《The Confused Explorer》 Rarity Levels, Fauna, Flora, Ore, and Materials Common- Found almost everywhere and can be easily obtained. Ex. Weak Herbs, Iron Ore, Wolves Uncommon- Can be found sometimes but requires more effort on parts to find and hard to get too. Ex. Weak Mana Crystals, Fiery Banana, Mana Deer Rare- Almost never seen can usually only be found or made with very hard effort. Ex. Element Crystal, Twin Tomato, Martial Panda Epic- Usually only appearing in front of figures of great luck and fortune and so hard to find they are scattered in dangerous and unseen environments. Ex. Dragon scales, 6 rainbowed fruit, Universal Snake Legendary- Said to only be heard of in folklore in recent times but known to exist, hasn''t been seen for thousands of years. Ex. Roc, Royalty Pear, Chaos Stone. ??????- ??????????????????????????? ------------------------------------------ --Fauna in Book: -Roc: A Roc is a mountainous bird of vast power, these birds are fiercely territorial and thus will protect their area with their lives, these birds are also very loyal and will fight to the death for what they believe in. The intelligence of a Roc outstrips humans by quite a bit, however their intelligence is gradual so they grow into it. A Roc at birth is relatively small as compared to how big it will be at adulthood, however they grow very quickly and are able to reach adulthood only after 500 years of their almost 1 million year old lives. A Roc has its feathers immediately after birth so they are able to fly as soon as they are born. A Rocs feathers are as hard as diamond at birth and grow stronger the longer they are alive. Rocs generally cap at about the size of a mountain upon adulthood, however there have been exceptions. The talons of a Roc can slice through most materials and only grow sharper the more they are used. This species is virtually extinct as the birth rate for a Roc is generally one every few thousand years. Environment: Sky Effects: N/A Danger Level: MAXIMUM Rarity: Legendary -Mana Deer: A deer with a very small amount of magic, though not enough to use actual magic, it brings about benefits for the deer''s strength and health. This deer looks like any other deer except for the dark splotch on its lower abdomen where the mana is concentrated. When the meat of this animal is consumed it brings about a temporary increase in strength and airflow. This deer is very rare in certain environments due to not all fawns being Mana oriented, and instead being regular deer after birth. Environment: Forest Effects:N/A Danger Level: Moderate Rarity:Uncommon -Broad Bear: A Broad Bear is a creature that has forgone any sort of magic for a pure physically oriented body that has a massive amount of strength, defense, and speed as well as a large size. Standing at 7 feet tall on all fours and double that on two legs, this bear is usually a brownish color though it can vary depending on the area it lives in. This bear weighs double or triple of any animal of its size should giving it more strength, since this bear relies on its large stature and weight in order to put more strength into attack, this fat also gives a huge defense boost to most parts of its body making it a terrifying opponent in a match of close combat. When provoked into running a Broad Bear can run up to as fast as 50 mph and jump as high as 20 feet. Environment: Forest Effects:N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Uncommon -Golden Carp: This fish is rare, it was originally still rare but it''s even rarer now due to over hunting of this species due to every part of its body being useful, from its scales being able to made into jewelry or part of a weapon enhancing it, or its meat and organs able to cure certain diseases or able to strengthen people of any age permanently, or its bones that look like they''re made of crystal and that are as strong as diamond. This fish is a light golden color that glitters even in the darkest of environments, but its able to mask itself as a different fish with camouflage by rolling in mud or sand and making it stick to its scales with a special substance it can secret, this substance, when wanted, can also become slippery making everything bounce off it making it very hard to catch on water or even on land. Environment: Water Effects: N/A Danger Level: Low Rarity: Rare -Guardians: These creatures are born when they are made with extreme emotions, and a high mana concentration. Once born they are made to follow the emotions in which they were born with and follow the dreams of their creator. These creatures, if wanted, can be very powerful, with the right emotion and right making they can become terrifying foes. They can come in any shape or form made of any material as long as there is sufficient mana. The reason these creatures are called Guardians is because they ''guard'' their creators hopes and dreams and follow through with them for their creator. Environment: High Mana Concentration Effects: N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Rare -Lightning Bug: The simplistic name does not show the ferocity of these little bugs. These eusocial insects live with the most brutal and violent storms in order to find food and places to stay. These critters are a very light golden with a body of hard carapace, making their ability to move very hard, however they make up for this with rapid speeds, amazing maneuverability in the air and solid defense. The King and Queen live in the most violent of the storm clouds and the workers move about around finding food and materials in whatever way possible. They have the ability to control lightning and direct it in any direction from within their body, they use this power control lightning strikes to either strike enemies or to reach potential food or building material very fast. These plants mostly thrive on a mix between charred trees and chareed animals not having a personal preference of one over the other.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Environment: Storm Clouds Effects: N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Rare -Queen Lightning Bug: The ruler over a colony of Lightning Bugs, this Queen is chosen over a duel of upwards of thousands of royal contestants for the throne. When a Queen is chosen she naturally grows her crown and three jewels, with each jewel representing a power. When the Queen is ready to mate she chooses her spouse that will be with her for as long as they both live. The Queen Lightning Bug honey created for her young is said to be a very precious material used in a multitude of beverages and foods. The Queen Lightning Bug is able to use lightning attacks that bring about storms for her colony, she may also use her other powers in order to fight or to defend her colony. When a Queen loses her spouse, she is able to increase the intensity of the storm in which she creates by many levels. It is said that in this mode a Queen has another name, ''Monarch of Storms''. Environment: Storms Effects: N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Rare -Ebb Spider: This spider is commonly known for its mythologically named background. It is said that millions of years ago this spiders species had intelligence that put it above humans and thus they prospered immensely, however all of that changed with the tragic fate of the new spider queen. When she first came to power she had a mighty yet kind rule over her subjects, but when tragedy struck her life she shut herself in the castle, never to be heard from again woefully spending her days alone and in isolation from anyone else. With the loss of their queen the race slowly faded from rule and has become just another arachnid species. This species has a very weak venom that can only affect prey smaller than it, it however makes up for this with very sturdy and strong webbing that stretches for upwards of tens of feet. This spider makes up for its weak body with a natural camouflage to its surroundings, making it very difficult to see it at all. Environment: Hot, and Damp Effects: N/A Danger Level: Low Rarity: Uncommon -Swipe Goblin: Born out of greed for material wealth and treasures, this species will stop at nothing in order to get treasures. Swipe Goblins have innate senses that allow them see the ''aura'' of treasures, the better the treasure the bigger the aura of it. With strong robust legs Swipe Goblins are excellent climbers allowing them to not only leap and climb great distances, but their legs also allow them to remain virtually silent on almost any terrain. Lethal poison is a Swipe Goblins main attack, their brown long claws allow them to kill most of the opponents they will face. When Swipe Goblins gain a treasure they eat what is called ''Treasure Energy'' out of it, which is their main food source, allowing them to become stronger after each successful gaining of wealth. Although they are called Swipe Goblins, these creatures have no correlation with the Goblin species except for in appearance only. Environment: Any Effects: N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Epic -Scourge: A being created through dark rituals, it is one of pure malice. These beings are created by using sacrifices and precious materials to create an amalgamation of sin. There are 7 forms of this being, each corresponding to the sin under it. There are also 3 different forms for each sin from weak to strong starting with the 1st form to the 3rd. Cupiditas(1st Form)(Type: Greed): One of the weakest in defense and attack as compared to other Scourge types, however it is known to be one of the most deadly. Greed types are known for being able to use illusion and control type attacks and traps with the utmost skill, Greed types are also the most intelligent out of all 7 types, allowing them to ruin entire civilizations if not caught early. They can easily amass entire armies and power under even the most harrowing of situations. Oriented more towards magic, Greed types are renowned for having large amounts of mana to use. The smarter the opponent, the easier it is for this type to win. Environment: Any Effects: N/A Danger Level: MAXIMUM Rarity: Legendary ------------------------------------------ --Flora in Book: -Jack Apple: A Jack Apple is a squared lightly pink colored fruit, resembling an apple in some key areas. These fruits are very volatile. The reason they have the name ''Jack Apple'' is due to their nature of being random. They have and always will be random in what they do anytime, anywhere. The could become anything or do anything. An example of this is turning into a black hole and destroying the very world it is on, or it could become a treasured and valued material used in making very important items. This fruit has always been laughed at for its comical name, however any who have seen, in person, their true power will never laugh at these dangerous fruits. Any who are foolish enough to eat one are most definitely dead. Environment: Any Effects: Random Danger Level:MAXIMUM Rarity: Epic -Twilight Rose: A plant indigenous to very rare biomes though they have no special effects. They are also called ''Twilight''s Eve'' to show their beauty. This rose comes in a flashy showing of multiple shades of purple or blue based on lighting Environment: Twilight Forest Effects: None Danger Level: None Rarity: Uncommon -Metallic Bomb Fruit: These fruits were born evolutionarily with the process of animals eating their fruit then, with enough pressure, they would explode out of the animal with a metallic buckshot of seeds of the fruit to which they could be planted. As the seeds travel far distances and can shoot through most obstacles they can be found in most places. The lumps on the skin are the seeds of the fruit that will explode out when enough pressure is applied to them. This variation of the plant has evolved a special way of gaining its nutrients as there is no sun in order to go through photosynthesis. This plant is a parasite, sucking nutrients out of other nearby plants, thus repeating the process. Environment: Almost Any Effects: Explodes Under Pressure Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Rare ------------------------------------------ --Materials -Gods Tears??? (Insufficient Level) -Elemental Star Light: When an Elemental Star is born in deep recesses of its core a small amount of Elemental Star Light is born as a gas, and then slowly it is condensed into a liquid about 4-5 drops worth, This liquid is extremely dense and has a color orientation to its specific element, however that may vary as it can be a different color and be the same element. This liquid can allow a person to gain an affinity to the element of that specific liquid, it only takes 1 drop to become an adept user of the said element, however it is unknown if there is a limit to how much you can drink. Environment: Elemental Star Core Effects: Gives drinker an elemental affinity Danger Level: None Rarity: Epic -Elemental Crystal: When a concentration of pure elemental power is pressurized in an area, it goes through three stages, gas to liquid to crystal. When an element reaches crystal form it becomes unimaginably pure, holding a deep reservoir of elemental power. These crystal can be used for basically anything related to magic and have value beyond comparison. Environment: Deep Underground Effects: Anything related to magic Danger Level: N/A Rarity: Rare -Eyes Of Sin: Once a Scourge is slain they have a chance to drop a random concentration of their power in one of their body parts. This body part is typically the one that holds the most amount of magic within their body upon death, and each body part has a different effect, creating thousands of variations for each scourge. The Eyes of Greed can be used as the main material to create top tier potions related to either illusions or basic magic. These eyes may also be used to bring back this specific type of Scourge. Environment: N/A Effects: Top Grade Material for potion creation, or Reanimate Scourge Danger Level: None Rarity: Epic Chapter 1: The Unknown "Higher beings these words are for you alone." "No God can stop that which is rightfully ours, No Beast can defeat the intelligent, Mortality is the way to sanctuary." "The Strong have weaknesses, The Mighty have loses, The Gods have fear." "A wail from the Abyss brings trembling to the Realms, That which shan''t be caged need not fear the layman''s torture." ---------------------------- Mike had always been a quiet person, the man in the background seemingly fading out of being with almost everything about him being average, his height, hair color being dirty brown and slightly grayed on the side, and some light blue eyes. He lived a normal childhood, a normal teenage life, and he grew up to be just what you''d think, boring. For all of Mike''s life that''s how he''d always been. Mike, as he had done for the last 20 years, came back home late and exhausted ready to take a shower and fall asleep only to wake up early to continue the cycle. As he lay down with no motivation to shower, only wanting to sleep, he closed his eyes and drifted away. As Mike slept face down on his bed in his suit, the room around him trembled slightly, and before it had stopped a vast portal was ripped open beside Mike. In this portal that radiated an aura of ancientness were scenes of mysterious and amazing lands with beauty and impossibility as their foundation. One such scene was of many floating islands, some as small as a house to some as large as a continent, another was a large body of water that shifted positions constantly into strange and impossible ways. While sleeping this portal pulled Mike into it quietly, bringing him to an untold land. As Mike awoke from a very well rested sleep, he shifted over to what felt like moss beneath his hand. Moving his hand and grabbing a little he realized it didn''t feel like the fabric he used as a bed sheet. Opening his eyes wide and lifting himself up he looked around he only saw a very dim almost black light around him. Mike felt something wrong terrifyingly wrong in his stomach, looking up what showed was a trillion brightly shining stars staring back at him as if reflecting, showing his confused and terrified face at the situation he was in. Sitting like that for who knows how long, as if to awaken him, a stiff and somewhat stale wind blew on him waking him from his stupor. Holding back every sense that told him to scream or run, he looked down at his shaking hands to grasp his reality, with a hard swallow and some mixing of heavy and light breaths he tried to analyze where he was and how he got here.