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Energy Eater - Chapter 168 - Hidden path
🕑 Added 2025-09-19 03:17:53 +0000 UTC"I take it you know him?" I asked when Rex was calling him uncle.
"Yes, yes. Uncle Carl. Always help. Always good. Strong warrior," Rex said with a big smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Michael spoke up and took a step towards the larger Rodenti.
Carl, the leader of this group, just stared at us for a moment and then back at Rex, waiting for an explanation.
"These friends. Friends help attack nest. Friends help Rex reach tier 2."
While the first part of his introduction didn't seem to land well with his uncle, that second part caused the man to open his eyes wide.
"Well done, young one. Your father be proud." He turned back to us. "Thank you for traveling with nephew and bringing him home. But we don't need help from humans. Humans weak. Can't use skills."
Before he could continue speaking, I interjected. "We actually do have the System. You can check."
He stared at me with a confused expression and then glanced at Rex, who nodded in agreement.
"True. They stronger than Rex at first. First tier reached tier 2."
"Is something all humans do?" Carl asked.
I hesitated to answer. If we were honest and told him that I was the first human to get that ability, it was possible he would just kill me to get rid of a threat. Even though Rex seemed to trust Carl, the same couldn't be said for the rest of us. On the other hand, if we said that all humans had the System, it might launch the Rodenti into some sort of holy war where they tried to destroy all humans who had a System.
But before me or any of my friends could answer, Rex took charge with his reply to Carl. "Not all. But some. Like ancestors, they can share. Only now started."
Carl turned to Rex, nodding with the information, "I see. First generation. Very well. Quickly, we take hidden paths." He turned to the rock they appeared from and started walking.
"Isn't the sister village down there?" I pointed to the smoke cloud in the distance. "How is taking a different path going to make this faster?"
Despite my question, I was following along since it wasn't really much of an option. It seemed like the desert was much more dangerous than I was expecting.
Carl smiled and gestured to one of the Rodenti that was with him. "Have ways to make path faster. Fun way."
We all frowned at the response but didn't say anything else. Everybody had their own definition of fun, but I could only hope that the Rodenti definition wasn't that different from ours.
As we were guided to the rock that they were hiding under, Carl started introducing the entire group. This was his team, a group of hunters and scavengers that was currently focused on protecting the villages. They only came down here near the entrance because they were doing a daily check to see if any of the chieftain's children were coming back. After all, they knew that they were supposed to take that pass. Unfortunately, the creatures called Sand Coyotes, which was the name of the monsters that attacked us, also noticed the increase in traffic, and that's why they were lying in wait.
According to Carl, Rex was just the third of the children to return. Rixnala had arrived a while back with an army, a group of some 50 odd Rodenti. That sounded so much like a low number for an entire army in my opinion, but Carl sounded very impressed with her results, so I didn't mention anything.
The eldest brother, Rixtar, was the first to come back. While he didn't bring an army, he was able to gather a small war group where all were in the middle of tier 2. Rixtar himself had been saturated ever since he came back from his journey, and the people he brought were all seasoned veterans that could single-handedly protect the entire village. They were all now working under him to help with the assault on the nest.
"Do you know how many people are going to actually participate in that fight?" I asked.
Carl paused for a moment before answering. "We believe 200. Maybe more if other children return."
"Not likely," Vera said. She was one of the people under Carl's command, an older Rodenti woman who had a unique set of weapons in the form of two metal claws that she placed over her own hands.
"Why do you think so?" Michael asked.
"Only two sure to return. Rixtar and Rixnala. Others likely ran and tried to find a place to live. Chieftain's idea. But Rex came back."
"Wasn't he one of the children the chieftain sent away?"
"Yes, but Rex too distracted. Everyone expected him to take longer to return, perhaps so long that fight was over."
Hearing that, I held back a chuckle. I could really see Rex getting so invested in something that he missed the date on which the fight was going to happen.
The explanation put into perspective what Rex told us the first time we met him. The fact that his dad had sent his children away and told them that they could choose not to return also meant that he wasn't entirely confident that he would survive or that his village would survive the battle. At least in that case, they would have the smallest amount of casualties. Even if some of the elderly and children and the pregnant women had to be left behind, at least a part of the village would survive.
Yet they were choosing to stay and fight. It sounded like there was something else going on there, a reason why they were so adamant against leaving. But it wasn't something I could figure out on my own, and it was the type of topic that felt very touchy to bring up at the first meeting.
