Chapter 012: Sleepy Grind

Waking up with the sound of another tent opening and some light going through the tent, I stretch my limbs.

Suzy is on my side with a hand on my chest, now moving to my face and caressing me.

We relax for a few minutes and get out.

“I see Danielo and Lin Hao have already tidied up their tents.” I comment to Suzy.

“Un, let’s fold ours!”

“Sure.” We square away our tent and start eating breakfast.

Looking at what we brought, combining our two bags of supplies, we still have enough for almost two weeks of food and six days of water.

Having Raquel on water condensation duty could solve all water issues, which was great.

On the other hand, it also meant we would depend on her, which could be disastrous if we either get separated in this trial or across multiple ones.

Food could still be hunted down and was at the very least a non-issue in the jungle.

It would only cost additional time to butcher meat instead of carrying supplies.

I went to walk outside our camp site, searching for the monster I killed in the middle of the night.

After searching for a bit, I find the corpse of a black panther with bulging muscles.

It was like a body-builder panther on steroids.

(Quite ridiculous…)

I walk back.

Everyone had finished packing up and eating, so I checked my compass and we set off.

The journey felt like it would take a long time.

I check on my mental and mana senses periodically.

SLASH

“YAAARRRRGHHH!!!” Danielo shouts out of his lungs out of nowhere.

I look towards him. He’s on the ground bleeding heavily.

“What? Where’s the enemy! Edward!!!” Lin Hao shouts at me.

I use my senses to their upmost but I can’t pick up anything.

“I don’t know! I can’t feel it!”

Lin Hao points his gun right above Danielo, waiting for a movement.

Claire looks at Danielo’s wound. “It’s a slash wound! Like he was cut with a sword!”

Raquel placed herself next to Suzy with her daggers drawn.

DUN DUN

Suddenly Lin Hao shoots twice.

Looking at the direction of his shot, it is towards a tree branch.

The tree branch starts moving up the tree, with legs appearing out of underneath its body.

“There, that stickbug!” Suzy points at the insect.

With no mana signatures, my Magic Missile couldn’t lock on the giant phasmatodea.

I had to aim and hit it manually even though it had the thickness of a small palm.

Lin Hao continued shooting, hitting the stickbug twice as it climbed up.

The tree bark had small traces of red blood and bigger traces of purple insect blood, also called hemolymph.

“That’s gross!” Comments Claire, as she heals Danielo.

A minute later, the corpse of the stickbug falls off the tree, having bled out.

The group relaxes for a moment.

Danielo gets up and looks at me, angry.

“You! Edward! What was that! Why didn’t you do your job!” He shouts at me without a care, intent on blaming me.

“That thing evaded my senses, there’s nothing I can do!” I defend myself.

“Shut the fuck up! Next time, don’t be lazy asshole, and do job!” He shouts back.

“I can’t detect it until I buy a new skill! Get that in your head! It camouflaged its mental power! Now that we know, we have to change strategy.” I reply.

“… WHEN I SAY SHUT UP, YOU SHUT UP!” His face was red from anger, to the point I wondered whether or not he had received some sort of anger-inducing venom.

I find myself not replying, as saying anything was useless.

The other three apostles look away awkwardly while Suzy frowns strongly.

Danielo takes back the lead, swinging his sledgehammer around each tree branch in his way.

(Having them rely on me for this was a mistake, in many ways.)

I swallow my anger and follow behind.

…

After a few minutes, Danielo seemed to have calmed down.

Another quarter of an hour later, he stopped dead in his tracks.

“… There’s one there! A stickbug…” He said, pointing at a branch.

Looking closely, he was right, there was one single leg holding the upper part of its body to the tree trunk. Or was it the lower part of its body? Who knows.

“Edward,” Says Danielo. “Try to detect it, take your time. We’ll rest in the meantime. If you can’t detect it in ten minutes, just kill it and we’ll move on.”

Danielo steps back a few meters to sit on a dead tree. The others follow his lead to rest.

