The enemies in Desert Area 2 posed no threat to the entire party. The offensive NPCs were able to fight better with their previous battle experience and healing from Stardust. Marla was a powerhouse of a fighter, just her alone is enough to defeat any of the wild animals in Desert Area 2. She always fought at the front lines, drawing the most attention to her while tanking and destroying the enemies with ease. A fearless fighter to protect her allies. However, many enemies did flee from them instead of fighting.
It was a smooth journey to the land of good skin.
Stardust would have made more NPCs in Desert Area 1 if the four offensive NPC couldn’t handle their enemies but he wanted to focus on the quality of his NPCs than mass-produce them. Creating more random NPCs could create new problems or alleviate their power. Stardust wanted to venture into the tougher area to gather better materials or perhaps find civilization. But more importantly, he wanted to create NPCs in a better area than waste more time in this shitty desert.
<< So far all the enemies have been wild animals. If there were any monsters, it would be too risky to fight them with my current party. We haven’t encountered any area with mana in it either. It would be awesome if we can hunt down weak magical monsters so I can use their biomass to create an NPC that can use magic.>> ( Stardust)
The tents were set up and everyone was busy eating and collecting as many berries as possible. Surprisingly the berries improved Lily’s health to the point where she only needed Stardust to heal her at least once per day instead of multiple times a day. It only further cemented the proof that the berries were able to give all the girls great skin.
They could have gone further to look for the desert ape corpses to create an NPC with it but the berries were more important.
The berry bushes were in huge abundance in this area and Violet was worried that the girls could damage their health from over-eating the berries. She had to do something fast to dismantle the berry cult so she sought out Stardust. She wanted to talk to Stardust in private again. But Lily refused to let her husband have any private conversation with any of the girls. Soon the three of them were in private, away from the berry cult members.
“ Master Stardust, I’m sorry but I may have accidentally created a berry cult by suggesting that the berries may improve their skin. Please tell them not to over-eat the berries,” asked Violet.
“ There’s no need to do that,” said Lily. “ Let them eat as many berries as they want.”
( Lily) << No way! That can’t be true! The berries must improve my skin otherwise my husband would like me less.>>
“ I see, I will tell everyone to eat the berries moderately,” replied Stardust.
When Stardust told everyone not to eat so many berries, they all stopped eating berries for a few minutes before ravishing more berries into their mouth. It was futile, the berry cult members weren’t going to stop eating those berries.
Lily was starting to have doubts about the efficacy of the berries. But it angered her how none of the other girls were listening to her husband. She was going to force them to comply, “ quit eating too many berries. If you eat too many, your skin will shrivel up and rot off you. You will be forever cursed with ugly skin.”
The girls stopped eating except Remi as she was unfazed by her filthy lie.
“ If you don’t believe me, ask Stardust and Violet!” shouted Lily. She was encouraging Stardust and Violet to support her claims but they only looked away.
( Violet) << If we can use another lie to stop them from over-eating the berries. Wouldn’t that still be quite beneficial for everyone? Even if it’s emotionally wrong to lie to them. We already tried telling them and logically it’s best for the party.>>
“ Don’t listen to that liar,” said Remi. “ Lily’s health has been improving with the berries. She just wants to monopolize the good skin for herself.”
“ Stardust! Violet! Please tell us that Lily is wrong!” begged Luna and the other berry cult members.
“ It’s possible. But I can restore any NPCs to their original condition with my healing. We could let Lily over-eat the berries to see if there are any detrimental effects on her as she is our dedicated poison tester. Her dying won’t make us lose much as she doesn’t have any skills to lose. But I don’t want her or anyone to die like this.”
The poison tester used to be Luna but the responsibility transferred over to Lily. Violet originally wasn’t supposed to eat the berries back then, but she didn’t trust Lily about telling the truth so she ate some herself to test if it’s safe to eat.
