The walk back to the temple felt like the most shameful thing that had ever happened to him.
Matthew limped slowly through the white limestone tunnel, mind empty and quiet for once. The road was all he could focus on, its uneven ground and barely visible flowstone.
What could he possibly do? What was there to think of?
He had been chased away from the dark forest, too weak to disagree with the gesture of the Red seeker.
The message was clear. I've spared you today, do not return here ever again.
He slipped on a barely visible piece of flowstone and had to use his arms to stop himself from face planting. He winced as the pain shot up his left arm, then slammed his fist into the piece of flowstone roaring.
"Fuck off! Piece of…. Dammit, I need a healer."
Stupid bird, I was planning to leave anyway. You aren't anything special, just a pompous prat. A stupid animal, that hubris will be your downfall.
Anger boiled through him as he stomped into the central cavern, he sent the spirit above to watch for him as he made his way carefully through the uneven, devastated cave.
He glanced at the wandering spirit as he struggled to climb a wall. His face twisted with pain as he remembered the seeker's strange reaction to the little spirit.
Did the skill seem familiar?
He sat at the final tunnel to the White to catch his breath and let his sore body relax. It was okay, he had been planning to explore the other sections of the dungeon for interesting monsters he would take spirits from.
Skills from harrowing creatures like the Carrion weed or mimics would be nice, but he felt he had a lack of offensive abilities
And, Most importantly, the first two levels of the Dark forest had been picked clean of Wish coins.
It was strange honestly, he was the first one in the dark forest and he hadn't found much. Mable said other people get more wish coins in other caverns. However in those places death and combat were more frequent .
This was why he decided to use his reputation to return to the temple and ask to temporarily work with some of the stronger groups.
He had to be careful though, monsters could be predictable. Humans weren't bound by anything.
——
He collapsed in the White temple, resting against an open wall. The people around him sent him a few glances, but thought nothing of it. It wasn't the first time they had seen someone just escape the hands of death.
The warm temple was as grand and polished as usual. The tattered tents set up by its habitants couldn't mar its grandiose nature. The four great pillars and high roof made anything the human set up feel tiny and everyone avoided sleeping near the dark fountain.
The fountain's black crystal stone glistened under the great torch braziers hanging above them. The statue in the center of the fountain had six strange arms unnaturally long and spindly.
A spiky crown sat on it, a woman he had some suspicions was Ariel had a disdainful look on her black glassy face.
He still remembered the moment he made his wish at the fountain.
The wave of wave air sweeping over him, the voice of a little girl laughing as she played in the water. Waves softly washing over the shore and the sun's golden rays bearing down on him.
The Root had prompted him then:
Congratulations on your first wish.
The altar has heard your call and sweeps through the spirit worlds calling on items to serve you.
An upright and righteous blade has answered your call.
He had received Clear justice, together with his trait and the legacy armament he built a deadly threat. It had taken many weeks to learn how to mold the spirit to absorb the Crystal dagger.
The key had been in the description of the knife. An upright and righteous blade, it required a change in how the spirit applied itself. It had to strangely seek retribution and believe in absolute justice.
To say the least, tricking himself into that mindset wasn't easy. It required a frame of mind fairly different from his, but he was very used to acting and presenting himself in different ways.
The fountain wasn't flowing now, but still had water leftover in its bowl. He moved to put his hands in when a voice stopped him.
"We drink from that nowadays, so please don't put your dirty hands in there."
It was Jamie, the blunt boy from Parker's group. Tall and dark skinned, his hair was tied into short twists and he donned a strange blocky, white armor.
Matthew nodded, "Sorry about that, do you have a container?"
The boy glanced over him, his worn black shirt and dirtied green cargos. Matthew bought the clothes from a person who had come here with an entire suitcase of clothes with some fruits.
Safe to say, he didn't look too good after his mad dash. Jamie pulled a plastic container out of a yellow backpack and threw it to him.