Everyone had been on edge after that freak event.

I sit down and try to detect it once more.

And again.

No mental power at all, even though anything with any sort of will seemed to have some.

I try again. Still nothing.

I think it’s using a skill to prevent me from feeling anything.

Mana? Nothing as well…

Wait… Almost nothing.

After a couple of minutes, I start to think that it naturally has almost no mana.

A few percent more than the environment itself. Almost within the range of data noise.

It’s so faint that it’s hard to detect without straining my brain.

“Alright, I’m done. I can’t detect a single bit of mental power, but I can detect a ridiculously small amount of mana. Detecting these while walking for hours will fry my brain. Magic Missile!” I launch a half-powered magic missile a bit to the left after trying to lock-on the stickbug, to see if I can still lock-on these. It misses. The stickbug doesn’t move. “And my spell doesn’t lock-on these bugs.” Danielo looks on, frowning.

I change my attack to mental power by taking a nail out of a pocket. With telekinetic grab I lift it and accelerate it as fast as I can towards the stickbug.

Tonk

The nail pierces inside the stickbug, which starts running up the tree.

I grab the actual stickbug with telekinetic grab and pull down as hard as I can.

“Haaah!” I shout, putting in more effort.

The stickbug stops climbing, then seems to suspend itself to the tree before its legs claw into the tree as it slowly goes down the tree.

At the same time, I chant. “Magic Missile.” The missile hits it right in the middle and it dies.

2 points.

Using Telekinetic Grab and Magic Missile at the same time isn’t too hard, as chanting the spell and letting mana flow is enough and the rest is done automatically when you don’t need to make the missile lock-on.

That’s the true advantage of using multiple power sources, I can use all the energies at the same time, multiplying my power output.

Claire seems surprised. “Wow! Was that telekinesis?!”

I nod.

Danielo frowns. “We’ll walk slower if I walk in front.”

“That’s fine, whoever is in front decides the walking speed anyway.” Says Raquel.

The group agrees and Danielo walks in front as before.

Although Danielo became almost berserk after he had gotten hurt, at the end of the day he did his job well and was quite brave, willing to risk himself.

…

Later, we stop to eat lunch, sweaty from the heat engulfing the jungle once more.

After lunch, I discover a group of fifteen beings in the trees. I surmise they are goblins from their mana and mental power.

I urge the group to attack with me for the points. Only Lin Hao is against it, probably due to him not wanting to use ammo.

“Lin Hao, you saw that my bow has barely any use out here. How about I lend it to you until the end of the trial? You can enhance the arrows with your power and recover them. It’s silent too, so it ought be better long term.” He contemplates the matter and agrees, thankful for my help.

This way Lin Hao will only use his rifle in a pinch.

We approach the group of goblins quietly.

As Lin Hao unleashes an arrow, Raquel shoots her water arrow spell and I rapid-fire five Magic Missiles. Then I accelerate two more goblins to the ground with Telekinetic Grab.

Each goblin that fell this way received fractures. One had broken its neck and perished, giving me points.

I could only pull down two goblins before feeling the mental exhaustion. This was due to wasting my mental energy on the previous stickbug.

One of the two goblins I pulled down is still alive.

In total, six goblins still live.

One is shot dead by Lin Hao with an arrow. Danielo, Claire and Raquel go in the fray. I follow them.

In the end, I kill another goblin with my sword but I suffer some light bruising which should go away by tonight.

We take a small break.

I now have 16 points.

It made me want to buy something right away.

Many of the ten and fifteen pointer passives were good.

The Enhanced Accuracy 1 passive for ten points would let me hit magic missiles manually better and also upgrade my use of telekinesis. It should let me move my mental power to the right spot faster, letting me reach higher maximum speeds with nails and other objects.

There were the last two mental power passives, Regeneration and Control for 15 points. Control would increase my capabilities a lot.

