Chapter 23

After the unexpectedly difficult goblin hunt Jack decided to take it easy for a few days and do a couple of harvesting jobs instead. Maybe also try to consolidate his progress in cultivation, perhaps try to further explore his lightning abilities some more.

The morning following the goblin hunt found Jack again lying in bed feeling like he’d been run over, every muscle was sore. Rather than try to get out of bed he instead focussed inward, on his lightning core. He found it had grown slightly but noticeably from when he last observed it, it felt stronger and more defined, instead of the dim faint speck of light it had been, it seemed more like a bright spark. Not particularly impressive but definitely an improvement.

He remembered all the videos online he’d watched of different cultivators discussing their own findings on cultivation and the proper ways to do it. Due to the practice being so new, many people were eager to experiment and show off their findings and theories. For the moment, mere theories were the bulk of what was discussed on various media platforms rather than actual solid proof of what was true and what was false, the natural progression of a cultivator and their limits were still a mystery.

For now all that was known was that as a cultivator got stronger and progressed, their core would alternate between getting bigger and then shrinking to become denser. If Jack had to measure his own progress, then focussing inward and visualising his own core, he could say it had probably gotten bigger by an inch or so. Certainly not on par with most hunters but a hell of a lot better than any other lightning cultivator, he wondered if his speed of progress using his unique cultivation method was the same as other serious cultivators who did it the normal way.

Jack rolled out of bed, he literally had to roll and drop to his knees next to his bed before clambering painfully to his feet and heading towards the kitchen. Once he’d gathered himself a hefty breakfast he sat down in front of the television and switched the channel to the news.

The news was covering the incident at the apartment building from yesterday. It described the chaos and panic of the building residents when the goblins finally came out of hiding, from the sounds of it the goblins had been spawning in greater and greater numbers over a period of several weeks. They’d been hiding in unoccupied apartments and all of a sudden one day they had just decided to show themselves and attack all at once. They began attacking residents, a fair few were killed but the exact numbers were unknown. Fortunately however the attack coincided with the morning rush so most residents had already gone to work or were at school. Also fortunately or unfortunately depending on who you asked, one retired resident had a small stockpile of illegal firearms within his place. As soon as the goblins attacked he took action and began killing every goblin he found, he defended and saved dozens of other residents and managed to ensure the evacuation of much of the building. Even going so far as to join police and paramedics when they themselves entered the building. Needless to say the firearms that the goblins were using had been pilfered from the old man's stockpile.

The retired resident survived and after being treated for superficial wounds was promptly arrested and transported to the nearest police station. This sparked a great deal of anger amongst the building residents who protested the situation. There was also some anger directed at the teenagers who had been pranking the building, pretending there was a goblin infestation when all along there really had been. It was thought that because of them the police failed to take the situation seriously which significantly delayed their response to the goblin attack, sort of like crying wolf, or crying goblin in this case. It was unknown if the teenagers would be charged with anything.

The news anchors continued to talk about the growing black market for firearms within the UK and whether or not this incident would spark yet another renewed debate for legalising them. A guest speaker brought onto the programme also spoke of the goblins' seemingly new ability to actually use said firearms and whether or not this indicated some sort of evolution or if some goblins were much more capable than previously given credit for.

In other news the first ever base camp had been officially built within the anomaly zone known as the Dire Woods. The view changed to one of a large flat grassy plain in a valley filled with farm land, a small rustic village off to one side and the occasional tree dotted around. With the sunlight streaming down onto the scene through white fluffy clouds it looked absolutely idyllic, the sort of image that would find its way onto the spring section of a British calendar. In the centre of the valley however was a gigantic copse of massive trees, they towered over everything, even when viewed from a significant distance they looked imposing, well over a hundred metres tall, gathered close together tightly looking completely out of place. The copse of trees was perfectly circular, but covered no more than a square mile, from the outside. From the inside however it the very definition of being bigger on the inside than on the outside, it was apparently like the entrance to a new world, which it very well could be since no one had managed to make it more than a day's march inside without having to withdraw or because they’d been killed. The terrain inside was vastly different from what should have been possible when viewed from outside, it was described as an endless, ancient looking forest with little sunlight, filled to the brim with new monsters and new materials. To some this meant adventure and mystery, to others this meant wealth and opportunity.

