Chương 43: Meeting 2

Blick leaned out on a branch overlooking the new camp as soldiers scurried around below him gathering various logs and salvaged tent parts from the last time they were here. In the camp he could clearly see a large brown body with a tail of pale white. Curious he leaned forward to get any more detail he could from the massive corpse in front of him.

A loud snapping followed by shouts and a mad scramble of soldiers to one side of the camp had drawn Cyrendales attention for a few seconds. He was nearly done with the last gate on his trip. Excitement to be home mixed with dread for the news of losses and battles he was sure to be walking into. He was both in a hurry to finish and also didn't want it to be done. He had the most successful mission he could have asked for. Only three gates had to be somewhat conquered because of the local kingdoms control.

They wouldn't believe him for one reason or another. The most entertaining one was when he came face to face with a king who had taken credit for the gate and tried to have him executed as an imposter.

"He what an idiot that guy was." He mumbled to himself as he sat in front of the nearly finished gate. He turned to one of the nearby soldiers who was staring off at the situation.

"Did you fine men happen to pack any wine for this trip?" The soldier jumped and turned wide eyed to him.

"N-n-no s-sir, we um. We have some beer I-if that's not a p-p-problem?" The young man stammered out a stuttering response.

"Ha ha calm down kid, I'm not going to hurt anyone. I was just curious." Cyrendale chuckled a bit more as he turned to finish his work, ignoring the yelling from the other side of the camp.

Blick was pissed. Not at the soldiers around him holding swords in his direction. He was mad at himself for falling out of a damned tree. What kind of hunter falls out of a tree. He looked back up at the broken branch he had leaned too hard on and realized the signs were there. It had been rotten and was beginning to hollow out and he had been too focused on the camp to notice he was leaning on dead wood.

"Hold on hold on." He heard someone pushing through the crowd. Blick brushed some of the dirt and limbs out of his grey fur as the leader of this camp approached. Not recognizing him Blick attempted an introduction only to be cut off with his first word.

"You must be this grey demon that people were hollering about? Don't seem like much to me. Well? What is it you want?" Blick tilted his head at the fast annoyed speech.

"I was curious" he nodded his head to the corpse.

"Do you plan to cook that?"

"Cook it!? We don't have plans for any such thing. We didn't bring hunters or cooks over because of the danger. We have rations." Blick pointed at himself.

"I'll cook it. There should be enough for everyone and the meat is surely mana dense. It won't last, but it should help a few condense a first drop if my assumption is right." The pompous captain froze.

"Mana dense? Yes … yes it would be. Very well you may cook the beast. I'll assign you a guard tho. Don't think I trust you after the stories of the bodies you left on our side of the river." He waved for a few soldiers to take charge and he left the group to return to his tent. The only one currently set up completely. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Breaking into his old rhythm with a fire pit and a few helpers, Blick sliced large slabs of meat off the lizard trying to save whatever hide he could for future projects. Most soldiers continued their work setting up the camp before dark. Having people to help him move stuff around and organize a search for mushrooms and root vegetables nearby was a tremendous opportunity. Blick took full advantage and before dark had a large fire going with several sections of meat hanging by a spear over the fire.

He had one soldier rotating a haunch while another sliced thin strips in a spiral pattern down the length of it. Another soldier was wrapping the strips around an assortment of mushrooms and root vegetables. It was efficient, and soldiers from the camp came by to grab a wrapped hunk of meat before moving about their business. With plenty to go around it wasn't strange when soldiers came back for a second wrap. What was strange was the pearl skinned man in fine armor coming over for a wrap holding a cup of beer.

"My my, now what is a grok doing out here? Aren't your people like, super antisocial?" Cyrendale pointed the question at Blick between bites.

"Grok?"

"Yeah… your race… oh yeah your people don't have a language… wait.. YOU CAN TALK!!??" His voice grew into a shout as he realized this member of the solitary race known for hiding and silence was hosting a meal and communicating openly with another race.

"Oh there's a story here I just know it. Tell me kid what's your story!" He said with a wide smile. His sense of adventure tingling with excitement at something new.

"My name is Blick." He responded while removing his book from his thigh and handing it over.

"Here this is easier." Cyrendales eyes grew with each page flip.

"Yeah this is great! So my gates aren't just tools for conquest!" He looked over to the grey furred young man who was roasting some mushrooms in a pot.

"You know this was the whole goal I had when I made the first gate?"

"First.. you made the gates? How many?" Blick was stunned. He had just been imagining other worlds a few nights ago. And here was confirmation. Cyrendal smiled and nearly laughed at the realization that this young Grok had his spirit. The love of new.

"As thanks for the food I'll leave you with two things kid. One you should condense a solid layer in your core with your first five drops. If you can do a solid with every five drops it will pack more consistently and allow for more growth later. Most people collect a dozen or so drops before they think about a solid core. Smaller tighter packed layers compound later on. the second is this." He reaches under his chest plate and unclips some latch removing a sheet of tan hide.

"This map is nearly indestructible by anyone under the sixth solid layer. The hide it's made from comes from a beast you probably will never see. But that's not the point." He flips the map over so Blick can see it. A series of dots connected by two lines each with symbols around each dot spread across the map that unrolled to be nearly as long as Blick was tall.

"That is a lot of dots." Blick points out.

"Yep there are a lot of planets connected. There are more farther away, but I stopped here." Pointing at the only dot with a single line attached.

"Your home planet, this one we are on right now. It is the last I found before things went bad for me. Notice the pattern spirals inward. If you get to the center worlds you will likely find a lot of war and death. It will likely take you decades but do not go that far unless you achieve 10 or more solid layers inside your core. I organized them by power not actual location." Pausing he looked into Blicks wide eyes before finishing.

"This is my life's work. I hope you enjoy your journey young one." And with that Cyrendale the traveler finished his meat wrap and disappeared with a pop. Blick sat staring at the spot the man was just standing on.

"What the fuck was that! He just disappeared?" A soldier close by shouted. Blick turned to him with a smile so wide his tongue fell out between his open jaws.