Chapter 010: Love Jungle ❤

Saturday.

I received an email saying the furniture delivery would happen in the early afternoon.

Lucy messaged me in the early morning.

‘Would you come drink coffee with me?’

I accepted.

I dressed up with a white shirt and black pants then I went to the agreed upon address.

I saw Lucy seated with her hand around a coffee cup and her phone on the table. I approach her to a talking distance from the side, from her blind spot.

“Good afternoon, Lucy.”

“Ah! Edward, good afternoon. Come sit down.”

“So, was there a particular reason you invited me today?” I ask her.

“… You lack delicacy. Oh well, I can tell you. You see, I had trouble believing that trash Damian had stopped calling me. This lead me to doing research on the so-called ‘gay bomb’ and other similar chemicals.”

“Oh, I see.” My hands became a little sweatier.

“Not only are those chemicals highly secure and protected, but every single one of them works very slowly with constant exposure. To have a visible change would take at the very least weeks. Not three days.”

(Well, she was incredibly naïve before, so I think I can get myself out of this without the hypnotism spell.)

“You got me… It’s a product I developed myself, inspired from those famous chemicals.”

“No it’s not. I don’t believe that one second.”

(Oh, damn. She’s made up her mind.)

“… Well, what do you want to hear from me then?”

“The truth.” Says Lucy in an accusatory tone.

Hearing that, I knew not to bury myself deeper.

“Hypnotic Mental Suggestion, everything I’ve said is the truth.”

“… Is… That so?...” Lucy's eyes go in a daze before returning to normal. “And what was that before? Were you cussing me?”

“Of course not. Anyway, this isn’t a subject I can go into detail with. I’d love to talk with you about something else instead.”

“Hum… Alright. I’ll let this go for now since you helped me. Tell me about your student life, Edward.”

“Student life…? It’s quite mundane in many ways, but it’s also an environment where making acquaintances from all over the world is possible…”

“Have you gotten the opportunity to make close friends yet?” Lucy sips her coffee.

“Only with a girl from the archery club, I guess.”

A waitress comes over. “Mister, would you like anything?” She picks up a blackboard standing in the street with the many items from the shop and turns it towards me.

I look over it and order. “I’d like a coffee milkshake, please.”

“Right away!” The waitress leaves.

I look back over to Lucy and notice her eyes half closed.

“So, you were talking about your friend I believe?”

“Right, she’s a cute girl, she helped me out when I joined the club.”

“Then you started dating?” Lucy’s expression imperceptibly hardens.

“No… Well, we went out to see a movie just once.”

Lucy’s smiles a little. “So you’re not taken…” She mutters in a high pitch.

“I’m not…?” I suddenly understood that Lucy was interested in me.

(Lucy is…? Well she has her job and sexiness, and she’s kind of a cougar…)

Lucy hears my response and coughs. “Anyway, I wasn’t done asking about you.”

Lucy continued asking me about various mundane matters and answering similar things about her. I learned Lucy was twenty-eight and she learned I was twenty-two.

Lunch time was approaching and Lucy had somewhere to go.

I walked her to her car and I promised to meet her on another occasion.

I went back home to wait for the furniture delivery.

…

I ate lunch quickly, browsed the web and waited.

The delivery man arrived and I signed his tablet then carried up the packages.

I opened everything up and placed the items into large plastic bags.

…

That evening, I received a call.

“Hello! Big brother? I-I wanted to ask if… W-We could go out somewhere t-tomorrow? O-Or maybe some other day if you can’t?!”

“Oh, I’m surprised you called, I’m happy. Tomorrow is fine for me, did you have any idea of where to go?”

“I just happened to get a hold of tickets to the aquarium from a friend!” She says with an affirmative tone.

“That’s fine, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to one. I’m sure it’ll be fun with you anyway.”

“O-Oh! Great! Then, let’s plan out the details!”

The specifics of the date were figured out and I got off the phone feeling happy.

Having someone think about you like this is really special.

Cassandra has become quite precious to me.

…

I went to the entrance of the aquarium to meet up with Cassandra.

I had arrived fifteen minutes early, but I immediately saw Cassandra waiting by the the double glass doors of the entry.

I walk up to her, as her gaze meets mine I wave to her with a smile. She responds by hopping over to me and unashamedly hugs me lightly.

“Big brother, you’re here!”

