SRI opened a portal in front of Cain, in which he waltzed through, arriving in a dense forest with an open area roughly the shape of the circle. Veronica jumped off the branch she was standing on to greet Cain, who was at the center of the open area.
"So… what do you need my help with?" Her excited voice causes Cain to swerve his head in her direction. Veronica immediately averts her gaze to the floor while continuing to walk up to him. Cain realizes that staring at her any longer would just make her uncomfortably embarrassed so he decided to look around his surroundings.
"Where are we?" Cain asks after noticing the mana density was slightly higher than inside the capitol. "We're inside Hellion Forest, but don't worry. This section is outside the pylons that funnel the monsters down to the capitol and has been cleared of all monsters except normal animals. It's mainly used by the commoners as a hunting grounds or training field." Veronica replies while admiring the surrounding trees.
"Huh… Anyways, I just need you to keep shooting arrows at me. Don't hold back and try to make them as fast as possible while also changing the areas you're targeting and direction you're shooting from." Veronica looks at him shocked and concerned after he finishes speaking. With Cain's arm-dropping stunt during the duel yesterday, she feared that he was trying to do something similar.
He picked up on her concern and conjured a knife out of titanium. Cain grabbed some grass from the ground then split a blade with the knife to demonstrate the sharpness. The split blade falls to the ground as Cain opens his left palm and uses the knife to cut it open. Veronica's eyes widened in fright while her hand shot out to Cain's to check the damage that was done.
Cain opened his left hand for her to see, and surprisingly enough, there was not a single scratch on his skin. Veronica sighed in relief then realized she was still holding onto Cain's hand. She jumped back a few steps quickly, her face flushed with embarrassment. Cain sat on the ground within the open area and gave her a tactical nod.
Veronica interpreted his sign correctly and leaped up into the trees to begin her barrage when she was ready. Cain closed his eyes and established magic circles over his ears to cancel out the sound. Two more small magic circles were created in front of his nostril to prevent airflow and his sense of smell, forcing him to open his mouth slightly to breathe.
—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (10ms)
Cain: Do you know how to seal my sense of touch.
Dresil: I can just cut off your nerves.
Cain: Wouldn't that stop me from being able to send signals to my muscles to move?
Dresil: Maybe.
Cain: Hm… I could just force my body to move with mana…
Cain: But that'd defeat the purpose of trying to use the mana zone instinctively since I'll end up using mana to move instead of my muscles.
Dresil: :shrug:
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'I'll just create a dense field of mana to dampen it I guess…' Cain uses some of the mana within his mana zone to create a dense shell of mana round his body. He swerved his upper body in a circular position to confirm the mana zone did not hamper his movements. Once his check was complete, he used his mana zone to detect the rough direction Veronica was in. He nodded in that direction, once again signaling he was ready to go.
Veronica stood on a branch of a tree to Cain's right. She wondered how it would be possible for Cain to dodge the arrows with his eyes closed, while sitting down too. Once she saw Cain's nod, she shook her head to dismiss the needless thought and took a deep breath.
Veronica grabbed an arrow from her quiver, notching it onto her bowstring. 'Let's see how he fares with a normal arrow.' She thought to herself, hesitating slightly because she was unsure if this would hurt Cain, despite getting proof no wound would appear. Then she remembered that just because there is no wound, doesn't mean there is no pain, causing her hands to slip and accidentally release the arrow.
Cain felt the arrow coming with his mana zone and leaned back to avoid it. The arrow flew right over his lap and planted itself into the ground. Although he dodged it, the movements he made to do so were wasteful and inefficient. Cain took mental notes of where he could improve while waiting for the next arrow.
Veronica panicked slightly, having released the arrow before she wanted to due to her conflicting thoughts. After she saw Cain dodge the arrow though, her doubts were either solved or shoved into the back of her mind as she once again took a deep breath. She grabbed another arrow from her quiver, notching it on her bowstring with some vigor.
Veronica enhanced her legs with her air-attributed mana, increasing the speed of her movements. She leaped from branch to branch, tree to tree, releasing an arrow everytime she was in the air. Cain dodged every one of them, albeit not in the best way that he could have. From leaning side to side, bending forward and backwards, he dodged each arrow by roughly 50 centimeters. The gap grew closer with each arrow that flew by him.
