[NR] Chapter 193 - Pest Removal (Patreon)

Up in the inn room, Jason stretches out and yawns. After so many days in the wilderness, the group can finally have a good night’s rest. Sure, in reality they probably should still have someone stand watch. On the other hand, none of them can be bothered. Even if they do get killed their respawn point would be the inn. The only thing that would stop that is if the inn gets destroyed and at that point them staying up likely wouldn’t have done anything.

For Jason, a good night’s rest doesn’t quite mean the same thing as it does for the girls. Instead of an invitation to sleep the entire night, he instead plans to keep about the same schedule as usual. First he logs off to cultivate, then he cultivates in game, and for the biggest change Jason gets some actual sleep instead of keeping watch.

The only downside to the inn is what they generously call a bed. It isn’t quite as bad as some cheap inns where the difference between a pile of hay and the beds is the pile being fresher. Instead, the hay is fresh and on top of it sits a layer of moss and lavender. Even fancier, the inn has spread a cheap sheet over the pile.

Jason stares at it in contemplation. The lavender should keep things like fleas away, but he doesn’t want to chance it. Courtney could probably do something with her magic, but he wants to figure something out for himself. All his current uses of Energy are either passive or destructive. Beyond that he has made sure all his attacks can even hit things that aren’t alive because of the undead.

“Hmm”, Jason rests his chin on his fist, ‘I should be able to figure something out. If anything, it would be helpful for hitting people behind stuff. At the moment my blast punch penetrates but will still damage what it passes through. That would not work here because I don’t want to spend the night on a pile of dust. Though it is an excellent place to start.’

‘I already know I can make my Energy pass through things. All that needs to be done is make it ignore stuff that isn’t alive. If anything, with my current string based cultivation, I have the perfect tool to sweep this mess clean. Now just to test it.’

He pulls out a bit of straw that was sticking out and holds it in his off-hand. From his core Jason gives one segment of threads a push and they extend out of his shoulder for the briefest of moments. Another try and now the threads are the ones going to his arm but he hasn’t given it enough of a push. One more attempt to get it right and a bundle of threads too fine to see extends out of the palm of his hand.

With a sweep of said hand he runs them over the top of the straw and nothing happens. A good sign as it means his Energy isn’t naturally harmful to matter, but that doesn’t mean it will work. With his pinky extended, he runs the threads over the very tip of the finger. Once again nothing happens, though that could just be because his own Energy can’t hurt him.

The only thing left is to test it on his actual target and he knows just where to find a subject. In the room's corner is an old wooden chest. Put there in case anyone wants to leave something in their room, it is easy to see few do so. Jason pulls it away from the wall, revealing a few bugs. With a wave of his hand once again nothing happens except for a frown appearing on his face.

With a sigh, Jason focuses on his core again. This time instead of just pushing the thread out he infuses some of his core’s Energy into them. A wave of his hand and a couple mites are reduced to dust, but the move leaves some minor scratching on the floor as well. Not even as bad as the marks left by the chest, but still unacceptable.

A little less power and it seems to work until he tests it on the straw again, which gets cut part way through. He takes a handful more tries to perfect it. It removes the tiny insects; the hay isn’t marked even when put in front of the mites, and it still does nothing to his own body. A convenient thing, though it would be awkward if he burst it outward from his entire body. After all, his clothes aren’t exactly his body.

He glances out the window and sighs, ‘well I guess there goes the evening. At least I didn’t waste any of my night. Though I do have to wonder where the girls are. They said that they were going to stroll around the outpost but it isn’t that big. Maybe they’re shopping or something.’

Halfway across the outpost, Rosha sneezes just as she is about to take a sip of tea. Courtney laughs, “someone must be talking about you.”

Rosha rolls her eyes, “at least I moved the mug away. This tea costs just as much as our dinner did. I have no clue how a small tea shoppe like this can stay in business.”

Back in the inn Jason shrugs, ‘oh well, guess I will clean up all the beds. Wouldn’t do me much good if I cleaned mine only for bugs to come over from the other beds.’

He focuses on regulating his Energy use and gives a harder shove to have more to work with. Ready, Jason waves his hand across the beds until he has covered every inch. ‘That should do it. If there were any pests in there they aren’t going to be bothering us tonight. Though I do have to wonder why I didn’t do this sooner. It isn’t like the wilderness lacks bugs. Then again, you can’t really prevent them out in the open. I should probably pick up some lavender seeds to grow as well. The stuff does wonders to keep pests away.’