Chương 54: 1.3.10 - Dispersion

Randell and Waldo exchanged a look between them before directing their question at Annie "Oooh~ So you two know each other?"

"She screamed a lot" I said, thinking back to when I first heard her screaming as she ran through the forest trying to escape the Muckapes. Randell's eyes lit up at that remark "Tell me more, tell me more. In what circumstances was she screaming exactly?" Annie's face flushed at that remark "Get your mind out of the swamp. You! We need to talk." Annie pulled me by the wrist to a more discreet corner in the guild hall.

"Hoooh~" Annie let out a deep breath. I could see she was finding the words in real time "Thank you." I furrowed my brows, caught off guard by the sudden change.

"For the other day. And I apologize for running off without thanking you properly. It was uncharacteristic of me. My parents raised me better."

"Ah, don't mention it" I had already put the matter past me. I did not realize that incident weighed so heavily on her mind.

"Could you erm... perhaps... leave out the details of the encounter? Just keep it brief" Annie said with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Ah sure. I'll just say I helped you chase away the monkeys. Is that ok?"

"Thank you again! I swear on my honor that I'll repay the favor." Annie gave a slight bow.

"Ah yea sure. They are giving us weird looks, let's go back to the group" I said quickly, not quite sure how to respond. I mentioned to Randell and Waldo that I would share more during lunch, and we should head towards one of the taverns soon.

"... and then we slowly retreated out of the forest. I had to rush off so I didn't manage to get her name" I said while giving Annie a brief look — one which she returned with a grateful nod.

"Ahh, so it's just that. So what about the screaming part?" Waldo asked.

"Ahh, probably the monkeys screeching which I misheard" I said as I finished the last of my steak.

"Ahh-hmm. Now that we're done with our food. Randell, you mind briefing us about the mission?" Annie quickly changed the topic when the opportunity came up.

"Yes. Now's as good a time as any. The guild said the client wanted to be anonymous so I couldn't find out more about the reason behind the request. The mission is to scout deeper parts of the forest around the Hollow's Delve dungeon — specifically, this trek from the middle of the forest all the way to the entrance of the dungeon." Randell explained.

"That can't be all, right?" Waldo asked. I was happy to let the others lead the discussion as this was only my second time being in a party.

"The mission is to find evidence of giant ants. The reward would be 50 small silvers if we don't find anything, and would be increased to 5 small gold coins if we bring back evidence." Randell said.

"What if someone just claimed they did the scouting without actually doing it? Not that I'm suggesting we do that" I couldn't help but ask, thinking of potential ways people could abuse it.

"That's a good question, there are some flora that only grows in the middle of the forest that we'll need to collect as proof apparently. I'm not sure if they grow somewhere else but it was stated in the mission."

"Ah I see. And when you say giant ants, how big are we talking?" I recalled the Geomyre ants that I encountered in the middle of the Greywoods, they were already giant by my standards if you compared them to ants back on Earth.

"Hmm. The brief says it's about the size of a young plodder calf" Randell said. That caused Annie and Waldo's eyes to widen.

"Err, I've never encountered those in the time I've been here" I added, just as surprised as them at the description.

"I thought you said you were from High Moor?" Randell asked.

"Yes of course, I mean in the short time that I've been around" I quickly explained. I could see Randell narrowing his eyes a little before turning his attention to Waldo.

"Hmmm, you could be right. It could be for naught. That might explain why none of the local adventurers took the mission when we asked around at Rising — when we did information gathering yesterday" Waldo said while avoiding eye contact with Annie.

"That doesn't explain the 4 man requirement though" Annie wondered.

"Apparently it is because of the increase in bandit activities. While we're less likely to get attacked if we're not escorting a caravan, the guild has stipulated that any missions that take more than a single day to complete will require a minimum of 4 Steel Ranked Adventurers" Randell explained. I briefly recalled the conversation I had with Stannis, wondering if Ironhold's war had intensified in recent months, causing more people to desert their armies.

"And our friend Damian just made Steel rank recently, the local guild receptionist had recommended him when I asked around for a temporary member" Randell said. After that we briefly went through each of our roles in the standard party. Learning from my last experience, I told the team that I played the role of a Striker with an additional long range detection spell for living creatures. Apparently my Lightning affinity and my detection spell had plugged the gap that the team needed.