When the Dire Woods were first discovered, hunters and guild surveyors were sent in their droves to discover what lay within. However no one was prepared for the threats that lay within, it was a real survival of the fittest situation in there. The various hunters guild branches began automatically assigning A rank price tags on any request within the Dire Woods no matter what job it was. That didn’t stop various companies however who continued to rabidly hire anyone they could get their hands on to go on expeditions for them. Successes were rare but they did occur, mainly surveying and pathfinding missions, but also some harvesting jobs as well as updating the guild's bestiary, the Kladican monster was first spotted in the Dire Woods. Occasionally monsters emerged from the Dire Woods, as had happened recently, and so a constant watch wss placed on it by both the hunters guild and the military.

Recently however, from what the news was reporting, a fortified base camp had been set up several miles within the Woods with a proper well protected supply line to the outside world. It even had internet access, there was speculation as to whether or not it might become its own hunters guild branch.

Jack watched this with fascination and no small amount of anticipation, one day he’d get there.

They continued the programme a little before going back to the goblin attack story, they had interviewed several victims and witnesses. At this Jack wondered if he should stop watching, he was completely fine throwing himself into danger these days, if he was being honest he even liked it a little. But he was still susceptible to other people's pain.

He was about to turn off the television when a familiar face appeared on screen, it was Mary, the little girl he’d saved from goblins in the building lobby. Oh no, he thinks and grimaces, this is where he finds out that little girl is now an orphan and all alone in the world. But it was not to be, the view widens to reveal Mary held tight in the arms of her happily crying parents. Apparently the little family had gotten separated when the goblins attacked, while the father held off a group of goblins with a fire extinguisher Mary had been separated and chased down the stairs into the lobby. This is where an unknown hunter had charged to her rescue and saved her life. After that the goblins attacking the father and mother had been drawn off somewhere else, they then linked up with the old guy with the illegal guns and started searching for Mary.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief, but still quickly changed the channel to something with less potential to become heartrending. He found the most mellow, inoffensive, chilled out programme available on the television at that time in the morning and watched it for several hours, snacking on junk food. Slowly his body recovered and felt far less sore.

He decided to make his way over to the guild for a job. There were less people on the streets this time, with less people camping out or parked cars everywhere but it was still relatively packed. Once he arrived at the guild entrance however he still saw a crowd, mainly composed of reporters. He considered using the back entrance again but decided to simply skirt around the edges and attempt to avoid detection.

Fortunately the cameras and reporters seemed intensely focused on something in particular, all waiting outside the rotating doors within the courtyard. Jack nonchalantly walked around the edge towards the main entrance, doing his very best not to make eye contact with anyone. With a sigh of relief he made it and stepped inside.

He began his walk across the atrium and suddenly saw what might have captured the media’s interest. Director Welts was walking down the stairs from the upper floors accompanied by a familiar looking blonde, bearded man. Right away Jack could tell this guy was supposed to be somebody significant, judging by what could only be an entourage following behind him. He was an older man but still looked powerful, in fact Jack could actually feel the power pulsing from him. With most people you had to stretch your senses out a little to feel their elemental core, telling you what their element was and around how strong they were. With a few people however, you could tell immediately that they were powerful because their power just surged outwards from their core, unmistakable, to Jack this guy's power smelled like smoke and cinder.

Jack slowed his walk to an amble and watched from the corner of his eye, he couldn’t tell what they were saying because they were whispering but it seemed neither man was happy. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs and after a very terse exchange the blonde guy turned around and stormed off outside, much to the media’s delight, leaving a frowning director Welts at the bottom of the stairs before he went back up, presumably to his office.

