Icarus Awakens

Daniel felt more satisfaction from the completion of the enchantment than most. It was the last one, and it was for the newest addition to the hunting team. He’d spent the past two weeks enchanting, using the bounty of skink leather and shank stomper bones to magic up a storm. The others had either advanced or hunted lower risk targets, except for Thomas who had returned to Aughal once it was clear Khiat was better.

Better being a relative term, though it was undeniable that the root of the problem had been solved. When he asked her to share her statistics, all Identify Creature gave him was her name without any sign of class, attributes, or level. Rather than losing all her magic like Calius’ method, she had retained her mana and path forward. Kind of.

Khiat could no longer advance, but on the short hunt she’d accompanied Tak and Hunter on to help feed the village, she’d claimed that the experience had given her a sense of progression she couldn’t easily define. Neither did his phone, or his other self, have answers. He put the latter topic out of his mind because he didn’t want to feel angry right now.

Daniel looked at the bag of holding in his hand and nodded in appreciation. It was level 2, and the space inside was impressive. The material bonus from the skink leather seemed to enhance the carrying space, though he didn’t have other material to compare it with or a way to identify the item’s exact statistics. Either way, the items were extremely useful and had relieved Khare of being the team’s pack mule.

That wasn’t all. He’d just managed to make armor for himself, Evalyn, and Tak from the skink leather, though this process had been far more difficult due to the larger size. Making a copy of Khiat’s travel armor from what he had would be impossible, if only because he didn’t have a single section large enough to manage it. It slightly worried Daniel since he was using material two levels higher than the enchantment, but he reasoned he had plenty of time to get better with enchanting and focused on using every advantage he could to get his team ready for the next big hunt.

Which was today. Tak and Hunter had used Attune to Nature to locate a large pack of desert urchins which would be ideal for Khiat’s first trip. No one wanted her to be caught in a melee, and these monsters didn’t have much reason to approach hunters unless it was to finish them off. That Khiat was going to hunt at all was a point of contention, but the consensus had been reached that it would help her regain her confidence.

The sun was two hours from the horizon when he left the tent. The idea was they’d hit the monsters around an hour after midnight to prevent any chance of Khiat getting exposed to the sun. That would mean it would be a late night for Earth-Daniel, the convention they’d decided on naming themselves whenever they conversed. He might have felt bad about that if it were anyone other than the person who had stranded him in another world.

“Thanks,” Khiat said in a quiet voice, a relatively quiet voice for her race when Daniel handed her the bag.

“Of course. Did the arrowheads I made work?”

“Yeah! Mkael helped me fit them on.” She took one of the lightning arrows out of her quiver and showed it to him. It was made of bone and had the obligatory bonecut as well as lightning affixes on it, the elemental damage visually manifesting as a purple band halfway up the arrowhead. They’d come to an interesting discovery through these arrows.

Initially, Daniel had hoped to cheat the system by making just an arrowhead that Khiat would never have to touch as a way of giving her better arrows. Otherwise, he’d only be able to make her level 1 versions without the lightning damage. She’d inevitably come into contact with the first ones he’d made but didn’t suffer the penalties of holding an enchanted object stronger than what her level should be. Just another way in which Khiat now defied the norm.

“Is everyone ready?” Evalyn asked.

Smiling, Daniel turned and exaggerated a salute. “Yes, team leader, ma’am, all members present and accounted for.”

“Stop that,” she laughed. “And don’t worry Khiat. All I’m going to do is keep an eye on everyone and make suggestions. It’ll be like we talked about with the greater skink, though it’s not going to be that dangerous. If anyone has an idea bring it up, otherwise we’ll go with what I say. I’ll make sure that none of them get to you.”

Khiat, currently standing at over two meters in height with a bow about that size on her back nodded in thanks. Hunter sent a thought towards him as they started walking. Strange creature. She could crush these enemies without that bow.

Yeah, but she doesn’t do well in close up fights. He didn’t bother to screen Tak from the conversation and specifically didn’t prevent the avianoid from hearing the next question. You’re alright with her joining us?

Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?

Because she thinks you’re adorable?

Daniel received a baleful glare from the ringcat and shared a grin with Tak. Oh, yes. What is that thing you said we could make Hunter?

Team mascot. We’ll need one since we’ve decided on a-

No!

Evalyn noticed the good humor from Daniel and Tak but from their grins and her Room Sense power. “Do you think this is far enough?”

The three mentally conversing suddenly grew tense. Daniel looked over his shoulder at Vtidi in his tower, growing farther away. At this point, they couldn’t see him from the valleys below the dunes. “Yeah. Hey, Khiat, there’s something we need to tell you if you’re going to be hunting with us. After everything that’s happened I’m not too worried, but can we trust you not to tell anyone? It’s like your old class,” he said carefully, emphasizing that Assassin was truly dead and gone. “Someone could get hurt if people find out about it.”

