章 14: Survival Strategies
While his troops were eating, Rain browsed through the [Diary], which recorded the important events that had occurred in his life while he was in the Spirit Realm.
|| D I A R Y ||
[Spirit Calendar xxxx, Time 5:02:47] A stray Rakling found your territory and wreaked havoc in the tent.
[Spirit Calendar xxxx, Time 5:03:59] Chi successfully evolved into a Lightbringer.
[Spirit Calendar xxxx, Time 5:04:02] Chi successfully fend off the Rakling.
[Spirit Calendar xxxx, Time 7:47:24] Your spirit arrived in the Spirit Realm.
[Spirit Calendar xxxx, Time 8:00:17] You have successfully named your first troop.
|| E N D ||
Rain was startled by the logs. A Rakling? The name sounded pretty scary.
Good thing Chi finished her evolution on time. Any later, and Rain feared the worse for his troops.
Dread gnawed at Rain, reminding him again how dangerous it was for his territory to be so . . . undefended.
Come to think of it, how did Chi manage to fend off the beast with no weapons? She didn't have any sword or bow, and definitely had no offensive abilities.
There was no specific explanation in the [Diary], which wasn't very detailed. It didn't say that Chi killed it, so the Rakling was probably still around.
This is bad, right? Rain thought and quickly browsed the bestiary that the player association had compiled.
"Let's see . . . Raklings, Raklings . . . R . . . R . . . ah, here it is."
Rain shivered at the sight of the creature on his screen. It looked like a tyrannosaurus rex but the same height as humans. The only difference was that their arms were replaced by mandibles, and they didn't have eyes or ears. Their upper backs were protected by stone-hard armor, but their soft bellies were their weakness.
They hunted their prey through their amazing sense of smell, and though small, they could be dangerous in large numbers.
Thankfully, these predators didn't hunt in packs, but encountering two or three of them was common.
Only one was recorded in the log, but if that one managed to come back with some of its friends, Rain wondered if Chi could fend them off again.
"T-this is bad, right?" Rain shook and deflated like an old man with no bones.
He had to think of a way to defend his troops against these predators. What's more, there was the challenge of water and food.
Rain considered hunting those lizards again; they were fairly weak and manageable compared to the Raklings. By doing that, he could earn Soul Elixirs and EP, as well as body parts that he could sell.
By that, he could temporarily bring in water and food to the Spirit Realm, but that was only a band-aid solution. He knew that expanding territory meant increasing population, so he should think of a more sustainable approach.
He read that some races and classes could use magic, like water magic, but that was also a temporary fix since using magic and any abilities drained the caster's energy.
Rain needed to find a permanent solution . . . but first, he needed to talk to Chi about the Raklings and how she fended it off.
Then he had to build a shelter for his troops. Or maybe they could roam around and see if there were ruins or caves or something –– anything that could serve as their temporary home. He could just bring in his statue as they go. He couldn't leave that thing alone after all as it was the heart of his territory.
"Chi, can I talk to you for a moment?" Rain asked, leading Chi away from the others.
"How did you fend off the Rakling?"
~Chiii!~
Chi pointed to a particular spot. Rain's eyes followed her finger to where she was pointing and found a flying insect the size of a palm. They were numerous around the barren deserts and their bloated tummy glowed during the night.
Rain had left them alone because they preyed on corpses and other dirty stuff.
"Ugh . . . So you mean to say that . . . those giant tummies of theirs secrete a foul odor when you kill them?"
~Chii!~
"Oh. You mean squash them . . . that's not worse at all."
~Chii!~
Chi gestured, and Rain understood that she had grabbed a Raptor and squashed it in her palm when the Rakling appeared. The foul odor had fended off the Rakling, which had a sensitive nose and couldn't stand anything with a strong smell.
"Maybe I could extract those Raptors' tummies?" Rain thought aloud. "And then use it like a bomb when necessary or something. Or maybe paint it around our tent so the Raklings would leave you guys alone when I'm away."
"Can you stand the smell of those insects, though?" Rain asked Chi.
~Chii!~
Chi nodded confidently, indicating that she could tolerate the odor if it meant keeping the Raklings at bay.
"Then let's just use them when necessary," Rain decided. "Alright, Chi, let's catch some of those Raptors and harvest their tummies."
Chi responded enthusiastically.
Rain also directed his other troops to catch the Raptors if they could. They were excited, treating it like a game of tag with the Raptors.
Raptors weren't that dangerous. Their stingers contained poison, but it wasn't harmful — just an irritant, causing an itch.
They were like mosquitoes but easier to catch due to their palm-sized bodies. No one wanted to eat them or go near them because of their strong ammonia-like smell and the foul odor they emitted whenever their tummies burst.
The smell wasn't a problem for Rain and Chi since they badly needed those Raptors. They had no choice but to breathe through their mouths while the others fell to the ground, overcome by dizziness from the strong smell.
Instead of pushing them, Rain directed them to find something useful to build another tent, knowing he and Chi could handle the Raptors themselves.
At the end, Rain and Chi managed to catch five Raptors and began to gently harvest their tummies.
[OBTAINED: Raptor Sac x5]
"Oh, it worked!" Rain was ecstatic.
[OBTAINED: 1 mL Soul Elixir]
[OBTAINED: 20 EP]
"Only this much?" Rain complained. "Well, the Raptors didn't put up much of a fight, and all they did was run away."
Rain sighed. "Beggars can't be choosers. Alright, everyone, gather around."
Troops #2 to #5 all huddled around Rain, some even pushing each other. One look from Chi, though, and the rest lined up straight.
"Our agenda for today is to find shelter and defeat some weak beasts along the way to gather Soul Elixirs and Evolution Points. I'll be with you the whole day, so let's make it productive!"
~chii!~
~chiiirrp!~
Everyone jumped and responded enthusiastically.
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