PenguinKills
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Chapter 152 - The Herd
🕑 Added 2024-10-09 20:16:57 +0000 UTCWe didn't spend much time in the city and were on the road again in a day. Tracy helped us get everything we needed and even some things we didn't know were available. It put a dent in our newly acquired coins but it was well worth it in my opinion.
It was mostly food but there were other things filtered in. Raw materials we weren't able to get a lot of from the dungeon or what the dungeon didn't give out. Cloth mostly, as the dungeon seemed to have an aversion to the stuff.
One thing that did surprise me that snuck in was a skill shard. Skill shards were a touch different than gaining a skill through the pylons like before, as those had to be used by the person who bought them.
Buying a skill from the pylon in the tutorial forced you to learn the skill, without giving you a chance to give it away.
These were different. The little gems could be used by anyone and there were no restrictions on who could use it. The skill we received wasn't very good, but just the appearance of it was nice to have. It was a generic bow skill that I had no use for but someone else would. I thought of giving it to Sarah if she didn't already have the skill.
Another thing I asked Tracy before we left was if she knew where any beasts of burden were. Horses, donkeys, bulls, or something similar would work wonders for our traveling speed.
We weren't very fast on foot and I wanted to speed things up. Just traveling to the next city took over a month and at the rate we were going, the trip would take over a year.
Not every second was spent on travel and there were areas we could shave some time down, but I wanted to boost our base speed rather than feel rushed. While we weren't on a specific timeline to get there, neither did I want it to drag out.
She let me know of a few places where they were likely to be, but she didn't know for certain. She mostly pointed out where old ranches used to be that had horses or the animals I was looking for.
We hit a few of the spots on our way but sent out Austin and Hal for the ones that were too far out of the way. Evidence of the animals being there previously was clear to see but the beasts themselves were gone.
Similar to the last ranch we came across, the surrounding area was searched but nothing was found. The tracks were too old for Hal to get anything from and too much had changed.
The disappointment grew the more we came across abandoned ranches but that all changed a few days out of the city. We were ambling along, pulling our carts when Austin came sprinting back to the caravan visibly excited.
He came dashing up to me nearly vibrating before saying, "Horses! A herd of them out over the plains. At least 50 of them!"
His words quickly spread through the caravan and we all dropped what we were doing.
"Alright everyone, you know what to do. Brayden and the builders, get those posts in the ground. Everyone else, carry the planks in place and secure them tightly. They will be stronger than normal horses now that they have levels." I announced to everyone.
We had prepared for when we found animals long before we actually ran into any. The first thing we had to do was construct a pen to corral them into. It would help facilitate the taming process and make the whole thing easier.
"And someone tell Sarah to get on deck!" I added.
After we had the herd penned, it would be up to her to calm them down and tame them. She was out with Jonathan whenever the opportunity arose to increase her level but she was still a touch low for the area we were in.
The horses were most likely in the high F-rank with a few in the low E-rank and she hadn't even hit level 25 yet.
That was the main reason we had to keep the herd contained. It would help her bridge the gap in level and make the process easier, rather than have her chase the herd around.
Something told me that wouldn't work out.
Everyone rushed into motion and posts were slammed into the ground. The forests were long behind us and it had been grassy hills for most of our travel since we left the city.
From Austin's shouting, it opened up into plains not that far away.
While everyone was working to construct the pen, I got more information out of Austin about the herd.
"How far out are they and what level is the Stallion?" I asked.
"A few miles away roaming the plains and I couldn't get close enough for an [Identify]. Based on the creatures in the area, though, I'd put him at the low or mid-60s." He answered.
"Do they have an affinity yet or are they still neutral?"
"I couldn't tell from how far away I was. I didn't want to spook them." He answered.
We would need to change our approach depending on what affinity the horses had and that was something we needed to know. Some beasts stayed neutral as they evolved and didn't pick up an affinity while others did.
I wasn't well versed enough in monster-ology to know why some did and others didn't, but what mattered now was not putting fire affinity horses in a wooden pen they could burn down.
"Take Gabriel with you and go scout them out. He should be able to determine their affinity. If you spook them, we can just find them again. It's better to know and chase them than guess and be wrong." I ordered.
