"I would love to."
David gave Bubbly a wide smile, ignoring the frown that was coming from Dean standing right behind her.
Like the others, Bubbly didn't wear much in the way of armor, but she had have a coiled whip at her side.
"How many times do I have to tell you Bubbly, this is a bad habit!" A furry tail was thrashing back and forth behind Dean, and he snarled.
"Just ignore Dean, he just likes to sulk." The remaining member of the group joined them. He was almost as wide as he was tall, with scaly skin, and small shell like plates scattered around his body.
A round hammer was hanging from his back, it had dull spikes embedded all over its head.
"I'm Bron, we can always do with more help." David shook the scaly hand, the scales felt like sandpaper against his palm. He noticed that Bron was an eight star.
[User, please be cautious. Their combined strength could be a danger to you. ]
'Didn't you just say they're of a similar strength to me?'
David was confused, though the system was twisted and dangerous, it had never contradicted itself before.
[Individually, User, but not as a group.]
The system continued, but for a brief moment, David wondered, if they were truly some sort of danger, wouldn't the system have stopped him, like it had so many times before.
"I guess we're stuck with you. What can you do, besides looking pathetic?"
Finally, Dean looked at David, he had a disgusted look on his face.
"I'm a good scout. I can find targets and assess threats." Now, David stood up straight, if there was one thing he was sure of, it was his scouting skills.
"Oh. Fine. You better not get us killed. Bubbly will explain today's objective to you."
With a final grumble, Dean turned away, returned to the front of the small group.
"Oh!!! I'm so excited, let's go!"
David winced a little at Bubbly's high pitched yells.
"Today! We've been requested by a blacksmith to retrieve some Fire Gecko materials! They life to north east of Lightharbor! It's all routine."
Bubbly was bouncing with excitement, chatting away next to David while they walked down the stretch of road.
"I'm sure, that with you here! We'll be done far soon that we ever have before!"
"Yippee! I love new friends!"
------
"Hold." Dean had raised a fist, bringing the group to a stop.
Now that they had stopped walking, David got a better look at the mutants. He had only seen mutants in passing before, coming through Coppervein as traders.
Dean had a thin, tan colored fur all over his body, except for his face. His mouth and nose protruded forward like a snout, and David noticed his bare feet, which looked just like his large hands.
Bubbly had an upturned nose and tiny black eyes, that she was always squinting, she looked more human than the others, but most of her was also covered by a large black cloak.
As for Bron, he had odd, semi circular teeth, and David could see a second, transparent pair of eyelids covering his eyes. His nails were thick and covered in ridges, giving him an ancient feel.
The road leading west from Lightharbor split off into smaller sections, leading to other cities and settlements.
The group had been following a section leading north east for a few hours.
Around them, the air had grown hotter, going from the dry, almost comfortable heat of the desert to a fiery burning heat.
"Feels like its burning your insides, doesn't it.'' Bron remarked to David, out of all of them, he seemed suffering from the heat the most.
'Sure, it's terrible.' David forced his voice to be raspy, but in reality, he didn't feel the slightest bit uncomfortable.
"Alright, scout. Find us some geckos." Dean spat, pointing toward the orange glow off in the distance.
"They like the lava pools! Watch out for Lava Salamanders!" Bubbly called out after David.
The ground under David was made of sheets of volcanic rock, around him, there were large rocks, that would make a perfect hiding place for any predators.
David tried to keep Mathan's advice in mind, not relying on a CoreScanner was easier for him, since as a scout, he had always needed to rely on his senses.
But now, he sunk deep into his senses, listening to every slight scraping sound against the rock, breathing in deeply, taking in the smell of sulphur and the heat.
His eyes scanned the rocks, noticing a flickering in the glow that came from up ahead.
'Lava fields aren't the most stable, I better be careful walking through here.'
Every single step was calculated, David only put his weight fully forward if the ground didn't shift under his feet.
Crack
David jumped backwards, a section of rock had fallen away as he went to step forward.
There were more and more cracks, and more and more chunks of rock fell below, an orange glow growing brighter.
The fact that he could have fallen left his mind, with how beautiful the sight before him was.
A great stream of lava was flowing under the rock, the rocks that had fallen drifitng with the current, slowly disappearing beneath the surface.
'Just need to follow this.'
David followed along the edge of the underground lava stream, he knew that it would lead to a lava pool, where the targets would be waiting for them.
The heat in the air grew even more intense, as David travelled further into the lava field. And now, there were signals visible on his CoreScanner.
But David only kept these at the back of his mind, deep within his senses, taking in even the slightest change in the warm air currents that brushed against his skin.
'There.'
David stopped behind a cluster of rocks, up ahead, was a large pool of lava. All around the pool, were numerous geckos, about a meter in length.
The geckos were a bright red color, easily seen when there were laying on the rocks, but disappeared as soon as they ran across the surface of the lava.
Fwooosh
One of the geckos opened its mouth, letting out a burst of flame. David looked to the CoreScanner, noticing that most of the geckos were around the five to six star level.
'I wonder how we'll separate them from the group.' David wondered, they didn't have a higher core ally, how would the trio of mutants handle this.
After carefully counting the geckos, looking out for a more powerful one, David headed back to the group.
"That was quick!" Came Bubbly's high pitched voice. The three mutants had sat down on a cluster of rocks not far from where David had left them.
"I bet he didn't even scout properly" Dean grumbled, but Bron punched him lightly on the arm.
"Sixteen geckos, ranging from five to six star, all in the coreless stage. I was unable to find a leader. No other Magical Beasts nearby." Ignoring the insult from Dean, David reported his findings.
"Well would you look at that, a decent scout!' Bron chuckled, slapping Dean on the back.
"We'll only know till we get there."
The mutants all got up, Dean giving David a death glare.
"Lead the way, chump."
Dean spat, but David had already turned around, and was marching back into the lava field, he didn't understand why Dean was so hostile.
The mutants were still gathered around the rocks, whispering to one another.
There was a devious smile on Bubbly's face.
"You can't." Dean whispered under his breath to her.
"Come on, bud. This is how we've always done it." Bron patted Dean on the arm.