The puma was stronger and faster than all the little humans who challenged it. Grace and power ran through its paws as it pounced on prey and proved itself to be the top predator.

And Noir thought he was a tree.

“This might not be a good idea,” Ash said as he shot another arrow toward the uninjured cat. A slice finally opened up on the shoulder, doing some damage to the beast.

“With our luck his next skill will be eating sunshine,” Penelope said with a small pout.

Trixie was slowly backing away. “What if his new skill is explosive? I’m not getting blood on this outfit. I just bought this armor!” Despite her protests, she wasn’t moving far enough back to let Noir slip out of range.

Tom was the only one quiet. He quietly stepped back to Noir’s side with the shield held forward and waited.

“Tell me it’s at least something useful,” Ash grumbled, “because he’s taking forever to use it!”

“You know the first time is more difficult,” Trixie snapped back. “Why is he doing this now? This is not in the plan.”

Noir suddenly started moving again. The sword in his hand was raised to his shoulder and his body fell into a more traditional stance. The blade jutted straight out towards the puma, held steady as Noir took a deep breath. He held it for a moment, and when he breathed out he whispered: “First strike.”

It was a simple jabbing motion. Anyone with a few years training could master it. Noir learned it when he was five, and Ash learned it when he was six. But now it had the power of a skill behind it. Noir’s body took the proper position, his hands held steady and aimed at the correct spot, and then -

Twice as fast as before. Twice as accurate. The sword jabbed between the neck and shoulder and pierced down deep into the puma’s flesh.

Tom swung his sword. One of the medium cats had snuck up behind Noir, but Tom’s blade smacked into it’s chest at a side angle. He wasn’t strong enough to make it a fatal blow, but there was definite damage. Penelope was quick to cast wind cutter and keep the monster down so that Tom could deliver the final strike.

The puma roared next to Noir’s ear, claws digging into the ground. “I know, I know,” Noir soothed. “It’s your turn to be prey now. It’s the rule of creatures. Pray to the gods you don’t come back as a human. Ask to come back as a tree and live a long, peaceful, fulfilling life. There’s this little spot I know that you’d love.”

“Is your brother… comforting the monster as it dies?” Penelope asked in a low whisper to Ash.

“At least he has a bit of compassion for them. I’ve seen what your fireballs do. It’s better to finish them with a single hit,” Ash snorted. The two injured cats limped a retreat as quickly as they could. Once they were gone and it seemed the area was safe, Ash and Penelope began looking over the bodies. “Trixie, could you put up a barrier for us just in case?” Ash asked.

Trixie nodded, grateful since that meant she didn’t have to deal with the unpleasant part of their job.

Tom was at Noir’s side. “Is it dead?”

Noir nodded. “It’s nutrients now. We should take what we can so it doesn’t go to waste.” He pulled the magic stone from the puma’s forehead easily. “I wonder why slimes you have to break these things, but other creatures you don’t.”

“Because slimes are made of mana,” Trixie explained with a tone that said she thought they were being deliberately stupid. “Basic monster studies, at a child’s level, explains that creatures of mana require their mana stone be broken in order to be killed. That’s because they don’t actually have physical bodies. The stones are literally holding things together with magic. The puma had a body, and the mana stone was just how it used magic.”

“It used magic?” Noir asked.

Penelope slapped him on the back of his head. “Why do you think all the other cats were listening to it? Because it was big bad and scary?”

Unfortunately for her, the slap hurt her hand more than Noir’s head. “Because it was the closest to evolving. It would have been a wonderful companion tree if it had made it. Black Elder, I think.”

“That’s not a real thing,” Trixie complained. “Someone tell him that’s not a real tree.”

“I’d like to be a redwood when I evolve, but I doubt the gods would be so kind. I’ll settle for my magnificent body as a pine. I was quite the spectacular pine, you know. Very tall with a good, strong bark. I had lots of young sprouts too. My pinecones were very fertile.”

