The rest of the day went on smoothly enough. Steph and Wedrow took turns opening gates for them to go through and each time they had to stop Will took him out to try and get the hammer wielder skill, though without the same luck he seemed to have for knife wielder.
It was by the time the day was done that they made it to their destination, or at least the general vicinity of their destination. They were deep in the untamed lands, a wooded area that had yet to be colonized by the various races of this world, even after all of the time they’d been on it.
There were a few reasons for that. From what he could infer from the information he had, Ben was pretty certain that this world and all others that the various races had fled from were much larger than Earth. He wasn’t sure just how much, but that could be a question for Quilith when he saw him next.
Other than that, the races around were typically more focused on strengthening themselves than expanding, with complex international policies devoted to the topic, as well as the fact that not all races lived on land. Plenty made their homes in the ocean and more than a few made their homes deep within the world itself, meaning that space wasn’t used the same way that it would be on his homeworld.
All of this combined to make a world that could seem oddly empty once one left the more populated regions, which also made it easy for some demons to slip through the cracks, and made it hard for them to be eradicated from the world. As a result, higher-level adventurers would be paid to explore the lands to take care of any potentially dangerous creature that might inhabit it, and many of the world's nations would send their armies off for experience as well.
It was with all of this in mind that Wedrow sat them all down to talk after setting up camp for the day.
“Starting tomorrow we’ll be beginning to search for any of the demons that have been spotted in the vicinity. Our sources think there may be roughly five of them but don’t let your guard down on that account, countless worlds haven’t been lost for them to be taken lightly. Now I wouldn’t expect the otherworlders to know this, but Thera, are you aware of the change that began a few hundred years ago?”
“Are you talking about the sorrow?” She told him, not having expected to be quizzed.
“Correct,” He said with a nod of approval. “For the rest of you, we aren’t sure how it happened, but a few hundred years in the past all demons underwent a change, causing some sort of deep mind effect in anyone that attacks them. Put simply, there’s a likely chance that after you kill a demon, you’ll feel terrible for the act, while some might not even be able to attack them at all. Not all people are affected, but it seems the majority of them are, and it’s at that time that any surrounding ones will take advantage of that moment of weakness to strike. If you are the sort to be affected it has been shown you can get through it with practice, but until that point you’re a threat to not only yourself but the people around you, hence why you need experience fighting them.”
Hmm, if it’s a passive magic I’ll probably be fine, but if it’s a direct spell or skill I’m not sure how I’ll react. I guess as long as I can keep my wits about me it will be okay, and with all these powerhouses around me it’s not like I’ll need to do anything anyway. His role was hunting any weak creatures around to work on getting hammer wielder while everyone else actually practiced on demons and whatever other tough monsters were unfortunate enough to wander by, he could leave the real fighting to his friends. As much as it would suck to miss out on what sounded like free job experience, he wouldn’t be any use without any tools to use.
“In the meantime,” The worm went on. “We’ll divide up the watch in case anything happens, men will take first, women second.”
“Um, if it’s all the same couldn’t I just take my watch with Thera?” While he personally didn’t care how it was split up he knew she and Steph would still probably be feeling too awkward for it and tried to spare them, but Wedrow was having none of it.
“It’s not. At least for the other three, they’ll all need experience with occasionally working with people they aren’t used to once the war breaks out, not to mention the fact that I know how the tents are split, and I already said I won’t be accepting any mating behaviour.”
“Come on, do you really think anyone will feel frisky during a hunt in the woods?”
Instead of answering, the worm simply gave Will and Steph a pointed look they wouldn’t return, and Ben’s head fell into his hands as he understood. You’ve got to be kidding me.
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With that decided the girls went to get some sleep while Ben and Will kept watch on the camp, at least that was how it was supposed to be. Since Myriad was around and Will had life sense he was able to pass the time talking to them both while he focused on training his enchanting.
It had been a while since he’d played with the skill’s more destructive properties and it just so happened there was a boulder near the camp. It was bigger than anything he’d tried to carve into with his skill before, but he also had more control than the last time he’d practiced with it and began slowly chipping away at the stone, making the material easier to work with his crafting while at the same time piling enchantments onto certain regions to cause parts of it to break down. At this point he barely had to think to do it, just pile up enchantments, wipe away the dust, and repeat again and again and again.
It was basically just magic sculpting and it was peaceful. From what Will and his god were telling him there wasn't anything around to be worried about as far as they could see, and he’d be no good in a fight anyway so he took the time to relax.
It was as he was finishing up he felt a head hovering over his shoulder.
“So what’s this one?” Thera asked as she looked at his work. From what she could see it was his biggest sculpture by far, at almost the same height he was sitting down, and appeared to be some sort of bulky animal with its head hanging down.
“Sad panda. It’s an animal from my world.”
“Why would you make it sad,” Steph asked from behind him, apparently up as well. “Pandas are so cute, they should be allowed some joy.”
“It just felt right,'' He said with a shrug. “Anyway, I take it, it's time to switch shifts?”
“Unfortunately,” Steph said, sounding defeated. “There’s never enough time for sleep on these smaller excursions, it’s so much nicer when we’re part of a big enough group that we only need to do this every couple days.”
“Well it’s only a week,” Will told her with cheer. “And now for some well-deserved rest, come on Ben.”
Ben bid the girls a good night, leaving them to awkwardly figure out how to interact for the next five or six hours as he got himself set up in bed. As far as day one went it was peaceful enough. He got one of two skills and was able to spend the time reconnecting with his friends while at least beginning to help smooth things over between them and Thera.
If they could all grow a bit stronger then that was for the best, and if he managed to get the hammer wielder skill fairly quickly as well, he’d have more than enough time to do his own thing and focus on his skills, maybe even collect some uncommon or rare plants for his alchemy.
As he drifted off to sleep he thought to himself, Maybe this won’t be too bad.