I Built This City Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Read chapter 27 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Hunter Ellen The cool, crisp air of early autumn tickled Ellen’s cheeks as she settled into place. The crook of the branch and trunk was more comfortable than she’d anticipated, but she was still thankful for the layers of soft pelts she’d prepared and decorated herself with. The extra warmth was nice, but the extra padding around the increasingly ragged clothing was welcome while perched in the tree.. Patching the old clothes with her pelts didn’t bother her, but she knew it would matter soon. With more Ellens than before, and with the limited amount that Merchant Ellen had bought, the six of them would run out of clothing before winter. She wasn’t sure the rest of them realized that, yet. Without someone to patch and alter clothing, just buying more clothes wouldn’t last long. Even with the money, getting exact sizes for six people was going to be tricky, unless they hired a personal tailor. And that, of course, would ruin the secrecy of the fact that there were a half dozen of them instead of just two. Another Ellen might have sighed at this. Ellen just nocked an arrow into her bow and rested it loosely on her lap, remaining as still as possible. If she was going to have a successful hunt, she couldn’t make unnecessary noise by sighing or whining to herself. The other versions of her seemed to do that a lot, she’d been noticing. Builder Ellen was the only one of the lot that was taking the situation seriously. No, that wasn’t fair. She knew herself well enough to know the others were trying their best. Merchant Ellen had been working hard, and Village Ellen was going her own thing. She’d found happiness just where she was… Ellen couldn’t be angry about that. Sure, Village Ellen had given up on the whole adventuring dream, but Ellen had as well. She was a hunter now, and with all the other selves needing her help, she had to be the caretaker. She didn’t see anything on the forest floor below, so Ellen took a moment to finally check her Status. ATTRIBUTES Strength: 8 Agility: 8 Endurance: 8 Willpower: 8 Affinity: 8 Perception: 9 SKILL ENHANCERS Archery 1 STAMINA: 80/80 MANA: 80/80 CLASS: Hunter 8 EXPERIENCE: 31,743/32,000 PERKS Awareness ABILITIES So close to Level 9. None of the other Ellens had even bothered to ask her how close she was… or even if she’d hit Level 8. The numerous tasks she had to do had been piling up her experience even though she’d long ago run out of banked experience. Hunting, measuring, clearing the brush, exploring the area, cleaning out the ruins, skinning animal, preparing pelts, cooking, stitching blankets and coverings… She wondered if the other Ellens truly knew how much of the work she was doing here. They all seemed happy to specialize in whatever caught their fancy right after waking. Part of that disturbed her. But was she any different? She had ceded the role of Adventurer to her ‘sister’ Ellen, and not once had she regretted that. All the new things she’d done, all the hard work with the hunting and pelts… it was satisfying in a way a little bronze card couldn’t convey. She could go into the dungeon if she wanted to… She didn’t want to. Motion caught Ellen’s eye, and she slowly turned her head. The leaves might camouflage her, but most animals were sensitive to motion. All the work she’d done to hide her scent and tuck herself into the forest canopy would go to waste if she moved suddenly. Her eyes searched for the source… Another sudden motion cleared up what had moved. It was a black cat, the feline emerging from the shadows to pounce on its prey. Whatever doomed rodent it had found didn’t even get a chance to squeak before it was in the cat’s jaws, a rough shake snapping its neck. Ellen let herself release a held breath as the cat stalked back toward Onroc, her prey dangling limply in her mouth. She recognized this one—she knew all the feral cats that made their home in the ruins. She’d named her ‘Maggie’ but this one was still a little standoffish, and had never