Kapitel 29: Along the Way
On the seventh day after leaving the secret cave base of Mountjoy and Jhansi, Xan's intense training schedule reached a temporary stopping point. He spent every day fighting spirit animals in the forest. At first, they were challenging for him. His physical strength was at level twenty, but his fighting skills with the sword and the hammer were only at level ten. The level twenty spirit beasts nearly killed him a few times. Otrera was forced to utilize the Fireflies to save his life. Now, however, his skill in the sword and hammer matched his physical strength. He was a true level-twenty warrior.
He knew this wasn't enough but he still needed to develop his job skills to level twenty before he could utilize the Level Up Cabinet. At the beginning of their journey, Xan gave the Healer Yahn a series of jade tablets to study. These were the introductory texts to the summarized medical knowledge of the twenty-four num galaxies. He wanted Yahn to travel as his companion. As much as he liked the Healer if he were useless how could he bring him along with him? He decided to give his knowledge of medicine and overhaul. His body would get an overhaul when they reached a town or village.
Now it was time for Xan to begin improving his supporting skills. He needed to bring his crafting, healer, and hunting skills to level twenty. His hunting skills were already at level fifteen. With all of the recent tracking, trapping, and skinning he had done his hunting skills were quickly increasing. Right now, he needed to upgrade his two other support skills. For crafting, he needed a stable location where he could practice his crafting skills. Mainly, he needed to develop his skills as a blacksmith. He needed a town to practice his healing skills. He needed patients. He hoped they would reach a town soon.
Xan found the river he had used for cleaning himself and the game he hunted for the last few days. He dove into the water and washed the blood and mud from his body and clothes. He took off his clothes and washed them carefully. Then he laid out the clothes on some branches to dry. He returned to the cool waters and practiced swimming and caught a few fish. He even fought a couple of river predators. These were only level ten creatures.
His clothes finally dried after a few hours. He dressed and returned to the carriage. The carriage traveled the entire time he was in the forest, but Xan was able to quickly catch up to it. When he returned to the carriage; he found Yahn the Healer in deep contemplation. Xan didn't disturb him and took a nap.
A couple of hours later, Xan woke up and found Yahn the Healer staring at him. "Can I help you with something?" Xan asked. "No, I've been studying the information you gave me a week ago. It's unbelievable. It's like everything I knew previously wasn't more than the gibberish of a child. I am truly enlightened. I won't ask how you have this knowledge; I'll just take it as another example of you being exceptional," Yahn said. "Well, the fact you recognize this is exceptional knowledge attests to your own exceptionalness," Xan said with a smile.
"Sirs," Pool said from the driving chair at the top front driver position. Xan stuck his head out the window. "What is it Poole," Xan asked. "I've detected some movement from the forest. I can't tell what it is but I don't think it's up to anything good," he said. Xan opened the door and used a movement technique to disappear into the forest. Yahn the Healer closed the door behind him.
Xan started looking for tracking marks. He found faint impressions in the soil in the shape of a humanoid foot lightly stepping on the ground. There were very few broken grasses or branches. Xan followed the markings but found it harder and harder to follow the impressions in the soil.
Eventually, the prints disappeared completely and Xan had no choice but return to the carriage. "I lost it, whatever it was," he admitted to Poole and Yahn. "Poole, keep an eye out. If you feel nervous or see the thing again, press the button," he said. Poole nodded stoically and concentrated on the road and his surroundings.
Night approached but Poole kept driving the carriage forward. For a normal human driving at night is dangerous. Poole, however, was trained to drive at night. It made no difference to him whether it was day, night, a clear sky, or torrential rain. Poole could handle driving the carriage no matter the conditions.
It wasn't until about the middle of the night that Poole felt something ominous. He immediately pushed the button. Xan installed the button a few days before. He wasn't sure what it was for. Xan only told him it was only to be pressed during an emergency. It seemed like now he would get to see what it would do. After pushing the button, he wasn't sure what he expected to see but it didn't seem like anything happened. Just as he was about to say something to Xan, a shadow crashed against the barrier that appeared just a few inches from his face. If the barrier weren't up, he probably would have died.
As soon as Poole pushed the button, Xan and Yahn the Healer were notified. Xan rushed to the top of the carriage and drew his sword. Yahn the Healer stayed in the carriage and pulled a lever. A screen came down from the top of the carriage. From behind the screen, three other screens lined up next to the central screen. A joystick rose from the floor of the carriage as well as a control console. Yahn's chair fetched from its bench position and moved to the center with the joystick.
Along with his contemplation and studies of the medical information, Xan made Yahn practice using the internal security systems. On the outside of the carriage, tubing that looked decoratively detached slightly. There were enough of these tubes that they pointed in a perfect three hundred and sixty-degree angle of attack. These were laser turrets Xan installed. Yahn was practicing using a simulator but now it was the real thing.
The targeting was in infrared mode. Oddly, nothing came up on the screen. To him, it seemed like there was nothing to shoot. "Elam," Yahn yelled. "What?" he said back. "Nothing is coming up on the screen," Yahn replied. "There's something definitely out here, change the screen from infrared to motion tracking," he said. Yahn immediately made the change and was shocked by the zigzagging shadows on the screen. "Elam, I'm detecting a lot of movement but whatever it is it's moving too fast. I can't even tell how many things we're dealing with," Yahn yelled. "I'll take care of it!" Xan yelled back.
While he was looking around he caught shadowy motion in the corner of his right eye. Xan jumped out from the protective covering of the carriage and struck with his sickle sword. The creature stopped on a dime and jumped out of the way of Xan's sword. The creature tried to get behind Xan but he was too wily and refused to give his back to the creature. After they exchanged a blow a few times, the creature disappeared.
Xan sensed the creature was gone and just when he was about to get back into the carriage he heard a deep thick howl pierce the night. The howl had one effect on Xan, it sent shivers down his spine. "Poole, get us out of here. If we don't put some distance to this forest, we're going to die," Xan said.
Poole was shocked. In the short time he served Xan, Poole never observed him panicking. Without hesitating, Poole let off the brake and began pushing the horses forward faster. They finally got away from the creatures that were chasing them. Just as Xan began to relax, a clawed hand as wide as Xan's body shot out from the dark and stabbed into the roof of the carriage. Xan jumped up and attacked the newcomer. This was his mistake. All the creature did was slap him away. It was as if it dismissed Xan as a credible threat.
Xan attacked the creature over and over again but every attack ended in failure. "I've never fought such a troublesome foe," he thought to himself. "Elam, I have multiple new sightings from the motion scans!" Yahn yelled at Xan. "How many?" Xan asked. "It's hard to tell, but at least six," he said. "Poole! Get us out of here if you don't want to die!" Xan yelled suddenly. He couldn't even handle one of these creatures and there were at least six more. They hadn't even reached Jambre yet and their lives were already in danger.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein