Chapter 33 - Restoring Caisleán (Part Four).

*ding* 12/10 deer slain

*ding* 9/10 deer field dressed

Søren grunted as he finished pulling out and tossing aside the gut pile of the twelfth deer he had slain. Fortunately, he had properly field dressed this one and was rewarded with a second chime from his mission log. He had tainted the meat of two of his kills when he cut into the colon or stomach and spilled their contents into the abdominal cavity of the carcasses. The third ruined carcass, his first attempt actually, was cut up so badly not even Neeka was able to salvage enough from the deer to appease whatever entity was in charge of determining whether the deer carcass was properly field dressed or not.

"So, we only need one more to complete my mission," Søren said to Neeka, who had already completed hers and was now assisting him. She kept pulling out the blue ten-sided engram she had received as an upgrade for completing the mission in under six hours and tossing it absentmindedly between her hands and into the air. "I want to try out the rifle for this last one."

Neeka tilted her head sideways and considered Søren and the sleek, white Artemis rifle attached to the jumpsuit, next to his pack.

"Don't miss."

Søren nodded. He had been looking forward to trying the weapon out, but didn't want to scare any of the deer off. He had gained several new skills tied to the Art of the Spear path, but without spending TEK and time in the queue training them, they wouldn't rise much past low copper for quite some time. Included among them were the [Leaping Strike], [Hunter's Parry], and [Soaring Hawk]. Soaring Hawk and Hunter's Parry were skills he had learned while watching and sparring with Neeka. The Leaping Strike was earned when he tried to mimic an old Earth movie star's signature move by jumping to the side and attacking downward at an angle with an overhead thrust. Neeka said it was a skill unfamiliar to her. The attack had worked, the first time, and got past her defenses, but without a shield to pair with the attack, he was essentially defenseless. Not something he'd be using regularly.

During their time hunting and training, Neeka had also explained that few in her time ranked up beyond Copper V or VI. It had been widely believed that the Gods had punished her People and took away the blessings that had allowed them to push beyond that limit and potentially reach a rank of Silver or even higher. It was obvious now that they had lost access to the interface for whatever reason and without it, they were not able to spend TEK and queue up skills to train.

Søren peeled the rifle from his pack and headed down a game trail that lead deeper into the valley. The air was growing warmer and more humid the lower they traveled down the side of the mountains. Half an hour later, a glimmer of light outlined a pile of brown, bullet-shaped feces a few paces to the side of the trail. The [Tracking] skill he had picked up earlier in the day had cost him a skill point, but it had also played a prominent role in the speed with which the two had been able to track and hunt twenty-two deer. He had put some TEK into the skill and set it to train as well. It was nearing Copper IV and he'd noticed that each rank slightly increased the distance it revealed tracks and increased its sensitivity. Several times they had gone back down a trail they had traveled earlier and his skill highlighted signs he had missed before.

Søren looked deeper into the woods beyond the pile of deer feces. His skill highlighted some nearby branches stripped of their leaves as well as remnants of some mushrooms. He picked up one of the few mushrooms left intact and sniffed it carefully. It had an earthy odor, stronger from the brown wavy gills underneath the creamy white cap that appeared to be slowly turning brown.

"Oh! My favorite!" Neeka called out from over his shoulder. She had snuck up behind him while he was distracted. "Pudding Cups. When they're ripe, the cap curls up like cup and fills with brown, pudding-like cream."

Søren tried to Inspect the mushroom, but got an error message that his skill wasn't high enough. He then tried to Analyze the mushroom and a notification popped up in his interface.

Congratulations Traveler! You have completed the requirements to learn the [Foraging] skill. Would you like to spend a skill point? Y/N

He frowned and accepted the skill. It would be useful to keep himself fed should he end up lost in the wilderness, but the inconsistency with which skills required skill points to learn and those that didn't was frustrating. Maybe it's just a cheat, he thought. A way to learn the skill quickly, rather than spending significant time training or something. Next skill that takes a point, I'm going to test that hypothesis. Too late for foraging.

Søren inspected the mushroom again and this time the item sheet appeared.

Pudding Cup (edible)

The Pudding Cup is an abundant fungus found in temperate woodlands and most often grows from deer feces in early-spring and ripens late-spring. The cap of the Pudding Cup curls upward into the shape of its namesake, a cup. When the cup fills with water, the surface of the interior liquifies and mixes with the water and spores released by the liquification, to create the creamy pudding that many creatures enjoy as a treat. The Whitetail Deer is particularly fond of the immature Pudding Cups, before they have ripened, and are key to its proliferation.

Usage. A ripe Pudding Cup can be eaten raw to gain 50 hp over ten minutes or prepared by a Chef of sufficient rank to increase the amount healed and/or the duration of the healing. Prior to ripening, ingesting the Pudding Cup can cause abdominal discomfort, dehydration, and diarrhea in most humanoids.

Søren felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and waved away the interface to see Neeka behind him. She lifted a nearby branch and pointed towards a tree a short distance away. The bark had been scuffed up and completely rubbed off in several places.

"It looks old," he said, trying to guess the age of the deer rub. "Last year maybe? Could be two or three though. Plenty of healing around the edges."

"Hmm, yes. Last year," Neeka said. "Wound is too big for tree to heal however. Will start to rot during the rainy season. Fall down, then good for oyster mushrooms." Her mouth dropped open and she hissed, her eyes crinkled in joyful anticipation of a good harvest later. "Go, hunt. I want to find pudding cups. Sometimes they ripen early."

