Chapter 21, Outpost

I toss out the meat from yesterday before we set to harvesting the various beasts, filling my storage up with different kinds. I harvest mostly boar but also a piece of cat and bear. The wargs supposedly taste a bit foul and we all leave their meat alone. The other adventurers also help with harvesting the carcasses and we all take a few monster cores from the wargs.

When we’re done picking out our slices of meat and having rejoined the now waiting caravan, George and Melina make their way to Rolas and I.

“This sure got all messy.”

Melina comments sourly as she looks at each of us.

I look down on myself and scowl at all the filth. Deciding to tease George I disperse everything except my weapons and panties as Ari scrubs me down before manifesting it all back.

Rolas looks mildly pleased by my generous display of not giving a fuck while Melina is staring with wide eyes at my now covered bust. George has a flush covering his face and neck as he stares vacantly in my direction, practically drooling. I stretch and leap onto my wagon before leaning back and sighing in contentment.

Rolas, George and Melina join me a second later. George, still red faced, stutters out a few words as he sits down next to me.

“That was a very, very nice backflip you did, when, when killing the bear.”

I give him an amused smile while Melina scowls at her twin.

“Seriously George? I know we’re both attracted to her but hitting on her in such an obvious way? Shameless.”

“Oh? You into women, Melina?”

This has me curious. There isn’t any stigma against same sex couples or polygamy in most territories as far as I can remember but some people still feel oddly ashamed of admitting it for some reason.

“Oh definitely. And you’re totally both me and my twin’s type.”

“A nice bust gets you going too?”

“Sure and your tits are art made flesh but I’m not as fixated on that as George. I personally am more attracted to your eyes. They’re so exotic and I could swear they almost seem to glow with an inner light at times.”

“I think I’ve seen that as well but I got the impression it’s a skill. Am I wrong?”

Rolas joins the conversation and his observation is almost correct.

Showcasing some of my abilities isn’t an issue but I’m not going to tell them that my whole body is practically a skill. That’s a little too much to tell people that are practically strangers. I increase the glow of my eyes to make them shine in the now growing darkness of twilight and all their eyes grow wide. Well, not George’s as he’s still staring at where my nipples had been at full display a moment ago.

“Rolas is correct. They glow.”

They continue staring for a few seconds before Rolas breaks the silence.

“That’s so hot!”

“I agree with Rolas, it’s definitely hot. Imagine having you as a partner and in the darkness of night staring into those glowing golden eyes... We need to stop this conversation now. We still have a posting to finish after all.”

I laugh slightly at Rolas’ and Melina’s honest, unabashed praise, feeling really good about myself.

“Zel, tell them you're taken. I’m not ready to give you to anyone else. You’re all mine for the foreseeable future. You understand?”

Ari doesn't manage to hide the slight jealousy coming from her but I can’t tell how much of the emotion she is suppressing. There’s no reason for her to be jealous though as far as I’m concerned.

“Don’t worry, darling. I’m all yours and you’re all mine until we decide to include anyone else.”

Sending a strong pulse of love mixed with desire towards Ari she radiates feelings of contentment and I decide to take Ari’s request seriously when speaking up next.

“I’m flattered, truly. But I’m taken and we haven’t decided to open up our relationship to others yet. It will probably change in the future though so if we ever meet again at a later date you might get a taste. Who knows.”

I wink at Melina who blushes without looking away. My comment also draws George out of his fixation.

“You’re taken? Damn, I’m too late. Who’s the lucky man?”

“Woman. Her name is Ari and she’s my second half.”

“Luckyyy!”

Melina says with a huff but I can tell she’s really just happy for me.

Rolas just smiles without saying anything. He doesn’t seem interested in any of us in that way even though he obviously finds me attractive. It has me curious and I decide to shift the attention towards him.

“What about you Rolas? You got anyone?”

That gets a reaction and he looks away while coughing, looking mightily embarrassed for once. Melina’s obviously interested as well as she joins me in verbally poking him.

“Yeah, Rolas. I’d been wondering as well. You got the looks to attract some attention. Anyone getting yours?”

“Well, yes. I got a boyfriend in White Rock. He works at a forge I frequent. His name is Erhald.”

