The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1) (5 page)

The two of them walked through the
forest, both wrapped in silence as they dealt with their own personal demons.
As they moved forward to the last place the wolves had been seen intending to
pick up their trail, Richter noticed a small icon along the left side of his
vision with Sion’s face. Focusing on it, a translucent window popped up.

Interesting. Now that they were
Companions, Richter could see Sion’s status page. He wasn’t sure what else
being Companions meant, but he was sure the information would reveal itself in
time. Most of the skills seemed self-explanatory. He had received the Light
Armor skill himself after he had donned the wood sprite armor. Richter was
extremely interested in the Imbue Arrow skill whatever that was. Focusing upon
the skill brought up no further information. Resolving to ask the sprite about
it later, Richter continued on.

They walked through the forest as the
sun moved across the sky. When it began to approach the horizon, Sion stopped,
examining an old spoor on the ground. Making eye contact briefly, he motioned
and then led Richter deeper into the forest, leaving the river for the first
time. After moving for only ten minutes they heard snuffling and growling
noises up ahead. Slowly making their way through the trees, they climbed a hill
and discovered what looked like a small cave opening. In front of it were three
wolves. The largest was sleeping while the other two fought over a bone with a
few scraps of meat upon it.

You have found: New Cave.

Reacting to some unknown stimulus,
the larger wolf looked up and stared in their direction. Richter froze, his
heart beating wildly as he prepared to fight, but the wolf simply continued to
scan the woods before laying its head back down. The concealment properties of
his new armor seemed to be coming in handy.

Congratulations! You have learned the
skill: Stealth. Use your surroundings to avoid detection.  Attacks made
while
stealthed
cause extra damage.

 Huh, Richter had been wondering
when this skill would show up.  Back to business though, the prompt had
said it was a ‘New’ cave.  In the game, dungeons had been divided by the
age.  New dungeons were less than a year old.  The progression was
New, Young, Seasoned, Mature, Timeworn, Ancient and Primordial.  After
Young, each stage was ten times as old: a year, ten years, a hundred years and
so on.  The age was how long the creatures had been there.  It was
usually a marker of the difficulty and loot that could be gained.  It wasn’t
exact though.  A new cave inhabited by a grand lich would be more
difficult than a seasoned cave filled with rats.

Sion motioned for Richter to shoot
one of the smaller wolves while he drew an arrow and aimed at the larger one.
The arrow seemed to develop a blue aura and vibrated perceptibly, almost as if
it wanted to shoot off the string of its own accord. Nocking his own arrow,
Richter took aim at the closer of the two wolves. Easing his breathing he
waited for Sion, releasing his arrow only a moment after the sprite. The arrow
streaked towards his target hitting it broadside. It collapsed to the ground.
Hearing a faint boom he looked for the larger wolf, but saw only a red mist
hanging in the air. Turning quickly back, he saw the uninjured wolf darting
towards him. Richter dropped his bow, and drew his dagger just as it jumped
towards him. Shoving his left bracer crossways into its mouth, he stabbed his
blade towards the wolf’s stomach. It sank its teeth into the bracer, closing
its jaws with bruising force, but was unable to penetrate the armor.

Richter’s dagger sunk into the wolf’s
underside. He withdrew his blade and stabbed once, twice, three more times
before it stopped trying to bite into him and fell to the side. As he pried the
dead wolf off of his arm, he saw Sion approach the first wolf he had shot which
was struggling to get to its feet, bloody froth on its muzzle. The arrow must
have punctured its lung. Sion came up behind it and, quick as thought, slid his
sword into its side. The wolf gave a soft exhale and lay still.

 Cleaning his sword on the
wolf’s pelt, Sion motioned for Richter to follow him into the cave. The sprite
kept his blade held out in front of him. Richter walked behind the small man
his dagger at the ready. Just inside the mouth of the cave they found the
larger wolf.  They stepped over the carcass, a crater like hole in its
side. This was clearly the result of Sion’s first arrow. That blue aura was
most likely the sprite’s Imbue Arrow skill, Richter thought. Allowing a moment
for their eyes to adjust, they saw the cave was shallow, and held nothing else
besides the discarded bones of the wolves’ kills. Richter was turning to leave,
but saw Sion walking up to a patch of black moss growing along the cave
ceiling. Sion slowly ran his hand along the dark tendrils until it fell off in
his hands.

 “How did you do that,” Richter
asked curiously. “I destroyed the plants that I tried to pick.”

 “It is my Herb Lore skill. I
doubt someone as large and clumsy as you could master it.”

 “Try me,” Richter said with
barely constrained irritation, “or are you still not going to give me your full
support?”

 “Fine,” the sprite said
sharply. Moving to another patch of moss, he started again, speaking softer
now, “You cannot simply take from nature, and expect a positive result. You
must connect with the life and energy in the plant. With practice this become
easier.” He was moving his hand along this second patch of moss while talking.
“Once your energies are in sync, it is not you taking the herb from its place,
but instead you moving a new part of yourself.” The moss fell away in his hand.

