章 8: Suddenly Smarter

"I don't like it one bit, Sister." Carla paced back and forth, her nail caught between her teeth.

She stopped pacing and turned towards another woman, "They ALL heard the word demon – ALL OF THEM – and nobody cared!" She returned to pacing.

"I mean, I understand not following His word to a T, times change, meanings need to be re-examined, but I for one felt the demon section was pretty clear. . ."

Silence ensued as Carla began to feast upon her nails.

Moments turned to minutes. Carla walked to and fro. Again and again.

"I've been enlightened!" The second woman shot up, vibrance slapped across her face.

"Enlightened?" Carla turned back, "Did you hear His voice?"

Carla began to lean forward, breathless and red.

"Voice of God?" She pleaded on her knees, tugging on the girly skirt wrapped around Sister's legs.

"It's a trial. . ." Sister spoke slowly, in awe, "His Trial. And we must conquer it!"

Sister's eyes flickered in the cold cave, blazing passion fueling her words.

"But first, we must kill that heretic!"

***

Ultimately, the jungle revealed itself to be not so harrowing. Sure, it's littered with Goblins, an infestation of them, but Goblins aren't particularly strong?

At least, the one's present in this jungle are not.

They lack coordination of any kind, intellect of any kind, their primary (only) strategy is walk forward. Oh – and they prioritize women. Once you figure out those two key points, they are remarkably easy to manipulate and toy with as you see fit. And if, for some reason, you aren't faster than the Goblins, maybe you should consider getting fit instead.

But of course, as all good things must die, so too must picnics and strolls. Half way through our journey, seven days after passing the dojo, the Goblins miraculously gained cognitive function.

First, this fact spawns forth many issues along with it.

Was the increase in difficulty time related or distance related?

How did the Goblin's become smarter? Are these even the same creatures at all?

I shifted my balance onto one foot, allowing myself the leeway to lift my other leg and pivot backwards. Before my chest, inches away, a glossy bone dagger hurled past.

Moving swifter than the Enhanced Goblin, I slammed my elbow down, snapping its arm. Then, I grabbed its wrist and yanked it down, pulling the green beast's nose into my knee cap. His skull cracked as my knee plunged into its head.

I took a jump back, avoiding another Goblin that had been waiting for me to show my back.

"Now how did you get so smart?" I grabbed the dagger from the deceased Goblin in front of me and whipped it back, hitting the chest of the conniving fiend sprinting across the grass.

"Last one!" Isaac yelled over the battlefield – a small hill perched above a narrow stream of luminescent water.

Isaac and the rest came jogging over, it was a rule Isaac wanted us to follow: debriefing after every engagement.

"Excellent work, team!" Isaac fired the classic intro.

"Did anyone else feel like it was tougher all of a sudden?" Olive asked.

"I told you, didn't I?" Isaac shook his head, "It gets harder the further you go."

"But this much harder?" Olive's brows sank, "It's like a different creature all together."

"Just wait until next week!" Jenny stared at us, tossing out a thumbs-up as we made eye contact.

So I did.

Well, I tried to.

***

"Left! Left! Left!" Isaac's voice roared over the battlefield, through the thick jungle trees and the web of foliage that hung from them.

I turned around for just a moment, I couldn't afford any more. My legs were already burning in exhaustion. My ears were ringing. And I swear to god there's a sunflower growing from my left shoulder!

Fuck!

I didn't see anything!

I stared at the foliage in front of me and began counting, memorizing the path a few meters ahead. Then, I swung my neck around and just so wildly absorbed the scene behind me.

A horde of Goblins. No!

An army of Goblins!

Hundreds! Thousands!

They live in the fucking trees!

We couldn't understand at first. Once the Goblins upgraded into their superior version, we lost the ability to track them too. To predict them and maneuver around them. Their tracks, almost entirely, vanished from the jungle floor.

So for an entire four days – we encountered nothing. No Goblins, no beasts or rabbits, not even a bird. The jungle went limp.

For the first two days, the paranoia multiplied. Sick sensations of being watched, echoes in the trees, but at the time we just thought they were the songs of the birds – the ones we'd never seen.

And after two days of nerve-racking travel, lacking sleep and food, absolutely spent from forcing ourselves to remain on high-alert for so long, we had to sleep.

And so, while traveling through the jungle, we managed to find a small, secluded place to rest: underneath a tree's roots. This spire of a jungle tree grew along a protruding piece of stone, a massive eruption of rock that tore into the sky, reaching the height of a mountain but lacking the umph to get it there.

The jungle tree, leaning against the stone wall, grew into the stone, integrating its roots into it. After years of erosion and mudslides, the soil at which the jungle tree sprouted from flowed away. Thanks to that, a large carved out space existed underneath the slanted stone; atop it, the roots of the magnificent tree.

With a fire built at the center, the team of six gathered around it. Our hands pushed forward, relishing in the warmth its glow provided. In our egg-shaped home, we quickly came to a consensus on who would rest first.

"Olive, Lily, Cole, and I will sleep first." Isaac instructed.

"Leaving Jenny and I for first watch." I continued for him.

"I thank you for your sacrifice!" Lily cusped her hands together and bowed towards Jenny and I.

"It's all for my people!" Jenny saluted in response.

Her and Lily had built quite the rapport over the past week and a half.

The four sprawled around the campfire, each of them sleeping on a different collection of leaves and brush collected an hour prior. Left alone to keep watch of the forest, I left the dome and climbed the hill at the foot of our temporary base. At the peak of the hill, I could see everything around us and, thanks to being up against a near vertical wall, I only had three directions to keep an eye on.

I sat down and crossed my legs over one another while my back faced the dome-home.

Status.

—————————||—————————

Host: Cain

Species: Corrupted Human

Class: Lesser Evil

Rank: Fledgling

Souls Harvested: 63/100

Strength: E

Endurance: E

Agility: E

Dexterity: F+

Intelligence: D

Spirit: E+

Vigor: D

—————————————

Over halfway to whatever.

I focused my gaze on my Rank, if there was a description for my Species and Class, there was probably a description for everything.

I hope.

—————————||—————————

Rank: Fledgling

Rank Description: A Fledgling is a fresh being, new to the Truth, and possessing extraordinary means to Ascendence.

Souls Harvested: 63/100

Souls Harvested Description: A tally of devoured lesser-souls.

—————————————

Devoured?

But I quickly shook it from my mind. There were my stats too, but unfortunately, they were not equipped with a description. Judging by their titles, however, it's not hard to guess their purpose. Strength assuredly manipulated my strength, my exertion of force, that sort of thing.

Endurance must have something to do with stamina and the list goes on. The only stats that did confuse me, however, were Spirit and Vigor. Spirit being a power unique to myself, or summons, demons, one of my special little quirks, because the surviving humans around me all use something called mana.

And from what I could tell, Vigor should have something to do with the liveliness of your life? Maybe the youthfulness of cells? I have no idea.

Taking a step back, though, and looking at this from a broader range, the evaluation of something like our stats probably means there are ways to increase, or if you're unlucky decrease, your stats. So then, how do I raise my stats?

Repetitive motion?

Continuous practice beyond my breaking point?

Or is this all some grand tutorial and – upon success – will my stats magically rise as seemingly endless power rushes into me?

And if the stats vary, which they obviously do as mine contain different values, what then is the greatest and poorest value?

What evaluation represents an average, untrained person?

Far too many questions rattled inside my brain and, before I knew it, I became immersed in my thoughts. I closed my eyes, hyper-focusing on the status screen (it was pleasant to view against the complete black background of my closed eyes) and although I didn't fall asleep; I let something slip past me.

TING!

The sound of metal clashing against metal.