Icarus Awakens

Among the other limitations of Hunter’s otherwise impressive detection radius was that, when the ringcat was advancing, he couldn’t detect new creatures. The tags already applied remained as those only faded when both Daniel and Hunter went unconscious, or the target died. Still, any new threat that approached could easily reach the village before Hunter would once more actively monitor the region.

That weakness wasn’t exploited today. Even if something did try to approach the village, there was a dusker who watched for threats and could warn if any approached. That didn’t rule out the possibility of a monster with stealth sneaking up, although something like invisibility was uncommon in the typical monsters of the region.

Tak and Hunter did not react as the two approached. The Totem Warrior was in the classic, cross-legged meditative pose, while the beast at his side simply laid down and rested his head between his front legs. Neither the heat nor the sun bothered them since their skin was covered, and they would both regenerate even if it did burn.

While Daniel sat down, Khare rooted into the sand. Unlike when they entered their version of the advancement trance, they only sank halfway. Another of their new powers. Different species could access different ones, like the avianoid ability to temporarily convert their arms into full wings. From what he’d seen the gestalts were the most exotic, altering how they could shape their forms.

Kob, who had been the strongest in the Thormundz before their untimely demise, could cover their entire body in stone. Daniel had first thought they were some kind of stone giant, but the actual body was hidden inside. Khare had somehow acquired that power far before they should have, but didn’t have the mana for it and likely wouldn’t until level 4. Daniel didn’t know what this new rooting ability did exactly, Khare having acquired it after sharing access to their powers and the decision to not rely on Daniel’s Encyclopedia was made. Allowing Khare to just sink halfway into the ground seemed a poor benefit from a level 2 ability, so he expected there was more to it than that.

There was an odd sense of boredom as he waited. The only other time he’d been truly bored was during his mad week of enchanting. Even then there were books to read and people to talk to. Getting a taste of an actual city made things worse as Daniel was reminded of the comforts of his world, albeit in a lesser form. The absence of TV, air conditioning, or the novelty of magic made the small toy Tak carried the only real entertainment in the village while the villagers were asleep.

Not even the Encyclopedia held much to distract him. Without a search function, the best he could do was explore hyperlinks that all eventually led along the same circles or into a roadblock of Unidentification. He’d taken wide access to knowledge of how this world worked for granted, always passing off a deep dive into topics given the extreme needs of the present.

If reading about the mysteries of the world couldn’t distract Daniel, at least internally grousing about missed opportunities could. Hunter awoke first, standing up and shaking collected sand off. There was an ever present breeze to this region that would carry it to anything standing still. Good?

Good. Hunter confirmed. They both used telepathy despite their relative isolation to not disturb Tak. I chose strength. If we are hunting, I will need that.

Daniel navigated to the screen on his phone that displayed Hunter’s stats and nodded. Yeah, and you still have enough to get charisma to level 2. Maybe you could get a power that lets your fur change color.

No. Hunter replied flatly.

What? You could go with an orange and bright yellow theme. The ringcat regarded him for a moment, and then something shifted. The connection between them was more than just mental, allowing the emotional and subconscious states to be shared as well. To Daniel and Hunter, this was incredibly disorientating at full strength. While Daniel had made strides in improving his tolerance of Hunter’s senses, fully sharing the ringcat’s mind appeared an unachievable goal as matters stood. Ironically, a being who was not only able to share a stronger Empathic Link but preferred doing so was sunk into the ground next to him.

The Empathic Link between Daniel and Hunter had started at low intensity, but as their bond improved it gained the troublesome ‘normal’ intensity. Either could lower it at will, but the daily reset at dawn briefly brought it back up before one of them slapped the alarm clock. There had been some personality bleed in from this small exposure, though the effect was plateauing. That didn’t mean the sudden shift in the link was enjoyable.

Don’t do that! Daniel thought as Hunter metaphorically balled up a little bit of himself and threw it at him.

Worth it. Red markers appeared over both Daniel’s and Hunter’s heads.

“Oh yeah, sorry Khare.” Daniel dismissed the effect as he whispered and walked a short distance from Tak. “Look, I’m going to try something. There’s an ability I haven’t used yet, mostly because I’ve already got Hunter and it takes a while. But if tomorrow’s the day we go out, it might reach a farther range than what Hunter can do now.”

“What does it do?” Hunter asked, now using his voice too.

“Here, let me pull up the entry.”

Attune to Nature (Ability, Wisdom, Spell, Domain: Knowledge, Ritual, Trance, Level: 1):

You possess the Power to gain information on surrounding terrain and Creatures in an undeveloped area around you through expenditure of a moderate amount of Mana and one hour of concentration. The range of this ability scales with your wisdom and is dramatically decreased if used within a settled area. Creatures above your level ignore this ability. This is a Magical Ability that does not function in an area of Magical Suppression.

