Just… just get into the damn trap already.
It took everything I had not to scream at the little bastards.
I’m on sprite duty. Again. The guild has an open bounty on them, but because they’re so tedious to collect, most hunters avoid it like the plague. Officially, these types of bounties are supposed to be spread across the guild. But somehow, the newest members always end up with them. And this week, that means me.
And, you want to know the really crappy part? The next field exam—the one where they bring in new members—isn’t for another three months. Which means I get to enjoy this over and over again until onboarding is over.
I was actually really excited the first time I received this bounty. Sprites! How freaking cool. With their translucent wings, giant eyes, and colorful bodies, how could I not want to see them? I guess some might consider them creepy, though. But not me. I couldn’t wait to see them with my own eyes, beyond what the bestiary had to say. Plus, I wanted to see how they behaved. Do they fly in swarms? What do they eat? How do they interact with each other? Do they glow? Those kinds of things.
But now, on my third bounty in as many weeks, I was getting sick of watching them dance around my traps all day. Sprites love mana. My traps are filled with mana. Why won’t they get into the damn traps? Maybe a net on the end of a stick—something with a wide opening I could swing around and just nab them—would be better.
Taking a few deep breaths to calm myself, I sat back against the tree. Without looking down, I screwed the top off my thermos, the strong smell of coffee bringing a smile to my face. I’d gotten here well before dawn to set up. Sprites are most active at dawn and dusk. I truly hoped I wouldn’t still be here at dusk.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Izzy, you can’t bring coffee on a hunt. They’ll smell you a mile away.
Look, I’m no amateur. I mean… I guess I am still quite new. But the point is, I did my research, and I’ve done this before. Sprites don’t have a sense of smell the way we do. They sense mana and can’t smell my coffee at all. If they were more like hellhounds, which apparently track using heat, I wouldn’t dare bring it. But it’s safe for today’s hunt.
Nestling back behind some ferns, I took a silent sip, the foliage not obstructing my view of the forest clearing.
That’s when I noticed a few of the sprites were acting weird. Their movements weren’t as sharp or exact as the others, their patterns slowing down significantly. They bumped into each other and wouldn’t make direct eye contact. Some got defensive for no real reason. They looked lethargic, and even their wings seemed heavy.
Could I?
I quietly slipped out of my little nesting spot, easing myself closer to the group. They were a few feet from one of the traps I’d set. Normally, that would be much too far for the trap to be effective.
But this group seemed… drunk?
With my gloved hand, I gently guided one toward the trap. It seemed surprised by my touch but didn’t really fight me or zoom away like I expected. Instead, it bounced off my glove in the direction I wanted. Soon it slipped into the trap, bumping into the wall and sliding down to rest.
Heart racing, I clamped down on my excitement. I didn’t want to give them a reason to snap out of it and dart away. I was able to get another five into the trap this way.
I have to tell you, it took every ounce of self-control not to break into a happy dance right there. Thankfully, I’m a professional, so I slipped back into my hunter’s blind and thought about what I’d just learned.
Had they gotten into fermented fruit or something? I didn’t see anything like that. Rustling through my pack, I pulled out my flora field guide. Turns out this area has a couple of plants that expel mana instead of oxygen.
Sprites love mana like bees love pollen. So why weren’t all the sprites flocking to these plants? Was it too dense? Did they inherently know it was too much? Did mana have different flavors? Wait—it definitely has different densities. Maybe the mana from those plants was too dense.
Hmm… I’m just guessing here, but the fact is, I could actually gather the drunk sprites without having to sit and watch them all day.
Shit, maybe I need a way to soak the area in mana. If I could flood the area where the sprites were gathered, I’d be able to guide them into the containers.
As I watched the little annoyances dance around my traps, I eventually got the two dozen I needed. But I couldn’t let go of the idea of using a mana cloud to sedate them.
We junior members keep getting sprite duty on a rotating basis. There’s no doubt I’ll be back out here next week, probably in this same spot, watching sprites flit about.
It isn’t hard work. And as a trapper by choice, patience isn’t my problem. It just feels like there could be a better, more proactive method.
The traps we currently have use mana stones. I would need to convert that mana into a mist or cloud. Maybe an aerosol. Hmmm… not sure how I would do that exactly.
Oh geez, could you imagine if all the mana mist floated away and I collected zero sprites?
The guild master would be furious. The fines alone would… I shuddered just thinking about it.
Definitely need a containment umbrella… or a… dome. Yeah, that would work.
Damn. I just can’t imagine spending all that mana and not completing the bounty.
Lost in my head, I don’t even recall getting back to the guild. Coming out of it, I set the three softly glowing containers on the counter with a gentle thunk in front of the guild rep.
“I’ll be right with you, hon.”
I nodded in acknowledgement, my mind instantly going back to SPRITE CONTAINMENT FIELD — Mark I. Every good project starts with a good name. Now I just need to figure out what I’m actually building.