We continued our conversation, asking about the preparations for the battle and anything else we could think of, as we were led behind the rock that they had come from. It was very similar to the first tunnel that Astrid and I had gone through, where we found Rex. Parts of the tunnel looked very artificial, but other parts were more natural as if part of the rock formations of the area. This one was taller but also narrower. We couldn't move in two files, but unlike the previous one, Astrid didn't have any problem walking around.
The smell of dried earth and sweat covered the area. It almost felt as if this was a training field. But before I could even ask about it, I realized what was really going on. This tunnel was extremely hot. We spent less than a minute inside, and while the day was not particularly cold, everybody was already dripping with sweat. Meaning that anyone who stayed here for longer periods of time would continuously sweat, and without anyone to clean the place up, that's what seemed to be baked into the ground itself.
Even worse was the fact that the air had nowhere to escape to, so it just stayed there all the time. Maybe if this path wasn't taken very often, there would be enough time for the smell to dissipate. But now that they were using it every day, it was almost impossible to escape from.
We continued following the winding path until there was an opening, a large opening where Vera stepped forward first. She began using a skill when everybody was walking past her. When she did, the person would feel a small gust of wind pushing their body back, but nothing seemed to be happening. Only after three people passed did I realize that there was a small clump of dirt being gathered by the entrance that she was controlling and clumping together, turning into a rock.
On the other side of that entrance was a large tunnel, much larger than the one we were in previously. If the previous passage was maybe 2.5 meters [8.2 ft] tall, this one had to be 5 or 8 meters [16.4 or 26.2 ft]. The light of some of the torches wasn't even able to reach the ceiling properly. It was also much, much wider, allowing our entire group to be in a line if we wanted to do so. The tunnel was a straight passage going in one specific direction, which I was assuming to be the location of the sister village, since that was the one that was supposed to be closer to us.
"What is all this?" I asked.
"Rock fly tunnel," Vera replied, but we all just stared at her as if the words coming out of her mouth were in a different language.
"Sorry, come again?" Michael asked.
She rolled her eyes and said the exact same thing one more time. "Rock fly tunnel."
I glanced back at my companions, and Michael nodded. "No, no, I'm also hearing that. What do you mean? Is that a big fly or something?"
"What? No. You do rock fly. You do rock fly?"
Riley asked, but it was pretty obvious that this conversation wasn't going anywhere.
That's when Rex stepped forward. "Friends, rock fly. Very good way travel."
Rex waved his hands, and a small platform was detached from the side of the tunnel and floated in front of him. The way it moved was almost as if it were sliding across the tunnel. Rex then jumped on top of it, the stone peg on his leg making a noise that caused Carl to frown and look concerned, but our Rodenti companion started to move his hips as he slid from one side to the other. He then moved his hands around, and the rock formation started to move a bit faster back and forth.
"Rock fly."
"Wait, are you saying you made this entire tunnel just so you could use that skill?" I asked.
"Yes! Makes travel faster," Vera replied as she created another large rock and jumped on top of it.
"But if you have that skill already, why don't we just use it outside?" Riley frowned.
"Doesn't work. Rock fly very good for moving quickly, but need special ground. Outside, spell keeps breaking. Underground can hold for long time. Three years ago last maintenance," Vera added.
"Hang on," Riley turned to the female Rodenti. "Are you saying that this entire structure is part of a skill?"
"Not skill. Spell," Vera replied. "Very big one. Carved beneath floor. Then floor placed on top. That way spell affects floor."
"But what is fueling this? How can anything give enough Energy to a place like this?"
"We do," Vera replied. "Skill we use more expensive here. Needs more Energy to work for same time. Extra Energy fuel spell."
"I see," Riley frowned. It was pretty obvious that they had never considered creating spells that use the Energy of another skill in order to activate. Then again, it was pretty obvious that there would be some limitations.
Still, while the witch was processing their thoughts, we all started to step on top of rocks that would take us to the sister village. Rex's skill was strong enough to carry two of us, which meant that the rest would have to be split with the other Rodenti. I decided to go with Carl and leave Astrid and Michael with Rex. While Riley was going along with Vera.
The Rodenti were even kind enough to make rocks that had small handles for us to hold on to, while they just used their own claws to pin themselves into the stones.
"And now," Carl spoke up as everybody was side by side in a line, "we race!"
