Well. Hmm. The situation where strange mucus parasites have invaded my teammates and mentor doesn't seem... promising. Currently, only Bentley and I are awake. He, Orville, Nora, and - a quick check - I, none of us have these parasites. If the others do have them, then they must be soulless.
Better not dwell on this!
The immediate priority is to deal with the parasites I can sense within my teammates. I'm not sure if I can kill them with my soul power. Logically, I probably can; they're weak, and under normal circumstances, I'd be completely confident. But if my ability can only be activated through contact, and the parasites are inside the human body, does touching the host count as touching the parasites? Maybe yes, maybe no. Besides, is it really a good idea to kill the parasite while it's still inside the host? Is having the parasite's corpse inside the body better than having the parasite itself? The small mucus mass I saw earlier was about the size of my fist, and having it remain inside the body is no small matter. At least, that's what I think. I know very little about parasites, biology, and such... which means I'll probably have to wake up the biomancer.
"Uh, Vita?" Bentley asked softly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I replied in a hushed tone. "But Pen and Remus have some rather large parasites inside them."
His eyes widened, and the poor guy looked utterly terrified.
"Oh my god, Vita, I... I'm so sorry, I didn't see anything, I..."
"Hey, hey! Listen, it's okay, Bentley," I said, trying to calm him down. "Remus couldn't see them either when I pointed them out during the day. You're fine. We'll wake up Penelope and see if she can handle it. Okay? It's not a big deal."
Bentley nodded solemnly, his mood slightly improved but still clearly worried. I tried to smile at him to cheer him up, but it seemed to scare him even more. Oh well. As long as he's awake and by my side, he can help me fend off any trouble if the parasites make Penelope go crazy or something, which is really what I need. I walked over to Penelope's sleeping bag and cleared my throat loudly. Penelope didn't react; she was sound asleep. I gently kicked her sleeping bag with my foot, and she began to blink groggily, slowly waking up.
"Hey," I said softly. For a moment, she looked completely confused, but then she glared at me fiercely.
"What do you want?" she snapped.
"Are you pregnant?" I asked.
She opened her mouth, then closed it, her face a mix of anger, worry, and extreme confusion, an expression I'd never seen on anyone before.
"What on earth are you rambling about?" she finally demanded.
"Pregnant," I said again, struggling not to laugh. "Yes or no."
"No!" she hissed.
"Okay, then I think you have a parasite inside you."
That jolted her fully awake. She immediately sat up, her eyes filled with sheer terror. She hesitated, her eyes twitching slightly, then took a deep breath and started casting a spell.
"All right, do you know roughly where it is?"
I frowned and concentrated, trying to sense it. It was hard to pinpoint the location of the parasite inside Penelope; her own soul was so large, like a barrier.
"I think it's in the upper part of your body," I told her. "Maybe around your neck? It's strange for a parasite to be in this position."
"That... is very strange," Penelope said slowly. "Okay, let me scan myself."
She was breathing rapidly. God, I really scared her. This girl must be extremely afraid of parasites. She raised her hands to her neck and began casting a spell, slowly spreading it down and around her body. Finally, she scanned herself from head to toe and shook her head.
"I can't detect anything."
"Well, I can still sense it's there. Remus has one too, and he couldn't see it during the day when we encountered similar things. It's a small mucus mass, translucent, about the size of my fist. Could this mucus - like thing interfere with your spell to detect it?"
"No... no," Penelope insisted. "Are you sure there's something inside me? But I can't detect anything?"
She looked truly terrified, but I figured there's no point in lying about this.
"One hundred percent sure, yes. It's the same thing I sensed inside the burrow - hounds."
She nodded slowly.
"Is it just me and Remus who are infected? No one else?"
"As far as I can tell, yes," I confirmed.
"Vita hasn't been wrong so far," Bentley interjected, his voice full of worry. "Penelope, you might be seriously ill!"
Penelope pinched her chin between her thumb and forefinger, deep in thought.
"...Well, that's the thing. I don't feel unwell. As far as I know, I'm as healthy as I've been throughout this journey. We should wake up Remus and see if he has any insights."
I took a deep breath. Something was definitely wrong, but I had no idea what. Maybe they're just creatures that have evolved 超强的伪装能力 and can evade detection by biomagic? Does nature work like that? Alas, I couldn't think of a better explanation.
"We might as well wake everyone up," I said. "I was keeping an eye on those parasites before I fell asleep, and they must have gotten in during the few hours I was asleep. This could be just a coincidence, or they could be smart. The camp might not be safe."
Penelope nodded slowly, her body rigid with fear. I nodded to Bentley, and he went to wake up Orville and Remus, while I went to wake Nora.
"Vita? What's going on?" Nora whispered as I gently shook her awake. "I'm guessing if monsters were attacking, I wouldn't be woken up so gently."
"There are parasites," I replied. She cursed and immediately stood up.
