Hadrien was acutely listening to the opossum running and devouring the meat Flieday had prepared for it. Rien — his four eyed yak — was not near him; rather, she was standing right before an enormous pile of meat. Her maw was wide open, saliva dripping on the ground as she barely controlled herself.
Thumb! Thumb! Thumb!
Opossum had quickly devoured another pile of meat, finally close enough for Rien to do the honors.
The pile of food standing between the grey opossum burst open, revealing his trusty four eyed beast. Angered, the opossum opened its giant snout, secreting deadly poison from it; Rien instantly commanded Rien to increase the distance between the opossum and herself.
The opossum growled loudly, releasing thin white mist from its snout; Rien did not flinch, however, she increased the distance between the air and herself, blood dripping down her eyes.
She is overdoing it now!
She was forcefully extracting energy from the glass crystals reserved for her wellbeing, it was straining her brain; Hadrien knew that asking her to calm down or slow down would only hurt her performance.
Opossum was a fierce creature too, it did not stand still while releasing the mist; it was retreating hastily — it had eaten its full, thus was sluggish. All wild beasts have the ability to know when to run and when to fight, opossum was no exception.
Even though mystical beasts seem evil by nature, they are an animal, too. Thus, they only hunt when they need to and fight when they think they can win.
However, this was when Rien increased the distance of a spike from her — this time it was a direct order from Hadrian. The spike, an idea from So Flieday, was hidden around the fighting ground. Spike made of grade two material spike dug into the opossum's leg, partially impaling it. The opossum hissed in pain as green wines appeared at its legs, re- enforcing them.
But this gave Rien few breaths to attack, and she wasted none. The yak opened its giant maw as it dashed towards the opossum.
"Is it me, or is she staying in the air for longer?" Hadrien pondered lazily as he stretched his hand to pick up a leather container for water.
"Hm?"
Hadrien could not find where he had kept the container, frowning as he unknowingly looked up.
"…"
"…"
Is the lack of sleep catching up?
The leather container was… floating in the air?
No, it was flying upwards slowly, to be exact.
…
A young girl in loose leaves and animal skin bound by vines on her neck was running frantically; with her blond hair rising in the air, she could hear the opossum's mighty steps. She suddenly heard a loud whistle, stopping in shock.
"What?!"
Though the stop was only momentary, she had to subdue the opossum first to help the tribe in the attack.
Best time for a strong beast attack! Why does nothing go my way
Each tribe has a signal to alert tribal people of danger, and concerningly the whistle - the symbol of course, was coming from near the opossum
Flieday danced around the woods and finally reached the injured opossum; she strolled towards the opossum, making herself as small as possible.
"Huh?"
Her makeshift covering was… floating upwards? It was meant to be worn quickly, and was only bound to her neck; it was already as high as her stomach.
Is this… a grade 3 beast attack!
Grade 1 beasts can easily kill hundreds of mundane people, thus tamers with multiple Grade 2 beasts or a Grade 3 beast tamed have to risk their lives fighting them. A Grade 2 beast can have magical powers far stronger than attraction and repulsion used by a Grade 1 beast! They can bring floods, warp space, and change time to some extent; producing energy and using glass crystals is second nature to them.
However, a Grade 3 beast can easily eradicate dozens of Grade 2 beasts and bring an end to a tribe.
The only thing So Flieday could think at the moment was to tame the Opossum and run!
She walked towards the opossum's wounds steadily, applying a thick fluid on it; she had hidden it near the lone bedrock tree. She ignored the floating rocks and her makeshift covering, which had risen around her neck and had left her practically bare.
The opossum started to stand up... no, was it rising up? No! It had started floating. So Flieday was too flying upwards. The opossum, enraged and mistaking So Flieday as the enemy and culprit of its floating, released poison. So Flieday's blue skin of her hand was instantly smeared with poison — Her hand was starting to rot.
***
A boy with rugged purple hair was laying on a pool of blood face first. His wet leaves and animal skin were slipping off from vines, revealing his tan chiselled body covered in bruises.
A growl could be heard, followed by the sound of an elephant running; of course it was not an elephant — it was a giant dragonfly, dashing towards the tanned young man with astonishing speed.
Its one wing was broken; hindering its movements. It had a giant stinger pointed towards the purple haired boy.
…
Elias felt that something inside him disappeared, as if something foreign had entered his mind and left, leaving a vague trace. He could decipher a few phrases like "The creator can create himself," "create yourself," "learn creation before destruction," and "It is not omnipotent nor is it omnipresent."
After a few moments, or eternity — Elias Kiefer could not keep track of time in otherworldly understanding, he stood up with a damning headache.
His head was exploding, so was his speed when he saw that hideous monster running towards him.
He had stayed in the pond of strength longer than anyone, for whenever one uses such ponds, its magical water level decreases. Because of Elias's use of the pond of strength, he could barely match the speed of that harrowing injured dragonfly.
Why did the giant insects run?
Where were they going?
Elias put every bit of his strength into his legs, his bulging muscles working overtime as the sound of water flowing increased
"Fuck, fuck, fuck my Requim crystals and glass Requim!"
He hoped that the beast would not have absorbed his glass Requim to try to evolve into a higher Grade. Elias leaned down, taking off his feet covering made from animal skin before sprinting barefoot on the sharp rocks.
Ah, it hurts, I needed to take off the feet covering for grip, but this sucks
The sound of water splashing increased as Elias Kiefer ran along the stream.
Elias ran and ran, he glanced back for a second just to see the insect slowly catching up to him
"Finally! Oh, god"
Elias quickly ran towards the river. The stream of fresh water was bound to lead to the river, after all rivers and tributaries join together; Elias was also keenly aware of his surroundings since this was his home ground.
Splash!
He jumped into the river, swimming against the flow to escape from the insect — his strength was equal to that of a combat warrior!
Elias swam until he found a basket made of vines; he tried to laugh only for a fish in the river to enter his mouth — Elias spouted it out immediately.
Grinning Elias found his way to the shore and fell onto the smooth riverbed. "Ah, fuck…" He quickly glanced around, making sure that the insect was nowhere to be found.
"That damn insect was only a Grade 1 Requim beast, or I would have been dead…" Elias sighed, his expression did not calm down however… "Only Grade 2 Requim beasts can have mind attacks though."
He grimaced, "What the hell happened to me back then?". Well, he could do nothing about it now. He forced his tired body to stand up, and then he noticed something dire.
"My coverings… Do I have to make new coverings?"
Elias chuckled at himself before walking towards traces of life.
But my Requim crystals and glass Requim... I will need to do some tricks to get into the Empire now. I had just gotten rich.[1]
He let out a bitter breath as he felt his heart become heavy; but he also felt grateful for surviving
When he reached the main settlement, he sniffed and chuckled — "Ah, so this place was spared."
Elias stood in front of an empty settlement; the houses were torn and broken apart. There was no sign of any settlement here except for the lonely houses; Elias lazily walked around trying to find anyone.
He soon reached a small board with the Blen tribe written on it. He remembered that his Kiefer tribe used to trade with this tribe for fresh potatoes, thus he searched the houses for food.
Every house was broken apart with signs of giant insects on them, but there was no blood, no sign of Chinen population or any valuables
Elias's expression turned grim… "What happened here?!"
This is completely illogical! How? What?
Something unprecedented had just happened in Chinen-kind history, the giant insects emerged from nowhere and now this!
Will I really have the resources to become the strongest?
The future mattered to him; he needed there to be enough resources for him to become stronger and plunder.
Elias's expression suddenly changed, turning into one of absolute longing and affection.
[1] my urge to put a :( here is crazy