163 A Dark Plan (2/2)

After her gut reaction, Caprika gawked in horror at my ability. Her left shoulder twitched,

”Ahem, is that one of your other abilities? Why didn't you use it in the tournament if you don't mind my asking.”

I stared at where the corpse and silvers once were,

”It's not a fighting ability. It's a killing one.”

Caprika went silent after that. I turned to her, ”I'd never use it against a friend. It's for eldritch and silvers mostly. Just, er, think of me as a Fringe Walker.”

She nodded her head, ”Oh, yeah, but of course. Ugh, I'll go back to my, I mean our ugly vehicle. You may, uh, eradicate the pests as you see fit.”

She scampered off, her discomfort obvious. I sighed as she left, shaking my head. Striking fear in my enemies was awesome. It made me feel powerful and potent. Striking fear in my friends though...It honestly made me feel like shit.

Once I heard the octo-car's door slam shut, I jumped out of the pit. I walked around, my thoughts racing while Event Horizon ravaged any nearby silvers.

It surprised me that she feared me all of a sudden. After I fought the gialgathen, surely she understood I could've killed her at any point. I wouldn't though since I was sane. There was something different about Event Horizon that unsettled her. Since I didn't want to terrify would be friends, I vowed to use it with care from here on out.

It got me thinking about my friends too. Facing off against Yawm meant a dominant fighter was necessary. Now that he was gone, we weren't fighting just to survive. We were fighting to improve our lives as a whole. To my friends, I was a war hero and a competent ally. To newcomers, I was a dangerous liability.

That's close to how Caprika looked at me. From what I could tell, I was a risk to her. When I exposed more of my abilities, it made her realize I was a higher risk then she first anticipated. With a bit of time, she'd adjust. Until then, I'd lay low and let the others enjoy her company. I had other stuff to do either way, and I didn't want to ruin their trip.

With that matter resolved, I finished the silver cleanse. I walked back into the moving mansion. At first, I sat down with the others. The conversation lulled, Caprika turning awkward after our stop. Althea and Kessiah assumed it was from seeing the espen. I knew the real reason though.

Being more tactful than usual, I stood up from my seat, ”Yo guys, I'm going to research some runes in the back. Let me know when we arrive.”

Caprika gave a curt nod, ”We will.”

I stepped out, settling in a back room. The soft, muffled sound of Torix's ranting ebbed into my room. It put a smile on my face. He was keeping his students in line at the very least.

With a teacher's presence spurring me on, I walked past the luxurious bed and sat down. Pulling out my grimoire, I set to work. As I went over runic patterns, I remembered the impact of my perception gains. I analyzed the espen's death and perceived Caprika's shift in mood without a hitch. I wasn't like that almost ever.

Look, I'll admit. I can be a brick in conversations sometimes.

If I were lucky, then this newfound tactfulness would rub off on these runes. After a few minutes of work, I learned something fast; that wasn't the case.

The runic inscriptions that enhanced my attributes were brutally mathematical. They involved severe, involved algorithms that applied to nature based on context. Since they impacted every tree or level up, I had to incorporate every tree into their creation.

By the time I finished something resembling an attribute multiplier, it had spanned a dozen pages. Its complexity left me flabbergasted. It took hours to write, and I couldn't get a firm grasp of how it worked. Without knowing the process in detail, I deemed it way too damn risky to use. I scrapped the incantation, running my hand down the pages to erase it.

After another fresh start, I tried again. If there's one thing I owned in spades, it was persistence. I would bang my head against a wall until either I died or the wall broke. This strategy worked out more often than not. While rooted in my work, I snapped my head up.

The scent of espen blood poured into my cabin.

I stood up, walking out of my room. The ladies gossiped, giggling at jokes and the like. They looked up at me, Althea grinning, ”What's up handsome?”

I smiled back, ”Nothing much beautiful.” I looked at Caprika, ”Hey, can youopen the door?”

Caprika tilted her head, ”Why?”

”There's another one.”

Caprika looked down, ”Oh...We can stop while you finish whatever it is you're doing.”

I shook my head, ”Thanks for the offer, but it's not necessary. I'll keep up with the car while doing it.”

Caprika looked at the others, ”He can do that?”

Althea smirked, ”My man can do anything.”

I spotted a few empty drinks beside her. I rolled my eyes, ”Well your man's about to go be a janitor. See you guys.”

The door of the house-bus opened, and I jumped out. I hovered using gravity, keeping up with the pace of the vehicle. I shut the door before leaping towards the source of the sent. Wind whistled in my ear as I flew up and over the rocky expanse. I found another corpse surrounded by rocks.

Fresher than the last, I analyzed the wounds. The silvers still decimated the corpse, but the tendrils of metal hadn't yet spread out. This let me gather essential details.

The first fact I gathered was deep gashes in the espen's shoulders. The eggs in his stomach showed no signs of larger silvers either. The marks on his shoulders were made by a beast's talons, the cuts clean and deep. The four claw marks spread out over his upper back. They came from one paw grabbing onto the espen from above.

Skill unlocked! Tracking(lvl 1) - Though they run, they only delay the inevitable. Further details reveal themselves upon inspection. Higher levels of this skill allow the user to connect details to map a picture of previous events.

Breakthrough achieved! Tracking(lvl 1)--->(lvl 26)

It was a useful notification to get. Using it, I took a deep breath, the smell of rot less overpowering. This kill didn't happen days ago. This espen died recently. Not many silvers flew since they were made of metal. I did know a certain race of dragon-frogs that did fly, however.

And at this rate, I'd be catching whoever did this soon. When I did, they'd pay.

Dearly.