The Rainmaker's Gambit    

"Hey guys, I'm back!" Rain announced excitedly. He had only been gone for a few hours, though.

Chi and the others seemed fine; they were cooking by the fire. Rain had taught them how to make fire and even cook their food over the flame.

Chi and the others greeted Rain like toddlers meeting their parents, excited with their gifts.

"I've bought you armors and weapons. Now we can hunt for beasts and defend our territory without worry," Rain said, a proud smile on his face.

Chi marveled at her new bows and arrows while Chin, Chick, and Chill donned their new armor, sword, and shield, their faces beaming with excitement.

~Chi!~

~Chirp!~

"I'm glad that you all like it," Rain said warmly, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction seeing their joy. His eyes then shifted to the still-moping #4, who was sitting off to the side, looking dejected.

Rain walked over and crouched down beside #4.

"#4, you're still too small for armor and swords, so I bought you this instead," Rain said, handing #4 a blow dart. "It uses these tiny needles as bullets, so you can have something to defend yourself with."

~Chirp . . .~

#4 felt slightly better and forced a smile before going to a corner to play with the blow dart.

It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now, Rain thought, and then noticed there was a lot of meat cooking over the fire.

"Oh. Where did you find the meat?" Rain asked, curious.

~Chi!~

Chi chirped energetically.

"Eh? Really? Did those wolves come again?" Rain went to check the [Diary] and found that the Quillwolves had indeed returned, and there were five of them this time.

Chi and the others managed to defend the shelter, and the barricade worked as intended. One of the wolves made a mistake in its haste to invade the shelter, and fell into the pit below, where sharp spikes waited and impaled its body.

One of the remaining four wolves fell prey to Chi's relentless attacks, and the others immediately ran away, clearly scared by the fate of their two fallen comrades and the unknown traps around the shelter.

Rain read the entry again, feeling a mix of pride and concern. "You did an amazing job, everyone. But we need to stay vigilant. They'll be back, and next time, they might bring even more of their pack."

Chi nodded, and the rest of the group gathered around Rain, ready to listen to his plan.

"We need to reinforce our defenses and make new traps, while you guys get accustom to your new weapons," Rain said, looking at each of them. "Chin, Chick, Chill, you'll practice with your new swords and shields. Chi, keep honing your archery skills. And #4, learn how to use that blow dart effectively."

Rain really didn't know how to use any of those weapons. He didn't even know how to swing a sword, so he was hoping they would figure it out on their own.

Chi's eyes sparkled with admiration. 'As expected of my Lord.'

'He's very capable,' the others thought as well.

Rain felt embarrassed all of a sudden as he noticed his troops staring at him in awe. He hid his ignorance and played it cool. As their leader, he had a reputation to uphold.

"Alright, let's get to work," Rain said, pulling their attention away from him. "We have a lot to do to keep our territory safe and secure."

~chi~

~Chirp~

"But before that, let's go and make some water!" Rain announced.

Chi and the others yelled in unison, but then they exchanged confused looks, not knowing what Rain was talking about.

Rain grinned wide and pulled out two big tubs and a kilo of salt. He had paid a hefty price to have these items extracted here, and it was a good thing that Chi and the others had defended the territory and killed two Quillwolves for that matter. His Soul Elixirs shot to 20 mL and his EP went from 100 to 700.

"Back to the main topic," Rain redirected himself. "We're going to make it rain here using these!"

Rain led the group to the salty marsh, and with Chi and the others' help, they placed a thin layer of salt marsh into the tubs.

"Alright, now that it's done." Rain directed his attention to Chi next. "Chi, I need your remarkable archery skills to pull this one off."

~chi?~ 

Chi bobbed her head to the side, puzzled.

Rain pulled out the plastic bags he had brought with him and put a sizable amount of salt in each one of them. "You know that we can make it rain by sprinkling salt onto clouds. They used this strategy in desert lands back in my world."

Chi's eyes widened in realization, and she nodded with determination. The others, still a bit confused, watched intently as Rain explained further. "We're going to shoot these bags into the sky and let the salt do its magic. It's called cloud seeding."

"I'm hoping that the same science applies here. Though this land is barren, we still have a few clouds on the horizon. So, Chi . . ."

Rain tightly tied the plastic containing the salt to one of the arrows and handed it to Chi. "I want you to shoot this arrow into that thick cloud over there. The next step might be difficult, but I know you can pull it off. I want you to simultaneously release another arrow and hit this plastic here so the salt will sprinkle over the clouds."

"Can you do it, Chi?" Rain asked, knowing he was asking a lot. But after witnessing Chi's prowess with ranged assaults, this strategy instantly clicked in his mind.

Instead of bringing water here every time, which wasn't sustainable, he would make his own water. With these salt marshes that could produce salt, and Chi's archery skills, he believed he could make it work!