Chương 33: The Culmination of Experience

Ch. 33 - The Culmination of Experience

"But if [A Safe Place to Rest] isn't working, then that would mean …" Kit nodded seriously.

'Yes, it means we might be in danger. Something might be coming.' Wyatt hesitated, and he looked around at the still idyllic countryside around them. He knew they were in a 'dungeon' but it was hard to fully envision what that meant in the moment. Additionally, his [Danger Sense] hadn't given him a single indication that there was anything to be wary about.

"Kit, I'm not sure if that's true. It could just be that —" Kit got to her feet. She shook herself all over, her fur puffing up before returning to its sleek state. She turned to face the woods behind the farmhouse, looking back over her shoulder at Wyatt.

'I'm going to check the woods.' She raced off, a silver streak low to the ground.

"Kit, wait!" Wyatt was too late to stop the fox, and she vanished into the tree-line. He debated trying to follow her, but he decided against it, figuring he'd have no chance whatsoever in catching her in the woods. Instead, Wyatt walked the periphery of the farmhouse in a widening circle, keeping an eye on the surrounding land as he waited for Kit to return. While he did so, he thought about his Skill, about what it did exactly. It was perhaps fifteen minutes later when the silver fox reappeared.

She was panting slightly, a testament to how fast she'd been moving.

'It's not the Goblins, they haven't moved from their camp. They've barely ventured any deeper into the woods either.' Wyatt held up his hand.

"I tried to stop you Kit — thank you for checking — but my Skill not working for this place doesn't mean we are in danger. It's not like that."

'It's not?' Wyatt shook his head. He crouched down in front of the fox so he could look her in the eye.

"No, it isn't. [A Safe Place to Rest] is just that — it identifies a spot where we are guaranteed to be undisturbed. That it doesn't register this place doesn't mean that danger is coming or something is about to attack us." Kit nodded slowly. She seemed slightly embarrassed.

'Ah, I see. I acted without thinking.' Wyatt smiled at her, putting a hand on her head.

"Hey, I appreciate it. It's not like I could get to the other side of the woods and back again that fast. It's good to know that we don't have to worry about anything in that direction." Kit froze for a second when he touched her, but then she leant into his touch, half nuzzling his hand. Then she coughed, pulling away slowly so as not to seem like she was uncomfortable.

'So what do you think we should do?' Wyatt got to his feet, looking around at the surrounding area again. He rolled his shoulders.

"I admit I don't want to leave — not after we spent all day here. And I do have [Danger Sense], and you should be able to notice anything sneaking up on us. Besides, this is only the first floor, right?" Kit had been nodding along, but she hesitated at the last.

'That's not necessarily true, as you well know.' Wyatt sighed.

"I know. But I also know that Raek and the others wouldn't have died if they hadn't gone and picked that fight. It's a far cry from us quietly camping here."

'I won't argue with that. But if we do stay — we'd have to take extra precautions.' Wyatt turned on the spot, gazing up at the ruined farmhouse that had resonated so strongly with him.

"Kit, I'll leave it up to you. I want to stay, but if you think it's too much of a risk, we'll move on. I'll trust your judgement over mine in this case." The fox tilted her head, thinking.

'It's not that much of a risk, in truth. People camp in the dungeon, on far more dangerous floors than this, every day.'

"Should we take turns standing watch?"

'It wouldn't hurt, although it might be overkill. But we should be fine.' With the decision made that they would stay despite the lack of protection from Wyatt's skill, the two of them headed back down to the stream to check the crayfish traps. They had worked perfectly, with five of the large crustaceans being inside of the bundles when Wyatt fished them out.

He'd taken out the largest cooking pot from his bag of holding to keep them in, but he ended up letting two of the crayfish go as they'd both had a clutch of roe under their tails.

'I didn't say anything at the time, but I was sure that wasn't going to work.' The fox sounded impressed as Wyatt swiftly despatched and cleaned the three remaining crayfish. They were so large that they'd easily feed the two of them for the night.

