130. Out to Pasture

Serac still didn't know how to feel about her unexpected exchange with Hilde. At the very least, she could be thankful that it'd left the latter in a considerably better mood.

The rest of the tour was a much more pleasant affair, with a talkative guide who'd even stop to crack a few jokes along the way. In fact, the shift was so dramatic that, at one point, Zacko looked to Serac with both eyebrows raised, as if to ask: what the hell did I miss? She could only offer a shrug of 'I'll tell you later', knowing full well she'd be giving him a heavily edited version of the events.

"This here is what we call the Pasture… or the Royal Hunting Grounds if any civilians ask you about it."

Hilde said this with a slight chuckle, though Serac couldn't quite clock the Pretjordian humor. As for this 'Pasture', it referred to a dense, wooded area that took up most of the Eastern Bough. Here, the Crown's giant leaves mixed almost indistinguishably with much smaller features of terrain and vegetation. There was very little in the way of foot traffic or Yaksha-made structures, which made the whole place look like one of the foraging grounds lower down in the Realmtree.

"This is where King Tyr keeps his collection of Calmspawns," Hilde explained. "Facsimiles of Wildspawns that have been 'recirculated' through his TAMPER magic. They look, fight, and die exactly like the Wildspawns we see elsewhere in the Realm… but they've been stripped of their [Hunger] and therefore their Aberrant tendencies. Won't attack unless you engage them first, and won't offer any Karmic rewards, but they can be good for testing or training. Do you wish to give it a try?"

The idea of a non-violent Aberrant struck Serac as peculiar, but perhaps no more than the notion of picking a fight with something that otherwise wanted nothing to do with her. Even so, she sensed a unique opportunity, one that likely wouldn't have materialized, had Hilde been in a different mood. Trippy certainly seemed to agree:

"Remember, Wayfarer, we still need to collect 'kindling' for your new spell. I'm not sure if these Calmspawns can be [Harvested] or not, but we won't know unless we try."

Trippy was right, of course. As Serac understood it, she needed Pathsight-sanctioned consumables to activate [Chamber Two: METABOLIC SHIFT]—something she hadn't had a chance to stock up on during the whirlwind aftermath of the Realmhunt. If these so-called Calmspawns could indeed be [Harvested], they represented the perfect farming opportunity. No reason not to try.

As the tour group ventured deeper into the Pasture, it revealed itself as a microcosm of the Realm as a whole. The thickets soon made way for a variety of features, including hills, plains, streams, and even a large pond that might've stood for the Netherpool. Of these, Hilde led the group into a pine forest, one that reminded strongly of the Hevnerskog—the site of Serac's and Zacko's very first 'hunt' in Pretjord.

"If I were a gambling man, which I am," Zacko said, scanning the trees around him as though he really was on a hunt, "I'd say we're about to fight 'facsimiles' of Ulvknalls. Do we have much further to go? Feels like a lot of forest for what looks to be very few Wildspawns."

"Calmspawns," Hilde corrected him, appropriately calm herself, "and you're already looking at one."

"Really?" Serac wondered aloud. "Where? I don't see any—"

That was when she nearly tripped over a… rock? Box? Whatever the thing was, it looked to be a perfect, brownish cube, with uniform surfaces and sanded edges—almost like someone had gathered up a mound of soil, shaped it into a cube, then tamped it down until it was—

Grrarr!

One moment, it'd been a perfect cube. The next, it was a full-sized, snarling Ulvknall that towered over Serac, complete with its wolf-like features and strangely liquid musculature.

Well, it certainly looks like an Ulvknall, like Hilde said. Does it act like one, too? Serac got her answer right away, as the 'Calmspawn' wasted no time to crouch down and dig up a clump of dirt to throw at her face.

Pocket sand! Which meant the big-hitter slash attack would soon follow. Serac lost the visuals to guide her, but she had experience to fall back on. And right now, experience told her to cover herself with a PULVERIZER shield.

[49!]

Well-defended and well-mitigated, which should've been the end of it. But instead, Serac's knees buckled as all strength left her body. She'd been Poise-broken through her shield, which hadn't happened to her since… well, since just a few days ago at the Realmhunt, courtesy of a giant salamander tongue.

She realized her mistake right away. The addition of a second, high-footprint Trinket in the form of [Abyssal Plate] had [Overburdened] her, rendering her an all but Poise-less pushover. What she should've done earlier was take off [the Frog in the Well] and leave it in her new quarters, but there was no use crying over spilled potions.

Not that she was particularly worried for herself. The Ulvknall broke through its own sand screen, ready to unleash a furious combo on a defenseless Wayfarer. Little did it know, however, that this wasn't a fair fight. For as soon as it tried to swipe at Serac again, Zacko jumped in from the side, blocking and negating the attack with one of his new [Abyssal] gauntlets.

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Ah, Serac observed calmly, I guess I could've done that too. But then again, it's probably not a bad idea to conserve my [Abyssal Plate]'s Durability as much as possible.

