Chapter 29: Rudith
Rohan and Elane immediately stopped in their tracks once they realised their mistake, but it was too late; they had already been spotted.
From the looks of things, they were more experienced in the Origin Realm than they were. Each one of them was donned with armour that looked far too sturdy and luxurious to be the makings of human hands.
’They have to be Genetic Armaments.’ Rohan surmised.
He wasn’t too surprised by this. Aside from the Firestone Forest which he and Elane stuck to for the past five days, there were many other different beast territories scattered across the vast lands surrounding Erenhot.
One of the most well known types of beasts were called Black Iron Beetles, small but ferocious little bastards, which dropped an armour-type Genetic Armament that happened to look exactly like the armour each person amongst the group in front of them was wearing.
They all gave off a threatening aura, but none were anywhere near the old Chief Appraiser they had a run-in with on the first day.
’All F rank. All six of them.’
But stronger than he and Elane.
They were close to or already at the peak of F rank, so their strength was several times that of either of them.
Both sides immediately moved into defensive positions, observing each other with piercing gazes that seemed to see through all intentions.
"Careful, these guys look like they mean business."
Encountering another human in the wilderness of the Origin Realm offered a much more diverse range of situations than inside the safety of cities. Out here, only the law of the jungle applied, so whether you lived or died when encountering another person was entirely dependent on if they were friendly or not.
Rohan was especially tense. His Elite Firestone Skin Gene was on him; if one of these people even suspected something was off about them, he was at risk of losing it.
Both sides observed each other for a good ten seconds or so before a figure in the opposing group decided to take a step towards the newly arrived duo. When they came within fifteen metres, Rohan lifted his palm towards them, indicating they should stop.
The figure unsummoned their armour, revealing their face to Elane and Rohan.
It was a woman, looking a few years older than them and with a sleek brown ponytail trailing down from her head. She was a beautiful woman, more so than Elane, but that was the last thing on their minds right now. Her eyes were sharp and like that of an eagle, assessing them with the same level of awareness.
"You two must be new around here." She spoke, revealing an attractive and alluring voice.
Rohan took the lead and spoke up for the two of them. "Yes, we’re new Awakened. We arrived in Erenhot a little over five days ago."
The woman didn’t respond immediately, but she did nod her head. "I can see that; only one of you has a Genetic Armament, and you look too young to be veterans. Though it’s rare to see newbies like you this far out from the city."
Her intense gaze softened slightly and included more curiosity. Seeing them still acting so cautious, she smiled. "My name is Rudith, but my friends call me Rudy. What are yours?"
Rohan and Elane glanced at each other for a few moments, deciding how to respond.
"I’m Rohan, this is Elane." Rohan introduced.
His shoulders slightly lowered, but the tension remained high. For one, Rohan didn’t quite like how much Rudith’s eyes kept glancing over at his spear every once in a while.
Rudith seemed to notice this and spoke up. "You can relax. I’m not interested in a common Genetic Armament like that Horned Rabbit Spear. If anything, I’d just like to talk. Is that too much to ask for?"
’I guess not, it’s better than outright attacking us.’ Rohan lowered his spear slightly, and Elane undocked her arrow.
"So what would you like talk about?" He asked.
"There’s no harm in telling you since you’re already here. But my group and I discovered an Ant’s nest a few dozen kilometres north of here. We plan on attacking the Elite that leads it and the hundreds of Worker Ants inside, but as you can see, there are only six of us, while there will be hundreds of them. We need to focus on taking down the Elite Soldier Ant, so any extra help in fending off the Worker Ants is very welcome. How about it? Think you could help?"
Rohan’s expression echoed his confusion, totally not expecting this turn of events.
"You get to keep any loot from the beasts you kill, fair and square." Rudith added.
She was inviting them to join their group and fight against an army of ants? Even the fact that she told them about the nest itself was suspicious.
But the idea of obtaining potentially dozens of Origin Crystals in one big haul was very tempting. This group of people were clearly not in any dire need of Normal Origin Crystals, while the two of them were the exact opposite.
"We get to keep any loot?" He reiterated.
Rudith’s eyes glinted when she heard Rohan speak up. She looked back to her own group, and the other armoured figures all nodded their heads. She turned back to face the duo, not having to say anything.
Rohan sidestepped to Elane and whispered in her ear.
"What do you think? Should we accept? I say we do, but I’m only down if you’re also 100% down. If you don’t want to, we can turn back right now."
Elane looked Rohan dead in the eyes with the same glint he had earlier. "Let’s do it."
But first, she wanted to confirm something.
"Let’s say we agree. How can you expect us to fight against hundreds of Ants with just the two of us? You saw for yourself that we are just two newbies." She turned and asked Rudith after remaining silent the entire time.
"I never said it would just be the two of you. Three of us will focus on the Soldier Ant, while the other three will join you in fending off the horde of Worker Ants. We aren’t asking you to kill them all! Just that you hold them off long enough for us to take care of the Soldier Ant, then we’d naturally join you in finishing the rest."
"And this would be some valuable experience for newcomers like you. It’s not often you get to raid a beast nest! Most veterans only ever get to experience it after putting in years of work to improve their strength and skills. All we are asking is for some light support from the two of you." Rudith was patient with their questions, even while it might’ve delayed them several minutes from reaching their destination.
"One last thing," Elane spoke. "Why us?"
"Bahah!" Rudith burst into laughter.
"Why else other than convenience? You came across us, remember? If you were more experienced Awakened then we might have hesitated to reveal things to you. But you two are newbies. You can help take some of the pressure off our backs while you get to gain some valuable experience and earn some Origin Crystals in return. It sounds like a fair deal to me."
Rohan and Elane had already made up their minds by that point.
"We’re in."