I Built This City Chapter 63: Chapter 63

Read chapter 63 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Merchant Ellen Snow crunched underneath as Ellen walked along the hidden path. Hidden to others, of course… not to the two individuals making their way down to the village. As one of the people designated by Hunter Ellen’s Trailblazer Ability, Ellen saw the path as a glowing, pulsing route through the forest, twisting around and past trees and rocks in strange ways. She knew that the curves and detours were not simple meanderings. Hunter Ellen’s skill in traversing the forest had become so much more developed in ways that none but Scout could fully grasp. The trail Hunter had created for them avoided any semblance of danger, from slippery slopes to hidden dips or frozen streams. Winding or not, following the glowing trail was faster than trying to cut through the rougher terrain. The recent addition of the trail had changed things significantly. When Onroc Anroll had first been discovered, it had taken the better part of the day to get from there to the village, usually by cutting through the forest to the road and following that. As the Ellens had learned the forest better, they’d been able to cut that time down to five or six hours. With Hunter’s trail, that was reduced to under two hours… weather permitting. Only the steady, slight drain of a user’s mana when following the trail had prevented Ellen and the others from simply carrying Jack back after he’d been warmed up a bit. He’d had to stay with them an extra day… as awkward as it had been to have a boy in the house with them. They’d never considered the possibility, so privacy arrangements had been a little shaky. “Break, please.” Ellen halted as Jack asked for another break, breathing heavily. His face was so flushed she could see it even through the cloak’s hood pulled tight, and his breath puffed out clouds as he leaned against a tree to rest. She didn’t chide him—he actually had better Endurance than her, she was sure, but his recovery from his near-death experience meant that he tired easily. “Take your time, we left early enough that even with frequent rests we should be there around nightfall.” Jack nodded, catching his breath before he tried to speak. He’d need more than a few moments… Ellen knew that from previous breaks. If they’d tried to go back this early without Hunter’s trail, she’d have ended up carrying him. Or at least she might have tried… Melissa would have been a better choice for that, if she’d been staying up at the ruins. “I’ve never heard of an Ability like this,” Jack mumbled, gesturing at the glowing trail. Hunter had given him permission, so he could follow it as well. “It sure makes it a lot easier.” Ellen shrugged. “Pauley says some military scouts get something like it, just usually at a higher Tier. None of us are quite normal, you know.” The youth nodded, and Ellen smiled. Weak or not, he’d gotten through without any major problems. When Hunter had detected him through the Settlement Interface, she’d gone out with Scout to see who it was… and found the boy half-dead, buried unconscious in the snow. If they’d delayed any longer, he’d have likely lost a few digits, if he had survived at all. “I’m ready,” Jack finally announced. “Um… Ellen…? Are you really going to live up there all by yourselves? Nobody else?” Ellen shook her head. “At least for now. Maybe someday we’ll have other people living there. Right now there’s only the village anyway. Soon enough we’ll have people wanting to move here because of the dungeon. Set up shops, services, all that sort of thing. We’ll have to figure out how to handle them, where to house them… all those things.” The young man nodded slowly, trudging along behind her with the faint crunching of his boots through the snow. “So why not invite them in?” Ellen giggled softly. “Because it would be more fun if we managed to keep it just to us, don’t you think?” Kaluk Even with all of his precious Perks and Abilities, Kaluk was grateful for the warm stew the inn served. Travel during the winter months was difficu