“Nice to see you, Cassandra.” I take a good look at her. Cassandra had put on makeup and was wearing a yellow cotton dress that went from her shoulders to above her knees. “You look cute.”

Cassandra blushes and looks away, hiding a smile. “I’m not cute… Let’s go inside already!”

We enter the aquarium and go glass to glass, fish to octopus, shark to jellyfish all throughout the establishment.

During the visit, at some point, I started holding her hand and we’ve been like that ever since.

Finally, we reach a popular spot where penguins, seals and dolphins are held in an open space, under the blue sky.

“Waow! I love seals! They’re so cute!” Cassandra exclaims as she hastens her step and ends up leading me by the hand.

“I prefer penguins by a tiny bit personally, though it depends on the species.” I reply.

“Penguins are nice too, but seals are more like sea doggies! Penguins don’t play with balls, do they!?” Cassandra seemed passionate about the subject so I acquiesced and didn't start arguing about how charming the wobbly walk of penguins could be.

This aquarium was quite special as we were allowed to touch these animals after putting on latex gloves, although it was a slight extra expense that I offered to Cassandra.

After petting seals, penguins and dolphins for almost an hour, we leave the aquarium with Cassandra’s tired legs.

Mine are just slightly stuffy, no doubt thanks to Body Enhancement 1.

“Today was lots of fun.” I tell her.

“Yeah!” She replies cheerfully, before looking at my face and having a longing, almost melancholic expression.

“Is something the matter, Cass?”

“… No!”

“… Then let’s go grab some waffles before we part…”

“… Un…”

We ate waffles with plenty of whipped cream and joked around.

After leaving I accompany Cassandra to the bus station.

We slowly make our way there, as if reluctant to end the date yet.

(After this it’s back to another trial, even though I’ve changed so much and already gotten what I’ve wanted in life.)

Cassandra suddenly picks at my sleeve, making me turn to look at her.

She stands on her toes and tries to kiss me, but misses a bit and kisses the corner of my lips.

Blushing, she stumbles around. “A-Alright! S-See you!” She hurries away.

“See you!” I manage to say as she turns a corner.

(She was cuter than I thought.)

I turn the other way to go back home, feeling happy but also a bit guilty I used hypnosis magic on her before.

…

It was time to sleep.

Tomorrow, in real world time, I’d cure Alice.

If I couldn’t due to a severe lack of points or something, I think buying a potion and using purify would suffice.

If I can’t do either, I’d make her cookies and chat with her.

I start preparing everything I need. I put my new furniture, my armor, my helmet, my phone, my solar battery charger, a bunch of nails to throw telekinetically, and finally the food and water inside my bags.

I tie all the bags to my wrists and try to sleep.

Stopping myself from turning left or right as I sleep, the sound of my heartbeat slows, letting me drift into a dream where Cassandra, Suzabeth, Elisa, Lucy and I try parachuting.

…

I see white walls, a tent and Suzabeth looking at me.

“Welcome back, Edward!” Suzy welcomes me warmly.

“I’m back, Suzy.”

She couldn’t really miss me since her time was frozen while I had left.

My interface shows me the content of the next trial.

(Reaching civilization…? So I’d start somewhere quite far from any village, and I’d need to move to one. The month-long time restriction shows how long it could take.)

I could only wonder at the specifics of the trial.

Would I start in a dungeon and once I exited it, find myself in a town?

Would I arrive in a desert, devoid of life and need to walk on and on while braving the heat?

The other details, besides the trial’s goal, were identical to the first trial.

This told me there was a high chance we would indeed start in a dungeon.

I untie my wrists and start taking out all of the different boxes.

“Can I help you?” Asks Suzy nicely.

“It’s a little tricky, since this kind of assembling is from my world. Just relax for now, I’ll build the furniture.”

I start with assembling the king-sized bed. When I’m done I put on the mattress, bed sheets and two pillows.

“Wow! It looks so comfortable! Like a noble’s bed!” Suzy comments in delight as she quickly sits upon the bed and bounces up and down on her butt.

“Hehe… I worked hard to afford this.” I grab on Suzy’s waist and kiss her.

Suzy responds back by hugging me while enjoying the intimacy.

Her back relaxes and falls on top of the bed.

My own desires surface as I realize that I missed Suzy a lot after a week.

I deepen the kiss with Suzy as our lips play with each other, swapping our saliva.

“Nn! Nn…!” Suzy does little moans which turn me on further.

