When Lin and Albert left the encampment on the hill, Kaitlynn wakes up with a twitch of her ear. Her eyes gradually regain light but instantly her crimson red eyes dart everywhere like an Uchiha as her mind began processing what she had seen while sleeping.
Courtesy of her ability [Cold Mind], her mind is able to function systematically like a robot. Even so, the downsides cost her mental capacity and her ability to think depending on what her mind is tasked with processing. In short, using the hard drive of a brain and executing like the software of an efficient high-tech computer.
She saw how Shinji stayed awake for the whole night and went hammering away but halfway through his blacksmithing, which was after Lin had come back at midnight and decided to take a rest on a tree, took out a shovel from his magic pouch and dug several holes around the hill and filled it in with one mysterious pouch each. He also threw in several carcasses of what looked like mushrooms with gallons of a sticky mucus-like liquid. Lastly, He buried them back in with dirt and used his magic to make the purple poisoned grass grow again.
It was surely suspicious, so much so that it made the hair on Kaitlynn's skin rise and straighten out of fright. Surely her instincts, developed to have a keen sense of fear of death, could have saved her at the last second but it couldn't be said so for the other.
Once again Kaitlynn has been reminded of how easily she could have been tricked. She gritted her teeth and raised her alertness while also planning to confront Shinji about what were those things he buried. She greatly wished for it not to be explosives but she could only deduce so due to deductive reasoning.
It couldn't be valuable buried with the intent to hide due to how uncaring he was with the items, he even poured a mucus-like substance without a container.
Shinji couldn't have the intent of growing something under the ground due to there being only 5 days left till the students return to the academy.
It was most likely a preparation and a trap against the Kagai-Sha. It is unlikely to be a trap directed to betray the students due to not only Shinji himself having exposed the ambush plan of Kagai-Sha but also the opportune moment of his just activating the trap immediately after it was set up, of course assuming it was a bomb.
To confirm such vague suspicions, Kaitlynn went up to where Shinji is. He has recovered greatly from his initial trainwreck of a physical condition and was capable of cooking some delicious breakfast.
There is also Quad cooking with Shinji as the latter is consuming some stamina restoring honey every once in a while. Near the two is another duo, Drax and Audelia where the latter is explaining 2-Star [Check Up] to the former.
Kaitlynn listening in could understand Drax's shock when he activated a magic circle that presumably observes the health to whom it is directed. It finds that Shinji's condition was bad due to overexertion. Digging holes is not only an arduous task but also a time-consuming activity if it weren't for Shinji efficiently using spells to dig out the dirt while also consuming some 2-Star fruits for regenerating and stimulating recovery then it would have been impossible.
Kaitlynn also asked herself if Shinji endures fatigue and strain due to what happened after burying those supposed traps. Shinji broke through in his cultivation but it was unknown to Kaitlynn due to her not learning the difference between Qi and Mana.
What she didn't know was that Shinji broke through in his [Qi Body], and [Qi Core] due to straining his body and Qi consumption while also instinctually cultivating 2-Star [Looming Skull]. Unfortunately, it was just an improvement to Late Rank 1 [Qi Core] and Mid Rank 1 [Qi Body].
Later on that night, Shinji also gathers mana into his heart, and the mana circle embedded into his heart started changing and became complete which advanced Shinji's [Mana Heart] Rank to Peak Rank 2.
Back to the present, a delicious smell wafts into the air as Shinji and Quad finish a mouth-watering mushroom stew that, contrary to its seemingly poisonous purple appearance, is perfectly harmless and more so delicious which earns an askance look from both Audelia and Kaitlynn and later Adalinda and Dongmei who approach the alluring smell.
Aside from Quad, Drax didn't change into any drastic expression because he himself has a cooking skills and knowledge about food also fits into that category.
Drax takes the initiative and grabs a bowl of mushroom stew, biting a spoonful of it. While he closes his eyes to judge the taste, Dongmei also walks forward and clutches another bowl.
Drax opens his eyes and remarks, "It's poisoned mushrooms...", which startles both Kaitlynn and Adalinda but it seems Audelia had already noticed the problem.
