Chapter 104 - The Beast Just Outside

I was surprised that Missy and Jazzy were the ones to raise their hands but thankful all the same. Even if Jazzy didn't exactly have anything regarding what I needed, I could tell he wasn't going to leave his sister unprotected. I didn't mind and instead asked them about their problem from before I left.

"Well, to be honest father.... It still comes every night. Last night it even stood near the entrance to our tent and thankfully we decided to close it because of how cold it was, but still it stood there for a while before leaving off towards the forest again."

"Hmmm? Hey Sondar have the guards said anything? Maybe some signs or anything?" Turning towards Sondar I asked. I had a feeling that the guards wouldn't find anything but I was still being hopeful.

"No, not really, ofcourse we have been gone a couple of days looking for your dumbass..." He had a snarky tone at the end of that but I deserved it so I let it go.

"Ok gotcha, well in that case I will stay up tonight and figure something out. I have an idea that maybe could be useful now that I am a Formation Creator."

As soon as I said that everybody that was not my children... and Howy, gasped and looked at me with astonishment. 

"Oh shit, that's right I forgot to mention that. Yea I learned how to create formations while I was away. Apparently it's not that much different was creating magic circles, Except basically each so called 'Rune' in the formation is in fact a seperate 'Circle' that is combined with other 'Circles' that make up the formation as a whole. It's really easy I'd be glad to hold a class on it." 

"Wellll before we get off topic lets continue with the issues at hand ok? first, Missy, Jazzy, You two will be in charge of helping your father tonight with whatever. Also for the others who volunteered for the Farming division will need to go meet Kitsoma and see if we have any suitable tools to use until we can get the Merchant group up and ready to go to the capital."

Sondar took the lead yet again and kept things on track. All the while looking at me with a look of 'Your an idiot'. I slumped a little seeing how easily it was to fall back into that easy routine of doing whatever my mind wondered onto. 

I stood up and spoke to the 2 kids before leaving and got the directions towards their living area. I then went towards the Merchant/Inventory tent and looked through it all until I finally found a suitable item for what I was planning. I used Analyze on it real quick just to be sure it could handle what I was going to use it for.

[Clay Figurine - Inferior]

[A simple figurine made from inferior and low quality clay. Filled with impurities]

[Aura of Protection - 20 ft. Provides lvl 1 Magic shield that can block one hit before having to recharge. Max people - 5]

This was perfect.... Except for the many impurities part. But it was the Aura that I was after. I needed something that was suited for an area effect already, that meant that it had the necessary components to handle my plan. 

I first needed to purify whatever the impurities were and hopefully that would buff the effects more.

Now who to talk to about that? To purify clay wouldn't I need to first destroy it then make back into a powder than mix it with some water to form a clay again????? Ugh I don't know let's just do that and see if we get lucky.

I needed a container first for this and thought of making a Mortar and Pestle, But I couldn't just use any old rock, I needed something strong that could withstand the amount of continuous mashing and grinding. 

So another dig through the inventory and.... Nothing. I found nothing that would fit the bill. I did find a good looking helmet that emitted something akin to the Tree of Silence, but right now I wasn't really hearing any voices of damnation so I put that aside for later.

What would be strong enough to handle constant abuse and still hold up.... And then what would serve as a blunt instrument for grinding and mashing...

As for the bowl I figured maybe I could just use some of my scales and try and make a bowl that way. It wasn't very strong but maybe it could hold up until I found something better. So with a few bloody spurts like pulling a tooth I yanked out some of my more curved scales and quickly healed the spots and soon enought the new scales were sprouting through the skin.

I found some string that I could improvise and tie the scales together but in the end I ended up with more of a freaking hard hat than a bowl.

"FUCKING DAMMIT!" I yelled as I threw the hardhat into the tent and stomped off to go grab some food. 

-------Howy POV-------

I was sneaking around watching Vexsus to make sure he kept on track. I figured out that even though he has a damn near overpowered detection skill, it appears that he doesn't have it active all the time. 

