The journal clicks open,
[If you're here, you have been graced by the voice of Ur and awakened.
Shedding the mundane coil is just but the first step into the greater world as you know it!
I Darrin the greatest ranger to walk this realm will reveal my deepest and profound insights into this realm and its powers.
Dear reader, If you are unawakened close this journal and never set sight onto it ever!
Glimpsing its contents will set you to a path of ruin
You Have Been Warned!]
[Heh! Ominous]
A snicker escapes my throat.
Of course I will read through- I'm no chicken.
Fate has given me a chance to transend my mundane limits, I would be a fool to look the other side.
I'll grab it by the tits if I have to, warnings be damned!
A breath slips my throat as I open the next page.
Its titled 'Insights of Darrin the great'
Not so great insights I realise.
They are basically all I already managed to scrape together- just a tad more detailed.
It would have it that the first six stages in the ranking were foundational stages- or so it says.
It mentions that at the novice, adept and expert stages one starts to feel and sense ambient arcana and the main focus is body saturation.
No mention of the other three foundational stages!
Ahh, the frustration!
And here I thought I'd struck gold.
Exasperated i flip to the next page.
[Be warned! Secrets of my journal will only be revealed to the worthy!]
~Rain snickers~
[I have taken great measures to record all vital information in arcana infused ink.]
"Ohh!"
I face palm, so that is the reason I can only see blank pages!
Incensed and frustrated, I flip through the pages.
Blank!
I have been conned!
But wait.
Didn't Captain Harlan show me a lot more back then than what is being revealed?
Now how can I bypass these restrictions?
Deep in thought I couldn't find a viable method and so, I throw the journal onto the foot of the bed.
Getting ready to leave I lace my boots only to glimpse at the open journal.
There was a full page of inscriptions and writings!
Careful, I take out a parchement of paper and start ardently copy pasting, without touching the journal, lest it revert to its blank appearance.
It takes close to a half an hour to copy everything on the parchment.
And true to my suspicion, the journal reverts to its blank state the moment I lay my fingers on it.
[Jackass.]
I muse internally, laughing at Darrin the vile, that bastard- I just gleaned into a hidden text.
Fuck him and his restrictions.
Settling down, I read through the parchment copy, snickering at the smug voice of Darrin.
[What is a journey without a companion?]
It begins
I'm at the edge of my seat as I read all through.
"Ohh, damn, I've struck gold!"
The text gives an intricate explanation into creating a beast companion.
A familiar!
Carefully scanning the sketched ritual circle, I smile, the requirements were readily available:
Ground bone dust,
Candles or torches
Beast cores.
Some spices.
All I could readily access- oh, maybe the beast cores will be hard to come by.
But there's a whole wide world out there!
I will hunt!
Suppressing my excitement, I quietly slip out of the tavern.
The hunt awaits!
I have to gather nine beast cores- what better place to get them than hunt on my own.
But first I head for the barracks.
I once saw a board pinned with hunting requests, they will help a great deal- so that I don't blindly run around looking for beasts to hunt.
My quick steps gradually turn into a jog, making way into the barracks.
Getting in, nobody questions my presence- I have become a common sight within.
Silently, I close in on the board.
Reading through, I decide to go with ones that will give me as many cores as possible.
[Jadestinger scorpions extermination]
Settling with this, I quietly make my way to the described location- a valley not far from Piri, a half hour trek and I'll be there.
Time to test my weapons and hunt!
~~
The figure of Rain cuts through the streets and closing in on the gates.
The boy quickly leaves through the open gates, unaware of the gaze locked onto him.
A silhouette jumps down its perch, its eyes tracing the receding figure of its unaware prey.
"Soon."
Its whispers gets carried with the wind, fading as it glides through the air.
~~
My steps come to a crawl once I set foot outside the gates.
This was uncharted territory, rushing in will my biggest folly.
And so, I skulk my ears pinned, catching the faintest crack of branches as the wind blows.
My fingers coil around the hilt of my new daggers, ready to unleash fury at a moment's notice.
Crack!
A twig snaps under my foot.
I tense, waiting for whatever beast to lunge out from the underbush.
After close to a minute of tensing, I sigh, relaxing.
Nothing is about to show.
And so my journey continues.
The scenery before my changes, becoming more and more rocky with each step I take.
Maroon rays from the setting sun lights my path- maybe I should have waited until tomorrow.
I shrug, shutting down any creeping doubts.
Skreech!
I tense, ready to dodge at a moment's notice
Skreech!
Boom!
Skreech!
I dive into the underbush, scanning for the sign of danger.
Before me was a sight I never expected to see!
A green scorpion engaged in a battle to the death with a rat of some kind.
No, a weasel.
Lurking within the underbush, I watch the battle unfold.
Waiting for it to come to conclusion so that I can jump in and take care of the weary and worn out victor.
Skreech!
The jadestinger scorpion lunges, pincers swinging at the brown weasel.
Boom!
The weasel dodges at the last moment, letting the pincer land on the position he was, a split of a second ago.
Flying mid-air from its dodge, the weasel swipes its claws across the back of the jadestinger scorpion.
Drawing a gash that spewed green ichor.
It lands, closely avoiding the stinger.
Skeech!
The duo circles each other.
Waiting for an opening to exploit.
I hold my breath, watching the green ichor sizzling as it touched the ground.
That would have caught me unaware!
Skreech!
The scorpion lunges.
Boom!
Dust and rock shrapnel whizz as the pincer blow lands on the solid ground.
Blinded from the dust, the weasel retreats,
Waiting for an opening.
Skreech!
A pincer swings,
The weasel lunges, at the apparent opening.
A trap!
A stinger flashes at its blindspot, injecting the poor weasel with tons of venom.
The fight is concluded- or so I thought.
Instead of the weasel slumping over from the venom tearing through its body,
It goes into a crazed frenzy,
Claws swipe across the stinger.
Cutting it in half
The severed stinger flies through the air, landing close to my feet.
Skreech!
The green scorpion thrashes, swinging wild blows at the weasel.
All missing the retreating weasel- the bastard was coming closer and closer to my hidden figure.
My blades silently unsheate, ready to deliver a decisive blow.
Skreech!
Their eyes land on my prowling silhouette.
[Oh shiet!]