The Legendary Junkmaster

Jason heard his grandfather click his tongue when the magnificent looking beast appeared. Turning to look at his Gramps, Jason noticed that he had a grim expression on his face. 'Seems like he knew about it. Is this what worried him so much?' Jason glanced at the beast again and began to study it in greater detail.

The beast looked to be at least seven foot tall on all fours. It had the appearance of a sizeable cat-like creature with a metallic golden mane around its neck. Its tail whipped back and forth lazily, drawing attention to the sharp barbs that covered its tip. Its three eyes scanned its immediate area before the beast leapt high up onto the fake rock structure.

The creature padded around for a bit before sprawling out in the direct sunlight. As if it were casually sunbathing. Jason's mind raced as he realised there was absolutely no hope for them to outrun that creature. Its powerful display just now made that much obvious to anyone who witnessed it.

Jason hissed as he sharply inhaled. Only Dani would have a chance of escaping from it. In his mind, it would actually be better if they made an attempt for those flowers while it slept during the night. Very soon, more beasts appeared from their lairs. Almost every one of them suddenly came into sight after exiting from well-concealed entrances in strange structures.

The whole area in front of their eyes had become busy with activity! Dani gasped as she nudged Jason with her elbow and pointed at two heads that had appeared over some trees. Long necks could be seen from between the gaps in the branches. Jason's eyes went wide as he tried to estimate how far those necks could reach, but that appeared to be a hopeless endeavour.

At that moment, those very same necks stretched out as if they were made of elastic. Although the beast looked quite cute and harmless, its pair of heads suddenly opened their mouth's and revealed long, sharp fangs. A flock of birds had just taken flight from nearby, but unfortunately, some of them were caught by these dangerous-looking maws.

Jason shivered as he looked around at the other beasts. He began to grow fearful as he wondered at the abilities of these other creatures. 'Is it even possible to get anything here?' Jason gulped as his eyes scanned the variety of monsters living here. At that moment, Harry tapped Jason's shoulder and signalled that it was time to retreat.

The trio fell back in silence until they reached a point even further away than where they had camped on the previous night. Harry sighed as he sat down in the dirt with a look of contemplation on his face. The pair of teenagers looked at each other hopelessly before silently sitting across from him.

After a while had passed, Harry finally broke the silence. "Dani, how confident are you in your abilities?"

"I'm fairly confident, but…" Dani's voice trailed off as she thought about the creatures she had seen.

"You don't have to say it. You're still young, and you've never had to use them while under pressure." Harry gazed towards the sky while he spoke. "You'd be incredibly tense if any of those bests targeted you. There's a good chance you'd make a mistake or fail to keep your cool. There's no shame in that."

"I'm sorry…" Dani whispered while glancing at Jason while tears welled up in her eyes.

"It's not your fault." Jason smiled at her sympathetically. In truth, even he had not imagined that this place would be as dangerous as it had turned out to be. "Gramps. Is there anywhere else we can try?"

Harry sighed before shaking his head to deny it. "Sorry, kid. The last time I was here was a very long time ago. I thought that most of the beasts should have died during that time. Apparently, I was wrong."

Jason felt dejected at his grandfather's words. He was so close to getting the materials he needed, but it seemed like an impossible task.

"What about during the night?" Jason could not help but ask. It was the only lifeline that their expedition had left at this point.

"That would be even worse." Harry grimaced as he replied with a cold tone. "The nocturnal beasts have better senses to make up for their shorter eyesight. They'd notice our presence long before we even got as close as we did today."

The trio stared at the ground with glum expressions. Their trip seemed to have come to an end at this point. However, there was someone else there that had a different outlook on the matter.

"If it's just a case of them being able to pick up your scent, there are a few plants around here that can mask it for you," Syssie whispered in Jason's ear, even though nobody else could hear her anyway.

'What about their vision? Gramps said it would be worse, but it should still be better than ours in the dark.' Jason replied while keeping a straight face. He did not want to get his hopes up just yet.

Syssie seemed to think about it for a bit before coming up with an answer. "A ghillie suit should work. You should be able to make a simple one. It won't be perfect, but it should be enough for now. Dani just needs it to break up her silhouette to make it harder for them to detect her."

Jason considered the proposal for a while. The moment he thought about it, several ideas came to his mind of how to apply a light layer of camouflage to their clothes. Strictly speaking, it would not be a ghillie suit, but it was better than nothing.

"Guys, I think I have an idea…"

Jason explained what he wanted to try to Harry and Danio, who looked doubtful. Nobody had ever heard the term 'ghillie suit', so Jason limited himself to try and explain how attaching leaves and branches to their clothes would make it harder for them to be seen. Harry was even more doubtful when Jason said he had a way to make it impossible for the beasts to sniff them out.

However, this was technically Jason's expedition, so he decided to keep quiet and let him work. As time passed, they saw the camouflaged jackets begin to take shape. Jason had opted to use their blankets instead of their own clothes so they could wrap them around themselves to completely conceal the human form of their bodies.

A fragrant smell began to permeate the air. The source of the smell was coming from one of the containers that Jason had brought along to store the flowers in. Surprisingly these flowers released quite a strong smell once they had been submerged in cold water for a few hours. Jason's interface tagged it as being something called 'perfume'.

Even Harry had to admit that he struggled to smell his own unique fragrance even though he was distant from the container. As Jason wiped the sweat from his brow, he cast a glance over the completed items. 'It looks better than I thought it would. I didn't think the perfume would be so strong either.'

Jason stroked his chin as he gazed at the fragrant liquid in its container. 'This could actually be quite popular back in town. Though, it seems like women would be more likely to buy it. Maybe I should try and create one that would appeal to men as well.' Jason could not help but consider the business opportunity that it presented. There was nothing wrong with making more money.

Needless to say, these new inventions were all F ranks, so he did not even bother asking Syssie for an evaluation. If there was nothing to gain from it right now, then there was no point in going through it. He could always ask later if he decided to sell them.

"Here's a question." Harry frowned as he noticed that Jason was finished with his work. "How are we meant to carry around that liquid without spilling it?"

Jason chuckled as he heard that. Clearly, his Gramps had misunderstood how it would be used. "Simple. We don't."

Both Harry and Dani shot him a confused look before waiting for him to explain. Jason grinned in response before picking up the container. "You'll have to pour it over yourselves. It should only last a few hours before it starts to lose its effectiveness. Dani, do you think you'll be able to manage with this?"

Dani looked back and forth between the camouflage and the perfume before nodding her head gently. "It should be fine with this. I just have to be careful where I teleport."

"Ok, remember. We're just going to get as much as we can. If the beasts look like they've become alerted, we'll leave instantly. This isn't a suicide mission. Let's get some sleep before nightfall." Jason glanced towards the sun that was still high in the sky just now. Everything would be up to luck now. He had done everything that he could to increase their odds of success.