Jack shrugged and continued along across the atrium and into the jobs and requests room. It was fairly busy that day it seemed, a typical week day, but he spotted a free terminal along the sides and logged into it. As usual the pickings were slim, or as far as a decent job was concerned the pickings were slim. Still a bunch of fetch and carry jobs, acting as a loot mule, a mixture of boring and potentially interesting harvesting jobs. He really needed to get promoted, he was rank G now but he could take any job that was a single rank above him, if he was rank F then he could take rank E jobs, that was where the fun started it seemed. Actual genuine monsters never seen on Earth before and not just mutated animals.

For now however he sighed and spotted two harvesting jobs that paid well and were right next to each other in a park. The first request wanted someone to harvest several kilos of petrified wood from one of the trees, the other request was a little more interesting, it asked for someone to harvest Burrower grass.

Petrified wood was a not uncommon phenomenon, seen occasionally here and there for the past several months. What caused it was unknown, but it was feared it was some sort of blight that could spread to other trees though it didn’t appear to, a variety of companies wanted it for research purposes.

Burrower grass was much more sinister, in fact Jack wondered if this job should actually be reclassified as a hunt not a harvest. It looks like normal grass, but depending on certain factors it can grow much faster and is extremely difficult to get rid of, resistant to most if not all herbicides, fire and very durable so no lawnmowers or garden shears. It may seem like normal grass at first glance, but apart from its extreme durability the main difference between burrower grass and normal grass is that it is in fact carnivorous.

The stuff got its name not because it burrows underground but because it burrows under skin, or fur, scales, chitin, clothes, amour, basically it’ll get under whatever protective layer any living creature has in order to get at the juicy parts beneath. From there it apparently secretes a paralytic venom to get its prey to stop moving so that it can eat in peace. It consumes the blood directly and uses its roots to shove everything else beneath the earth to decompose into nutrients which it later absorbs the old fashioned way, very efficient, nothing wasted.

Anyone that blunders into a patch of Burrower grass faces the risk of becoming its next meal depending on how long the grass has grown. If it's still short you might simply feel the odd sting in your feet as they go slowly numb before you manage to walk to the other side, but if you trip then you might be in trouble. If the grass is long then the individual grass blades will slowly lean towards you and attach themselves to you or your clothes, slowing your progress before they find your flesh, wrap around it and then start burrowing into it.

Since the grass is very tough it's extremely difficult to get free without ripping out chunks of your own flesh, so whether you escape or not the grass still gets a little something.

Apparently the only proven way of getting rid of this stuff was to uproot the entire turf and toss everything into a vat of acid, a blast furnace or an industrial sized incinerator, or perhaps go on a quest to an active volcano, either or. Of course there were also plenty of organisations that were interested in purchasing it, apparently people were looking into it for traps and static defences around secure locations. Jack also suspected that there were some people who wanted it for less than wholesome reasons.

It occurred to him that an earth cultivator might actually be the best person for this job, ideal in fact. When he went over and asked the current fellow manning the help desk however, he was told that there were relatively few earth cultivators in the North Yorkshire hunters guild branch in the first place and none currently available any time soon. The burrower grass job had lingered for a while and admin were considering bumping the job up to rank E with higher pay so that more hunters would be interested. If Jack wanted it then he would have to take today or not at all he was told.

“Hey Sparky! Whatcha doin?” Jack suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind.

“Oh, hi Nate. Just looking for a job.” He replied as he turned around.

“Hmm?” Nate leaned over Jack’s shoulder and took a peek. “Petrified wood? Yep, been there, done that, booooring. And…oo, what's this? Burrower grass, that sounds familiar. Umm, oh yeah! The stuff that ate Harry! Huh.” Nate nods to himself.

“Uh, Harry?” Jack asked, not liking where this was going.

“Yeah, this was a while ago, last year in fact, when everything was still new. Me and Harry were teamed up, chasing a dog thing and it disappeared into some long grass.” Nate explained, giving Jack a knowing look.

