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Reincarnator RB Dragons, ch 35
🕑 Added 2024-06-04 07:50:33 +0000 UTC“So you had poison on you? And you used it on your sword before you surprised the ruin guardian?” asked Fili. The dwarf man wasn’t trying to hide his skeptical expression. “Why didn’t you say anything about this poison before or mention it to me? Poison is one of my specialties.”
“I wasn’t sure how good it was. It was an impulse buy from a traveler in Clearmine,” Kevin lied. “Call it desperation, I didn’t have many other options.”
The dwarf eyed him doubtfully again before shrugging. “Well, none of my poisons worked. I’m glad you had something that did. If you ever see that traveler again, please tell him that I’ll pay top dollar for whatever he’s selling. I’ll pay much more if he’s willing to sell the knowledge.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Fili, leave him alone.” Jagna sighed. “He saved all our asses. We bit off more than we could chew. After verifying it had a missile shield, we should have abandoned the quest.”
“Or at least planted many traps and had backup plans to backup plans,” said Fili. He crossed his arms.
“Weren’t you the one acting most confident about killing it?” The ork woman gave Fili an incredulous look.
George ignored their bickering and nodded slowly. “Yes, Fili, this was a lesson for all of us.”
“The greatest lesson was that there are counters in the world for all of our abilities, even when used together,” said Tomo. She frowned and fiddled with her bow.
“No, the greatest lesson was that our scholar is not someone to be messed with, even by a ruin guardian,” laughed Jagna.
Kevin looked down and smiled slightly.
“It’s too bad he has such bad taste in food, though,” said Fili. “That smells horrible.”
The five of them were arranged in a loose circle, watching Kevin fry some of the leech panther’s meat with varying degrees of horrified fascination. George had told everyone to take a break until they were all rested. The lizardman had already done some emergency magic healing, taking care of the worst of everyone’s injuries. Then even while exhausted, the group had tested the key for the door and verified it fit. Kevin had even taken a look at the ancient script and translated a bit of it.
But nobody was ready to go inside just yet.
“He was really serious about eating it,” muttered Tomo. The Mountain Fingers archer narrowed her eyes as she watched the bits of dark, oily meat simmer on Kevin’s pan over the fire.
Kevin had to admit none of the adventurers were wrong to be skeptical about what he was doing. In fact, after this experience, he could better understand why most people only considered eating monster meat a desperate measure of last resort. If all the monsters he’d killed near his parents’ home had meat that looked and smelled like this, he might have never discovered his hidden ability.
The fact monster bodies decomposed so fast probably added to the general avoidance of viewing them a food source. Kevin’s understanding was that the way monsters passively absorbed mana from the atmosphere, which allowed them to reach massive sizes and maintain amazing powers, was also why they broke down so fast after dying.
It also helped explain why monsters were always trying to eat each other.
Finally, he judged the meat was done, or at least as safe to eat as it was going to get. The crude steak was much different than the other monster that Kevin had cooked and eaten. None of the adventurers watching him made any noise at all as he slowly cut the steak on a makeshift rock plate.
Kevin speared a piece of otherworldly-looking steak and suddenly jammed the entire thing into his mouth. He chewed a few times and swallowed it as quickly as possible, having expected it to taste terrible. However, he blinked a few times in surprise when he realized that he wouldn’t mind eating another piece.
“It’s actually not too bad,” he muttered. Then he began eating more. He thoughtfully chewed the second, larger piece, considering it thoughtfully. I’m not sure if it’s actually okay, or if it tastes better because I’m a goblin. He thought back on the last twenty years and realized he’d never really eaten meat that tasted “bad.” Weird.
It was a strange realization.
Suddenly, what he’d been hoping for happened. A screen appeared in his vision that read:
Ruin Guardian, Mana Leech Panther consumed.
From consuming the flesh of this elite monster, you have acquired a new ability: [Arcane Surge]. Congratulations.
Kevin’s eyebrows raised. Now that he’d seen a number of these screens, he’d gotten a sense that there was an element of chance and rarity to it all. For instance, the way the screen that had informed him of the [Lion Iguana Neurotoxin Venom] ability had looked different, more ornate, than any of the others. Until now.
This new message had been the most ornate yet.
The Mountain Fingers watched him with obvious curiosity, observing his strange expressions and no doubt wondering if he was going to keel over. Kevin suddenly laughed at how ridiculous he found the entire situation.
Fili shook head had. “He’s gone crazy now. Food poisoning. I told you. You owe me a silver, Jagna. I win the bet.”