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ''Am I dead?'' he thought with almost a whisper in his mind that seemed to make his skin crawl a little ''No'' his feeling seemed to deny every thought that he was dead Grasping for straws at what his situation was and to remove the creepy thoughts in the back of his mind he looked for a detail of his surroundings. Beneath him wasn''t grass or dirt but moss, it was light green showing a healthy and soft glow with splatters of what seemed to be either special moss or strange curly plants and flowers that were glowing a soft and white light that along with the stars in the sky illuminated most of the forest, along with all what felt like these strange sights were towering trees with a color that could only be described as changing constantly into other dark or semi-dark colors due to the shading of them. Knocked out of breath by a scenery that could only be shown in fairy tales he couldn''t help but dumbly look at his surroundings that painted its own picture for him, hearing the chirp of small bugs and a small wind that brought out the smell of his surroundings, a smell of greenery and ancientness worked through his brain bringing him back to his body to continue to look for something that could help him figure out his situation. Mike searched frantically with his eyes looking for something to be of help to him, but try as he might all there was, was a dim and mysterious atmosphere surrounding this forest. "There''s got to be someway I can get out out of this place." with what felt like a small terrified whisper to himself out loud Mike surveyed his surroundings once more as he slowly hobbled up from sitting like that for too long As Mike looked for a direction that could take him somewhere, he found that every direction looked the exact same with the only difference being the flora. Picking up his shattered courage he timidly walked in a single direction searching every second, scared that he may lose his way. Timidly, Mike walked onto a small stream. This stream gave Mike a small sense of relief as it gave him some hope for the future as he wouldn''t die of thirst. As Mike managed to sit next to the stream properly he looked timidly at his surroundings scared, making sure nothing was here he scooped up some water to see it was crystal clear. With big drinks Mike drank as much as he could until he felt satisfied. Having had his fill of water Mike started to bring up his thoughts again. This whole situation was impossible, what with waking up in a forest that didn''t look like anything he''d heard of on earth. Unless he died, someone or something had pulled him into this place giving him a huge headache, though he doubted that someone could put him somewhere off the planet. "What should I do know?" He whispered to himself a habit he had before ever coming to this place. "I should stay around this area or go find something to eat " Mike said aloud no longer whispering to himself. With a new plan and still a lot of fear Mike began the start of an adventure he''d always dreamed of even if he himself didn''t know it was. Chapter 2: Is This A Game!? With these thoughts in mind Mike both felt and heard a growl come from his stomach. ''I hadn''t eaten since yesterday''. Ready to find something that could satiate his hunger, he began bemusing his options. As he thought of his options he stopped, recalling everything that had happened so far he shivered the only thing he had seen out here so far were plants and bugs, he hadn''t met any animal to speak of. "Are there no animals in this forest?" That couldn''t be, this is an ecosystem, the last time he had learned anything about this was in high school but it didn''t take an ecologist to know that there should be animals around this area here due to there being a stream "Unless something happened here there should be at least some animals around here" "Well I have only been here for an hour or so I think so it''s not unusual for me to not see an animal." "It''s not like I know the first thing about hunting an animal anyway" with these thoughts in mind Mike continued to walk around the area to check for anything that looked even somewhat decently edible. ? With an hour passing and the hunger growing Mike couldn''t take it, he had to get something to eat soon or there would be bigger problems for him besides not finding any animals that want to kill him. Walking further along downstream away from the source and skimming the area looking for something to eat, Mike came upon a weird path that seemed to lead to a clearing on the other side of the stream, even skimming would show this path due to its obvious showings and missing of trees down a little farther of it. "What could be over there that has its own clearing? Maybe someone built a house over there?" with that urging him on, Mike quickly jumped over the stream and headed towards the clearing, his hunger masking any semblance of doubt to stop him. Walking upon the path Mike felt and heard something strange, or the lack there of, the bugs were no longer chirping it was completely quiet except for the occasional crunching of leaves or gust of wind near him. Even with some more apprehension Mike continued on thinking about the person he might be able to find in the clearing. On the crux of hitting the clearing Mike stopped he saw exactly what was in the clearing, it was something he was hoping for though it wasn''t what he expected, It was an apple tree but something felt off settling about it, it was in its own clearing, no other plant besides the moss as the floor would dare go near it, the apples were strange as well they were shaped like a box and from the glow from the stars they were bright red almost verging on pink, However Mike didn''t care about these things as soon as he got in range of that tree he smelled the fruit, Mike threw caution to the wind not caring about anything else other than eating some of that fruit.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Once Mike was closer to the tree he saw the way the tree was as well. All the bark on the tree was a light golden color reflecting the light once you got closer to it, the leaves on it were a shade of white that didn''t look exactly white either, the entire tree was shorter than the other trees but it felt like it was looming over Mike, almost like it was laughing at him. With no semblance of caution in mind, Mike as quickly as his aged body could climbed the tree and grabbed as many apples as he could find. Doing so for about 15 minutes. Once Mike came down and rested looking a bit tired and worse for ware he looked at his spoils. "5 weird box shaped apples, huh?" as if not being hungry Mike held one of the apples weighing it in his hands for a moment on the verge of throwing it away, however when hunger ran over reasoning, Mike took a bite and tasted it. "This tastes...quite plain actually" being too hungry Mike ate the entire apple, however as he was finishing it, soon he started to regret doing that. "What if that thing was poisonous I don''t know where I am and earth certainly doesn''t have natural boxed shape apples and this color tree or color leaves." as if to laugh at himself Mike felt a surge of pain shoot through his body, collapsing like a dead man Mike could do nothing about the horrendous pain racking his body. It felt like people were skewering him with swords and scraping his bones a little bit at a time with forks. All of his bones were being broken and repaired only for the torture to continue. Any man would go absolutely crazy going through this pain. For what felt like hours Mike laid there in sweat, tears, and a lot of grime as he couldn''t even scream over his pain he went through many small flashes of unconsciousness only to be woken up again by the pain hitting him at an all new level. After it was all over, Mike immediately passed out. The feeling of the air hitting his skin awoke him slowly. The raggedy thing called a suit draped over his body tightly. The skin that was once slightly loose and wrinkled had gained an all new sheen. The molted and dilapidated face had regressed back with a head of new blackish brown sheened hair, all of one color. "What just happened?!" Mike felt his new skin crawl as he looked at the brand new look he had been dawned with. The recent scars of torture were still fresh in his mind making him scared of it happening again. Again, as if someone or something was mocking him he heard a soft dinging sound echo throughout his brain. Looking at the ground there appeared a strange occurrence. he was looking at a boxed screen with a background matching his current environment. Mike felt his delusional and craziness from the torture was not over. Everything was flashing by too fast in order to comprehend what was going on. { Explorers Log Unlocked : CLAIM } Looking at this beautiful floating screen in front of him it felt like a dream, who would ever in their right mind have this in front of them without it being future technology? As if automatically looking at that big button with the words "CLAIM" on it made his finger gravitate towards it, he clicked it. This push caused the box to disappear instead a bright light flashed showing another box closely resembling the first one but this one had different content. with an empty window in the middle used for most likely writing records down, to the left of the writing area were tabs some saying: Materials, Fauna, Flora, and Ores and some more that had the words blurred out. Atop the middle window used for writing was his occupation and the name of this thing in bold white letters ''The Explorers Log''. "Explorer?" Mike worded out quietly pondering on what it meant he was supposed to do, beside it resided the number 0 meaning he was a level 0 Explorer. Chapter 3: Jack In The Box? Mike in his life couldn''t count the amount of times he had ever felt both shock, fear, and strangeness all at the same time since he never had, but ever since being here he''d felt it at least half a dozen times, This time being no different. Almost mechanically Mike sat down on the ground in front of the tree and apples staring at the screen that summed up what he just gotten was. "An Explorer''s Log?" star dazed Mike stared at the screen trying to figure out if he was either going crazy or if this was really happening to him. With a hard pinch and a small sound of pain Mike knew he wasn''t dreaming this up. "What should I do with this, if it''s real?" With almost a plea in his voice Mike moved his eyes all over the screen looking for some way to interact with it. Finally with a touch on the tab button ''Flora'' Mike saw the screen change to highlight that tab, along with this there was a magnifying glass in the middle boxed area of the screen. Under the magnifying class were words that read out: "Please select the object you would like to scan and log" in cursive white writing. Not knowing what was really going on Mike tried to sort out all the information he had in his head to figure out what he should do, and how all of this had happened. "Where am I? Some sort of fairy land?" All of these things and sceneries popping up around him with his thoughts made his head spin on the idea that he was so far away from everything he thought was right, and all of these things crumbled his worlds reasoning. With a sigh escaping Mike, after a few minutes of rest he unwillingly accepted a little bit more that he was stuck in this giant fairy land, and with a look around at what he should do, he looked at the apple of which there was four with one being eaten by him, which had caused horrible pain for him for hours, and made his body feel more energized and youthful. Grabbing this strange fruit and its smell almost making him take a bite out of it, he put it in front of the screen ready to let it scan the apple. With the apple in front of the screen a prompt came up in front of the apple. "Would you like to scan this item?" [Yes]/[No] Clicking yes the apple burst into a multitude of strange bright symbols, which made Mike jump out of fear, it started flowing into the screen where there was a progress bar showing how much longer it''d take until it was done scanning the item.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Taking what felt like ages to finish it seemed like either this thing was really slow or this apple was really good. Once finished, the screen reverted back into what it originally was but instead of the magnifying glass taking up most of the middle screen, it appeared as a small icon in the upper right corner and in the middle screen was something new, a ''log'' appeared on the screen with a flashing ''New'' on the very right side of it in red writing, to the very left of this red writing were words in white that said ''Jack Apple''. Clicking this rectangular box caused the screen to showcase a picture of the apple that Mike scanned earlier along with an extensive amount of writing to the right and underneath it to showcase what it was and its effects. --Jack Apple: A Jack Apple is a squared lightly pink colored fruit, resembling an apple in some key areas. These fruits are very volatile. The reason they have the name ''Jack Apple'' is due to their nature of being random. They have and always will be random in what they do anytime, anywhere. The could become anything or do anything. An example of this is turning into a black hole and destroying the very world it is on, or it could become a treasured and valued material used in making very important items. This fruit has always been laughed at for its comical name, however any who have seen, in person, their true power will never laugh at these dangerous fruits. Any who are foolish enough to eat one are most definitely dead. Environment: Any Effects:Unknown Danger Level:MAXIMUM Rarity: Epic Taking a minute to process this information, Mike froze he didn''t dare to toss the apple that reappeared into his lap after he clicked on the ''Jack Apple'' box in fear that he might cause something that would be a faster death than blinking. Time seemed to crawl slowly for Mike as he stared so intently at the square apple that he could burn a hole through it with a gaze of fear and trepidation. ''Thinking about it these apples hadn''t done anything so far even after picking them so maybe these ones are defective'' in a small whisper in his mind Mike felt an almost invisible hope wash over him. With the smallest and, what Mike felt as, the most delicate moves he could, he moved the apple off his lap and on to the ground in front of him with the other apples. However Fate loves to play ticks on most. The apple that had just been set down by Mike trembled. Its outer edges growing slightly bulged as it started to shake violently. The soft white leaf that adorned its top started to sparkle and fizz like a fuse as it slowly shortened under a burning fire. Mike froze. The fight or flight mechanism in Mikes brain no longer functioned. Sometimes having too much information was the worst mistake someone could ever make. The only thing Mike could see was a looming, almost towering pink boxed shape apple as it slowly ticked away. The scenes of his life slowly played in the background. When the square apple turned a dark crimson red and a pulse that seemed to push the area around it, Mike froze over and fainted, falling on his back with his pupils rolling up into his head. Once Mike had fainted the apple seemed to quicken its pace. Before the long the beautifully adorned leaf was gone. As it left the deep crimson bloated apple slowly stopped in its rigorous motion. As it eased down it slowly faded into a scene of beautifully white specs, flowing with the wind. Mike fainted, not knowing that happened and still twitches, scared for his life in his sleep. Chapter 4: The Dream and The Crystal When people dream they dream of what they desire, or the happier times in their life or, of times they wished could be brought back and changed. After Mike had fainted from fear, he watched his life go by in his heart, looking at every single important thing that had happened to him up until that moment of the ''explosion'' he knew his life had been nothing more than stale, something that everybody dreads, a life that no one truly wanted; even Mike didn''t want to live such an uneventful life. He had dreams all the time as a teenager, of being whisked away to a magical world of amazing sites and creatures only told of in books, yet the second he got that wish the only thing he wanted more was to go home to his old boring life of working at a desk job that he''d done for over 20 years. However what Mike wanted most of all was to see his parents, granted they''d been dead and gone for 15 years and, like all lives like his, he was so busy for such a long time he never got to spend a final goodbye with them. He had missed that warmth, like a soldier on the battlefield about to die crying for his mother one last time before death. Maybe they didn''t treat him with the most love, and they were very strict on him at some points in his life, but they still loved him dearly and that''s the most important part about being a parent. While Mike dreamed of a different time and place, the apples didn''t remain still, these apples were all volatile and anything could happen to these 3 apples. One of the apples a couple minutes into Mikes rest flew off, this apple had grown a pair of soft white dove wings and flew away to an unknown destination. The second apple had a portal suck it in, from a glimpse into the portal, the other side looked chaotic beyond proportions with random particles appearing and dispersing millions of times over every single second. The last apple sat there with its pink almost red sheen slowly morphed into a crystal in the shape of a tear. This crystal radiated a aura of purity and holiness. After what was just a little over 40 minutes, Mike awoke with eyes fully open and a soft moan escape his lips, Mike felt even more drained and tired than when before he passed out and just wanted to close his eyes for good. The feeling in his body slowly came back as the ever shining stars brought light to his surroundings. With a swift movement of both body and mind Mike had realized that he wasn''t dead, but also that he was still near this cursed tree.