ALL NOVEL Chapter 44: In Agreement
Where did all this information come from, anyway? Dominic wondered, unintentionally projecting it to Leo.
I…. Leo hesitated. There was that moment with the creature of the stone cave. The…dungeon, I believe you call it. Something happened then. Perhaps this is linked. Dominic would have frowned were his face capable of such a movement.
What are you referring to? he asked, confused.
When you bit the creature, something entered us. Do you not recall?
No… Dominic said, trailing off as his mind went back to that time. His confusion deepened as he realised that that moment was a blur to his memories. What happened? he asked himself. I was fighting against the pain to get closer to the creature…and then the creature was gone. It was alarming, actually. So I bit the dungeon master? he asked Leo.
Yes. With the strength I offered you, I was unable to move, but you were. You closed in on it and then leaned down and bit it. I did not see exactly what happened, but I felt the rush of…something. A moment later, the creature vanished and we were released from the pain which afflicted us.
Now Leo had said it, Dominic was starting to remember. The memories were vague at first, but became clearer with each of the lion’s words. He was right – Dominic remembered feeling like he was moving in slow motion as he leaned down to bite at the dungeon master. He recalled feeling surprised that the creature didn’t do any more than try to lean out of his way.
And then there was the bite and the rush of…the rush of knowledge which had entered him. Dominic felt the headache which had started to fade come back full-force as he remembered that. Knowledge about dungeons; about…pink elephants.
With that knowledge came excitement. He was pretty sure that the dungeon he had just left hadn’t expanded enough to gain its own ‘pink elephant’ under its control; that meant it was available for the taking!
We need to find it, he told Leo eagerly. While this new knowledge doesn’t tell me exactly what a ‘pink elephant’ is, or what benefits it offers exactly, I know enough to know that we need to make it ours as soon as possible.
I agree, Leo told him, though without the same urgency in his mental voice. But gaining control over it is one thing; keeping control is another.
True, Dominic replied, his fervour fading a little.
But you know what would make such a task a lot easier? Leo asked leadingly. Dominic’s focus sharpened and he answered at the same time as Leo responded to his own question.
A pride, they both chorused, Leo’s tone pointed, Dominic almost sighing it.
But why don’t we at least try to find it, Dominic suggested. Then we know where to bring this pride, once we’ve found one. Heck, we might even run across some lionesses in the search for the ‘pink elephant’. Leo seemed to consider his words for a bit.
You make an unusually reasonable point here, he allowed.
Don’t be so enthusiastic, Dominic replied sarcastically, more than a little stung at the implication that he didn’t always have a point. Leo’s focus turned more pointed again, like he would be raising an eyebrow in askance at the former-human.
Which of us, exactly, thought that triggering an almost certain trap in the second room of the stone…dungeon was a good idea?
Hey, Dominic objected. I didn’t know it was a trap! he pointed out, then realised that that didn’t help him sound any smarter. Besides, I needed to see what would happen. And it turned out fine in the end, didn’t it, he told the lion defensively. Leo’s own sense of disapproval hadn’t budged at all during his explanation.
However, as I said, Leo continued after a long moment, in this situation, I find myself in agreement with your idea. Now, do you have any idea of where to find the location of this ‘pink elephant’?
Dominic hesitated for a long moment, trying to tentatively search for the information without triggering the uncontrollable information download. Unfortunately, he wasn’t completely successful.
The presence of a Place of Power is characterised by unusual abundance and greater vibrancy of the otherwise common natural features of the area. For example, a Place of Power in a forest may be surrounded by unusually large trees and thick undergrowth, creatures which have made this place their home being larger and stronger variants than their levels would otherwise indicate. An underground Place of Power, however, might be indicated by the presence of thick veins of powerful metals or magically potent crystalline formations.
Aaand we’re out, Dominic told Leo with relief as he managed to wrench his mind once more out of the stream of knowledge. Even though it had now happened multiple times, it was still discombobulating to feel one’s mind being dragged along like a piece of driftwood along a river.
He’d been tempted to let the information just run its course, but feared what might happen to his mind if he stopped fighting the flow. Or his body while he was trapped unmoving within it. No, bite-sized chunks seemed to be a safer way of doing things.
So, if we just search around for an area with particularly large or vibrant creatures, or unusual numbers of them, we’ll have probably found the…pink elephant.
What if it is underground? Leo questioned. Dominic hesitated.
Then we may have lost some time in the search. But if we run across the markings of a pride or manage to kill enough creatures to level up in the course of searching, then we’ve gained, right?