The berry cult members looked at one another, but the uncertainty of the berries was creating a rift in their hearts. They wanted good skin but ultimately didn’t want to risk any detrimental effects of over-eating the berries even if Stardust could heal them. Effectively everyone pretty much adapted the eating the berries in a modest amount other than Remi.
“ Guess we will find out through me.” Remi grabbed a bunch more berries before shoveling them into her mouth.
Stardust was going to heal Remi if she would suffer from over-eating the berries.
Everyone wanted to make this place their new permanent camp. Berries were in huge abundance and large rabbits were scuffling about. They weren’t going to suffer food shortages as long as they don’t overhunt everything here.
The large rabbits were easy to hunt as they kept on eating the berries like idiots and falling asleep 30 minutes later. They brought them back to the camp to skin them into pelts that can be used to wipe their ass, make clothes, and using their bones to create better bone weapons. The larger rabbits tasted even better and the meats were able to feed more of the hungry party members. Marla had the biggest appetite and ate the most as she was physically the largest and tallest member in the group. Everyone was starting to tease her as the muscle tigeress. And Marla took her new title with pride.
Luna was busy repairing Marla’s bone-plated armor. Marla hunted and trained her muscles by working out. Remi was crafting better weapons for everyone. Rainbow was busy mastering the many level one skills of her party members. Violet was practicing her archery skills and her experimenting with the various materials and animal parts allowed her to create an even better string for her bow that can bring even more power to her arrows. Remi helped crafted her new stronger bow for Violet. Queen was trying to draw a map on an animal pelt but failed to do so. Stardust was carrying Lily around as he went around helping all of his NPCs.
Everyone was doing their role in the party to ensure the greatest survival. The advance party had forgotten completely about the dead desert ape corpses.
During the night, everyone was asleep but Remi and Violet. The campfire was burning dimly. As they were patrolling their camp, Remi spotted a lone desert ape in the far distance. Thanks to Remi being a night owl, she gained the [ Night Vision LVL 1] skill to help her see better in the dark.
“ I’m going to ambush that desert ape, continue to guard the camp,” said Remi.
“ Will do,” replied Violet.
Remi sneaked up on that desert ape. Without making a sound or any pointless movement, the desert ape was unaware of the approaching danger. Remi moved from bush to bush in the cover of darkness and out of sight from the desert ape that kept walking closer to their camp.
When the desert ape finally spotted Remi, it was already too late. Remi had already shot her poisonous needles into its head. She ran forward with her bone dagger to slice its throat to finish it off. The poisoned desert ape screamed out in pain and charged at Remi with its fist. But Remi was too fast and dodge wonderfully before slashing its throat with her poisonous bone dagger. The lone desert ape was killed.
In the corner of Remi’s eyes, she spotted another desert ape watching from a distance. But it ran off the moment she killed the first desert ape.
( Remi) << Wait what!? There are two scouts? The first desert ape scouts ahead so if anything happens to it, the second scout can retreat and warn the others? So that’s why the desert ape screamed out, it was warning his buddy. Shit, I better not let that second scout get away! In case they decided to bring more of their desert apes buddies to attack us.>>
Remi chased after the second scout as she was gaining ground and was about to finish it off. But she underestimated them, as four more desert apes popped out from the shadow, throwing deadly rocks at her before charging at her. She reacted in time to dodge the thrown rocks and retreated to the camp. They stopped chasing her and fled.
She ran to the camp and everyone was awake from the earlier scream of the desert ape. They all gathered around the campfire. More fuel was added to the fire to brighten up their dark surroundings. A strategy meeting was held to determine the next course of action. The desert ape scouts could rally more members to come and attack them after all.
“ We fight them off!” declared Marla.
“ In the worst-case scenario. Stardust should carry me and flee while you all fight off our enemy to allow us to escape,” concluded Lily. “ Stardust can recreate more NPCs anyways, your sacrifice will give us hope for a better future. All future NPCs will thank you.”