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Looking at his surroundings it all seemed to be a dream that he had conjured up. The only thing that even somewhat proved that it wasn''t was the tear shaped crystal the size of his hand. Picking it up, and with some realization, Mike realized one of those apples must have became this crystal, while the other three must have done something else, maybe even that one that was about to explode popped into a crystal. With a quick search of his memories over the past hour Mike knew he still had that ''Explorers Log'' as he called it, and one of the tabs was ''Materials'' maybe he could use that one to figure what that apple became. Luckily it was somewhat safe to be in this area still since Mike didn''t miss any of those Jack Apples when climbing the tree. Though Mike was kind of scared since it was one of those apples that had become this, but it didn''t look or feel dangerous like those apples did. "Log" said aloud Mike felt like an idiot, but with a short surprise the screen magically appeared in front of him, with that same beautiful background, but it seemed different. The Explorer''s Log: Name: Mike Age: 19 Explorer: Level 2 This part of the screen was new, and with a line under this was what was originally there with nothing new about it. A series of tabs on the left hand side of the screen still selected on ''flora'' with ''The Jack Apple'' still there in the middle box, and on the right hand upper corner was the magnifying glass. However, what truly perplexed Mike was that it said his age was 19. Mike was over 40 years old since before coming to this world. "Was it the Jack Apple that made me go through so much pain yet also made my skin really smooth and me feel really nice?" The thought dawned on him that, that apple had let Mike regain his youth and vigor. "The Log did say that it could do anything, so you''d assume that''s also possible" With excitement Mike had forgotten about the crystal as he looked at his body marveling at how good he looked and strong he felt. After finally calming down over his new revelations after about 10 minutes of jumping and moving around, Mike moved back over to the tear shaped crystal. When examining it the crystal gave off a sense of purity, like it shouldn''t be touched. Mike moved his tabs over to ''Material'' and when he did the magnifying glass again took over the middle screen again, because he hadn''t had anything in this tab yet. Clicking on the magnifying glass with the crystal in front of the screen, it had asked him if he wanted to scan it. Would you like to scan this item? [Yes]/[No] Clicking Yes, the crystal burst into a multitude of strange symbol like lights, but unlike with the apple that was done relatively fast as compared to this, this time it moved so slowly it was like he was using a 1970''s computer to load modern games. This crystal took so long to try and finish that Mike didn''t bother with sitting there and staring at it, waiting for it to be finished because although the Jack Apple took over an hour, this one looked like it''d take the whole day. However before Mike could get a sense on what he should do next in order to get away from this tree, he was alerted to another window popping up to the right of The Explorers Log. {Congratulations on reaching Level 5! Here is a gift for reaching your first of many more milestones to come! : CLAIM} Chapter 5: The Guardian Although Mike had seen this before he still couldn''t get used to the surprises this Explorers Log always gave him. When Mike awoke from his stupor after a short second of thinking, he pushed the ''CLAIM'' button eager to see what would happen. With a resplendent glowing burst, the box exploded into a multitude glowing words that flowed around Mike like a river before stopping in front of him to form sentences he could read. ''What type of Guardian would you like to have?'' [Swordsman] [Mage] [Archer] [???] A heavy radiance surrounded these words that appeared in front of Mike, as if to show their importance to the world. After this had happened so many times, Mike was getting used to this level of showiness by the Log and was almost unfazed by it, almost. Gaining his bearing Mike assessed his options here, as to which one would be the best pick for him. His beating heart wouldn''t calm down whenever he looked at his options. "If I had to choose it''d be Mage, but the unknown one is the one that draws me towards it." "After all from all the novels I''ve read point at that one being the best option." Mike picked it quite fast, not really giving himself time to question his logic. As Mike stared at his choice he kind of regretted doing that after all this wasn''t a novel, but real life. With his choice the surrounding words turned back into the flowing rivers and coalesced into the question marks. As the chosen option was getting large and brighter its form slowly changed into that of a ball. As it was on the vestiges of being done a small popping sound happened, and the ball of large divine light popped like a bubble, and what appeared afterwards was...a ''little'' golden bird. Staring at the slightly under 6 foot tall bird Mike couldn''t help but marvel at it. It was really cute seeming as it slowly walked towards him. Once it was directly in front of the frozen Mike it started rubbing its head on him quite affectionately making large cooing sounds. It nearly pushed Mike over were it not for his new found strength he''d be on the floor by now. Looking at the golden bird, Mike pulled out The Explorers Log to scan it. Once it was in front of Mike a new window had appeared beside the original one.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. There was the normal window, the now big bold letters on the top that said ''Explorers Log'' with his information below it and now being level 5 instead of 2, with a line under that was all normal the left hand sided tabs with ''Ores'' still highlighted along with the middle box still scanning that weird crystal. Beside this window on a completely new window had the word ''Guardian'' in golden cursive on the top of the window with a line and under that was his new Guardians information. Guardians: Name: None Species: Roc Level: 0 Looking back over to his main window Mike clicked ''Fauna'' and then the Middle screen had the big magnifying glass take up a lot of it. The progress bar shifted into the lower right hand corner in order to allow Mike to scan the golden bird. Clicking the magnifying glass, Mike looked at his new guardian. Thinking of it The Explorers Log pushed for the new found scanning process as it quickly started the progress. As the bar was increasing quite rapidly, Mike didn''t really have time to do anything else as the bar was almost done after barely even starting it. After finally being done after only a few seconds of waiting, the prompt of a new log appeared on the middle screen saying ''Roc'' with the fiery words ''New'' next to it. Clicking on it in anticipation Mike got a picture in the top left corner of the same bird staring at him outs --Roc: A Roc is a mountainous bird of vast power, these birds are fiercely territorial and thus will protect their area with their lives, these birds are also very loyal and will fight to the death for what they believe in. The intelligence of a Roc outstrips humans by quite a bit, however their intelligence is gradual so they grow into it. A Roc at birth is relatively small as compared to how big it will be at adulthood, however they grow very quickly and are able to reach adulthood only after 500 years of their almost 1 million year old lives. A Roc has its feathers immediately after birth so they are able to fly as soon as they are born. A Rocs feathers are as hard as diamond at birth and grow stronger the longer they are alive. Rocs generally cap at about the size of a mountain upon adulthood, however there have been exceptions. The talons of a Roc can slice through most materials and only grow sharper the more they are used. This species is virtually extinct as the birth rate for a Roc is generally one every few thousand years. Environment: Sky Effects: N/A Danger Level: MAXIMUM Rarity: Legendary Once done reading through the information of this Guardians species, Mike now understood why it seemed so affectionate towards him as it was rubbing its head against his open palm like a cat. Mike thanked his lucky stars for giving him such a life line and allowing him to live after today with a powerful creature by his side to protect him from danger as he explored what was in store for him. Wondering how much command he had over his Guardian Mike decided to test out its skills and see how powerful it was since it was obviously still a hatchling. But before he could get to that Mike realized he hadn''t even named this beautiful golden bird yet. "What should I name you?" In an excited voice out loud Mike looked at this cute creature with eyes of a child, as the bird started jumping around in joy in knowing it was about to be named. " How about...Goldey?" Think up one Mike looked at him and with a look of disgust the bird shook its head at such a simple and crude name. "Hmm I don''t have any name in particular for you" "I know! I remember for a class in college I had to do a study of Hungary''s culture and they had a symbol of a bird of prey they called Turul, how about that?" Seemingly satisfied with the name the golden bird nodded in agreement to the name, and from hence forth is called Turul. Chapter 6: Testing and The Hunt As Mike stared at his newly named Guardian with a keen sense of accomplishment for thinking of such a good name for it, he wanted to figure out just how much Turul understood him and how powerful it was as a hatchling. "Try moving the earth around" Mike said that as he surveyed the surroundings and realized he was still next to this cursed tree. "Wait! Let''s move to a different area, I don''t want to do this around this awful thing" Mike had said that while looking toward the tree before Turul could start to indicate that he wanted to be as far away from it as possible. With a nod Turul and Mike moved away back towards where Mike came from, the stream. As Mike walked away from the clearing with Turul he looked down on his clothing which now looked more like what a hobo would wear more than anything else, but it''d make do, however the one problem he had still was that he stunk badly. When finally making it out of the small path they had made it back to the stream where Mike badly wanted to wash himself off of this stench after smelling it the entire way back. Looking around and not seeing anything, Mike stripped off to his under garments and soaked the clothes in water before putting them out to dry then, he walked into the clear stream that felt pretty pleasant to walk in with a somewhat cold feeling. Mike scrubbed his body with water even though he sadly didn''t have soap to use with it, it would at least alleviate him of the horrible stench he possessed. While doing such things Turul stood off to the side keeping guard over Mike as he was not paying any attention to his surroundings after he had gotten in. Fortunately or unfortunately no animals, not even a large fish seemed to be around where Mike was so they''d have to go upstream more in order to hopefully find somewhere to eat and sleep for the night. Getting out of the water Mike had finally realized that he wouldn''t be able to sunbathe to get rid of all the water, after all this place barely had enough lighting to light up the surroundings let alone to warm his skin, as Mike looked around at anything that could dry him off, he realized he could just get Turul to blow wind at him in order to dry him off, though crude it''d work, it''d also let him test out how much control Turul had over his own power. "Turul can you understand me?" Staring at Turul, Mike wouldn''t make the mistake of thinking that he could innately understand complicated demands from him, though it was shown earlier he at least knew what he was saying. Nodding at Mike, this golden bird seemed to be wise for being born not even an hour ago. "Try to gently blow dry me off with wind Turul" Once again nodding at Mike, Turul sat up and closed his eyes with a faint power starting to rise around the area they were in, then with little warning a small gale storm that swept Mike off his feet came around knocking him into a tree as he held on for dear life. After Turul stopped hurriedly, Mike dazed fir a moment quickly looked at Turul only to see him looking slightly embarrassed over not being able to control his power that well at all, Mike dreaded and knew there were going to be a lot of moments like this one where he was shocked by how powerful this Mythical beast was. "At least i''m dry now, though I look like I went through a wind tunnel" with a slight discomfort Mike hobbled out of the tree before getting his bearings and smoothing out his hair and putting on his clothing that was found after a minute of searching, that was also dry ''mysteriously''. "Well if you have so little control over your wind element I don''t dare try out the earth element in case you cause an earthquake that shakes up the whole forest." Shivering a little at what that might look like Mike focused his attention on other things, like what he was supposed to eat tonight and where he should sleep with Turul. While staring at his Guardian Mike thought over his last couple hours of life that had felt like a lifetime ago since he''d been here, he realized he''d completely forgotten about that crystal that he scanned before he got Turul. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. "Log" pulling up the screen Mike looked, then clicked on the tab ''Ores''. Looking to see if the bar was done, it was almost finished so Mike decided to wait a few more minutes in preparation for whatever this crystal was. Once done it showed up in typical fashion. Looking at it, it was named ''Gods Tears''. Looking at the holy sounding name Mike clicked on it. --Gods Tears: ????????? (Insufficient Level) Mike immediately became confused, although he had only had this thing for only a couple hours it never failed to identify what something was. It gave him 3 levels for scanning it but it wasn''t enough to know what it was? "Well i''ll just hold on to it until it allows for me to see it''s information, something like the jack apples situation of being like that is probably very few things." Once done with his monologue and pocketing the crystal, Mike looked at the now almost unfamiliar scene around him where all kinds of rocks, leafs, and twigs and even a couple knocked over small trees were strewn about everywhere with Turul now beside him resting with him as well, looking at his own power and gaining a sense of arrogance for being able to do that while trying his best to hold back. Sighing Mike held back the intention to tease or to rebuke Turul. "Hey Turul, can you smell or get a sense for any animals at all that we can eat tonight?" Mike had quickly realized that Turul was his life line for most of everything and that without him he wouldn''t fare well here, so he''d use all the advantages he''d get in order too survive and look at even more beautiful landscapes like this one and eat good food and collect strange and cool objects. Once asked Turul looked around and narrowed his eyes a bit as well as sniffed looking in a couple of directions, then he pointed at an angle across the stream to Mikes left. Nodding at Turul and rubbing his head and neck ,which Turul seemed to enjoy, Mike and Turul set off for the hunt for food. Walking along this angled way Mike let Turul take the lead since only he knew where they were going exactly, funnily enough though Turul didn''t fly at all and stayed near Mike since he was supposed to guard him after all, but Turul was quick on his feet so quick in fact Mike had to kind of jog to run after him. They walked and jogged for what felt like forever, no wonder Mike didn''t find any animals if this was the closest one to them that they could eat it was miles away from where he came into this place. While walking along Mike looked at the beautiful scenery change plants a lot , though the trees and the sky stayed the same they were still breathtaking just looking at them, There was even a beautiful rose which changed to lighter and darker shades of purple and blue when in different lighting to which Mike scanned and it only took about 5 minutes. --Twilight Rose: A plant indigenous to very rare biomes though they have no special effects. They are also called ''Twilight''s Eve'' to show their beauty. This rose comes in a flashy showing of multiple shades of purple or blue based on lighting. Environment: Twilight Forest Effects: None Danger Level: None Rarity:Uncommon Although it didn''t give him anything it still added more to his Log which might come in handy. Finally with a grumbling stomach from both, they arrived near an area that seemed like what had passed Mike and Turul during the walk over a ''regular'' part of this strange forest. Turul stopped Mike then proceeded to use one of his claws to point at the ground multiple times while looking Mike in the eyes. Then Mike sat down confused as to what Turul was going to do. Nodding at Mike in approval Turul then backed away from him, and stretched his wings out and started to flap and fly away in the direction in which Mike faced as short bursts of wind blew back Mikes hair. Waiting for about 5 minutes is all it took to see Turul come back to Mike and from within his clutches laid an animal to eat. Chapter 7: The First Challenge As Turul flew closer on his powerful wings and was about to land, Mike saw what animal it was that Turul had brought, a deer. Once Turul landed near Mike about 5 feet away with powerful gusts coming off him from him flapping his wings, Mike was able to get a closer look at this animal. It looked exactly as any regular deer would with no altercations on it. So Mike decided to go on ahead and scan it so that he would know exactly what it was. With a scan that took about 5-10 minutes Mike was able to figure out what exactly this deer was. --Mana Deer: A deer with a very small amount of magic, though not enough to use actual magic, it brings about benefits for the deer''s strength and health. This deer looks like a regular deer except for the dark splotch on its lower abdomen where the mana is concentrated. Environment: Forest Effects:N/A Danger Level: Moderate Rarity:Uncommon Looking at the deer some more it didn''t have any sort of laceration or wound on it, however it looks like Turul killed it by snapping its neck. Acknowledging Turul''s strength Mike began to go around gathering limbs of trees that had fallen to the ground and snapping off lower hanging ones in order to get something close to a fire going, which would have to be Mike''s job and hopefully he could do this from what little practice he had in the Boys Scouts when he was 12. After picking a large amount of suitable sticks for fire making Mike walked back to where the deer was and plopped all the sticks down next to it. Racking his brain for how he was supposed to do it was very difficult from body standards it would only have been 7 years, but from actual standards it was 28 years ago since he''d done something like that which was a really long time ago. Luckily there were very famous videos on youtube that he''d watch in his off time that had such information or he''d really be clueless on how to