Legacy World 4.12 Building Tension

The next space was a lot smaller. The air smelt so rancid that it was slightly nauseating.

Vanora frowned slightly. The area seemed empty. She could not sense anything hiding in the dark above or in the corners. /In that case, I can only trigger something to happen./

She carefully placed her foot on the ground beyond the tunnel. Her foot sunk in a little, like she was stepping on mud. /Is this like quicksand, a place filled with booby traps, or is something underground?/

She continued to exert pressure on the ground, eventually placing her full weight on that one foot. It stopped sinking in after her foot was half submerged in the soft ground. Slowly, she took another step forward. Then, another. With calculated movement, she gradually made her way to the other side. Suddenly, blood spurted out of legs. Several fresh scratches appeared before she knew it. She could not see what happened, much less react to it. She immediately stopped moving, ready to retreat if the attacks did not stop. However, that was it. Her eyes darted everywhere, she tuned in to her enhanced senses as much as she could, but the area was as empty as before. She stared at the scratches on her legs that were already healing.

She decided to move again. This time, she went even slower. On her third step, the same happened. This time, she caught sight of tiny needle-like things that shot from underground. /Either they're really needles or they're very tiny creatures. And they're triggered by movements./

Vanora stopped moving and waited for her bleeding to stop. Meanwhile, she hatched a plan to deal with whatever this was. She looked around once again. /Should I leap all the way there and just sustain damage? Could I scale the walls? Are they in the walls too? Mm... I really want to know what I'm dealing with./

Having made up her mind, she walked forward more confidently. Now that she was prepared, she reacted the moment her little assailants shot out from underground. Her attempt to catch one failed miserably. She could see them, but now she moved too slow. Not giving up, she triggered more to surface. She quickly adapted to their speed and managed to catch one on her third try.

What she could only describe as a long hairy maggot laid in the middle of her palm. Its round mouth had two rows of razor sharp teeth. 

Just as her fingers curled with her intention to squish the wriggling creature, its mouth came into contact with her skin. As soon as it did, it disappeared into her hand. Vanora's anxiety spiked as she made a face of fear and disgust. She knew its speed. Instinctively, she covered her entire body in hellfire. The worm shot out of her shoulder blade in flames. Goosebumps covered Vanora's skin as she stared at the creature wriggling in pain on the ground. The sensation of it eating up her arm from the inside was still fresh in her mind. It took her a while to calm herself back down and think about this brief but highly dangerous exchange. /In that super short time between entering my arm and setting myself on fire... It was already in my shoulder. Heading towards.../ She gulped as she placed a hand on her chest. At this moment, she realised that she had been lucky none had shot into her leg thus far. These creatures were deceivingly harmless. /I fell for it./ She gritted her teeth as she felt displeased with herself. She refocused more on dealing with them than investigating. She lit herself up with her hellfire again. /Since every step is a risk, I'll just jump my way across and clear this as fast as possible./

She leapt with both feet at once, sacrificing the height of the jump to cover a greater distance. Because of the force she exerted into the ground, many more worms shot up at where she was. She mentally prepared herself for the consequence of her landing, so when she felt herself scooped up just before touching the ground, it was only after she got put down safely on the other side did she react.

She turned and looked sharply at the culprit who had an equally displeased expression.

She opened her mouth first but words flew out of Vlad's mouth instead. "What were you thinking?! Do you know how many you'd have triggered to come jumping out at you?!"

"Of course I do. I just had to tolerate it ONCE. I could reach here in one more leap. You didn't need to interfere." /Does he think so little of me?/

"I didn't need to? Even if you won't die, you'd be riddled with holes." He said through gritted teeth.

"I know. I was prepared for that."

"It wouldn't be a small injury." His voice lowered even more, making him sound more threatening.

However, it was not enough to make Vanora back down. "I'd just have to take a break before moving on to the next one. I won't die."

They were in each other's faces, breathing heavily, and clenching their jaws hard.

"Weren't you all about efficiency? You'd rather get injured and spend time recovering than get my help?" 

"Yes."

Her immediate, clear, cold, and resolute answers effectively doused Vlad's anger. His lips were parted but he did not know what to say. His wide eyes stared into her hard unfeeling eyes. He closed his mouth and looked away. /Am I so dislikable? Why does she reject me so strongly?/

His depressed look made Vanora return to her senses. She realised that her hellfire was still activated, so she quickly called her flames back to her. The damage was already done, though. The silence between them felt awkward to her now. Before she continued down the tunnel, she warned him the last time, but with a softer tone, "Don't interfere again."

Meanwhile, BaoBao felt like something was not right. He thought that Vanora's bottom line was to not make things easier for her. Vlad had merely saved her the pain and time, it was not exactly making things easier for her. So, BaoBao could not help but clarify if his judgement was wrong. [Vanora...? What did Vlad do to upset you...? He didn't really do anything wrong, did he...?]

