Pebble walked to the outskirts of the east side of town. He was taking his task from Puffy very seriously. He wanted to make sure he did not miss any details, as it could be the difference between having an alive friend and having a dead friend. Pebble did not want to have a dead friend.
Pebble stood in the clearing between the town and the woods. He looked back towards the direction of this team, "Good luck with your errands, guys. I'll make sure the woods are safe!" He said even though there was no one currently around. He smiled and set off into the woods with purpose.
Up until now, Pebble felt like a liability. He knew he was strong, but there was a mental disconnect between things he wanted to say and what was actually said. There was a gap between what was spoken to him and what he interpreted. To put it bluntly, he felt plain stupid and was worried it was going to endanger the people he cared the most about.
Pebble had his compass in hand as he traveled through the woods, heading due east. Morning dew was still present and the scent of wet grass wafted through the brisk air. He stepped over a mossy log and noticed the tiny bugs living off of the small greens on the forest floor.
In his past life, back when Pebble was still Alain, he used to have a major fascination with ants. He was always amazed about how ants would immediately set aside their individual needs for the greater good of their colony. Growing up, Alain kept ant farms as a hobby. Now he looked at the strange insects below him and he could not identify them. He watched the ants trail on the downed mossy log with awe and frustration.
Pebble could not identify the ants he was observing and he was not sure if it was because the ants were different here, or if he had just forgot what he knew about one of his favorite species due to his low intelligence.
"Life sure is hard when you don't have a brain, huh? What's a guy to do?" Pebble questioned out loud as he rested his hand on the log and accidentally pushed straight through it. Ants immediately began swarming around the breached log to defend their home and Pebble scurried away quickly. This small moment had a deep impact on Pebble. Ant keeping was a hobby of his, and now, ants, a species that he's spent thousands of hours learning about, felt entirely alien to him.
Sorrow creeped through Pebble's mind. He wondered if he could still play the drums. He questioned if he could still cook. He doubted himself more and more as he began searching his memory for his old interest. He was losing it all slowly. They told him that because he was a unique summon, his non-primary stats would be set back to level 1. Did that mean all of his hobbies and interests were reset?
Jolts of pain shot through Pebble's arms and legs as ants began biting him, "Ow, ow! Ow! Stop!" He started brushing them off quickly.
Then, his scalp started to tingle.
"Getting bit by ants leveled up my survival skills?" Pebble continued swatting the ants off of him.
The familiar feminine voice in his head sounded like it was proud of him. It was an unsettling feeling for Pebble, "Can you only notify me of primary stat increases? I don't need to be pinged every time I stub a toe."
"Thank you. Who are you? Why do you only talk to me sometimes?" Pebble questioned.
"What does that even mean?" Pebble stopped swatting the ants to shrug and immediately went back to rubbing the last couple of stragglers off of him.
<******* made me so that I may guide you down a path of success.>
A static sound was heard when she named her creator.
"I have a task?" Pebble's eyes twitched as he checked his menus and found no new information, "What task? It's not listed on the Divine Favor menu."
Pebble thought the laugh was unsettling. It was a cute innocent giggle, but it was a laugh that was not his own and it was coming from his own mind.
The voice in Pebble's head continued to laugh, making him feel like a psychopath. He backed up and tripped on a branch. He fell and hit his head on a tiny rock. Blood started trickling down the back of his head, but the damage wasn't serious and his Life Rock would heal the wound in a minute.
<98/100 HP>
"I'll pass." Pebble ignored the suggestion and closed the prompt.
"Again?" Pebble threw his arms up in frustration. He wished he could have a longer chat with the voice, 'At least I've learned that it's a part of The Battery class. Maybe the Throne Holder would be willing to give me some insight next time we meet.'
Pebble chose not to dwell on the conversation with the voice, but he did wonder why she popped out to answer his question just to immediately go back into standby. It felt pointless to him. He shook his head and moved on through the woods.
The trees swayed in the wind that seemed to generate from the city of Aegis. Occasional whistling sounds would ring above the trees as the wind bellowed underneath the city. From the outskirts of Kris, the noise created an ambience that stirred a sense of wanderlust in Pebble. He would pause between winds to listen for calls from wildlife as he moved further east.
Not too long into his journey, Pebble saw a ground path that looked to be a bit wider than the game trail he had seen here and there. He had not been trained on what to look for, but this looked suspicious enough for him. He pulled out one of the metal rods and planted it next to the path. After he jammed the rod into the ground, it began to hum for a moment before gradually quieting into silence.
"That's one down!" Pebble smiled. He was enjoying his stroll through the woods. It was a beautiful day and in this moment, a piece of Pebble wished his future would always be this calm and peaceful. Given his current situation with the Gods watching him and giving his tasks, he had his doubts.
Pebble dusted off his hands and continued down the path he had just marked. He hoped it would connect to a fork or a crossroad, giving him an easy target for another rod. After walking down the path for a moment, he realized how open and exposed he was and crept back into the foliage for a more subtle approach. He felt another sensation of tingling on his scalp, he assumed his survival skills leveled up again.
Now that he was off the path, he followed it with a parallel vector for a while before eventually finding the crossroad he had hoped for. A grin appeared on his face after he had successfully manifested his objective. He pulled out a second rod from his inventory and jammed it into the ground just off the path and behind a bush.
A few seconds after Pebble placed the second rod, he felt a rumbling on the ground. An inhuman shriek was heard from a distance. His blood ran cold and goosebumps began covering his skin. He backed up and hid behind a tree while peering out to try to get a glimpse of whatever was making the noise. It did not take long until a giant shadow stole the sunlight from his immediate vicinity. He looked up and saw a massive dragon flying above him, eclipsing the sun.
"What the f*ck." Pebble whispered after seeing the giant creature of legends fly above him. It was truly a dragon.
The dragon had gray scales covering its body. It also had four massive horns protruding from its skull and its wingspan was big enough to encompass the entire arena that Pebble fought in after being summoned. The beast hovered for a moment and scanned the forest with its piercing gaze before releasing another roar, this one right above Pebble.
The roar made Pebble's legs go weak, he almost collapsed behind the tree he was using for cover. He gently leaned on the tree for stability and did his best to stay hidden. The trees swayed as if they were experiencing hurricane force winds. A tree that was just behind Pebble began to creak and eventually snapped, flying backwards and colliding with the forest trees behind it. Wildlife across the land fled and hid from the apex predator's presence. The roar was a longer one, but after releasing its bellowing cry, the dragon continued flying south.
Pebble's scalp was tingling hard. It felt as if he was receiving tiny electrical jolts right to his brain. His ears were bleeding and he hoped the Life Rock would take care of that. He opened his menu and looked at his notifications.
<39 notifications muted>
"What's that all about? Are those a bunch of secondary skill level ups?" Pebble watched through the leaves of the trees with awe and wonder as the dragon flew towards the rising sun. The dragon was holding an object in its hind claws. Pebble squinted but could not tell what he was looking at. His eyes twitched as he checked the supply cache that the King gave the team. He was elated to find a pair of binoculars in the cache. He quickly summoned the optical device from his inventory and looked back at the dragon.
The dragon was about to fly out of view, but Pebble managed to get a brief view of the dragon's treasure. It was an arcade machine. Pebble lowered the binoculus in confusion. "Would the team believe me if I told them I saw a dragon and it was holding an arcade machine?"
After the encounter, Pebble counted his rods, he had three left and he needed to get a move on since he hoped to get all the rods down before Puffy contacted him. He looked back at where the dragon had gone, "Hope I never see that thing again."
Pebble continued East.