Randell had an Earth affinity and played the role of a front line fighter. Annie had a Water affinity along with a rare mutation that allowed her to freeze the water she conjured. I had thought she had an Ice Affinity initially. Waldo played the role of support. He had an uncommon Light affinity but his mutation which allowed him to purify diseases and curses had pushed him towards more of a support role.

I remembered reading some history books about Paladins of the Solar Empire being tenacious combatants with their Light affinity. Despite not being a direct combatant himself, Waldo was able to assist in combat by providing visibility through his Conjure Light spell and also Focused Beam that could blind their opponents during a fight. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Since more than half the day had passed, Randell proposed that we meet at the West gate the next morning and use the rest of the day to pack our gear. I was waiting at the West Gate for only a few minutes before I saw the three appearing around the corner of a shop. Randell stopped briefly to scratch the ear of a passing woodcutter's dog before coming to greet me.

"Morning~! You're dressed rather light" Randell said after taking a look at my pauldrons and vambraces.

"Ah yes that's how it is, I usually try not to get hit." I looked like a novice compared to the trio decked out in their usual gear. Randell had a heavy sword by his side and was dressed in a gambeson. He had mentioned that his Stone Skin spell was usually sufficient and the padded quilt helped absorb the impact from hits. Waldo and Annie were both dressed in simple leather armor. The difference was Waldo was carrying a simple staff with some kind of stone on top, whereas Annie's hands were free.

"No staff?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Ah, no. I have this." She showed me a bracelet that had a gem embedded in it. It looked expensive, I wondered how long she had saved to buy that.

"Also, keeping my hands free allows me to control my whips more freely" she said as she conjured a whip of water that was connected to her hands.

"How about you?" Annie looked at me as I stood there wearing just my simple armor pieces and carrying my backpack.

"Ah err... I just haven't found something that suited me" I said, not wanting to say that I poured most of my earnings into developing a weapon from another world.

"Let's get moving then. Ideally we reach the middle of the forest before nightfall so we can find a suitable spot to make camp" Randell headed out the gate once he was sure everyone was ready.

"So since this is our first foray into the jungle, I was hoping you could show us how you fight for a bit before we jumped in. Only if you're agreeable though" Randell suggested as we trekked through the forest. I thought about it for a bit, I've always handled most of the beasts I came across myself. Besides the Storm Runner, the other two yellow beasts I killed were favorable match ups for me.

"And don't worry, we'll step in of course if needed. I just want to figure out the best way for us to work together. The three of us will also show you how we coordinate." Randell assured me while I was still thinking it through.

"Hmmm sure, why not. I'll let you know if I see something" I continued to lead the group as I had been through the outer edges a few days back and I could catch any potential ambushes by beasts through my Electrolocation. The trek in the morning was rather uneventful, most of the beasts seemed to avoid us as there were 4 of us — the ones with better instincts could probably tell the difference in strength. We decided to stop at a clearing by a small stream for lunch after a few hours.

"So, do you have a party you usually work with Damian?" Waldo asked while we were eating.

"NUU—" I swallowed my rations before I continued "No, I have been working alone all this while."

"Well since you're not from around here, we should take a few more missions together while we're in Hollow's Reach. Maybe you can join us permanently" Waldo suggested. I could tell he was saying it out of concern, he was giving off an older brother vibe. Though if I added the age of both my lives I would probably be slightly older.

"We'll have to change the name of our party though if he joins" Randell said.

"What's the name of your party now?" I couldn't help but ask.

"RAW DOGS!" Randell flexed one of his biceps while he said it with a wide smile. I nearly choked on my food hearing that name. KOFF — KOFF — KOFF"Sorry what now?" I thought I might have died from choking. Annie quickly conjured a ball of water which she placed in my cupped hand.

"RAW Dogs" Randell said again with a straight face. I had a suspicion that the people of Caelora used the term very differently.

"Sorry if you don't mind me asking. How did you come up with that name?" I asked after I made sure I wouldn't choke again.