even start. "Something like a tent shape?" Try as he might Mike still had no clue on really what to do, after all he was an office worker not a person who goes out into the wild and explores. "Something about tinder as well, how do I make that?" Mike looked at all the limbs he had and was clueless on how to make a fire, thinking it over tinder was a mesh of flammable material so maybe getting these sticks and cutting the bark off of it might make something for him, Mike was a problem solver such problems with easy solutions were easy to solve for him. Thinking through such things the memories of Boy Scouts started to come back to him. There was one problem though, Mike didn''t have a knife in order to cut the bark off the wood he had. Looking around for any way in which he could do this, Mike looked at Turul who was sitting somewhat close by near the deer keeping watch to make sure nothing happened, as he looked at Turul he stared at his talons and thought of an idea that might work. "Hey Turul, can you come over here and shave off the bark from these pieces of wood?" Once Turul heard Mike ask that he walked over and looked at the somewhat thick limb that Mike held in his hand. Turul pulled the limb from out of Mikes hand with his talons and stuck one end into the floor, then he took one of his sharp talons then proceeded to shave of delicate yet long shaves of wood off the limb making a pile in front of it. Once Turul finished with one he went on to the next one, then Mike picked up the tree limb to put into a pile for the fire, however he realized how almost soft it felt, you wouldn''t have guessed this from the hard bark on the outside. As Turul finished about a piles worth of shaving on the ground he had done this for 4-5 pieces of wood. Mike realized that instead of using the bark he could use the soft inner pieces of wood as a mesh by pulling it apart and making fiber out of it. Once he thought of this Mike put it into action taking one of the thicker and longer pieces of soft wood, Mike started to pinch and pull the fiber apart making what he wanted, Once finished with it he proceeded to the next one doing this for about 3 of them was all was needed for now. Done with this, it had been about an hour since Mike had even seen the deer and he was hungry, so he was ready to start the fire, if he knew how to of course. "Maybe rub two sticks together?" Mike vaguely remembered something about a long log, and a sturdy limb then making an indent in the bigger piece then rubbing it to make a charcoal for the mesh, but he didn''t know how exactly to do that well. With this method in mind Mike started to proceed with it, Mike looked around for a long log, once found he brought it back to the base of operations. Taking this log he asked for Turul to make a shallow line in it for his next process. Using a small but sturdy piece of wood Mike started to rub the end into the wood lightly, then as it was smoking, Mike started to excitedly pick up speed and put in more pressure, it started smoking more and making bits and pieces of burnt wood near the front, putting more pressure and speed into it finally resulted in a small piece of charcoal to be where all the burnt pieces of wood was. Tipping the large log over into the mesh for the charcoal to start smoking, Mike started to rub the mesh around the charcoal and breath into it periodically, even if he was a white collar he knew how not to smother a flame. Once it started to smoke a lot he breathed heavily into it causing a fire to start afraid to lose it he gently set it down on the ground, then taking the pieces of shaving, he held onto the end and allowed the fire to start to burn at it and slowly added more and more of it. After a period of about 5 minutes and finally putting full sticks into the fire Mike had a full blown fire ready. Jumping around and yelling in excitement over beating this major hurtle, Turul joined him in his happiness, even though he didn''t really know why Mike had done it, he just knew it was needed. After calming down, Mike made sure that the fire would be able to go on its own for a while then looked towards the deer. "We don''t have to skin it we just need enough meat to eat in order to be full for now." With this plan in mind Mike pulled Turul over with him too the deer where they''d have to pull out all the organs so it wouldn''t stink. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Getting Turul to slice open his stomach was the easiest part of this, it''s what came afterwards that was the problem, it plainly stunk and Mike had never done this before. Pulling off his shirt and getting close but gagging and dry heaving was what mostly stopped Mike in his tracks from continuing on with this plan. Pulling himself together in an area where it didn''t smell like rot, Mike once again set off on what he needed to do. Finally after what felt like ages to Mike, he started to pull out the organs he could feel, though the sensation was disgusting he couldn''t rely on Turul to do everything for him, in order to get by in this world he''d have to man up a little bit. As Mike had also never done this before he had no idea what he was doing really he just remembered hearing this from someone he knew that hunted a lot. Pulling out the heart and lungs was the easiest since those were generally in the same location for most animals, though he had more problems with the lungs since they were a lot bigger than he had thought they''d be. Pulling out some more organs that Mike couldn''t even identify was all he could do before running away from the area trying to stop himself from throwing up what little he still had in his stomach. Finally after ages of doing this disgusting thing the smell and sensation began to not bother Mike so much and he managed to get out all the stuff he could feel. Once done he was soaked in deer blood, he had forgotten to drain it of blood before he started, but that didn''t bother him, Mike had started to gain his appetite again and it was screaming at him to get some food in his stomach, even though he just did something really disgusting. Having Turul slice off a piece of inner meat from the deer''s stomach and shave off a lot of the fat from it, Mike grabbed a big stick put the meat on it and put it over the fire ready for his first feast after it was done. Sitting with Turul beside him Mike was looking at the surroundings and the fire that he had started and realized, he really had survived this far, he was lucky in gaining Turul as a companion and being able to survive this long was almost completely because of him. Yet still looking at Turul, Mike realized he hadn''t eaten any of the deer yet. "Turul why aren''t you eating any of the deer? Or do you prefer your meat cooked as well?" Shaking his head Turul stood up and then proceeded to eat all the organs that Mike had pulled out earlier, once done he sat back down next to Mike with as much as a content expression a bird could have. ''Was he waiting for me to tell him that he could eat?'' Thinking such things was a first for Mike, most pets don''t have that level of control especially as babies. "Turul you don''t have to wait for me to tell you that you can eat if that was the reason that you did so, go on ahead and eat when you''re hungry since you''d most likely be the one to catch the animals that were going to eat." Nodding Turul once again closed his eyes and rested next to the fire and its warmth, sure that there was no dangers around. After flipping the piece of meat over a couple of times after about 30 minutes of waiting with a rumbling stomach, it started changing to a brownish color and releasing a smell that made Mike really hungry. Once sure that the steak was done, Mike grabbed the steak and was about to bite into it before realizing that it was still pipping hot and would need a minute to cool down. Making sure that it was cool enough to bite into without scalding his mouth, Mike tore into the meat, though any modern person would think it''s too tough and it tasted about as good as chewing rubber, Mike was so hungry he thought it tasted like his mothers cooking, and he would bite into it with a new found strength every time he swallowed, and ended up finishing the big steak in a matter of about 5 minutes. Laying back, Mike had never felt so content in his life, he never realized that working so hard for your food could be so rewarding. No wonder our ancestors never needed spices to have good food, after a full day of doing stuff like that they''d be able to eat their meat barely cooked if needed and still find it tantalizing. While laying there Mike stared at the sky full of the bright glowing stars that never changed, it was always so beautiful to look at, as he was doing so a soft dinging sound, like a bell, made a noise throughout his ear to which The Explorers Log appeared before him. What laid before him was the same old screen he''d always seen except for on the log ''Mana Deer'' there was a new word ''Updated'' in soft blue text to the right of the words appeared showing that there was something new in it. --Mana Deer: A deer with a very small amount of magic, though not enough to use actual magic, it brings about benefits for the deer''s strength and health. This deer looks like any other deer except for the dark splotch on its lower abdomen where the mana is concentrated. When the meat of this animal is consumed it brings about a temporary increase in strength and airflow. This deer is very rare in certain environments due to not all fawns being Mana oriented, and instead being regular deer after birth. Environment: Forest Effects:N/A Danger Level: Moderate Rarity:Uncommon Looking at this gave Mike a new tidbit about the Explorers Log, going into more detail with something would give it an ''update'' of sorts on the information. It didn''t take a genius to realize this it was that it wasn''t plainly obvious since The Explorers Log already gave a lot of information when doing a scan before looking into it. Would that mean that the more he looked into something the more information he''d get out of it? However there''d have to be a limit to how much information he''d get out of something eventually right? Like he''d dug through the inner workings of this ''Mana Deer'' and ate some of its meat yet this is all the new information that was given so it''d be safe to assume that that''s all the information he''d get out of the ''Mana Deer''. Thinking of such thing Mike laid back on his back with his ragged shirt under his head and stared at the stars, very tired from all that had happened since he''d been here and wondering what would happen next tomorrow, Mike fell asleep. Chapter 8: The Fight of Two Monsters Sleeping had never came so naturally to Mike, except for maybe when he was young, he''d always had problems with sleeping since he was constantly stressed and working, he was just lucky enough to keep most of his hair at his age, yet he had the most peaceful sleep in a place most likely filled with danger that he''d only been in for a handful of hours. While sleeping Turul still kept watch, though he also slept he''s a Roc which is a creature that can do just about anything it wanted so there was never a need to worry about safety. Mike slept for hours, though you can never tell what time of the day or night it was since it was always the same in the sky, a resplendent glow of a trillion stars that lights the entire forest and whatever lays beyond it. Waking up naturally was something that everyone enjoyed, and it was the same for Mike, however once awoken Mike panicked for a moment looking at his surroundings in confusion before the memories of yesterday flooded through his mind calming him down somewhat. Sitting up and stretching while looking around, Mike saw a scenery to which he fell asleep to yesterday with almost no difference besides the fire now being gone. Looking at Turul who was also shuffling about and waking up Mike looked over on what he should do today. "What exactly should I do if I want us to survive?" "We need to level up both Turul, and myself in order to figure out what''s going on so the safest bet right now would be to find animals or monsters that Turul can fight and I can scan, then walking about I''ll scan whatever could be deemed interesting." Saying this aloud Mike was ready to start the day. Thinking over this idea and planning out how exactly he should go about this were two different things. Mike wanted Turul to fly up and scan the area for anything interesting and they would head towards that location to figure if there was anything that could be useful for what Mike wanted. Putting these plans into action, once awoken, Mike asked Turul to fly up and scan the area for anything that could allow Turul or Mike to level up. Nodding at Mike, Turul unfurled his long wings and flapped mightily bringing about a strong gust of wind and headed towards the sky. As Turul was searching the area, Mike did the same for the place around him, looking for anything interesting he could scan. After about a minute and still not finding anything Mike looked towards the trees that surrounded him, he''d never scanned them and thought now would be a perfect time to do so. Opening The Explorers Log, Mike set the tab to ''Flora'' then he proceeded to scan the tree closest to him with but a thought. --Dark Wood Tree: A Dark Wood Tree is a plant born in dark environments that has adapted to getting most of its nutrients from the ground and thus has very little need for the growth of leaves. This tree stands at staggering heights with a thick body that would take many people to wrap around and a coloration that blends with other dark colors. This tree has a very hard outer bark for protection, but a like wise soft inner wood under the bark. Environment: Dark Areas Effects:None Danger Level:None Rarity:Common Scanning this tree only took a minute to finish. Wondering if he could also get any ''Update'' for this as well Mike decided to search around the tree for anything notable to find. Looking around the tree and touching up on it, Mike did find something notable, there seemed to be a bunch of small ants at least hundreds of them all walking up and down on this tree. As Mike figured that out another soft dinging sound of a bell rang in his ears, bringing up the Log he clicked on the updated Dark Wood Tree. --Dark Wood Tree: A Dark Wood Tree is a plant born in dark environments that has adapted to getting most of its nutrients from the ground and thus has very little need for the growth of leaves. This tree stands at staggering heights with a thick body that would take many people to wrap around and a coloration that blends with other dark colors. This tree has a very hard outer bark for protection, but a like wise soft inner wood under the bark. This tree forms a mutualistic relationship with certain bug species in order too gain more nutrients, since it is not able to gain all that it needs from the ground. Environment: Dark Areas Effects:None Danger Level:None Rarity:Common Before Mike had a chance to get a grasp on what he should do next Turul came back with a strong gust of wind that blew Mike''s hair back. Nodding at Turul, Mike was ready to head out on there next adventure of sorts, and since they hadn''t been able to keep the deer fresh it was left there. Walking alongside each other they headed to the right of the campsite making a beeline for wherever Turul thought something interesting was. It was about a 20 minute walk to the place they were going, and Turul and Mike had to shift the way in which they were going sometimes most likely because the thing they were going after was moving. Arriving at a weird sort of clearing that had a small hill with a running body of water on a lower level near it with what seemed to be pathways around the hill, in that body of water were small waterfalls creating a very beautiful scene. Along with this were large fish that sometimes jumped out of the water clearing over the rapids that were in this body of water. Inside the hill was what appeared to be a large cave that most likely housed whatever they were about to fight. