Level Grinding

The giant poisonous moths were pretty easy targets, honestly, and far easier for Keilnei and Zena to kill than the slimes. The powder they could spread with their flapping wings was deadly, causing a severe allergic reaction in most living creatures when inhaled, but was also the core ingredient to the universal antidotes that Rim Elm had in stock.

They had briefly spoken with the newest member of the retinue while passing through. Candress had been outfitting Mei with armor and weaponry for both her and Vahn. She didn’t know much of how to use either, but that was why the two huntresses dragged her along on their hunting trip. Alas, equipment did not a soldier make; she was already huffing from the exertion by the second time the girls took down one of the so called “evil flies,” and even seemed scared of the ordinary game animals they came across.

“How?” Keilnei had asked, rueful, “Your people are under siege, are they not? Why wouldn’t you learn how to fend off these beasts? Perhaps not on the front lines, but really. Did you think the walls would hold forever?”

“I…” Mei didn’t have a real answer. More accurately, her answer was yes, but she couldn’t bear to voice it in the face of Keilnei’s incredulous scorn.

It wasn’t long after that when Zena suddenly exploded with golden light for the first time, and Mei still hadn’t meaningfully contributed once. Zena became ever so slightly faster, stronger, and heartier after that. The glow seemed to emanate from the dragon tattoo on her wrist, which grew half an inch or so down the arm when they examined it.

More importantly, she’d gained the ability to become silent and mostly transparent by simply crouching and channeling a small amount of mana around herself. If she was careful and moved slowly, she could avoid the attention of most potential assailants if they didn’t know she was present. She’d always wanted to master the technique she’d seen older rogues and scouts using, which had seemed like the very best kind of magic, and she enjoyed the faint flow of mana through her body while she used Stealth. Suddenly, the idea had just clicked into place in her mind and she knew what she’d been doing wrong all these years.

They picked up the pace after that, in no small part because they dropped Mei off back at the town so she could make a gift of the gear to Vahn when he returned from his daily patrol. The Leveling tag brought Zena closer to a breakthrough with every kill, and the wilderness around Rim Elm was not quite so overhunted as to make magical tracking a moot point. After a few hours of hunting, around when Gil heard the first crash from outside the caves, Zena leveled up again.

She knew instinctively what new power she had gained: it was called pick pocket. It wasn’t entirely clear what it did, but she knew she’d be able to use it only on humanoid enemies she approached from behind in stealth. Enemies in this case meant anyone that would likely try to harm her if they knew of her presence.

“Nei,” she said thoughtfully. “You saw those goblin creatures earlier, right? Do you think we might be able to track them down again? I want to see if I can try something.”

“Yes.” Keilnei agreed, “Besides, I don’t wish to damage the local ecosystem. Those people need this prey. They do not need these gobu gobu creatures, I think.”

“That’s the ticket.” Zena said, clapping a hand on Keilnei’s shoulder, “Let’s go get a few more of those weird nail glove things.”

••••••••••

And another poll, this one for our next destination. Just getting it out of the way.

https://strawpoll.com/3RnYXd5d9ye