perizou
patreon
Energy Eater- Chapter 167 - Into the desert
🕑 Added 2025-09-16 03:51:10 +0000 UTCIt took us 2 days to finish setting up the mushroom farm and explaining to Rico and a few of the Rodenti how the concept of merchants worked. I did try telling them about money, but they couldn't really grasp some of the new concepts that revolved around it. Trade merchants were something that was surprisingly easy for them to understand. On the other hand, trade was something they were used to doing, and the added idea of traveling for it seemed to make sense.
They gathered to say their farewells to us since our next destination was Rex's home. And we were not going on our own. There were also three other Rodenti who would be coming with us. They were part of the group who would be starting to travel as merchants, but this time they were going just to see what Rex's city had to offer.
Unfortunately, Rex himself wasn't the best person to ask about that kind of thing. When we tried to see what the specialty of the city was, he kept going on and on about how it was a perfect place that had everything and there was nothing missing and they never had to worry. It was perfect and amazing and incredible. For a moment I thought he was lying, but maybe since he was the chief's son, the way he was treated was different from everybody else.
When it was time for us to leave, Riley gave some plans to the Rodenti carved in a block of stone. They carved pictures with Astrid's help, those plans indicated how they could expand the mushroom farm in two ways. One was by using the same spell circle that they had created, but it would require someone who had a class or subclass related to that kind of magic.
The second was a way to expand without the spell circle, which would require more time and effort but could also give similar results as long as they continuously rotated the mushrooms that were being affected by the spell and the ones that were not. That way, while the lingering effects forever, the spell's commands over the particles would still be active for a couple of days after the mushrooms were affected by it.
Leaving the village, we started heading south and a little bit to the west. According to Rex, there was a specific passage that we should take to avoid some dangerous creatures near the desert. Even then, it would take us a few days to get there.
Good, because we wouldn't have to worry about the dangerous creatures right away. Bad because it was just more time that we spent away from our destination. It was weird to think that if this were happening in the old world where we had access to cars and the vehicles that existed back then, the journey would last maybe a day. Probably even less considering that people usually could go really fast on highways. One way or another, there wasn't anything we could do about it. So, our small group continued to travel across the forest, heading towards the desert.
The three who came along with us introduced themselves before we left the village. Triplets called Trin, Trun, and Tran. All 3 years old.
"So, which one of you is the girl? Is it you, Tran?" Michael asked.
"No," Tran replied with an offended expression.
"Think Tran looks like woman?" Trun chuckled.
"Tran not woman!" Tran snarled, and the two Rodenti started to argue while Trin just continued moving forward.
While that was going on, Riley turned to Michael. "Why did you think Tran was the girl?"
"I don't know. Doesn't the name sound girl-like to me? Usually, names with 'A' are for girls."
Riley just gave the archer a blank stare, "Oh sure, every Albert, Adam, Antonio, Alexander, Alejandro, Amir. All girls."
"No, that's not fair. What about Alberta, Alex, Alice... Besides, you don't really see any names that have an 'U' on them that are for girls," Michael protested.
"Lucy, Trudy. There's also Luna," I chimed in.
"There's a 'u' and an 'a' on that last one. It doesn't count."
Michael was finally talking to me. We didn't have any other discussions after what happened with the humans from that village, but at least now he seemed to be at least respecting my decision, even if he might not agree with it.
The triplets were very good travelers. It seemed like part of their job in the village was to search the surroundings in order to make sure nothing bad was happening. They were also a bit of a problem, and that's why they had a job that forced them to be very far away from the village for long periods of time. Considering the amount of time Tran and Trun spent arguing, it made sense.
Trin was the quieter of the group and would usually take the role of a leader when anything more serious came up, but he never made a point to get between the arguments of his siblings. And honestly, I couldn't really blame him. The two Rodenti could argue about the most stupid of things. They spent a full 3 hours loudly discussing whether a particular tree that we had seen was hard or easy to climb. It didn't matter that the tree was already gone, and the easiest way to solve that issue would be to just have someone try to climb it. They seemed like they enjoyed arguing for the sake of arguing.
Since we were traveling together, Rex also took a chance to ask about their classes. All three of them shared the same class: Scout. But their specialties were different. Trin was the resident healer of the group, being able to identify plants and vegetation that could be used as medicine. Tran was extremely good at finding tracks and understanding where animals and other creatures were going to and coming from. Trun was the one who made sure no one got lost.
I, for instance, wasn't able to ask the system to just tell me where the Hidden Horn Village was right now. More specifically, I had done that before, but instead of giving me just a direction, the System showed me the reverse path that I took to get here. Meaning that if I wanted to go back to my village, I would have to go all the way around following the exact same path that I took to get here. When in reality, just by looking at a map I could roughly tell that I was closer than when I was at the beach. Yet my System was going to tell me to go back to the beach and then move in the direction of the Hidden Horn village, or what was left of it.
That felt a bit strange at first, since it was able to do more than that in the past. But it gave an explanation on why it wouldn't work now. When I first got the System and asked it to take me to the hunter's cave, the System was able to access my memories and point in the direction, even if I was in a place that I wasn't entirely sure of. But if that was going to happen on a larger scale, a place where I visited just once like this part of the forest, this part of the country, then it wouldn't be able to do the same calculations and instead could only show the path that we took to get here.