"Oh ye of little faith. And here I went to so much trouble to catch us a delicious dinner." Wyatt was in good humour despite his teasing. He filled up the pot with water, and heaved it up into his arms. It was a little awkward to carry, but he reckoned he could manage the walk back to the farmhouse with it. Even so, his muscles began to burn a bit by the time they were halfway back.

"I could do with that manual labour class and skills right now, Kit." This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Kit didn't reply straight away, she appeared to be staring ahead of them, her tail still. Wyatt followed her gaze, then frowned.

"Wait, what's that?" To Wyatt's growing alarm, he realised there were a number of animals spread out in front of the farmhouse, in particular gathered around the plots of earth he had planted. He sped up, lengthening his stride, feeling indignation welling up within him. He'd only just planted that.

"Kit, what are those things? Are they dangerous?" Getting closer, Wyatt could see that the animals resembled large pigs, but were different enough to be instantly recognised as some kind of monster. They had very little fur apart from sporadic black bristles, and their backs were covered with thick, ridged plates of hide. They resembled some kind of miniature rhinoceros more than anything else. There were five of the beasts, all trundling around while letting out a constant chorus of happy grunts.

Their bellies hung so low that their stumpy legs barely kept their undercarriage from scraping along the ground. There were a number of younglings as well, scampering about amongst the five adults, but they darted around so much that it was hard to accurately count them. The largest of the beasts, one with large, sharp looking tusks jutting out from its lower jaw, lifted its head to look at Wyatt and Kit. It was chewing something, and seemed supremely unconcerned about their presence.

It then lowered its head and kept rooting around in the plot of growing wheat. Kit sounded rueful, but not too concerned as she looked at the group of monsters.

'Those are Armoured Tuskers. Related to pigs, but very hard to kill. And no — they aren't too dangerous, they just tend to ignore anything around them in most cases.' That was all Wyatt needed to hear. He'd been stopping himself from racing forwards out of caution, but once Kit said they weren't dangerous he started to move. Wyatt put the pot of crayfish on the ground, and dropped his hand to his bag of holding. He pulled out his shovel and ran forwards, waving it in the air above him, yelling.

"Hey! Get out of it! Bugger off!" Wyatt was now close enough for his affinity Skill to activate. He got a sense that the beasts were content and disinterested about Wyatt's approach. They were keeping an eye on him, but had no intention of moving. They kept rooting around, digging into the previously neat furrows of earth, happily tearing up the field. Wyatt could see that they weren't actually after the seedlings that were growing, rather they were eating the worms and insects in the soil.

But in doing so they had already destroyed half of the crops he'd planted. Wyatt ran closer, onto the tilled earth now, glaring. He swung his shovel, the blade whistling through the air, as he shouted again, trying to scare them off. Kit raced up behind him, a note of concern in her voice.

'Wyatt, stop, it's not worth it. But don't get too close in case — ah.' It wasn't even Wyatt's fault exactly. While trying to scare the monsters off, he'd still been keeping his distance, had been ready to run if need be. However, one of the youngling Tuskers ran outside of the tilled area, intent on some game it was playing with its brothers and sisters. But in doing so it placed Wyatt between it and its parents. All the Armoured Tuskers froze, lifting their heads and staring at Wyatt.

With his Skill, he could feel their sudden intent, their unbridled rage, their concern for the carefree little piglet. The biggest Tusker, the one with the huge tusks, let out a bellowing squeal, lowered its head, and charged right at Wyatt, its feet churning madly as it kicked up clods of earth into the air. Wyatt just stared for a moment as the infuriated monster charged at him, murder in its beady little eyes. He turned to look at Kit, his expression one of … puzzlement. He lowered his shovel.

"… is that thing serious?" The silver fox nodded at him, sighing a little as she casually walked off to one side out of the way of the charging monster.