Melina and I whistle at that and he looks even more embarrassed.

We continue chatting about different things as the caravan leaves the piles of carcasses behind, going a little further than planned to get some distance between us and the bodies that might attract predators in the night.

When we reach our destination and the camp is being set up I take a seat in the soft moss a little bit away from the others before starting my dinner. The first meat on the menu is boar once again as it’s just so tasty. I eat several pieces before deciding on trying the next item on today's menu. It’s also quite tasty but a bit harder to chew and has a stringy texture.

The cat isn’t very good as it doesn’t taste as much and smells a bit funny. It’s still better than nothing and I’d probably eat it as dinner if I didn’t have anything else at hand. Boar and bear meat suits my palate much better though and I burn the rest of the cat in the golden flames to dispose of it.

“We haven’t checked our notifications for a while. I don’t think there’s going to be another level increase for our class since we haven’t killed anything of high level but we might have skill increases.”

“We can check them if you’re curious, Ari.”

I bring up the notifications and check them.

Ding! You have slain [Rock-hoofed Boar - Level 2]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Cliff Stalker - Level 4]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! You have slain [Cave Bear - Level 4]. Less experience awarded.

…

Ding! You have slain [Mountain Warg - Level 26]. Less experience awarded.

Ding! General skill [Identify] has leveled from [22] to [23].

Ding! General skill [Running] has leveled from [54] to [55].

Ding! General skill [Sprinting] has leveled from [48] to [50].

Ding! General skill [Jumping] has leveled from [59] to [60].

Ding! General skill [Dodging] has leveled from [80] to [81].

Ding! General skill [Harvesting] has leveled from [3] to [6].

Ding! General skill [Smoking] has leveled from [6] to [7].

Ding! General skill [Small Blades] has leveled from [74] to [75].

Ding! General skill [Dual Wielding] has leveled from [81] to [83].

Ding! General skill [Unarmed] has leveled from [23] to [26].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Daggers] has leveled from [42] to [43].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Missile] has leveled from [35] to [36].

Ding! General skill [Arcane Spatial Ring] has leveled from [12] to [23].

Ding! Skill [Mana Sight] has leveled from [70] to [78].

Ding! Skill [Passive Power] has leveled from [296] to [303].

Ding! Skill [Arcane Manipulation] has leveled from [382] to [388].

Ding! Skill [Capacitor] has leveled from [32] to [57].

There are mostly minor skill increases but a few have leveled nicely as I’ve been using them as much as possible. [Capacitor] and [Arcane Spatial Ring] have the most notable increases. The secondary power source is now about half the capacity of my normal mana pool and my storage ring has 2 cubic meters of space with a time distortion that makes everything in it age twice as slowly.

This means that it will be able to keep my new meat fresh for two days. I could eat rotten meat and be perfectly fine health wise but I’d rather not eat at all in that case. The more logical and pragmatic Ari would probably agree with me on this even if she’s fascinated by the possibility of powering our body by burning fuel.

We arrive at the trade outpost 8 days after fighting off the stampede. The journey went fairly smoothly and we only encountered half a dozen more groups of fleeing animals and wargs but never in the numbers we’d seen the first time. They were usually clustered in groups of 3 to 5 animals or a pack of around 10 wargs.

The outpost’s interior is in full view before me from the top of my wagon as we roll in through the living gate of moving plants. The walls are made from trees with brown trunks knitted together like artwork. Gaps between trunks of 30 centimeters in width are woven into the living wall, elven archers standing behind them and looking out through those gaps, ready to fire at anything approaching. The tops of the 4 meter tall walls are crowned with emerald leaves looking almost exactly like their larger counterparts high above.

The trading outpost’s interior has a ground covered in soft moss looking wholly untouched and a few brown tables and chairs that seemingly grew out of the ground spaced evenly in a circle around the enormous tree in the middle. The centerpiece of the outpost is a tree like all the others in everything but size. The elves must have helped it grow both taller and wider as it’s easily 25 meters wide and 130 meters tall from what can be seen from down below.

Luminous emerald and amber vines run down the whole length of the tree, seemingly having been grown into a circular hanging staircase that spins around the tree in a glowing spiral all the way up and through the canopy of the surrounding trees.

