Chapter 23 - Attack!
A hand on Benton’s shoulder woke him, and it took him a moment to grasp the situation. It was dark out with only the flickering light of their fire providing light. He was in his tent on his bedroll. Yang Ru had shaken him.
Benton mentally asked the System how long until his alarm was supposed to go off, a function he’d recently discovered.
Host was set to be awakened in one hour and twenty-eight minutes.
As the small group had ventured deeper in the spirit beast territory, it had become impossible to find areas completely devoid of the creatures. He’d had to set a watch.
“What’s the situation?” he said.
“Something large is moving nearby, Senior Brother Chao.”
Got it. Benton had instructed whichever kid was on guard duty to wake him if they saw or heard anything larger than the small rodents and snakes they’d gotten used to dealing with. Yang Ru had done the right thing.
As Benton rose from his bedroll, he extended his spiritual senses. A rank two beast was nearing their campsite.
It occurred to him that such a check was the first thing he should have done as soon as his sleep had been disturbed. Next time, he needed to do better. Next time, he would do better.
Though he had the benefit of Su’s memories, actions were not yet ingrained into the core of his being. He was learning just like his disciples.
The important thing at the moment, though, was that danger was approaching. He pulled one of the mortal-made spears from his ring and pondered whether to trade with Yang Ru for the higher quality one to use in the upcoming fight. After all, Benton had managed to avoid having either of the kids face a rank two so far.
Taking the better spear was the safer move. With it, he felt confident he could kill the beast without anyone getting hurt.