Hot topic.

No sabotage on their marking had taken place this time. Whatever or whoever tried to trap him didn't plan for the ambush's failure.

John led the way back to his castle, followed closely by a jumpy Cali, who didn't lose an occasion of getting closer to him and rubbing her naked body unto him. John had spent too little time amongst the elves of the valley to know anything about their sexual habits. Was it normal for Cali to be so forward towards him? Was it gratitude for saving her and her sister? Deference due to his title? Or was she a very randy elf, even by her people's standards? Questions he had little hope to find answers to.

"Your Maj... John, we are going back. Was this thing what you were looking for?" she asked, hugging him from behind.

"I didn't find what I was looking for, but I realize now how foolish it would be to continue searching for it. It is dangerous and I risk losing hours for nothing. We will go back and find something else to do." he replied, trying to make it sound like a rational choice rather than a defeat.

As they walked back they witnessed a fight, a small swarm of scarabs from regular to hand sized were trying to **** their way out of the maze, countered in that by the strangest pack of rats John had ever seen. Most were wearing bits of shells as armor and were armed with legs or mandibles of their enemies. Their paws looked a lot more like small hands than those of the real rats he had seen in the normal world. The pack was led by the almost rabbit sized rat he had enhanced, who was ripping the head of a very large scarab, gnawing at it with his sharp teeth.

John decided to pick a side. Even without openly attacking him, he didn't want his castle to be swarmed by insects. Sword in hand he began plucking the critters from the ground and throwing them up, playing real life fruit ninja, trying to slice more than one with each move. He didn't get any xp, money or loot for the kills, but the bodies on the ground did not disappear like a looted body would in a barrier. A good training for future fights, in no time all of the biggest ones were dead and the smaller ones were eaten alive by the army of furry guardians. Cali had looked at the scene with disbelief. The spears and armors he had made for her tribe had already been way over the most advanced items she had seen, but his relic sword and the way he used it in conjunction with his powers comforted her belief in his near godlike status.

Once the fight over and the winners feasting on the losers, John kneeled and extended a hand toward the rat leader. The large rodent approached slowly and ad'fter sniffing it, brushed John's hand with the side of his head.

"I'm going to call you Algernon, " he said to the creature. Instantly, the Rat designation above it changed to the new name. He laid down on the floor a full unit of lizard meat of more than two kilograms and a bunch of energy bars he had bought, removing the wrappers. It would be a large boon to the pack and he hoped it would help them against the insect threat.

Ferulia had been waiting for them in front of the Maze's entrance and seemed surprised to see them back so soon.

"Wasn't it the right path?" she asked, perplexed.

"I decided to renounce this task, the dangers and time limit are almost assured to make me waste my time for no reward. We will try something else." he explained.

He saw from the corner or his eye the two sisters talking and Ferulia flaring up, burning slightly her sister. John ran to them and used a healing spell to tend to Cali's burns, doing so he touched Ferulia's chest, making her flare even brighter and warmer.

-5hp

A small price to pay to understand what made her warm up. Her first episode was certainly caused by her sister telling her what happened and the second by him touching her tits. He was cut short in his reasoning by a pop up.

New Skill: Fire resistance, lvl1 passive.
You can resist (skill lvl)% +(skill lvl) hp fire dmg and fire effects. You can also recover faster by this ratio from said effects.

It would be a really useful skill to have. He had planned to look at the enchanting and alchemy benches, but he would really like to have Sylvia, or even Tricia with him for that.

"Kin... John I'm so sorry." apologized Ferulia. John healed himself, showing her it wasn't a problem.

"Girls, if you're still wanting to help, we're going to go back outside. And while we wait for Sylvia to wake up where going to train together. You will see, it will be a lot of fun," he announced.

The weather was turning and the night had fallen. It looked like it could begin to rain at any time. It would help temperate Ferulia and give him training in an unknown condition at the same time.

They all started walking towards the forest once again.