When Team 17 got back to the base they saw a dozen other groups chatting with each other, some disappointed and some other excitedly. It was night but it seemed like no one was in a rush to sleep, unlike Zortex who really felt the need to lay down. Most ‘travelers’ could stay awake for days in a row, but his constant headaches required much rest to disappear.

“Let’s go hear what the other are saying. That guy over there looks as if he had been in a fight” Jake said, enthusiastic to be back.

The other members of the group followed him, the only reluctant one being Shad.

“….and they got us surrounded. Our mages were the first to die. They have low defensive abilities and the could not attack in such short quarters. Our guide shouted us to run back to him and we ran through a rain of arrows. Two Srencs barred our way, but we slew them at great cost. My friend Jacob died in the clash, and Maryam was so badly wounded that she could not even stand, so we had to leave her behind. She will be super pissed when she will respawn. From that moment we just kept running till my stamina allowed me, however the Srenc seemed to be satisfied with the victory so nothing happened anymore.” A tall guy with blonde hair was telling his story from the day just spent outside.

“You seem too happy considering that you lost. If it was my group we would never be spotted and trapped so easily. I just wished to be in your place.” Another average dude teased the previous guy.

“Hey, no qualms from me. I am the one who survived. The rest of my team was what held me down, and that guide for sure was not doing his work properly. If only I was in a better team I could have shown how many Srenc I could slay. And the worst part is that I killed two of them, but I didn’t have the time to take their horns, so I’m not getting paid.” The first guy replied.

“But how do they look like? What kind of weapons to they use?” This time it was Jake speaking.

For once he makes the right questions. Hopefully he will not drag down our group. Zortex thought.

“The ones we saw were around 160 cm in height and with an orange/red skin full of bone protrusions, ugly as fuck if I can say. They wear animal pelts and furs and they are not well protected. Our leather armors are much better, so they are easy to wound and in a prolonged battle they would suffer from the bleeding. The weapons are also rudimental ones: the ones who attacked me melee were fighting with wooden clubs and bone weapons, and just one had a sword. Of course in the heat of the battle I could not spend too much time checking the exact quality of each item. The rest of them had bows and arrows, but I could not see them at all. They were hiding in the trees’ foliage and in the bushes. I got hit by two arrows on the back, but the wounds were not that deep. With a good armor you could just try to protect your vital parts and you should come out mostly unscathed.” The fighter said.

Interesting. I have a leather armor on, so I can survive a few attacks and if everything he said is right, I should be able to kill one with just an acidic shot, unless they have an inborn resistance to acid. Zortex mused.

The discussion kept going on, but nothing of interest was said, so his teammates just saw Shad moving away to a more secluded zone. Still Zortex didn’t completely stop listening, he just took off a couple of bandages from his ears and kept track of what they were saying from a distance. More groups arrived back to camp, but only another one had a meeting with the enemy and from what they said they were the ones to catch by surprise a small group of Srenc, so they won without casualties and brought back three horns that they started to show off. Zortex had heard all he needed, so he retired to catch some hours of rest before dawn.

The next morning he woke up when he heard his teammates speaking close to his tent. They were wondering if it was the right thing to do to go and talk to him while he had yet to rise. Of course Jake was the one who had no problem, while the two girls were still scared of him. He didn’t wait for them to come to him and he opened the flap of his tent and exited as if he had not heard anything.

“Good that you are awake. I wonder how could you go to sleep with all the excitement of yesterday evening. Probably you are just more professional than us. After all you are a level 8, so you have already taken part to some similar mission in the past. Anyway we already went to speak to Captain Cvor and he explained to us our next mission. Let’s start walking and I will tell you on the way.” Jake told him.

Of course you didn’t sleep, you lucky guy. You were probably fucking Rizza all night. If I was in your position I would probably drop the quest and just spend the next month in a hotel with the girl. No, I would not even wait to get to a town, I would just fuck any girl anywhere. Zortex thought and then frowned behind his mask of shadow. Ok, I need to calm down. I am not an animal. I need to get rid of these bursts of lust, otherwise someday I will do something I will regret. Their group of four moved in the same direction they had gone the day before, getting closer to where the real forest started.

