4.3

He fell into a rhythm, his technique speeding up as he began to translate the knowledge more succinctly into physical muscle memory. He’d never really made things with his hands before all of this, so he couldn’t say whether it was unique to his circumstance or not, but seeing the cord grow into being by his own actions was thrilling.

His mind searched through the new knowledge of the blueprint, discovering ways to increase the effectiveness and how to make new tools that would help make these cords faster. Ropes were simple cords made thick and strong, with multiple overlapping layers and with purpose—well within his new ability.

The materials he’d used, a sheet of bark, was actually a harder to collect material for this task—almost any fibrous material would work to some extent, although the strength and durability would vary greatly. Tallgrass, fibrous plants, palm leaves and the like—even bamboo could be rendered down to a fine enough filament to use.

Some fringe knowledge dealt with weaving—perhaps just enough to make something and unlock a more closely aligned blueprint. Baskets would be useful, especially if they were going to try to summon more Voithos. Rittan didn’t have access to the inventory, and it was unlikely that any newcomer would either. Having access to containers would allow them to carry things more easily and without relying on him to be present.

A cry rang out from the water, tinged with the sound of surprise and success—August could see the [Wooden Spear] in his hand, raised high with a small wriggling shape punctured on the end of it. Rittan beamed from his place in the water, shaking the stick in his direction, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

Rittan waded back up onto the shore and angled for the camp—Despite himself, he couldn’t help but feel jealous of the guys ridiculous physique. The fact that he was covered in water and butt naked like he was in the middle of a god damned photo shoot didn’t help.

“Nice one,” August said once he’d made it back to the camp. “You weren’t in that far, are there—what the heck is that?”

It was about as Fish-like as Ladybug was Ladybug-like—which was to say that they were literally nothing alike. The spear had punctured the grey-white shell that the creature seemed to be hiding within and out the other side, and he could just see a pointed limb rattling about near the opening, unable to escape.

“I believe it’s a crustacean of some kind; they are in the shallows and seem to move quickly underwater—it is strangely heavy given its size,” Rittan said, squinting at the thing on end. “It has an exoskeleton at least and limbs that are pointed.”

Rittan shook the spear until the creature slipped off the end and then crashed to the ground like a stone. Ladybug seemed incredibly interested in the thing, and he had to place a hand on its head to keep it from getting too close.

The ends of two more limbs poked out, slowly pulling the rest of its body out of the shell. It didn’t seem to be able to move properly—the spear had done irrevocable damage to its body. A round, bulbous head emerged, unable to squeeze out with its broken limbs blocking the shell’s entrance.

The two of them were silent as it snapped off one of its own limbs in its attempt to break free, and then the rest of its body emerged, entirely too large to fit inside the shell—because it wasn’t a shell at all. It was just the back end of the thing’s body.

“[Analysis],” August said and then fell silent.

Mitikos

Male

Level 1

Tame Progress – 0/10

Tame Resistance – 112

Trait – Pyrrhic

August turned to look across the lake to the place where the massive boulder had been before it had vanished in the night. He attempted to scale up the dead creature below them to the size of that boulder and felt a chill run down his spine.

“Rittan,” August said quietly, unable to take his eyes off the lake. “I think it’s best if neither of us goes swimming anymore.”

Rittan looked up from his crouch, a puzzled look on his face.

“Is there something wrong?” Rittan said, “August?”

“That thing you just killed was a [Mitikos],” August said, remembering how he’d been kneeling by the water that very morning. “Remember the monster that vanished last night while we were sleeping?”

“August,” Rittan said, voice trailing off before he turned his gaze back to the dead thing. “There are hundreds of these things in the shallows.”

Hundreds of the smaller ones weren’t really the problem, given how lethargic they seemed to be on land. The problem was that level 21 wasn’t anywhere near the highest levelled monster August had seen so far—there was that massive level 132 [Otrogon] in the field. Was there some kind of massive high levelled [Mitikos] sitting at the bottom of the lake?

“Given the size of this one once it had emerged from its shell,” Rittan said, vocalising the thing I was falling short of. “That other one would have filled a room.”

“A big room,” August added. “It could have easily destroyed our camp if it had come over here.”

“I agree,” Rittan said, slowing pressing the spear back into the unmoving creature and lifting it off the ground once more. “It’s dead—should I put it back?”

“No point,” August shook his head, “May as well check if it’s edible—as long as we stick to the shallows, we will see any big ones coming.”

“During the day, we will see them coming,” Rittan said, hedging. “Perhaps it’s time we built some defences? We could build a palisade—it’s a series of logs with sharpened tips.”

August nodded in understanding, beckoning for him to continue.

“If we face them outward from the camp or facing the water,” Rittan continued, “I don’t think it would stop something that large, but it would very much slow it down.”

“Which would give us plenty of time to run the fuck away,” August said, in complete agreement. “A spiky wall it is—I hope you like destroying the environment, Rittan, because we are going to need a lot of trees.”