Chapter 292: Plan B

Jacob woke up to the smell of fresh meat being roasted over a fire. Something fell from his chest as he sat up. It looked to be a leaf that someone had placed on him as a makeshift blanket. Maria noticed him waking up and waved him over.

“Jacob, you have to try this! It feels like I’m eating enchanted food!”

Jacob looked over his entire body. There were no bruises or sore muscles from his fight with Slimo anywhere.

“Did Sarah heal me while I was out?”

Maria nodded.

“She’s resting right now. It’s been a long day for her. You can thank her when she wakes up. Come and try this stew she made!”

Jacob jogged over to where everyone was happily eating around the fire. Maria spooned out a large helping and offered it to Jacob. Without any hesitation, he shoved it in his mouth. It tasted like prime chopped up steak that was perfectly cooked and seasoned. Every time he chewed on the food and allowed some of its juices to fall into his stomach, he could feel the energy seeping into his muscles.

“This is incredible! She really outdid herself with this!”

Maria offered him her bowl.

“That was my tenth helping. You can have my bowl now since I’m full.”

Jacob kissed her cheek and walked up to large pot to give himself a massive portion. As he did, he saw Sarah resting on a small bed made of shredded grass and vines. Squabee was draped over the top of her, also asleep and snoring very loudly.

“Why’s Squabee over there too?”

“She was the one who made the bed. Sarah thought it was for her, but Squabee made it for herself. Well, Sqaubee didn’t want to make another one, so I think she just did that for some reason.”

Jacob looked over at the way her back was being bent over Sarah’s body and sighed.

‘There’s no chance that’s comfortable.’

After waiting a long while for everyone to wake up, they all sat around the dying fire. Jacob was finishing his twentieth helping of the soup. Slimo was the first to begin their discussion.

“I think it’s time we start to discuss where to go from here. We found a statue, but it ended up hardly amounting to anything. Do you think it’s time we start looking for the Sacred Trio?”

“I think it’s time we escape this place first.”

“But what if there’s something else here that we could benefit from? Maybe there could be another statue and we simply wouldn’t know.”

Slimo shook his head.

“I doubt they would have something so valuable in the same place. Besides, the greatest benefit of the statues could have been the information, yet look what happened the last time someone tried to read from it.”

Sarah blushed and rubbed her shoulder.

“You’re right. No more statues for the time being.”

“Maybe ask Sheeby what she thinks. You can communicate with her now, right?”

Lidia nodded her head and patted the dragon on her sharp nose.

“What do you think, Miss Sheeby?”

All anyone else could see was Sheeby blink her deep purple eyes at Lidia while not moving a muscle, yet Lidia was nodding as if she was holding a silent conversation with her.

“Sheeby says we should wait. What should we wait for?”

Another silent pause.

“She didn’t tell me anything specific, but I’m not sure I can agree with what she said. If anything, we can’t afford to wait around any longer than we have to. I know Zalo was born recently, but I’m sure he isn’t sitting idle. He’s most likely trying to spread his influence and power as fast as he can.”

“I agree with Lidia. The very last thing we need right now is to stand still.”

Jacob raised his hands.

“Does she mean we need to wait in this jungle?”

Lidia looked over at Sheeby for confirmation.

“She does want us to wait here. She says that there’s no better place for everyone to get stronger.”

Slimo rubbed his chin while the fire slowly extinguished itself in front of everyone.

“She isn’t necessarily wrong. Anything that learns how to thrive in this place is bound to be extremely powerful. However, I’m not sure it would be wise given the state of everyone right now.”

“If you’re referring to Sarah when you say that I think you should reconsider. She can handle herself; she has multiple times already. Besides, we can have Squabee look after her as a guardian angel. Literally.”

Maria touched Sarah’s hand lightly.

“What are your thoughts, Sarah?”

Sarah took a moment to respond.

“To be honest, after all the injuries I’ve felt with my hands so far, you all need me just as much as I need you. I think we’ve been given an opportunity with these powers of mine to take bigger risks in pursuit of power.”

Jacob smiled deeply.

“You heard her, it looks like it’s time to set up camp somewhere.”

Slimo shook his head.

“That would be unwise. We should get into the habit of always being on the move. If we try to learn the area of a jungle that is constantly growing and changing, we’ll just confuse ourselves and waste a lot of time.”

“What should we do then?”

“We need to strengthen our ability to adapt to these constant environmental changes and to never let our guard down for a single moment. Even now, we should have it up. Now that the temple is gone, I am unsure how long it will take for the creatures of this jungle to get brave and test their luck.”

“I think ones already testing us out right now. Do you all feel that too.”

Slimo nodded his head.

“I do. Keep pretending that we don’t know it’s there to lure it in closer.”

He looked over at Sheeby who was resting her giant head in Lidia’s lap.

“You got that Sheeby?”

Sheeby made a low grumbling sound.

“What did she just say to me?”

Lidia shook her head.

“It’s probably best I don’t tell you.”

Slimo sighed and stood up.

“Damn dragon. She’s the only one that can handle those things anyway. How can she even understand our language?!”

Sheeby slowly stood up and yawned before stretching her back.

“She’s going to take care of the monster.”

Maria stood up and hopped on Sheeby’s back.

“I’ll go with her just in case.”

“Just be safe. We’ll be here when you get back.”

Jacob kept his head down while thinking to himself. He was reflecting on the battle between himself and Slimo. Truthfully, he was not expecting that he would actually lose. He had seen Slimo defeated so easily so many times recently, so it was very humbling to have been defeated. However, the more he thought it about it, the more it made sense in his mind why he lost.

Slimo had been travelling with Jacob for months by now. He has seen Jacob fight countless battles in all kinds of ways. There has not been a single move that Jacob has tried that Slimo has not seen before. Therefore, he knew exactly what kinds of attacks Jacob was going to try before their fight. Compared to other beasts he had to face, he was given hardly any information and little to no preparation.

“Got a lot on your mind?”

Slimo walked over to Jacob and sat next to him proudly.

“Just reviewing our battle in my head. I’m trying my best to learn from my defeat.”

Slimo chuckled.

“Yeah, well it was extremely close. One could even argue I got lucky.”

“It was not luck.”

Slimo raised an eyebrow curiously at Jacob.

“Oh? What makes you say that?”

“That look in your eye that I saw. There was no way you were going to lose that fight. It felt like you were willing to sacrifice everything for that win.”

“And you weren’t? I’m a bit disappointed to hear you weren’t giving it your all.”

“I thought I was giving it my all, but…”

Jacob looked down at his fist.

“Maybe there was more of my all to give. How do I get that same kind of look in my eyes?”

Slimo laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Sorry. It’s just that you’ve already had that look multiple times already. I’ve seen you fight with a determination that makes even my own legs shake.”

Jacob scratched his head.

“When did I ever do that?”

“It always happened to be when Maria was in danger. You must really care about her!”

Jacob looked into his palm.

“When Maria was in danger…”

Slimo stood up and crossed his arms as loud booms and roars echoed behind him from Sheeby’s fight.

“Listen. Since we are going to be staying here for a bit, I think I want to try converting that plan B I made into a true strategy. Are you willing to try it out?”

Jacob raised his head.

“Try it out? Does this plan involve me?”

“It involves both you and Maria. I think it’s about time we get you both to try and control your transformations.”