“ One small correction, it should be me,” said Queen.
“ We ain’t losing!” said Marla. “ We are going to destroy those desert apes if they are thinking of attacking the camp.”
“ Or we can move the camp to another location,” suggested Violet.
“ I’m with Violet,” agreed Luna. “ You girls all agree too right? We don’t have to risk a stupid death.” Luna pleaded with everyone with her soft eyes.
“ We have the advantage of the poisonous weapons,” said Marla. “ Those stupid apes don’t even know how to use the poisonous needles of the cactus monsters.”
Remi said, “ I’m certain we can easily win with Stardust here to heal us and if Luna and Queen were to join the fight and support us with the arrows. Marla can easily crush all of them if we all support her too.”
“ Stardust bestie! You don’t want to lose us carelessly right? Please convince everyone that we should relocate our camp.”
Stardust replied, “ we don’t know for sure if those desert apes are going to bring back re-enforcements to attack us. They may avoid us. But ultimately the advance party was able to kill many of them before they all fled. If we were to support them and help them, I’m sure we can maintain our overwhelming advantage with the poisonous weapons and my healing. That reminds me, didn’t you girls say you slaughter 25 of them? I can create an NPC with their dead bodies if it still exists. Everyone has been raising their stats and skill levels diligently, we are much stronger than before so I think it should be fine to remain here for the time being. We will have to fight against the desert apes sooner or later anyway.”
Lily hugged Stardust, “ my husband is right! There is no need to fear the desert apes!”
“ Yes! I will be able to protect everyone!” said Marla.
Rainbow nodded in full agreement with her master. She doesn’t really have much of an opinion on the matters and she will follow all of Stardust’s decisions no matter what.
“ I suppose that is true,” said Violet. “ Perhaps I want to minimize our risks too much.”
“ Okay so if we are fighting them, then please prioritized the safety of the supporting NPCs like myself,” said Luna.
“ Do I really have to join the fight?” said Queen “ I don’t belong to the battlefield, please let me stay safe in the camp.”
“ Don’t be like that Queen. The poisonous arrows are one-hit kill. It should be easy enough to hit them with it,” said Marla. “ Those desert apes stand no chance against me. I am much stronger than before.”
“ Ehh but Lily doesn’t have to fight,” whined Queen.
“ That’s because she’s still a frail girl,” retorted Marla. “ You can move your muscles and shoot the poisonous arrows.”
Queen hid behind Stardust.
“ Queen can take care of Lily then, I will join everyone on the battlefield to fight and heal,” said Stardust.
Queen was relieved and mortified at the same time. “ I don’t want to take care of Lily either.”
“ You have to!” exclaimed Rainbow. “ Lily will become a strong capable woman in the future one day to help us. Please support her!”
“ Fine,” shrugged Queen.
They concluded that they would hold their grounds if those desert apes bring re-enforcement to attack them. Battle formations and plans were discussed. Then everyone went inside the tent to sleep. Remi and Violet were still on the night watch.
Somewhere in Desert Area 2.
The night sky was filled with shining stars. A dark tan man in crude clothes was sitting on a large rock overseeing his desert ape army of 150. Almost all of the desert apes were asleep.
He had been living in this desert for 30 years all alone. He was formerly a captured bandit and instead of being executed, one of the powerful spatial mages teleported him to the great desert of Savanna. There was no chance of him ever escaping this hot scorching desert without a fast-flying mount. If he wanted to escape this shitty desert, he would have to run two months non-stop through the endless sands of nothingness which was an impossible journey without any food or water nearby. But more dangerously, powerful monsters lurk at the desert’s border, so even if he could get to the border of the desert, he would most likely be killed and eaten by the powerful monsters dwelling there.
He closed his eyes and remembered his fond memories as a bandit, raping and pillaging innocent people. “ I sure fucking miss those days! I haven’t touched a woman in 30 years!”