Wood elves are setting out refreshments on the tables around the central tree and a few walk up and down the glowing staircase. If I had to guess I’d say there’s probably 15 elves here in total as long as there isn’t a whole town located on the top of this tree. There’s no way of knowing from down below as illusions could hide it from sight but it honestly looks to only be manned by these few people.

A good looking elven man approaches us as our caravan makes a stop at the west most side of the outpost and we have started our dismounting. I jump down before touching the luxurious moss with a hand and it springs back into shape without leaving a single indentation of where I’d applied pressure when removing it. Looking behind the wagons I can’t see any tracks either.

I suppose some sort of nature magic is keeping this place pristine but it rubs at my curiosity. There’s probably no way of extracting their secret out of any of the elves here though and I return my attention back towards the beautiful elven man approaching us.

He’s quite tall, probably approaching 2 meters in height and has blond, slightly green tinted hair and emerald eyes. Thin dark green eyebrows full of expression move as if alive on his forehead and lips covered in a glossy emerald lipstick shows a polite smile. He wears a thin, loose fitted formal looking green cloak showing his forearms and exposing his neck. I can’t see his feet under the trailing cloak but there’s no reason for anyone to wear shoes when walking on moss this soft.

“Welcome Gilbert and company. I am Ferovalht and I will be conducting our trade. We’ve brought out some refreshments for you to enjoy before getting to business. We’ll have to wait for the caravan from the south as they will arrive later. Our scouts have reported them being delayed due to the stampedes. You already know they are occurring in the forest but they weren’t as lucky as you to only encounter one of them.”

They had been keeping watch over us all this time?

“Did you notice anyone watching us, Ari?”

“No, I didn’t notice anything either. They must be highly skilled scouts.”

“Thank you, Ferovalht. We appreciate your hospitality as always. What do you know of these stampedes if I may ask? We suspected that they may come from the Rhodolite Peaks mountain range but we haven’t had any confirmation.”

“You may and your suspicions are indeed correct. The wild life migration of the Rhodolite Peaks began about a week after your departure from this outpost. You ran into one of the first warg packs making their way here on your return to White Rock.

"It only grew worse after that and we’ve had a lot on our hands with redirecting them away from our settlement further west and regrowing the forest in their wake. We don’t know what caused this abrupt change but something big must have happened in the mountains.”

Ferovalht continues his explanation as he guides us towards the tables being stacked with refreshments.

“The problem is rather severe I’d say since what we’ve been getting up here is nothing compared to the destruction wrought further south. I don’t know how the eastern side of the mountains have fared as I haven’t heard anything from the Riverflow kingdom yet.”

Listening intently I sit down on a chair around a table with the others and take a sip of the fragrant, cold and slightly green drink poured in crystalline glasses. It tastes of lemon and freshly cut grass. I have no idea if Ari parsed that taste correctly but it’s very good nonetheless. Putting the glass back down and seeing an opportunity to join in the conversation I ask for clarification.

“What about further south on this side of the Rhodolite Peaks?”

Ferovalht shifts his eyes towards me and keeps staring without answering. His stare gains a scrutinizing gleam as the slight crease of his brows deepen. The rest of the caravan looks between us curiously and I lose my patience when 10 whole seconds pass without anyone saying anything.

“Lithr isetyld vilo af nithilo sethil jiv.”

A lot of eyebrows raise at my fluent elvish but none more than Ferovalht’s. I’d just said that if he was curious he could ask me about it in private later and answer my current question. He gives a slightly embarrassed cough and speaks up once more.

“Our forest is of course more impacted further south of here but I was talking about the human towns and villages south of our forest. The rolling hills they’re located at made the many stampedes approach almost undetected until they were already too close. With next to no time to prepare for the wave of panicked animals the villages didn’t fare as well as we have.

"A lot of villages were flattened and a few less fortified towns sustained damage to their outer districts. I’d estimate that tens of thousands have died in the three and a half weeks since it all began. The various major powers affected by the stampedes will surely start investigating the cause any day now.”

I’m not sure what major power is located to the south of the Damasus kingdom or the Delinu forest but they’ll probably do just as Ferovalht predicts and send people to investigate. Gilbert, only mildly interested in my unintelligible words spoken in elvish, continues his own questioning.