Fortunately, Drax wasn't done talking, "...But it has been cured with magic and balanced out with a paste mixture full of rejuvenating attributes.", which finally calmed down the startled duo while also getting a nod from Audelia.
Soon enough, everyone took a bowl for themselves and relished in the taste. Few of them had eaten better food but coincidentally enough they were the same people who were foodies.
Shinji eats the food quickly and finishes first then he says, "I'm going out now to gather more treasures. I need hax on by the day after tomorrow."
"You'll surely need some healer with you because of your low rank but fear not for I have the skills.", Drax snickers as he eyes his exp bottle amusingly.
"That actually gives me an idea, why don't split up into two groups? I suppose Drax and me are already in one of them.", Shinji proposes.
Adalinda thinks about it and says, "I've already asked Dongmei to help me so we could be the other group.", Dongmei wanted to go with Shinji but didn't cut Adalinda off since she already agreed to teach her.
Quad mulls over deciding which group to go with, "It's very beneficial for me to observe the profound understanding that Senior Dongmei has over Weapon Qi even though it's a different weapon I specialize in."
Audelia also denotes, "I'll also go with Senior Dongmei, a healer for each group is for the best. I've already given Drax enough spells for him to practice in for a while, giving too much at once will be too overwhelming."
Kaitlynn immediately says, "That only leaves Sirena and me. If we were to divide it evenly then we'll go with Shinji's group.", she also thinks it coincides with her plan to confront Shinji.
Sirena replies, "This is indeed reasonable.", She had walked up behind Kaitlynn and appeared out of nowhere which scared Drax sh*tless, who was sitting down and eating his meal beside Kaitlynn.
"AH!", This is further confirmed by the startled and short scream the Drax let out but Kaitlynn herself is unperturbed by the unexpected appearance.
Kaitlynn stares at Sirena, who is looking at the former dangerously, and remembers how Shinji explains that Sirena is an esper.
Kaitlynn is curious about the different possible abilities should Sirena could have but after seeing the latter looking at her warily, the former had dangerous thoughts go through her own mind.
Diverting their attention and bringing them back to the topic, Shinji says, "I guess it's settled then. We have a lot of locations to go to so we have to run if that is okay with you guys.", of course, he has expected them to be alright with it. Out of everyone here, the ones with the largest stamina are Quad and Dongmei but those with the least are also Adalinda and Audelia so Shinji and the others have similar and above-average stamina.
As expected, the others didn't mind but... someone is going to regret agreeing with the statement.
------------------------------------------------------
There are two guys that can be seen in the forest. Albert is doing push-ups as Lin sits on his back. Surprisingly, even though the heavy weight of a cultivator would be too much for a magician, Albert hadn't been complaining about the training regime all this time.
Occasionally, Lin let Albert eat some 2-Star Fruits to quickly restore his strength and optimize training efficiency. As royalty, they don't even bat an eye consuming a feast-size amount of these fruits, even 3-Stars can be had periodically.
Lin says to Albert who is currently sweating buckets, "I can teach you the basic swordsmanship and basic combat but just know that spearmanship is ultimately the combat style I specialize in.", to which the latter nods.
100 days of bare hands, 1000 days of the spear, 10000 days of the sword. With that guideline, Lin decided to teach in that order.
A few hours later a battered Albert fell down after a punch into his chin made his world vision spin.
"Again!", he stood up again after chewing a berry.
2-Star [Beam Walk]
In a flash, he closed the same gap he opened when he fell. A quick punch went straight for the collar bone but was immediately dodged. All this time Albert couldn't get a hit on Lin.
2-Star [Eye Bolt]
A light disc the size of a quail egg speeds faster than what a normal mortal eye can see. Unfortunately, Lin dodges again and sends a fist straight to Albert's face, "Keep focus even after casting a spell!"
It was easier said than done since casting spells while doing combat is harder than casting 2 spells in conjunction.
Albert barely dodges the punch and stumbles in his footing a little bit but a while later stabilized. Finding the situation not suitable to relax his nerves, Albert back away again to rethink the assault.
Lin wouldn't let go of his close combat advantage and pursued the retreating mage.
