Chapter 115 (2/2)

Sam handed the paper back and then nodded seriously. “You’ve come to the right person. I think I know how to help.”

“No one came to you,” Mrs. Hamilton said, her expression bright. Sam didn’t appear to hear.

“It’s a bit of a rough time for it… but we go back a ways. You can come work in my shop a little, clear some of the cobwebs out of your head. No need to thank me. But we might as well start right now.”

With that, Sam started dragging Randidly away, leaving a chuckling Mrs. Hamilton.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning!” She said, waving softly at the rapidly departing figures.

****

As they were escorted through the strange, alien village, Alana noticed several things.

First was that the village consisted of three groups, with the two main ones being the rabbit people and the turtle people. They fraternized a little, but mostly the groups of people they passed heading to the village spirit’s house was made up of one or the other, but not often both. And their philosophical differences seemed to be at the center of what the group from Donnyton had witnessed.

The third group was what Alana believed to be the youth of the village, but they were strangely uniform and shrunken, with tight grey skin. They didn’t appear to be either rabbit or turtle people, and Alana was rather mystified by their presence.

Finally they arrived, and were ushered into a large building. There was a circle of benches, where several aged individuals sat. At the center, a grey haired rabbit and a turtle with a long beard sat, the former on her feet, glowering, the latter stroking his beard.

“Grandma! As you requested, I’ve returned after making contact-” Razor began, but he was swiftly cut off.

“You idiot! Why the hell did you take so long?!?” The elderly female rabbit snapped, smashing her fist down on the table. Alana’s eyes narrowed slightly. Not only was her fist blow obviously strong enough to create a shockwave of force, but the table barely trembled. This was system enhanced wood.

Razor shrugged awkwardly, looking sheepish. “It was just… I didn’t know who to talk to. It seemed like the people over there didn’t even know that the portal was opening…”

“Hmmm…. Be that as it may, your chest, young Fleetfoot.” The turtle spoke, his words slow. “Are those, wounds…?”

Razor’s hands balled into fists. “I’m only wounded because…!”

But this time Razor was cut off by his sister, whose hand clamped down on his shoulder. The room was very still.

“Finish that sentence.” The elderly grey rabbit’s tone was frigid. Her gaze slid sideways to the elderly turtle, who was looking with apparent concern towards Razor.

‘This woman must be Grandma.’ Alana thought to herself. Her eyes scanned to the sides, seeing both Rabbits and Turtles in armor standing around. It would… not be easy to leave this place without their hosts’ assistance. And for whatever reason, it seemed that the other female rabbit was preventing Razor from telling the truth.

Looking at the ground. “I’m only wounded because I fell down a hill.”

“Is that so.” The grey rabbit’s eyes floated sideways to Alana. “So then, strange travelers, tell us, how could you allow my grandson to fall so… dangerously down a hill? But more importantly, how are you willing to make it up to me?”

“With a gift, obviously.”

Alana, Devan, and Razor all blinked. Kiersty, who had been carried here unconscious by Devan, sat up.

“We are going to have to go outside though,” She added, “Plants need sunlight to grow.”

*****

“Well, it’s not exactly simple, but it’s not exactly hard either. Do you think you can manage it?” Sam said, scratching his head.

Randidly looked in wonder at the needle in his hand, covered in a network of runes. He nodded slowly.

“Yes, I believe so.” For when Randidly held the needle, his normally recalcitrant mana trembled. Initially, Randidly had been very dubious over whether he could learn this skill, especially without notifications. That extra hint, that flash of knowledge… those were what he had relied on thus far to learn skills. But he supposed that even without the notifications, he was still gaining experience. So there was no difference.

The second problem that Randidly thought he would encounter was channeling the mana. He had never been able to get his mana to so much as acknowledge him. But the needle… felt like literally a needle, poking that impenetrable bubble that had been around his mana, allowing the mana to flow freely down the needle to the tip.

Of course, he couldn’t do anything but basically control the amount that was flowing down the needle to etch with, and even that was quite shaky. But still. Proof of a concept. It was not that it was impossible to manipulate mana, just that his method wasn’t currently sophisticated enough. Again, Randidly couldn’t help but admire Lyra’s accomplishments.

But for now, he furrowed his brow and focused on the iron shield in front of him, focusing on flawlessly carving the lines of the Bear rune onto it. It really wasn’t all that mentally restive, in a way. Of all the exercises, although the others tired him out, and the letters on the peg were endlessly frustrating, nothing required the constant focus of this.

At the same time, it was enjoyable to lose himself in the focus. It would make, Randidly reflected, a nice hobby.