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Gulping Mike got a little nervous after all he was about to start his first actual fight with any sort of predator here, which he''d never seen before, for all he knew a giant dragon could step out of that cave and breath hell fire and kill him in an instant. Shaking a little bit at what might appear Mike wanted to turn back and think of a different plan, but before Mike could voice his thoughts Turul screeched a horrible and dreadful noise that filled any creature with dread, because you knew with that noise that whatever it was, was terribly powerful. Puffing up his feathers and unfurling his wings fully Turul willed a powerful gust around him and made the earth tremble slightly ready for a fight with whatever was going to appear out of the cave. Whatever was in that cave was not backing down either it released a roar that shook the ground and reverberated through Mike''s bones making him go limp and almost fall to the floor, Mike just wanted to get out of this area it was too scary to see the fight between two colossal monsters. Mike cursed Turul for picking this thing, whatever it was, he wanted nothing more than to run a million miles away and never see what it looked like, but Mike couldn''t move maybe it was because Turul was still here and he didn''t want to leave him, or maybe he was so scared his legs weren''t working properly whatever it was though Mike was as stiff as a board. With what sounded like small bombs going off a giant creature walked out of the cave looking directly at Turul completely ignoring Mike, this creature was a quadruped and was about as furry as what you''d imagine something that looked like a small hill made of fur looked like. It was the biggest bear Mike had ever seen before, though Mike had never seen a real bear up close, it stood at a staggering 7 feet tall on all four legs and looked like it weighed more than the hill it came out from. It had a deep hazelnut colored fur bordering red and deep black eyes that seemed to scream death to anything it set its eyes on. Turul however was still not afraid of this creature and with swift movements shot into the air above it ready to attack. This beast also shot forward ready to jump and attack Turul for trying to challenge its dominance, once the bear reached Turul it stood up on its hind legs and jumped up to reach him, however no matter how old Turul is he is still a creature of legend. Swiftly Turul swirled around the bears grabbing gesture making the bear grab nothing but air, then Turul clamped down on the bears scruff on its neck with his talons digging deep into the bears skin making it dangle in the air then he issued a decree with a sharp screech that sounded terrifying. With this screech the wind bent to Turul''s command and started to rush around the bear and Turul causing a scene you''d only see in mythology. The bear now scared started to make growling noises and struggled fiercely clawing and grabbing at Turul in an attempt to free itself from Turul''s grasp but it was too late, the wind around them picked up speed and started to look like the beginning for a tornado of sorts around them making everything in the area blow around them. The wind didn''t stop there though, it started going even faster and with another screech the wind pulled closer to the two blocking Mikes vision on what was going to happen, then it started, the bear issued roars of pain and hatred shaking the whole forest with its pain, the wind now really looking like a natural disaster reached for the sky and looked everything like a tornado except for the few glimpses Mike saw of Turul holding a giant hill sized creature with deep cuts starting to appear all over it as it struggled against Turul''s death grip on it. The wind was only going faster pulling water from the river, and whatever else was around into it giving it another edge on the bear bringing another bout of roars of pain from the bear no longer with the sounds of hatred, but with pleading in it wishing nothing more than for this to stop. As it picked up speed Mike had been struggling against being pulled in as well but before it really had a chance to pull him towards it, it abruptly stopped like it had never been there and vanished dropping piles of moss, dirt, water, and fish and whatever else was in that tornado onto the ground and with a giant thud that shook the whole ground the bear fell as well looking about as alive as the fish on the ground. Flapping over to Mike weakly Turul dropped onto Mike in exhaustion from doing something like that, though Turul was a Roc, a bird of legend, he was still just a young one and needed time to grow. Looking at this golden bird that slept in his arms, though somewhat awkward since Turul was almost as tall as Mike he was able to since Turul was surprisingly lighter than he thought he would be. With so many emotions running through his head Mike dropped down onto the ground with Turul still in his hands and closed his eyes with a throbbing headache. Wanting to just rest for a minute from the whole fiasco, that''s exactly what Mike did thinking back on the whole fight that just happened, Turul was a lot stronger than Mike originally thought he was, though he knew this legendary creature was monstrously strong he didn''t know it was by this much. Looking around at the destruction caused by Turul it looked like if he could fix this place up it could be a perfect place for the base of operations since it had food and water right to the side and a clearing to rest in. Laying down with Turul sprawled out on his chest Mike felt drained and so he closed his eyes for a little bit longer. Chapter 9: Aftermath and Lucky Encounter Mike laying down on his back with a large golden bird on his chest started to reflect on how all of this happened while looking at the shining stars in the sky. Going through life you''d think you would never think something like ''a large golden bird that is my companion just created a tornado to defeat a hill sized bear'' but here Mike was thinking that as said bird slept peacefully on his chest. Having laid like that for a couple minutes Mike started to feel stifled and so he wanted to move about and go scan the bear that Turul just killed, so Mike laid Turul off to the side as he got up and stretched a little. Walking towards the corpse of the bear Mike was thinking, instead of scanning first then getting updates why not just research it first then scan since it''d probably add up to the same effect considering The Explorers Log has shown the ability to give more information before scanning if researched first. Reaching the bear, Mike didn''t want to get to close in case it was still alive so for good measure Mike went and got a good sized stick that could be used for poking the creature from a safe distance in case it decides that being dead wasn''t what it wanted. Walking around it towards its head Mike gave it a few good pokes though it was gushing blood everywhere even now, but it was better to be safe than to be sorry. "Man Turul really did a number on this big guy" Looking all over the bear there were huge gashes and cuts mostly on its back and lower abdomen from where it might have put more strength into and caused a more severe bleeding with that Mike saw just how much damage could be caused by wind made by a legendary creature. Mike needed to study this animal in detail if he wanted to get a clear idea on what information was in The Explorers Log and then see how much information he could get out of it before he actually scans it, Mike especially needed to experiment with the Log to see how much it gave for scanning. Moving around feeling it all over Mike was trying to get an idea on what exactly this bear had that made it strong or its quirks. Feeling its skin and fur Mike could pull it around like it hadn''t grown into it yet, but that was obviously wrong it was full grown so it must have very loose skin, feeling underneath the skin there were a lot of mixing between hard muscles and soft fat the gave it extra weight that added to its already large size. Opening its mouth it had a large row of sharp teeth that were a dark black or a yellow color, along with this was a tongue that looked and felt super rough, like what a normal bear had. It also had paws with long sharp scraggly claws that looked like it cut through most materials very easily, maybe they''d be good for making a tool or weapon out of. Finished looking all over this bear, Mike was ready to scan it pulling up The Explorers Log then switching over to the ''Fauna'' tab Mike proceeded to scan it. While waiting for it to finish its scan Mike looked over to the Guardians window that displayed the information of Turul. Guardians: Name: Turul Species: Roc Level: 2 Looking at his information it looks like Turul leveled up twice from killing the bear which was good since the more he leveled the easier of a time they''d have. This also showed that leveling up didn''t give Turul his energy back so leveling would not be a good way in order to relieve exhaustion. Glancing at Turul who was now sitting beside Mike as he nodded off again, he must have really put in a lot of energy for that ultimate move to kill this bear, maybe next time they should go about it in a more energy conservative way, especially because once Turul was done resting Mike wanted to clean this place up in order to make it a good place to stay and allow Turul to keep their location so that they could come back here easily. Finishing up the bar finally finished loading after about 10-15 minutes of waiting, to which Mike clicked on the new tab. --Broad Bear: A Broad Bear is a creature that has forgone any sort of magic for a pure physically oriented body that has a massive amount of strength, defense, and speed as well as a large size. Standing at 7 feet tall on all fours and double that on two legs, this bear is usually a brownish color though it can vary depending on the area it lives in. This bear weighs double or triple of any animal of its size should giving it more strength, since this bear relies on its large stature and weight in order to put more strength into attack, this fat also gives a huge defense boost to most parts of its body making it a terrifying opponent in a match of close combat. When provoked into running a Broad Bear can run up to as fast as 50 mph and jump as high as 20 feet. Environment: Forest Effects:N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Uncommon Once Mike had finished reading this he realized just how dangerous this thing was, it weighed about as much as a hill and if it had managed to land a hit on Turul chances are it''d be a lot more severe of a case than him just being out of energy, on the flip side how strong was Turul? To be able to hold that beast up off the ground even if he might have had help with his wind element powers he still ultimately did that, no wonder he was a bird of legend. Calming down and thinking on what to do next Mike''s stomach gurgled, after all of that Mike started to gain his appetite so he was ready to find some food and clean up this area of all the stuff afterwards, and it''d be a while before Turul was ready to cut open this bear and Mike didn''t want to think about having to pull the grossness out of this behemoth, so Mike looked for a much more simpler option, the small river beside the hill on a downward slope. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. When they had first arrived here they had seen a whole bunch of fish inside the river, but with Turul''s whole fiasco of a finisher move most of the fish that Mike had seen from the beginning were sprawled out all over the forest floor, hopefully there were some still left in the river or some still alive that Mike could put back in and or eat. Mike wanted to retain this area and keep it alive since he''d be living here for a while. Picking up any fish and cleaning them off of any foliage Mike could on his way over to the small river, which was a lot more than he could carry. Mike threw a whole lot back into the river in case they were still alive, however as he was throwing them back in one of the ones that he hadn''t picked up caught his attention, mostly because it was still flailing about strongly not only that it was golden in color like gold that moved in the shape of a fish. Dropping all the other fish either on the ground or into the river very quickly Mike walked over to the fish and tried to pick it up, but it was very slippery with a sheen of something like oil all over its scales, making it a lot more slippery than any of the other fish. Finally after minutes of trying to pick it up as it struggled out of Mikes grasp multiple times, he managed to hold onto it and keep it within his grasp as he studied it in detail. The fish from the river had regular shaped scales like ovals that overlapped, however this one had scales shaped like tears in full with non overlapping each other, like in a grove on the skin of the fish. It had spirited eyes that didn''t look like a fishes eyes, instead it had more intelligent eyes that looked around anxiously. Hooking its mouth with his fingers Mike looked at its body where he was holding it originally. Its fins were matching with its bodies color, a light yellow like wavy gold had turned into a fishes fin. Inside its mouth was moving and breathing like it wasn''t out of the water and instead like it was swimming in the cleanest of waters free from any filth. This fish felt like it was over 10 lbs in weight and was pretty small for how heavy it felt, maybe it was actually worth its weight in gold. After doing another one over of this strange golden fish Mike went ahead and opened The Explorers Log to scan it, clicking on the magnifying glass and moving on with the scanning a bright white glow surfaced around the body of the fish as it looked around anxiously at what was happening as it flailed around more strongly almost making Mike drop it. Holding on to the fish more tightly Mike went ahead and continued with his previous actions since he knew it''d probably take a while to finish scanning this fish. Picking up all the regular fish within the area that Mike could see, he either put them aside for him and Turul to eat for later or threw them back into the river in hopes that they are still alive. These actions took about 30-40 minutes of physical labor, with one hand occupied by a 10 lbs golden fish that flailed strongly constantly it was bound to make anyone tired. Sitting down near Turul who was still resting a little, albeit with a lighter tone of breath now, Mike stared at the golden fish and the progress bar that was almost done with a short of breath feeling after working so much for the last hour or so, luckily he was younger again or else he''d never be able to do this. --Golden Carp: This fish is rare, it was originally still rare but it''s even rarer now due to over hunting of this species due too every part of its body being useful, from its scales being able to made into jewelry or part of a weapon enhancing it, or its meat and organs able to cure certain diseases or able to strengthen people of any age permanently, or its bones that look like they''re made of crystal and that are as strong as diamond. This fish is a light golden color that glitters even in the darkest of environments, but its able to mask itself as a different fish species with camouflage by rolling in mud or sand and making it stick to its scales with a special substance it can secret, this substance, when wanted, can also become slippery making everything bounce off it making it very hard to catch in water or even on land. Environment: Water Effects: N/A Danger Level: Low Rarity: Rare Mike was stunned, why had he been so...lucky since he''d gotten into this land. One after another it has been like amazing items or things just fall into his lap out of no where. Shaking his head a little bit Mike began thinking, what should he do with this little guy? There was no way he was going to throw away this given opportunity to get stronger and healthier and have good tools out of its bones and scales it was just how was he going to go about cooking it perfectly. Though Mike lived alone for 20 years and knew how to cut, clean, and cook fish since he had made fresh food of fish before it was just how was he going to cook it? He didn''t have the tools needed to prepare it properly. As Mike sat there with this now somewhat heavy golden fish rested on his lap while in deep contemplation over it Turul finally awoke, after resting for so long he looked more spirited than before he even killed the bear, and a little bit taller too. Chapter 10: Another Hard Days Work Once Turul awoke without even pausing he went straight for the pile of fish that Mike had left near the shore of the river for both him and Turul to enjoy, however this pile of 20 or so fish was quickly all eaten by Turul as he was very hungry. Mike had been so focused on the golden fish he didn''t even notice that Turul was up and about until he came over and sat beside Mike. As Turul sat down beside Mike it gave him a start since he wasn''t expecting movement around so it had scared him for a moment almost making him drop the fish. Looking at Turul and at the fish, Mike had decided on just roasting it over a fire since that was pretty much his only option unless he had some other way to do it that he didn''t know about, so he needed to get to work on a fire for the both of them. Putting the fish on the ground where Mike could get it again easily he went around again picking up twigs, limbs, and other flammable material so that he could make another campfire like last time, and this time he managed to finish it all with the help of Turul in the matter of 10-15 minutes from picking up the materials to having a full blown fire. Taking a nice sizable stick and having Turul sharpen the end Mike tried to stick it through the side of the fish but it was quickly realized that was impossible, its scales were too hard and couldn''t be pierced with a piece of wood. So Mike got Turul to help him to peel off all the scales after silently killing the fish and cleaning it off which ended up taking a long time but was finished eventually. Mike finally done with that pierced it through the mouth, and allowed for him to let it roast over the fire slowly. "Let''s go cook some other fish for you as well Turul, or for later consumption." As Mike said that he looked over towards the river for the other fish to see they were gone. With a bewildered look Mike looked towards Turul to see him slightly embarrassed over eating all the fish, and with a loud laugh and while rubbing Turul''s head Mike said it was okay. Sitting up, clapping his hands together, and wiping off his rugged clothes Mike moved towards the bear in order to fix this huge problem that they were having, how to handle this bear corpse. Mike wanted to use this bear corpse properly, as in use its claws for making weapons or tools and its hide for maybe bedding or clothing, that is if Mike could get Turul to skin the bear properly. "Turul do you know how to skin a bear properly?" With a laugh Mike had asked Turul never expecting a positive response and as expected Turul shook his head for a negative. Looking over this literal ton of flesh that if used properly can give Mike and Turul a lot of benefits it was just that was exactly the problem, they didn''t know how to use it properly. "I guess lets drain this guy of any blood he still has and take out any organs we can find, and for this one i''ll be needing your help Turul all the way through." Both nodding at each other they got to work to get good bedding and tools. It was fairly easy to cut the fur off the bear since it had an excess of it all over its body so it wasn''t hard on that part, it was when they started to bleed it and take out all of its organs, it was really hard to take out the organs while it was on its stomach so Mike had to get Turul to flip it around on its back where they could stand and take out the organs easier. This process took a really long time and Mike had to go back to the fire and flip the golden fish around occasionally, which was smelling good, as well as add more sticks to the fire and after finishing with it, Mike didn''t really know what to do with these organs since Turul wasn''t hungry and Mike couldn''t eat them so he just decided to set them off to the side of the camp for a later date. Picking up about two carpets worth of kinda crappy work of bear fur Mike washed it in the river then set it beside the campfire to let it dry and so they could lay on it as they waited for Mike''s fish to get done cooking. "This fish is really taking forever to finish, no wonder it''s such a high rarity." Mike had waited over another hour after the time of the bear gutting and had to repeatedly go and get more sticks or go get something to drink since he''d been feeling thirsty, but finally the fish was done cooking, though Mike couldn''t do all that he wanted to be able to cook it, it was better than nothing. Taking the somewhat large fish, after it had cooled off somewhat, Mike took a large bite into it, now whether it was because the fish was a higher rarity or if Mike was getting good at cooking over a campfire this food tasted amazingly delicious, it had a great taste even though Mike didn''t add any sort of spice to it. It went down easily, and wasn''t as greasy for something that was over a fire for over 2 hours should be, it had a taste of a perfect fish though Mike really didn''t cook it well at all so it must be able to taste even better if cooked properly and with adding the right spices. Plus it didn''t seem like the bones were cooked or damaged at all since Mike had bit on one by accident and it felt like he just tried to chew a rock, nearly breaking his teeth in doing so. