It was a long walk toward Ellis's location, his shaky legs couldn't support much exertion after the earlier burst, it took him twenty minutes to barely make it to her, almost limping by the time he did

Seeing his state she went ahead to support him but he motioned her not to, handing her Anput instead and resuming the journey even with those injuries

The slow pace they were moving in was rather agonizing, at least it was to Ellis, she felt that carrying him wouldn't be a big deal and it was much better than letting him further hurt himself by walking, she didn't understand why he refused her help

Only when more and more time passed did she notice their pace getting faster and faster, almost reaching the speed they were usually going at

"Master, is it okay for you to run this fast?"

"No problem"

He answered briefly with distracted eyes, she could tell his legs were still just as bad, they weren't getting any better, but they weren't getting worse either somehow

"Master...are the worms still gong to chase us?"

She asked uncertainly, otherwise why would he still run so quickly

He shot her a glance before setting his eyes back on the barren rocky desert that was empty of any beast, which creature in their right mind would stay after hearing that loud scream just a bit ago

"Worry not, those beasts were after the burial gems, they could sense where we were due to Anput's decay after we stored the gem and managed to follow us, right now we are in no danger"

"Then why are we still running"

She asked once again with some persistence making him frown

"Because we have lost a lot due to deviance from my plans, and lost even more due to sticking with them after getting deviated, right now we need to get to a safe location so that I rethink everything, the faster we get there the harder it is for variables to crop up and ruin my plans further"

"....Alright Master, but can I at least carry you?"

With such a reason she found herself unable to ask him to stop, but she could carry him nonetheless

"We would be going at the same pace even if you did"

"But you wouldn't have to pressure your body any further Master"

"I am doing that because I need to"

His word caused her to make a weird face, did he have a reason for that or was he into a special kink...

Before her mind wandered any further he followed with an explanation, and every explanation he had he started it with a question

"Do you not feel that your status numbers don't add up to the numbers yo get through levelling up?"

"My stats? Yes there have been times they increased sporadically, even in decimal points rather than whole numbers"

"Have you thought why this happens"

"I have indeed and I arrived at the conclusion that they are raised naturally, just as I had stats before I levelled up at all these stats got better because my body is being strengthened by repeated fights... are you hinting that you're pressuring yourself to make your body stronger Master?"

She hypothesized, that would definitely explain why his legs were enduring more and more as time passed rather than breaking down

Sure enough, he nodded at her words, both in agreement and satisfaction seeing her catch on quickly enough

"It is as you believe, I'm training my body to endure further so that my vitality can be raised, I'm not just hurting it and pressuring it though as that would only be self-harm, I am following certain practices to achieve this result"

"Then why can't I do them too Master? Isn't it better for me to get stronger without level up?"

"Of crouse it is, the lower your stats the easier they are to raise at the beginning without needing any AP, on the other hand, it would mean to have you out of commission if you wanted to train yourself and while it would save you some AP in the long run it would take away some of the better opportunities we could have had in the meantime, that's why you must wait until we have a lot of free time on our hands if you want to train"

It was a trade of sorts but if he thought the gains outweighed the losses then it must be so

"I hadn't thrown all opportunity for improvement away though, don't you worry, the stats you have raised are merely intelligence and some agility for now, granted that agility stat is a little bit of waste but I would have raised your intelligence regardless of our need of time"

"Is it hard to raise it through training?"

"Yes, furthermore you need one type of stat to be able to raise the other quickly, otherwise it would take ages to properly train yourself and save all the AP and there is no way the world will just wait for you to get stronger, you need immediate strength to guarantee survival, costly as it may be"

She didn't need him to explain how much that strength was needed right now, she was feeling that even after what seemed to be a waste of AP she still didn't have a fraction of the needed strength, if he didn't her pump her intelligence up she might have been slaughtered like the rest of the human populace a few times over on this journey

"How do we raise other stats with one of them?"

