We traveled south for the rest of the day. Because we had some leftovers from previous hunts, we didn't play the game that day, instead we ate what we had. I asked Shelly "What do you think could be out there, where the fog is?". Shelly thought about that question for a longer period of time, when it finally shook its head to mean it didn't know.
I didn't know what to expect from that place either. Who knows maybe it was some kind of dangerous area or maybe beyond the fog was a city. Either way, I wanted to find out. Soon after we went to sleep. I actually didn't have any dreams at all. It was because I didn't train my skills nor did I train my body and certainly, I didn't kill people. I think it would be right to say, that people were very rare in these parts of the forest.
It was a nice change to dream about nothing. Maybe I did dream of something but when I woke up, I didn't remembered it. The next morning we had our breakfast and moved towards south again. About an hour maybe hour and a half of traveling later, we encountered another new life form but this time it was kind of aggressive. The creature was aggressive because we entered its territory. It wasn't difficult to kill the creature but I didn't think it was edible.
The creature we encountered looked like snail but it was much bigger than the common snail you would find just after it rained. It was about the size of small cat and also moved much faster than the common snail. It wasn't poisonous but had a very hard shell, maybe even as hard as Shelly's. When I threw daggers at the shell, they only created small cracks. The shell on its back was quite colorful, ranging from vibrant red to azure blue. But just because it had nice coloured shell, it didn't mean it was undestructable.
I said that killing the creature wasn't difficult and that was because only the shell was very hard, its fleshy part was very soft and when my dagger passed through, it actually cut off the head of the snail. I wasn't sure what type of skills the snail possessed but I decided to call it Vibrant Snail due to the colours on its shell. This was another new entry to my Beast Scriptures. Although I didn't know much about those Vibrant Snails, next time we meet one, I would study it in greater details.
After that little encounter, we traveled further south, until it was time for lunch. I said to Shelly "I've been waiting for this moment, we will now play the game and decide who goes to hunt!". Shelly nodded and waited for me to do something as it was now my turn to show and Shelly's to repeat.
I thought 'You wanted to play by those rules so don't blame me!' and walked couple of steps forward. I then turned around and looked at Shelly with a smile. To my surprise, Shelly had something akin to a grin on its face. I thought 'What did this guy think of now?' while expecting for Shelly to try something couple of times and then give up.
But it never happened. What Shelly did next made me speechless. Shelly pushed itself up with its front legs and stood there on hind legs only, just like a human. Shelly then started walking. One step, two steps, three steps and so on. I was so overwhelmed that "How is that possible?" escaped my mouth.
Shelly finished doing what I did and looked at me with not only a grin but also provocation in its eyes. I said "You crafty little bastard! you knew I was going to do this so you probably practiced!" to which Shelly nodded and maintained the grin. I said "Alright, now you show me what to do". I was now on my guard and though 'What is Shelly planing now?'
Shelly looked at me and then simply hid all its legs and head inside the shell. I thought 'That bastard! it's obvious I can't achieve that!' and then said to Shelly "It's obvious I can't do that, I don't have a Shell!" but Shelly argued that it had to walk on hind legs while being a turtle. I was at a loss 'What can I do? Shelly is right. Normally, only a few kinds of animals can walk on just two legs and turtles are not really one of them'.
I said "Fine, you win but you can't use the same thing in the next game!" to which Shelly nodded its head in agreement. I then went into the forest for a hunt. I didn't have to look for long before a group of normal wolves entered my sight. I took care of the pack of wolves and butchered them straight away. With bag full of meat, I returned to the place where Shelly was waiting and roasted the meat.
After we had our lunch, I said to Shelly "Next time, I'm going to win!" but Shelly only grinned even more. I knew it was planning something again but I wasn't to be played with, I could also do things that no turtle could!
When we rested enough, we traveled further south for the rest of the day. The next morning, after breakfast. I went towards the cliff to have a look. We already traveled for couple of days towards southern direction, I hoped to find some signs of the damned cliff ending. My hopes were answered and I could see in the distance something like a path downwards.
"Finally!" I exclaimed and called out to Shelly "Let's go, I can see what looks like to be a path down the cliff!". Shelly came running and followed my sight. Shelly didn't like heights, it probably wanted to check what is it that I called "A path" to make sure it was nothing dangerous. My sight was much better than Shelly's but it could still make out some sort of path.
I said "Don't worry, we will get there in about 2 days of time and then we can have a proper look. If you don't like it at all, we will go further south and maybe find another path". Shelly nodded and seemed to be more at ease due to my words. We packed our staff and moved towards the newly discovered path that awaited us.
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