There were spells that could help in various ways. Magic Bullet 1 could help me by shooting faster projectiles for faster enemies that evades the missile’s lock-on.

One intriguing passive ‘skill’ was called Mana Organ 1 and cost a whopping 50 points. It could ‘create mana intrinsically’ which sounded dangerous. What if it became high level and increased mana concentrations on Earth? What other uses had this skill?

I’d need to think about it more, while walking through this endless forest.

In the meantime, I really wanted to buy Enhanced Intelligence 1 first.

I look at the others.

Claire is looking at me intently.

“What’s up?” I ask her.

“… Nothing. It’s just that you always end up getting the most points…” She complains. The other apostles also look toward us, seemingly agreeing.

“That’s why I suggested hunting that last group of goblins, to hunt for more points. We all need them. As for whether or not I should participate in battles…” Once I started speaking to Claire, it was hard to be mean to her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that…” Claire apologizes and looks away awkwardly.

After a while, I sneak out my apostle slate and quickly buy Enhanced Intelligence 1 for 10 points.

I suddenly felt the maximum capacity of my mental power increase by one quarter, and an overall clarity of mind.

Looking around me, I can take in even more information from my surroundings at a time.

Each leaf can almost be computed. Not only that, my thinking speed has definitely increased almost two-fold.

(So this is Enhanced Intelligence… Indeed, my intellect might not compare at all to a God’s, if they can increase it so quickly and so much.)

This Enhancement was well worth the points.

It makes me want to get the other Enhancements in the same category, namely, Enhanced Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, Endurance and Charisma. Especially the wisdom and charisma upgrades, which are the most mysterious, although dexterity should also increase my accuracy and is almost a must-have.

It was actually a bit freaky to upgrade something like my intelligence. It made me wonder what would be the effects of the second, third and MAX levels of this passive skill.

(Am I a transhumanist after doing that? Hopefully not.)

The phenomenon was still within the realm of nature. However I did change my original self into something else ever since my very first passive skill purchase, Enhanced Memory.

Would I stay human? Could I stay human? What did being human truly mean?

“…dward… Edward!”

Suddenly I turn my head, looking at Suzy, as if waking up from a trance.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, your gaze seemed fixed in emptiness, I thought it was weird.” Suzy replies.

“Oh. I was deep in thought, it’s nothing.”

(I might need to stop upgrading myself out in the open from now on. It could be dangerous.)

Our fellowship moves onward, walking cautiously through the jungle.

…

Approximately one hour later.

I had recovered all expanded mana and a chunk of mental power.

This made me confirm intelligence didn’t increase mental power capacity as much as its regeneration.

(Since it’s a mental attribute, then the capacity must be closely linked to Wisdom, right?)

I could only test this later, as I detected signals similar to giant ants on the way.

“Guys, giant ants, eight of them in front.” I warn.

“Alright, let’s get them. Leave at least one for me, Edward!” Claire requests.

“Um, let’s not walk fast, could be stickbug close.” Danielo cautions.

“Alright. I’ll leave one ant per person. How does that sound?” I propose.

“That’s fine for me.” Says Raquel.

“I’d like two.” Replies Lin Hao.

“Fine, I’m killing three then.” I compromise in the end.

We approach the ants. This time, one of the ants is a fighter-looking one with huge, thick mandibles.

I send it a full-powered magic missile and kill two more with half-powered missiles, leaving me 40% of my mana.

I gain 4 points, the bigger ant giving two points.

(I still get 4 points then. Lucky me.)

Having ten points, I could afford Enhanced Wisdom 1.

Thinking about it quickly as other apostles killed the other ants, I thought it’d be worth to get it as soon I as could.

After finishing the ants, we didn’t stay there waiting for reinforcements and walked on forward.

To the North-West.

…

On the way, I killed another stickbug.

Then it was evening, time to set up camp.

Much like last time, we piled obstacles up almost everywhere, but we left a single passage to go do our business.

This time, the one on watch duty will have to watch over that passage.

We ate dinner together.