Feeling bold, I start taking off Suzabeth’s clothes, starting with her cowl, which she lets me remove, then her dress.

She stops the kiss and talks in a serious and apologetic tone. “I’m sorry, I’m not ready for this…”

I stop my hands. “Oh… I see… Don’t worry about it.”

We stay close to each other, hugging as we think.

(She did have that trauma just recently, it’s no wonder she said no… Though it still hurts to be rejected.)

After a while, Suzabeth starts removing her dress.

“Hum? Suzy?”

“I… I changed my mind, I want to forget about the past, and more importantly, I want to give myself to you and not let any opportunity to love you go away, even if I’m scared.” She says in a weak tone, but her words denote of inner strength.

(Every time she comes with me, she risks her life with little to defend herself…)

After leaving her own world to come with me, Suzy had no one else than me to rely on. I was her only social contact as well.

“It seems you’ve made up your mind…” Suzy’s dress comes off, showing a beige corset, hiding her waist and breasts. “I’ll never force you to come with me to a trial, nor will I hate you for it, you know that?”

“Un, I do.” The string binding her corset gets loosened.

“When the day comes that I judge the trial environment or anything else is too dangerous for you, I’ll forbid you from coming with me.” I say firmly, looking into her mint-colored irises.

“Un, that’s fine. I just want to be with you as much as possible, I didn’t come to the last trial for any other reason.” She says with a bright smile on her small mouth, while her boobs pop out, revealing bright pink nipples.

Excited, I dive into her bosom, licking the side of her breasts and then sucking on her nipples.

“Ah! Yi!! It feels good!”

Her distraught cries of pleasure made me ready.

I slip off her panties and rub her crotch as she pants, with her lust dripping on the brand new bed.

After a few seconds, I get off Suzy and quickly undress, before coming back to kiss her.

“Edward~!!”

With things seemingly ready, I place my glans down her pubes, rub a bit, then I reassure Suzabeth.

“I love you Suzabeth, I’m going in!”

I penetrate Suzy and slowly insert myself until I reach her womb.

“I luv you moar~ ❤!!!” Suzy’s speech slurs.

I start moving my hips gently. Suzy’s tight, gripping vagina sends aftershocks of pleasure to both of us.

“It feels great, Suzy!”

“Yes! I feel good too ❤!” She cries out.

Pumping in and out, Suzy gets much more wet and my speed increases.

I change my pose to hold myself with one arm and groping her breast with the other while kissing Suzy.

After some more sex, we climax as I ejaculate deep inside in Suzy’s womb. Suzy’s legs immediately go around my hips and squeeze me strongly, keeping me at her deepest.

“AAAAHHH❤❤❤❤!!!” Suzy’s moan sounds out throughout the white room as I grunt in pleasure.

We cuddle for a good while.

“Edward… I do want your child, but I’d rather have it when I can’t come with you in the trials… Although it’s too late to say this, I’m sorry…” Suzy says in a sorry tone.

“No, it’s fine, I have the purification spell. It should stop the pregnancy before it happens, if it doesn’t work then you can at the very least come for the following trial since it will only last a month.”

“Oh… Then, please use the magic, my beloved…” Suzy smiles in relief with closed eyes.

“Purification!” I say as my hand touches over Suzy’s womb, which I can now locate very easily. “With this it should be fine.”

We stay in bed to hug and kiss a while longer.

…

As we’re done, Suzy relaxes then gets up to prepare lunch.

Meanwhile I assemble the rest of the furniture. The two chairs, a wooden table and the sofa.

The white room became almost cozy.

“Next time I’ll get cooking surfaces and utensils.”

“Un, thank you Edward.”

We ate lunch playfully, caressing each other from time to time.

“It’s about time we enter the next trial. This time, the trial can last as much as a month. We have to bring as much as we can carry while still walking at a decent speed. The goal is to reach civilization, in other words, a village or a town. No, even a nomad tribe of intelligent people would work.”

“I understand. Let me pack the bags!”

Suzy started packing up food and utilities like the tent.

I take with me my apostle slate, the mostly filled mana potion and I equip my copper necklace. I leave my hammer to Suzy.

I carry more weight than Suzy, overall, but Suzy helps by taking the bulkiest items like the tent and food which would hinder me when a battle does start.

Opening the black door, I notice its size increased along with the size of the black room beyond it.

“How nice, they changed the size to let us take more supplies.” I comment.