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Eating around all the bones, and letting Turul have some since a full blown fish of this size, even if smaller than its actual weight, was a pretty large fish to be finished off by Mike alone. After both eating their fill of a very rare fish full of energy, Mike and Turul felt bloated, especially Mike since he ate a lot more of it then he should''ve. Forcefully, Mike picked himself up to look at what was left over from the feast which was the bones and they looked very delicate, like jade or diamond as they shined brightly under the stars. This set of bones may come in handy for the future in ever a case that Mike decides to make some tool of some sort out of them. Laying down on their new carpet full in every way Mike did what he always did at this time, look up at the clustered shiny stars and thought of all the time he had spent here, honestly this day had felt like it went by faster than the first day maybe because it did since you can''t tell how long a day is, and honestly as well it had been fun to work together with Turul for all of these things, though it was frighteningly scary to have watched Turul make a literal tornado it was also really stunning and beautiful and Mike wanted more days like these, where he got to see beautiful sights and eat food that he had not eaten before, and with a companion like Turul and hopefully his ability to adapt and overcome hard challenges they could and would see more days like this. With these thoughts again clouding his mind, Mike reached over to the bird that sat beside him that allowed for Mike to feel so relaxed and slowly tousled the feathers on its head and neck, and to show affection Turul cooed back at him and started too nuzzle up against some more, even though the fire was still going. Mike in this way slowly drifted off to sleep for another ''night'' in this beautiful wonderland. ? Waking up this time Mike wasn''t scared or surprised when he opened his eyes to see a sea of large of trees, it had also seemed like this time that Turul was awake before him. Stretching and rubbing his eyes, Mike looked at the still somewhat strange scenery that he was now getting used to seeing. Picking himself up fully Mike had no time to rest, it was another ''day'' of work that needed to be done in order to live and figure out just why he was here and hopefully he could find some sort of civilization though thoughts like that were becoming more and more slim the longer Mike was here since by now Turul might have notified him of something like that. Going over to the river to wash up and get something to drink, Mike was ready for the day. Today would somewhat pan out like yesterday, Mike would ask Turul to go and find something that could be of interest to scan for The Explorers Log, or something to fight to level up Turul. After Turul had also eaten some of the bear meat and organs he jumped off, though it seemed a lot more powerful than yesterday, because of the leveling up and eating that special fish yesterday. While waiting for Turul, Mike decided to check out his own body again, it was a young body about the age of 19 like The Explorers Log said and it was rife with strength, Mike didn''t doubt how strong he was since he had been eating a lot of food that was of benefit for his body as well as working and doing strenuous tasks had made the already strong body even more so. Mike wasn''t exactly sure how strong he was, or how fast, or something along those lines, but he knew he wouldn''t have to worry about not being able to keep up with Turul, who knows maybe leveling up for him also made him stronger. Talking about leveling up Mike went ahead and checked on his information. The Explorers Log: Name: Mike Age: 19 Explorer: Level 7 It seems like after scanning the bear and the golden fish that Mike had managed to level up twice as well. Happy with the gains from yesterday Mike went ahead and made plans for what today should go like. First: they had to clean up this area, the couldn''t keep letting it look like a heaping pile of foliage, dirt, and rocks. Second: Turul would lead them over to the area of interest if he had found anything. This would probably take up most of the day for them either depending on how long it takes to get to the location or how long it takes to take down or scan the item of interest. Third: Mike wanted to see if there was anything in the cave in which the Broad Bear had lived in. Mike also wanted to see if any sort of tool could be made out of the claws of the bear or the bones of the fish. Fourth: Mike wanted to try and see if there is any sort of civilization around here, even if run by monsters it''d be better to note down the area to avoid or the area to advance towards in order to find information. All of these things should be accomplished over the next two too three days of work from both Turul and Mike. These things should hopefully lead to some avenues that allow for further exploration of the environment that they reside in because that''s what Mike is now, an explorer. With a whole slew of thoughts, ideas, and plans in Mikes mind he was ready to play these things out. Chapter 11: The Secret Hiding In The Cave With that as the plan for the next couple of days Mike got to work with cleaning up the area as Turul was still gone. Putting everything in specific piles with foliage, twigs, and moss in one pile while rocks went into another and anything else of interest in another pile of its own. Not even a quarter of the way through, Mike not only heard but felt Turul come back as a large amount of wind hit the area blowing the leaves out of the pile and pushing Mikes hair back as he looked at Turul descending to the ground. With a sigh Mike would have to pick all of those leaves back up later and put them in an area where Turul couldn''t blow them away with a flap of his wings. It seems that Turul was getting more and more embarrassed with things like this happening a lot throughout the past 3 days. Shaking his head, Mike headed towards Turul to see if he had anything of interest. Shaking his head it seems like Turul was unable to find something that could be of help to them, so Mike went ahead and started back up the ''cleaning home'' project. Though Turul tried to help somewhat he could only do so much by either picking it up in his mouth or in his talons so it wasn''t as much as what Mike could carry with his hands and shirt. After working on this for what felt like ages without a rest Mike laid down exhausted unable to move a whole lot due to pain, Mike had been working on picking up both large and small objects all around the area making long walks with large loads of materials, it was no wonder he was so tired and in pain. Laying down for a while and letting the occasional breeze cool him off Mike felt better, though he was still sore, at least he wasn''t out of breath. Stretching to help, Mike looked at the now almost back to normal scenery except for the still few strewn about occasional items and the massive piles of stuff off to the corner, everything looked a lot better with the hill in view and it full of healthy moss and strange glowing flowers, which Mike still needed to scan, and down the slope to the side of it was the small river which was full of fish and freshwater no longer cluttered with rocks and other junk. Looking at the river, Mike wanted to go over there. Walking over and sliding down to the river side that was a mix between moss, weird grasses, and mud, Mike laid down in order to enjoy the scenery and hopefully see anything interesting in the water as he rested. Turul, now in the water, was catching fish and hooking them back up onto the bank as they splashed about, had managed to find a weird creature, and not wasting a minute brought it over to Mike to look at. "A clam?" A short questioning sentence was all Mike said as he looked at the very familiar looking mollusk. Pulling the clam up closer to his eyes Mike looked all over this little muscle trying to see if there was anything interesting about it, but to no avail Mike couldn''t see anything off or strange about it, though he had never studied clams at all when in his old world, and he wondered if it actually was special. Not worrying about it too much Mike pulled up The Explorers Log and scanned the clam. A glow of resplendent light was cast over the clam for about a total time of 3 minutes before it was done. Looking at what it was called, it was simply a ''Freshwater Clam''. --Freshwater Clam: As a part of the mollusk family, a Freshwater Clam is indigenous to fresh water rivers, lakes, and ponds. These muscles shells are dark brown in color and can grow up to 20 cm. Environment: FreshWater Effects:N/A Danger Level: None Rarity: Common Slightly disappointed Mike tossed the clam over to the area in which Turul put the fish at. Mike looked at the amount of fish Turul had caught it was about 5 with another two clams added that Turul found as Mike was scanning the first one. Doing a quick look over all of them Mike found none that were of interest to scan and so he left it at that in order to make another fire for cooking. After a period of 5-10 minutes of work with the original wood and tools from yesterday, Mike managed to make a fire that burned nicely. Along with getting Turul''s help Mike had skinned and cleaned up the fish that was finally prepared for cooking. Putting the fish on sticks to roast over the fire, Mike didn''t leave this time and stayed beside them since he knew it would only take a period of about 10-20 minutes to finish cooking. Turning them every once in a while, Mike was getting ready to eat some good fish. After a period of about 20 minutes of cooking the fish were ready for consumption. Taking a bite after they cooled down somewhat, Mike had a weird expression on his face as he chewed on the fish. "This tastes like garbage compared to the fish from yesterday." With an exasperated face since he had thought that yesterday his cooking was getting good over fire, when it was just that no matter what you did with that fish to cook it, it would still remain delicious. "Well I have to eat them now, can''t waste food." Mike had to force himself to eat as many as he had cooked which was about 2, and having Turul eat the rest of the fish so that they didn''t have to worry about them. Getting a big chug of water from the river in order to get rid of the taste off his tongue, which didn''t work that well, Mike looked at which option he should do first. Go to the Broad Bear cave and see if there was anything of worth in there, or go search for anything of interest out in the forest since Turul wasn''t able to spot anything up in the air, even with his good eyesight he could miss a small plant or animal that was rare or maybe even more if he wasn''t looking specifically for that said plant or animal. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Looking at the huge cave Mike thought it might only take an hour or so at most to do a comb over the cave and see if there was anything of interest in there. As Mike got up Turul followed along suit, following him as he walked towards the cave. Once Mike and Turul got in front of the cave they looked at the almost looming look of it since it was over 14 feet tall in order to accommodate the giant of a bear. Walking into the cave Mike could see nothing inside, but Turul could and as they walked in Turul had stopped to stare at whatever it is that laid inside of this cave. Not realizing what was going on or what he should be seeing Mike turned around and stopped to stare at Turul, confused on why he was stopped and staring. Quickly thinking of a solution, Mike ran over to the still burning fire, grabbed a large stick of a suitable length and lit the end on fire in order to bring light into the cave. Running back over to the cave Mike still saw Turul, but instead of being dazed he stood near the entrance waiting for Mike. Walking up to Turul, they both nodded at each other and continued the walk inside the cave, except this time Mike could see, albeit horribly along the walk Mike could only see about a 5 feet radius all around him and nothing more. This cave wasn''t that deep only about enough for the Broad Bear to walk for a couple second before reaching the end, after all this was its home. The cave had a few occasional small twists and turns but nothing of great changing. Reaching the end of the cave after maybe a little under a minute of slow walking due to Mike being careful not to trip, and making sure they didn''t miss anything. By the time Mike and Turul reached the end Mike didn''t need the Torch anymore, since all around them were both large and small glowing plants, flowers, and mushrooms. A soft blue light had settled in the area along with a large growing of natural moss, that started with the plants. The soft sound of a waterfall echoed throughout the cave as a naturally made waterfall, up to Mikes shoulders, was at the very end of the cave with a small little pool under it. On the left and right of this waterfall were huge statues of warriors past in full suits of armor from medieval times. These statues were holding their left hand on their swords as it was drawn and held up into the sky, the other was held to their heart as a fist to signify probably a salute of sorts. These statues were under a small pedestal that held their already large height even higher. Along these pedestals were words of an unknown language to Mike, the statues also had a crest on their breastplate to the right of their hand. This crest showed a bird spreading out its wings and legs as it looked to the left towards the statues hand, behind this bird was a large closed gate made of a darker material in the shape of an arch that had many a drawings and symbols on it with two weird looking flowers on both sides of the bird. Mike looked around at the not only beautiful scenery but also strange statues and waterfall confused on how they could be here. The waterfall was obviously natural, but then why were there statues surrounding it? Unless it was so well made that it looked natural, but that was a feat more difficult than building a castle for the people of ancient times. Walking up to the statues Mike slowly caressed the the pedestal that was already tall as him, it felt rough and looked strikingly similar in color to the rock surrounding them with the cave, though Mike didn''t know rock types or any thing about them it''d be a safe guess to assume that the statues were made of the same rock as the ones in the cave. But how''d they get these statues in here? This was an open area at the end of a cave, like a circle room, and it was at least a dozen feet higher than the entrance to which would only be up to the statues waist in height, unless they made these statues in the cave but that''d be beyond difficult what with you barely being able to see. Along with this strangeness was the waterfall especially, it wasn''t clear, the water in the waterfall was bluer than the surroundings and looked like a chemical dump of blue paint that was as smooth flowing as water. Looking at Turul, who was just as confused about this as Mike, he looked for answers at whatever lay around them, maybe if he knew the language of these statues Mike might''ve been able to figure out what was going on in this cave. Walking closer to the waterfall Mike kind of wanted to touch it, but more so than that he wanted to scan it. With quick movements Mike pulled out The Explorers Log, which had changed to the even more beautiful scenery of the cave, and stopped, which tab would this liquid be under? Materials? Deciding to just use the ''Materials'' tab Mike pressed the magnifying glass and scanned the liquid with a thought. A now eerie looking light was casted over the entire waterfall and pond of sorts to show the starting of scanning. Sitting down and staring at the liquid, Mike didn''t want too touch it in case it may have been something like poison or some sort of toxic material. As Mike sat with Turul beside him in front of this waterfall and its small pond, there was a somber and sorrowful tone that radiated about the room once it was quiet and without thought, the beautiful scenery added to a tale of these knights that fought for something they believed in. Sitting there for a couple of minutes and with those thoughts in mind and neither