"Why are you running?", Lin with his leg strength arrived an inch away from Albert. He directed an axe kick behind the latter's knees making him hit the ground with his back. Albert flinches and defends with his arms when a fist was directed again at his face. The attack stops just inches away.
"You should stop your habit of defending with your arms, you'll be mush by the time my fist comes in contact. Anyway, you also made some mistakes in the fight...", Lin began denoting the flaws and what to improve on.
Lin also remarks the defenselessness a mage is subjected to when casting spells, be it a split-second stop or a loss of focus could be very fatal.
Albert sighs and stands up only to lean again on a nearby tree. He drinks a vial of red liquid squeezed out of a monster's body. his wounds heal at a slow but visible rate.
"We will take a break for now. Hm?", Lin notices a weirdly egg-shaped rock. He goes near and inspects it.
Albert looks over and asks, "Is that a monster egg? do you think it can be hatched?", Lin shakes his head when he is done looking.
"I have no idea. It doesn't seem to have any signs of life. I don't even have any monster-rearing experience.", Lin tries carrying the egg but it was too heavy to move. Instead his hand scrapes by the incredibly sharp surface it has. He winces a bit but just ran his qi to his hand to stop the bleeding.
The presumed egg consumed the blood of Lin and...stayed dormant. Lin is surprised but drips his blood again but to no avail, the egg doesn't absorb the blood.
Albert walks over, "How about my blood?", he takes the blood seeping from a cut on his cheek and places it on the egg. The egg absorbs the blood and disappears.
"Wha- did it just take our blood and run!?", Lin and Albert felt indignant. They felt like they were scammed.
------------------------------------------------------
If the training that Albert had under Lin was rough then training under Dongmei is torture. If Adalinda could then she would definitely make Dongmei and Quad eat multiple knuckle sandwiches.
Fortunately, her sparring partner is Quad and not Dongmei who could just swat her with just a flick of her wrist.
Adalinda complains and grumbles under her breath for the umpteenth time, 'My body hurts all over. To think her training spans not only me but also Audelia and Quad'
Audelia is constantly healing and as such is sweating a lot with her legs trembling from exhaustion. Unlucky for her since she also has to dodge Quad's attacks.
The situation is a 2v1 battle between Adalina and Audelia against Quad.
Although Quad has to mostly put his focus on Adalinda who has destructive magic, he can't let his guard down due to Audelia having a sword on her and could strike at an unexpected moment.
Dongmei watches over the group. As the duo of girls faces unrelenting barrages of fists, Dongmei sees at the corner of her eye a giant egg-shaped rock. If she were to compare then it was half her size.
It was strange due to her knowing that it wasn't there before. She came close to it and is weary but more importantly, she still kept part of her focus on the spar.
She spreads her Qi sense into the rock to find no anomalous signs. Still skeptical, she places her hand on the sharp scale-patterned rock and tried to place it into her storage ring. Unexpectedly, the egg didn't disappear which startled Dongmei.
There are only 3 things that she knew of that can stop an item from going into a storage ring. It is either too big, too much energy concentration, or the item is alive. The third restriction can be bypassed with a special ring but the sentient being brought into the storage must consent to it.
The egg may not fit conditions 2 or 3, maybe even both. She tried taking back he hand but the incredibly sharp edges of the egg made a tiny cut on her hand making a drop of blood ooze out.
This startled Dongmei due to her incredibly hard skin but nevertheless still let another drop of blood fall seeing that the egg had no reaction after absorbing her low amount of blood. Again, the egg didn't absorb the second drop.
Dongmei blinked but then chose to end the spar, she has come to the same conclusion as Lin and Albert had.
The same routine happened the group of four were astonished... to see it disappear.
"This...", Quad didn't know whether to laugh or feel annoyed by what happened.
Audelia doesn't know much about the value of monster eggs so she just shrugged and healed everyone's minor cuts.
Adalinda on the other hand is troubled about where it could have gone.
While Dongmei is evidently triggered by how her fist is trembling. She was tricked, it was most common for treasures to recognize their master after a drop of blood it placed but it didn't happen.
------------------------------------------------------
Shinji claps his hands twice, "Guys game plan right now.", he decided to discuss with them after getting far and killing a good amount of monsters.
