The Apprentice of Ouroboros [Monster Evo LitRPG Adventure]

Thwak.

Arrows shot downrange into the awaiting straw and wood target, which showed no preference for shot groupings. The lamia firing them looked satisfied with her increasing proficiency at hitting from further ranges. Now she could hit the target reliably at forty yards.

“I think we need to push out the range target further,” Hadley commented as Neska pinned a tight grouping at fifty yards. “Think you could use a crossbow?”

“Too slow a rate of fire. Unless I figure out how to reload with my tail.”

Hadley chuckled at that one. “You're gonna try it, aren't you?”

“No.” She might try it once, but she didn't find the weapon had what she needed for a deadly combat encounter. A consistent fire rate was more practical with a bow.

“Have you considered an alchemical fire stick?”

“Too much fire for my taste. Carrying around something that requires other things to explode seems impractical. Bombs, sure. Alchemical cartridges? It’ll never catch on beyond being a curiosity.”

Hadley had to put a hand over her mouth as an ill-timed snicker emerged. “You burned half a pack of wolven monsters with one of those bombs, how can you say that?”

“Well, I can't attach venom to alchemical rounds. I thought about it; it's not practical.” Neska drew and loosed another arrow dead-center.

“I should be surprised at your daring, skirting rules. But it's you. It's the norm for you to think differently.” Hadley occasionally moved to assist others who struggled to hit the range or mechanized, mobile targets.

Juni and Tycus had no issues, and their shots kept finding their mark. Syra had to focus her hydro cutter to reach out at that range, but her ability lost strength at that range. After Hadley returned, Neska asked a hesitant question.

“Any official word about our findings?”

“Good news for once. Gorovich gave us the nod to check it out,” Hadley said, drawing to whisper distance. “Jurik and I will head out to inquire at the Marisano estate, about the same time you’re doing your egg hunt."

“Yeah. I know Brent’s trying to get information out of Marisano's son, but, apparently, after the attack, he’s withdrawn a lot.” Neska peered at her fellow students, noting some were having difficulty. “Brent thinks he knows something but isn't saying. For now, it's just a gut instinct.”

“Brent is who? The wolfling?” Hadley's voice tensed slightly.

“Yes. He’s bold. Maybe a little cocksure, but he's alright. He has keen eyes and ears, all the better to see and hear certain annoying birds on the campus, my dear.”

Hadley tried, and failed, to suppress a laugh. “You are so weird, you know that?”

“I am…unconventional,” Neska shrugged. “Brent is interesting. I saw the look you gave him before, and you shouldn't worry. I know you're still a little averse to anything with long fur and fluffy ears,” she said in a lower tone.

“I’m not worried. I mean, if you trust him…” Hadley trailed off and gripped her bow tight as if to assure herself. Within a second, she was back to firing and testing the students on the mobile targets hooked up to the steam engine track.

Yep. That was going to be a slow-built bridge of trust between Hadley and Brent.

She returned her focus to her peers and their progress. Given that this was a collection of students who had all started within six months, they were doing okay. Those with combat proficiency did better.

Neska saw a lizard-like creature standing on two legs, let out a growl, and spines stood up from its back, vibrating violently before launching with deadly accuracy at its target. He grinned with a mouth of serrated teeth, and his frills on his cheeks flashed with color.

The range proved no challenge to Kasfew, who set his mobile targets on fire with his fire bolts. He should have been happy, but instead, became more broody and unpleasant. Corvin had been called twice and told Kasfew to lay off on setting the range on fire.

Syra had extinguished the fires the second time, then shot a spray of water at the moody bird. “Hey, keep your fluids to yourself!” Kasfew screeched. He clacked his beak and tried to summon more flames, his body arched for a fight.

“Your feathers were on fire,” the sly elementa commented before he could sputter out a retort. “You're welcome.”

More than a few snickers were audible in the seconds that followed, Neska among them. The bird gave everyone a molten glare and aimed at her.

He motioned to a blue-feathered avian of a different species with winglike arms. Instead of hands, she had three fingerlike claws on the wing knuckle joints that seemed to have considerable dexterity. Her form came complete with a long, trailing feathery tail. By her guess, a hydrabird of some kind. The female avian offered him a towel to dry off, and he grabbed it violently, ruffling his feathers so he looked like a giant orange duster.

