Silver spent the rest of the evening learning how to control the Nodes in his left ear. He succeeded a few hours after midnight.
'Finally! I wonder if something else changes after all this.' He then used Gyo on both of his ears to try what changes.
The first thing he noticed is the distance. His first guess is that it extended to around 200 meters.
The second thing was that he could feel something different from 6 different sources. He followed them and pointed to each person in the camp. He currently can't make up anything out of it as he has no basis at the moment. He observed them further but decided he can have a look further tomorrow.
"What is wrong with you today? You're so quiet." Inquired Lara as she felt something is off with Silver today.
"No- nothing. Was just a bit distracted." Silver tried to look up but stopped as his eyes caught sight of two mounds in the horizon. He then shyly looked back down.
Lara caught sight of this and grinned. 'Oh hoo... So you're at that age.' "If you think you've seen enough, we should go. We're already losing daylight." Lara winked at him and coyly walked to the direction of the River.
"No that's not. You misunderstand!" Silver shouted as he followed her.
"Oh I think I do. Now hurry up, you can do your own thing when you're on the 'look out'." Larra answered as she emphasize the words look out.
"I give up."
Silver and Lara both used Zetsu and speed up to where they left off a day before. Silver thought since they are both using Zetsu he can copy any controlled nodes Lara is currently using.
Silver turned his eyes to scarlet and used Gyo. After which he then stared at Lara's back then to eventually lowered to her behind.
Silver found out that he didn't sense anything new after observing Lara. That would either mean Lara is not actively using the nodes or he already copied all he can.
Lara felt the minute changes in Aura coming from her back since her senses are hightened in Zetsu. She then tilted her head and saw Silver using Gyo in his eyes.
"Like what you are seeing?" She then gave him a smirk and continued her walk.
'This Vixen...' *sigh*
Most of the day went on uneventful. Silver trained on his left palm node but found no success. He would also observe Lara with his new sense with the Batears. Lara continued her search near the river digging some stones and coins even finding some old utensils.
She then proceeded to check the utensils and found promising results. She wanted to continue digging when she heard a long, loud and unscheduled whistle.
"Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit".
Without delay, Lara jumped from where she is currently at and went directly to hide behind a tree. Arrows and spears started to fall where she was before and followed along the path she took, eventually ending on the trees. She heard another whistle and followed the direction and saw Silver beckoning him to follow him.
They then both traversed fast the forest before stopping 500 meters away from the river.
All the way Silver kept his bat ears active since he needed them to know if they are being followed. Once he thought they are far enough he hid behind the trees.
10 seconds later, Lara also hid behind the tree next to his. They both kept silent for a while and observe their surroundings.
"Are we safe?" Asked Lara while holding desert eagles in each hand.
"Yes we are, can't hear them following us."
"Good, what did you see?"
"There are ten Nagas approaching from upstream towards you. However different from what me and Grylls saw last time, they didn't have the head of a human nor the snakes as hairs."
"Those are male Nagas. They are physically strong and subservient to female Nagas. Thanks for watching out for me. I'm not sure I would have survived unscathed if the ambush was successful." She then holstered one gun and continued to ask. "What is the story behind your ears then?" She asked guardedly. If she guessed correctly this should be a body enhancement ability. She never taught Nen ability yet so she can't help it but be guarded against 'this' Silver.
"My ears?" He then touched his pointed ears and realized that bat ears is still active. 'Shit. I guess the ball is out.' "Sigh, since I was a child I could extend my ears to improve my hearings. I watched a big bat intently once, and thought it would be great if I can have a big ears too like them. If I had those, I would have heard the killers coming." He then touched his ears again then deactivated his ability to return to a normal human ears.
'Unconscious ability activation! Although rare, it is not unheard of. Is this why he can easily learn Nen? Although he doesn't know the concept of Nen, his body is already familiar with it. I can't say if you are lucky and unlucky.' Lara guessed from the information she was given.
"I trust you, you don't seem to be lying."
'Well... I'm not lying. I'm still a child afterall. Good thing body alteration doesn't manifest Nen like any of my copied abilities. Wait! Body alterations, no Nen. Don't tell me.'
"Anything the matter? Are they back?" Lara then took his other gun and readied for a fight.
"No they're gone. Was just thinking over something." Silver shook his head.
"You should have your ear active as we return to the camp." Seeing the hesitation in Silver's demeanor, she added. "Just until we are near the camp."
Silver nodded to that and they quietly return.
Lara opened the conversation. "We found some clues along the river." Lara showed the utensils and gave to Marco for his second opinion. "We tried to dig some more but was attacked by male Nagas. "I plan to go back there but we'll need some backup. At the very least it proves that the Xians lived in this forest. Guessing from the direction of the river we can eliminate or put these areas around here as last place to look into and focus going upstream following this river." Lara explained as she pointed to the map.
Nellie at this point left the group on their own. She said something about "I'm here to cook, not to fight."
Marco examined the utensils intently. After a while he decided. "We all go tomorrow. If it is just male Nagas we can do a quick work on them." He then looked at Grylls. "How long will your ability protect us from the pheromones of the female Nagas?"