RB Chapter 51 Risk!
"Now, what's next on the agenda?" Eric mumbled as they feasted on another of the few beasts they had managed to hunt.
It was currently 10:00am, June 17th. A Thursday and their second day in the wilderness.
All morning, they had only managed to hunt two more beasts apart from the one Eric devoured alone.
They were seated among the branches. The rain had let up at around one hour ago and the sun was peeking through the clouds. They were high up in the trees where a few rays of the sun were lighting up the place.
Eric felt at peace as a breeze ruffled the large dark green leaves.
The sun was hot but since they were drenched, its stark contrast with the cold made it feel comfortable.
'I have been practicing energy channeling and I think am starting to get the hang of it, but is it supposed to be this easy?' He wondered as he looked up into the sky at the receding rain clouds.
"We need to hunt something larger! These little critters only manage to replenish the energy we spent hunting them!" Elec complained loudly.
They already scouted the place and didn't discover any beasts which might pose a threat to their lives.
"Yes, but have you seen any large ones?" Eric absentmindedly asked.
"Of course not! You have been with me the whole morning, how can you ask that?" Elec glared at him from an opposite branch.
"It must have been the wolf pack then." Eric was still staring up at the clouds.
Elec clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw that he wasn't being given attention.
"If we want to find larger prey, we might have to go out of this grove." Eric offhandedly commented.
Their morning hunt hadn't been without any other discoveries. They had managed to find the other end of the grove. They had also reached the conclusion that currently, no other large creature inhabited the grove.
"That's dangerous! We don't even know what's outside this grove! We might just up and die without even knowing what happened!" Elec denied vehemently.
"But we caught sight of an abandoned city in the distance, there has to be large prey there!" Eric argued as he removed his head from the clouds.
"Besides, our goal is to gain experience, remember! If we stay cooped up in this tiny grove, we won't get anywhere." Eric reasoned calmly.
That alone silenced Elec and caused him to look around. He wanted to see if he would be able to spot Baguma.
"Don't search, you won't be able to spot him. If this idea was truly unagreeable with him, he would have shown himself already." Eric used his arm to prop himself up so that he could stand. His legs had been dangling off the branch.
"Let's go! I wouldn't want to be attacked by something while having this little amount of energy. I want to hunt something which will give extra energy reserves like an ATP shot." Eric resolved himself.
He didn't even wait for Elec this time round!
'We need to take risks if we want to advance! Simply being in one place isn't gonna produce results!' Eric hopped from branch to branch. He didn't want to be stuck in this place because of this crybaby.
This was the wilderness, they needed to explore!
"Aaaaah!" Elec held his head in frustration before he too decided to take a gamble. His father must have been listening to their conversation. Since he didn't show any sign of disagreement, he could only go along with Eric. Besides, even if they landed in trouble, Baguma will be there to save them! That's what he believed!
Around 25 minutes later...
"Finally! I finally managed to get out of that gloomy grove with all its rot smell and wet ground!" Eric spread his arms and took in air greedily.
"Don't get too excited and lose vigilance!" Elec warned as he gave the grove behind him a reluctant look.
"Of course am always alert. Danger is around all the time." Eric said nonchalantly. He led the way as skyscrapers entered the two boys' vision from a far.
The terrain was rocky down the hill. The grove was located on a hill and right now they were descending that hill.
"Hurry up! This place is too visible!" Eric exhorted causing the two boys to pick up the pace.
It truly was very visible from afar, and since it had no other defining features, something descending or ascending the slope could easily be seen.
Under the slope, tall thick grass was growing. It was dry since it seemed to have reached maturity.
The boys hurriedly crouched down into the tall grass. They didn't make any sound as they listened attentively to any sound that might mean that something was heading in this direction.
Elec's felt as if his heart was about to burst out of his chest! That short trek down the hill had turned into one of terror the moment Eric had told him that the hill was visible from afar.
'I told you, didn't I! We should have stayed in the grove!' He complained in his mind. His expression was dark. The chances of something having missed them was close to zero.
'Please let it be okay! Please let it be okay! Please let it be okay!' He prayed.
"Hmmm! I think nothing saw us!"
Eric's words were like divine music to his ears. He was so elated that he tried to stand up...
"Hey!" Eric hurriedly pulled the spineless fellow down.
"Do you want to die?" He asked.
"But we didn't see any beast as we hurriedly descended the hill!" Elec complained.
"Always be alert! Danger is omnipresent here in the wilderness!" Eric berated.
"Since we are new here, we must always be cautious! Only powerhouses like Baguma and Leo can saunter in the wilderness." Eric had a serious look. Even though Elec wasn't likable, he didn't want the boy dying due to a careless mistake. That would bring complications!
"Let's go...by crawling through the grass." Eric whispered.
"And how long would it take to get to the city? What about our energy reserves?" A droplet of sweat rolled down Eric's forehead when he was bombarded by the questions.
'It looks like he isn't too idiotic.' He thought as he embarrassedly passed a hand through his messy hair. He hadn't thought about all those!
"So you hadn't thought of that! It looks like you aren't smarter than me." Elec gloated smugly.
"Shut up! Since we will be spending energy anyways, let's run through this grass." He changed the subject in irritation. Some droplets of water and some mud came attached to his scales when he stood up.
Right now, the two boys were more like cavemen. Their clothes had been destroyed, so they had had to make do with the skins of the wild animals. They had only managed to create a loin cloth though!
The other parts of skin were covered in glistening dark scales a genetic trait inherited from Lisa. Most eels had no scales, good thing Lisa's genetic addition was that of a fish!
There well toned scale covered bodies were exposed in the sun. If Leah had been here, she would have swooned.
Eric kicked off the ground with Elec doing the same at the rear. They ran at a very fast speed towards the city in the distance.
Even though they were running at a high speed, they were regulating the energy of their body to prevent any wastage.
Eric narrowed his eyes as his body collided with the air.
'We need to get out of this grass and hide in the buildings in the city.' His heart was about to get erratic as he thought about all the dangers but he reined it in. Right now if he got tense, more energy would be wasted. He had to manage it well so that he was left with enough to hunt.
Two gusts of wind tore through the grass as the two boys passed by. The city was increasingly looming in their eyes.
At some point in time, people had gone back to building walled cities. That had been done in order for the entire city to be covered with an energy barrier. Even though wars hadn't been common, countries still had to be cautious! It was also useful when bad weather hit.
In this age, the ozone layer had closed the hole which had appeared due to green house gases. It was done with industrially produced O3(Tri-oxygen) made up of three oxygen atoms.
But weather disasters had still been dangerous!
'Shit! Wind is getting in my eyes!' Cussed Elec.
'I wonder of Baguma is still following.' Eric thought. But right now, he couldn't activate his All spectrum eyes as that would be a waste of energy.
"Hey!"
"Hmm!?" A voice behind him interrupted his thoughts. It hadn't been so much as a voice but transmitted thoughts. At this speed, which was comparable to about 5m per second, how could Elec's voice have reached him?
TRIVIA
The critters that the two boys hunted hadn't had enough energy to fill up the Teleka space. The moment they fought, it had been exhausted!