A very normal powder

Camping under the stars, six tents were set up around a dim campfire.

They had already passed by a town on the way and on their way to their destination. A frontier village that was having some problems with the beasts. That would be their makeshift base as they whittled away at the influx of beasts.

Anyhow, two people were assigned to a tent, this left four people without a tent, they were the four leaders of the teams. Being the leaders, it was natural that they would take the first shift.

Well, although they were on shift, there was not much to look out for, camping right next to the rudimentary path in the middle of a plain, they would need to be utterly blind to somehow let something sneak up on them.

Karl started up some small talk amongst the four, though it was mainly just to comfort Hayley, as it was obvious that the strict Adalyn and dubious Jeffrey were making him nervous.

"So, first time out doin' one of these missions, aight?" Despite Karl already knowing the answer, he still asked.

"Yeah, it's real different than just walking around the streets and keeping an eye out for lawbreakers." Hayley was rather uncomfortable around Adalyn but this was Karl. Everyone knew Karl.

There were rumours that Karl had a chance to promote and become a Captain, but he had declined and stayed a Lieutenant so that he could still do fieldwork with his colleagues, nonetheless, even if he wasn't a Captain, he was regarded as one. Well, Karl's reputation was top tier amongst the guards and even the citizens.

Everyone liked Karl.

As Karl looked over at Jeffrey, he noticed the peculiar trait of Jeffrey's tools.

"That ain't normal,"

"It really isn't," Jeffrey sighed helplessly.

Looking over his scythe and shovel, he was still in disbelief that he somehow missed out on this feature, for what could be considered the better part of most of his life.

Anyway, it was there, and he couldn't do nothin' about it now, in fact, it really made things convenient. Although, he didn't want to admit it, dragging a six foot stick around, believe it or not, was not very maneuverable. Nonetheless, this was an unexpected boon.

Soon, their night shift was over and the shifts would cycle through everyone by the time morning shone. Entering a tent, he was assigned one with the other team leader, Hayley.

It should be fine if it's Hayley. He didn't seem like the kind of guy to snitch. Jeffrey knew quite a bit of snitches growing up.

"Urrg, bad times,"

Taking out the pouch he purchased earlier, a rough leather pouch which was shown to contain an unknown white powder. He was warned by his teammates beforehand, that this may or may not be a contraband, so he should be careful about who sees it.

In the pouch was a shiny metallic white dust. It had a quirky aura, rather similar to material essence, but it was a bit off. There was an out of place menacing air around it. Something wasn't right about this dust.

Unfortunately…

Lily just had to start sticking her head in the stuff.

Lovely.

"Hey, whatcha doing over there?"

Spectacular.

Trying to restrain Lily, it didn't work out too well, it seemed the dust was supercharging Lily, making her considerably tougher, refusing to leave the dust.

"You alright there?" Hayley was outside the tent and was just about to enter, but stopped when his tent buddy was doing some weird stuff.

Wrestling Lily, the dust had spilled and made a mess in the tent but the bird was dead set on eating the stuff. Maybe it was some good stuff.

Feeling rather tempted, Jeffrey couldn't help but start tasting some of it, just placing a bit on his tongue. Surprisingly, it didn't taste too bad, it was like eating a sour lemon, mixed with sweet honey. Contradicting tastes that when mixed made a distinct blend. It wasn't long before, all the dust was consumed, mostly by Lily though.

"I'm just gonna wait outside for a while,"

That was good.

The two didn't seem to suffer from any side effects, and it felt more like they could perceive the elements better.

Unbeknownst to anyone, that was a rather unique product. Materialised Moon essence, mixed with a bit of something else.

Traveller's secret.

What could be inferred was that the aura of the moon, most certainly attracted Jeffrey and Lily to it, and the certain element which tainted it enhanced its effects in a peculiar, abnormal manner. In fact, it should've been toxic to ingest such a mixture, and its original purpose might've been for rituals or artifact crafting. The unknown element should've made the original essence fatal and irradiated as well.

Perhaps, one's attribute connection with certain elements provides for different effects…

That was the most likely scenario, as that metallic dust should not have acted like a Candi.

Anyway, that stimulus kept Jeffrey up all night, he just couldn't find his drowsiness.

Up in the morning, Jeffrey wasn't the only one who didn't sleep last night.

His tent buddy, Hay-bale or somethin' looked pretty sleep deprived.

"Couldn't sleep last night?" Karl immediately noticed Hayley's condition.

"Yeah, I just had an uncomfortable feeling last night," he yawned out. It was definitely the powder that did that. Those vibes it was giving out could cause a person to go insane, much less be sleep deprived.

The horses were already up and standing by, ready to go. With that being the case, everything was quickly packed up before they set off toward their destination.

A frontier village bordering a forest, home to many beasts and monsters alike.

Well, that was their planned destination in any case. It didn't take long for them to see smoke clouds in the distance and Jeffrey inferred that it most likely wasn't a result of a bonfire festival.

A rather irregular occurrence to see during the day.