Soul of the Warrior

The rolling hills near the outpost continued into the distance all the way to the foot of the mountain. Each wave seemed to be a bit taller than the last until it finally turned into the huge range in the distance. It was reminiscent of a water drop rippling outward. Even though the mountain range loomed over the landscape, it was still many days’ journey away.

The distant mountain range wasn’t their initial destination. They would continue their journey some ways up the first ridge eventually, but the natural treasures they were searching for were more likely to be found in open, grassy areas than rocky, mountainous regions.

That wasn’t to say they couldn’t stumble across any on the mountain. It wasn’t like the whole thing was a block of stone jutting out of the ground. There was plenty of vegetation greenery quite a ways up the mountainside. The edge of the treeline was the border they had decided upon for their first foray into the true Tier 5 Region.

So far everything up to the Outpost could only be considered the outskirts of the Region. Even though it had taken many days’ travel from the Wilderness to the Outpost, it was still only the fringe of the Region. The constant fighting goblins for hours and hours everyday made it seem like the distance was further than it actually was. If they hadn’t suffered such delays, Reivyn estimated that the time of travel would have taken a quarter as long or less.

The constant goblin encounters didn’t resume as Reivyn and his Party traveled further into the Region. It wasn’t just that the area around the Outpost was kept clear by the patrolling volunteer Adventurers. There was a fundamental difference.

The random pockets of goblins simply didn’t exist. Reivyn didn’t know if it was because of the traffic of other Adventurers or if the Outpost had been strategically located on the edge of the swarm of wild goblins. It didn’t change the outcome at all, so Reivyn didn’t dwell on it.

The absence of constant little groups of goblins didn’t mean it was completely safe, though. There were other creatures stalking the rolling hills after traveling half a day away from the Outpost. This time it was pretty obvious it was the work of the patrollers that kept them at bay.

Ferocious beasts were regular animals that absorbed the ambient mana of a Region and evolved from the large density of mana. Their features weren’t any different. There weren’t two-headed monstrosities roaming the wilds. They were just tougher and more aggressive than their weaker counterparts found in the lower density Regions.

The rolling hills were home to small beasts that weren’t necessarily aggressive. The difference between these variations of ferocious beasts and their more normal cousins was their propensity to defend their territory from intrusion. Most of the time, pretty much everyone in their Party could spot the animals before they entered the range of their territory, and for those that were a bit sneakier, Reivyn could sense them with his Divine Sense.

It would take forever if they detoured for every pack of groundhogs or other small animals, so they simply walked their path and dispatched any that attacked them. Most of the time, the creatures didn’t defend an entire area they considered their territory and only grew aggressive if they Party walked straight toward them.

That was only for the smaller creatures, though. The larger animals - bison, antelope, and the occasional large cat - were much less forgiving. More than once Reivyn and the other spellcasters of the Party had to throw up a wall of Earth spikes and other obstacles to halt a charging beast. The bisons were particularly difficult to stop, but they were at least easily dodged.

The amount of fighting holding up the Party from reaching their destination was a drop in the bucket compared to their journey through the goblin packs, though. After a couple of days walking in the general direction of the mountain range, the Party finally emerged upon a hill top that was among what they were looking for.

“Well, that wasn’t too hard,” Teilon said, hands on his hips as he surveyed the hilltop. Rose bushes with their wicked thorns sporting the ethereal blood-red dew drops dotted the top of the hill. The Blood Roses were the most common natural treasure among the list to find in the local area of the Region.

“You say that, but there was a bit of luck involved, too,” Reivyn pointed out. “How many little hilltops have we crossed, and how many more can we see from here? This is one of of all of those that have these roses.”

“While that’s true, there’s still the reality of the situation,” Teilon argued. “The reality is that it was easy for us to arrive here. Now all we have to do is harvest the thorns, and we’re good to go.”

Kimberly poked Teilon in the ribs with a skeptical look on her face.

“Did you even read the dossier on how to harvest the thorns?” She asked.

“I skimmed it…” Teilon said, looking at Kimberly askance.

“Uh huh, so I guess you won’t mind being the one to harvest them, then?” She had a teasing smile on her face.

“Sure. No problem,” Teilon thumped his chest with confidence.

Teilon swaggered up to the rose bush. Suddenly the closest rose bush’s flowers tilted toward Teilon as if they were able to sense his presence. Teilon froze for a moment. He and the rose bush stood in a standoff for a moment.

Nothing happened, so Teilon just shook his head and took another step toward the rose bush. The rose bush jumped up out of the ground and balanced itself on a bundle of roots that looked like little legs. Vines covered in thorns swung up into the air like arms, and the rose bush ran away, swinging the vines over its head in a comical display.

