Cultivating Talents [LitRPG Mana-cultivation]

"Well, we don't exactly have any supplies to wrap the wounds," Hector said. His shoulders, where his backpack had been hours earlier before they entered the Trial Realm, were still light.

"That doesn't matter," Jodie said, stepping past him and the puppet, making her way to the two boys. She crushed shrubs underfoot and moved thick branches aside as she walked.

Hector moved to follow her, but his instincts told him something was wrong. This forest was quiet, too quiet. It was as if something was watching them. The feeling had been there when he'd entered. Quiet. But it had grown considerably since spotting the two boys.

"Is something the matter, Hector?" Mirae asked. She stepped next to him, her white puppet moving to the side, while the other stayed at her back. Its head swivelled from left to right, as if watching for the slightest threat.

Hector nodded, raising a hand and adjusting his mask. He patted down the front of his cloak, stopping it from exposing his clothing underneath. "The forest—it feels too quiet," he said, narrowing his eyes at the two boys, one slumped against a tree.

Jodie approached them, crunching through the damp undergrowth, her focus clearly more on helping than scouting out her surroundings. Though she had them, which afforded her a little carelessness. But it was a bad habit. Not one Hector liked in the slightest.

"She's being reckless," Lincoln muttered, walking up next to Hector. With a pop, he picked a leaf from the branch at his side and rolled it between his fingers. "This place is dangerous. I can feel it in my bones."

A faint, cool feeling brushed against the skin on Hector's arms, a shiver almost running up his spine. His head snapped to the side—there, a shadow flickered. Was something among the trees? It looked like a snake, or maybe a bat; he couldn't be sure.

"Did you see something?" Mirae asked. She stepped close to Hector and raised a hand, grabbing his wrist.

"I'm alright," he said, resting his hand on hers. "Just keep an eye out, and keep those two puppets alert. I feel like something might try to ambush us."

Mirae turned to the two boys as Jodie stopped in front of them. "You think something is luring us into a trap?" Mirae asked.

Hector shook his head. As Mirae released his hand, he walked forward. "I'm not sure," he said. "But we know nothing about this place, really. We all need to keep our wits about us."

She nodded.

Stepping to a stop just behind Jodie, Hector's eyes drifted around the forest behind the two boys. "Who are you guys?" he asked as Mirae, Lincoln, and her puppets fanned out in each direction behind him.

The boy looked up, holding his hand down on his injured friend's leg. "Me?" he stammered.

Hector nodded. "Who else would I be talking to?"

Jodie, kneeling on the ground, turned her head up to him. "Please. This injury is pretty bad. They're panicked, and something's chasing them. You could at least be a bit more compassionate."

Hector held Jodie's gaze for a moment. He then turned back to the boy. "So, who are you?"

"My name's Nonami," the boy said. He then nodded his head towards the injured boy—heavyset, gasping, with mud flecked all over his cheeks. "And this here is Otter."

Otter, as the boy called him, breathed deeply. His weary eyes moved from his wound to Hector. "Some creatures ambushed us. I didn't think this would happen," he said. He snapped his head up, eyes watching the shadows in the forest canopy. The smell of jasmine still lingered, and the sharp undertone of rose spoke of something hidden.

Hector shook his head and dropped to a knee. He glanced up, turning to Mirae. "Keep a lookout, alright? There's definitely something out there." His eyes flickered to the mist—shadows played, diving between the trees, swimming through them like fish, circling for the hunt.

"What was it that attacked you?" Hector asked, turning back to Nonami.

"I can't be sure," he said.

"I think it was the thing our quest told us to hunt," Jodie said, getting to her feet and moving towards a nearby bush. Had she not noticed the shadows moving about? How was she so calm? She began plucking leaves off the bush, seemingly looking for the thickest ones.

"Is the thing you're hunting by chance called the Shadow Wyrm?"

Nonami frowned. "No, we weren't looking for that."

Otter let out a deep groan, his voice wheezing a little. "It hurts. It hurts so much." His face scrunched in pain as blood continued to drip from between Nonami's fingers.

"I know, Otter. Stay strong," Nonami said. He turned to Hector, eyes begging for something Hector couldn't provide. They had no supplies at the moment.

"If you weren't hunting the Shadow Wyrm," Hector asked, tilting his head. He leaned in, looking at Otter's wound. While Nonami had covered most of it, he still left parts of the cut flesh exposed. The wound's edges were jagged and torn. "What creature did this to your friend?" Hector's eyes flickered up to meet Nonami's.

"I don't know," Nonami said. He raised a hand, blood dripping off it and splashing onto the leaves below. He pointed into the forest. Mist played, the shadow flickered. "In there," he said, voice shaky. "Deeper in, we found the shadow lizards. The creatures our quest tasked us with killing, but there was something bigger with them. Something almost dragon-like—it's hard to describe. It had two powerful front limbs and a long, slick body like a snake. I've seen nothing like it before."

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"That sounds like a Shadow Wyrm to me," Lincoln said from the back. Kicking at a bush with his foot, he reached down and grabbed a stick, pointing towards the forest. "I'd say those shadow lizards are the things flittering around, trying to wait us out, ambush us, while the big guy, their leader, waits to finish the job."

Lincoln shrugged at Hector before continuing to watch their surroundings. Hector turned back to Nonami. "Are they running in a pack?" Hector asked.

Nonami shrugged, his eyes turning back to Otter. "I don't know. It just came out of nowhere. We defended ourselves well for a while, managing to just about avoid its mad charges. But it just snapped suddenly, becoming vicious."

"Did you kill some of its brood?" Hector asked, getting to his feet. This was bad. Shadows surrounded them, slipping in and out, while the big one was probably waiting to lunge as soon as it sensed an opportunity.