There was a short pause before Vanora replied. /I really can't hide much from you any longer, huh./ She sighed lightly. /You're right. I was the unreasonable one. I just felt bad and took it out on Vlad. I didn't even notice it until he looked so hurt. Ugh, God.../

[But, why do you feel bad?]

/It's just... I'm already depending on him for everything else. From living to transport to training. If he's even going to save me unnecessary pain... I just feel... So... Unworthy. And Useless. But now I'm just an even more horrible person for taking my own frustrations out on him./

BaoBao went quiet. Now he knew how she truly felt, but he did not know what he could say for her to feel better.

Everything that followed was quiet and uneventful.

She dealt with a pack of three eyed wolves that were slightly bigger than her. Their eyes glowed bright red. Their coats were a shiny coal black that could bristle like a porcupine. Their impeccable teamwork made them tricky to handle, but Vanora found and targeted their weak points. Once she did, the wolves easily fell one by one.

Then, she battled a dark green ogre several times the size of her. Although its size and looks were scary and intimidating, it moved slow. Vanora easily dodged any of its attacks and the shockwaves of each attack. So, it ended up being her giant punching bag. This battle was only a matter of stamina and endurance. She had to chain her attacks and finish the ogre, without giving it a chance to recover. This consumed a lot of her time and energy. By the time it got knocked out, Vanora panted heavily. It was the only satisfying fight she had for the day. Her spirits got dampened when the tunnel behind the ogre led her out of the dungeon.

/This isn't enough. The only good workout I had was with that orgre, and that itself was not challenging. I don't have time. I don't have talent. I can't afford to slack./ Her thoughts ran on and on as she tried to think of more ways she could train.

"Do you want to eat?" Vlad interrupted her train of thought. Vanora was already anxious and in a bad mood, but the way he asked her so tentatively made her feel bad for him too. He was clearly still wary of Vanora.

"Okay." She replied in an extremely soft whisper.

Vlad held out his hand and looked at her with hopeful eyes. Vanora kept her eyes on his hand as she placed her hand in his. /I guess I'll just finish today with practicing my aura perception./

As soon as the fog melted away to reveal their room, Vanora asked Vlad to be her subject of practice. Vlad ushered her to a cushion, then obediently sat down in front of her, across the table.

/I want to know how he feels. I want to know./ She repeated that to herself as she concentrated on the transparent vapours rising from his body. She continued even when she felt the growing pain in her eyeballs and around her sockets. She only closed her eyes at the point when Vlad covered her eyes the previous night. She clenched her teeth hard while waiting for the pain to subside. Once it did, she wordlessly resumed her practice. Each round, there was no visible difference in Vlad's aura and it took longer for her to recover. Once it took 15 minutes to recover, Vanora decided to call it a day.

While Vanora showered, the only thought that plagued her was how ineffective her training was this day. She did not grow in skill, strength, or anything. She was the same as the day before. This meant that she had wasted one full day. She left the shower without soaking in the bath. There was nothing to review. In her sour mood, she paid her new black pajamas no attention, only noting how it was the most decent piece of clothing she had worn in this world thus far. Her arms and legs were properly covered and the v-neck barely revealed her non-existent cleavage.

She returned to the room and found a scrumptious meal with a cup of tea waiting for her. She dug in without waiting for Vlad to invite her to the table.

Unbeknownst to her, Vlad had been quietly battling his urge to eat her up. /Now she doesn't look as inviting, so why the hell do I feel like tearing apart her clothes to see her naked body. Fuck, just thinking about it... What the hell's the problem?! What clothes should I dress her up in?! He continued to grumble and lament to himself about how he would not need to hesitate if Vanora were like all the other hell creatures, eager to please him. Since this was so new to him, he did not know how to manage the situation or his feelings.

"Derek." Vanora pulled him out of his mind maze.

"Huh?"

"Can you find me stronger opponents?" Her request effectively killed any sexual arousal he had felt.

"What?"

"I can't consider today as training. I gained NOTHING. If there're no stronger opponents, then I'll have to think of some way else to train. So, is it possible?" Vanora looked at him sincerely. For some reason, Vlad found it hard to reject or lie to her when she looked at him like that.

"Yes, yes, it's possible. I'll bring you to stronger ones tomorrow." 

Vanora sighed in relief and revealed a tiny smile. "Thank you."

Vlad's heart thumped wildly in response. "I'll go shower!" He exclaimed all of a sudden. He shot up and stalked to the bathroom in an awfully stiff manner. Vanora raised an eyebrow and tried to peek at his aura. Still, there was only transparent wisps. She shrugged then finished her cup of tea.