Time Since Reckless Self-Endangerment: 1 Day 2 Hours

Goal: Kill 'Baby Boots'

As he left the riverbank Nic paused to put together a sling. It was a crude weapon made of vines and a palm frond, but loading in a stone and spinning it overhead produced a pleasing whistle. As he walked forward he spun it again and again until he saw the first sign of a furry body in the treetops.

The monkey barely had time to unleash a warning howl before Nic let the stone fly. It was a miss- by a mile- but the stone crashed up into the canopy and sent the frightened creature fleeing across the branches.

He didn’t need to kill them. Almost all the warriors were dead already. These were scouts and gatherers. Nic only needed to scare them enough that they wouldn’t interfere.

As he marched forward the trees filled up. The tribe’s howls and high-pitched screeches formed a swarm of noise, and he shot two, three, four stones in quick succession, none of them striking home but each one making the mob shake and nearly retreat. They rained down on him in response, rocks bouncing off his new shield as he lifted the boar-tusk claw to defend himself. He bent low to pick up a stone and slung it towards the heights blindly.

This one landed.

With a sharp crack one of the monkeys toppled from the trees, landing in the mist of poison pollen below. It screamed in horror and tried to clamber back up into the heights.

Nic watched. Halfway up the trunk, the monkey toppled back down. Its body spasmed brutally until Nic stomped over and killed it with a single strike of his tiger claw.

The monkeys in the tree above erupted with insane anger and demented screeching, but as he bent down to pick up a stone their morale wavered. As his sling spun around and around, building a whistle as it scythed through the air, they began to edge away.

He roared.

They scattered across the trees, leaping from branch to branch to escape him.

Satisfied, Nic let the sling spin to a halt. They wouldn’t bother him now, and he could hunt the gibbon in peace.

He marched towards the core of the grove. The hollow tree. The glowing, golden flower in its heart. The gibbon was waiting. It curled back its lip to show its teeth as it prowled across the tree branches. Its warriors were there too, the only survivors of the massacre in the cave the six who’d lurked outside to spring the trap.

And one of them had a crossbow.

He didn’t know where they’d gotten the weapon. He just knew it wasn’t the ace up their sleeve they thought. As two of them struggled to lift the weapon towards him and a third fired, he lifted his boar-claw. The whistling progress of the bolt slammed into the tortoiseshell shield and shattered.

He grinned and lifted the tiger-claw. An ancient wind surrounded him, and a spirit of a tiger stepped from a sudden blaze of phantasmal flames to let loose an unholy growl. The beast was half-translucent, made of burning orange-black light.

The monkeys froze in horror.

“Go.” The tiger shot up the tree, enormous claws rending the bark as it climbed. The monkeys scattered in all directions howling with terror. Only one of them mattered. As the tiger stalked onto the branches, breaking the smaller ones against its striped back, the gibbon shrieked and leapt for the next tree.

The tiger coiled up and flung itself after. Nic rushed along the ground. The gibbon was terrifyingly fast, but it only needed to make one slip, slow for one second. Then it would be gone.

As the gibbon vaulted forward towards a new tree, Nic opened his mouth and spat a spray of adhesive poison. It clung to the branch the gibbon was aiming for and the beast screamed again, pulling back its hand. It landed low on the trunk and began to climb up.

Too slow. The tiger was just behind, and it prepared to leap down and finish the crafty thief in a single pounce.

As it leapt, the gibbon shoved his hand into the tree trunk. The hand reappeared behind the tiger, seizing hold of its hindleg. The force and weight slammed the gibbon into the trunk down to its shoulder, but the tiger’s momentum was wasted, sending it crashing through the branches and to the ground below.

The gibbon drew its hand back and shot upwards.

Three breaths had elapsed. The tiger vanished into a thin smoke.

Without hesitation Nic lifted the boar-claw and called to its spirit. A rampaging silhouette of dark fur crashed out of a fog of frost vapor, slamming into the trunk of the tree the gibbon was climbing. Wood splintered and the ancient oak began to topple.

Howling, the gibbon leapt to the next tree, but the boar just huffed and lowered its head to charge. Again and again wherever it tried to flee, the gibbon found the trees bulldozed down with huge splintering impacts. The boar uprooted the forest with brutal might and the gibbon’s escape routes were torn away, one by one.

Until there was nowhere left to go.

The gibbon leapt down and stumbled across solid ground

Nic snarled. It had landed just outside the mist of poisonous yellow pollen, at the edge of the toxic grove. The boar barreled down upon the gibbon but the third breath elapsed in the instant before it could make contact.

He could see the terror and confusion on the gibbon’s face. Without anywhere left to run, it raised the stolen spear, ready to fight.