“I owe you all so much. You don’t have to tell me.”

“We kind of do,” Daniel told her, knowing that if they were going to take on the sniper full-time, Hunter wouldn’t tolerate any more playacting. His origins could be revealed later, but the basics of the ringcat’s identity had to come out if they were going to coordinate in battle.

Khiat kept walking, but there was a wariness now, as if monsters could appear from over the nearby dunes at any moment. Which, fair was fair, they kind of could. “Ok. What is it?”

Do we do this the soft way or the fun way? Daniel asked Hunter.

Soft. I do not want to startle her.

Alright. “Khiat, Hunter is a person, not a monster. He is a ringcat, but he has his own thoughts and powers. A lot of people in the Hunter’s Guild, the Commander included, already think he’s a Druid because they’ve heard him talk but it’s tricky with people he’s been around before we knew that lie would work.”

Khiat’s helmeted face glanced at Hunter before she stopped walking and backed up a step. “What? I don’t understand. Is this a joke?”

Daniel, hearing more disbelief in her voice than they’d be able to resolve through simple explanation, decided on demonstration instead. He nodded, and Hunter opened his mouth. “No.”

Khiat raised a hand in surprise as she blinked rapidly. “How is-?” Her voice was conflicted, and Daniel imagined she was rethinking every time she’d interacted with Hunter. “How long?”

“Since you’ve met him. As far as how, we don’t know. He’s special, the other monsters aren’t like him. He’s…” Daniel trailed off, realizing he wasn’t the one who should be talking. “Hunter?”

“I was small, once. Body and mind. Daniel helped me be, Tak and Daniel helped me grow. They are my friends.” Daniel was keeping an eye on Hunter’s face and was surprised to find the ringcat didn’t use Feline Charm, no more than what the baseline gave him at least. That was probably wise. “We helped you because we cared. We did,” Hunter emphasized. “You are young, strong but weak. I know because I was too, once. To grow stronger in this world is to hunt. You may stay, you may not, but for now, join us. Fear is only strong when you do not face it.”

Khiat was quiet for a moment, after that. Hunter, you didn’t practice that did you?

No. It is what I feel.

Hmm, good with words, Tak added. Good charisma, better now that you have no level disparity. I am still trying with intelligence, but it is annoying to advance.

“I’ve always heard that monsters want to destroy the world,” Khiat said eventually. “Are you… are all of you…”

“We’re not Spiritualists, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Daniel cut in, feeling this was a better opportunity. “I got a power from my class that let me make a bond with Hunter, and eventually he evolved. We don’t hate the gods or anything like that.” Even if at least one is censoring my Encyclopedia. “We helped get people out of the Thormundz and Hunter was a big part of that. All we want to do now is live our lives and get stronger. We’re telling you this because if Hunter needs to say something during battle, he will.”

“If you need time to think about this, we could go back,” Evalyn offered.

Khiat shook her head, the initial shock wearing off. “No, no this makes sense. You were always too cute to be a monster.”

I want her off the team, Hunter growled internally.

…

The endless deserts of Aughal didn’t provide much in the way of variety in terrain for hunts, save for the villages and roads which they tried to avoid if possible. They found another exception as they neared where the desert urchins had settled for the night. The pack was about forty altogether, ranging from young to alpha variants with the strongest being level 2. Their attacks would be a problem for Khiat if they pierced her armor and into the flesh between her carapace, and they weren’t confident that armor could withstand more than one or two direct hits. Duskers gained a huge natural advantage in exchange for their racial penalty, but it wasn’t the kind that would let them face dragons unaided.

“Think I should try to scan them like last time?” Daniel asked Evalyn.

“That depends, do you want to see how accurate they are at hitting something floating in the air?”

“Fair.” Daniel put his lightning wings back in the bag of holding, the item shrinking as it got close to the opening. When stored he could still see them along with everything else inside as if looking at an inventory screen in a video game. When he wanted to pull something out he reached in, and the item was drawn to his hand. It’d still take some time, maybe fifteen seconds, to put them on from in the bag. He didn’t like leaving his escape option there, but the light it cast made stealth hard at night. When he had enough material and confidence to make Hunter another set of armor he would, for similar reasons.

“What do I do?” Khiat asked.

“Khare, Daniel, and you will be set up two hundred meters away from the pack. That’s in your range, right?”

“Maybe. It’ll be difficult.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t be able to hit anything at all,” Daniel assured.

“Extension.”

“You think that rooting power can let you hit things that far off?” Daniel asked Khare, fully breaking into a tangent.

“Test.”