“I’m guessing this village counts as a ‘settled area’ but I don’t feel like walking through the desert just to sit down on a random dune. Besides, it’ll be good to get a sense of just how far the range is reduced.”

“Artificer?” Khare asked.

“No, this is one of the leftovers from Rorshawd. I’m also curious if I can use Identify Creature with it. I get the sense that you’re not normally supposed to combine powers from these two classes, so if I can send out a sonar ping or something that would be awesome.” Daniel sat down and then realized there was a problem. “It’s going to be hard to concentrate if I’m getting sunburned. Let’s just wait for the night.”

…

There was a residual heat to the air after the sun had gone down that made the air relatively pleasant by the oasis. Even going out to the first of the dunes, Daniel decided not to put on the stiff leather jacket that was essentially his armor. It’d been too hot to wear so far during the day, and he’d sold the heliorite armor he’d made himself on account of it having a critical, explosive weakness. He doubted Rogues were lying in wait out here but kept his eyes peeled regardless.

Neither Thomas nor Evalyn had found their way to the other half of the group during the remnants of the evening. They were likely trying to help Khiat again and he wished them the best of luck. As far as those present, only Hunter could have a potentially better impact. While the ringcat wasn’t thrilled about Feline Charm, he’d leaned into it a few times for Khiat’s sake.

As far as Daniel himself, there wasn’t much he could do. Both he and Khare served as reminders of who Khiat had failed to protect, at least in her mind. Remembering when he’d mired in his failures, Daniel had kept clear, allowing those with either training or a strong sense of empathy to take the lead. Instead, he’d kept to his various tasks and was now trying to figure out how to use one of his abilities.

“Is this hard because of my seventh sense?” he asked aloud to no one in particular.

“Maybe,” Tak replied simply. “It is not hard for me to use it though.”

Daniel turned quickly, almost falling flat on the ground as he threw out a hand to steady himself. “Wait, you have Attune to Nature too?”

“Yes! Why?”

“You-” Daniel stammered, glanced at Hunter, and then back to Tak. “How does it work?”

“Like this!” Tak sat down and took a stance almost identical to when he advanced, a look of peace on his face. He sat unmoving in this way for a minute before Daniel spoke up.

“That’s it?”

“Yes!” Tak opened his eyes. “Only, you have to do that for a little bit. Talking makes it not work. Or being attacked.”

“Why didn’t you use that before?”

“I did!” Tak tilted his head. “Oh, but not when you were there. When I was with the others, to find things to hunt. Back in the valleys.”

“I just meditate? I’ve already been trying that.”

Tak’s eyebrows creased. “Yes? No. Maybe. You do need to move mana into the ground. Maybe you just suck at it.”

“So I can’t do this yet.” Daniel hit the ground with both fists. “I guess it’s a good thing I never tried this before or I’d have just thought the ability was broken.”

“I could try,” Hunter spoke lowly, cautious of the waking villagers who were still far enough to justify speech instead of telepathy. “You can give it to me, then share my senses.”

“Why couldn’t we just have Tak do it tomorrow though?”

“You wouldn’t be able to know what it feels like.”

Daniel blinked, realizing what Hunter was offering. “Oh, thanks!” There was no interface he could use to revoke the powers he shared with Hunter, it was just an intrinsic will that guided how he used the majority of his abilities. Their bond, at this point, allowed him to share two powers with Hunter. The defaults were Regeneration and Identify Creature, though Jump was often traded in mid-battle to give Hunter more mobility. Though Daniel valued Regeneration higher than the marking feature, he revoked the self-healing now since he was curious about the interaction. Theoretically, he could make use of his power while sharing Hunter’s senses, although even under normal conditions he failed to match the way Hunter instinctually marked everything he sensed.

“Well, this is going to take an hour either way. Tak, Khare, you can watch or,” Daniel passed a glance over their surroundings. “Look at sand? How do people live their whole lives out here?”

“I can stay,” Tak offered. “I will use my ability too. We can see if it is different.”

Khare, for once, declined. There were aspects of the gestalt Daniel still didn’t understand, but he’d gotten the sense Khare wasn’t entirely alright either. They might have died if it wasn’t for the sand wall he’d summoned. Alien mind or not close death encounters could change people. That, and the gestalt wasn’t quite on the level with the rest of the group. They and Daniel had reached a certain degree of understanding, but even Hunter contributed more to verbal conversations.

It could have been Khare was shy, and Daniel had no empathic link to say otherwise, but he’d started to wonder if Khiat was the only one they needed to be worried about. After all, every other gestalt had headed off together just before they’d reached the city to places unknown. As the three on the dune sat down to prepare, so did Khare separate from them, if only temporarily.

To Daniel’s slight irritation, Hunter was easily able to initiate the trance needed for the ability along with Tak. That deepened his theory that it was somehow tied to how advancement worked and posed further issues. The prevailing opinion was he wasn’t capable of it right now, and may never be if the damage he’d done to his seventh sense affected other parts of him. Joining Hunter mid-process was within his power, though.