He nodded before scurrying off to find Gabriel among the caravan while I turned to monitor the work going on. After discussing with Austin, some of the people were idling around after their part was over and that needed to be fixed.
"Anyone who can conjure walls or barricades to corral, start creating a funnel into the pen. Anyone else, start setting up camp, we could be here a while." I shouted out.
I went ahead to create long straight sections of ice leading to the gate of the pen and others with the ability moved to join me.
The reason we didn't create the pen out of conjured walls like Jonathan's stone or my ice was that they would fade over time. We had to constantly supply the mana to keep them intact and the taming process was going to take a long time.
My ice would take a special amount of monitoring due to the heat of summer. It was the hottest days of the year which made standing Ice that much harder to keep unmelted.
I could have done it, but it would have been a headache to keep active for an unknown amount of time. A headache better left for something else that would no doubt arise during the operation.
It was easier to cut a few trees down ahead of time and make a pen that way than to constantly monitor a conjured one. Plus, we had a few more builders now and we didn't have to rely on Brayden alone anymore.
The increased manpower made the construction effort much faster than it would have been and we were ready to go in a few hours.
It was just in time for Austin and Gabriel to come jogging back.
"They don't seem to have an affinity and the highest level is 64!" Gabriel shouted from Austin's back.
Even though his legs now extended down past his kneecaps, they were still a few weeks out of being whole. The healers were getting better at regrowing them and each session resulted in more growth than the last.
They were optimistic that they would be as good as new in a few weeks, now that they had gotten past the knee joint.
"Good, good. Austin, you go keep an eye on them until we are ready and Gabriel, go help with the funnel construction. Any extra distance will make this whole thing easier." I looked at both of them giving them their next tasks.
"Abigail!" I shouted over the sounds of hammers on wood.
A bob of brown hair signaled her arrival and I turned to her as she closed in, I relayed to her the level and affinity before getting an update, "Is everyone in place?"
"Yes, they are arrayed out and ready to direct the herd into the pen. Given their level, we might need to condense our lines down so no one gets stampeded over. Single fighters won't be able to do much with a level 64 Stallion charging at them" She said.
We planned to have Austin and Hal try to lead the animals the best we could but that could always go wrong. They would be on either side of the herd but that wasn't a full proof plan. The others were to fan out and keep the horses from going in a direction we didn't want them to go but they could take a full charge if any got away.
I would help on the back end, making sure the herd didn't split up while driving them along. We figured if I flared my more flashy skills, the horses would run away from me and make it easier to guide them in the direction we wanted them to go.
All we could hope was they didn't develop some unknown skill that would ruin our whole plan.
The only person who wouldn't be joining in the corralling effort was Jonathan. His job was to blunt the charge after we got them into the pen with his skills and shields. If the horses came in hot, we weren't sure if the wooden posts would hold up to their charge.
Jonathan would stand at the back of the pen and make sure they didn't just charge on through, breaking through what we had built. We reinforced the pen and added what skills we could to keep that from happening but with Jonathan there, we would make double sure.
"Alright, I'll start circling around to come at them from the other side. Everyone is to wait for my signal." I said before jogging away.
My unarmored form made it easier to trek through the tall grass and it would keep me unencumbered in case something went wrong. None of us were ranch hands or cowboys and our experience with this kind of thing was nonexistent.
And even if we were ranch hands, the animals had changed so much to make that experience not worth as much. Levels and skills changed more than just humanity.
It took me a few minutes to get around where the herd was spotted but I managed to get there without anything tipping them off.
I lined the angle up as best I could before starting to power up some of my skills. [Permafrost] flared out first before [Desolate Blizzard] joined in for the first time.
It was the first time I was using the skill other than for training and it was for corralling horses.
Now that I was in range, I could see the herd grazing around in the grass. The group of 50 or so nibbled on what they wanted before moving on to the next patch that looked good.
Mana had done them well as all of them looked like peak specimens, with rippling muscles and flowing manes, along with glossy coats filled the herd. Even a few foals were running around inside the perimeter.
Observing them for a little longer gave time for my skills to start up and after those two started their work, [Sweeping Snow] added in for a bit of a nip. If the horses thought the chilly wind was all, the snow would get them moving in the right direction.
I wasn't trying to kill the horses so I ended things there. [Momentum of the Avalanche] and my other skills were unnecessary for what I was attempting to do.
