BXBX NOVEL Chapter 82 (LXXXII) The Barrens
"We\'re almost to a safe spot to camp for the night, sir!" Ziq said, poking his head into the carriage, "Is the young miss alright?"
"Yeah, she\'s just resting right now; she\'ll be fine when she wakes up." Jackson said, smiling at him. The rest of the girls were huddled together around Megan and excitedly talking amongst themselves.
An hour later, the two men set up the camp while the women tended to Megan a short distance from the weathered path overlooking the canyon leading into The Barrens.
Jackson stood watch all night while the rest of the group slept; he tried practicing his techniques but had reached a roadblock, preventing further advancement in his skills.
"I\'m missing something..." He muttered, sitting on a massive rock close to the cliff\'s edge with his back to The Barrens. He asked August about it before they left Duskgate, but he had no clue what he was talking about.
He reflected on his skills page inside God\'s Tower, the image burned into his mind as he had been frustrated with it for a few days:
[Twenty Moons Under the One Sun]
[Rank: SS]
[Mastery: 90%]
[Twenty Inferno of the Twin Storms]
[Rank: SS]
[Mastery: 90%]
[Asura of the Four Rivers]
[Rank: A]
[Mastery: 24%]
[Swift Phantom of the Twin Moon Assassin]
[Rank: S]
[Mastery: 24%]
[Twenty Timeless Rage of the Meteor Behemoth]
[Rank: S]
[Mastery: 24%]
[Spirit Summoning]
[Rank: C]
[Mastery: 14%]
[Spirit Beastmastery]
[Rank: B]
[Mastery: 9%]
"No matter what I do, they won\'t increase..." He muttered to himself, unsure what prevented him from increasing his skills further. The night passed without incident, and at first light, they descended the canyon into The Barrens.
The sun beat down harshly on the carriage as the Lava Striders quickly ran across the dusty stone path through the sandy dunes. If it wasn\'t for him being a mutant, Ziq would have felt unbearable.
The shade provided by the carriage helped protect the group from the unforgiving sun, but due to the dry heat, it hardly helped.
Thankfully, the old mutant was several hundred years old and an experienced traveler, avoiding the dangerous areas and avoiding the humongous hives in the distance.
Very few drones ventured that far from their hives, and the few stragglers that intercepted them were quickly dispatched by Jackson. The Lava Striders enjoyed the scraps of the insects after he had the triplets dismantle the corpses.
Jackson assisted Megan as she studied the three Skillbooks he had given her, along with the set of leather armor, bow, and arrows. She practiced her aiming and was a natural deadeye outside of combat.
However, during a fight, she was so nervous about accidentally hitting Jackson that she missed every time. Unfortunately, Megan\'s terrible aim continued when he removed himself from the equation and had her fight in a one-on-one battle.
After three or four failed attempts where he had to step in and save her life at the last minute, he gave up that idea, cleaning his blade as he approached the shaken younger woman.
"Alright, we\'ll need to approach this differently... You\'re in your way so much that you\'re unable to concentrate..." Jackson sighed, sitting down next to her.
"I\'m sorry..." She muttered, sitting on her knees as she stared at the simple yet intricately designed bow in her hands.
"It\'s no problem; you just need more experience, before you know it, you\'ll be taking them out before I can even get to them!" He said, patting the top of her head.
"What can I do to get better..?" Megan asked, looking up at him with quivering eyes.
"Practice the other two Skillbooks from now on. One will help you be able to move to get yourself out of danger, and the other will develop yourself further." Jackson explained, "Once you have done both of those better, you will have enough confidence in your skills to rely on them in the heat of combat."
Her eyes sparkled as she nodded at him, rushing off into the carriage as she started reading the Skillbooks. He rolled his eyes, smiling as he looked around, noticing Alijah peeking at him from the front of the carriage.
He squinted his eyes as he stood up and walked toward her, hearing Ziq rambling to her as she fiddled with her thumbs in her lap and suspiciously nodded at him.
"Hey, Ziq! Can I steal Alijah away for a minute?" Jackson asked, pointing his thumb behind him with a smile.
"Oh! Of course, Mister Jax!" He smiled back, patting her shoulder, "I\'ll talk to ya later, Miss Ali!"
"S-sure!!" She awkwardly replied, forcing a smile as she was dragged away by Jackson, asking, "W-w-what\'s th-the m-matter??"
"That\'s what I wanted to ask you! What\'s up, do you need something?" He asked, placing his fists on his hips and staring into her eyes sternly.
"N-nothing!!" She exclaimed, placing her hand behind her neck, forcing a smile.
"Not buying it... Spit it out." Jackson scolded, squinting his eyes at her.
"Ugh!" Alijah exclaimed, throwing her arms up in defeat, "Fine! Can you teach me too?"
"You don\'t want to run Overgeared anymore..?" He asked, tilting his head.
"N-NO!!" She shouted, waving her arms rapidly back and forth in shock, "That\'s not it!!"
"Then what is it..?" Jackson asked, crossing one arm across his chest as he covered his chin with his hand, staring at her intently as he thought.
"It\'s nothing!! Just forget about it!!" She exclaimed, stomping her foot and turning around to storm off.
"Do you want to spend more time with me..?" He blurted aloud and then smirked, teasing her, "Are you jealous of Megan..?"
Alijah\'s face turned bright red as smoke rose from the top of her head as she ran over and started beating on his chest, "You idiot!! Why would I want to do that!?? I just want to be able to protect myself!"
Jackson flinched, smirking as he stifled his laughter, "Okay, okay, okay!! You don\'t need to kill me!! When we reach Ashbourne we\'ll see what we can find!"