“I feel fine,” said Kevin. He rolled his eyes and almost started laughing again.
The dwarf sniffed and crossed his arm. “There’s still a lot of time left until we open the door tomorrow. I, ah…hope you’re right.”
Kevin knew the dwarf would be watching him like a hawk. He shrugged and speared another piece of meat on his knife, chewing slowly and with exaggerated relish. When he winked at Fili, Tomo gave a rare, surprisingly loud and barking laugh.
He thought about his mysterious new power and realized there might be a perfect opportunity to check it out in more detail soon, to experiment a bit. The group wouldn’t delve underneath the ruins until the next day, so they’d be camping for the night.
His watch shift would be ideal.
***
George woke Kevin to get ready for his night watch shift, and start their overlap. The crackle of the small fire and the play of firelight over the surrounding wilderness felt more cozy than dangerous despite the unnatural quiet of the nearby ruins.
While Kevin was still blinking sleep from his eyes, preparing for his guard shift with the Mountain Fingers Lizardman, he reflected on his abilities. Through windows received over the course of all his lives, he had gained a sense of how to use them merely by focusing on the ability itself. Whenever he used this method, it was as if he remembered things he had never actually done before, sort of like an instinctual how-to manual. Even though he hadn't used Arcane Surge yet, he still had a solid idea of how to activated it and how the ability actually worked, at least somewhat.
Because of that, he had some questions about the fight with the Leech Panther. "Hey, George," he said.
"Yes?" The Lizard Man looked into the darkness and briefly turned to acknowledge Kevin with a nod.
"I have a question."
"I'm listening. Just don't be too loud. If there are any enemies in the night, we need to hear them," George replied seriously.
George was an exemplary, perhaps even a model, adventurer. However, Kevin was starting to understand why so many people mistook him for a paladin, despite being a lizardman. He was always serious, had very little sense of humor, and was also very by-the-book.
He could be a little frustrating, too.
Even though George had to know that his team already knew how to do certain tasks, he still gave repeated advice. The other Mountain Fingers seemed to be completely used to it, and they just listened patiently whenever George reminded them yet again about how to do simple things. Kevin could imagine that they were willing to deal with some nagging for such an otherwise excellent leader.
Through a grin that was only a little forced, he asked, "When you were fighting the leech panther directly and blocking it, did you feel like it was draining your mana? And if it was, how did you keep fighting?"
George pondered for a moment and responded, "I didn't really think about it at the time–too much going on–but I did feel weak when I was healing myself and everyone else later. I just thought it was because I'd been injured, but maybe I had experienced some mana drain. Why are you asking? Did you figure out that it was a mana leech panther for sure?"
Kevin shook his head. The truth was, he did know that it had been a Mana Leech Panther, but he couldn't exactly explain system windows to the Mountain Fingers. It made him feel guilty to keep secrets from good people, but it was just unnecessary information for them and wasn’t worth the risk of revealing.
"I think it probably was," said Kevin. "Anyway, if it was, I had a crazy thought."
"I'm listening."
"Well, you mentioned leech panthers before, and specifically Magic Leech Panthers. And I think there are several variations. But I've heard of Magic Leech Panthers before, too, and aren't they supposed to be extremely dangerous? I mean, don't get me wrong, the monster we just killed almost got us. But other than the projectile shield, couldn’t it have ranged attacks and other things like that?"
George considered Kevin's words with a clawed hand on his chin. In the dim firelight, the lizardman's eyes glowed as he thought. Then he said, "That's true. The team was ready to respond if it did, actually. We’d discussed it before we headed out of Clearmine. Maybe it didn't have some of its abilities yet because it was a juvenile."
"What!? That was a juvenile?" Kevin said in a loud whisper.
"Yes, I thought you knew. I believe everybody in the party knew. That's part of why we went through with the attack. If it had been full-grown, I would have had to give the order to retreat. It was dangerous, but barely fell within acceptable risk. I made a mistake."
Kevin blinked at the unflappable lizard man. "So it probably was draining your mana if it was a Mana Leech Panther then."
"Likely. But I don't use mana for my warrior abilities.”
“That's all natural!?" asked Kevin.