We had changed up the night watch routine and that was all.

In my tent, I took my apostle slate and bought Enhanced Wisdom 1.

(…)

My Mental Power regeneration had increased a little, something like 5 percent. However my Mental Power capacity became 40 or so percent better.

It would now take ten hours to regenerate my mental power entirely instead of eight hours.

The passive skill had to have other effects the same way Intelligence did.

But I’m either insensitive to them or they weren’t that obvious.

‘Wisdom’ itself sounded like a concept hard to define or even measure.

I stopped thinking about it.

I snuggled with Suzy and went to sleep.

In the early morning I had my night watch shift.

Until morning arrived, nothing happened. It was slightly disappointing but also a relief.

It was a good opportunity to monopolize points, but at least I was fresh and ready for the day.

We ate breakfast, packed our bags and set off once more.

Today’s sky was cloudy. We could expect some rain either in the afternoon or tomorrow.

By now, our group was bored at the premise of walking through the forest.

We just had to persist.

…

Evening came.

We set up camp. The sky was darker than before, the air was heavy and humid. There was no doubt rain would fall.

Thankfully everyone had waterproof tents, but if the soil were to stop absorbing water and flood the forest floor, water would still get in the tents.

With Suzy’s help, we increased the height of our tent by ten or so centimeters by stacking dirt on top of wood. It was less comfortable inside, but still alright. Most importantly, we’d stay dry no matter what.

No one else bothered doing the same as we did.

Raquel did ask if she could come in our tent if hers was flooded. I couldn’t say no, and neither could Suzy.

This time I had the third night watch.

I went to sleep.

…

Groggy and feeling like shit, I wake up due to shouts under the noise of rain hitting the tent.

“What…? Fuck!” I mutter, as I understand what’s going on, feeling many mental and mana signatures all over the place.

I could hear Danielo’s fiery hammer blasting enemies, even over the sound of his chainsaw.

DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN

Lin Hao was shooting lots of bullets, even clearer proof of an emergency.

Suzy was by now already awake, as I was putting on my jumpsuit and helmet.

“Stay there Suzy!” I shout as I get out the tent with my lamp.

There’s enough mud that I can immediately smell it.

Outside the camp, inside the camp, everywhere, there were monsters I had never seen.

Giant slugs, giant snails, giant worms coming out of the ground and one giant red frog as if the others weren’t enough.

(This is bad! We’re surrounded!)

With my sword in one hand, I turn around to make sure that no beast is near my tent.

A giant snail is approaching me at a menacing pace. Its moist skin shines against my lamp.

“Magic Missile!” The half-powered missile hits the giant banana-yellow snail right in the head. The snail’s eyes immediately retract inside and the snail emits large amounts of slime.

(It’s not dead?!)

Still, it’s out of it for now.

I see a giant slug coming by. This time I adjust the missile’s power to two thirds.

Wiiiumm

The slug gets hit and dies after a moment, giving me two points.

(These ones resist arcane damage a whole lot more!)

I see another banana snail about to destroy Raquel’s tent by moving over it.

I throw out a three-quarters powered magic missile. The magic missile zooms into its body.

The snail dies after a second rather than instantly.

(That was also cutting it close then. No wonder the half-powered one didn’t kill the other one.)

The snail gives me three points.

I’m left with half of my mana capacity, leaving me a sense of emptiness.

Suddenly, I see from the corner of my eye the giant red frog leap.

It jumps at great speed towards Claire, who tries to step away and block it with her spear but still gets violently propelled to the side with the frog’s palmed hand. She slides and falls into the mud.

“Claire!” I shout her name. She stays on the ground, with her arms in front of her face.

“Magic Missile!” I let out a full powered magic missile at the frog.

It sees it and jumps before the projectile can arrive.

Unfortunately for it, the magic missile’s path curves and follows the frog.

The magic missile bursts into the frog, making the frog freeze in the air and fall on its belly.

The frog, twitches and its legs retract slowly to its body. It’s still alive.