“Oh… Indeed. The Goddess watches over us…”

“Un… Praise Ellabizina.” I say half-seriously.

Suzy and I enter, then close the black door behind us.

…

We’re teleported inside a dark stony room, with the same damp smell as before.

(I knew it, another dungeon!)

I light up the torch lamp I prepared for this moment and notice all the other apostles we were with before.

“Claire, Raquel, Lin Hao and Danielo?”

They look back.

Raquel speeds up like a hawk and hugs Suzy in the blink of an eye.

Claire starts speaking in Common.

“Oh, hello Edward! As you can see, or hear, I can speak Common now!”

Raquel and Danielo also say a few words in Common, showing they purchased the language skill.

“That’s good, at least we can finally all understand each other.”

Raquel starts chatting with Suzy on her own. I look over.

“Suza, I missed you so much…”

“Un, Raquel. We can finally speak to each other.”

“Un, un!”

I look over the others more closely.

Lin Hao still has the same usual rifle he used, but this time it has a silencer. He has two spare guns and he’s wearing multiple bags which probably contain a tent, food and ammo. It seems he decided to keep less guns, after all the weight must have worn him down last time and this trial is longer. He might have left them in his white room.

Claire is wearing the complete priest attire, in addition to her gown she has a cowl, gloves and boots. I don’t see any rings or necklaces, so I do believe it’s missing an accessory or two. Claire also speaks Common just as proficiently as Lin Hao and I do.

Danielo speaks rudimentary Common. He definitely spent only one point. His attire or appearance does not give away anything new, but he has big bags on his back.

Raquel has brand new shiny copper boots and speaks Common proficiently. Besides that she a big bag on her back.

I do remember monopolizing points a bit more than others last time.

But I’m not sorry. This time as well, I have a goal in mind, putting me in a dire need for points.

However the worrying part is whether or not we’ll be stuck together as a team forever.

There is one thing I can ask to confirm the answer to that question.

“So, could everyone tell which God you are serving as an apostle?”

“I am the apostle of the God Guri.” Claire replies.

“Mine is Xeyfi.” Says Raquel.

Danielo and Lin Hao don’t know, we tell them to search for copper equipment as that has the God’s name attached to it. I tell them my Goddess’s name in turn.

Us being the apostles of different gods meant we were not bound to each other and that they could one day turn againt me. Though I might have thought the same even if we were the apostles of the same god.

This might be better instead...

In the stone room there is only one door.

Danielo opens it and bright light pain our eyes for a moment as warm, humid air fill our lungs.

“This is… Not what I expected.” I comment as I smell rich dirt mixed with pollen in the air.

Behind the door is the outside world.

A dense Amazonian-like jungle. We walk outside.

“We need to go through the jungle and reach a village?” Asks Lin Hao.

“It seems so.” Replies Danielo.

“Should we split up and search then?” Says Lin Hao.

I look back over my shoulder. The room we came from is dug out of a rocky hill that hangs over us.

“I think we should go up the hill and overlook the jungle, in case we can see anything. If we could follow a river with a small boat or something we’d have an easier time.” I propose.

Thus our group starts climbing the hill, going through the trees and vegetation.

“This isn’t the same place as the second dream. The trees and plants are different.” Says Claire as she looks at the leaves of a bush.

(So this is a completely different jungle…? If so, what kind of monsters await us?)

We continue our way until the ground is level.

“Alright, is there anyone good at climbing?” I ask.

Claire and Lin Hao look away.

Danielo and Raquel seem more confident.

““I’ll go!”” The two proclaim at the same time.

They look at each other and smile.

“It’s hard to tell which tree is the tallest, and there might also be dangerous animals up in the trees or even flying above. The two of you should go together. I’ll blast a magic missile if I see anything, but stay on guard.” I tell them.

Raquel and Danielo place their bags on the ground and start climbing the thickest tree they find. The tree has a dark bark and is five or six meters in diameter, a natural monolith.

“From the thickness, it’s a hundred meters high or more.” Comments Danielo.

Raquel grunts in acknowledgment.

Raquel uses her daggers and agility to climb quickly from time to time as she looks where to climb next, while Danielo uses his thighs and arms to climb at a good but slower and steadier pace.

The rustling of leaves becomes slightly noisier.

I lift my head more to my left and notice some sort of green monkey from afar.