Since there was no escape and he had nothing better to do other than mindlessly kill animals or weak monsters with his wind magic. He would often spend his day lazing about, thinking about his wonderful times with all the women he forced himself on.
Normally, the desert apes would not become subservient to anyone else but because the man was quite the deadly wind mage. He could slaughter all of them with his wind blade magic. The desert apes were forced to serve him, gathering berries, and other wild meat for him to eat while he sat on his ass all day long.
( Alabaster) << Who could it be that slaughtered my ape slaves that were gathering berries? Poisonous cactus needles were sticking out of them and no animals here were smart enough to use them. The cactus monsters don’t exist in the berry bushland and couldn’t possibly kill them either. The slash marks and punch marks left on those dead apes... Could it be a new type of animal or monster making its territory here? >>
As he was pondering about this new enemy, his desert apes scouts came back to report to him. The five desert ape scouts were making random noises while indicating with their arms about enemies south of them. Although he cannot directly talk with the desert apes, they were able to follow his basic commands and give out basic reports of food and enemy.
He grinned, “ time to see who these new desert enemies are!”
He wasn’t afraid as his wind magic was strong enough to kill any enemies in Desert Area 2.
Early the next morning, all the girls woke up to resumed their duties and training. Lily was placed in a special backpack for Stardust to carry around like always.
“ As proof of our engagement Lily, I asked Luna and Remi to help me make this cute bone hair accessory for you. I hope you will like it.”
“ It’s so cuuuuuute! I love it!” smiled Lily as she placed it in her hair with utmost pride.
She was now the only girl with a fancy hair accessory in the party. It probably won’t be long until everyone else will want one as well. Luna was already in the process of making her own ever since Stardust suggested something like this. It wasn’t going to help them survive the desert better but according to Luna, being cute is important. Stardust only wanted to make this to keep his engagement to Lily but it looks like everyone was getting jealous of her.
Remi slouched inside the tent to enjoy her daytime sleep. Violet walked inside the tent as a proper person to also sleep.
“ Yo Stardust let’s go find those desert ape corpses and make another NPC!” shouted Marla.
“ Yeah let’s do that.”
“ Wait up! You guys still haven’t eaten breakfast yet,” said Luna.
“ Oh right let’s eat first!” said Marla. “ I love your cooking Luna!”
Everyone gathered around the campfire to enjoy Luna’s delicious cooking. They were having a good time talking about their dreams when they reach civilization. Like having a clean body, wearing high-quality clothes, and having a luxurious house.
As they were chatting amongst each other. A lone desert ape showed up at their camp, staring at them. Then a few more, then several more came into view, then tens and hundreds of desert apes had fully surrounded their camp.
Rainbow ran inside the tent to wake Remi and Violet up. Stardust placed Lily inside the tent with Queen attending to her. Marla quickly put on her full-plated bone armor. Everyone was prepared to slaughter the foolish desert apes.
***** Battle Formation *****
Vanguards
- Marla
- Rainbow
Middle
- Stardust
- Remi
Rearguards
- Violet
- Luna
***** End *****
Marla was a front-line tank attracting most of the enemies’ attention. Rainbow was right behind Marla to support her.
Stardust and Remi were in the middle formation to support the front liners with their poisonous needle shots. Also, Stardust can provide healing for the vanguards.
Violet was another range damage dealer as she was specializing in the bow. She went from [ Basic Archery LVL 4] to [ Basic Archery LVL 7]. With her newly upgraded bow, and [ Double Shot LVL 1] skill, she became even more deadly with her poisonous arrows.
Luna was also holding up a bow to shoot some poisonous arrows at the enemies. Since the bow and arrow had the greatest attack range. She and Violet were the rear guards.
Queen and Lily were hiding inside the tent while watching the outside. Queen was holding a poisonous bone dagger in case any of those filthy apes managed to get inside their tent.
Since they were surrounded, the battle formation changed to everyone making a circle to protect the camp with Lily and Queen at the center.
