I wonder when Alistern will get back to base camp with the last shard/s. I was under no illusions that if they found more than one shard, they would get them all. If he gets back and I am not there, what will they do? They will know we have gone. Myantha checks up a lot. The most probable result is he will send Zeek to find us. He will probably be grumpy that we left.

  With any luck, we will get back before they do. Yeah, I don’t have that kind of luck.

  We continued to get further away and higher. This time, I spotted the Wood-Mantis before it sprung its trap. My observant eye skill picked up patterns from the previous mantis. I got out the wood axe and levelled my Basic Axe, Chop, and Burning Strike. Tāwai’s Wind Blades were getting sharper, but his new Haemorrhage skill was useless on this enemy.

  Ape’cots! I haven't seen them since the start of the trial. For this, I finally got out Lightreaver and Shadowbane. I moved into the Purifying Dance, altering it with my new skills and the old favourites.

  Light Speed could get me across gaps in the branches without jumping and probably could have saved me from my long, idiotic fall. I chalked it up to a lesson learned the hard way. I had to be very careful with the distance of Light Speed because once I had initiated the skill, there was no stopping it or altering it.

  This was the practice and the skill levelling I needed. Soundless Stun worked wonders on Ape’cots. Thrust, Chop, Parry, Dodge, Rainbow Assault. Then, Charge, Chop, Dodge, FrostShade Rend, Lightspeed. This was what I needed.

  I didn’t get off without taking a few hits. The Ape’cots were not a good enemy for Rob, and I had to watch him. Tāwai flew rings around them, striking at vulnerable areas and making them Haemorrhage. Tāwai needs some heavier hitting skills, although he used his speed to add force to his strikes.

  It was not as big a group of Ape’cots as last time, but individually they were stronger. Once the fight was over, I got to harvesting and used my Rejuvenating Aura to speed the healing of both my and Rob's bones. I probably would not have had any broken bones if my Dance of Death Armour was wearable. Big lesson learned.

  We got a second Tough Bones skill from the Ape’cots. Tāwai already had it, and my Tough Body was enough. I didn’t want anything else that would slow my Minor Regeneration. It went into the skill cupboard for sale. I was getting quite the collection of coins and weak potions.

  Wait. Coins. I am an idiot. Coins are used to power small enchantments. I bet I can use them to power my wards instead of wasting a whole monster core. I pulled a Flash ward. Ok, I will have to adjust things for the coins, but the coins are not tainted by the beast from which they came. Coins are pure energy straight from the Trials. This will simplify a lot and save space. I knew this. This is children's knowledge, but I have not applied it to wards. I am really slow. I added it to my to-do list. I will forget things if I don’t actually write a list.

  I was feeling we were getting close when Tāwai got to use his Cleanse Blood skill. Spiders this time. Poisonous spiders. They were small, about the size of my head, but they were fast and could jump a long way and very quickly. There were also a lot of them.

  Their webs were not hard to cut through, so we were not restrained much. However, if we were not careful, they could catch weapons and upset strikes.

  Umbral Cold slowed them down, and Tāwai’s Gusts blew them off course. Rob was the most vulnerable, and the poison started to stack in him, out damaging his prodigious regeneration. What surprised me was Tāwai’s Air Cushion. He cast it on Rob, and the jumping spiders would hit the cushion and slow to a stop. They would slowly sink through it if they were left, but it generally gave Rob the time to bring his Crushing Bite into play. He was limited in using his Viscous Tongue as the spiders would use it to add more poison to his system. I stuck near Rob as the Air Cushion made the spiders an easy target for me.

  I was relying on my Quick Hands Skills and Cat Reflexes, but I was still getting bitten. I was really missing my armour and the fact that I didn’t have Poison Resistance. Minor Regeneration was a fire in my flesh and blood as it fought the poison. Tāwai would land on me or Rob periodically and cleanse our blood of the poison.

  I am hoping another copy of Poison Resistance would drop from these spiders. I am probably going to be disappointed.

  The fight was a long one and near the end when we were running out of stamina and mana the matriarch appeared with a group of larger spiders.

  Tāwai was the star of the show with his Acrobatic Flying. His Wind Blades couldn’t pierce the carapaces on the main body, but he could sever legs. These spiders were fast as well, so they were a hard target.

