Emily Harris
Stories
6
Chapters
1,488
Words
2.2 M
Comments
0
Reading
7 d, 19 h
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“Done!” Jack shouted, pulling open the curtain. The same little cabin waited for him, but he was not the same. He had fused a Dao Root. He had advanced a skill into a Dao skill. He’d gotten sixty stat points—the equivalent of twelve levels, though only half of those went into his main stats. Still, the increase in Will was significant. It had practically doubled, and Jack felt so unfettered. It was like he had complete control over his mind, like the lamp light that illuminated his island of…-
126 •
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The two fists clashed in a terrifying explosion. Both bore the Dao of the Fist. They were strong, unrelenting, indomitable. None backed down. Jack’s knuckles ground against the copy’s, and all the amassed power erupted in a ring-shaped shockwave that blasted into the ground. The grass disintegrated under their feet, leaving a blackened crater the size of a bathtub. Jack turned and smashed a hook into the copy, which stepped into his guard and shot a straight right into his face. Jack took it head-on,…
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126 •
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The next few minutes passed quietly. Jack and Nauja were resting on the ground next to the dead t-rex, chests rising and falling with laborious breaths, while Brock kept watch from a high branch. Nothing disturbed their rest until Nauja stood up. “Let’s go,” she said. “Can you walk?” Jack groaned. “Letting our bodies go cold was a terrible idea.” He struggled to stand. When he eventually succeeded, everything hurt. His ribs had cracked from the impacts. His back bled from a few lacerations…
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126 •
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With a few hand signals from Nauja, Jack crept towards a fern. Brock hid in the faraway canopy, ready to assist when and if he could. The barbarian herself climbed on a tree branch. She would start shooting the t-rex from afar to weaken it, and then Jack would ambush it as it approached. That was the extent of their plan. After that, they would improvise and hope to survive. Jack crouched between the ferns, letting the ancient plant caress his skin. The wind slipped through the trees, calm and peaceful,…
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126 •
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Jack and Nauja paced through the jungle. The vegetation was dense enough to limit their sight but sparse enough to allow easy passage, while the cave ceiling a hundred miles in the air remained filled with enormous, glowing, yellow mushrooms. The soil was soft and porous, caving easily under Jack’s feet, and the incessant sounds all around them—from chirps, to buzzing, to rustling, to faraway roaring—indicated that the jungle didn’t care much about their presence. Brock jumped from branch to…
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126 •
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Jack awoke to a pair of strong hands shaking him. “Orgh,” he said groggily, rolling over. “Bro.” A commanding voice reached his ears. “Ugh… Five more minutes?” “No.” “Damn, man.” A yawn. “Is it really time to go?” “Yes.” Jack yawned again, then rose to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes. He was in the guest hut of the Tri Lake tribe—little more than a walled-off circle on the soil. There was a fur bed on the floor, made from the same material as the clothes of the…
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126 •
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Jack followed Nauja back as the ceiling mushrooms dimmed. Their light lessened slowly at first, then faster, until night arrived in a matter of minutes. By the time they made it back to the tribe, darkness had fallen everywhere. But not completely. Though the mushrooms had gone dark, their roots still pulsed with soft blue light. It wasn’t enough to illuminate the entire ring, not even close, but it still shed a hint of light on the jungle beneath, like a moonless night on Earth. As soon as darkness…
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126 •
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Nauja led Jack and Brock through the jungle, ducking under long leaves and parting bushes. The path was easy to follow. After some point, Brock abandoned the ground and began swinging across branches, making excited monkey cries all the while. “He’s cute,” Nauja said, a smile playing at the ends of her lips. “Yes, but don’t let him hear that or he’ll be grumpy forever,” Jack replied, laughing. “He’s a big, strong warrior!” Nauja laughed back. Perhaps it was a trait of all barbarians,…
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126 •
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Jack was doubly stunned. One, he had just seen and Two, said dinosaur had been skewered by a woman dressed like a barbarian, who was pale white in the middle of a Jurasic jungle. Everything else aside, dinosaurs and humans shouldn’t coexist! She glared at him. “What are you looking at, delver?” “You’re in the wrong age,” was all he could muster in reply. Her frown deepened over her inquisitive stare. Jack examined her back. First of all, she was ripped. A six-pack dominated her abdomen,…
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126 •
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The passage leading to the next ring was a rough tunnel carved into the earth. It was bereft of sound. A single torch illuminated the darkness, creating a small bubble of light that spiraled every downward, with no end in sight. Jack held the torch and swung it left and right, looking for dangers or hidden passages. After the first few minutes, he got bored. “Show me the staff again, Brock,” he said, his voice echoing oddly in the seemingly infinite tunnel. Brock handed it over. The moment Jack…
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126 •
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