“If it’s that severe then I’d guess that the caravan coming from the south might not have escaped unscathed from the various threats. Have your scouts made any reports on any injuries, deaths or destroyed wagons?”

“I’m afraid so. One death, a few debilitating injuries and one wagon destroyed. I think it was one carrying pipeweed.”

I groan loudly before placing my forehead on the wooden table to physically express my misery. I’d counted on being able to restock my grass as here at the outpost. The slightly awkward silence makes me right myself up again. They all look at me with confusion or amusement and I glare at those who are enjoying the sight of me in pain, especially Miranda, while explaining to the confused.

“I’d hoped to restock my grass as the bowl this morning was my last one.”

Rolas chuckles slightly and Gilbert gives me a crooked, apologetic grin before continuing his questioning while the rest just stare. They don’t understand the tragedy, not any of them.

“How long do you think it will take until they arrive?”

“One day at the most I’d say. They won’t make it before nightfall today but they should make it here in the morning or afternoon tomorrow. Please, enjoy the refreshments while I go and prepare for our trade. We don’t need to wait for the other caravan to conduct ours after all.”

Ferovalth leaves us and we continue making our way through the refreshments. The strange drink was good but I’m mostly curious about the fruit they’d placed in low and wide wooden bowls on the table. It’s oval and yellow with large orange markings all over the surface. It’s also slightly hairy and sprouting brown leaves on both ends. I’ve never seen anything like it and I just have to know what it tastes like.

I’m the first to grab one and I bite into the surprisingly soft flesh with a watery slurp. The yellow fruit flesh is positively filled with sweet, orange juice, dripping slightly on my previously clean crop top. I just roll my eyes at the dirty garment before continuing the feast. It tastes a little like my previous pipeweed smelled. Oranges and sour apples with a sweet citrus as filler to bind the otherwise sour taste together in harmony. It’s absolutely delicious.

The others also pick their fruit, having seen me enjoying mine, and everyone seems to like it as much as I do. Finished with my meal I wipe my hands and mouth on my crop before dispersing it and manifesting it again. It only draws George's attentive eyes at this point since the whole caravan knows of my messy eating and have seen me disperse my clothing multiple times already.

Melina finishes her fruit half a minute after me and turns my way after wiping her hands on the soft moss.

“Didn’t know you could speak elvish. How did you learn it?”

“My parents taught me since they knew it. Never a bad idea to know how to communicate in different languages.”

She doesn’t look wholly convinced by my lie but it’s not like I can tell her the truth.

“What do you think about this stampede, Melina? You guys were going south weren’t you?”

She graciously allows the change of subject and ponders my question for a little while before answering.

“We were and we still are, I think. Unless someone in our party is a total wimp. I mean it’s not like they’re even high leveled creatures as they’re just fleeing in panic and large in number. If the caravan arriving tomorrow still wants to go back south we might escort them to earn a little extra coin.”

“This is so boring, Zel. How can they willingly accept another escorting job when they’re free to go?”

“Don’t know. Maybe they’re tight on money or don’t mind the slow traveling pace.”

“I’d probably just cut a few animals and monsters down before continuing running south if I were you. Get some fresh dinner and cull the herd. It’s not worth taking up your time on something you barely get experience or skill levels from.”

Melina ponders my words for a split second before opening her mouth to answer, getting cut off by a scathing voice.

“Don’t you have any sympathy for all those innocent people? A lot more will die from the stampede if we just let it continue unimpeded as you suggest. You’re heartless.”

It’s unsurprisingly Miranda sniping at me. She’d done that one or two times during the journey and I’m so done with her. There’s no reason for her hostility as far as I know but I honestly don’t care enough to look into it. I answer without looking at her.

“No, not really. Every village that’s unprotected has already been flattened and it’s up to the rulers of each region to get adventurer postings up if they want adventurers to help. I’m not doing anything like that out of the goodness of my heart. Call me heartless all you like but I have better things to do.”

Miranda glares but Melina smiles slightly at me out of her view. I’ve made a good friend in Melina during our short journey as she, Rolas and George often kept me company after our battle with the stampede. George toned down his advancements on me after I clarified my position as taken but hasn’t given up yet. He is honestly kind of obsessed with my bust to a point it's become funny.