“Hum…”

Looking more closely, it’s not alone. Its camouflage is performing. I use my mental power and magic senses to their upmost. They’re a dozen meters or so high in the trees, partially hidden with leaves and vines.

I can feel their mental power better than their mana.

There was a group of at least ten in that direction.

“We have enemies incoming! At least ten green monkeys!” I say as I point their direction quickly.

My action seems to alert the monkeys as they start jumping from one tree to another with their long, hairless arms.

“Magic missile! Magic missile!” I launch two missiles at a third of normal power, the two monkeys flinch and hit the ground, but they get up and run over.

I launch two more of the same strength and they start having convulsions.

(Two-thirds is barely enough?!)

Lin Hao lifts up his gun and shoots.

DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN

A few more monkeys fall off the trees, crying in pain from the shots.

Gyahhh!

Claire prepares her spear.

Lin Hao suddenly does something weird and new.

“HYAHHHH!” He shouts as he touches the magazine of his gun.

It starts faintly glowing a green color.

He shoots again. The monkeys that are hit, this time, cry out in pain more than ever before.

GUYAAAAH!

I shoot magic missiles at two-thirds power.

“Magic missile, magic missile!”

Each magic missile kills the green monkeys instantly.

(It's more powerful than two missiles at 30% power. I get it. This time it goes through their innate resistance and kills them instantly. I can lower the power a bit.)

Finally I adjust the power to a bit over half a normal shot using Mana Control.

Claire spears two of the monkeys and I send a missile to the last one, which dies after briefly convulsing.

Silence regained the forest.

That got me 10 points, with 5 kills.

“Oh, these give two points each!…”

I had very little mana left, only enough for one last half powered shot.

“Huh? How do you know?” Asks Lin Hao.

“I bought the System Interface skill which displays this stuff…” I say, trying to stop myself from saying anything else that was unneeded. “I need to recover, watch over me.”

I sit and cross my legs, using Mana Convergence.

By the time I have half of my mana back, someone nudges my shoulder.

I open my eyes to see Suzabeth with her hand on my shoulder, with Raquel and Danielo behind her.

I stand up.

“So, did you see anything?”

Danielo replies. “We couldn’t. There are trees all over. I couldn’t see a line of trees to indicate river. I looked as hard as I could…”

Raquel looks awkwardly at Danielo who looks sorry.

“I see… In that case, it’s hard to know what to do.”

I walk around towards the green monkey corpses.

Their ugly visages and ears remind me of one thing.

“Goblins…”

These ones have long arms and no clothes. They also travel in the trees, but they’re more or less the same as the classic goblin fantasy monster.

I look at the direction they came from.

“We might need to avoid that area.” I say as I point the direction in question. The others look over where I point, nodding in agreement. Danielo and Raquel sit down first to rest, which Claire and Suzy follow to do the same.

I take out my phone and launch the compass application.

“So that direction is actually the South-West…” I comment. “And those goblins might actually have been returning home or running away from a predator… So we shouldn’t go North-East either. Then, it’s either North-West or South-East.”

Suzy gets up and comes nearer to me.

“Edward, this place is very hot… Should we not go to the North as much as possible?” She says as she swipes a bead of sweat from her nape.

“Un… That depends on our hemisphere, the only way to guess that is to watch the stars… I think. So for now each direction is the same to us.” I reply.

Lin Hao interjects. “We could split up and go in both directions. Since we’re six but Suzabeth is a civilian, then two slightly stronger people should go with her.”

Suzy replies promptly “I only follow Edward”.

Raquel quickly follows with “I want to go with Suza”.

“Then, Suzabeth, Edward and Raquel together. Claire, Danielo and I will go the other way.” Lin Hao finishes.

“Wait, wait, I don’t want us to split up!” Claire opposes the plan.

Danielo adds on. “Yeah, what’s up? There are dangers in this jungle, we’re six, we shouldn’t split up.”

(I don’t like the idea of splitting either.)

“I also oppose that plan. What is there to even gain if we split up? If only half of us reaches a town, I don’t think we all complete the objective.” I tell the group.

“… I thought us splitting up would let us get more points and give us more chances to achieve the objective… Is everybody against splitting up?” Lin Hao asks us.

“““Yes.””” The group’s prompt answer makes Lin Hao give up on his idea.

“Let’s get out of here before more goblins come over.” I say.

“Why do you call them goblins, Edward?” Raquel asks me.