“Oh no, even I know never to run into long grass. It's like in every horror film.” Jack said with a wince.

“I know right? Anyway we hear a dog yelp from the grass and Harry follows it in, then Harry disappears.” Nate slowly loses his cheerful demeanour, and becomes slightly morose as he speaks. “I heard screams and Harry came out a few seconds later but he’s struggling, like somethings pulling him back and he’s covered in blood. Then he trips and the grass wraps around him then drags him back. He stopped screaming a little while after that.” Nates looks off to the side, staring blankly into space. He suddenly looks back at Jack with a cheerful grin plastered back on his face, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“So, ya gonna do it?” He asks Jack.

“Er, I was thinking about it, it just seems to me that an earth cultivator should do this. I asked but I was told there weren’t any available.” Nate nods at him. “Actually this seems more like a job for a guy with a digger to be honest.” Jack wonders.

“Yeah, no. City workers or private contractors aren’t allowed to handle this sort of stuff anymore. Too many deaths, too many accidents and people getting sued, like, a lot of people got sued ya know? So now only actual hunters are allowed to go near this sort of stuff, even if it's much harder for us, probably cause we signed a pain waiver and can’t sue anyone! Ha Ha Ha!” Nate laughed.

Jack sighed. “Fuck it, both jobs are in the same park. I’ll do it, just need a spade I suppose.”

Nate laughed at him. “Good luck sparky.” He walked away towards the door leading to the guild hall and gym.

Jack turned back to the terminal and selected the accept icon for both harvesting jobs. His pager buzzed in confirmation and he set off for hunters plaza. He bought himself a decent spade for the Burrower grass along with a bunch of tough plastic bags for the turf and a new rucksack to put the petrified wood in.

The park was only a short walk east of the HQ, after twenty minutes he reached it. It was a small park, a few trees here and there, mostly grass all surrounded by a low green fence. On a normal day it looked like people would just pass through it to get elsewhere but that day the entire perimeter fence was taped off with police barrier tape along the usual couple of police officers at the main entrance.

Jack approached the officers and showed his licence to them, they nodded and waved him through. One of them noticed Jack’s spade and smirked slightly.

The petrified wood harvesting job took about five minutes to do, he spotted a couple of trees with distinctive grey patches on the trunks and branches. He immediately dropped his bag and spade, unhooked his axe and cut off a couple of thick branches. He stuck them in his rucksack and that was the job done.

He picked up his spade and looked around for the next harvesting target, after a second he spotted it. There were several poles with yellow flags stuck in the ground around the area, he walked over and could immediately tell something was different about this patch of grass. It was an area of about five square metres located towards the edge of the park near the fence, with the pavement on the other side, pedestrians just walking straight past it. The grass itself was longer than the rest of the surrounding grass by several centimetres, the ground it occupied was slightly raised and lumpy, like a carpet that had something swept beneath it.

Jack got down to his knees just at the edge of the grass and cautiously put his hand near the top of the grass blades. All the nearby grass blades slowly leaned towards his bare hand, he moved his hand from side to side and they followed. He leaned back and breathed out a deep breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, it was then that he noticed he had an audience. He looked up and several random looking passersby were standing at the fence, watching him.

Jack didn’t really know what to do now, should he wave? Probably not. A couple of them got their phones out and began filming him. Ok, Jack was starting to feel slightly more uncomfortable. A few more passersby joined the group in watching him, they looked to him with expectation, as if expecting a show.

Don’t know what they're expecting here, I’m just a guy with a spade. Jack thought with annoyance. The small crowd began to murmur with impatience, a few smirks were directed towards him.

With a sigh of resignation at having to do a job he was ill suited for in front of an audience, Jack grabbed his spade and rose to his feet. He looked at the small crowd and addressed them.

“If I die, please don’t make it a meme.” He requested half seriously, a few people sniggered and Jack got to work. He remembered his time in Scouts, where they taught him how to dig. It wasn’t really proper camping unless you had to dig your own shit pit. He didn’t really want to listen to any heckling coming from the crowd so he got out his earphones and plugged them into his phone so he could listen to some music while he worked.