I only wanted to section off a large area where the horses would rather be somewhere else than endure what I was throwing at them, getting them to move in the direction I wanted them to.
Now that I had a Wind Law, it was fascinating to get everything working the way I wanted it to. It was like the pieces were starting to come together and the painting of what I wanted was fading into frame.
Even though it wasn't for a battle, to have my skills, the three I had built up together, mesh like this was a sight to see. [Permafrost] weaved through the ground, chilling and freezing the earth.
[Desolate Blizzard] blew through the air, building my domain further so it wasn't just the earth that was mine, but the air above it as well.
Then [Sweeping Snow] came in riding on the buffeting winds, ready to cut and slice anything inside. It grew empowered riding the winds around me instead of having to propel outward by themselves.
If both my Laws got added to the mix, it was a force of nature to behold.
I still didn't have the control over Wind I wanted, not like my Ice, but I was working on it. Once I got [Wind Manipulation] like my mother, things would go a lot easier but I was doing what I could without it.
My affinity and Law aided me but I was still new to the experience.
I pumped mana into my skills until it was a nippy cold. Anything more was overkill and I wasn't sure how the foals would take it. After that, I fired off an [Ice Arrow] into the air before hitting it with [Shatter].
That was my signal to the rest of them that I was starting.
After that, I started closing in on the herd at a slow jog. Some of the horses began to pick up on something wrong and raised their heads in the air, pausing their grazing while the others remained oblivious.
More and more perked up and stopped grazing as I got closer before the first one broke off into a run. After the first did it, more charged off to follow, running away from the serge of power they no doubt felt.
Rachel and Gabriel talked the most about my 'aura' and I was attempting to utilize it better than I had been.
Most of the time, I practiced not letting it billow out of me without restraint, but now I tried to do the opposite and project it.
It was an entirely new skill and was slow going, but I was making progress. Much slower progress than other areas, but it was still progress.
What held me back the most was I didn't see the point. Hiding it, letting it out, it didn't much make a difference to me. That was until Gabriel told me what he could feel from an aura and I was informed of the fact I was giving information away.
Mostly it was the fact people could find me because of it. Like how Tracy had found me in a city full of people. Plus how the beasts seemed to know where I was when I attempted to be stealthy.
What little practice I had with the skill did little against the horses but I liked to think it did. Even though it was 100% my skills and the force of nature I was building up, I felt my aura practice had something to do with it.
As the horses broke and started racing away from me, they started to form up like we anticipated. The stallion took the head as the others fell in behind him based on strength.
After they started running, Austin and Hal broke in from the sides, keeping them from going left or right as I charged after them. As soon as they felt constrained by the two new additions, things started to get dicey.
Mana flared inside the herd and their speed picked up, forcing me into a full sprint to keep up while Austin and Hal had to do the same.
They made attempts to break out but a light beam or wind arrow forced them back into line as we closed in on where the pen was built.
The walls came into sight first before the lines of people and once the horses saw that, they went buck wild.
Both lines of people leading away had to shield themselves as the horses tried to break free and a few managed to get out of our lines, but the majority weren't able to.
We paid specific attention to keep the Stallion in line and most followed after their leader.
It rammed and kicked, trying to break out of our encirclement, but it was finished the moment our lines swung shut. After the herd closed in close enough, everyone swung in behind them forcing them into the funnel we had built.
Seeing the only possible exit, they broke off through the funnel and into the gate into the awaiting arms of Jonathan. They seemed to pick up speed seeing the lone man waiting for them at the end of the funnel but they were in for a rude surprise.
If they thought they were getting through him, they had another thing coming.
Comments
Ben Heggem
“running away from the serge of power they no doubt felt.” Surge* TFTC👍
PWeygandt
As cool as it would be to have some big fantasy creatures be the beasts that Sarah bonds with, I really like that it's (probably) just really strong horses. Them having a neutral affinity is cool too as I imagine them gaining an affinity based on where they are so maybe the horses will all get an Arctic Affinity die to Chris
Buck
Interesting mini-arc. Did not expect it. Figured they would obtain beasts of burden from a city. Capturing and taming them themselves will be more fun! TFTC!
James Faulkner
Tftc!