Once he was done, he handed the container back, looking over Parker's group which seemed to have just returned from a hunt.
There were a lot of them, almost twenty boys and even more girls who didn't go with them.
He found the composition of the group a bit strange, but Parker did seem like a reliable person. He at least seemed more trustworthy than the other leaders he met.
"You guys just got back?"
"Yeah. Pretty shitty luck today, but we have just a few injured to heal today." Jamie shrugged
Heal?
"Bad day? With such a big group you'd think it'd be easier."
Jamie raised an eyebrow, his voice was still even however.
"Have you ever found four wish coins in a day? Our bad days are still not that bad compared to others. But an excellent hunter like you should have no problems."
Matthew ignored the back-handed compliment, looking over to where hauled the injured too. Stella hovered over them reassuring them they were okay.
"Mind if I speak with Stella?"
Jamie's eyes flashed dangerously, his voice not well subdued. "Why? You need our help again?"
I see, that was a mistake. I want to find out if I can use whatever healing apparatus they have, but I should be careful or this guy will make things difficult.
"I wanted to ask Parker something actually," Matthew said carefully. "I was wondering if I could provide my assistance."
"We need your help?" Jamie scoffed.
Matthew neglected to answer as Stella had already seen him. Her green eyes moved over his bad arm and bloodied wrist as she approached the two.
"Matthew, long time no see. you still sleep with monsters?"
"nope, i'm actually a ghost right now. An illusion in your mind, since you so dearly counted the days I've been gone. I have appeared to—"
He stopped as she punched him, smiling. "What happened to you? I feel bad hitting you."
"The spiritual journey here was not easy, I crossed—ouch, don't hit me there." Matthew groaned, "Got into a bit of trouble while coming here, I wanted to speak to Parker about working together."
Stella's eyes brightened as she pulled him a away from Jamie. Matthew watched his rueful expression and grimaced.
We couldn't get off on the right foot, but I'd like things to be easy.
Parker was among a small gathering talking to a shorter brown skinned girl in a yellow raincoat.
"I think the problem isn't the hive, but our coordination and our scouting. Relax Kenny i'm not blaming scouts, I just mean we need to refine our method."
A few people scowled, but said nothing. The girl beside Parker nodded, her voice was soft and shrill.
"I think everyone's doing their jobs well, the Salamanders and Wall crawlers are just very… sensitive. They always know when we're coming."
Parker was about to say something when he saw Matthew, his grey eyes lit up as a smile formed on his lips.
"Finally ready to work together I see."
Matthew rolled his eyes, "Just temporarily, I thought I'd see if I can offer anything to you in exchange for cooperating with you."
Jamie's deep voice sounded behind him as he came up to them. "Sounds good, but I'm a little unsure you can provide us anything too valuable for leading you through the Dunes. That's what you need right?"
Very true, we'll get along well if you can put your… biases aside. He thought, clearing his throat and giving him a steady stare.
"I can do a lot for you, scouting for example. Majority of my abilities are fine tuned for not being sensed."
"Hey, I'm Asha," said the short girl beside Parker, she pulled down the hood of her yellow raincoat to reveal a pretty, pixie-like smile. "I'm not as well versed on the dark forest as you, but the creatures of the dunes are a bit different. Their sense of smell is powerful and some of them can even sense souls or minds… honestly the difference gets harder to understand everyday. The biology of the creatures is very extreme and the distinctions of what our four primary bodies seems to point—"
"Shut up Asha," Everyone groaned.
She glared around her, before turning back to Matthew. "I don't know if you can deal with all that."
Matthew smirked, summoning Old cat and giving it to Asha. He gestured at her to put it on.
She looked a bit unsure, glancing at Parker who just shrugged. Asha studied the black mask, before slowly bringing it to her face.
She shook and gasped, making everyone jump.
"This… this is pretty cool." she whispered as she stared at Matthew's haughty smile.