That was both good and bad. On one hand, it meant that we would never have to worry about getting lost somewhere. Even in the worst-case scenario, we could just retrace our steps to where we wanted to be. The bad was the fact that it would be a hassle, especially now that we were actually going to cross-country. But thanks to everyone's combined efforts, between the Rodenti triplets and my friends, we were able to reach the mountain pass that Rex had mentioned without any problems. We stopped to hunt some birds and gather some fruits to have better meals, but we never had to worry about any large predators attacking us.
The moment the mountain pass came into view, which was a very generous name for this wide expanse of road with two mountains about 5 kilometers [3.1 miles] apart from each other, Rex started to jump up and down with excitement.
"We are close. Just a day more!"
"We're going to spend the entire day to get there?" I asked.
Rex nodded. "Yes, yes. Full day until sister village. Another day, brother village then village village."
"Hey, little man. Are those like the names of the villages or where your brother and sister come from?" Michael asked.
"Not names. But villages that help village. Smaller ones, for who stay far away."
"I see," I nodded, more or less understanding. Rex was saying that it seemed like his village wasn't as isolated as mine was, which was good, I guess, since it would mean they had access to more people to help.
We started to cross that passage, which was again a very weird name for the place. Tran stopped and started looking around us as if he had seen something that he wasn't quite capable of placing. Noticing his reaction, the triplets quickly got into a fighting position, more out of caution than anything else. The rest of us couldn't sense anything wrong in the area. Everything still felt normal. But we decided not to doubt the abilities of people who were supposed to be experts on the matter. We all got into position, covering the Rodentis' backs.
Rex, who was being carried by Astrid during most of the trip since he had lost his foot, was using one of his skills to create a stone peg leg. That was something he had been doing on and off in order to better control it. He was working with a few different possibilities for prosthetics with his skills, but there wasn't anything that he could use comfortably in a dangerous situation. Meaning that being carried was the only thing that allowed him to function at near peak condition. Yet now he was back in the ground to allow the Huskcarver to perform properly.
Even with everybody ready for a fight, we continued to move. The last thing we needed was to take too long to cross this and end up being attacked by some random creatures. We slowly crossed the line that split the biomes from a forest area into the actual rocky desert.
This place wasn't a desert in the most obvious sense of the word. There was no sand here, just rock, and there was some vegetation. But it took the form of very dry bushes that didn't have any flowers or even leaves. It was hard to even tell if those bushes were dead or alive. Far in the distance I could see a small trail of smoke coming out of somewhere, but Rex didn't seem worried about that, almost as if he was already expecting something like it. But it also didn't make him excited, so maybe this wasn't the location of his village.
After a few minutes of walking, when the sparse forest was far behind us, me and my companions started to relax a bit, although the triplets still looked very much on edge. But it was hard for us to do the same since there was nothing happening and there was absolutely no sign of anything trying to catch us. While we did try to get back into position every time we noticed the triplets' worried expressions, it was easier said than done to keep constantly reminding ourselves to do so.
But that was our mistake. It didn't take long for something to come out of seemingly nowhere. From behind a couple of dried bushes, something that I had assumed was just a part of the ground, but in fact it was a four-legged creature with just the same color as the surrounding dirt. It looked like a hyena or something of the sort, or maybe a coyote. It was hard to tell. We barely had time to recognize its presence before the creature was already upon us.
Between Astrid, me, and Tran, we managed to quickly get rid of it. I blocked it with my staff as the Huskcarver slammed her Frosted Axe on the side of the creature, opening a large gash on its stomach. Tran delivered the finishing blow by stabbing its neck with the spear he had on hand. We had a brief moment to think that we managed to survive the ambush, but our happiness was short-lived.
Just as quickly as the first arrived, another set of those creatures suddenly appeared. Michael fired an arrow at one of the creatures. Riley shot off a few strands of silk to grab another, and I started attacking the one that got closer to us. We were having a good rhythm with me blocking the initial attack and making an opening for Astrid to finish the job, while the triplets together with Rex took care of the other side. But there were more and more incoming. First 5, then 10, then 12, then 15. It was too much for us.
To make matters worse, we couldn't run away anymore. The monsters were already circling back, blocking our path. They were not that strong, but it felt like if they were not tier two, they would be at the peak of tier one. While we could probably manage to kill them all, they were very organized, much more than any of the creatures we had fought so far. I was starting to doubt our chances of getting out of this completely unscathed. Maybe I would need to use one of the triplets as bait in order to save my friends.
But before it came to that, there was a horn echoing in the distance, and a group of Rodenti came charging from behind a large rock. There were a good 10 of them moving almost like a stampede. As soon as these Rodenti got close, they started killing the coyotes effortlessly. A quick ask from the System confirmed all of these Rodenti were already at tier two, and some were even saturated. The difference in power was too much, and I couldn't really react properly to their presence.
Once the coyotes were killed, the Rodenti walked around, almost blocking our path before one of them stepped forward to speak. It was a larger Rodenti with a spear by his side, one made out of metal instead of just stone or wood. He wore some stone armor that looked very well-crafted and even somewhat polished as the marble plate protected his chest.
But before he could say anything, Rex jumped towards the large Rodenti, who quickly grabbed him in a hug.
"Rex," the Rodenti said with a toothy smile.
"Uncle Carl!" Rex smiled back.
