NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Triple-A Threat!
Arriving at the riverbed, Alchemy lightly dipped her hands into the water and took a small sip, checking its temperature and seeing if it was fresh water.
"It doesn't seem like salt water. Now, here's hoping it doesn't have some disease I am not resistant to." She said, half-jokingly.
Getting up after nodding to herself, Alchemy was about to rinse this blood off of herself but stopped midway.
"Probably shouldn't contaminate our only confirmed drinking water. Hey, Thorns. Could one of you ask the Sylvan Carvers to create a few large buckets to fill water with?" She asked.
The Thornskirmishers, who flew around her as they checked the area, nodded.
{Certainly, Mother.}
"Darn. It's a shame, though. I've never taken a bath in a river before." Alchemy lamented.
Alchemy's weird desires aside, she changed her attention to the gravel that ran along the river.
The further away from the center of her land she got, the more numerous footsteps in the gravel became. It was quite clear that a considerable amount of animals made their home here.
"Hmm, yes… I see." Alchemy hummed.
{What is it, Mother?}
Glancing at her personal guards, she shrugged.
"I have NO idea how to tell how old these footsteps are. I hoped that if I pretended that I knew what I was doing… I would figure it out."
{We… Do not understand that logic, but we believe in you!}
Their words made her chuckle.
"Don't worry about it. There's no actual logic behind it. In the novels I always read, the protagonists somehow have all the skills they could possibly need to modernize a fantasy world quickly despite working a 9 to 5 dead-end office job. Maybe I should have pursued a corporate job instead of being a pro gamer." Alchemy shrugged.
Partially, Alchemy felt the need to explain herself to these insects. She needed to remind herself that if she started speaking complete and utter nonsense, then the creatures of whatever era this world was in would probably think she was clinically insane.
Rightfully so, most likely. Regardless, she continued ahead while looking at the sun. While she had no way to tell the exact time, she could still tell that it was currently dawn. If animals started coming out to drink water, it'd probably happen soon.
"Hey, Thorns."
{Yes, Mother?}
"Yesterday afternoon, I ended up killing a couple of adolescent wolves around this exact area, actually. You think their pack would come looking for them?"
Alchemy knew that wolves were social animals, but the extent was unknown. She wouldn't have anywhere to run if an entire pack came looking for her. With so few units to back her, taking any more than a couple of those wolves at once would be difficult.
{We don't know, but-}
A loud, distant Bleat followed by a howl cut off their words.
"But, I suppose it doesn't matter as they found other prey before they found us. They'll be here soon; let's check it out."
Picking up the pace, it didn't take too long to reach the action. Surprisingly, the scene was quite different from what Alchemy imagined.
There were two wolves with the same light greenish-blue fur as the ones she saw yesterday, but these two were much bigger than the young ones. They were currently engaged in battle with a deer of some kind.
They were currently engaged with a comparatively smaller deer or elk-like creature.
{Ready to engage.}
"No. Hold it. Scatter and keep yourselves hidden amongst the trees for now. I'll give you a signal to attack." Alchemy commanded.
{Understood.}
Since they were already fighting, let them waste their energy and swoop in to take everything for yourself. Every good gamer knows that third partying a fight is the easiest way to profit.
This Deer. It had fur that was as white as the grass it ran on and resplendent blue crystal-like antlers. The wounds it had sustained did very little to lower the majestic air it had around itself.
As one of the wolves ran in to attack the deer, it nimbly dodged and retaliated with a kick from its hind legs, sending the wolf flying through the air for several meters. The second wolf, however, let out a howl so powerful that it became a blast of wind, striking the deer.
"Yeah, they really do love ganging up on you, huh?" Alchemy sighed, focusing her eyes on them to see their stats.
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Instantly upon seeing their statuses, Alchemy was glad that she didn't have her Thornskirmishers attack. Forget about losing a single squadron of units, her entire little group would be wiped off the face of the map.
"An A rank [Rare++] as well as two Elites… You're joking with me, right?"
In Ancients of Ascension, there were plenty of different modifiers living creatures could have. [Elites], [Heroes], [Rares], [Ancients], and even [Prospects] counted. They all meant different things, but what was common among all of them was that they were far stronger than others at their Estimated Level.
Just the sight of these three made Alchemy shiver.
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"And this ridiculous quest?!" She mumbled under her breath, trying not to scream at the top of her lungs.
'Whoever brought me to this world… You really need to fix your horrible balance!!'
Naturally, the harder the mission is to beat, the better the rewards will be, but to give her the second Hero Token AND something as rare as an [Accommodating skill shard], how could Alchemy not curse the heavens?
A crazed glint appeared in her eyes, and a face-splitting smile grew upon her face.
"Oh, I am so dying for this."
After all, she was already the best, so why put it in easy mode for her?