"Well it's the initials of our names. Randell, Annie, Waldo. RAW" Randell said with a straight face.

"And how about the Dog part?"

"Oh that's easy, because I like dogs" Randell explained, which reminded me of the scene I saw this morning where Randell stopped to greet a stranger's dog.

"Ahh-hmm. I see. Why not War Dogs then. Wouldn't it sound better?" I suggested.

"That doesn't make sense. I'm the party leader so the first letter should be my name." Randell said with a furrowed brow. I decided to leave it at that. I had no plans to join their party permanently so I wouldn't be subjected to Randell's sense of naming. If this was the Vesperian standard, the Weave's naming convention made a lot more sense. PAK — PAK — PAK I heard a weird sound from the stream, which immediately made me scan the surroundings in case we were under attack.

After looking around, I realized the sound was coming from some weird creatures in the water. I quickly finished my lunch and walked over. The creature was a small crab-like creature with a small claw on one side and a big hammer looking claw on the other side. There were a few in the small river, using their hammers to knock passing fishes out before grabbing them with their claw. They were not always successful though as some fishes were able to sense the attack before it came and darted away.

These crabs reminded me of mantis shrimp back home. Those that could punch so fast that they released a cavitation bubble to cook their targets even if their punch missed. What intrigued me however was that the crabs appeared to remain motionless even as they swung their asymmetric claws. I had expected the crabs to either rotate their body or to drift backwards slightly from the recoil of their swing.

However, they were able to stay at the same spot, and the river rocks they were standing on didn't seem like something they could anchor their legs to.

"What are you looking at?" Annie asked. I didn't turn as I had already sensed her approaching through my Electrolocation.

"Those crab-like things, I was just observing how they hunt. I wonder how they are able to stay so still swinging their big claws like that" I continued observing them, trying to decipher their mysteries.

"Oh the hammer crabs? That's easy. They use their water cores" Annie said.

"I thought creatures that small didn't have cores?" I said in surprise.

"They do. They are just too weak to be useful to us. But that doesn't mean they can't use magic" Annie said with a gleam in her eyes. For the first time since meeting her, she wasn't floundering for words. I guessed she must have been a magic nerd.

"Do you mind explaining?" I asked, my gut telling me that this was a thread I should pull on as it might be the revelation I needed to solve one of the problems for my coil gun.

"Obviously they have specialized muscles that help keep their body still, but more importantly they use their core to momentarily make the water around them rigid. It also helps to disperse the knockback from their hammering" Annie explained excitedly. A metaphorical lightning bolt fired through my brain as I realized I'd been constrained in my thinking. I've already used magic for energy transference, why should I stop there, I should always consider both science and magic in resolving every single issue.

And specifically for recoil, I had at least one, if not two potential solutions sitting in front of me. First, I could try to create a temporary magnetic field using my Lightning mana behind the coils right after the slug passed through. Second, I could hunt for beasts that would give me a mutation for increased muscle tension. Admittedly, I had been too passive about my Adaptive Soul mutation, I could definitely put more effort into hunting for beasts that might result in a beneficial mutation.

And I could work on this in parallel while I looked for leads on the high grade copper. I was pulled out of my introspection when Randell suddenly called "You two love plodders done? We need to get moving." Annie's cheek flushed red at that remark "We're not like that! We were just talking about hammer crabs and their core and..."

"Yea yea whatever, let's get moving while we have daylight. We don't know what we'll encounter once we hit the deeper parts of the forest." True enough, about an hour after we started trekking again, I noticed a hulking figure the size of a panther hiding in one of the trees on our path. I held up a hand and brought the party to a halt.

"There's something that is trying to ambush us up ahead. Judging by its size, it is at least a Yellow cored beast."

"Ok then, you're up" Randell said as he stepped back with the other two.

"Show us what you've got." I thought maybe a lucky first strike might end it immediately so I took a few seconds to charge up a Lightning Bolt before firing it through the branches at the target. Unfortunately for me, whatever was hiding sensed the incoming spell. It dodged by jumping out from where it was and landed in front of us. PHOD"Grrrr" a large brown cat with a curved blade attached to its tail growled at me. Its body was crouched low, getting ready to pounce.