Whatever. Kasfew apparently had people who at least tolerated or were on good terms with him. Neska returned her focus to the fire lane, with Hadley practicing alongside her and occasionally showing recruits the basics, offering tips for the less adept to improve their aim.

Hadley continued after she'd shot several arrows, some with those sparkling blue trails, and others that made an audible crack as they loosed. Neska believed the term was audiosonic, or faster than sound could travel through air. The scout let out a sound of disgust. “I can’t believe I ever looked up to Seekers, after what you went through again. I don’t know if it’s the stress of years of combat or the job that attracts the worst elements of humanity. I'm more amazed you didn't kill them."

"What I did was the least bad option. And, maybe I earned a small amount of respect with the few sensible human beings of their ranks," Neska said in a low tone. Meanwhile, the archer shot an arrow through the ‘head’ of her target that continued into the sand and rock pile meant to stop overshoot into the campus.

Neska had her doubts that any ability was involved in the remarkable shot. Just pure strength and subdued outrage.

“All that commotion, for crossing the street while slithering,” Neska said in a low tone. “Watch out for Prelate Evin. At least the other three were…nicer.”

“Nice, being a relative term.” Hadley let out a series of three rapid-fire shots, each arrow splitting the previous one in half. “You think Marisano might have helped the assassin?”

“We would know by now if the Seekers hadn’t forced the facility into these confined quarters. We need field exercises to conduct detailed checks in other candidate locations.”

Hadley furrowed her brow, aiming for a target's head and pinning three arrows into it within five seconds. “People are creatures of habit. They return to places they think are safe or are familiar. Odds are we’ll find something. Speaking of which, you might be in luck. Field exercises coming up.”

Juni's ears perked up at this, having sidled closer. “Anything dangerous?”

“Field basics. It'll be a guided tour along the northern forests, team-based efforts. We'll be splitting the Awakened with regular students as mixed teams to practice before we head out. There are sporadic, isolated Varadur forces we find occasionally camped by the frontlines. We're going to be performing a routine cleaning operation.”

“Cleaning operation?”

“Supposedly, goblins and gnolls are just camped out in an isolated region, by an unpatrolled area north of the line of holding. Its rugged terrain is so impassable that volumes of Varadur can't go through at once.”

“Good. Those are foes I can deal with.” Neska didn’t view this as wasted time, either: she was at least furthering her own goals one way or another.

She took a moment to set several arrows on the bench. Hadley glanced at her in curiosity as she spat into a thin, tall jar, then her expression morphed to disgust as Neska hummed and dipped each arrow into the ominous green fluid.

Venom charges: 4/5

“Dare I ask what you've cooked up?”

“My first alchemical arrows using imbuement.”

Hadley looked toward Syra and Juni, as if for reassurance. “Uh, Juni, should I be worried? What is that?”

“Something sticky and gross,” Juni answered.

“Was even grosser absorbing it,” Neska added, wincing at the memory. That burning going along her fangs, into her venom-producing glands, had been awful.

But the memory of that Seeker, throwing her things to the ground and leering at her like she was his next trophy mounted on a wall, gave her the hardened grit to down her first test of her [Venom Imbuement]. “I had to check that this works as intended. I prepared this last night.”

Hadley leaned in, cheeks creasing from a suppressed smile. “Oh, do tell. What will this do?”

“This.”

She fired off the arrow into the target circle, and the arrowhead burst apart in a spray of seagreen foam, coating the target in the sticky substance.

Hadley startled, then peered bewildered at the unexpected reaction. “How’d you do that?”

“Alchemy.”

“No, how'd your spit do that?”

“My witchy skills.”

Hadley stared at her. “I think you have a problem.”

“Yeah. I still have a bunch of other alchemical infusions to test in the hopes that siphoning them through my fangs doesn't kill me.” To drive the point home, she fired another arrow at the target, coating it in foam that quickly solidified into a porous substance. “This ability is adding to my arsenal. Free medicine distribution.”

