Chapter 98: Might Be An Issue
Might Be An Issue
Mike watched as the sun started to set, the sky of the planet taking on greenish and verdant hues.
Mike had asked Theresa why there was so much greenery despite there being few large bodies of water, and she told him that most of the water came from deep underground. As such, the sky wasn’t the conventional blue that Mike was used to...
Actually, Mike wasn’t used to blue skies. The skies of Klein 4 had been brown and unappealing.
Anyway, as he watched the sun set, he couldn’t help but feel weirdly conflicted.
’I can’t tell if the day was long or short.’ He mused.
On one hand, he’d done a lot. The moment he landed, he had fought a bunch of beasts, and then he fought the Verdant Boa, and this continued until he found Theresa.
They accidentally woke up the disaster that was the Titanic Corpse Flower and had to flee before finding the wolf pack.
After that, they did as they said they would and alternated between hunting alone and hunting with the pack. As such, they managed to accumulate a decent amount of points while Mike continued to learn from the wolf pack.
Especially the Alpha and the way it fought. Mike felt inspired whenever he watched it and wanted to incorporate parts of what he saw into his own fighting style.
Thinking about it, Mike didn’t have a main combat style. Sure, Crimson Ladder helped guide his movements and make them more precise, but it was more of a force multiplier than anything. He had a few copied styles under his belt, but that’s all they were. He didn’t have a style to call his own.
Granted, the style he adapted from Excellent_Render also worked, but he only ever used it with his Partial Transformation, so it wasn’t sustainable.
’Lots of things to think about.’ He sighed and looked in another direction.
Those things aside, something was bothering him.
Kris.
The area they could move in was large, but Mike judged that he could cross it in a few hours at a casual speed. While he wasn’t sure how fast Kris’s running speed was, it couldn’t be too bad, so the fact that he still hadn’t arrived at their location bothered him.
Did something happen to him on the way?
He knew he was still in the event, his scent still persisted. However, Mike wasn’t sure of that would remain that way...
’We should go and find him.’ He thought.
He leaned and fell off the tree he was standing on. After a few seconds, he dug his claws into the bark and slowed himself down before he reached the ground.
As soon as he did, he spun and ran in a certain direction. A few minutes later, he arrived at the entrance of a cave situated on an upwards slopes that was a bit tricky to locate, but he found it easily.
As soon as he entered, he was immediately paraded by several wolf pups which were the size of small dogs. He smiled as the pounced on him, and he allowed himself to fall to the floor as they went all over him, whining with excitement.
After a few seconds, a familiar shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see Theresa staring down at him.
"Yo." He waved, and she just rolled her eyes.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself." She remarked, and Mike sat up as he held the closest pup and scratched behind its ears.
"I mean, they’re adorable." He explained, as the little guy melted in his grasp.
"... Fair enough." Theresa sighed, her gaze softening.
She looked around the cave and saw as the ferocious pack of wolves was now just pulling about and resting. A few were wide awake, standing guard, the Alpha included. While others could either be seen sleeping or cuddling.
Compared to the ferocity she witnessed just hours ago, the scene looked oddly... pedestrian?
It was hard to reconcile the bloody and savage wolves with the calm and relaxed creatures she was staring at right now.
After a few seconds, she turned back to Mike who was now ushering the pups away.
"Do you have anything we can eat?" She asked, and Mike nodded as he glanced at her.
While her posture was straight, he could see the exhaustion in her eyes. It’s clear that the constant fighting had taken its toll, and unlike him, Theresa wasn’t able to regain her energy as quickly as him, and he imagined her skills placed a lot of strain on her mental state as well, having to constantly use ranged attacks and calculate the flight paths of arrows. Stuff like that.
Not that the way he fought was easy on the mind either, but he found himself better off than her in all areas when it came to energy, physical or mental.
He took off his gauntlet and regarded his spatial ring for a few seconds before taking out a large slab of meat. It was thick and heavy, the smell of blood immediately oozing from it.
As soon as it appeared, numerous wolves within the cave perked up, but a stern look from Mike caused them to avert their gazes.
He looked back at the meat and instinctively reached for it before pausing. He felt Theresa’s gaze on him and forced a cough.
’Right, no eating raw meat in front of her.’ He thought as he put his gauntlet back on, and with a surprising amount of dexterity, began to slice it apart with the claws.
Theresa watched with fascination as Mike expertly sliced the meat into meat chunks, and when he finished, he strung them up on a thin piece of string which she assumed was one of the items he carried with him from Eventide, and after some elaborate movements and stick usage, he managed to string meat above where a fire was supposed to be.
"... How did you do that?" She asked curiously, and Mike glanced at her before tilting his head in that familiar, endearing way.
"Oh, back on Klein 4, I had to pick up some skills like this in case I ventured out and was unable to return in a short amount of time. More often than not, I had to cook things on the spot to sustain myself," He smiled. "It comes in handy."
Theresa blinked before slowly nodding.
’Right... He has skills like this because he had no choice but to learn them.’ She thought.
It was a curious thing. Growing up, she could vividly remember her half-siblings and cousins being asked whether they wanted to learn a certain skill. Be it survival, politics, and so on. More often than not, they tended to pick the skills they found more enjoyable as opposed to things like survival, which they deemed unsavory.
Regardless, the fact was that they had a choice. Theresa also had a choice, though, it wasn’t as free as theirs. But even then, she could make her pick here and there.
But Mike didn’t have a choice. A lot of the skills he obtained prior to acquiring his ability were a result of him having no choice but to learn said skills.
It was a strange contrast and one she found difficult to fathom, but looking at him, she felt that perhaps... it contributed to his earnest behavior.
’Is this Sonder?’ She wondered as she realized that Mike’s life was as complicated as hers and wanted to analyze the feeling further, but she felt something poke her arm, and when she looked, she saw Mike staring at her.
"We need a fire." He said while blinking at her with his big eyes.
"... Right." She nodded and looked at the makeshift grill.
She reached down to the dry wood, and with a surge of heat, the wood caught on fire.
She then sat down and watched as Mike adjusted the meat constantly, and soon enough, and aroma started to waft from the meat as fat dripped into the flames, making the flames sizzle and spark.
The two of them were silent for a while, but eventually, Theresa asked.
"Do you think Kris is okay?" Mike glanced up at her briefly before looking back at what he was doing.
"I know he’s still in the event, and I feel like he’s fine, but whether or not he truly is remains to be seen." Hearing this, Theresa frowned.
"You think something happened?"
"Definitely," Mike nodded. "I was thinking of going to look for him when I finished eating." He said thoughtfully, and Theresa nodded slowly before frowning.
"Wait, not "we"?" She raised a brow.
"Do you have the energy?" He similarly raised a brow, and she stared at him before huffing.
"Nighttime is dangerous in places like this. Going alone isn’t wise." She said, trying to sound chastising, but Mike felt her emotions loud and clear.
’She’s worried.’ The thought warmed his heart a little. Still, he was determined.
"I’ll be fine. Besides, you saw it yourself, I’m good at running away." He said with a grin, though, his eye twitched as the qirds left his mouth.
Theresa fell silent for a moment, then she sighed.
"... Alright. Just... be safe." She said, and Mike nodded.
"Sounds easy enough." He mumbled, and she glared at him.
"I mean it." She punched his side lightly, and he laughed.
"Alright. I’ll be safe."