“Shad. I will explain to you what we have been told. As you know Jacob will not accompany us from now on. They want us travelers to learn by experience, so the training is already over. Now look at your map.” Jake said.

“Map” Zortex whispered, too low to be heard by his companions. He had still trouble interacting with Endless by just thinking, at least in options he had not used for long. After the command was given he saw the map, but unlike yesterday, many of the grey areas were now shown.

“You understand right. All the paths walked by the other teams are now shown in our map, and every time we will be back to talk with the Captain our maps will be updated. This is the advantage of working in a full company.” Jake told him.

This is good. I was wondering how we would avoid crossing paths with other groups or cover ground already checked by someone else. Zortex thought.

“Today we will move along the direction we went yesterday, but we will stay out for two days and scout twice the land, or at least a 50% more land. Now that we are alone we will have to be more careful and we cannot go as fast.” Jake said.

What a surprise. Jake starts to look like a decent team leader. I was expecting him to boast that we could go much faster than Jacob showed us, but he is actually taking a careful approach. Maybe we are not doomed to fail.

“Also here is your part of the rations for this mission.” Jake threw him a small bag. Zortex opened it and checked through the food inside. What cheap crap this is. I will keep it of course, but I will not eat it myself. It is time to do something that I have postponed for too long.” Zortex raised a bit his left hand and used a spell he had not used since exiting the sewers.

“Summon Slime” He whispered. His mana dropped to zero and on the ground close to his feet Pravin appeared for everyone to see.

“Aaaah” The first one to react was Rizza who was standing behind him and had a clear view. She jumped away screaming and she moved to put Jake in between her and the poor Pravin. Gera instead was much more reactive, and after the first second of surprise se was already in position with her rapier in hand, ready to attack at any moment.

“What the fuck is that???” Jake was just staring open mouthed at Zortex’s pet slime, no fighting instinct at all. Maybe I should take back what I thought before. If this is what happens when he sees a possible enemy, we will be in trouble for sure. I am surprised about Gera, she was quite good over there. Maybe she will not be dead weight. Zortex thought.

Pravin started forming four tentacles, ready to attack at any moment, but he didn’t act without instruction from his master and friend. That was something that Zortex had deeply ingrained in his pet’s mind at the beginning, when they were still hunting slimes. At the time it was just because Zortex didn’t want to get his kills stolen, but it became a useful habit nonetheless.

Everybody stayed frozen for twenty second and then Zortex reached with his hand to pet Pravin and let him move up his arm to settle over his shoulder. This way the others realized that the Slime sudden appearance was Shad’s doing, rather than a trap of a monster they had never seen before. Ultimately this was their first time outside the city and dealing with monsters, so they were still tense because they had no experience at all.

“What just happened? It was you right? Did you just Summon it or are you a tamer? How many do you have? Why something so ugly and disgusting?” Jake kept shooting question at him. “Damn you! Sometime I hate you so much for not speaking a word! You have so many tricks, but we can never get any answer from you.”

First time that I actually see him angry. Maybe I am wrong and he didn’t get laid last night, or maybe I just exaggerated this time. I should have done something to prepare them in advance. Well, too late now. Zortex thought. He indicated Pravin with his hand and then pointed himself with a finger.

“Ok, just tell me one thing. Do you have many other tricks we know nothing about?” Gera asked. Zortex nodded.

“Will you show them to us now?”

Shad made a no with his head. He would not divulge his secrets without reason.

“Will you use them to save us in a dire situation?” This time it was Jake asking

Zortex nodded.

“At least we have that. Just keep that pet of yours away from me. It makes me nauseous.” Jake said making a choking sound.

Oh, that went well. At least that don’t want to kill you Pravin, otherwise I would have to kill them myself. Who needs them anyway? Pravin can do twice the amount of work they can do Zortex thought. He put his hand inside the bag he had just received and he gave Pravin some bread with jerky. It was about time for his friend to taste some real food, not garbage or rats or other slimes. Pravin made a squishy sound to tell him how much he appreciated the food, or at least that is what Zortex understood, however his knowledge of the slimese language had become a bit rusty after so many months apart.