I almost jumped out of hiding when this lunatic ripped out his own scales but then almost in the blink of an eye he healed and already had new scales growing back. I was still amazed at just how fast his healing was to the point of just being stupefied. 

I then watched as he used some string he found just lying on the ground to tie up those scales and seconds later he sighed before putting it on his hand... Then chucked it into the Inventory tent, yelled, and stormed off towards the food pit.

When I was sure he was far enough away I walked into the tent and picked up the tied together scales. It looked exactly how you would think, just a few scales curved and tied together. It really wasn't impressive in the slightest but knowing that it was his scales made me want to experiment.

I took it outside and after making sure that I was alone, I took out my dagger and slashed at the scales. 

With a loud crack my dagger broke in half from the impact. Thank the gods I used one of my shitty daggers. I looked back at the scales and I noticed a small scratch where the dagger made contact. It was barely noticeble as right before my eyes the scratch disappeared and looked good as new as if the scratch never even happened.

I had to take this to the others and show them that this crazy bastard made something incredible just by fucking around... only to get pissed off and throw it away like trash. I raced off through the trees and into Sondars tent with a flash.

"Sondar man you are not going to believe what Vexs... OMG WHAT THE FUCK!" 

I flung open the tent without looking and as I turned my head to look inside I was greeted by a naked Sondar and Konna in the middle of what I can only hope is sex. I was both simultaneously appalled at what I seen and also unable to look away as. My brain was trying to wrap itself around how the hell Sondar could bend that way with his shell still intact.

"Nevermind I'll come back later." I then quickly walked out of the tent and with steam coming out of my ears I ran towards the nearest water source to go drown myself.

------Vexsus POV-------

I was still steaming over the failed attempt at a mortar and pestle but I couldn't give up. This was something I needed to get done before tonight.

"Here dad, I used some of the sap and mixed it in with the fat and bones of the Fire boar to make a soup." Romeo explained as he handed me a wooden bowl filled with an aromatic liquid that was golden brown and filled with pieces of sizzling meat and bits of some kind of Potato like vegetable.

"This looks, and smells great. Good job Romeo, mind if I Analyze it and get a feel for whatever it can do? I'm sure with your job skills it has some kind of added effect."

He nodded as I looked down and activated the skill

[Fire Boar Meat with Silent sap and Fire Boar bone broth]

[Inferior - Made by a beginner chef. By combining the sap of the Tree of Silence and the Bones of the Fire boar a unique dish has been created. Effects last for 6 hours.]

[Fire Resistance +25%]

[Defense +10]

[Magic Resistance +25%]

"Well damn, that's not bad. It says here that it gives resistance to magic and fire aswell as giving a boost to defense. You really outdone yourself man. I'm even more surprised because it says that it's Inferior rank, but don't let that get ya down because your a beginner afterall." I was extremely proud of Romeo, this was going to be an awesome meal before battles and missions that include hotter environments.

He looked a bit down since it was considered Inferior but he was still happy that it was a success. 

With a meal like that I was ready to get back at the task. I went ahead and gave up on the purifying process and instead decided that for tonight I'll just set up a detection formation and see if I could implant said formation into the figurine.

I walked over to the kid's tent and set up a circle around their tent. While I was around the back that faced the forest I looked around and even I couldn't really see anything besides the footprints of the guards.

I finished the circle and within their tent I set up the Figurine and I started drawing the Rune for Protection. Which I drew to look like a wide open eye, I drew it not only on the forehead of the figurine but also at four points within the circle. 

I then stood outside of the tent and placed a scale of mine within a smaller circle that I drew that would serve as the power source, I put alot of mana inside the scale so it should work atleast for a few hours depending on how far the detection could see.

After I set up everything I stood back and activated the formation. The scale started to glow and an added bonus was that as it activated I would recieve a prick in my head as a small scale radius showed the tent and expanded outwards for 40 ft.

The radius was going to have to be good enough and hopefully it will help me figure out what was going on tonight.. I deactivated the formation and with a satisfied smile I walked back to go get some more of the delicious soup.