“Back to the plan,” Evalyn said, still speaking lowly to avoid drawing attention. “Hunter and Tak will advance and draw them out. I’ll try to stay in range of everyone with my music, but I’ll prioritize them at the start. Don’t worry about hitting any monster in particular, just aim for ones you think you can hit.”

“What about your powers? Should I know anything about them?” Khiat clarified, now some interest in her voice.

“No, not for this time. It should be simple enough. What’s important is if anything big comes through like last time, Hunter and Tak will need to cover while the rest of us retreat. I’ll let you know if they need help, otherwise just keep running.”

“Do not worry, you will like this,” Tak encouraged, spoiling the effect somewhat as he’d already taken on his martial aspect. “And I will try not to turn into-“

“Not now, Tak,” Evalyn said quickly. Khiat had accepted the truth about Hunter readily enough and there was no need to complicate things by telling her about Tak’s odd power. At least not on the same day. “If they get too close, don’t feel bad if you have to move back. Daniel’s actually worth a little bit in a melee and I’ll be fighting them directly too if it gets to that point, so you’ll have plenty of cover. Is there anything you’re worried about?”

Khiat took out one of the yellow-striped arrows, looking at it for a moment. “It’s just another hunt,” she said, more to herself. “I’m ok, I’m not-, I can do this.”

Daniel walked with the dusker and Khare to one of the rises from which you could barely see the murder balls next to the oasis. His night vision was better than it should be thanks to his wisdom attribute, and the auras Hunter had placed might be enough for Snap Shot to do the rest. Unfortunately, without a proper crossbow he didn’t have the range. That was something he couldn’t easily reproduce without the benefit of level 5 material. Changing the properties of a material to make string from leather or a stock from bone was just too hard for him at the moment, especially since he’d have to make the entire thing from one type of material.

“Should I do anything now?” Khiat asked as Khare rooted into the ground, leaving their upper half holding a bow.

“I’d wait for Hunter and Tak to get the party started, but once that happens just fire at anything. Can you see them from here?”

“Yes.” There was a strange note in her voice there. “You can’t see what I have anymore, right?”

“Yeah. Why, is something wrong?”

“No.” Khiat put the arrow on her string but didn’t pull it back yet. Ahead, the green lights of Hunter and Tak moved closer while Evalyn stayed in the rough middle. The two predators made it all the way to the main pack without being spotted. One moment, there was silence in the night. The next, the two activated their combo attack and eliminated three of the red lights while throwing themselves into the melee.

“Mark!” Khare cried and Daniel obliged, using Called Shot to make the mark Khare placed flash red and enable the damage buff. There was no cooldown to the ability, but he did have to use it before each of Khare’s shots.

“I’m glad they both have Regeneration,” he said sideways to Khiat, hoping banter would help calm her if she was afraid. “I saw a picture of them on my Focus, they’re like porcupines. Uh, they’re covered in spikes.” In the distance, Khare’s first arrow fell short, and a sound that grew close to grumbling issued from the gestalt. Something in their race’s natural language, probably. “Everything ok?”

“I can see one.” Khiat raised her bow, sounding surprised. It wasn’t too impressive, but then again Daniel would have had trouble without the auras. “I think…” Her arm came up, the composite arms of the greatbow creaking under the tremendous draw weight. It was truly a wonder of craft considering it had been made without enchantment. The only thing he’d seen with higher base damage had been the ballista of Roost’s Peak, but this was a mobile weapon.

There was a faint woosh of air as the dusker let go, and the arrow sailed out and into the night. Daniel lost track of it, but both he and Khare paused to wait for its flight to end. It only took a few seconds before one of the red auras in the distance vanished, a small flash of real purple light indicating the lightning affix had added its damage.

“That was a level 2,” Daniel said blankly. He couldn’t have done that at this range even with his old crossbow, not unless he got a lucky shot. “You didn’t use a power with that, did you?”

“Mark,” Khare said before Khiat could respond, now apparently seized by competitive spirit. The combo attack didn’t help with aiming but Daniel casually applied to bonus as he kept his focus on Khiat.

“Hunter’s Eye. It’s, it’s what I think my old power turned into.” She didn’t immediately reach for another arrow.

“Everything alright?”

“Mark!”

“Yeah, I got it Khare.” Man, I’ve never seen them like this before. They’re not worried we’re replacing them, are they? I’ll figure that out later.

Tentatively, the dusker pulled another lightning arrow from her quiver and her eyes shifted to the pack now being drawn towards them. “I can see one far away like it’s right here. It’s weird, most of what’s in front of me is pushed away to make it bigger.”

She’s zooming in on it? Wait, that sounds like a scope power. He was a bit jealous, but then again he had Snap Shot. “And everything feels good when you use it?”