“What is that?!” Teilon asked, bewildered. He couldn’t hold it in after the brief moment of confusion and began laughing at the display.

The rose bush wasn’t able to move that fast, and Teilon started chasing after it. He quickly closed the distance, and the rose bush seemed to realize it wasn’t going to get away. It came to an abrupt halt, and the two vines swinging over its head launched toward Teilon with blistering speed, much faster than it was able to trundle about on its roots.

Teilon was caught off guard, but he had enough reaction speed to lift his daggers in front of himself to ward off the strikes. The vines wrapped around blades. The thorns vibrated for a split second, then began rotating along the edge of the vines at incredible speed.

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Before Teilon could react, the combination of the thorns and their fast movements sawed right through the metal of the daggers. Metal shards and sparks flew about, and in just over a second, the vine cut completely through the two daggers. The blades fell to the ground as Teilon stared at the empty hilts in his hands.

The vines retracted and whipped around to attack Teilon once again. He had enough presence of mind to leap away, but he wasn’t fast enough. He had to resort to his phasing Skill to let the vines pass through his ephemeral form as he continued to back away. The rose bush, sensing that it had successfully warded off its attacker, resumed its wobbling trundle away from the Party.

“Uh huh,” Kimberly said, tapping her foot. “You sure looked like you knew what you were doing, there. Maybe you should have read the whole thing?”

Teilon glanced back and forth between Kimberly and the retreating rose bush.

“I did read it!” He defended. “I was joking when I said I skimmed it. I actually do take these things seriously, you know. How was I supposed to know what it meant when the missive said they were ‘evasive?’ I thought it meant they would wobble about and be hard to grasp!”

“Did you read the addendum?” Reivyn asked.

“Addendum? Teilon had a look of confusion.

“The main missive only contained the overall information about the monsters and treasures that could be found in the Region,” Reivyn slowly explained. “It only contained the basic information. There was also the addendum for each individual treasure and monster that explained the specifics for each of them. You didn’t see the addendum?”

“Can’t say I did,” Teilon said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “To be fair, I read everything that was in the normal packet. I didn’t know the addendum even existed. If I had, obviously I would have read it.”

“We have to take some of the blame for that, too,” Refix spoke up. “We shouldn’t just assume everyone knows about all the paperwork they need to read. If we had mentioned the addendum to him in town, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

“Here,” Refix pulled a rolled up pamphlet from his storage pouch and tossed it to Teilon. “Go ahead and read up on the Blood Rose while we get started. There’s a very specific way to acquire the thorns. Without destroying the bushes, by the way. “Bushes? Monsters?” Refix quietly spoke to himself. “Either way without destroying the things.”

“You could just tell me,” Teilon said, rolling his eyes. Despite his words, he quickly sat in a lotus position and unfurled the pamphlet to begin reading.

“We might as well multitask,” Refix shrugged his shoulders. “You read the information, we deal with the first plant, you watch how it’s done to corroborate what you read. No time’s lost, either way, because we’re only going to deal with one plant at a time, anyway.

“I’ll deal with this first one. As the leader of the Party, knowing what’s coming, it’s my responsibility to gauge just how feasible this venture is.”

None of the others argued with Refix. He summoned his ethereal arsenal as he ran over to the first Rose bush that was still waddling away. The distance between each Rose bush was enough that there wasn’t any immediate danger that they would get close enough to each other to simultaneously pose a threat to the Party. Even if that happened, though, one of the others would just step forward.

Refix’s summoned arsenal only included weapons. He couldn’t summon shields, bucklers, or pieces of armor, but that didn’t matter. He summoned a series of polearms - spears, halberds, bill hooks - and had them strategically positioned around himself.

Once he closed the distance, the Rose bush performed the same tactic as before. The two vines launched themselves, whip-crack, at Refix. He intercepted the attacks with two of his ethereal weapons. The Rose bush ceased its fleeing as soon as it attacked Refix. It just stood there and manipulated its vines.

The thorns on the vines performed the same action that destroyed Teilon’s daggers. They began moving along the edge of the vines at a blurring speed, attempting to saw through the ethereal weapons. While there was some damage done to the weapons, they were creations of Refix’s Will. They weren’t as easily destroyed as the mundane metal of Teilon’s daggers. There was still some give in the ethereal weapons’ hafts, but it was slow and Refix was able to exert his Will to repair them as quickly as they were damaged.

The Blood Rose wasn’t an intelligent being. It acted purely on instinct. It never ceased its attempts to shear through Refix’s floating weapons, and it never tried any other tactics. As long as one understood the mechanics of these plants that mimicked monstrous beasts, they were easy to manipulate.

Refix sauntered up to the “main body” of the Rose bush: just a tangle of thinner vines with the actual roses attached to them with the roots at the base. The thorns along the vines didn’t have the blood-red dew drops on their points. There were only three or four per Rose bush located on a prominent, short vine in the center of the mass.