I suppose, Leo replied, though he didn’t sound necessarily enthused.
Unless you’ve got a better idea. Now it was Dominic’s turn to sound pointed.
We can follow your suggestion for now, Leo answered graciously.
Glad that’s settled, then, the former-human said, doing his best to remember that they needed to get along with each other if they wanted to survive this.
Pushing himself once more to his feet, Dominic padded back towards the dungeon he’d come from earlier that day; not knowing how far away the…pink elephant would be from the dungeon itself, he figured he might as well go in circles around it until he found one of the things he was looking for.
*****
What is that?! Dominic asked himself as he crouched in a protective bush, hoping that the behemoth ahead of him wouldn’t spot his hiding place. And a moment after thinking that, he froze, hoping that his mental mention of ‘place’ wouldn’t prompt another information download at the worst possible time. Fortunately for him, it seemed like the trigger only worked if he was also thinking about dungeons at the same time.
Sudden unexpected moment of concern over, he returned his attention to the creature ahead. It’s not an elephant, I’m pretty sure, he thought.
No, it’s not an elephant, that’s for certain, Leo agreed, his sudden intrusion after hours of silence making Dominic jump but not as much as before – he was starting to get used to the idea that he wasn’t alone in his head anymore.
Me, myself, and I have had an addition, he thought absently before focussing on what Leo actually said. Do you know what it is? Dominic asked Leo hopefully – he wasn’t, after all, an expert on the African savannah. Just because he hadn’t heard of the creature didn’t mean it wasn’t from Earth. Heck, maybe it was just a creature which hadn’t made it onto the list of the Big Five and thereby world-wide fame.
Then again, he considered, I would have thought that a creature the size of an elephant – or larger, even – would be famous on its own merits….
No, it is unfamiliar to me, Leo replied, confirming Dominic’s fear. He was pretty sure that an African elephant was considered the current largest land mammal too, so that ruled out this creature being from some other continent.
I guess we’ve met another of the new creatures. Dominic wished that he had the ability to see the species of a creature upon first looking at it, but unfortunately even though he’d tried ‘information’ on it, nothing had come up. Perhaps there was another System command, specific to fauna, but he didn’t know it. More likely it was a special ability which some animals or humans would have access to.
He also couldn’t see the health bar of the creature until he attacked it, but he wasn’t going to be stupid and imagine that despite its clear armour and bulk, it had a small health pool. No, if anything was a moving tank, this thing was.
With skin that looked like it had to be several inches thick, a height of at least three of Dominic’s body lengths, a length of almost as much, and a width that put elephants to shame, solid was an understatement. It had four thick and stumpy legs; clearly it was no speedster, but Dominic was still impressed that they could bear its weight.
As it turned a bit, he got a better view of its face. More like a rhino than an elephant, but with a long neck that was almost like a giraffe though much thicker, the creature was an obvious herbivore. Not that that was in any way reassuring – at least three of the animals on Southern Africa’s list of the most deadliest were herbivores, arguably four. And the number one spot belonged to the hippo. With the sharp sweeping horns at the top of the creature’s head, it was clear this one had some offensive options on top of its clear defensive advantages.
Dominic briefly entertained the idea of attacking this creature – surely the Prey Points and ability offered would be pretty awesome. Before Leo could tell him it was stupid, though, he dismissed the thought. Perhaps once he had numbers on his side it might be a possibility. For now, it would be suicide.
Exercising the better part of valour once more, Dominic crept back through the bush and then used it as cover until he could hide behind a rock ridge. Once confident the creature wouldn’t spot him, even if it lifted its head fully, he stood more upright again.
It was getting late – the sun almost completely below the horizon – and so far the journey had been pretty fruitless. He hadn’t found any traces of other lions, he hadn’t seen anything that would indicate a…pink elephant, and he hadn’t managed to catch anything to eat.
Although he’d run across a few gazelle and another family of warthogs, he had been unsuccessful in all his hunts. The gazelle were too wary and too fast, even with his own speed upgrades. It was a shame – he was pretty sure that they would offer some sort of boosting ability for speed.
As for the family of warthogs, while he’d tried to copy Leo’s strategy, he found that he was far clumsier in its execution than the lion and the warthogs had taken flight when they’d spotted him too soon.
When, a few minutes later, he spotted a potential target, he immediately dropped to the ground, not wanting to spook his prey. While tempted to let Leo take over again, he decided that he needed the hunting practice himself.
Let’s see how this goes, he told himself, nerves making him feel a little jittery.