"Correct," said George. "Lizardmen are much stronger than humans anyway, and speaking directly, I am known to be strong even for my race. When we went to fight the Leech Panther, the plan, in case it was a mana leech panther, was that Fili would obviously never get hit, but even if he did, Philly doesn't use magic. And Tomo, the only one of us who really relies on a lot of magic to attack, is the fastest and would keep her distance. Like me, even though Jagna uses magic during combat, also like me, she would still be a formidable opponent without it. So I judged that if the Leech Panther was a mana leech panther and drained us, we would still be able to fight. One of the greatest mistakes I made was underestimating how naturally tough it would be and how this would limit Tomo’s attacks. The fact she had to get so close to deliver any sort of damage at all was why she got hurt."
"I see," said Kevin. Now that he was hearing the reasoning on George's end, the decision to attack, as well as what had gone wrong, all made perfect sense.
Suddenly, George stood up. "That is the end of our watch overlap. I will see you in the morning." George turned on the way to his bedroll and quirked his lips up in a lizardman smile. "Thank you, Kevin. Without you, I am not sure that we would have survived."
Kevin nodded and watched George prepare for sleep before turning to face the darkness again. If the group were really expecting danger, they wouldn't have risked the fire. The ruin guardian had kept this entire area almost entirely clear of monsters for some time, and the odds of any other adventurers being out this way were slim to none. Still, like the others, Kevin took his watch seriously. People who survived very long in this world usually did.
In a few minutes, when he judged that George was either asleep or drifting off, Kevin stood and slowly began walking around the perimeter of the campsite, taking extra care to be silent so he wouldn't wake any of the Mountain Fingers. Perimeter patrols like this were part of his job when he was on watch. It also gave him a perfect opportunity to try out his new ability. No time like the present, he thought, and with an effort of will, he activated Arcane Surge.
Expectation and reality were not the same. At first, he was a bit underwhelmed. Instead of the flashy and powerful ability he'd been bracing for, the surrounding mana started to move towards him–slowly, like water going down a small drain. However, it didn't end there. As Kevin made a circuit of the camp, the mana in the area heading toward his body sped up until eventually it had collected quite a bit inside him and hit something like a tipping point.
Instinctively, Kevin knew he could activate [Arcane Surge] again, which he did, and this time the shock hit his body like he'd been dumped into a tank of ice-cold water, jerked out, and thrown into boiling water the next. A power wave originating from his heart rushed through his entire frame like a tsunami. Kevin gritted his teeth and cast about wildly, desperately for some way to release the power. If he didn't soon, he knew without a doubt that he would be burned up from the inside.
In desperation, he used [jump], then [weightlessness], springing towards the ruins, clearing an impressive amount of distance, especially for a goblin. Then, when he couldn’t hold on any longer, he hissed and punched the air three times, unleashing some of the pent-up power. The air didn't quite crack, but he could tell that the force of his blows would have been absolutely terrible if they had actually hit something.
When it was over, he panted, trying to get his wildly beating heart back under control. It took a while until he had himself back under control. Trying to hold all of that power inside for that long had felt like overinflating a balloon with magma.
He moved stealthily back to the campsite and was relieved to see that nobody had woken up, or at least nobody had gotten up. With wonder, he looked down at his fists and could feel them tingle. He could actually sense the magic inside of them. Using [Arcane Surge] had been the first time he had ever sensed any magic other than Morrigan’s power. Now he replayed the memory. Then he realized that something still remained. Something had happened when he released the power into his fists; it had accumulated there and now there was an aura of sorts.
He went to sit back on a log and stayed conscious of his hands until the strange feeling began to fade a few minutes later. He had a new theory that whatever…medium? weapon? he released [Arcane Surge] through would be temporarily empowered until the effect faded. To test his hypothesis, he activated [Arcane Surge] once more during his guard shift, and this time released the power through his sword.
It worked!
Grinning at the newly empowered sword, he did some light sword practice. The combination of his enhanced physical abilities and the temporarily enchanted blade made his long sword sing through the air. It was quite loud to his night-sensitive ears, but he had to take one more swing to dissipate the rest of the energy.
With embarrassment and concern, he moved back to the campsite and breathed a sigh of relief. He thought nobody had woken up, right up until Philly sat up, glared at him, and whispered, "If you're going to practice on watch, do it quieter."
The dwarf settled back down in a huff, and Kevin whispered, "Sorry." He didn't use [Arcane Surge] again for the rest of the night, but he kept thinking about it. This was the closest he'd been able to get to casting his own magic in several lifetimes now, and a giant grin was plastered on his face until he went to sleep for the night.
Comments
Disparate Sen
Philly again :) and if I was Kevin I'd be trying to arcane-power everything! Thanks for the chapters!