Veronica continued to run circles amongst the trees, relentlessly targeting Cain's upper body. The frustration of not being able to get one hit in was slowly starting to surface. She soared through the air, twisting her body to release an arrow at her new target. She infused the shaft and feathers of the arrow with mana as it was slung from her bow with petrifying speed.
The high speed arrow closed in on Cain's eye, but suddenly changed its trajectory and whizzed towards Cain's left ankle. He detected the sudden change in trajectory and raised his left leg up while stretching his right leg out. The arrow plunged itself centimeters away from the area on a man where the sun does not shine.
'Oh… I was careless.' Cain picked up the arrow and tossed it to the side, crossing his legs once again. Veronica let forth tens of arrows targeting Cain's legs from many different directions. Cain shifted his weight to his tailbone while lifting his crossed legs up in the air to avoid some of them. Like a hunter predicting its prey's movements, a few more arrows flew towards Cain's chest. Veronica assumed now that Cain's weight on the ground was on one point, he would have a hard time maintaining his balance to dodge the second set of arrows.
However, it was exactly because of this that Cain was able to bend his upper bodys in weird acrobatic directions. He leaned to his left, nearly touching his elbow against the ground. Like an inflatable boxing dummy, Cain sprung back up to the center. He used the momentum of this movement to lean to his right, avoiding the next set of arrows chasing for his flesh.
Cain and Veronica continued their back and forth for roughly 6 hours. Dresil and Bob collected Veronica's arrows and placed them back in her quiver, ensuring that she would never run out during this session. At times, Dresil's vines would shoot out in the direction Cain was going to dodge in, forcing him to use his momentum to twist or roll into another route.
At the end of their continuous training, Cain's movements became more precise. Each dodge needed less energy than before to perform due to the increased efficiency. In some cases, the next movement or two, required to dodge the next arrow, used the remaining momentum to avoid Veronica and Dresil's onslaught. This furthered the efficiency of Cain's movements, bringing a smile to his face.
Veronica's speed slightly increased due to this training as well. From keeping up with Cain's slipperiness to having what seemed like an endless supply of arrows, she didn't need to waste time collecting arrows or worry about an unsatisfactory target. The difficulty of having Cain as a target inspired her to create new shooting and movement methods in an effort to make her shots more unpredictable. Unfortunately for her, Cain's mana zone allowed him to track the arrow's movement, potential change in trajectory due to wind or mana influence, and various other small variables that would normally require an intense amount of focus.
Veronica hopped down from the tree while Cain got up and dusted off his clothing. Her knees nearly gave out due to her sore muscles. Her body drifted towards the ground, its flight path suddenly interrupted by Dresil's vines holding her up. Cain walked over to her, slinging her right arm over his shoulders and using his body to hold her up.
"I-I'm fine.. I can walk on my own. You don't have to carry me" Veronica attempts to escape this nerve-wracking situation, only to be shut down by Cain seconds later. "Yeah, yeah. Say that when you can stand up on your own, snakey legs. Or should I hold you in my arms like a princess?" Cain jokingly teased Veronica while bringing her to the center of the small clearing. Veronica laughed slightly at his response. Her face immediately turned a dull red due to her nervousness and unease when she realized what Cain stated at the end.
Dresil formed a chair for Veronica to sit on. Cain slowly lowered her onto it then asked about dinner. Veronica looked at the night sky and replied "They should be at the inn already. We usually get a spot right before sunset or a little after." Cain nodded his head and sat off to the side, waiting for Veronica to catch her breath. They sat in awkward silence for the next few minutes.
Veronica got up slowly, albeit she was still somewhat shaking. Cain sighed and wrapped his arm slightly above her waist, moving her left arm over his shoulders.
—Spatial Requesting Interface (SRI)— (479ms)
Cain: Open a portal to the guild, near the entrance.
SRI: Processing request…
SRI: Request processed (442ms)
SRI: Performing request…
SRI: Request performed (36ms)
Cain: Bookmark action as "Portal to Guild"
SRI: Action bookmarked as "Portal to Guild"
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Cain helped the flushed and nervous Veronica through the portal and into the guild. They wobbled over to the party's normal table, picking up the gazes of a few bystanders and even some whistles. Cain and Victoria eased Veronica into her seat, Victoria stared at Cain with a questioning glare.