Another thrum as she released the bowstring, the arrow falling on a level 1 desert urchin as if Khiat herself had jumped from a high board to crush it. Judging from the way the aura broke before it faded, she might be doing so much damage that the bodies wouldn’t be worth much to his Encyclopedia. At the same time, he wasn’t going to stop her. Not unless the power would be causing her any problems.

“No. It’s, it’s everything I wanted.” The gestalt, who was about to remind Daniel he needed to use Called Shot, paused as they caught something from the way Khiat said that. Her voice was sad, yet at the same time filled with wonder. “Why couldn’t it have been like this from the start?”

Because of me. Word had spread about how identifying Khiat’s Critical Strikes power had prevented her from evolving it. No one had blamed him, even himself, but Daniel wasn’t going to forget what he’d unintentionally put her through. “There’s about half of the pack left, want to try for another?” he asked, redirecting Khiat.

The thought of going for any kills himself right now was put aside. He doubted killing all the urchins left would give him any advancement potential. This fight had been specifically chosen for Khiat’s first because the only real risk was the pack overwhelming them or a stronger monster noticing. As it stood, Hunter and Tak controlled the hunt too well for the former to happen, like feline sheep dogs that had wildly misunderstood the job description.

Khiat continued firing, coming close to exhausting the ten lightning arrows he had made for her. There weren’t more because just making them without the shafts was laborious due to their size. However, with the armor and bags done, he could work on that along with the idea he’d had with the ornithopters. Unfortunately, he couldn’t experiment with that until he got back to Aughal as he didn’t want to use Tak’s. He’d need two anyways.

That just left him to occasionally use Called Shot and otherwise enjoy the scenery. It was odd, the slight chill in the air and how relaxed he’d become making it feel like he was sitting on the porch of his childhood home in late fall rather than in the midst of a contest between life and death.

Part of him wanted to reach out to Bridge Space again to yell at Earth-Daniel and try to drag more information out of him, but that left him completely vulnerable in this world. Later. Let’s make him stay up some more once we get back to the village.

It took about thirty minutes to wrap up once Evalyn finished off the last monster with a Songbolt. She’d been able to keep her basic buff, Valor Song, active the entire time and the ability cost him another scannable corpse. Between that and those scattered during the fighting retreat Tak and Hunter had managed, he’d had to walk around a bit to get the whole group. In summary,

You have scanned multiple Monsters, listed below.

Scanned Targets:

• Alpha Desert Urchin, Deceased (Damaged) - 2

• Desert Urchin, Deceased (Damaged) - 14

• Alpha Desert Urchin, Deceased (Destroyed) - 1

• Desert Urchin, Deceased (Destroyed) - 16

You have met the requirements to unlock an Encyclopedia entry, listed below.

Encyclopedia Entries:

• Monster: Desert Urchin, Detailed

“Ok, that confirms it.”

“What?” Evalyn asked, walking over to the last body he’d scanned. The rest weren’t too far away, though both Khiat and Khare were looking for the ammunition in hopes of recovering usable arrows.

“These monsters suck. Hunter,” Daniel raised his voice, glad he was able to do so with Khiat here. “How good would you say that fight was?”

“Pathetic,” the ringcat responded after a moment. “They hurt, but they were all weak. I could have taken them myself.”

“Very pointy, but yes,” Tak added as he continued removing what must have been over a hundred spines he’d been shot with. It looked like both he and Hunter hadn’t held back with melee attacks even though the urchins got reprisal damage in turn. Regeneration was just too good.

“That’s my point. There were level 2 monsters here and it was a breeze. I think these are like trash mobs. Uh, weaker monsters for their level. That is a thing, right?” Daniel searched his memories and nodded. “Yeah, everyone says dragons are stronger for theirs. The point is that the greater skink gave me multiple unlocks for one kill, and this entire pack gave me less than the shank stompers did.”

“It’s important to remember that where you fight can make a difference. Imagine trying to fight underground or, worse, underwater.” Evalyn looked towards Khare with that. “That being said, I agree. You’re not going to make Tak harvest these, are you?”

Daniel looked down at the mess of pointy spikes and ruined flesh. “Nah. I’ve still got a decent amount of stuff to work with.”

“Alright. Well, I’ve got the count of what we’ve killed for the guild. Khiat, how did that go?”

The dusker stood, the broken shaft of a lightning arrow in her hand. “It was good. It felt like how I used to hunt, some of it. I want to keep doing this.”

“Good. If everyone doesn’t mind waiting for a moment, I’m going to wash off some of this sand.” Evalyn brushed at her hair with some aggravation in her voice as she headed for the water the monsters had been drinking from. “You know, I almost wish we’d gone to Threst instead.”