“Oh, it’s a reference from video-games and fantasy books.” I reply.

“I’ve never heard that word before.” Says Suzy.

“But the word exists in Common… That wasn’t English. Although that also hints at Common existing in a multitude of the twenty-two worlds.” I reply to Suzy.

“Yes, Common is the language shared by the twenty-two worlds of the Gods. It’s the language shared by the Gods. It was transmitted through the first oracles of each world and taught ever since.” Suzy explains. She continues. “Some words don’t have any use from one world to another, such as the name of a certain flower, animal or monster, so only the most devout would know every word of Common.”

“Don’t worry Suza, I can teach you!” Raquel interjects to get Suzy’s attention.

We leave the area through the most accessible of the “safe” directions, the North-West.

After half an hour, we decide to keep moving in that direction as we didn’t see any signs of monsters or otherwise.

We chat on the way, mostly about our experiences in the second mission where we had to survive in the jungle, as it relates to this second trial.

It turns out all of us earned similar amounts of points in that tutorial mission.

Danielo said he earned 41 points, 11 more than me.

(Not jealous. Not jealous… It’s not like I got bit by a snake and a fish or whatever.)

Danielo is actually a forest guard back in Brazil.

Since his job is related to the jungle, it makes sense he’d score a lot of points in that mission.

Suddenly noise comes from a bush, stopping our conversation.

We look at the source of sound with our weapons drawn.

I take out my bow and shoot an arrow in the bush.

Swoosh

We wait for ten seconds as the noise stops slowly. Translucent ooze pours out the bottom of the bush.

Looking at my interface, I didn’t get any points yet.

“It’s still alive.” I warn the group as I shoot another arrow.

Still no point.

The ooze does not flow any faster.

With my armor on and my sword in hand, I decide to approach the bush and look for the creature.

The others stay in place, not bothering to come with me.

I push leaves to the side and see a translucent puffed out ball oozing slime.

I stab it.

(It’s kind of like an egg without a shell…)

“It’s a slime…” I say. “It’s dead, but it didn’t give a point. I guess it’s too weak?”

I look at Suzy and she nods. “Slimes exist in my world as well, they clean the forest and most are harmless. When they get big they usually divide, but sometimes they don’t and become giant slimes, which can then pose a danger to both the forest and crops.”

“Hum… So we should… Forget… these, got it.” Comments Danielo.

We go on our way.

…

Afternoon. The light going through the jungle overgrowth starts to dim down.

We continued making our way through the jungle. Danielo was in front destroying bushes and plants blocking the way.

Suddenly.

SHPLANK!

Something big hits my helmet and left shoulder. It twists my head away, only stopping when my other shoulder’s armor and the helmet meet. This destabilizes me to the point the taking three steps to my right.

My left shoulder starts to burn in pain.

“AAAHHHH!”

I look at my left shoulder, a visible gash through the leather shows blood coming out.

Looking around as the rest of the group looks towards me, I see the culprit.

A meter long giant brown slug with a shell shaped into a spike is on the ground, moving confused.

Was it a slug if it had a shell? Could it be a snail even if the shell is too small to house the animal?

I lift my right arm. “Magic missile!” Half powered.

The spiked slug starts releasing lots of mucus and stops moving.

I gain 2 points.

Claire stabs the slug with her spear.

“It’s dead.” I state to stop Claire.

I fall down on my butt.

The gash on my shoulder needs to be treated.

Suzy comes over with a worried look.

Suzy helps me remove the clothes on top of my shoulder.

Claire approaches and casts her healing prayer.

My flesh tingles strongly and melds itself back together.

“Alright, you should be fine now, Edward.”

I jiggle my shoulder. “Yes, thank you, Claire.”

Suzy helps me wear my clothes and bags.

“So these fall out of the trees to land on us?” Raquel comments. “That’s freaky. Look at that helmet, there’s almost a hole in there!”

“If that fell on someone’s head… They could die.” Adds Claire.

“Is there no one else with detection abilities besides me?” I ask.

They look at me with an increasingly weird look.

“Alright, I know I should keep using them but it takes concentration. It’s exhausting to keep them for so long.”

After my explanation, we continue the journey.

Half an hour later, I detect a slug in advance and shoot it dead with a magic missile.

These creatures had slightly more mental power than random birds and insects, but absolutely no mana.

I decide to only use my mental power sense as we continue to move through the rainforest environment.

…