then raked its claws across its face. The cat stood up, drew its sword, and plunged it into the dog's neck, killing it. The other three Stalkers ran into the woods, yelping away into the brush.

Dee sighed and looked at the jaguar cat. "Hey, brother."

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