Chapter 8: Ch. 8- The Smell of Fear

The following day, Typh came early for me before anyone else woke up. I assumed the slave trade trick would only work once. Romas was going to find his smithy shorthanded again, however. This concerned me, but I didn't tell Typh that. I was sure he had something in mind to keep the wrath of Romas from finding me.

We walked through the still-sleeping settlement, heading to the ramp. We walked at a brisk pace, not speaking. Typh appeared to want to leave the colony before too many Feka saw him. That was fine with me. Typh took the typical feline way down and I trudged down the ramp. Once we got to the jungle clearing, he turned to me. "Are you ready for what lies ahead?"

"Yes." I thought for a moment, taking a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Then we begin. Go in ahead of me. I will support you, but you must struggle to earn your powers. Deeper in the jungle I will explain more about our culture, our enemies, and what I believe to be true here on Prixa. For now, take out your dagger and prepare yourself."

I nodded, gathering my strength. I looked down at my arm, taking a mental note of my character sheet.

 

[NOAH]

[LV 2- BLACKSMITH APPRENTICE]

[23/23]

[15/15]

In the jungle, a focused calm came over me. I ambled along, placing my feet very carefully. Typh walked behind me, observing. As we walked further into the jungle, I heard him bend over and snap a branch off some bright blue plant. He began chewing on it. It must be some kind of ingredient. I need to get better at recognizing the essential items out here.

As we walked further into the jungle, I recognized most landmarks. The last time I was here was after a traumatic event, so I remembered almost everything. Deeper along the path to my left, I heard a slight rustling of leaves and a squeak. A 3-foot-tall squirrel-rat creature with vicious teeth sat on a branch and looked at me. I froze, not moving any further. The squirrel cocked its head, assessing me. I held my dagger out in front of me, trying to intimidate the monster squirrel. Make my day, bitch.

We stood there, sizing each other up. The squirrel started sniffing at the air. Suddenly, it turned and skittered up the tree. "Well done," Typh said, nodding gravely.

"Huh?" I questioned, looking back, confused.

"A lot of creatures in these woods can smell fear, myself included. Gaining power for most creatures that walk the planet is obtained by consuming other things. Sometimes it can be from plants, such as this Gee Bark." He held up the stick. "Other times, it is animals. When an animal smells fear from another, it most likely will attack, knowing it has found something weaker to prey on. Winning a battle against another and consuming the body results in greater power. The higher the power of the enemy, the bigger the gains. When you have no fear, some creatures take that as a sign of being outmatched. This may have just been a squabbish female, but the principal was there."

"But if it was that easy, why don't the Feka just kill everything they see in the jungle?"

"It is a risk to fight. If you die it becomes harder for the next Feka to win against that creature. This is why we don't have massive battles very often. Significant battle results in many casualties, and the remaining warriors become overly strong after consuming the fallen, ruining the balance of power in this world. I understand that the alpha for the Shadowalker colony kills his own, raising pups for strength and then sacrificing them. It has kept him alive and in power for so long, unable to be challenged."

"When you killed that Stalker a few days ago, you didn't consume it, though. Why not?"

"The Feka are a civilized group, unlike the disgraceful beasts in the Shadowalker city. We have found over the centuries that we can instead create. And with those creations, greater power is achieved. Just consuming meat or plants allows for power gain. And we started there as a species long ago. Eventually, we gained higher intelligence and awareness. We found that letting the ingredient speak to you is best. It will tell you what it prefers to be or what it desires to do, which is how the most incredible power is achieved."

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"That's how I created this dagger. The fang told me it would best serve me as a weapon like that, and I let it."

Typh nodded his head, continuing. "Correct. If you had consumed the meat of the dead creature, if humans are even capable of such things, it would have resulted in much smaller bodily gains. Noticeable, but nothing you could have continued using. The items we use are part of our power. So if we fall, it’s our total power being consumed. A risky proposal."

I understood that. I changed the subject. "How do you know your levels, skills, or anything else? It's been driving me crazy. I have tattoos on my arm telling me valuable information about my body. All I see on the Feka is a bunch of stripes."

Typh smiled. "Ah, a secret among us. When someone becomes blessed, the first thing they are taught is 'INSPECT.' This allows for inspection of the world around them, but they can also inspect themselves. I can think about my body and will know my stamina and health. I can think about my weapon and get information on it. Outwardly, you can only see stripes roughly translating into what you call 'levels.' Our skills also gain power as we use them for their specific purposes. You've noticed that your 'CREATE' skill has produced better weapons. Again, correlated to levels."

I chewed my lip, thinking about what I had experienced so far. Typh was right; ' CREATE' seemed to match my level, but it was the only skill I have used so far. 'MINE' I only used one time, and it was probably some form of level 1. I wanted to know if increasing my mining ability would allow for less mana used per attempt. Or even finding more rare ore types. And 'INSPECT' was a passive skill, like Typh said.

That didn't explain the dagger situation, though. "Why couldn't you tell what level my dagger was? Any idea what happened there?"

Typh shook his head, frowning. "That is still a mystery, certainly. I have theories, but I will not share them at this time. Come. We must get to the cave. We need to work on your skills."

***

While tense, the rest of the walk resulted in no further action. Typh found his way to the small cave opening and pointed toward it. "In you go."

I looked in the hole, remembering the dark interior with trepidation. I slid down the side of the hill more carefully this time, mentally flinching as I recalled my banged-up knee. Once inside, Typh crushed something in a vile, creating an eerie purple glow. The mushrooms that Dee picked up, I bet! Seeing ingredients being used for items was so cool.

The light helped immensely. In fact, the light from the vile was enhancing my vision somehow. It must have been a power of the mushroom. Focus. I walked further into the cave, this time able to see the paths more clearly and avoid stumbling over rocks.

"Show me this mining skill," Typh commanded.

I looked around, seeing the same silver and red ores as a ghostly trace behind the cave walls at varying depths. I went to the wall up and to the left since the silver ore appeared closest to the surface. I thought about mining the ore, activating my skill. The familiar sucking motion activated from my arm, taking mana per second. I stuck my hand into the wall, diving in, getting the silver, and pulling it out. I cut off the skill and looked back at Typh, excitement plain on my face.

"Fascinating. Romas must have a skill like this that he keeps hidden from the clan. He's always told me that mining these ores is extremely expensive and charges a premium for red ore heating items for our homes. What a bastard."

I chuckled. "Yeah, nothing to it, really. That used..." I paused and looked down at my arm, "Four mana. It takes about an hour to regenerate five mana." Typh looked confused at that. "Oh, you must not have hours. Well, it takes a little while for my amount to come back. Either way, I can do more if you want?"

"No. I would like for you to make your slingshot pellets. It's time to find the monster and take it out. If I can get that ingredient, I can have Romas make me some armor. This leather armor I have now won't do against a pack of Bullheads."

"What are Bullheads?"

"That's the infantry branch of the Shadowalker troops. They're muscular, have powerful bites, and can get through most defenses and armor. They come in mass and hunt in huge packs, scattering the Feka and encircling them so they can't escape."

"Ok. Hang on a second." I already felt the pull of the ore to its desire to make me some ammo for my slingshot. It was different than before, the silver ore not wanting to combine with the slingshot but wanting to be a part of its use. I let the ore shape and five silver gleaming pellets sat in my hand. I looked at my arm, which now had six mana left.

"That should be plenty for what I have in mind. Prepare yourself, slave. The battle begins."

And with that, Typh took a deep breath, went on all fours, and let out an earsplitting roar. It was a challenge to the occupant of the cave. It was a challenge to fight to the death.

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