She padded off into the trees quietly, his enhanced hearing barely able to track her passage after a few paces away.

His hearing was just one of the little improvements he'd started to notice as the day progressed. Now that he wasn't fighting to survive and on a time limit, he had been able to take a little time and just study his own body and changes from what he remembered prior to the events on Gateway. His eyesight was sharper. Blurry edges he'd ignored as he got older had vanished. The floaters in his eyes that had long been faint companions against the bright sky were gone. The forest around him was rich with scents both aromatic and foul. A blessing and a curse.

Søren pushed deeper into the woods, holding the [Artemis Scout Rifle (Silver I)] in front of his chest with both hands.

Neeka wandered off and cast her eyes around her in different directions, looking for telltale signs of the Whitetail Deer. Her favorite woodland treat was often found near the game trails. She had found several mounds of Pudding Cups, but they were all fresh growths and not at all close to being ripe. She brought up her interface and navigated to the starry skied formations that represented her potential. The sight of it still amazed her each time she opened it. The vast network of connections stretching, binding, and parting were a mind boggling puzzle that made her brain itch with anticipation.

Her point of reference for the constellations of paths and skills flew forward into the tangled weave of light towards a bright knot gently pulsing against the faint, multi-colored nebulous background. The most prominent light had a faint purple tinge to it and she instinctively knew it was her Logos skill. Attached to it and woven with many others, were the Words she had learned from her grandfather and several others she had recently spent time and TEK to learn.

Her view of the web of light shifted again as she soared between the gossamer strands and landed upon a small knot, insignificant compared to most, but the light cast by it was potent. Tiny threads, almost invisible, spun off into a thousand different directions. Neeka inspected the delicate knot, bringing up a small window next to it.

[Polyglot (Copper I)]

This skill grants a Traveler a propensity for learning new languages, increasing their fluency in existing languages, and their proficiency in deciphering unknown languages.

Upgrade in progress... time remaining... 4 hours 37 minutes.

Neeka smiled in Fuerven fashion and dismissed the interface. She had discovered the pool of bonus points for attributes, skills, and perks that she could spend to increase her capabilities and quickly dived in to figuring out what she wanted to spend her points on. Polyglot had captured her attention first and the benefits were already showing even at the first rank. She had gained a greater understanding of the intent behind the words her hunting companion used, even if she didn't comprehend the full definition or their many uses. She was just about to head further afield when she heard a familiar screech echo across the forest, back in the direction of Søren.

What is a Bloodcrest Harpy doing here? she thought to herself, recognizing the distinctive call of the horrid creatures. Her feet were already moving before her thoughts on the matter finished. Two more screeches rose into the air in response to the first. Neeka angled towards the nearest of the harpies. She could hear the creature's foul screeching language as it coordinated with the other two. With a thought, she activated her [Stalker's Pursuit] ability from the [Path of the Hunter]. Her steps quickened and became utterly silent and sure, each talon and claw hitting empty spots on the forest floor with precision.

Neeka soon arrived at the edge of a clearing and took a moment to consider the scene. Two of the harpies, including the one she had been tracking towards, had settled on the lowest branches of a pair of trees on either side of the clearing. The third harpy, standing near eight feet tall with dirty white feathers and a red stained crest of feathers on the top of its head and back of its neck, had landed and was stalking towards Søren. Neeka inspected that harpy and was dismayed to see how strong it was. [Bloodcrest Harpy (Copper XI)]. Yellow threat foes were a potentially deadly threat in a solo encounter, yet alone three of them. She could only hope the other two weren't as strong and moved.

"Shoot the others! I'll keep this one busy!" Neeka shouted as she triggered her [Soaring Hawk] skill. Her body flew through the air, spear held off to the side and back a little. As she neared the end of her short flight, she thrust forward and the faint cry of a hunting hawk sounded within the glade. The bloodcrest harpy spun around to meet the attack, any surprise Neeka might have had lost when she shouted to Søren.

The harpy had not moved quickly enough however and Neeka's spear drove into its side, cutting deeply. Thin, red blood spilled from the wound and stained the ground. -42 (piercing) The harpy knocked Neeka's spear away too late with a wing buffet and then kicked out with a ten inch long talon on its foot. Neeka used the momentum from her charge across the clearing to keep moving and rolled out of the way. The harpy's talon dug a deep furrow in the ground, breaking up the loam and releasing an earthy scent. Neeka rose to her feet and triggered [Hunter's Parry], gaining an increased chance to parry the next melee attack against her within the next few seconds.

Off to her right, she saw Søren lift the Artemis Scout Rifle to his shoulder and take aim at the harpy to her left across the clearing from him. The third harpy was clawing its way into the air and screeching loudly. A soft phut sound escaped from the end of the barrel. Had she not been watching Søren with one eye as he pulled the trigger, she would have missed the sound in the cacophony of the battle. Most of the harpy's head dispersed into red mist with a muffled explosion, leaving a jagged edge around the neck. -696 (critical hit) The damage notification floating upward from the headless corpse caused even the harpy next to Neeka to stumble in shock momentarily.

"Boom! Head shot!" Neeka heard Søren exclaim off to the side as he wiggled his body side to side and turned in a circle.

What in the Devourer's name is he doing!?