MagnusGrey
patreon
[Skill-Eater] Chapter 95: Tracking
🕑 Added 2024-09-04 17:01:00 +0000 UTCWhen Edge made it to the lodge and stepped through the gate, he found Trapper and Sasha standing out front.
The women had their bows out. They were taking shots at straw dummies and playing fetch with Blue while waiting for him to show up. Before he could say anything, Sasha set down her weapon and walked over to him with an appraising gleam in her eye.
“Wow Edge, you look great. Even better than before.” Sasha’s cheeks reddened when she realized what she’d said. But she didn’t correct herself and met his gaze head on.
Trapper joined them after throwing a stick all the way over to the far end of the yard, trying to keep Blue busy for at least a few seconds. The crew’s leader had him turn in a circle, occasionally prodding his muscles with her fingertips.
“Sasha’s right, even if her opinion is a bit biased in your favor. You look a lot stronger than when we first met— like a real hunter instead of a fresh tourist. You’re conditioning your body at an incredible rate, faster than anyone else I know. I wish that we had a regeneration trainer in town or knew the conditions to unlock it. Although from what I’ve heard, it’s only available from a skill gem.”
Edge forced himself not to back up when the women stepped even closer, running their eyes across ever inch his body. They took pity on him a few heartbeats later, chuckling at his expression.
He laughed along with them, enjoying the attention, even if his reaction to it left something to be desired. It’s not my fault. Until I came to Ord, I hadn’t been around anyone other than my mother in years. Especially not two beautiful women at the same time.
Trapper opened her mouth to say something. Before she could get a word out, Sasha cut in. “You’re mine for the next two days, Edge. Wait, that didn’t come out right.” She blushed again, then kept right on going. “I mean it’s my turn to whip you into shape. No, that sounds even worse.”
“You might want to stop while you’re behind,” Trapper replied. Edge had the sense that she was trying as hard as she could not to burst into laughter as she looked at each of them in turn, wiping away a tear from the corner of her eyes. “Well then. I’ll leave you to it. Try not to get distracted, Sasha. This is important.”
“I won’t. I’ll teach him everything that I can in the little time we have. I’ll do it right. I promise.” With that, Trapper went inside, shaking her head at the folly of youth with a wicked grin on her face.
When they took a seat on the bench to discuss their time together, Blue came over for scritches, nuzzling his hand until he complied. While Edge pet the big blue beast, Sasha went into teaching mode. Her demeanor changed in an instant. She lost her awkwardness and stopped staring, her tone all business as she let him know what she had planned.
“My specialty is tracking, although I’m learning trapping from the boss too. The two disciplines are intimately connected. You can’t place a trap unless you know where your prey will pass through. Or better yet, where it eats, shits, or sleeps. I’m not going to teach you how to build or bait traps during basic training. That’s an advanced subject we can talk about another time. Instead, we’ll begin with the tracking side of things.”
Edge nodded along, eager to learn some techniques that were certain to come in handy sooner rather than later.
“I’m going to show you how to identify the habits of your quarry. I’ll have you start off by learning how to spot a trail. It’s the place where everything begins. Once you’re able to follow the tracks of your prey, you can learn where they live. Where they hunt and forage, burrow or nest. Once you locate their habitat, you can observe them directly. Study how they move through the biome. How they respond to the presence of a predator or prey.
“Predicting the behavior of your target is the essence of hunting. Today, we’ll see if you have what it takes to pin down something that you haven’t seen before. We’re going to stalk river rats. A type of beast that is notoriously difficult to spot, not to mention delicious. We’ll start by heading into their territory. Then we will look for a likely place, find some tracks, and follow them back to the nest. Then we can either kill our prey while its sleeping or set up an ambush.”
Edge’s ears pricked up when she told him their target. That sounds just like the beast I stole conceal from. Maybe I can pick up another copy while we’re out.
“If we’re lucky, we will make a decent pile of creds on the side. I’ll also do my best to teach you how to move without advertising your presence to everything in the area. Not so much moving silently, since that’s Riller’s forte. Rather, concealing your tracks, masking your scent, and disturbing your surroundings as little as possible as you pass through the area.”
With that, Sasha rose from the bench and motioned for him to follow. While they walked down the road leading out of town, Edge took a good look at his partner for the next two days. He decided that he was rather looking forward to spending some time together with no one else around.
Sasha was tall and lean, with an athletic build that revealed a serious effort to condition her body since she had arrived on Ord. She had lustrous strawberry blond hair, usually tied up with clips. He took in her piercing green eyes, freckled nose, and long, shapely legs.
Instead of her wooden armor, she was wearing something better suited to hunting small game. A set of green leathers that looked comparable to the set that he was planning to buy from the Consortium, although the material had been harvested from a different beast.
Edge had already known that Sasha was cute. But now that she was wearing something less cumbersome, and not covered in the grime of battle, her appearance was striking. He had to stop himself from staring at the curve of her hips, along with quite a few other pleasantly contoured parts.
He would have felt awkward about the situation if she didn’t keep stealing glances his way too. Every time that he looked away in fact. It made their interaction almost like a game, to the extent that he was having fun with it rather than becoming embarrassed.
Eventually, they compromised, looking ahead while walking side by side, close enough that their fingertips occasionally brushed against each other. Edge didn’t overthink it and just went with the flow, looking forward to what the day would bring.
