176 Tired

"Suit yourself," Mr. Quinn shrugged. Fang let out a quick bark as he finished the last of the bones. He returned and sat just to the side of Mr. Quinn's, who grimaced. "You know, people I've dated that cost less than you." He pat Fang's middle head and reached into his spatial ring. Before he could withdraw his hand however, the other two of Fang's heads looked at him and let out a whimper as well. "You greedy hounds." Mr. Quinn adjusted the collar pet the other two of Fang's heads, which promptly faded into thin air.

Items flew out of Mr. Quinn's spatial ring and landed on the floor. Three bottles of blood-red liquids clinked against a fourth bottle containing a white, mist-like substance. Everyone covered their eyes as the blinding aura of twenty light crystals assaulted their vision. They didn't have to cover their eyes for long however, as a map with red 'x's and a white towel unrolled on top of the pile. The last to emerge was a spear made of Calex, a material harder than steel but similar in luster and color. Mr. Quinn pointed to the defeated, badly beaten group. "Fang shove them into the boat. We'll dump them at another part of the swamp."

"But why?" The large noble at Mr. Quinn's feet said. "We followed the rules. We don't have to fight each other anymore so we'll just keep following you. You can't do anything about it."

"You may have followed the rules of the competition," Mr. Quinn said. "But you broke the ruels of being a basic human being. You see, Fang is not a part of the competition. Whatever he does, it's not against the rules. I tried waiting but you just kept pushing your luck."

"Y-you!" the noble could barely mutter out the words. A vein bulged on his brow. "I'll…my family will-" His eyes went over to Fang. "that mutt and you…"

Thomas didn't see it, nor did anyone for that matter. One second the fat noble was on the ground, the next second Mr. Quinn had him pinned against a tree. Dark copper life essence emanated from his dark clothes. Fang lowered his ears and tail and backed away. Mr. Quinn held his forearm up to the noble's throat, not to choke him, but to prove he could. "Threats to me are breaking the rules," Mr. Quinn's spoke with the last of his patience, as if balancing himself on a tightrope he could dive off of at any given moment. "I don't give a damn who your family is. If you talk to an instructor like that again, I'll make sure you get thrown on your ass so fast that you won't even see me slam the door in your face."

"An instructor?" The noble could barely register anything. His eyes spun around and a bit of vomit leaked from the side of his mouth. "But my family…Instructor? Where am…" The noble's eyes closed, his head drooped down, and he fell into unconsciousness. Mr. Quinn dispersed his life essence and let him slide to the ground.

The brightly dressed noble nodded and dragged his unconscious comrades to the back of the boat. The unbalanced weight caused it to lean backwards but Fang jumped on the front to restore the balance. The ice Cerberus walked around in a circle while breathing out ice from its mouth. When the back was completely covered in ice, it lay down and closed its eyes.

Mr. Quinn jumped in the middle and grabbed his paddle but before he set off, he looked at Doevm's group. "Pleasure doing business with you folks. If you find me or any of the other two shops going around the swamp, do stop by. Be careful though. You'll have to really look for us because we are slow and don't go anyplace twice. Also, beware of Trak's group." He pushed off of a tree and faded into the darkness.

Doevm tightened his grip on the menu as he stared at the most expensive item, an artifact capable of tracking players for five thousand points. "It doesn't matter that we have a place to hide if other groups can track us down anyway. We need points, and we need to get them faster than other groups. I don't think we'll see that shop for a while, especially if there are only three going around this massive swamp. Meaning, we have to hold onto a lot of points at once. Initiation might be set up like a hunt, but it is more like a competition of survival."

"But can't we just buy immunity for three thousand points," Thomas interjected. "If we buy that, we will be safe from other groups' attacks for twenty-four hours."

"But we'll lose points," Elero said. "Didn't you listen? Mr. Quinn said that we need to use items effectively. If we use points without gaining more in return, we will fall behind. This is like they are pinning us up against one another."

"No. It's more like we are in enemy territory," Doevm said. "They put the price of immunity lower than the price of tracking a group. This means that they don't want to encourage fighting, but it can still happen." Doevm folded up the menu and put it into his spatial ring along with almost everything Mr. Quinn had given them. All but the map and a light crystal, both of which he laid on the drier parts of the soil. The group gathered around it.

"Why is part of it blank?" Thomas pointed to the giant black smudges across the majority of the map. The only exception was the left side of it, which was written in great detail. Red 'x's dotted close to the edge of mountains. To the side of the map was a drawing of a Bobcat, its tracks, and its patterns of activity.

"It is probably blank because they don't want us to know about everything else," Frey said. "We only paid for the map with only bobcats. Why should we get anything more?" He pointed to the bottom part. "We started at the south end," He moved his finger up to the middle and made a little crease. "Then frogs were here. And we made camp somewhere around here." He made another crease at the top. He stood up. "Welp, that was my contribution to the group. I'm going to eat."

The other three stared at him in a mixture of slight surprise and confusion. "But shouldn't we plan?" Elero asked. Frey simply chuckled. Elero stood up ready drag him back, but a burst of tiredness overtook her. She held her head and began shambling back to the campsite. "I'm a little tired after healing myself, so I'll take the last shift."