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  The Matriarch’s body was about the size of mine, so I directed Rob to crash down on her, and he held her in place for the slaughter. Tāwai kept the attention of her guards with his Mocking Call and Rob and I took out the Matriarch and then helped him finish the guards.

  I levelled Purifying Dance, which I hadn’t done in a long time.

  The spiders harvested the eyes, poison glands and web spinnerets. The drops were only coins from the little ones with the occasional potion of poison antidote and weak health. One of the guards dropped a ring that shot out webs. The webs were quite weak but could be used as a surprise in a fight. They were not strong enough to take my weight, not even with Feather Fall active. They could be a good addition to my traps. The ring was recharged with mana.

  The Matriarch did drop a Skill Stone, but it was not Poison Resistance. Enhanced Jump is a good addition to my skills. Enhanced Jump used stamina to enable me to jump further, which had a very good synergy with my Feather Fall. We are not even yet, Tāwai.

  We were not as high up as when we found the Hornbills, but the foliage was thinner. Tāwai was hearing movement with his Enhanced Hearing. We stopped at the edge of his range to rest as what we were seeking was close.

  “Air Manip and Hearing good,” Tawai whispered.

  “Sound is transmitted through the air, so the more sensitive your Air Manipulation is, the more skill you might develop in sensing minute air movements, which may develop into a sensing skill. Try it while we rest.”

  We waited, and Tāwai practised sensing movement in the air. Every now and then, he would ask me to wave something. I am sure he is close, as he has been working on this for a while. It sounds like the Enhanced Hearing Skill has given him a new direction to explore.

  Eventually, he got frustrated, so it was time to move on.

  We moved a lot more cautiously than before. I was using Shadow Stealth, Spectral Cloak and Muffle Sound. The more skills I used, the more stamina it chewed through, but this could be mitigated by actually being careful not to make a sound and to keep to the shadows. I am definitely investing in more agility next time I level.

  We climbed a trunk so I could see further. Tāwai did not want to expose himself, as this high up, many monsters are of the winged variety. Plus, I am the one with the Farsight skill. I haven’t used it much since entering the Trial. Farsight would probably be a good skill for Tāwai to get. I went in full stealth, so I didn’t attract attention.

  The monsters where we were heading were obvious. They were large and nested in a particularly large tall tree.

  It was a pride of Griffons. Was pride the right word? Maybe a flock of Griffons. They had the powerful lion body with the wings and head of an eagle. They were large, maybe twice the size of an average lion.

  I studied them for a while. The obvious natural weapons were the beak and claws. The beak looked particularly powerful and nasty. The body was covered in fur, and the wings, head and neck in feathers. I kept watching. They definitely had the Cat reflexes, and I would be willing to bet the feathers and fur were strengthened for defence.

  The feeling I got from my Identify Skill was that we might be able to beat one of these—"might" being the keyword here. However, it would be a long, drawn-out fight, and there is no way we can take on more than one.

  When I had seen enough, I slowly and stealthily dropped back out of sight. Eagles are known for their long-distance sight, and I would not be surprised if they had better sight skills than my Farsight.

  “We can’t fight them,” I said to Tāwai.

  “Sneak, Sneak?” he asked.

  “If we are discovered, we will die,” I said.

  Tāwai just cocked his head to me.

  “Yeah, that is nothing new,” I agreed. “The main question is whether it will be worth the risk.”

  Tāwai cocked his head in thought. “Take everything,” he stated.

  “Take everything we can,” I corrected. “Can we do this?”

  “You could jump and fall and crash away?” Tāwai said, referring to the Hornbills. Cheeky sod.

  “The Griffons will probably catch me,”

  Tāwai nodded, “Hornbills caught you. Go at night, go at night?”

  “Lions operate at night, eagles during the day. What does a griffon do? I don’t know. However, we are better at night. How about we get close and wait for dark.”

  Tāwai nodded.

  I started to move and then looked at Rob. He has adaptive camouflage, but… “We should put you back in the tattoo,” I said, trying to ignore the similarities with the Hornbills episode. It went so wrong because I made one mistake. That is all it takes. I have hopefully learned that lesson. Think before you leap.

  I stored Rob, and we moved closer.

  There was a notable lack of other monsters as we drew closer to the griffons. As we got closer, I was tempted to use my Assessing Eye, but I remembered the other cat that sensed it. I would be fairly certain the griffons would be able to as well.

  We found a quiet place and rested until nightfall.