Chapter 18: Chapter 18 – Cleaner
Kyle and Samson continued working.
They patrolled the forest, and Samson showed Kyle a couple of important parts.
There were a couple of bushes in the middle of the forest, which would produce valuable fruits.
Whenever they stopped at one of them, Samson put a bit of powder near their roots.
He also left out seemingly random things at seemingly random parts of the forest.
Apparently, these things were either deterrents or attractors.
It kept animals Samson didn't want away from certain places while attracting animals that he did want here.
"Down! Silent!" Samson suddenly shouted, pulling Kyle into a bush.
Kyle didn't know what was happening, but he could tell that Samson seemed very serious.
'I don't sense anything,' Kyle thought.
The forest was basically completely silent.
'Wait, was it always this silent?'
There had been some bird songs this entire time, which had faded into the background over time.
Kyle didn't even notice them anymore.
But now, he didn't hear any bird songs anymore.
It was like the entire forest had become silent.
Kyle waited for several minutes in silence as his heart beat in his ears.
Then, he heard a very quiet rustling coming from a tree.
He couldn't see the origin, but his senses told him exactly where the rustling was coming from.
When he heard that rustling, all of Kyle's hair stood on end.
His instincts were screaming at him to run!
He had to run, or he would die!
'Shut the fuck up! I'm not listening to you! Samson knows what he's doing!' Kyle shouted at himself in his mind.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Kyle's entire body shook as a high-pitched screech came from the spot where the rustling had come from.
It was insanely loud, and the silent forest accentuated the screech even more.
Suddenly, Kyle heard more rustling, but from a different spot.
The next moment, Kyle heard something that sounded like a stick getting stabbed into the ground.
There was no more rustling.
Samson kept his hand on Kyle's back, urging him to remain silent.
The sound of something hard being crunched into pieces followed the other sound.
Then, Kyle heard some rustling coming from the spot where that monster was, and he also heard the unmistakable sound of beating wings.
The sound vanished after a couple of seconds, but Samson still didn't move.
About half a minute later, the songs of the birds returned, and Samson released a sigh before standing up.
"Safe," he said.
"What?" Kyle just asked.
"Dangerous beast," Samson answered.
'No shit, Sherlock!'
Over the past couple of hours, Samson had explained the difference between a beast and an animal.
Apparently, those were two different things.
From what Kyle had gathered, an animal is an animal without Ether, while a beast is an animal with Ether.
Beasts were much more dangerous than animals.
"It clean," Samson said. "It kill strong beast. It kill strong human. It make many strong beast to few strong beast. It money. It also dangerous," Samson explained.
'So, it's a strong beast that feeds on other strong beasts, which keeps the predators in check, but it also attacks humans if they are strong enough.'
"You safe. I danger," Samson said.
"I run. No death?" Kyle asked.
Samson nodded.
'Oh, so my instincts were actually right! I could've just run,' Kyle thought. 'But then- oooohhh. If I ran away, that might have exposed Samson's location, and he would be the one in trouble.'
Kyle blinked a couple of times. 'Shit, I'm actually a liability. He took me with him to teach me all of these things, but that also puts him in danger.'
'He's actually risking his life to show me these things.'
Kyle felt guilty.
"I sorry," Kyle said, ashamed.
"It good," Samson answered, putting his hand on Kyle. "I know danger. You money future."
"I will," Kyle answered with a motivated nod.
Samson smiled before he indicated to continue.
They walked for another two hours until Samson told Kyle to stop again.
Kyle looked at Samson, who seemed to be evaluating something.
A moment later, Kyle heard some soft, distant rustling.
His instincts were telling him that this thing was dangerous.
It was much more dangerous than the snake, but it still felt much safer than the Narvonian Worm.
Kyle now knew what Samson was thinking about.
Kyle's heart rate increased, and he took a deep breath.
'I can't keep being a liability! Samson is teaching me all of these things, and he's even allowing me to stay at his house!'
The next moment, he gritted his teeth.
"I kill," Kyle said.
Samson looked at Kyle with a raised brow.
"You money I," Kyle said. "I want money you! You nice! I nice!"
Kyle lightly hit his chest. "I pay!"
Samson looked at Kyle, and after a bit, a smile appeared on his face.
"No kill," he said.
Kyle wanted to protest, but Samson told him to stay quiet.
"Attack teeth. Break teeth. Beast good. No kill. Break teeth. Teeth money," Samson explained.
"I understand!" Kyle said with an enthusiastic nod.
Samson also nodded before taking something out of his belt.
It was a long rod with a gem at its end.
'That looks like the drill but a bit smaller,' Kyle thought.
Samson put his thumb on the gem.
BANG!
A spike shot out of the rod for an instant before retracting.
Luckily, it wasn't very loud.
"Break teeth," Samson said, handing the rod to Kyle.
Kyle took the rod and put his thumb on the gem.
BANG!
The spike shot out with a lot of force, and Kyle felt the sheer power this gadget had.
This thing was no joke!
'It's like a cattle gun.'
Kyle's heart rate sped up again as his hair stood on end.
This thing felt extremely dangerous.
'Quite a dangerous job.'
He took a deep breath.
'But I have to do it!'
"I here," Samson said. "You safe. You no death."
Kyle nodded. "Thanks."
Then, Kyle slowly went forward.
'I don't know what kind of thing is waiting for me, but if Samson believes I can do it, I probably can. He knows what he's doing.'
Some seconds of sneaking later, Kyle finally saw the beast.
'What the fuck is that?!'