Refix arrived in front of the Rose bush. He pushed up his sleeve and extended his bare arm. On instinct, the prominent vine with the blood-red dew drops snapped forward. It was even faster than the two vines whipping about for medium-range protection.

Three thorns with the blood-red dew drops impaled into Refix’s arm. His body locked up, temporarily unable to move. Reivyn could see veins all over his body protrude under his skin as all of his muscles seemed to contract at once. A sheen of sweat - unheard of on Refix - formed on his brow as he grit his teeth.

He stifled a groan as the Rose bush retracted its vine. The other two whips also retracted to the side of the bush, and it continued to flee away from the “disabled” predator. Reivyn and the others watched it wobble away.

There were no more treasure thorns on the bush, so there was no value in running it down. They would just destroy the bush, and because it was literally a plant and not a monster, it wouldn’t even give any Experience. There was absolutely no reason to destroy the thing other than spite.

Or ignorance, Reivyn mentally conceded.

He watched his father as his muscles slowly relaxed. His veins once more became smooth along his skin as they no longer protruded, and he lifted a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

Refix looked down at his exposed arm and inspected the three wicked-looking barbs inserted into his forearm. After a brief examination, he plucked them from his arm. Reivyn could see the glow of the blood-red dew drops had not diminished in any way. It looked like it had actually deepened in color, but it was just the blood from the wound on Refix’s forearm coating the thorn.

There were three sizable puncture wounds on Refix’s arm. Reivyn could see them closing up at a visible rate with his Divine Sense, but it was slow enough that none of the others would be able to tell a difference. Each wound slowly leaked more blood down Refix’s arm, dripping on the ground beneath them.

Some people think sprinkling the ground with blood is a necessary method of allowing these plants to grow and flourish, Reivyn considered as he watched the blood drip. Almost like a cycle. The Blood Roses sprung up from battlefields then evolved to shed more blood for nourishment. That’s all actually just a myth, though. According to the addendum, there’s never actually been any evidence discovered to back up such claims, and all experiments conducted on them doesn’t show anything, either.

“Ok,” Teilon said, standing up. “I haven’t quite gotten to the end here - it happened so fast - but what in the world was that about?!”

Refix looked at everyone in the Party before putting his focus on Teilon.

“That,” he said, “is the only way to extract the treasure thorns without destroying their value.

“For some reason, they are supernaturally attached to the very core of the Blood Rose bush. They are incredibly difficult to cut away from the vine and nigh-on impossible to pull off. If one does violently remove the thorns, not only does it damage the vitality of the Blood Rose bush, but for some reason, all efficacy of the thorns is lost.

“Stabbing would-be predators with them is its last resort defense.”

“Yeah, I saw that it was fairly effective,” Teilon nodded his head. “Does it have some sort of poison or something. Was my training with Poison Resistance actually a stroke of accidental genius?”

Refix tried to chuckle, but it just came out as a wheeze. He recovered his breath before he continued.

“No. No poison,” he shook his head. “It’s pure pain.” He once again looked at everyone present. “I’m not going to lie. That sucked. It was some of the worst pain I’d ever experienced. The addendum mentions the pain inflicted in this manner is three to four times as much as when you use them to ascend your Bloodline.”

Kefira winced.

“Seeing your expression - and your entire body locking up and unable to move - I believe it,” Kefira said, swallowing.

“You don’t have to do it,” Reivyn reassured her. “There aren’t enough Rose bushes here for each of us to take a turn, anyway.”

“Are you taking a turn?” She asked back, staring Reivyn in the eyes.

“Of course,” he affirmed.

“Then I’m going to as well,” she said firmly. “Don’t try to talk me out of it. I won’t ask my man to do something I’m not willing to do.”

Reivyn simply smiled at her. He didn’t press the issue, and he could see - despite the lingering trepidation - relief in her eyes at his show of support and trust.

With an unspoken word, Reivyn, Teilon, and Refix glanced at Ameliyn. She snorted.

“Don’t look at me,” she said. “I’m older and wiser, and I have nothing to prove. You youngins do your thing and thump your chests. I’m perfectly fine sitting this out.”

The other Party members chuckled at her frankness.

Reivyn surveyed the hilltop they were standing on. There were four more Rose bushes littered around the area. Me, Kefira, Teilon, and Serilla, Reivyn thought. I’m sure Kimberly wouldn’t have any compunction participating, but there’s no way Serilla’s going to let Kefira do something she won’t. Same deal with Teilon. He acts the rogue all the time, but when it comes down to it, he takes responsibility and does his duty.

Reivyn nodded his head, psyching himself up, as he took a step forward.

“I’ll take the next one,” he said.

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