 “There is no spoon, got it,”
Richter mumbled. Walking over to a patch of moss deeper in the cave, he tried
to see where he could grip it to peel it off. Placing his hand near a likely
crevice he tried to pull the moss away.

You have picked up an unknown plant.
Due to a lack of herbalism you have destroyed the plant. Why don’t you try
digging a ditch with those shovels at the end of your arms?

 Gritting his teeth for the umpteenth
time in since coming to this world, his mood was not improved to hear the
melodic yet condescending tones of the sprite, “I said
connect
to the
plant. Do not force it! Feel the energy inside of what you are trying to pick.”

 Moving to another moss, Richter
stopped himself from ripping it off the wall in frustration. Calming himself,
he placed his hand on it. He slowly ran his fingers along the length as he had
seen Sion do. He closed his eyes and focused on the sensation of the soft, wet
plant under his fingertips. For two hundred breaths, he stood there until he
detected a faint echo. Strangely it was more felt than heard. Immediately
focusing upon it, he strained to detect it again. For another several minutes
he tried desperately to connect but felt nothing. Stopping to think of another
tact he relaxed his mind and in that moment the echo was back again. Without
focusing too hard this time, he willed himself to be open to the feeling. After
a few moments, the moss simply felt more “alive.” Placing his hand at what he
now somehow knew was the right spot, he pulled lightly and the moss fell away
from the cave wall into his hand

You have picked Dark Cave Moss. You
feel this moss might make you sick if you ate it. You cannot detect anything
else at your current level.

You have learned the skill: Herb
Lore. You can now find useful plants with greater ease, identify, and pick
them.

 “Hmmm, not bad,” Sion said with
a note of grudging respect.

 “Is this used to make poison,”
Richter asked.

 “As with most things in nature
it can be used to harm or heal.” Sion said with his reserved air. “Nature
cannot be judged, and does not fall into petty roles of right and wrong… But
yes, Dark Moss can be used to make poison.”

 “Can you teach me how to create
it?”

 “It requires the skill:
Potions. Before seeing you learn Herb Lore so quickly, I would have said it was
beyond you, but perhaps. Let us cleanse the Forest, and then I will try to
teach you at the Hearth Tree. Now reach those other patches of Dark Moss along
the ceiling, and we will continue our hunt.”

 Richter spent the next hour
collecting moss, each time it was marginally faster to detect the resonance of
life. He was able to collect four more Dark Moss, before the cave was picked
bare. The sun was almost setting when they exited the cave. Knowing they could
not track effectively in the dark, Sion built a fire as Richter dragged the
wolves’ bodies several hundred away. There was no need to attract more
predators overnight. Coming back, he found Sion already sitting in front of the
fire. Agreeing to keep watch second, Richter laid down to rest.

 The night passed without
incident. In the morning, Sion examined the surrounding area, quickly finding
the trail that the wolves had taken to arrive at the cave. Again the two
Companions would be moving upriver. Looking at the useless pelts of the rabid
wolves, Richter shook his head in distaste at the waste of life, before setting
out after the sprite. He attempted to ask about the blue glow the sprite had
made around the arrow, but Sion had cut him off saying it was not up for
discussion.

 Throughout the day, they found
and killed eight more wolves, all with distinctive look of sickened animals.
Once he had killed five, he was notified that he had completed his quest
Cleanse the Forest I, and that he should return to the Hearth Mother for his
reward. Even though Hisako had only asked for five wolves, his second quest,
Cleanse the Forest II, required that he find out why the animals were getting
sick so they proceeded onward.

 The land grew progressively
rockier as they moved upriver. They were also climbing in elevation as they
walked closer to the mountains. The further up they went, the more pine like
trees were seen. They had been walking in silence for several hours when Sion
suddenly stopped. There was a look of severity on his face that Richter had not
seen before. Taking a sniff, he looked at his human companion and quietly said
one word, “Goblin.”

 Looking back at the sprite, he
mouthed back “Goblin?” Sion nodded once, and then silently melded back into the
foliage. Richter moved to follow him into the denser undergrowth, leaving the
relatively open space on the side of the river. It was easier to walk there,
but made them a clear and obvious target as well. Stopping a dozen yards into
the forest, Sion turned to Richter and motioned to him to wait. The sprite
quickly climbed the tree they stood beside and disappeared into the leaves
above. It sounded like the sprite moved along the branches to the next tree. Well
that’s a new trick, Richter thought.

 Waiting, Richter examined his
immediate surroundings. As he looked down he found one plant had colors that
were somewhat more vibrant than its surroundings. Reaching down he ran his hand
along its length. It had yellow flowers that shot off to the sides and a deep
purple bud on top that had yet to open. As he slowed his breathing, he felt he
could visualize all of it in his mind, not just the portion that was visible.
He could feel the leaves, the flowers, and the roots. He made the connection,
and again instinctively knew to loosen the soil lightly around it, grasp below
the level of the flowers, and then twist and pull in a clockwise direction. It
easily came free from the dirt.