'I'm afraid so. By the way, if you let that overgrown pig actually hurt you, I will never let you hear the end of it.' Wyatt waited … and waited, until the beast was almost upon him. Then he too stepped to one side. The Armoured Tusker trundled on by, wheezing for breath, its gait unsteady after its 'explosive' start. It seemed confused as to why it wasn't currently goring Wyatt to death.

Whatever rage was driving the beast forward, the top speed of the monstrously armoured pig was perhaps the pace of a person gently jogging. As Wyatt stared, the Armoured Tusker laboriously turned itself around to face him, desperately gulping in air, and then charged again. Thus began the most ridiculous fight that Wyatt had ever been a part of. He actually felt bad for the boar as it attacked him.

It felt so angry, so afraid for its family, that Wyatt barely did more than hit it on the side with the flat of his shovel as it 'charged' past him. Behind them, the sows were gathering the young together, shepherding them towards the tree-line of the woods, moving even slower than the boar.

"Kit? I, uh, feel kind of bad here. Do you think it will give up soon? It's like I'm bullying it." Kit was silently laughing, sitting safely on the pile of rubble that Wyatt had made earlier as she watched.

'Dont make fun of the beast's noble attempt to crush you to death! For shame!'

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. How are these things even still alive if they are this aggressive while being so … weak?" Kit controlled her mirth with some effort.

'A few reasons. They taste terrible, for all that they look like pigs. And they actually are quite strong … it's just that speed isn't their speciality.'

"No kidding. Wait, how strong is strong?"

'Strong enough that I would have stopped you if you'd have gone for your spear instead of your shovel.' Wyatt blinked at hearing Kit say that. Even though he was actively in the middle of dodging the monster every time it attacked him, his [Danger Sense] hadn't gone off even once.

"Really?"

'Mmhhm. They've been known to run all the way up onto a spear, just to crush the attacker with their bulk. That is if the spear even pierces their hide.' Wyatt eyed the heavy creature with new appreciation.

"So they survive because they are too much of a bother to kill?"

'That and the fact that this is the first floor. There's not much here that could take down an Armoured Tusker, even if it wanted to.' From the edge of the woods, a chorus of squeals split the air; the rest of the Armoured Tuskers announcing to their protector that they had made it to safety. Wyatt got a strong sense of weary triumph from the boar he was 'fighting' — relief and satisfaction that he had successfully safe-guarded his family.

Wyatt raised his brows incredulously as the boar suddenly lost interest in him, turning slowly around to trundle off in the direction of the woods. Wyatt looked at the ruined mess of his field, then at the backs of the unconcerned monsters as they left. Kit let out a yipping laugh, almost rolling off of her perch on the rubble pile.

'Congratulations on successfully defending your crops from the rampaging monster horde!' Wyatt's lips twitched. He refused to let himself laugh.

"Yes, and I expect to be rewarded for taking on such a dangerous enemy. Perhaps with a suitably appropriate Skill." Kit laughed harder, and Wyatt cracked, joining her. Then he retrieved the pot of Crayfish, and set about sorting out dinner. That night, after Kit had relieved Wyatt of the first watch, the voice of levels spoke as he slept. It was far more in depth than anything he had heard before, and Wyatt would jolt awake in surprise at the sheer extent of his new levels. [Survivalist Level 14!] [Skill Change: A Safe Place to Rest —> I Claim this Land] [Skill Change: Lesser Resist Magic —> Advanced Resist Magic] [Forager Level 10!] [Conditions Met: Forager —> Harvester Class!] [Harvester Level 10!] [Skill — Lesser Reaping] [Skill — Bundled Harvest] [Grower Level 5!] [Skill — Add Fertiliser] [Skill — Watered Earth] [Conditions Met: Crafter Class Assigned!] [Crafter Level 3!] [Skill — Lesser Crafting] [Skill — Sturdy Materials]