True to his own keen sense of fashion and functionality, the NINEFOLD master had opted for a pair of gauntlets rather than anything that might constrict his movements. It certainly fit his mobile tanking style just fine, as exemplified by this latest maneuver: a forearm block that not only canceled the enemy's attack, but also bypassed the need for MP expenditure.

He quickly followed the initial contact with a combo of his own. At 1v1, the Ulvknall had no chance, and it took Zacko no time to bring the lone wolf to its knees.

"Wait!" Serac found her voice, Poise-recovered. She ignored a sense of mild déjà vu as she aimed at the ground with her first shot (didn't want to risk killing the Ulvknall with the 'wrong' bullet), followed by:

[Chamber Two: HARVEST]

[101!]

[Untamped ULVKNALL Status Effect: EARMARKED]

"Okay, thanks, you can go ahead now!"

The sense of déjà vu deepened, but no matter. On a long journey like hers, a little repetition here and there couldn't be avoided. What did matter was her current experiment. The Calmspawn had been [Earmarked] like its Wildspawn cousin. Would it also leave behind an ingredient for her to collect?

Zacko finished the smite with a gauntleted fist. Prior experience dictated that this would be where the Ulvknall would go poof into Souldust, followed by a Karmic reward notification.

Neither happened. Instead, the Ulvknall's entire body crumbled into an eclectic mixture of… forest elements—everything from dirt to tree bark to leaves to even the dewdrops on said leaves. The whole thing than dropped onto the ground in a neatly packed mound.

Hm, I wouldn't quite describe this as dying like the real thing, but I suppose two out of three isn't bad.

"Don't touch it!" came Hilde's hasty warning, even though neither Serac nor Zacko had thought to do anything but stare in amazement. "As long as you leave it be, it'll eventually re-Tamp itself. Then the next Wayfarer to trip over it can have their fun. Otherwise, King Tyr will have to come in and set the whole thing up again. He's a patient man, but even so, I wouldn't want to be the one to test his limits."

"So, it's a live training dummy." There Zacko went again with his jargon. "On a lengthy cooldown, but I assume it's infinitely repeatable, as long as our Immortal stays, well, Immortal?"

"Correct."

"Does that also go for its [Harvest] potential?"

This latest question from Serac prompted both of her companions to follow her gaze. There it was, the [Ulvknall Liver] in its full, rubbery glory. To Serac's untrained eyes, it looked just as solid (and just as repulsive) as the Wildspawn version.

"I take it this is the work of one of your spells?" Hilde spoke mildly, more curious than surprised. "To answer your question, I don't know. We simply have no precedent for this particular magic. But there have been instances of 'random drops' from these Calmspawns, so if I were to guess, there's a good chance your [Harvest] is also repeatable. Feel free to test the theory if you wish, but do me a favor and do it on your own time, hm?"

"So, there are a bunch more 'cubes' like these, scattered all around the Pasture, including ones that Untamp into something other than the Ulvknall?"

"Yes. King Tyr took great pains over hundreds of years to recreate Pretjord's biodiversity, as faithfully as he could."

"And as long as we're willing to wait, we can smite or even [Harvest] these Calmspawns as many times as we like?"

"Yes." Hilde, previously in a pleasant mood, now showed the first sign of testiness in quite some time. "Is there a point to your questions, Rakshasa?"

"Do you think they remember?" Serac spoke quietly, almost to herself. "Do you think it ever gets to be a bit much? Being woken up again and again, only to be smited, beaten down, experimented on?"

Hilde gaped at her like she'd grown a fin on the back of her [Abyssal Plate]. For a moment, it looked as though the manta-ray woman might punch Serac again—and not hold back, this time—but it passed quickly, as she instead burst out in laughter.

"You think some strange thoughts in that strange-looking head of yours, Rakshasa. If this is some Narakite joke, I don't get it, but I think I like it."

Narakite, maybe, Serac mused with her inside voice. Joke? No. Also, if my head is strange-looking, what about your boyfriend's?

"I don't know," she spoke with her outside voice. "I guess these are the things you think about when you've been locked up nearly your whole life for someone else's crime—not to mention tortured endlessly with no rhyme or reason. I just wonder… if these Aberrants had a say in it, what would they want for themselves?"

Hilde, still smiling, opened her mouth to speak. But then the words faded—along with her smile—before they had a chance to fall out. Beside her, Zacko too stared at Serac wordlessly, his brow knitted in deep thought. And at the three Wayfarers' feet, the mound of Calmspawn fodder sat in its deceptive stillness, with its components already pressing into each other to regain their 'shape'.

After an indeterminate delay, Hilde cleared her throat.

"Enough with the navel-gazing," she said, having called back the rough manners with which she'd begun the day. "I've had enough of your company to last me several lifetimes. Come. I'll show you to the mess hall as the final stop of our tour, then after that, you may spend the rest of the day as you see fit. Whatever you do, just be sure it doesn't include me."

Hearing this, Serac couldn't help herself. She threw Zacko another furtive glance, and this time, her Manusya partner did return it, together with a barely perceptible nod.

The implication was clear. The two of them had arrived in Krongard with a clear mission in mind. They'd start on it tonight, just as soon as they were dismissed from their day job.

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