Chapter 5

The guard in front of the lead wagon pulled out a long rune inscribed stick. "Grab your rune cannons and get up here!" he shouted. Several more guards ran to the front and began scanning the brush for what was making the growling noises.

A lone house cat-sized animal walked out into the road in front of the wagon. It perked its ears up and bared small fangs at the gaggle of guards who had suddenly started trembling in their boots.

The mage at the top of the wagon yelled, "TAKE COVER! IT'S THE STRANGE". I just stood there watching the show. It was hilarious that everyone was scared of a tiny little cat thing.

The mage flung a fireball the size of a pumpkin at the thing, but it didn't even move. The explosion was deafening—sounding like someone had just set off a bomb. As the smoke cleared, my jaw dropped. The thing was still there. It was taking a shit on the road!

The strange finished up its business, politely covering the mess with dirt, and turned around-seemingly not even noticing the creator from the fireball. It hissed and waved its little figures, and POOF! The mage was gone. Not even a blood spatter remained.

The guards at the front immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands over their heads. The strange approached. It lifted its leg and peed on one guard's feet before jumping up on the chuck wagon. I finally got over my shock at the ludicrous situation as it approached me. I contemplated my options and then decided I wanted a strange.

I grabbed a piece of lovely-looking meat and slipped a tracking nanite into it. I held the meat out to the approaching strange, and it took a bite. The thing grabbed the meat out of my hand and scampered away into the woods.

The trembling guards picked back up their weapons and talked to each other in hushed tones. I approached the captain and asked, "What was that thing?" "You never heard of the strange before?" "No, it looked cute." "Believe me, that thing is one of the nastier creatures around these parts. They have the same types of capabilities as an archmage. If one shows up, it's better to give it some food as you did. That mage was stupid for throwing a fireball at it. They don't forget grudges". "Is the mage dead?" I asked. The captain stroked his beard, finally free from his jitters. "I have seen that spell before. It teleports the target to some nasty place. Knowing the strange, it was probably a teleport directly into the belly of a dragon".

I sent a message to Armageddon. "Hey, I found a creature for you to play with! It's called a strange. Don't hurt it! Maybe you can teach it to fly a starfighter. Just disable the antimatter cannons first." I giggled, thinking about how the strange would probably teleport Armageddon's drones all over the place and cause him endless frustration. I sent the tracking information over and walked back to my place on the wagon. This was going to be an exciting trip!

The next day I was chopping meats in the back of the wagon as it bounced down the road when a pretty athletic girl on a horse rode up and hopped over onto the floorboards. "Hi! My name is Brea! I just wanted to see who was cutting all the meat so nicely. I had a piece last night that was so thin and amazing!" "Well, hi there!" I replied as I wiped my hands on a towel. "My name is Brian! I joined up at Grey Gorge. I enjoy the meat when it's thin. It tastes so good that way! It's the first time I have handled meat in public like this. I was a bit unsure at first". Brea smiled and raised a cute eyebrow. "Well, it's good to have confidence because you deserve it. You definitely make the cut!" I smiled back at her and started pointing out different spices the cook had me use to prepare the food further. I got so wrapped up talking with Brea that I almost forgot the time. I had to help the cook prepare the rest of the evening meal. I said bye to Brea and focused on my duties, but my heart was light with the feeling of happiness at making that connection.

Once I was more in the rhythm of things as far as my duties were and what was expected, I could find extra time to inquire about manna. It turned out that the guard captain and other guards used manna to power their rune cannons. They would channel the manna, which would compress in a chamber in the gun. When the trigger was pulled, the manna would propel a metal shard at high velocities –similar to what an electromagnetic rail gun would produce. The weapon's seemingly enormous power was countered by the fact that many monsters in this world also had terrifying manna defenses. For example, they told a story about when they were firing their cannons nonstop at an alpha Rox, but its natural manna defense negated every bolt.

To my great benefit, the captain gave me instructions on how to raise my manna during dinner one day: "Listen here. We teach all our recruits the basics, and after eating your thinly sliced meats, I won't even ask you to pay for the information". –ALERT- You have learned Manna Use:

Manna Use

Skill level

Description

Effect

Level 1

Basic Manna channeling

You can now use runes to channel manna!

"Wow! This is so cool!" I said. "Can I try using your gun to shoot that stump?" The captain rolled his eyes. "You just got level 1; it's barely enough to inscribe runes on paper. You need at least level 5 to use the rune cannon. You can level it up by inscribing runes on paper. That's how cheap fireworks work! Just draw on the paper and channel the manna. The manna will explode when you crumple up the paper."

The next couple of days passed with me doing my food duty, practicing runes, meditating for a little bit to work on my soul, and talking to Brea whenever I had the chance. It went on for the next three weeks before we were attacked again.

We were deep in the mountains when the attack came. There was a scream from far ahead and then silence. The guards rushed into formation; their cannons raised, ready to fire. I got out of the wagon and walked up behind them, curious about the problem. I was munching on a slice of juicy, flavorful meat and thinking about Brea.

The scout that had been upfront came running back with a worried expression on his face. He ran up to the captain and whispered in his ear. The captain's face grew grim, and he shouted for the drivers to get the wagons off the road as fast as possible. I raised my eyes at the scene but understood when I felt the ground begin to tremble. There was a stampede coming this way!

I wasn't sure what creatures were coming this way, but I knew that there was no chance to get out of the way. We were trapped in a canyon with steep walls going up either side. I smacked my lips. There was also the fact that we were running low on meat…