"She trained a little too hard and her legs are now sore." Cain explained while taking his seat. Victoria hummed "Mhmm… sure," filled with the maximum disbelief one could put in a hum. Jared stared at Cain eagerly, waiting for him to fill his mug up with soda. Cain sighed and filled his mug with soda. He glanced around the table, his eyes questioned the rest of the members whether or not they wanted soda too. Everyone nodded, and thus Cain filled their mugs with soda, then proceeded to do the same with his.
Cain noticed that Victoria had ordered some appetizers and drinks for everyone while making the soda. He looked over the various types of delicious meat but decided to hold off until the main course came once he saw Victoria beckon a waiter over. The party discussed some of their usual affairs which ranged from financial issues to equipment allocation. Victoria shared some of the details from their training during this moment.
Cain saw a pause in their overall conversation and took the opportunity to ask a few questions. "Are we still having our meeting tomorrow? If so, what time?" Jacob contemplated the existence of the meeting for a moment, then answered. "There should be no issue since your master took care of the invasion swiftly. It'll be around 11am, if that's ok with you? Ah, thanks for the gold as well." The sudden mention of Cain's supposed Master reminded Jacob about his generous gift to their party.
Victoria eyed Cain suspiciously while waiting for his reply, seemingly doubting the existence of his master. "No problem. It's probably a token of thanks for taking care of me for the next few months anyways. How much did you guys get anyways? I'm quite curious since he only told me a percentage would go to you guys, but I don't even know how much I got yet." Cain replied while casually giving a false reason to the gift, further validating his master's existence.
Victoria sighed and took out the notepad Jacob usually had on him that stored all of their financial transactions among some miscellaneous notes. She flipped through the pages until she found the transaction record of the invasion and stated, "We got 2,419 gold from your master." Cain's eyes widened in slight shock. He wasn't expecting such an amount to be given away, or even received from the invasion.
'Wouldn't that mean I would have 24,191 gold total from the invasion and 21,530 now? That invasion must have been massive compared to the other years… otherwise the country could go bankrupt. The only question is what was different compared to this year's and the past. Obviously my summon is different, but how does not replenishing the barrier of the forest with mana attract monsters? Unless it's something else that attracts them and just the weakened barrier giving them an opportunity…'
A few waitresses bringing over food interrupted Cain's thoughts. The party feasted and continued some of their conversations. Cain gorged on the food while listening to them converse, unable to do much else due to the lack of familiarity with what they were talking about.
Their plans for tomorrow were among one of the things discussed. Jacob and Jared decided to get some new gear and possibly upgrade some of their weapons. The boys immediately decided on this when they overheard Victoria and Veronica talking about what new clothes they should buy. Cain decided to join Jacob and Jared on their trip so he could check the progress on the alloy test he asked the dwarf blacksmith to do.
They continued to converse until the food was emptied from the table. The party members looked at Cain, asking him with their eyes if he was done. Cain nodded and opened a portal to the inn using SRI. The party members cleaned up slightly then left the guild with Cain. They walked to their inn rooms together and bid farewell at the entrance to their rooms once more.
Cain followed his alien washing routine the moment he went inside his room. Dresil washed his clothes and bed sheets while Cain was in the water capsule. After drying off and getting dressed in his pjs, he plopped down onto his bed, resisting the urge to fall asleep.
—Group chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (17ms)
Cain: Bob, how's Sinclair?
Bob: He's still adjusting to the new environment.
Cain: Ok. Make sure you give him whatever he needs to live comfortably in there. Unfortunately he'll be spending most of his time inside that dimension since he's too big to hang out in other places.
Rex: Couldn't he just shrink his size like he did before?
Cain: That technique probably compresses his muscles and bones, increasing their density and decreasing their size. It'd hurt an extreme amount if it did, and most likely won't last long.
Cain: Dresil, make sure you give him a bath when you can. Although Insect Eraser vaporized all of the fleas and ticks he had, his pelt is still pretty dirty.
Dresil: Understood, Master.
Cain: Aight, I'm hibernating. Wake me up around 10:50am.
Dresil: Understood.
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Cain created noise canceling magic circles on the inside of his ears. He layered himself with the heavy blankets Dresil just cleaned and used a smaller one to cover his eyes. He used his legs to position a pillow underneath his lower legs and stayed in this position until he drifted off to sleep. The only body part that had contact with the air was the underside of his nose. And thus, the ded alligator hibernated.