Rook found himself marching along once again. The one thing about marches and rucks that he enjoyed was the zen mood he went to. It allowed him to walk for miles without thinking about the burning blisters in his boots and the aches in his knees. He opened the map and watched as the three red blips walked towards a line of forests.
Approximately 500 meters ahead of them, outside of the West gate, was the entrance to the wooded area. The Wilds, huh? Rook looked around, his gaze caught on the birds above, swooping and squawking. They resembled vultures circling above their breakfast.
“Seems like we’re not the only party to come out today,” Reina said, frowning at the circling birds. “They usually only travel in a pair unless there are multiple corpses or soon-to-be corpses.”
“Well, weird or not, it won’t be us.”
They rapidly approached the wood of the wilds. To Rook, it looked like any forest in Washington. In fact, it reminded him of the entrance to the Olympic National Rainforest park. His eyes went wide with surprise as his boots squished into the soft mossy earth. He paused and gazed over his shoulder at the rolling hills of the wilds and the West wall of Ollar just beyond. Just like LTO, my platoon would freak out if they saw this. Hell, Ponce De Leon would probably have a seizure if he saw this. Birds tweeted in the canopy above and insects buzzed in the humid air around his head. He spat as a gnat flew into his mouth.
“Forgot how many bugs there are out in the wilds,” Mara remarked, twitching her ears.
The beaten path led them deeper into the forest. Rook, the two party members, jerked their gazes around, this way and that. I swear they’re like cats, nervous and their eyes always darting about. He placed a fist up and halted. Reina looked confused by the action, but obliged and followed Rook.
“What’s happening?” Mara asked, unfastening the strap slightly on her greatsword.
“Shh. I am doing a SLLS check,” Rook whispered as he smelled the air. “Faint smell of decay.” He looked around. “I smell a potential body, but we’re not in a position to see anything yet.” He cupped his ear to hear any outside sounds, or lack thereof. “Normal.”
He nodded to Reina and stood up. Not getting caught with my pants down in the middle of the forest. He slapped his quiver and felt the projectiles inside. Confident, he strode down the path.
“For a split second, you truly reminded me of a legion scout and their war hound.” Reina rested her hand on the hilt of her weapon.
“I hope so. My guess is that there is a body ahead, probably under that congregation of birds.”
After approximately an hour of walking down that beaten path, Mara stopped and grimaced. “The smell of death is strong here.”
“Keep your heads on a swivel, after that flesh golem, anything’s possible.” Turning into a clearing, they came across a pile of miscellaneous meat that was absolutely swarming with carrion birds. It wasn’t just a small pile of meat; this was the size of a tent. Rook recognized multiple pieces of armor, a sword or two, and what looked like an Ollar City guard helmet.
“Reina, please tell me there are normally piles of miscellaneous meat in the forest path.”
She gulped. “This doesn’t look good.”
The carrion birds angrily squawked at them, as if the meat pile was their nest. Rook glanced around, waiting for the voice of Jody to come out and offer some advice, but only birds squawked.
“We could go around, but this meat pile might have something useful.” Rook paused. “Even though it looks like it was shit out of a really big bear.”
Reina nodded. “We should see what’s inside.”
Rook grabbed three of his bearings from the mushroom pouch and shot them at the birds. Two exploded in a mess of feathers, and the third had its wing clipped. Three shots, three unlucky birds.
“Truly impressive,” Mara said, walking over to the last bird.
“Look closely at the meat pile, on the left side, it looks sort of like a hand.”
The pale hand’s perfectly manicured pointer and middle finger were up in a gruesome peace sign. A fancy corpse? Two of the birds died on impact, the third was flapping on the ground, thrashing in a short circle, and squawking in pain. Mara walked over and stomped on the third bird, creating a pizza. Boy, that thing was ugly.
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Attramancy 90/500
+4 Experience gained.
You have slain Carrion Bird x3 +15 experience
815 out of 850 Experience until level up 15.
The pile started rumbling, turning into a bubbling and a grating noise came from within. I think I fucked up.
“Uh. Rook. The pile.” Reina backed up. “It’s moving.”
The hut-sized pile of meat shifted and jiggled as it slid across the forest ground. The top of the pile inflated like a balloon, and several bits of the debris within rose to the surface.
Command Presence Activated
The bits shot out of the pile, sending the gore up in the air to shower them like an erupting volcano. All around them, rained pieces of the foul death.
“Down!” Rook yelled as he fell to the ground, covering his head.
Reina and Mara followed suit and squeezed their eyes shut.
“It’s a carrion slime!” Reina stood up and drew her weapon.
Mara unstrapped her greatsword and held it in a fool’s stance, the tip low towards the ground.
The slime rolled like a barrel, cutting off any means of escape. It gurgled as if it was laughing at them.
“Wait, you’re laughing at me? You’re the one who smells like a goblin taint.” Rook responded, pulling the mace of doublestrike out.
Rook wound back the mace and smashed it into the beast with a squelch. He grimaced as bits of meat hit him in the face and mouth. Fuck. The slime burned his arm and pulled him in. He gritted his teeth against the pain of his shoulder wrenching in his socket. Mara slashed and hit the ooze with two consecutive swipes, dealing no damage.