Drax looks at Shinji for clarification, "What do you mean?"
"Right now only 3 of you know that I'm a transmigrator anyway so I think we should brainstorm a plan with our golden fingers, right?"
Drax's expression changed, "I knew it! You're a transmigrator!", he points at Shinji as if he had gotten an achievement worth celebrating.
He stops for a second and looks at Sirena, "Wait, so Sirena is one of us?"
To which Sirena replies, "I can read minds."
Immediately Drax's mind went into overthinking mode as his back started sweating. 'Wait what if think about something embarrassing like my search history oh no stop thinking, STOP THINKING. AHHH!'
This confirmed Kaitlynn's suspicions, 'So she really is a mind reader. The only question now is if she told our secrets to Shinji but she most likely did due to how close she is to him.'
Shinji smirks and pats Sirena, "You should thank her since she didn't reveal this information to anyone, except for me of course. Ah yes, I also won't reveal your secrets. You know ours anyway so we're even now."
Sirena snuggles her arms around her side of Shinji and purrs.
Drax seemed to have a thought and smiled mischievously, "Is she acting like that because you like catgirls."
"You can bet she likes it.", Shinji quipped back
"Tch, flaunt...", Drax muttered
Kaitlynn feeling done with the skit says, "So can I ask what were those things you buried around our camp?"
Shinji smiles understandingly and explains, "I built several bombs that take advantage of the unique flammability of the poison spread in the underground."
Drax's eyes go wide open, "You built a bomb?!"
"Yeah, soon enough it's gonna be Vietnam. Don't be so uptight, it's directed to our assailants", Shinji calms down the soul flowing out of Drax's lifeless body.
"I don't know about you but I can't sleep knowing a literal bomb is waiting for me when I sleep at night.", Drax feels giddy.
"Relax, it's not like it's going to kill you...well not without this button. If you don't feel safe then you can have it for safe keeping.", Shinji tossed the button to Drax to which he responded with a frantic catch and shriek.
'WT-oh it's encased in durable glass.', Drax feels like he had a heart attack and sighs.
"Hm?", Kaitlynn notices an egg-shaped rock sticking out like a sore thumb.
At the same time, Drax wanted some support from Kaitlynn due to the unfolding situation only to curiously follow her line of sight.
"Hm? Was that there before? Think it's a beast egg? Shinji, you've definitely taken beast taming classes, right?", Drax approached the egg and inspected it. He tried to carry it but it was too heavy, only for his hand to slip and tear some cuts which let the egg absorb the blood.
Seeing the blood disappear, Drax became excited and exclaims, "Yes! I get to have a monster pet!", only for there to be silence.
"PFT! ", Shinji mocks Drax offhandedly due to his laugh.
"Why don't you do it then? ", Drax asks.
"Gladly. ", Shinji pricks his finger on the surface and lets a drop of blood fall...only for it to be eaten up and nothing else
Sirena also does the same under Shinji's mental request. nothing still happens under absorption.
Frowning, Sirena drops another of her blood for it to not be eaten up.
Seeing nothing happen until now, Drax turns to Kaitlynn, "Maybe your blood might work? "
Kaitlynn just shrugs and pricks her finger on the surface seeping out a drop of blood.
Then... there was no then since I am here. Anon your 3rd point of view narrator of this story. I don't know how but I needed the power of plot to hatch myself into being. No need to know more about me since I am irrelevant to this part of the story so let's continue.
Drax looked at the egg that cracked open to let a burst of light come through... only to be disappointed with the reality... because reality is often disappointing... and people die if they are killed...
.
.
.
Author's Note:
There might be some wrong grammar in the last 500 words due to me typing on the phone. Gonna get vaccinated tomorrow and Idk how my weak immune system is gonna handle that. anyway, more bullsh*t for you to eat to your 'anything goes as long as it seems reasonable to an extent' content. Imma correct the grammar later (and update the character sheet and monster glossary cause I keep forgetting. and also maybe stop procrastinating so that instead of me writing a chapter in a short amount of time I could have written it in a long span. Maybe I just need to get used to the routine of writing.)