"We didn't even kill one of them—they were too fast," Nonami said. "Anytime we cornered one, another would jump out and tackle us before we could even finish the cornered one."

"They're working as a team," Jodie said, shuffling over and dropping to her knee. She waved Nonami's hand away and placed several big leaves onto Otter's wound. "I didn't think beasts did that—coordinated. That just seems a little strange. Even Hairless Rats just charge as a swarm."

"Hairless Rats?" Nonami questioned before shaking his head. "I'd say a little more than strange." Nonami wiped his hands on the ground, dirt and crushed leaf particles sticking to them. "The things here are too smart. We should never have picked a C-ranked mission. It sounded so simple, though—hunt twenty shadow lizards and get 150 points, easy."

"It's easy if you don't have to worry about the big one," Mirae said. A puppet stepped next to her. It turned its back to her and lowered into a fighting stance, its head turning with each shadow that moved.

Hector narrowed his eyes. His heartbeat quickened, and a smile slipped onto his lips. Stepping away from the boys, he moved closer to Mirae. "We need to get these two out of here," he said.

Jodie, holding the leaves down firmly on Otter's leg, turned to him. "How? The guy's bleeding pretty badly. I worry that if we move him, it could make his wounds worse."

An awkward chuckle came from the side as Lincoln beat back a bush with the stick he found. "If we don't move him, I think his wounds will worsen, but that'll be because one of these creatures will jump out and tear into his legs."

Jodie's eyes narrowed at Lincoln. She said nothing and turned back, holding her hands firmer against the boy's leg.

Leaves crackled at the side. Hector's head snapped to them. Something was playing with them, keeping them distracted, trying to use that to their advantage. The surrounding shadows shifted—some lazily, some quickly. They curled in places, forming thick blobs before fanning out and moving into others. Whatever these creatures were, they were adept at using the shadows. This was almost a game to them.

"Alright, we need to—"

Before Hector could finish, a shape lunged out from behind a tree, heading straight toward Otter. Hector kicked off the ground, leaping over Nonami and Jodie. His foot cracked down into the shape's skull. It smashed into the dirt, crumpling up leaves and letting out shrieks. Before it could right itself, he swivelled on his heel, smashing his foot into its head. The blow knocked the small creature away, thumping hard into a tree.

Lincoln was there in an instant. He raised his foot and slammed it down repeatedly onto the creature's prone form. The thuds went from hard to soft, wet crunches within a few stomps. Eventually, he stopped, his breathing heavy, his eyes wide.

"That," he turned to Nonami and Otter, "you guys struggled to kill that?"

Jodie fixed him with a glare. "Let's be real, Hector did most of the work. You just jumped in at the end."

"So," Hector said, stepping over to the creature, its head now a bloody pulp. It had a long, snakelike body with two short, stubby arms. "You think this was the thing we were looking for?" he said, glancing up at Lincoln.

Lincoln shook his head, dropping to a knee and poking at the creature's ribs. "If I had to guess, the thing we're looking for is the leader of these guys. Probably what attacked him," Lincoln said, gesturing his head toward Otter.

Hector crossed his arms and turned. In the forest, the shadows still played, though they were faster now, more intense. It was as if they were closing in. Killing one might have actually rattled the entire pack. These creatures weren't dumb. They had some intelligence, and that made them dangerous.

He turned back to Jodie. "We have to get these two out of here now. Injuries or not, if we stay, we cannot save either of them, and one of us could get hurt."

Jodie sighed, gesturing for Nonami to hold down the wound on Otter's leg. She stood up, eyes scanning the shrubbery. "You're right, but how are we going to do this?"

"I think I can help," Mirae said. She stepped forward, her puppets shuffling behind.

—-- —-- —-- —--

A stick cracked as Hector took a step back. He reached forward, yanking the tail of the shadow lizard as it leapt over him, its stubby arms extended, claws glistening. Purple static crackled in his palm, and as his knife materialised, he sank the blade deep into the creature's flesh. It let out a shriek, slumping dead on the blade.

He threw it off, turning his attention to the next shadow even as he took several steps back.

"Keep tight!" he yelled, sparing a glance to his right. There, Jodie ducked under the lunge of a shadow lizard. She popped up and slammed her palm into its gut. The creature crumpled to the ground, then scampered off into the bushes. Jodie barely registered it as she ducked another lizard. Lincoln wasn't faring much better.

Hector flicked his knife off to the side, blood splattering onto the damp foliage at his feet. Taking another few steps back, his friends did the same. They had formed a C formation with Mirae and the two boys in the formation's centre. Mirae's puppets carried Otter, while a third puppet she'd summoned moments earlier stood on guard to protect her and Nonami.

We can't hold on like this forever. We need a path out of here. But these things just keep coming.

Hector ducked, yanking the tail of another shadow lizard. The edge of his mana-forged knife sliced across its abdomen, splitting flesh and spilling guts. Even as the knife finished parting the flesh, Hector threw the shadow lizard away, its body cracking into the tree and slumping to the ground, blood pooling beneath it.

"Keep retreating. We can't afford to get caught—"

Before Hector could finish speaking, a scream split the air. A moment later, the ground rumbled briefly. Hector's head snapped to the side, his gaze turning towards Lincoln. A wall of mud stood in front of him, waves of scratching and thuds coming from the other side.

Lincoln, flat on his butt, palms pressed against the dirt, chest rising and falling heavily, looked panicked. Blood wept from a wound on the side of his arm. He stared at the top of the mud wall as if he were waiting for something.

"You idiot!" Jodie yelled as more shadow lizards, with one route now blocked, navigated the wall and rushed towards her. This was getting out of hand.