A new job a new friend

Job Details:

The beauty of nature was never lost on life, even when Ani had given up her sight the world around her had not lost its vivacity and in its own way only became more majestic. There was the loss of the visuals, but she could feel it all now, the vibrations, the shapes, and the smells and sounds of the world felt so much sweeter as she used it to pilot her way through her invisible map. With this, just living had become a form of training and fresh experiences all at once. Even as she made her way through the forests on the edges of the plains she felt herself absorbing the beauty of nature as her heightened senses drank in the surroundings around her.

The dotted sunlight that broke through the canopy and blessed her skin with moments of warmth mixed with the gentle breeze that shook the tree's made her feel at peace. Her ears twitched as she heard the crinkling of the leaves underneath her feet, each and every sound and feeling built up in her brain to create an image of something she couldn't see. With each step she moved out of the way of something it looked like she would run into, dancing around the foliage as she made her way forward.

It was lucky to enjoy such a moderate, peaceful, and most importantly, beautiful day even when she wasn't spending it alone. Of course, she had her wyvern Dragot with her, but they weren't the only person who was with Ani at the moment. In fact, the woman was on a paid job at the moment, an alchemist had requested that Ani take her through the woods and to a specific anthill for studying. While it might have seen a bit mundane it was a combination of exploring and beast studying that the woman couldn't refuse. With the two of them having met up on the outskirts of Magnostadt they were walking for quite a while together before they actually held a conversation.

"So, ants?" Ani asked the Alchemist, her name was Noya, and the Azure Amazon was curious about her and the reason they were out. "Why do you need ants?"

"Well.." The curly-haired woman adjusted her spectacles as she looked at her notes, tall for a magician she was only a few centimeters than Ani and looked into her eyes when she spoke. "They have a unique acid within their body, when it's mixed with sugar water it becomes an adhesive, so I wish to test its properties."

"Ohh, I get ya doc, I did something similar when my wyvern you saw earlier." As she spoke she flitted her hands about orchestrating the actions that she was envisioning in her mind. "With the bacteria in their spit, I put it on various words to see how it affected the scarring."

As Ani showed off the wounds on her body Noya would grab her arm running her hands along the muscle as she felt the scarring that the woman had mentioned, only superficial, the skin was soft and supple, but with just a slight squeeze she would feel her hand fill up with firm muscle. The warmth and the pressure captivated the magician as she would slowly pull away her hand muttering to herself. "Fascinating."

With the mercenary chuckling, she pulled her arm back to herself as they started to walk again in silence, however, it wouldn't last for long this time around. In a matter of seconds, they were both stopped by the sound of chittering and scuttling, and while Zoya couldn't see them Ani could tell where they were at. With a soft sigh, she stopped and pushed both of her feet into the ground, and as they shifted she could feel the earth was a bit hollow underneath like there was a tunnel under them, and then they would hear as something came rushing out of the hole only a few meters in front of them.

"Well it looks like we've found their tunnel, and it looks like they've found me, there's probably more than just this one, but I'm gonna try and lure them out." Ani would set her bag aside and crack both of her knuckles as she got herself low, and while it still made her bigger than them it gave her the boost she would need. In a mere matter of seconds, she would start sprinting, with her feet hitting the ground like lighting as she quickly bounded into the next step with the sound of her thunderous kicks echoing into the tunnel beneath them. This wasn't the end for her little plan however as she would start to pick up speed with the light around her beginning to warp as soon enough wings of rainbow light started to trail behind her. With a solid kick she would decapitate one of the ants and send the others into a fury as she ran into the woods.

As the ants decided to chase after the one who murdered their brother Noya would go about collecting the acid she required for her experiments. The tunnel was large luckily enough and she slipped into the underground caverns with ease. The insides were well carved and looked almost like they were carved by people rather than ants. Along the wall was some of their acid, ready to turned into adhesive, the same adhesive that was essentially lining the walls and giving it the unique look and construction it had.

"Soon enough, its secrets will belong to me." Zoya had spoken to herself as she pulled out a few test tubes and scraper, but not collecting any samples until her gloves were on firmly. "I wonder what happens when mixed with a more basic, or saltier solution."

Outside the cavern, Ani had brought the ants over to a cliff where it seemed she had been pinned, but of course that wasn't her plan at all. As the ants started to run towards Ani she would run up the cliff wall, but not for long before she suddenly flipped up into the air above them all. With her wings of light combined with the sun, the ants were suddenly blinded by the massive amounts of light that filled their eyes. With Ani landing, she brought down the weight of her feet on two different ants that stood side by side.

With three of the soldier ants dead now only one remained as the fire ants finally showed up to find more dead companions. The fury of the insects seemed a bit uncharacteristic almost as they charged forward and Ani threw up her guard walking towards them as they suddenly breathed out a fire her. This would've been upsetting, however she was prepared for this and taking the minimal damage she would get close to them once again. It was then that she would start to finish them off, hoping that she had provided enough time for Zoya.

Once Ani was close enough she grabbed the remaining soldier ant and began to swing him as if he were a weapon. While the Ant itself wasn't strong its body combined with the full force swing of the Imuchakk warrior would turn it into a lethal weapon. One by one she exterminated the ants, with the first blow killing one fire ant, then she killed another this time it killing the ant she swung as well. As its body went limp she threw it like she was whipping it, feeling and hearing as it swung and exploded hitting the last two ants as their bodies were emulsified from the force of the attack on their weaker bodies.

"Ani, I got the acid and then some!" Zoya had called out from where the anthill was, with a soft sigh Ani told herself that she was happy her charge was fine. "We need to go back and celebrate!"

"I'm over here, and yes celebrating is always a wonderful idea." Ani pulled out her water skin taking a large swig before she would hand it off to the alchemist who would smile although Ani couldn't see it, sipping the water as the two of them walked away from the forest.  

In Zoya's bag she had not only gotten more of the acid, but she had gotten various samples of the adhesive in its different states as well as some exoskeletons from when they had molted their smaller shells. With this, she would have plenty to study and would be able to compare if the adhesive was different from the artificial one she made and which one was the stronger of the two if so. However, this wasn't the only thing she had to be excited about, the entire walk home Zoya and Ani shared a conversation about beasts and their experiences with the different effects they could do with their body and how they were able to do such things, and even why that had to do such things. The two of them had found friends in each other, adventurers, and lovers of the science around beasts and animals.

Combat Details: Killed all 8 ants with Ani's physical strength while the Alchemist got their ingredients

WC: 1,528/1,500

Stamina: 395/395
Magoi: 240/240