He used the spade to cut small square sections of the turf and pry them loose from the soil, then carefully placing them into one of the plastic bags. The grass was doing its best to get at him but it wasn’t quite long enough, and Jack hoped that his tough boots, thick gloves and combat trousers would be enough protection just in case he got careless for a moment.

The work continued for a while, despite the ever present danger it was fairly monotonous, almost boring. A few members of his audience evidently thought so as they wandered off to get their thrills somewhere else, but at least his music kept him entertained, that was the main thing. When Jack reached the middle of the patch of grass however, that monotony rapidly turned into something slightly more disturbing. It seemed the grass had managed to obtain some prey after all, he happened upon the partially decomposed remains of several animals, birds mainly, but also foxes, cats and a dog. When Jack's spade dislodged some of the rotting remains several people from the crowd screamed, one or two others retched, and the rest of the crowd collectively let its horror be known in one way or another.

The police who had been guarding the main entrance came running over at the commotion.

“What is it?! What happened? Are you ok?” One female officer breathlessly asked Jack.

“Erm, I’m fine, just, you know….” Jack awkwardly motioned with his spade to the gory sight in the middle of his dig site. Both officers looked where he pointed and immediately recoiled, the female officer looked like she wanted to retch and the other guy didn’t look any better. Jack looked at them in concern.

“Are you ok?” He asked. The officer nodded quickly, the back of her hand pressed against her mouth, she was backing away, not looking directly at the scene.

“Yep yep, I’m good, erm, just…..try to leave any remains where you find them, we’ve got to…..ugh….see if there's any human remains in there…..ugh….ok?” She told him, looking like she was valiantly fighting the urge to vomit and losing.

Jack shrugged and nonchalantly nodded. “Sure.”

The two officers quickly retreated after that, looking a little unsteady and Jack got back to work. After a while he just about finished and was putting the very last piece of turf into a plastic bag, most of the crowd loyally still remained, though that was probably out of morbid idle curiosity at that point, casually leaning against the fence, chatting away about one thing or another, one or two people had kids sat on their parent’s shoulders with ice cream cones. Where did they get ice cream? I want some. Jack thought.

Jack let out a breath and wiped his brow, his back and shoulders were burning pleasantly, he stuck his spade into some normal grass and stretched. The onlookers sensed that things were wrapping up and began to make moves to leave, Jack however couldn’t resist messing with them a little. He picked up a partially filled bag and stuck his hand inside it, making sure not to actually touch any of the grass. He then screamed.

“AAAARGH!! OH GOD HELP MEEE!! AAAAAAAARGH!!” He dropped to his knees, screaming in fake pain, to this the crowd reacted deliciously. Screaming, panic, hysteria, crying, Jack even heard someone vomit again, just general panicked distressed confusion, beautiful. A couple of people hopped over the fence to assist him at which point he pulled his hand out of the bag letting out a burst of laughter.

It took a while but eventually people realised they’d been punked. A variety of reactions ensued.

“HA HA HA HA!!”

“You DICK!!”

“Oh my god!”

“Though he was dyin!’”

“HA HA HA HA HA HA!! That was good!”

“I nearly had a heart attack!”

“TWAT!!”

Some of the crowd found it funny, some looked like they wanted to kill him and some of the children seemed to be sobbing inconsolably. Some people began throwing angry insults and accusations towards him. A decent reaction Jack thought with satisfaction and a nod, but this crowd was rapidly evolving into an angry mob, he realised the need to bid a hasty retreat when he saw one. He quickly gathered his stuff and awkwardly dragged everything away as fast as he was able, passing a confused pair of police on the way. He threw a regretful glance at a nearby ice cream van as he hurried past. He made it back to the guild after fifteen minutes, even faster than when he’d travelled the other way, but much more sweaty and dirty this time.