He gestured at the gathered adventurers.
“This job means placing our lives in one another's hands. No one here is going to trust you with their life. They might not tell you that, Thadwick, because you're so petty, entitled and insecure that you'll hurt them or their families using your own family's egregious level of influence. Which is, to be clear, the only reason anyone, anywhere puts up with you for so much as a single moment.”
As Jason’s rant came to a close, most of the people looked on in shocked silence. Humphrey, having seen Jason’s mouth run away from him before, was shaking his head.
“You aren’t doing a lot for group cohesion, Jason,” Humphrey said.
Jason looked over at Humphrey and absently nodded.
“Yeah, I uh… that one got away from me.”
“I don’t have to put up with this,” Thadwick snapped. “I’m leaving, and you will pay for this insult, Asano.”
Thadwick started storming off, then realised his lackeys hadn’t followed.
“Well?” he asked them, turning back.
“We were assigned this contract,” one of them said.
“We’re refusing it,” Thadwick said.
“We… the society doesn’t like it when you refuse an assigned contract,” the other lackey responded.
“Who cares? My uncle will put them in line.”
“And drink,” Jason said, finishing off his juice.
Thadwick marched off again. The pair of reluctant flunkeys looked at each other unhappily, then followed.
“Maybe it was good for group cohesion after all,” someone said. “Thadwick’s gone.”
“It wasn’t,” Phoebe Geller said. “Our only healer just walked off after him.”
A slew of unhappy gazes were turned on Jason, who winced.
“Sorry,” he said.
78
Jason Has the Good Biscuits
The group, now reduced to seven, made their way through the desert sand. This was proper desert, with blistering sun scouring any life out of the rolling dunes. There were no landmarks, so Jason checked his map from time to time. It unveiled nothing but empty desert as they passed through it, but he saw they were travelling in a dead-straight line. Leading from the front, Phoebe Geller knew exactly where she was going.
Jason had prepared thoroughly for the trip, even though it was expected to only last the day. Aside from the juice he picked up, he had ample supplies of food and water. He could get what he needed from spirit coins, but he had once found himself in the desert, benefiting from Farrah having packed bottles of water.
His oasis bracelet protected him from the heat, and he had plenty of spare water quintessence to fuel it. He also had his new boots, which were already paying off. While others were trudging through the sand, the magic of his boots made every step light and easy.
He'd also brought along some combat items, as open desert was not an environment that played to his strengths. His belt had loops containing vials with various utility potions, along with the usual health and mana potions. The magic on the belt was designed to protect the vials from incidental damage. The belt also carried the sword Gary had made, in a scabbard on Jason's left hip. His snake-tooth dagger was sheathed on the right.
He wore a bandolier diagonally across his chest, with nine throwing darts sheathed into it. Each dart had a small, corded grip, in different colours. Three had a black cord, three had dark orange, with the last three being green.
It quickly became clear which members of the group had joined Jason in making appropriate preparations. Humphrey, Phoebe and Gabrielle were easily chatting as if strolling through a garden. The other three struggled with the sand underfoot and the sun overhead. They repeatedly used spirit coins to replenish their reserves.
“This contract will cost us more coins than it gets us,” one of them complained.
“Then you should have prepared,” Phoebe said. “Look at how comfortable Jason is.”
All eyes turned to Jason, sipping on an icy fruit drink.
One of the exhausted adventurers narrowed her eyes at Jason.
“Aren’t you that guy with the evil powers?”
Jason shot a withering look at Phoebe, who gave him a wink and a cheeky smile in return.
Jason returned the drink to his inventory. One of his favourite things about the inventory power was that anything he took out was in the same state he put in. Food stayed fresh, drinks stayed cold. His food supply included bread straight from the oven that would stay warm and fresh until he took it out again.
One of the adventurers Jason didn’t know suddenly called out.
“Everyone stop!”
“What is it?” Phoebe asked.
“There’s something under the sand ahead of us,” the adventurer called out.
There were many kinds of perception powers. Some saw through darkness, like Jason's ability, while others had superior aura perception, or could see magic. Common to the earth essence was a tremor-sense power, able to detect things in or on the ground over large distances.
“Jason,” Phoebe said. “You cost us our healer, so you’re the bait.”
Jason nodded, walking ahead of the others as the starlight cloak formed around him. He kept a quick but measured pace, ready to react at any time.
“How close?” he called back.
“About a dozen metres in front of you.”
Jason stopped, drawing one of the green-corded darts from his bandolier. It was a single-use magic item that would manifest a false aura on impact. He threw it into the ground, a dozen metres ahead of him, where it struck the sand.
Sand exploded into the air as a monster erupted from the ground. It looked like a giant, emaciated shark, but with shell instead of skin, spidery crustacean legs and huge pincers.
“A shab?”
It looked similar to the shabs Jason had encountered in the past, but at least triple the size. Instead of the red and purple colouration, it was sandy yellow. The creature skittered about, as if confused, then seemed to spot Jason and moved towards him. Jason walked towards the creature, in turn, as he drew another dart. This one had a black cord and he tossed it at the creature.
The dart bounced off its shell, the impact triggering the dart. Darkness burst out of the dart, shadows engulfing the creature in defiance of the glaring sun. It wasn't complete darkness, instead, a murky region of roiling shadow. Jason continued forwards, casually walking into the dark mass as if he hadn’t noticed it. The other adventurers looked on as Jason vanished into the shadows.
“What is that thing?” Humphrey asked.
“A sand shab,” Phoebe said. “Bigger than the aquatic variety. Likes to drag victims under the sand instead of underwater.”
“Should we help?” Gabrielle asked.
Alien shrieks of monstrous rage came from within the darkness.
“I wouldn’t bother,” Jason said, suddenly next to them.
Phoebe looked between Jason and the darkness into which he had vanished.
“Teleport?” she asked.
“Shadow teleport,” Jason said.
“What shadow?”
Jason looked down and she followed his gaze to see he was standing in her own shadow.
“That’s sneaky.”
“The monster isn’t dead,” Gabrielle pointed out. Angry cries were still emerging from the patch of shadow, which was fading away. They could see the outline of the monster within.
“The darkness fades over time,” Jason said. “It’ll last about thirty seconds, total.”
He casually restocked his bandolier darts from his inventory. In his other hand was his dagger, blade slick with yellow ichor. He took out a rag and started wiping it clean.
“What about the monster?” Gabriele asked.
“It’ll last about fifty seconds, total,” Jason said. “That’s a guess, since I’m going to try a new ability.”