paying any attention to the words that slowly changed with Mikes thoughts, the words slowly read out: "Justice for those who were sacrificed by someone who was never willing to sacrifice themselves. Glory and Requiem to the king and his sacrifice for the uncaring and dying subjects." Chapter 12: New Found Powers and Rocking Movement In the circled room of the cave, Mike and Turul sat in front of the waterfall along with the flora and moss as a somber and quiet atmosphere circled the room as Mikes thought of the knights of old, and why they were here protecting a pool of blue liquid that he was scanning, and it was proving it was worth scanning, since it had already taken 20 minutes already and it was still going to be a while. With a look of hesitation Mike reached out his hand to almost touch the liquid in the small pool but ultimately pulled his hand back deciding to wait and see what the Log said. Mike looked around the room one more time making sure he didn''t miss anything, but what remained was still just the beautiful scenery of light blue flora along with a moss all over the floor that supported and added to the mystical and sorrowful aura. Turning back his head to the waterfall, Mike closed his eyes waiting for the scanning to finish and in no mood to speak. After about another hour of waiting along side Turul the scanning process finished and showed up on the ''Materials'' tab as ''Elemental Star Light'' --Elemental Star Light: When an Elemental Star is born in deep recesses of its core a small amount of Elemental Star Light is born as a gas, and then slowly it is condensed into a liquid about 4-5 drops worth, This liquid is extremely dense and has a color orientation to its specific element, however that may vary as it can be a different color and be the same element. This liquid can allow a person to gain an affinity to the element of that specific liquid, it only takes 1 drop to become an adept user of the said element, however it is unknown if there is a limit to how much you can drink. Environment: Elemental Star Core Effects: Gives drinker an elemental affinity Danger Level: None Rarity: Epic Looking at this liquid, this isn''t what Mike expected, Mike didn''t think it was going to be something like toxic waste, and it was an obvious sign this liquid was of deep origins since it was protected by a kingdom for a reason, but he didn''t think it was going to be this awesome! Excited about hopefully gaining an elemental affinity and being able to use it, Mike scrambled over to the side of the pool, even closer than before, scooped a handful of the liquid and got a big swig of it. Then not stopping in his excitement Mike continued to drink as much of it as possible before he was stuffed to the brim of drinking. Turul didn''t step closer to the liquid, since for one he didn''t know exactly what it did and two even if he did know, it wouldn''t be of help to him, since he is a legendary creature no matter what material it was that tried to add too his body something, like an elemental affinity, it wouldn''t work because his body was created to be stuffed to the brim with the genes and abilities of a legendary bird. Sitting back down and breathing heavily Mike felt good, really good in fact, he felt really tired with a warm current spreading throughout him starting from his stomach and ending with his hands and feet making him yawn. Mike slowly started to feel lethargic with what felt like a head and body full of lead. Dropping to the moss and plant covered ground Mike closed his eyes and slept with a satisfied expression. Turul scared and shocked for a second sped over to Mike but quickly relaxed when he felt Mike actually getting stronger instead of dying, and so he laid beside Mike to allow him to rest. ? With a jolt Mike quickly opened his eyes to an all new scenery, instead of being in the cave of mystery, Mike was surrounded by a gray gas that spread everywhere he could see and seemed to be infinite. Mike couldn''t even see his own hands when putting them up to his face. Mike wished nothing more than for him to able to see himself and what was around him as he slowly checked his own body. Then, it happened, the gas quickly blew away from Mike to allow him to see himself and what was around him. What surrounded him was nothing, around Mike was just a floor and that was it. The floor was made of some weird material that looked like smooth gray rock, and that was all there was. Shocked and with a confused expression Mike wondered why the gas had moved away from him when he had wished to be able to see himself and his surroundings. Swiftly adapting Mike began to think of his situation and how he got here. "I arrived in this strange place whenever I fell asleep, so maybe this has something to do with the element I gained?" Arriving at this conjunction Mike excitedly wondered what all of this meant. "Does it follow my wishes whenever I want it to do something?" Looking around him some more Mike decided to test out his hypothesis. "Swirl around me." When Mike uttered this in a soft voice after a while of contemplation the gray gas, without fault, slowly but surely started to swirl around Mike and sped up quickly before it looked like Mike was in the middle of a tornado, and looking up and down as far as he could see there was nothing but swirling gray gas that followed his wishes. "Stop" Mike uttered another command and the gray gas abruptly stopped moving and remained as it did before, slowly moving about, like regular gas. ''What else could I do with this?'' Thinking it over this stuff followed his commands, but what if he commanded it to become an object or another material? "Turn into a golden carp" Immediately after Mike said that wanting to test to see if it''d work, a large section of gray gas came swirling about in front of Mike before quickly morphing and turning into an all too familiar golden fish. This ''golden carp'' started to flop around and had that same look in its eyes when Mike had the real one, a look of anxiousness, it also had the same exact length as the original one. Trying to pick it up it also had that slimy and slippery sensation. Mike started to feel slightly drained from asking that. "It seems like this gray gas is connected to my energy, and more strenuous a task I give it the more tired I feel." Doing his usual muttering and pulling himself together Mike quickly gave the gray gas more commands. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "Put me into the cave where I found the Elemental Star Liquid!" Saying this the Gray gas pushed and contracted like a heart brightening up and dimming then once again it swirled around him quickly blocking Mikes view of the surrounding. Closing his eyes out of reflex, Mike didn''t open them until he started to hear the gentle sound of a waterfall. Looking around, it was like he was back in the cave with no difference other than the fact that Turul wasn''t around. Putting his hand onto the floor it felt exactly like moss, everything about this area was the same, from the sound, smell, touch, and anything else that could be of noticeable difference it looked exactly like he was back in the cave with no alterations on it. After looking around and touching up on everything for a while, Mike almost falling over blacking out, had quickly realized that maybe he had put too much stress on his new found powers too quickly before he could get used to them. Stretching he laid back down and closed his eyes to sleep right away as the scenery around him writhed and breathed with his own breath, following his movements as he slept. After sleeping for a few hours and awakening slowly, Mike looked at the scenery of a soft blue light slowly fill his eyes as he awoke and looked at the flora surrounding him. Looking about Mike still saw no Turul but the scene was the familiar cave that he was unable to tell the difference from reality. "Am I still in the gray sea?" Coining a name for it Mike decided to see if he was still in the place. "Decompose this area" echoing throughout the cave and rebounding back to Mike, the cave swiftly unraveled like silk then softly popped and turned back into the scene of gray that he saw when arriving. "Take me back to reality!" Wanting to ''wake up'' Mike hurriedly said that to the gray sea hoping it''d work, and like magic the area warped and bent into weird shapes before shattering making Mike feel the world loop and twist his senses before he was back in the cave staring at the plants and mushrooms that grew on the ceiling. Looking around for the third time today at this scenery, Mike quickly spotted Turul who was right beside him, guarding him. Reaching over to Turul, Mike smoothed out the furs on his neck and back slowly calming down from the endeavor that he just experienced. As Turul cooed at him to continue, Mike thought of his new powers wondering what all they could do and just how much he could create with it or if he could affect reality with them. Picking himself up Mike wiped off bits of glowing grass and moss from his ragged clothes and looked at the area with a new excitement on the thought of his new found powers. With Turul beside him and his powers Mike felt a new swelling of confidence well up inside his heart that gave him some arrogance that nothing could stop them. Walking to the door of sorts to the circle room, Mike felt an all new vigor of working on living and a whole lot more in this new life of his. When Mike was on the cusp of leaving the mysterious room with Turul, the room started to vibrate heavily, Mike quickly looked at Turul accusingly, however when he looked over he saw Turul not paying a lick of attention to him, but instead Turul was staring back into the room with a serious light in his eyes. Looking behind himself, Mike saw the statues vibrate and crack a little as small bits of rock and dust fell from them, then one took a step forward as two bright red lights escaped from its helmet where its eyes would be. Right after the one to the right of the waterfall moved the one to the left quickly moved as well, they swiftly moved towards Turul who puffed up his feathers and released a deadly cry. Frozen for almost a minute as the fight was about to start, Mike quickly moved to the corner closest to the doorway, not willing to leave Turul to fight alone. Mike pulled up The Explorers Log and moved over to ''Fauna'' hoping to be able to scan the two rock knights and learn their weaknesses. As a hazy light was cast over one of the two identical rock knights, Turul rocked towards the air quickly, though they were in a cave it was tall enough to easily fit these two rock knights so the roof was fairly high. Not willing to give them the chance to attack, Turul pulled the earth around them to surround them rupturing and ruining the caves beauty but stopping the two knights in there tracks. These shackles did not last long though, with two piercing sounds the knights cleaved there way out of the rocks easily with their swords. One rushed towards the front of Turul while the other flanked him too his right both swinging their swords sharply towards Turul. Pulling himself down towards the ground with a flap of his wings, Turul dodged the two swinging at him. Just as fast as the knights, if not faster, Turul sprung himself forward off the ground to go in between one of the knights legs which was still in the stance for swinging, then Turul bounced off the floor, again breaking the rock surrounding him leaving an indent. Arriving at the back of the knight, Turul flexed one wing and cocked it back as a shimmering light started to flow onto the wing from the surroundings, like tiny rivers all coalescing onto his wing, after a few swconds Turul brought down his wing like a general commanding his army to attack leaving a line in the air. Faster than the sound traveling to Mike''s ears, Turul released a pent up arc of resplendent pure light that slashed through the knight, splitting him in two. In the knight''s last final attempts at fighting it swung its sword at Turul with all it had, hitting Turul with its final bit of strength it managed to connect sending Turul rocketing towards the wall where he crashed with a wave of dust and rock particles flying everywhere. Not caring at all for the death of its partner, the second knight rushed to where Turul was with its sword ready to cleave anything that moved clearly knowing that Turul wasn''t killed by that attack. Rushing out with a mighty flap of his wings, Turul met the knight in a head on collision of sword and talons, rocking the cave with a quake from their standoff as sparks flew from the two meeting. Chapter 13: Bitter Sweet Victory and Another Testing The sound of heavy metal clashing together sounded repeatedly, and with each clash the cave shook very strongly making it seem like small earthquakes were resounding each time. The once beautiful scenery became ruined with the clash of a titan and a golden bird as they didn''t pull any stops in order to protect that which they believed in, however even throughout all of this the waterfall wasn''t touched once by the destruction. Turul and the knight brought out all the strength they had in order to best the other, Turul could no longer do any sneaky moves like he had done with the already dead one since the knight was watching him closely and reacted immediately to either dodge or to swing a perfect arc at Turul forcing him to move away and continue the head on clash. Mike stood or half laid at the edge of the room as he watched another large battle involving Turul, however this time Turul wasn''t with the advantage since they were evenly matched, and he couldn''t use his elements to his advantage that well in this confined space and the earth wouldn''t be able to hurt the knight that much. As the knight swung his sword he also didn''t stop using other moves such as either bringing up its other hand to swat at Turul like a large fly or to throw large amounts of rocks and other things mixed together at Turul. Even though Turul was naturally strong and had the ability to kill any creature below him, he was still a newborn pretty much only being ''born'' about 3 days ago and he wasn''t used to fighting in such a way, he desperately needed to adapt in order to win. With the scanning in process, Mike could only wait and hope that it gave out something helpful in order to give Turul the boost he needed. Mike''s new found powers were still so under developed that he had no idea if they''d be of any use for this skirmish, and even if they were he''d have no idea how to use it to do that. No matter what Mike and Turul wanted to do, the fight continued and wouldn''t stop as the knight was out to kill no matter the sacrifice. The ground trembled, lifted, and morphed into a wave directed at the knight, this wave was as tall as the cave itself scarping the top of it releasing a horrible sound, and with swift and practiced movements the knight cut a hole through the wave and burst through towards Turul releasing another swing of its sword. Connecting, Turul bounded towards the cave wall again, but Turul used this to his advantage allowing him bound off the wall with a powerful burst under the camouflage of dust and rock speeding towards the knight once more. As Turul flew towards the knight with what could only be described as a blur, he once again gathered the element of air on his wing in order to release a burst of power. With a cloud of dust now leaving him, the knight saw the power in Turul''s wing and like veteran and quickly reacted and tried too dodge towards the side in order to avoid it, however by the time the knight realized it was too late, with a large cry Turul once again brought down his wing releasing a arc of light faster than sound. Hitting the knight square in the middle of his waist it passed through it like he was never there, and with a large boom the knight fell over. As the knight crumbled and fell into a pile of regular stones and sand it turned its head towards the waterfall, releasing the first sound it had ever made that wasn''t movement, the knight had muttered similar to a wail reaching for the waterfall shaking before losing its power and falling into a pile of rocks. Mike watched as Turul dropped to the ground, and rushed to catch him. Running as fast as his legs could carry him Mike cared more about Turul than himself since he was the reason he was alive and well, especially mentally since without anybody or anything to talk too Mike would have gone crazy by now. Turul was a true friend that Mike had never had before, even if he was a bird him and Mike were allies and Mike was willing to do anything in order to keep Turul alive and well. Jumping and catching him, Turul dropped into Mikes arms weakly as he slept peacefully, needing to rest up from just battling two very powerful enemies all by himself. Sighing Mike looked more relaxed after seeing that Turul was only sleeping. Mike knew deep down that there was no way that there was only a broad bear to protect something that awesome, he just didn''t want to believe and hoped he was wrong. No wonder nothing since now had managed to get that Elemental Star Light if a legendary bird, even if newborn, had to exhaust himself just to kill the guardians protecting it, nothing else would be able to even touch it. Looking around, again Mike sighed, he kind of wanted to use this cave to sleep in since it was so comfy, but now it looked like a battlefield that it was with deep pits in the ground and all over the walls along with mounds of earth everywhere. Strangely or naturally the waterfall and the flora surrounding it was completely unharmed, it seemed those knights cared for it greatly and would rather sacrifice an arm or leg than have that area hurt in any way. Glancing at the progress bar of The Explorers Log it seemed it was almost done scanning and it still was progressing even though the two knight returned to rock and sand, speaking of the knights it felt kind of like a bittersweet victory. Those two knights fought Turul because they, with all their conviction, wanted to protect something close and dear to them. It felt sad to watch that knight not care for its own brother or itself but to care so much about whatever that waterfall was or what it represented, that in its final moment it reached out to it with the first time Mike had ever heard either of them make a noise that was one of sadness. With a ring, Mike was pulled from his own thoughts to stare down at the now finished screen. The knights were called ''Guardians''. --Guardians: These creatures are born when they are made with extreme emotions, and a high mana concentration. Once born they are made to follow the emotions in which they were born with and follow the dreams of their creator. These creatures, if wanted, can be very powerful, with the right emotion and right making they can become terrifying foes. They can come in any shape or form made of any material as long as there is sufficient mana. The reason these creatures are called Guardians is because they ''guard'' their creators hopes and dreams and follow through with them for their creator. