Within a few minutes, the duo found their way back to the usual pathway they take to move back and forth. All the way back, both John and Lucas had stayed silent.
Their eyes were dazed while they carried the Kobold's corpse which was around 60 kgs. But as the weight was all shifted in different places, it was not difficult to carry it back.
They both were checking their skills and the upgrades they had on their status screen.
Lucas had a new skill- Basic Spearmanship. Since he got the skill. Lucas had a better understanding of how to make the spear move without many extra movements. The information was not much but still good enough to start with something.
If it was someone else, the thought of getting information that felt like a person had it all his life was very strange and difficult to see as reality. But Lucas was different, he already had the 'Herbalism' skill that made a lot of information available to Lucas.
Till now, all abilities that Lucas had were only level 1 and he had no idea as to how he could improve. The only option that seemed to come to mind, again and again, was to just go with the flow, keep using the skill, and hope that the skill upgrade comes soon.
In around 7 minutes of a somewhat continuous journey, Lucas and John could see the shelter again.
SIGH
"You okay? We can take a break again if you'd like." Lucas said with respect, he knew John's stats were still normal and with his age, it was difficult to do this much activity.
"Naah, I am not tired at all... but my mind feels like a ticking bomb, I don't know how you are coping with all this," John said while looking ahead near the shelter where they could now see the spears laced with poison as defense pretty clearly.
"What is there to cope about? We were thrown or something in this place and now we gotta survive by doing anything these texts tell us. If you have any other method to survive, then be my guest."
John kept quiet for about two minutes as what Lucas said was pretty much right. They couldn't do anything about them being transported here by god knows how and why. So their only option was to go with the flow.
"So do anything to survive huh... it sounds about right. Really appreciate you helping us, Lucas."
"Don't worry, it goes both ways." Lucas gave a cheeky grin in return and everything went back to normal.
"Hey, Dad and Lucas are here!" Sean who was with Barney suddenly saw the two people coming toward them with something they were carrying with them.
On further notice, they both saw a reptile-like long creature with hands like a human waving around while they carried it. Their face became pale when they saw the claws on the thing.
As John and Lucas drew nearer, Sean's eyes widened with surprise as he finally recognized the object they were carrying. "What in the world is that?" he exclaimed, unable to contain his astonishment.
John nodded with a chuckle, slightly out of breath from the journey. "It's a Kobold. We encountered it on our way back. It put up a fight, but we managed to take it down." Lucas could feel a bit of pride in his voice. Why wouldn't he be?
The man was showing his kids the ferocious creature he just hunted.
Barney came close to the Kobold's body, he moved his hand in a somewhat weird manner. The Kobold's hand that was hanging downward started moving up until it was horizontally straight.
"Amazing bro, your practice has not gone to waste," Lucas said with a thumbs up while holding the corpse with his other hand. Barney looked toward his father, his face had constricted lines as if the pressure was immense.
John looked at his son and nodded with a 'hm' sound making him finally lose control over the hand. The Kobold's hand fell and hung above the ground again like usual.
"But... how? such a big hole in the chest! and are you injured or something?" Sean asked with concern while looking at John, Lucas didn't mind that he did not really ask him. They were not that close anyway.
"We will tell the whole thing and the dangers we saw in a while, first let us go inside." John with Lucas's help went inside the defenses with the Kobold's body in tow. Both Sarah and Ella were waiting near the camp and just after one glance, Ella came running and hugged John tightly.
Lucas looked at her with distant eyes thinking that his mother would have had the same reaction after seeing him. But a hand grabbed his left hand and he looked at the person with gentle eyes. She was Sarah who had a smile on her face after seeing Lucas without any injury.
'Yeah, I am not alone.' He thought while appreciating the gentleness of her hand. While grabbing her hand, Lucas was relieved that she got a skill like a fireball that would help her be a support rather than get injured or use a weapon that leaves scars and calluses behind.
Just like that, Lucas and John sat with everyone and told the short tale of the fight between them and the Kobold. John was very detailed about the plan Lucas made on the spot making everyone surprised and look at him in a new better light.
The camp's fire was exhausted from a while back, the temperature in the forest was cool and breezed. It was not too hot or too cold. The tall trees had a huge impact on the atmosphere making it bearable.
-
"I can't believe creatures like this exist, is this some kind of a dinosaur we haven't found the fossils of?" Ella said while looking at the Kobold's cold body.
"We don't know about that but everything you see is dangerous, don't think that you can get out of a situation without a fight now," John said with a serious expression making everyone a bit uneasy.
Lucas chimed in, his tone was optimistic. "Exactly. Instead of dwelling on the 'how' and 'why,' let's focus on what we can control. Together, we'll figure out the rules of this world and find a way to thrive."
----
Thank you for reading the chapter!
Mission-
100 Power stone= 2 extra chapters that day-- 43/100
40 Golden Tickets= 2 extra chapters that day-- 6/40
Enjoy and have a great day!