With Bentley's help, I explained the situation to everyone. Remus remained expressionless and silent throughout, only reacting when I specifically asked him at the end.
"What do you think we should do, sir?"
After a moment of contemplation, Remus replied:
"If Penelope can't detect them, we may need to find a more professional biomancer," he said slowly. "Penelope, keep an eye on our physical conditions. When we get back to Sky City, I'll personally arrange for treatment. In the meantime, if anything serious happens, Penelope should be able to detect and treat it. Otherwise, in the absence of obvious symptoms, we'll eat more rations and pray to the Mist Wardens, hoping they're just absorbing nutrients."
He nodded to Penelope. She relaxed a little and nodded in return.
"Should we move the camp, sir?"
He snorted.
"That's up to you, scout."
I groaned inwardly. If I'm not cautious, Remus will surely get me when we get back to the guild, but in this situation, what's the safer option?
"I don't think we should move the camp tonight," I said. "I'll stay awake for the rest of the watch. If any more parasites show up, I'll notice."
Orville and Nora let out relieved sighs, and Remus nodded.
"Sound reasoning. If you notice any changes, let us know immediately."
I nodded and told everyone to go back to sleep. I had to wait for everyone to fall asleep so I could enjoy my "spoils." So I waited and waited.
However, Penelope simply couldn't fall asleep. I glanced in her direction. She was pretending to sleep, or at least trying to. But at least a few hours had passed, and she was still wide awake.
Slowly and quietly, I got up and walked back to Penelope's sleeping bag, sitting down beside her. She tensed up immediately, her whole body as taut as a spring.
"Hey," I said softly. "Are you okay?"
She didn't respond, continuing to pretend to sleep. Well, if she wants to play it that way...
"You know, this reminds me of the time a kid I knew died, and the guards actually cared," I whispered. "He had maggots in his head. Some kind of bug laid a bunch of eggs in his ear, right? Then, slowly, the eggs hatched. The maggots started eating his brain, kind of like what you do to those rats. We knew about it, but at the time we just thought... what could we do? We didn't have the money to hire a biomancer. The guy had maggots in his head and just had to accept his fate. But an older kid realized they were the eggs of some monster bug. He handed over the body to the guards and got a reward. I think that kid knew about it while he was alive, but he waited until he died so we wouldn't have to share food with him anymore. Can you imagine? Knowing someone's brain is being eaten from the inside out and still deciding - "
"Okay, okay, stop!" Penelope hissed. "I'm sorry I hit you. There, happy? Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"No, but thanks for the apology. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I can tell you're not really asleep."
"As far as I can tell using every method I know, I'm perfectly fine," she whispered back.
"But...?" I prompted.
"But I'm scared," she admitted. "I'm clearly in danger, but I don't know how to deal with it, and I don't want to die."
I nodded. Not wanting to die was a goal I could fully understand. This... might be a good opportunity.
"Well... I think I should tell you. You've pretty much guessed it already, but I hope you can keep it a secret."
Penelope glanced in my direction, turning slightly in the darkness to get a better look at me.
"You're right," I told her. "I can kill things just by touching them. It works even better on smaller, weaker things. So I thought... I might be able to use this ability on the parasites inside you without hurting you."
Her eyes widened. For some reason, this seemed to scare her even more. Did I mess up?
"No. No, Vita, please don't touch me. I'll handle this myself."
I frowned.
"Are you sure?"
She swallowed hard.
"Very sure. You might kill me. Or you might kill... the parasite, but I still won't be able to find it. You said it's quite large. If I can't find it and remove it, it might cause even more damage. So we have to solve this the right way. Do you understand?"
"I guess so. Uh, you're not worried about my death - touch ability, are you?"
She forced a smile, which was rare for her.
"Well, you can kill someone with a touch. I can wipe out an entire village with a touch. So... no touching!"
I blinked and smiled back. Oh, thank goodness. She didn't care that I had this ability. So, things were going well?
"If I sense anything abnormal with you or the parasite, I'll wake you up, okay? You can sleep peacefully."
"Thank you, Vita," she said with a slight nod. "I'll try."
"Wow, I actually heard you say thank you," I teased with a laugh. "You must be really scared!"
Her smile froze for a moment, but then she turned around and buried her head in her pillow.
"...Go back to your post," she mumbled.
"You're welcome," I replied softly, getting up to continue my watch. "Let me know if you change your mind."
Nearly an hour later, Penelope finally, finally fell asleep. Finally. I'd been craving a feast all day.
With great difficulty, I resisted the urge to devour that huge soul and instead ate a few weak ones, just like the previous nights. I was dying to eat the big one, but it didn't seem wise to indulge when we might still be in the midst of a "crisis." We made it through the night without any further incidents. Over the next two days, the team was solely focused on getting back to the city as quickly and safely as possible. There were a few more battles and minor skirmishes along the way, but none as dangerous as what we encountered on the way there.