A certain case of death for vile foes? Or maybe a healing arrow to the ass of some of our more malfeasant allies in need of medical aid?

Neska let out a hissing laugh, doubling over, while Hadley looked on, perplexed. “What on earth are you laughing about?”

“My uh…Interface has some interesting input.”

Hadley raised a brow. “You know, I've heard of some people having weird experiences with their interface. Like they're a separate entity, along for the ride. But yours might be the chattiest I know of, based on your reactions.”

Neska continued firing the foam arrows until she ran out. By now, the target was an amorphous mound of foam, and people were staring.

Kieran, the minotaur, looked on and clasped his hands together. “That is the weirdest power I've seen. Think you could imbue other weapons like that?”

“Hey, hey, get in line,” Tycus said, his plates ruffling. “So your spit–”

“Venom, actually.”

“Your spit can do that?”

“With some prep work.” She continued coating arrows with the substance, and it eventually hardened into an almost amberlike substance. At least she could color-code it from her normal venom, which ran clear or slightly straw colored.

She ran out of venom and felt a tingling along her venom glands.

Venom charges: 0/5. Default venom reenabled.

Ability Proficiency Increased

Spitting Venom 6 -> Spitting Venom 7

The small upgrade brought a smile to her face, but not for long, as she considered her limited capacity. Foo.I need to mass-produce this. But the concept is off to a great start. A full charge could coat about ten arrows with a generous amount. That meant each infusion could coat fifty, which was plenty for a short skirmish. Now if only I could exude venom on my hands and do it every time I draw an arrow. Or make a venom reservoir. It was unknown if the stability would extend to every alchemical infusion. That required more testing.

Her temporary problem-solving was interrupted by applause from her peers; everyone except Kasfew, who instead gave her a mocking clap. Neska's smile turned into a fanged look of contempt just for him as he spoke.

“Oh, look, a snake with new tricks. Forgive me if I don't shake your hand. On account of all the spit,” he said.

“Venom, actually. I don't have salivary glands in the conventional sense,” Neska corrected, unwilling to engage at his level.

The female avian next to Kasfew nudged his shoulder, icy particles circling her blue feather crown and sparkling in the sunlight. “Kasfew, can you ever be happy, mister hotshot? Not all powers or monsters are alike.”

The bird shrugged and turned towards her. “Noricatu, we don't need her help. As soon as our field exercises start, we’ll show them what real power looks like.”

“Not until I approve of it. That includes team training exercises, which means team cohesion and cooperation,” Corvin growled, giving the bird a stern look before puzzling over Neska's arrows. “These arrows, do they work on-hit?”

“The impact heats the material, causing the rapid foaming reaction. It inhibits mobility. Here, come with me.”Hadley and Sargeant Corvin followed Neska toward the coated target. She confidently pulled the arrow out of the foamy mess.

“Solid. Very solid,” Neska declared with gleeful satisfaction. She rapped her knuckles on the material, gesturing to Hadley. “Take a test.”

She tapped it, then hit it with her fist, wincing as though she'd punched a wall. “Solid as a rock. Damn. It might be better than normal locking foam! What’s the point of this one?”

“To make sure a slippery bastard doesn’t shadow step away from me a second time,” she replied, knowing that this successful test had pushed her one step closer to her goal.

Corvin nodded proudly, waving to the arrows. “Now this is a practical expansion of using your Abilities! I want more of these and any other arrows you can make, for testing purposes. This could be useful for a lot of Awakened, and maybe other range-type classes.”

“Scale is an issue,” she pointed out. “I can't produce enough for an army.”

“Then produce enough that I can outfit a small team.”

I already am, Corvin. Neska saw the subtle smirk on Hadley as the others dispersed back to training.

Now she had a backup plan in case this egg hunt turned out like all other plans: in complete chaos.

Hey, Neska, it's weird but…I think you might be onto something. Your ability…

It split again?

Just like your Verdant weave. Recall your efforts with that?

Still haven't fully replicated that, though it has promise. Could this help?

It might.

New ability discovery: Infused projectiles. Continue to experiment to fully define this ability.

Or maybe, two potential back-up plans, now.