That part though got her attention, she was very intrigued to know the mechanism behind their interactions

"Wouldnt you want to know? Now is not the time though, focus on the road and listen to my plan carefully, you need to do exactly as I say"

He cut off her curiosity with the now serious discussion, his next minor operation required utter focus

.....

A day and a half later, the blazing sun was going down the horizon, taking with it the heat that scorched the land

The chilling night took over making most of the desert's occupants happy o breath in the cold refreshing air, 'most' because some of them preferred basking in the hot rays of the sun

One such exception was a tribe of snakes halfway toward the north from the middle of the desert, they much preferred to lay outside during high no one, letting the heat wash over their bodies as it fed their energy making them stronger

Not much of night lovers these snakes who looked nothing close to humanoids even though they were called a tribe preferred to stay within their stone dunes that were as hot as ovens, baked by their own flames for years upon years, leaving only a few scouts in the cold night air

They didn't fear anything wrong happening while they securely rested withing their homes, after all they weren't a small or midsized tribe, at least not in this nameless desert, in fact they were one of the strongest intellectual beings of the land

On the other hand, being intellectual also meant those who had to do the dirty bidding now wouldn't be gladly doing it like mindless beasts, they would have needs and wants like any other sentient being

One such snake was outside the dunes of the tribe, on her scouting duty in the cold lonely night with nothing but her own flames to keep her warm

"Sisisisi, so frosty sisisisi"

Her tongue kept flickering in an effort to make her feel warmer while she curled up in a circle, she wondered how a desert could go from such heat to such cold in a matter of hours

"The others must be s-s-sipping a slew of eggs right about now sisisi..."

Recalling the good harvest they had today after raiding some beasts dens she wished she was with the rest of her family, breaking open those tasty eggs and sipping their content in the hot embrace of her home

"Why can't I be s-s-stronger...."

Alas not everyone was equal and she was deemed to be one of the weaklings due to her low birth, doomed to stay in the bottom run of their group, forever a lackey lest she could somehow make herself stand out from her peers

As she laminated her fate her flickering tongue caught sense of an approaching organism causing he to poke her head out and look into the far rocks, squinting her narrow eyes to get a better view of the entity that dared to approach their home

'Hmm? No wait, are there two or one coming at us?"

Her senses gave her mixed signals, instead of being confused though she rose from her comfortable position as fire ran down her scales, going into a fully alerted mode, whatever could bypass her senses couldn't be weak, even if she herself was weak

'Wait, why do I sense three now?!'

Her mind started to panic as she got ready to slip away, the way these creatures were suddenly appearing at closer range made her feel as if they were under attack, but if she slipped away without knowing whatever was coming near then she would face the punishment of failing her duty

To escape with her life, or to risk it and avoid punishment, she was torn for choice but the invader's figure's suddenly appeared within her line of sight

The first to appear was an anthropoid with red hair and purple eyes, the rest of her figure was hidden under dark clothes that fit this dim night but it could not hide the dignified hallo around her

The snake's eyes dilated till it was round from shock, and without the need to figure out what her companions were she darted toward the tribe, wishing her body hadn't devolved robbing her from the legs her ancestors once had

Her wishes proved to be useless in the next second since even if she had legs she couldn't run, what with the blinded anthropoid blocking her path of retreat with his playful smile, the fangs in his mouth and the body reeking of death inside the bone cage in his hand gave her every clue as to what awaited her

She was dead, she knew it, but struggle she will, it was every living being's instincts to grasp at last hopes

Her body bent back and flames started to gather in her mouth, poison fermenting in her death as well, ready to pounce at this vampire whos species haunted the Infidome with their merciless power and pursuit of blood

Within the split second before she did attack though she saw the man hold one hand up in front of her, it wasn't armed nor did he look like he was about o do anything with it, instead, he just held it there, silently

Her combat-ready body went slightly stagnant, giving him enough time to at least say his peace

"We are merely here for a chat so I would put that away if I were you"