I kept a close mental eye on Remus and Penelope. They seemed mostly normal. Penelope scanned herself every hour but still couldn't detect anything harmful. I wasn't sure, but the souls of those parasites seemed to be gradually growing stronger. It was hard to tell with them hidden inside much larger souls, but I pointed out this possible increase in power to the team and decided to keep observing. Both Remus and Penelope ate more than usual, but even Penelope couldn't say for sure whether it was due to the body's needs or stress.
Remus remained as calm and composed as ever, but the closer we got to the city, the more panicked Penelope became. I hoped she'd be okay. For a girl who regularly experiments on animals, having something inside her own body really scared her. Maybe it was because she couldn't detect it herself and had to rely on me to confirm its existence. I wasn't going to complain too much, though; I needed all the trust I could get.
When the trees began to thin out and the edge of Sky City's crater came into view, a palpable sense of excitement spread through the team. We'd made it. Orville and Nora were overjoyed. Bentley was still oddly quiet, but he smiled at the sight. Remus remained expressionless, while Penelope looked like she was about to wet herself. As for me, I was especially looking forward to going home, seeing Lynn and Rowan, giving them big hugs, and telling them about my adventures. But a large part of me couldn't help looking back at the jungle, regretting that I wouldn't be able to come across free souls so easily anymore. Fortunately, I'd stored up quite a few souls, enough to keep me satisfied when stuck in the city.
...I was a bit worried that I liked eating souls too much, but they were just so delicious! Monster souls didn't even have those pesky existential worries, so I figured there was probably nothing wrong with eating them.
Before I knew it, we were at the city gates. The gates opened to welcome back the hunters who had completed their mission. People stepped aside to let us cut in line and head home first. This respect... felt even more surreal than having an extra sensing ability.
Speaking of which, the large number of human souls around me once again amazed me with their diversity. In the jungle, it had been a constant strain to distinguish between groups of similar monsters, but now there were no hordes of monsters, at least none except for the tiny pests in the city that were barely worth noticing. Human souls were all unique, each one a one - of - a - kind work of art.
We all dragged ourselves back to the Hunter's Guild. Remus gave us the rest of the day off, then took Penelope to find a healer. And I had only one place to go: that small house.
After dropping my things in my room, I grabbed some food, then dashed to the market stalls, bought more food, and hurried home. A young voice called my name, and soon the children came pouring out of the house, tugging at my clothes, fighting over the food, asking me what it was like to be a hunter, if anyone had died, if I'd seen any amazing monsters...
Then Lynn and Rowan appeared, smiling proudly at the door of my shabby little home. But this was my home. After hugging each child, I threw myself into their arms, hugging them tightly with my now - considerable strength. They bent down and hugged me back. The world seemed right again.
"Welcome back, Vita," Lynn said.
"Lynn! Rowan! I can't believe you're both home! I'm so glad you're okay!"
"We should be the ones saying that, squirt!" Rowan replied, affectionately ruffling my hair. "You actually survived out there for so long?"
"Yeah!" I affirmed. "I'm a great scout! And we have a biomancer on our team, so we could eat monster meat! It was delicious!"
"It seems like you ate more than just monster meat," Lynn muttered with a knowing smile.
I nodded eagerly and pointed downwards. She laughed, and the three of us went down to the room below the house. I was finally with people I didn't have to hide anything from! I had so much to talk to them about!
But first... I took out that enormous, super soul that had been tempting me for the past three days. Lynn and Rowan couldn't see anything, but they watched my hand intently as I held this thing that only I could touch.
"Lynn!" I grinned. "Tell me I feel much more powerful now!"
I swallowed it in one gulp. That huge, earthy - scented soul with its 奇妙的韵律 was like a symphony to my senses as it slid down towards my stomach. However, something was waiting for it, tore it apart, and devoured it like soul spaghetti, filling me with wonderful and powerful energy.
After eating that huge monster soul, I let out a long, satisfied sigh. I felt... amazing. It was as if my whole body had become lighter. Lynn's eyes were as wide as saucers.
"Girl, what on earth did you just eat???" she asked in amazement.
"The soul of a mutated burrow - hound," I replied proudly, taking out a smaller soul for dessert. Ah, so delicious! "It was bigger than this little house!"
"Vita, you really impress me, girl," Lynn said. "That's not fair."
I made a quick comparison and shrugged.
"I'm still far from as good as you."
"That's true, Vita, but I've had my ability much longer than you, and I push my limits almost every day. I have to admit, I'm a bit envious that you can progress so much all at once."
I grinned, not hiding my pride. Among those abilities that could get me beheaded by the Templars, mine was the coolest!
"And it tastes amazing too!"
Rowan covered his face, while Lynn burst out laughing and hugged me again.
"You little fool! Stop showing off!"
"Oh!" I said, breaking free from the hug to catch my breath. "I also saw metal for the first time! Remus has a metal sword!"
"Really?" she said with a mischievous smile. "Ooh