“Tough bastard!” With only 20% of my mana left, I jog towards it with my sword, almost sliding from the mud. I stab into its eye as deeply as I can.

The frog twitches some more and stops after a moment.

My interface show six more points.

(That’s almost as much as the rat skeleton boss from last time!)

The battle’s not over yet.

I only have enough mana for one three-quarters powered shot.

I strain myself to pull out my sword from the frog’s head. The rain slowly washes away the bloodstained blade.

DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN

VRRRUUUUUUIMMMM

Shots from Lin Hao and chainsaw action from Danielo still blast my ears.

I barely hear Raquel chant her water arrow.

Looking around after feeling for mana and mental power, I see two slugs, two banana snails and five worms remaining.

Danielo’s fire enchantment comes to an end, making him throw the hammer on a worm before using his chainsaw two-handed on a slug. Gore flies off into the air.

Claire slowly heals herself with a prayer.

Lin Hao shoots at a snail’s head.

Raquel slashes with her daggers at a worm, running around it until it either bleeds out or gets cut in half, I couldn’t be sure.

I hold my sword tightly in my hand before running to the closest monster, a giant worm.

These giant worms had soft pink skin, it was hard to imagine the danger they could pose.

Were they out hunting, or just out of the mud to breathe?

I stab into it. The worm trembles and points its head towards me.

With a bad premonition, I prepare my mental power.

The worm vomits out a flesh colored blanket. I push it away with mental power, making the flesh blanket stick over the worm instead.

The flesh quickly goes back inside the worm.

(I’ve seen this before… Oh god, it’s the worm’s stomach coming out to capture prey!)

The worm was a carnivorous predator.

Pushing its stomach away from me took a big chunk out of my mental power.

I could repeat the feat three or four times.

I slash the worm’s mouth and head over and over, while walking around it, imitating Raquel’s technique who must have been fighting these before me.

The method works well, as the worm is slightly sluggish even at first, but gets very slow after it gets cuts all over.

Soon, the worm flops on the ground and I stab it with all my weight, finishing it.

It gets me two points.

I look at my allies.

Danielo was chainsawing a different slug and Claire was back up, teaming up with him.

Lin Hao was shooting the same snail, retracted into it’s shell. It looked like it would die soon.

Raquel was using the same technique on a new worm.

I had one snail and three worms to attack.

(… Let’s kill that snail, the others take too much time to kill these.)

The snail was fast approaching Raquel. I send a three-quarters powered magic missile, leaving me almost completely empty and uncomfortable.

The snail dies with that magic missile, as expected.

Three more points.

Lin Hao had finished his snail and went to shoot a worm. Raquel was about done with hers. Danielo and Claire were done with their slug and went to attack another worm.

This left one worm for me, and as much as I hated fighting them with a sword, I knew I could kill it quite safely. I had enough mental power and I was prepared for its stomach-throw special attack.

I approach a worm and slash at it over and over.

Raquel goes to kill the last worm.

Lin Hao shoots his worm dead while Danielo and Claire make short work of their own worm. They rest stand and look over the two of us.

Silence finally returns to the forest, besides the cries of worms and grunts of Raquel and I.

In the end, Raquel kills her worm twenty seconds before me.

I now have a total of 18 points.

I almost wanted to let myself fall to the wet, muddy ground.

We were all exhausted. But one voice helped me concentrate some more.

“Is it over?” Suzy asked after poking out her head from the tent with a hammer in hand.

“Yes, Suzy. Let’s go back to sleep. I’m dead tired.” I reply back.

With my words, the others suddenly relax.

It seemed they were waiting for me to scan the place. There had been no time to tell them.

Sensing again for enemies, there weren’t any.

I had splashes of mud all over my suit and some smaller ones on my visor.

I did my best as to not dirty the tent while I removed my shoes, suit and helmet in a corner.

I went back to hugging Suzy.

Waking up like this in the middle of the night is too much…

…