Nic dropped to all fours and scurried low across the earth, zigging and zagging to evade as spikes of stone erupted from below trying to stab at him. For a moment he felt invincible; every attack the gibbon threw came up short.

Then with a furious howl a monkey warrior threw itself down from the trees. It crashed onto Nic’s back and sent him rolling, axe hacking down. Nic took a hard blow across the side and barely lifted his shield in time to absorb the next. Blood spilled down from the wound. With a roar he spat poison mist across the attacker’s face, killing it instantly.

As he shoved the monkey away, a stone spike ripped up and clawed into his shoulder. As he reeled the gibbon’s hand appeared underneath and the the spear lashed across his belly. Wound after wound opened as the gibbon was suddenly everywhere, striking from all angles.

Nic managed to catch a single spear-blow against his shield. The impact was bone-rattling and the rebound stunned the gibbon for just long enough that Nic could reach down and grab the last spore-lob.

The gibbon’s eyes widened. It knew exactly the damage those could do.

Nic flung the grenade in a wide arc and the gibbon seized it from the middle of the air, thrusting it towards the ground. The hand holding the cylinder reappeared dozens of feet away to let the toxic fumes disperse safely.

But for that one instant the gibbon was helpless. It couldn’t move while it was using its ability.

Nic’s mouth opened and he spat a long jet of adhesive poisons towards the gibbon. The deadly venom arced through the air on a dead course for the beast. He felt triumph-

Until with a sudden leap his prey evaded at the last moment, kicking back into the air. The poison splattered against the earth. Blood flew from the severed stump of the gibbon’s arm.

In the distance the spore-lob detonated, still gripped in the monkey’s hand.

It had closed the portal early and sacrificed the hand to escape.

The gibbon fled again, rushing through the open ground of the meadows beyond the poison grove. Nic followed relentlessly. In the end the beast darted into a huge hollow log lying along a thin stream, choosing there to make a final stand. Outlined in the light from the log’s far entrance it turned and raised its stolen spear to meet him.

Nic understood the trap. The moment he stepped within, the close walls and ceiling would allow the monkey to strike from any angle. He would be forced to defend on all sides at once.

But there was no need to follow now.

The beast was losing blood fast. Its legs shook. Its arm couldn’t hold the spear steady.

Nic stopped at the edge of the cavernous hollow log and stood there, neither advancing nor retreating. Waiting. Watching. The gibbon howled and screamed at him, trying to taunt him into following it. But Nic wasn’t a brute or a beast.

And more importantly?

Nic didn’t give a damn how this stupid ape wanted to die. If there had been any honor to their fight, any at all, he would’ve followed it in and killed it with his own two hands. But this bastard could bleed; if it wanted to die in battle it would have to come to him.

It glared him for a long moment. Then took a step forward. That one step turned into a stumble, and the gibbon collapsed in a sprawling heap, its rusty fur stained red.

Nic wasn’t a fool either. He waited a good long time to be sure before he stepped in and kicked the body over to pry the shard out.

The gibbon’s eyes stared up blindly. The quartz bell hung around his neck by a length of vine, and Nic took that as well.

Vagrant Shard. F-Rank // Secondary. This shard contains purest Essence attuned to the concepts of travel and fortune. It has been damaged by the death of its previous owner and cannot serve as a Primary Shard, and due to a low quality, the skill resulting from Synthesis may be difficult to advance.

Bell of Spirit Cleansing. F-Rank // Secondary. Carved from crystals that grew from the petrified bones of ancient sages, this bell radiates an aura of calm, bringing peace to the soul of the one who possesses it. While you meditate this Bell will collect a small amount of Spirit Essence. Withdrawing this Essence will destroy the bell. (117/500).

All this over a bell.

He assumed Spirit Essence was the key to raising the locked ability of Spiritual Clarity, but… “Was this really worth it? For him, I mean.” It seemed like the gibbon had wasted its life for almost nothing.

“Considering he died? Doubtful. Had he survived…” Sophia’s voice was cold as ever. “Nicolas, on this road there are people who will do worse things for less. And this treasure is valuable. Some cultivators reach E-Class before ever managing to raise their Spiritual Clarity. Of all the treasures we’ve encountered so far this is the best.”

Nic said nothing. He walked back to the cave, pulling aside the protective layers of bushes and vines to find the tiny wyvern happily gnawing at an enormous insect’s corpse. Petting the little creature on the head he collapsed against the wall.

Sleep didn’t come easy. It hung just out of reach, promising him an escape that didn’t come for hours of tossing and turning. At one point, dizzy and only half-thinking, he opened his eyes to glare at the grinning corpse that had held the firebird’s feather.

“Of course you’re smiling. You have it easy…”

Not long after he finally fell into dreams.