12 The Grind

Valerian led us through the village and back towards the Grootslang den. As we walked, we got to know each other better. We talked about funny moments from our past, our friends and family, things we have done, all kinds of things.

From the conversation, I was able to understand a lot about Valerian. After he gained control of his abilities Corytheius let him live in the village. He is an energetic guy who enjoys making friends and isn't afraid to be at the center of attention. More importantly I can tell he is the loyal type, the kind who will standby someone no matter what. Eventually, we made it to the Grootslang den. Valerian had us stop about 100 meters away.

He whispered to me, "We have to be careful, according to reports there can be as many as 20 Grootslang offspring around the cave at any time. We will have to draw them over here in twos or threes to kill them. It'll be an arduous process but we will be able to kill quite a few this way."

I looked at his nervous face. Part of me wanted to laugh and explain my new ability to him, but the other part of me decided it would be more fun to see his reaction.

Before Valerian could say anything else I dashed towards the cave.

I could hear him shouting behind me, "It's too dangerous! Troy! Stop!"

For a second I thought he would try to slow me with his vines, but for some reason, he didn't. He just chased after me. However, with a 10 dexterity, I was just fast enough to stay ahead of him. I quickly arrived in front of the cave. Valerian continued shouting for me to come back and turn around.

When I got within 20 feet of the cave numerous Grootslang offspring swarmed towards me. There had to be at least 30 of them.

I couldn't help thinking, maybe I should have practiced this before I tried to use it against so many at once. For a moment I slowed down and fear began to creep into my mind. I quickly calmed my mind, I needed to have domineering thoughts and direct them towards my enemy.

I began to think of all the events in my past life, how many times I was forced to bend my knee for someone else. How many times my hard earned rewards were taken for someone else's gain. I thought about how much I would make those people suffer. How I would rise to the peak of the human race, looking down on them.

My back straightened as I glared at the Grootslang offspring. The air around me seemed to stagnate. The offspring immediately froze, they slowly bent their heads down.

Valerian caught up to me grabbing my shoulder like he wanted to pull out of danger. He was about to start dragging me backwards but suddenly stopped."

Troy. What... What is going on?"

I turned around, his face a mix of confusion and fear.

"Don't worry they are under my control."

His jaw dropped, I couldn't help but bust out laughing. It just looked hilarious with his leafy eyebrows arched up and his wooden mouth hanging open. It looked like the perfect place for a bird's nest. I almost fell to the ground in laughter.

I explained the effects of the Snake King Aura and how ALIC can allow humans to gain certain abilities from enemies we kill. A huge grin grew on his face.

"This brother of mine is so amazing!" He slapped my back.

This fool. I could see the dollar signs spinning in his eyes as he turned and walked towards the offspring. They were still bowing their heads towards me and even when Valerian got close they didn't make a move.

When he came up to one he stopped and asked, "Where was that? What did you call it? Reverse Scale? Where is it?"

"Two inches below the head." I stabbed my kodachi right into the reverse scale of the nearest offspring.

Essence Gained +5

Valerian formed a spear where his arm was and pierced through the reverse scale of the offspring he stopped at. Even after they died, the rest of the offspring didn't make any movements. I couldn't help but think about video games in my past life and how people would spend hours, even days, grinding for levels. If people could grind this easy they'd be masters in any game. It was like a bug or a cheat. I could walk up and kill them in an instant with no risk.

Valerian and I continued to kill the remaining offspring here, after which we entered the cave to kill more. This cavern was the one the Grootslang used to rule over and was incredibly large. Valerian explained that the cavern was spread out underneath a nearby lake called Lake Lyenas. That coincides with what I knew from my past life since I exited close to Lake Lyenas then as well.

We spent the remainder of the day killing Grootslang offspring. Luckily, you only needed to bring back the fangs as proof of the kill or else we would have had to stop much sooner. Valerian had said another team would oversee collecting the remains after areas were deemed safe. They still had use for the scales and bones.

Even though we didn't have to haul back corpses, Valerian had to make sled out of vines just to haul all the fangs we gathered.

When we got back to the entrance of the cave I looked through my notification log. I had always been good at math and added it together quickly. In total, I gained 823 essence after killing 205 Grootslang offspring. Some of them were young offspring and some were adult. Overall it was a great haul. Valerian could barely stay still he was so excited.

"We are rich!" He shouted out.

I smiled as I said, "Let's head back to the village for now. We can come back tomorrow, the sun will be setting soon."

We took turns hauling the fangs back to the village. As we walked through the streets people started to stare at us. It was somewhat unusual for a human to be in the G'eth village. Most had heard of humans before, but hadn't seen one. What they really stared at was the sled full of fangs from the offspring we killed. I could see there emerald eyes move with it.

G'eth eyes have a strange property to them. They look just like bright circular emeralds if you don't look close. However, while they look like an emerald they actually have a liquid center that emits a subtle light. That light actually moves based on where they are looking.

As we walked through the center of town I began to develop an uneasy feeling from all of the attention we were getting. The G'eth are certainly one of the more morally sound races, but no matter what race, riches can be an overwhelming temptation. We got closer to the elder compound and for a moment I thought my feeling was just me being overly cautious.

Unfortunately, just as we were about to arrive at the place where the fangs are turned in, a large G'eth stepped out and said, "Well if it isn't little Valerian."

There is always one idiot.