"What's she talking about?" Thomas asked. "What are shifts?"

"We keep watch in shifts," Doevm said while rolling up the map. He stuffed it and the light crystal back into his spatial ring and stood up. Everyone slogged back to the campsite, their dirty clothes sagging against their sweaty and bloody backs. Doevm yawned. "One of us stays up and keeps watch while the other three sleep. If anything happens, such as the string breaking, wake us."

Doevm placed a light crystal at the center of the camp and threw some dirt to obstruct some of its light. After, he pulled out the spool of string and redid the lining. "Shifts change every hour or two. Who has the first shift?" He glanced over to Thomas, who had to lean against a tree to keep himself standing. Frey had already passed out on his Amphiboard. A piece of cooked frog was still in his mouth. "I guess I'll take the first shift." Doevm pat Thomas on the shoulder, who smiled and lay down on his Amphiboard. He didn't close his tired eyes yet. He rather opted to stare at the sky.

'I wish I was still an Undead,' Doevm thought as he pulled the piece of cooked frog from Frey's mouth. 'Fatigue, how I hate it.' He took out the towel and wiped Frey's and his own armor down. 'And then there is the cold.' He put on another layer of clothing to warm himself. After, he took a layer of Frey's clothes from the sleeping giant's spatial ring and threw it on the idiot.

"You two are cute," Elero said while sitting on her Amphiboard. She reached down and pulled out the many needles, screws, and metal bits from her legs. She wiped the parts clean with a towel before tossing them into a spatial ring. Thomas's eyes went wide as her legs turned to mush, solely contained by the skin of her legs. She took out a thin blanket and covered herself up before she lay down on the Amphiboard. She wrapped the blanket around the goop of her legs so they wouldn't fall out.

Soon enough, the three went to sleep, leaving just Doevm. However, he didn't scan the surroundings. Rather, he drew his dagger and cut a little into his finger.

'Flesh regenerates on its own, which is a natural property of the body. Since life essence enhances the body's functions, it should speed up the regeneration process, which is how Elero regenerates her wounds. But how exactly to I force my body to regenerate faster?' He took out his book on advanced healing magic and read through it, only to curse after finishing it. 'I could ask her,' he looked down at Elero's sleeping figure tucked side of her blanket like a burrito.

'But I would rather burn to death all over, asking a human about a discovery made through my own research. What an embarrassment that would be. Looks like I need to do this the old-fashioned way.' He focused life essence around the wound and wrote on a piece of paper.

"Trial number one, applying 'pressure'. (Note: pressure means to condense life essence into area)." He took a deep breath before applying pressure, but all that did was push blood out of the cut and into his eyes. He wiped the blood away.

"Result is extreme pressurization of blood and pushes it out of the wound.

Regarding combat: Could possibly work as a projectile if combined with manipulation of blood abilities. (Note: Research blood manipulation via life essence later).

Significant Findings: None

Minor Findings: Blood does not sting when it hits your eyes

Conclusion of experiment: Failure."

Doevm sighed as he turned the page. "Trial two, strengthening skin around area…" Then until the end of his shift, he discovered nothing on how to regenerate. He did not curse, nor did he think any lesser of himself. He simply blew on the ink to dry, closed the book, stored it into his spatial ring, woke the next person for their shift, then went to sleep, where he dreamed of more ways to regenerate himself.

…

In the morning, Doevm threw his extra layer of clothing off of himself and groaned as he got off of the hard Amphiboard. 'I should have stolen the curtain and blankets when he had the chance.' He brushed the many bugs which had found cover under his back in the night and yawned as he stretched his limbs out. He looked to the others. Thomas's crusted eyes were wide open with heavy bags beneath them. Elero, the last one of the night shift, looked back at them. She was little dirtier than the day before but still fine. Frey moved and jittered as he slept. His face contorted.

"Does he do that often?" Elero asked as she backed away from him.

"No," Doevm said as he walked over, rubbing his head. His straight black hair stood up on end, forming a crown at the back of his head, indicating where he had slept. He picked up a stick, and gently prodded Frey's leg. The giant grabbed the stick and crushed it as he sat up. Doevm tossed the broken piece of stick away. "Wake up, we are going."

"Where?" Frey asked, still breathing hard. He whipped his head and scanned the camp only to find the stares of the other group members. He scratched the back of his head. "What. Do I have something on me?" He patted himself down.

"You're fine," Doevm said. "We need to get our act together if we are going to stay in this competition. Get ready. We are going hunting."

"Alright," Frey yawned as he got to his feet, stepping on the clothes that had fallen off in the night. "Finally, we can go on the offense. I call dibs on the first Bullfrog we see. But wait, aren't we hunting bobcats instead?"

"Both," Doevm said with a smile. Thomas and Frey groaned while Elero smiled. "Don't worry, I have a plan. A very dangerous, stupid, and amazing plan."

"Those words don't go together," Thomas mumbled as he took out some of his breakfast and munched on it.