“Reina, some help would be nice!” Rook bellowed in pain as he watched his health bar slowly tick away.
Reina thrust her sword forward. Her face twisted into a mix of concentration and anger.
“Let him go!” She screamed, charging like Joan of Arc towards the ooze.
Her rapier was sucked right into the slime, and she backpedaled. Stumbling like a drunk, she tripped on that manicured hand and landed on her ass. Mara tried again with a downward slash. The blade swept through the slime’s gelatinous body and impacted the ground with a bang.
The mace was his, not this slime monster’s.
“You can’t have it.” Rook placed his foot on a nearby tree for purchase and desperately tried to yank his arm free. “Give it back!”
He cast his Attramancy, and the echoes pulsed on countless objects within the ooze monster. Lucky for Rook, the monster was just slowly consuming him and not actively attacking. A hint popped into his head that the mace was his and would probably be easier to manipulate. He grabbed hold of it, willing it to spin inside the carrion slime’s body. At first, the crude club felt as if it were a spigot rusted shut. “I need more.” Rook strained, his mana bar depleted with the exertion. 79%, 74%, 70%. “More.” The club spun more easily until it was turning like a windmill. “Yes. Reina, get ready. When I say go, reach in and grab that pulsing gem.” He frowned at the black gem inside and yanked his arm free.
“Now!”
“Got it!” Reina exclaimed, excitedly holding the gem overhead like a trophy. “Now what?”
“I don’t know. I thought that would kill–” Rook was interrupted by the ooze’s giggling.
The bubbling ooze hissed and shook, actively shrinking down until it was nothing but a pile of armor, limbs, and weapons.
You have slain Carrion slime
40 exp gained.
5 out of 900 experience until level 16.
+2 Skill points
He placed the two skill points into force multiplier, bringing it to 6 of 15, resulting in an 8% increase in efficacy with Mara in the party.
It was just their luck to show up at the place with nothing to wear, except armor covered in juice and from an ooze monster. His health bar was at 75% and his mana bar was slowly refilling. Well, that could have gone much worse.
“Everyone alright?”
They each nodded in the affirmative. He gazed at Reina and put his hand up for a high five. She looked at him for a while, not understanding the concept.
“Do you have a question, Rook?”
Rook sighed. “Okay,” He grabbed her hand and clapped his own.
She stared at her own hand and laughed. “That was utterly ridiculous.”
“High five.” He held his hand up for Mara to slap. She slapped it like she was spiking a volleyball, and Rook nearly cried out. “Dammit, Mara, not that hard.”
“Apologies,” she said, sheepishly.
“Well, it’s better than what the sick bastards would call a good game.” Rook chuckled, shaking the circulation back into his hand. “It’s a celebration and it’s supposed to make you feel better.”
Rook shook some of the decaying matter free of his hands and gagged. He unequipped his armor and weapon, placing them back in the inventory, adamant on cleaning the goopy ooze dribbling from his person.
“What are you doing?” Mara asked as he unequipped the clothes, leaving him in boxers. She quickly turned away. “Boy, put some clothes back on.”
“We never explained what I am did we?” Rook asked, using a mana wipe to clean his face and body.
“No, why would you strip in the middle of a quest?”
“I’m a conjured Mara.” Rook pulled the mace from his inventory, clean as the day he looted it. “Here, you take one too.” He turned to give a mana wipe to Reina, and she was unresponsive, staring at him. “You act like you’ve never seen me in my chonies before.”
“Yeah, that was then,” she responded, taking a few from the stack. “Rook, do me a favor and turn around.” Reina opened her pack and pulled a blanket free. “I’ll give you the stack in a moment.” She handed him the bundle, and he placed it all in his inventory.
After a few minutes, he was reequipped with clean gear, and Reina and Mara were the same.
They were close to the mine; their blips were about twenty minutes away, by his estimation. This was a great time to do an after-action report with Reina and Mara. They worked fairly well as a team, but there were always points at which they could improve.
“You said that was a carrion slime right?”
“Yes,” Reina answered.
“How common are they here in this area?”
“That’s just it. They are normally bosses of halfway points within advanced rank dungeons. Not a beginner area, and certainly not for copper rank adventurers.”
“Carrion slimes can be found in Stonebridge and in a few higher dungeons. In the Redcloud Caverns, we have poisonous slimes that we must deal with on a weekly basis.” Mara said with a chuckle. “Or at least did.”
“Can you bring out your notebook? I’d like to go over our battles so we can increase the effectiveness of our teamwork.”
Wiping his forehead, Rook pointed towards a shady portion of ground, under some nearby trees. Reina nodded in agreement. Looks like I’m not the only one who needs a small rest after that. They sat within the shade while Mara stood examining the surroundings. The Torokin insisted on keeping watch of the surroundings. I’d hate to be anything that tries to oppose that greatsword.
[LitRPG] [Cultivation] [Crafting] [Smart MC]
Synopsis (Click to Expand)
To transcend the heavens, one must first forge the ladder.
He is a Cultivator who values volume over speed.
He is a Chronicler who will not stop at the sky.