I stretch and get up when everyone else is finished eating and we all make our way back to the caravan to help unload the items that are to be traded with the elves. There are all kinds of different tools both magical and mundane that the elves supposedly have others make for them.

There’s even a magical tool in one box that looks like something Gudrun might cook up. I have no idea what it is but it’s a diced metallic cube made of 27 smaller cubes that float suspended half a centimeter away from each other. Strange runes cover each face of the smaller cubes.

There are also ingots of various kinds I have never seen before. Most are gleaming silver but three are lime green and I identify them to sate my curiosity.

[Silver Steel Ingot]

[Chloro Alloy Ingot]

I’ve heard of silver steel before. It’s supposedly more conductive to mana and skill usage but isn’t as strong as regular steel. I’ve no idea about the alloy but it’s probably quite expensive as there’s only a few ingots in total.

“I wonder if the alloy or the main ingredient, chloro-something, is the most expensive. The alloy might be more valued than the materials themselves, after all.”

Ari makes a good point. There’s really a lot one has to consider when calculating the value or rarity of something. There are also a few planks of a lighter, almost white wood which Rolas tells me came from the far north west. It apparently makes for great material when creating tools and weapons of wood that need enchantments.

[Feather Wood]

There are no feathers. Names sure are strange sometimes.

After we unload everything, Ferovalth counting and making notes on a small bit of white bark, he swipes everything into his storage ring. Its capacity must be absolutely immense if he can hold everything from 4 whole wagons in there. If every merchant had a ring like that then there wouldn’t be a need for slow wagons. I’m looking forward to when I can do the same as it’s a huge flex.

He then starts summoning crate upon crate from a second storage ring on his other hand I didn’t notice before now. All the crates are made out of what looks like woven leaves and vines. Gilbert, opening the covers to count and take notes allows me to look at the cargo over his shoulder. Almost every crate is filled with wooden bottles containing what must be Golsom Wine and Mulbrook Ale. There’s also a few crystalline bottles filled with a thick, white liquid and various leaves.

The last crate contains strange looking flutes and a couple rune inscripted wooden disks with vines running along their edges. Gilbert explains that they’re flutes for guiding anima of plants and talismans to allow plants to grow without sunlight for a limited time. I’m unsure of who’d want these things and seeing my confusion he clarifies.

“Flutes for human farmers and talismans for dwarves. The dwarves do like keeping everything underground after all.”

It makes sense I suppose. This single crate is probably no less valuable than the others containing wine and ale.

The adventurers and I help the drivers load everything onto the wagons after Gilbert finishes taking inventory. We aren’t required to help them with the cargo as hired escorts but it wasn’t much trouble and Gilbert is thankful for it.

“Alright, adventurers. Let me mark your tokens for a competently performed escort posting. Zelaria and Rolas, you’ll get a marking now and one when we return to White Rock.”

We let him mark our tokens with his mana signature and transmit the information before we all disperse to do our own things. The drivers go to take care of the horses while the adventurer party and Rolas make for the seats around the tables.

Ferovalth catches my eye and I nod and gesture towards the large tree with the staircase. Might as well try getting his approval for climbing up there while we talk. I start our conversation with speaking elvish once more.

“I think I know what you’re curious about but I’ll let you lead the conversation for now. Is it alright if we climb the staircase while speaking? I would love to get a view of the forest from wherever this leads.”

He looks between me and the staircase while rubbing his chin, frowning slightly, before sighing deeply and answering.

“Very well. We seldom let the traders or their escorts up there but it has happened on occasion. You wouldn’t be allowed to enter our settlement but this doesn’t really count as such.”

We walk in silence towards the staircase before starting our climb. Meeting an elven woman coming down the stairs and showcasing bare feet, I disperse my boots to mimic their customs. It might be seen as disrespectful to walk with covered feet on these stairs, who knows?

It feels a bit strange to walk on the soft, cool vines but they don’t swing and they feel sturdy enough to support several Howards jumping up and down on them without issue. Its glow is also quite apparent from within and it adds a magical feel to it.

“How did you come to speak elvish? Zelaria, was it?”