“I’m not sure if I should be impressed or grossed out right now,” Trixie complained. “He’s got blood on his shirt and he’s talking about baby trees. I might vomit.”

Ash turned her away so she couldn’t see Noir or the bodies anymore as Tom and Noir worked while they talked. They made quick work of the scene since this was what they had set out for to begin with and were soon on their way back down towards town. “So,” Ash said as he slid in next to Trixie. “You don’t like blood, or corpses, or fighting.”

Trixie gave him a sideways look for a moment, then turned her attention to watching her step on the trail. “Those are all true,” she admitted.

“Then why take on this quest?”

She was quiet for a moment, and Ash thought she wouldn’t answer. It was possible the reason was private and he didn’t actually have any business meddling. He didn’t want to come off as pushy or meddling.

“We needed the money,” she finally said.

“We?”

“Me and my mom. I used to forage for ingredients for her, and she’d create potions from them. That used to be enough for the both of us. Not as many people need potions anymore, though, or can get them cheaper from the big guilds before they pass through town.”

Ash thought for a moment as they walked. There was a production guild that opened up in a town about half a day’s travel away. Since it was an actual guild they would get some funding from the city in exchange for potions for the guards. They’d also get income from sales from people passing through, but they’d be able to charge less because of the city’s funding. Someone crafting on their own wouldn’t get the same benefits.

“I bet hers are better, though,” Ash said.

“What?”

“Your mom. Everyone knows that buying from a crafter means better quality than buying from a guild,” Ash tried to console. “Production guilds produce a lot of low-quality goods at a cheap price. Crafters produce higher quality goods. Of course you’d have to pay more for that.”

Trixie shook her head and smiled softly. “Thanks for trying, Ash.”

“Guys, heads up,” Tom interrupted before Ash could try to say anything else. “We’ve got company.”

Noir shoved through until he was at the front of the group and stood with his hands on his hips looking down the trail. They were about halfway back down to the town, and most other quests in the area had been canceled thanks to the puma. There shouldn’t have been anyone else in the area. “Who goes there?” he asked loudly.

No one answered him. The road was quiet.

“I mean, I don’t think he’s really close enough to hear you,” Penelope said from next to Noir, shielding her eyes from the sun and looking down towards the smallish blur slowly climbing the trail. “Assuming he can hear. And that he’s a ‘he’.”

Tom was on alert, but he hadn’t drawn his sword. “I think he’s alone,” he said. “I don’t feel anyone else watching us, at least, and the mountain cats are gone now.”

“They dispersed when the puma was killed,” Trixie said curtly. “Says so in the creature manual. Mountain cats don’t like to be in large groups. I’m pretty sure that’s a man on a horse, and he doesn’t have any control over it. Either that or a horse with a lump on its back.”

They traveled down the road with a bit more care, and found that the man really was passed out on the back of the horse. “We should take him to that blessed field,” Trixie said as she looked him over. “I can see what I can manage there, and we can wait for him to recover or send someone for help.”

“Can your healing magic take care of him?” Tom asked.

Trixie shook her head. “Not completely. I don’t know what’s wrong. I can patch him up a bit though, and that should be enough to get him to town. Maybe we can build a stretcher or something so he doesn’t have to sit on the horse, too, while we’re there.”

Noir was poking at the man’s side, moving his clothes around until he finally saw the man’s face. “Looks like he’s not from around here,” Noir said as he looked at the gray bearded old man. “And I don’t think he needs healing. Smells like he found the sleep grass field and got hit with a face full of pollen.”

“I’m surprised the horse didn’t get hit too, then,” Tom said as he stepped closer to the side and took a look. His nose did a definite twitch when he got closer to the man’s face. “Yeah, that’s sleep grass. Did he miss the warning signs?”

“Let’s just get him to the field,” Trixie said. “If it’s sleep grass then I can fix that much.”

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Read while you wait....