The enhanced hearing and scent of the ringcat had initially overloaded Daniel when he’d arrogantly thought he could just handle it, to say nothing of the disorientation of suddenly inhabiting another body you couldn’t control. The way Hunter viewed the world was dramatically different, in that he didn’t just view the world. If Identify Creature worked solely by sight, the ringcat wouldn’t have been able to improve its range much over Daniel. Scent was as much Hunter’s primary sense as sight, rather than being the accessory it was for Daniel.

By now Daniel could tolerate it better, especially since the desert air dulled the very sense that most troubled him. Unless any startling stimuli were introduced, he could tread water for the full hour this ability would take at the expense of only a small amount of mana. He could sense the steady but slow decline of his mana pool as Hunter began expending mana at a faster rate. Where it went he couldn’t begin to tell, though that was due to his insensitivity. Should his talon training bear fruit, that would change.

During that time Daniel didn’t communicate or attempt to control the host body, afraid that would disrupt the process. Instead he rode on the senses, practicing both his identifying and new marking powers. His ultimate goal, beyond turning Hunter into some kind of pegasus he could use as a fighter jet, was to be able to take over Hunter’s body in the worst case scenario of him being disabled by a hostile effect. Also, just to experience fighting up close with a body that was suited to it. Of all of his powers, the ones granted by his bond with Hunter were the most marvelous.

When enough time had passed, Daniel sensed the drain on Hunter’s mana end. What he couldn’t feel was the mana which had gathered in a circle underneath both of them, primed for a sudden rush that was released in the next moment.

Of the various mistakes Daniel had made in the development and use of his powers, he repeated a frequent one when Hunter finished the necessary preparations for Attune to Nature. In his defense, it was hard to intuitively discover the caveats and intricacies of an ability you couldn’t naturally use. Even so, his reliance on the descriptions his Encyclopedia gave on powers meant that there were times when incorrect assumptions were made.

In this case, rather than receiving some abstract list of information on their surroundings, Daniel was rocketed with Hunter along a wave of sensation spreading in every direction. Had he been the source of the ability, Daniel might have been able to tolerate the unexpected barrage, but the senses in question were based on Hunter’s biology. Before the full effect had been realized, Daniel had already passed out from sheer overload.

Leaving him behind, Hunter continued to push outwards on the wave of mana that was growing weaker with distance. Another major barrier was the village nearby, acting as a pillar to block the wave. An expanding wedge of shadow shrouded a sizable area, with other villages farther out acting as more minor stumbling blocks. Even the roads stymied the wave’s progress, although they just diminished the range rather than block the effect entirely.

While this trance was active, Hunter’s mental faculties were improved to handle the expanding, omnidirectional wave. Daniel had also been bereft of this benefit, exacerbating his issue. In this state, Hunter was easily able to mark any creature he detected. Doing so didn’t require mana usage, and didn’t run against the mana actively channeling into another ability. In the same intrinsic way he could feel mana flow, his seventh sense, Hunter knew trying to use anything that required mana to function would fail as the river within him was preoccupied.

The result was a sizable number of creatures both monstrous or otherwise highlighted on the horizon. This didn’t spread far enough to reach the city and would have been pointless if it had, but the distance eclipsed even the longer range Hunter’d had in the Thormundz. Normally, the results of this ability were limited by the memory of the user, which Identify Creature took out of the equation. There was still a time and mana cost, though even Hunter was impressed by the results.

One unfortunate flaw was that anything above Hunter’s level was unaffected. The more dangerous creatures still posed a threat, meaning that vigilance wasn’t off the table.

“Ooooowww!” Daniel groaned, his headache upon awakening exquisite. He momentarily forgot it when he saw all of the auras around him. “Jeez, how far did that go?”

“Far,” Hunter answered. “I couldn’t see through villages.”

“It is like that,” Tak nodded. “Harder to use in older regions because of all the towns. I like here better.”

“And this is a level 1 ability?” Daniel pondered. It was like a sonar pulse traveling along the ground. Sure it can’t see through villages, but even so that’s crazy! “I guess Identify Creature just combos well with other stuff. Good job Hunter.”

“Thank you.”

“We should go farther out tomorrow to check the areas the village is currently blocking. Since we’ll both want to be asleep at dawn we also can’t sustain these marks. If it’s alright with you guys, I’m thinking of going after shank stompers again if we can find a good group. I’ve got a feeling the formulae I get from later unlocks are better than the ones up front.”

“Ok!” Tak exclaimed.

“You understood that?”

“No,” Tak admitted. “But those creatures are good prey. Good for a warm up at least.”

“Yeah.” Daniel tried to examine the far off auras in greater detail, but though the titles of each creature became legible when he focused on them, there were far too many to distinguish. “Damn. I think this worked too well.”