The sounds of soft clopping noises rang out as the Mutant Tier- Wood Eating Buffalo, carried me through the thinning forest as we headed towards the northern mountains at a swift pace.
His thick, rough, and hooked claws allowed him to easily climb up heavily angled muddy hills as we made our way up to the forest and the Primitive and Ordinary creatures I came across, didn't want to mess with me due to how I had a Mutated tier life force carrying me.
And honestly, the buffalo itself was extremely comfortable to ride, the top of its back was as wide as a good-sized SUV so I was able to sit cross-legged on it while holding onto a thick bundle of fur in case it needed to go uphill and whatnot.
Of course and the most important part was how he was able to make damned good headway and save me hours of walking as the buffalo went at a slow 'jog' for it anyway that was probably a good thirty plus miles an hour.
"Damn... No wonder pets are one of the most valuable Beast Souls." I muttered as I realized that the Buffalo even huffing was good to go for another hundred miles as after riding it for four hours into the afternoon. We had basically reached the northern mountains which was more than a hundred miles away from the Black Steel Shelter.
Taking in the crisp cooler air I popped my neck as I looked into the distance of the mountains and finding the larges mountains In the buffalo for the side of them. As I was looking for the infamous swamp lands that were in the crevices between the giant mountains where my target was supposed to be.
The forest land began to get thicker as we entered the valleys between the Northern Mountains where all the snow from the mountains came down in floods that made the valley's into natural swampy jungles due to how the valleys apparently had minor volcanic activity in hot springs that kept the jungle hot.
And the Wood Eating Water Buffalo was right at home as its large strong limbs allowed it to deal with the thick swampy lands with it being easily able to swim above the swamp water as well when we needed to cross some patches.
A loud splash rang out from the side and I watched as a giant eagle-sized dragonfly was snapped out of the air by a fish that threw itself out of the water. To take the stupidly fast-flying bug out of the air and into the water.
'Nope! This place is crazy, like prehistoric-themed shit is here.' I muttered as I saw a massive centipede walking across the swamp water with probably literally tens of thousands of feet that allowed it to walk over the water with it going about it's business eating a low-hanging branch.
My head snapped to the side and I instinctively used Observation Haki to divert the attack as a giant mosquito tried to slam it's needle-like blood-sucking noise into my head directly but my Sacred Blood Tier armor stopped me from getting even scratched even as I dodged slightly.
My hand snapped up around the mosquito's head and with a dagger, I broke its weird exoskeleton with my dagger as I cut off its soccer ball-sized head. Even as its buzzing wings deafened me and attempted to pull me off my pet.
[Primitive Tier- Life Eater Mosquito slain] [Consume Life Eater Mosquito to gain between 1-10 Primitive geno points]
"I am not fucking eating this." I muttered with a grunt of disgust as I just tossed the head of the giant insect into the nearby swamp.
That wasn't the last of them either, in the next half an hour I learned that the Life Eater Mosquito's were the 'dominant' life form in the general area despite them only being a Primitive tier life form.
And that was simply because they had an uncanny ability to sense death of their kind and would then flock towards that area. So after half an hour, I had gotten three Primitive Beast Souls in the form of arrows, and a single dagger Beast Soul.
But soon enough I left the territory of the Life Eater Mosquito's and I couldn't help but 'smile' at how I was making damned good time at least in my opinion as I had entered the territory of the swamp crocodiles who were the Life Eater Mosquito's natural enemy with how they could eat them with impunity and then just hide underwater.
So with the bigger insects and other bullshit not being an issue as I saw a giant dog-sized toad snapping another Life Eater Mosquito out of the air. I decided to camp on a firm plot of land I found that was clear of debris and vegetation so nothing like a giant spider could sneak up on me.
"I need to give you a name..." I muttered as I took in the Wood Eating Buffalo that was lying behind me allowing me to lean on it as it worked to eat a softer tree it knocked down.
"Mmmh." He retorted charismatically and I nodded with a hum of agreement.
"Yeah I know, I can't like, name you Bessie or a cow name... Actually, I can't think of any non-female cow names." I muttered with a wry smile before I patted the buffalo on the side before I chuckled.
"Well, I am drawing a blank here man. You gotta help me or I am stuck calling you Bill as in Buffalo Bill, or I don't know... Woody because you eat wood and you act as my steed allowing me to be the biggest rip off of a cowboy."
The Wood Eating Buffalo just loudly farted as wood itself didn't digest very well obviously making me gag inwardly. "Dammit! Woody it is then you fat bastard." I said smacking Woody on the side with the Buffalo making amused huffing noises.
But then there was a series of crunching noises off from the side and we both looked over to see who or what had come onto our dry land patch and I blinked as I saw a ragged young man with spitting fury in his eyes.
"You! Shit-stained peasant where is the Glory Shelter!" He snapped furiously.
I blinked as I took in his form and I literally couldn't see how he was supposed to be an heir to the extremely powerful Xue clan who had the Jade Skin Geno art.
But either way, I just said calmly. "Glory Shelter on foot is like... A week further north. I never been there besides seeing it on some maps. I am from Black Steel Shelter."
And I realized why Han Sen, even being a complete asshole had no problems killing him as the young master stomped towards me and I raised an eyebrow as he kicked me in the leg and shouted. "Well! Give me that Sacred Blood beast soul armor you are wearing. And when you deliver me to the Black Steel Shelter I will make sure you got another one from my family!"
I gave the Xue heir a dull look from inside my helmet covered head before I took a deep breath and got up. "What family do you belong to?" I asked even as I prepared myself.
And he puffed himself up and snapped out impatiently despite his tone being filled with pride.
"I am a proud heir of the Xue family, now quit your games and hand it over!" And his eyes filled with pride as I disabled the Sacred Blood armor. Then I took it out of my soul space with the red glowing Beast Soul sitting in one hand.
Then with his eyes locked onto my hand, I summoned the Mutated tier Sabertooth dagger that slipped under the glow of the brightly glowing Sacred Blood tier Beast Soul.
The Xue heir shrieked and his shriek quickly turned into a wet choking gurgle as the giant tooth-shaped dagger slammed home into his armpit directly up into his lungs and heart.
"You could have literally just not been an asshole... And I wouldn't have killed you honestly." I muttered with a piece of me dying as well as I internalized how much of a dog-eat-dog universe this was.
The Xue heir tried to run away but Woody under my mental direction knocked him to the ground and then his drowning cries as his lungs filled with his own blood were silenced as the powerful buffalo stomped his head in with multi-ton blows.
And then I walked over... And with a sigh, I pulled out the special booklet that carried the Jade Skin Sutra out from under his clothes and I held the book in my hand as I considered how it would change my life.
But knowing that I got what I needed, I just shrugged and gave the Xue heir the burial he deserved by having Woody throw his corpse into the swamp waters where not even moments later it was ripped into by a giant snapping turtle.
"Time to get out of here... Han Sen was supposed to find him, and I don't want to run into the prick." I muttered as I got back onto Woody to head back to the Black Steel Shelter.
Though I knew it was going to truly be a pain in the ass. Seeing as I was going to need to camp outside tonight as I wouldn't make it back before nightfall.