“Yes, Zelaria. My parents spoke it and teaching me didn’t cost them much except frustration on their part. I’d say I got it down pretty well though. But this wasn’t what you wanted to ask about, was it?”

“Are you part elf, perhaps? Your features are quite rare but not entirely unheard of in elves… But no, it wasn’t what I wanted to ask. I’m just curious about why you speak our language so fluently.”

“My parents both looked human so you’ll have to decide what to make of me yourself.”

Climbing in silence for a few minutes we soon break through the canopy of the surrounding forest. The sun is on its way down, tinting the sky orange when we come around the trunk and catch it sinking towards the horizon in the west.

“Beautiful.”

“Indeed. I often come up here during sunset to watch it. It always calms my heart.”

A few revolutions later we reach the end of the staircase only a few meters below the wide canopy of the tree and there is a platform stretching a radius of 6 meters outwards from the trunk. It’s made from more of the glowing, entwined vines but there’s also chairs, tables and beds made of other plants.

There are a few elves here who seem surprised to see me but not overly so. They must also be watching the sunset and scouting the surrounding environment from up here every evening. Ferovalth and I lean against the springy railing while looking out at the now orange, almost red sun.

“What I really wanted to ask you is either how you’re doing that or what you are. I can think of several things that might make you feel more dead than stone to me. I’ve never seen anything like it though.”

I take a few moments to deliberate, watching the sun start to dip below the canopy hiding the horizon before answering.

“There are of course secrets we all keep close to the heart but this one I think I’d rather have you know instead of suspecting something more nefarious. I have no idea if you could even tell the difference between me and an undead for example.”

“That I could. You don’t feel alive to me but you don’t feel like something dead either. I’m sure you’re not undead either as their twisted power is nowhere on your being. Their feeling of undeath is something that repulses me as it’s almost the opposite of what we wood elves live and breathe.

"The lack of any anima in your body gives the impression of you being part of the background, barely noticeable to those seeing life itself. You do feel slightly unnatural in other ways but it’s such a faint feeling I almost can’t place it. Like you’re an approximation of the natural. Something that’s not alive but has never died. Like you were born without life. Which is absurd and also why I’m so curious.”

“He sure comes close to the truth, Zel. I didn’t know it would be this obvious to wood elves.”

“Me neither but I suppose all creatures proficient with anima would find us very odd.”

Enjoying the view and the wind whispering in my ear, hair dancing as the last rays of sun warms my face, I take some time to collect my thoughts before answering.

“I see. That’s good I suppose as I don’t want to get confused as an undead. I wonder if I’d be invisible to undead only relying on sensing anima? Might be worth checking at some point. Anyway, you’re partially right.”

“You were born without life?”

He sounds incredulous that his far fetched statement could come close to the truth. I’ll have to tell him some truth to satiate him enough that he won’t be looking into it further.

“My soul converts anima into mana and my body doesn’t use anima at all. Therefore I may seem dead or unnatural to someone sensitive to life. I was born human with a normal body, if you’re wondering, and I was still dependent on anima before this happened to me.”

“Your soul converts anima? To mana? But why? And how?”

“As I said. We all have a few secrets we keep close to our hearts. I decided to share a piece of mine as you were courteous enough to invite me up here to watch the sunset. I could have just told a lie and you’d never know. I won’t explain anything more though as I don’t even have the full picture myself as of yet.”

We stay silent for a while and watch the sky darken and the stars come out. It’s a big disappointment to not have any pipeweed right now as this is a perfect place for a smoke.

“Thank you for satiating my curiosity. I take it that the others don’t know?”

“They don’t. Knowing only brings more questions as you probably understand and there’s really no reason to confuse my traveling companions.”

“Yes. I’ve got about a hundred of them already.”

Giving the stars one final glance and taking a breath of the fresh air I straighten from my slouch on the platform railing before walking back towards the stairs.

“I’ll head back down for now. May I come up here in the morning? I’d like to watch the sunrise.”

“You may.”

Thanking him I go down to the others who are surely starting their dinner by now. Maybe they’re going to crack open one of the bottles of wine to celebrate our arrival at our destination? We’re probably leaving tomorrow anyway and I can’t see Gilbert remaining sober after this large transaction of alcohol.