Chapter 23 - Making Camp (Patreon)

Elania managed to sleep for a few hours before waking up. She tried to go back to sleep for what felt like an eternity, but her new body refused to cooperate. The stone cubicle felt oppressive to her in any case, so she decided to step out.

Most of the monks were fast asleep, each one having their own bedroll and two to a room. The leathers gave them an illusion of privacy, but it wasn't much better than simply being open like hers had been.

The campfire had been banked with just a few glowing embers remaining. She stepped up to the cave entrance when a voice to the side surprised her.

"Going somewhere, demon?"

Elania's head whipped around to find Taniel sitting on a rock just inside the entrance. He had taken up a position there and she had to admit it was a decent hiding spot to ambush anything entering--- or leaving as long as they weren't looking up.

"Everyone else is asleep, and I just woke up."

"Go back to sleep, it's still hours until morning."

Elania frowned. "I can't, already tried. I don't need much sleep anymore. What about you, don't you need to rest? I could keep watch instead."

"Like I'd trust a demon to keep watch. Who would keep watch on you?"

That stung slightly. She knew they hadn't known each other for long, but Elania didn't miss the implication that he thought she was a danger just because she was a demon.

"Well, I can keep watch with you then. Do you mind if I ask some questions?"

"Yes. I do actually."

Elania bit her lip, suppressing her annoyance. No matter how wary of demons Taniel was, she hadn't done anything to warrant his behavior that she could tell.

"Well, I'm going to go collect some wood. I'll restart the fire and work on my crafting."

"Suit yourself."

Ugh! She wanted to hit him, but that wouldn't solve anything, so Elania did the best thing she could think of and walked it off. She could work on her own project while waiting for the others to finish sleeping.

The cavern connected to the way-station was mostly bare except for moss on the ceiling, but the next cavern over had a water source, and there was a plethora of [Tower-Cap] for her to harvest. Having a knife or hatchet would have made the job more comfortable, but she managed to find smaller ones that she could manage with her bare hands.

'If people only knew that Minecraft got it right.'

Once she had a pretty sizable bundle under her arm, she headed back. Taniel let her pass without comment, and she deposited it by the fire. Then she went and collected several more. She'd have plenty of material to work with.

Satisfied with the four wood bundles, she began to break one up into shorter sticks while laying them on top of the still red glowing coals. She didn't have to wait long before the fire was crackling again.

The first task was completed; Elania turned with a frown to look at the other stacks. She wanted to practice making spears, but she realized her dagger had been discarded when it had become a molten mess. She'd need a knife.

She realized she'd have to ask Taniel, who watched her warily as she approached.

"Hey, I need a knife to do some carving."

"No."

It took her a second to register the flat out refusal.

"You don't have one?"

"I have one in my things, but you can't have it."

"Why?"

Taniel glared at her and didn't respond, which just irked her further.

"If you don't give me a satisfactory answer, I'm going to go wake up Tanyan and ask him for one. I don't know why you're suddenly acting so childish."

When he didn't answer immediately, she turned to do just that, but he stopped her.

"Wait. I'll get it. Don't wake Tanyan up, they're all exhausted."

Elania realized he didn't look too perky himself as he got down off the rock and headed to his sleeping spot. She followed along and waited on the other side of the leather tarp for him.

It didn't take long. Taniel handed her a small blade with a polished hilt. "Here."

"Taniel, you should get some rest, too. You're going to be exhausted tomorrow if you don't. I can keep watch."

When he didn't respond right away, she continued.

"I can keep watch, if I see anything all I have to do is yell. I'm not tired because I only need a few hours sleep each day, and I'll be busy carving so I won't be bored."

She saw the moment he finally gave in on his face before he said anything.

"Fine, but if you see anything. I mean anything, wake us up immediately."

She nodded confidently, although inside she was ecstatic that maybe it was possible to build a little trust between them. She definitely wasn't going to mess up now.

---

Guard duty had gone splendidly while she made short work of the wood bundles. Most of it had been usable, although a few had been a bit too misshapen or short for her use, and she added those to the fire. It took a few hours to finish them all.

Elania wasn't sure how much time had passed while she had worked. She realized that she needed to ask how the others told time because the lack of any timepieces was really beginning to bother her.

Settling down, she began to wait... and wait, and wait. Sitting idle was not one of Elania's strong points. The thought of going and getting another bundle of wood crept up, but she discarded it as being a violation of her duty to keep watch. She wasn't that childish.

She decided to check her Status.

[Status]

Name: Elania Reyes

Race: Lesser Demon (S Class Monster)

Level: 36

Power: 53/208

Karma: 24

Titles: [Locked]

[Some functions are disabled due to insufficient requirements.]

Titles still locked, power was still pretty low, everything else the same, blah blah blah. She'd left the Mana Shard with her bedroll. Nevertheless, she figured she could practice her [Mana Manipulation] skill... and then an idea popped into her head. Maybe she could level her Battle Concentration up at the same time.

She held up one hand and worked on forming a spark of light in her palm. It didn't take that long, and then focusing on not losing her concentration, she took the knife and pressed the tip into the top of her knee.

She drew short of drawing any blood, but it did hurt a bit, mostly as she kept up the pressure. It certainly did make it a lot harder to concentrate on keeping the spark alive and in her palm. After about ten minutes, she was finally rewarded.

[You have gained a level of Mana Manipulation!]

[You have gained a level of Battle Concentration!]

She smiled and focused on sustaining the effort. The amount of power it took was not that much, although it did drain a little. It was nice to see the level ups come every so often. She eventually realized the amount of time was increasing between each one, but she couldn't tell what the exact increase was without a watch or timer.

Eventually, she didn't care and just focused on the exercise to the point of blocking every other thought out.

---

"Hey."

The sudden voice startled Elania and she dropped the spark, which instantly went out as it fell onto stone. A thin trail of blood was dripping down her leg as she redirected her focus on the source of the voice.

It was Tanyan who was looking up at her with a worried look on his face. "You can take a break now if you want. The others should be getting up soon. If you want you can help make breakfast."

"Okay."

She quickly put away the knife and mopped up the blood, but she worried about what Tanyan had thought when he caught her like that. She wanted to smack herself. She'd been so focused on the skills that she would have failed as a watchman except for something loud and obvious enough to break her concentration.

The level increases weren't anything to scoff at, though.

[Skills: Elania Reyes]

[Class: None]

[Affinities: Demonic, Mana, Darkwalker(Complete)]

[Magical: Demonic Aura Lvl - 6 (Deactivated), Mana Manipulation Lvl - 36, Battle Concentration Lvl 28]

[Physical: Unarmed Combat Lvl - 4, Darkvision Lvl - 3 (Activated), Dodging Lvl - 28, Block Lvl - 16, Stealth Lvl - 31, Throwing Weapons Lvl - 34, Combat Mastery Lvl - 32]

[Mundane: Identify Lvl - 5, Universal Speech Lvl - 5, Reading Lvl - 4, Writing Lvl - 3, Athletics Lvl - 17, Improvised Crafting Lvl - 24, Tracking Lvl 4]

At least it wasn't Taniel that had caught her unalert. She doubted she would have liked the glare she would have expected him to give her. She did feel a little guilt at not doing her best, but she'd know not to volunteer for watch duty next time. It was way too fucking boring.