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Environment: High Mana Concentration Effects: N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Rare Surprised Mike had thought they were going to be something similar to Golems not something kind of beautiful like that. To be fair they were similar to golems, maybe they were the golems of this world but this seemed like something that was heartwarming instead of being made for killing or for labor. With this description however it meant that someone made these two guardians and felt an extreme emotion for this waterfall or what it meant to them. Mike kind of felt bad for barging in here and taking what was something so important to someone else that they made two giant statues with their emotions for it. Getting up, putting down Turul, and walking over to the waterfall, Mike bowed deeply for coming in here and taking something from someone else who had loved it deeply, but Mike would have to take more since this was his ticket into becoming stronger and being able to achieve his new dreams with Turul, side by side. Crouching down, Mike took hand cups full of the Elemental Star Light and drank, Mike drank so much that he felt bloated, he drank so much that the waterfall looked smaller, however Mike continued to drink and drink until he had almost thrown up some. Swallowing the last bit he could take, Mike sat down in front of the waterfall with a bloated belly and a heart of guilt over doing something like this. Resting for only a few minutes to get his bearing, Mike continued to drink. This process continued for hours until Turul finally came to again, however Mike still continued, if he was going to take, he was going to take it all and leave none for someone without a heart to come and gain from it. At least he feels bad for doing this, however Mike was going to finish this. After hours of drinking, resting, and repeating there was no more waterfall for Mike to drink from, or pool to drink from, though the Star Light tasted sweet and fiery at first it quickly became bland and even slightly disgusting, though not as much as the fish he had made. Mike felt like crying and throwing up from all that he drank, however he had to keep it in. Falling to the still soft moss covered floor, Mike closed his eyes for the second time here, however this time there was no excitement, okay maybe there was a little excitement but Mike still felt bad for doing that to someone he had never met or known before so he''d have to make it up to them if he could. ? ''Waking'' up once again in the gray sea, Mike looked at the gray gas that surrounded him. The gas looked a lot thicker, probably from drinking all of that Elemental Star Light, and there seemed to be a lot more of it. pushing away his thoughts from earlier and willing the gray gas away so he could see, all there was around him still was a smooth gray floor and gray gas and that was it, this was the perfect location to test some things out. Mike started immediately with creating various objects from random household objects from his world or weird animals and creatures from both mythology and from memory. As Mike looked around at some of the creatures fighting or trying to work microwaves and toilets Mike laughed looking at the dragon working a toaster, and the mermaid trying to wear a dress as well as the lion yawning and resting on a tipped over refrigerator. Decomposing all of it Mike still felt relatively energetic, so he wanted to test out what exactly his power was besides being able to make anything he wanted in his sleep, though he had an idea on what it might be. Mike decided to go small for the first testing, he conjured up a flask made of a mix between metal and wood. Then Mike willed himself out of the gray sea and wished for the flask to come with him to reality. As the gray sea bent, and warped then popped Mike looked at the now slightly destroyed ceiling of the cave. Holding his hand up, Mike was still holding the flask. Searching all about it excitedly and making sure everything about it was perfect, Mike jumped around in excitement for being able to create things in his dream. As Mike held up the flask with both hands in front of him thinking of all the possibilities, it exploded into a smoke of gray gas before dispersing. Shivering a little, Mike awoke from his excitement and stupor realizing what had just happened was obvious. He could create anything in his dreams but it would only last a certain amount of time, how that was decided Mike had no idea. How much he could create or what he could create and bring to reality Mike also had no idea. Turul just stared at Mike go through many stages of emotions through eagerness, to excitement, then confusion, until he reached realization. He had managed all of these emotions in about 4 seconds which was an amazing feat. Just as quickly as going through his emotions, Mike ran over to the ground beside the confused Turul and laid back down wanting to go back to the gray sea and before Mike realized it he was staring at the gray sea again. "It seems like I can switch between here and reality in an instant whenever I want too." marking that too memory Mike once again willed for an area of clearance and started back up on his tests. Mike decided that if he was gonna create he was going to test the limits of what his power could do, so he willed for the area to turn into a natural forest that he knew from his old world, a jungle. Once the scenery changed with a swirling mass of gray blocking his vision, Mike saw a natural jungle with everything about it perfect except for there being no animals. Mike was ready to create and see how well his imagination dictated over actual facts of how animals reacted in a either foreign environments or their natural environment and if this power of his worked on memory, facts, or both. Chapter 14: Towards the Mountain! In a damp and humid jungle of his own creation, Mike conjunered up creatures he remembered that existed inside the environment that he was in. "A jaguar would be a good first bet, and lets put an animal for it to hunt somewhere nearby." Speaking aloud to himself even in his dreams, Mike gained his first test subjects. From the ground came the almost viscous and floaty gray gas, with its appearance and Mikes demands, a jaguar and a tapir walked out from the gas at two different ends away from each other a little ways. Looking at both animals Mike hid back slightly incase they would react to him, but chances are they would not since he created them. Whilst the panther and tapir moved about Mike watched them, though he didn''t know anything at all about these two animals habits, he''d expect them to exhibit certain things that all animals showed that was impossible to mask from species to species, such as resting or going too the bathroom eventually. Once awoken from their stupors of just being created the panther and the tupir did the same exact thing, they walked around not really doing anything in particular. As if aimless enemy characters from games these two walked with soulless eyes that reflected no intelligence. This didn''t make sense, when in the gray sea without a place created, the animals reacted and looked completely normal, so how is it that here, in their natural habitat, that they''d be like this? "Why is it that here these animals are like this?" Clouded over this question Mike continued to watch these two aimlessly walking dream creatures. ? After ages of waiting and a little manipulation the panther and the tapir met, and like time had just stopped, the animals stopped as they stared at each other. Almost like the panther had only been acting before it quickly gained a fire in its eyes. Instead of roaring, or jumping away, or something like that, the jaguar not missing a second immediately attacked the tapir leaping onto the animal with a mighty bite and latching on to the poor creature. Dragging the tapir down even closer to the ground and shaking it about, the jaguar swiftly killed it, climbed a nearby tree afterwards, and proceeded to eat the animal in which it just hunted. Surprised, Mike just continued to monitor the jaguar eat the tapir, even though they were both fake and that the tapir was dead, it didn''t disappear? It seemed like he had a lot to learn about this new power of his. Watching this fake animal act so real was kind of mesmerizing, it was like watching all of those geographical episodes on Animal Planet, except he was in the jungle as the camera man. As soon as that jaguar finished eating, it jumped down and acted like the last 30 minutes had never happened. Seeing enough, Mike willed the jaguar away into a puff of gray gas, as well as the tapir corpse. Thinking and walking through the thickets of grasses and trees into small clearings, hills, or valleys and looking at this world that came only from his head, Mike was amazed about how realistic it was, as even memories fade yet this place seemed to have dug deeper than memory in order to procure this scenery. Stopping at the perfect place to rest of very large trees and small amount of shrubbery, Mike thought of which animal he should create in order to test his powers. Thinking of one, Mike willed it into existence. A slow crawl of gray gas came out of the ground, eventually turning into a cloud. The creature that walked out of the cloud was a somewhat large white fox, Mike had decided on an animal that lived almost exclusively in snowy areas, the Arctic Fox. When this somewhat large for its species Arctic Fox came out of the gas, it instantly looked at the surroundings. Seeing this really out of place animal in a jungle, it seemed even it realized that it wasn''t supposed to be here. This fox, after searching anxiously, crouched and shrinked into the ground trying to hide itself from its surroundings, almost as if to become invisible. Following the foxes movements with his eyes, Mike saw how it reacted like an actual animal as soon as it was created, so it''s to be assumed that whenever a created creature gets an external stimulus that causes reaction for it, it becomes sentient again. Dispersing the fox, Mike continued the experiments with a couple other animals and critters to test his new hypothesis, turns out it was fairly simple and right the whole time. ? Looking at his surroundings, Mike realized he''d been here for hours and needed to get back to the cave with Turul, so he willed away the surroundings and wished to be back in reality. Twisting and turning the space around Mike shattered and vanished as his sense of direction was warped horribly. Awakening slowly Mike once again stared at the familiar roof of the cave as it shined and glowed with flora in all its beauty. Looking at the cave once more, Mike sat up to his surroundings. Staring at Turul who was still beside Mike looking around making sure that nothing would happen, Mike assessed his option on what to do next and what had happened. Getting up for the uptenth time today from this caves ground, Mike decided to leave now instead of waiting, not thinking of the clean up that he''d have to deal with later on, and instead on what to do next. ? As soon as they left, the cave glowed with a vibrant green all around as the plants stretched like they were waking up and yawning as they wriggled slightly, growing with the density of the green glow. ? Stolen novel; please report. Walking from the cave, Mike and Turul sat down by the now dead campfire as Mike was still thinking of what to do next with a lot on his mind. The whole adventure in the cave felt like an entire days worth of stuff with a gaining of one too, yet Mike wasn''t ready to just throw in the towel and sleep after that, especially because he couldn''t with how much he slept in the cave. Thinking it over, Mike decided the best idea was for Turul to carry him on his back as he flew so they could look for a location of interest, as well as so Mike could get a lay of the land and figure where about they were exactly. An interesting idea in mind, Mikes eyes sparkled with the next plan as Turul crouched down as he felt something was wrong with the way Mike smiled at him. Within minutes Mike was on Turul''s back as they stretched for the skies, but within seconds Mike wasn''t having as much fun. Riding Turul was like riding a small horse as it sped through a rocky terrain with it being constantly bumpy and rocky, making anyone sick. Mike didn''t even have a chance to look around before feeling like he was dying. Even Turul was having a bad time with Mike being taller than he was, it caused him no small amount of effort in order to reroute his wing path in order not to hit Mike over and over again as he held onto his back for dear life. Forcing himself to look around for brief periods of time, all Mike saw was forest and could not tell where he was or what else there was around. On the last look arounds Mike stopped feeling sick as he looked the the almost picturesque scenery of the world. The glow of the sky was more vibrant than ever with the trillions of stars blinking around constantly, and a forest that stretched as far as the eye could see with the occasional glimpse of beautiful flowers and plants as they glowed a beautiful light blue in the darkness of the forest. Looking to his right there was a mountain surrounded by trees from what he could see, it was so huge, Mike could barely even see the base before it sped of into a hazy light of fog and clouds that surrounded it at cloud level. Mike couldn''t see anything else besides this beautiful scenery, and he was pretty okay with that, no matter how much he could get used to living here, this scenery was something that would always be beautiful with the sort of fairytale like beauty never before seen. Flying back down, Mike knew exactly what he wanted to do, he wanted to explore that mountain all the way up to the top. It looked very steep so he would need Turul''s help but they could do it if they tried. Pulling himself out from all the fantasies of Treasures, Monsters, and Items on the mountain for his taking, Mike thought of how long it''d take to reach that mountain. "At least 3-4 days, that mountain, from the pictures of Mount Everest, had to be at least 5 times the size of any sort of mountain I''d ever seen so it''s to be assumed that it is actually very, very far away instead of as close as I thought it was." Dreading, Mike had barely even been here as long as 3-4 days, and now he was supposed to spend the amount of time it took him to get here to get to a mountain? Looking back again at all of the things to be found on the mountain and all that it could hold, Mike''s conviction flared up again as he really wanted to go there. Looking back at the somewhat unhappy Turul, Mike knew it''d be a long journey so they''d better eat now and have some off time before they go. Pulling Turul back to the dead campfire, Mike spent about 15 minutes of his time creating a new fire, becoming very adept at it. Getting Turul to go catch fish by flying in and scooping them near the camp fire, he managed to get 10 before they stopped. Cleaning the fish, Mike one again started cooking, and hoping for a better result this time Mike put them on. Eating the still bad tasting fish, Mike and Turul had gotten some off time before they headed towards the mountain. Sitting down on the bear rug, Mike pulled all of their valuables in front of him, this included The Gods Tears, the Golden Carp bones, and Broad Bears claws and teeth. Checking inventory, Mike put them back and looked at The Explorers Log, all of his tabs were the same with no updates on anything, strange even though he logged the ''Elemental Star Light'' before drinking it, so either he didn''t study it the right way, or it gave him all the information. Not bothering with it, Mike continued on, he looked at his information. Mike managed to upgrade once bringing him to Level 8, Turul also managed to Level up three times bringing him to level 5! Happy about all of the gains, including Mike''s new found abilities of being able to create stuff in his dreams, Mike happily laid down and thought of any sort of way in which he could use it in a given situation. "It''d be best to use to make tools and such on the go. I don''t know how powerful of an item it can create or if it can make things instantly, but I think its abilities will be opened up with time and using it a lot." Minding such things, Mike decided to test out his creation abilities and testing how long it can last in the real world. Pulling himself in and out instantly after creating an item, which was surprisingly fast, Mike decided to make a knife for cutting, thinking of making it as sharp and durable as he could imagine. Taking the new found weapon in his hand and walking to a tree, Mike slashed at it as hard as he could. With no sound the knife left a deep cut into the tree, however, before Mike could get happy, as soon as his concentration deviated slightly, the knife puffed out of existence. Chapter 15: Adventure and The Bugs Checking everything was together with them that they''d need for the journey, including being full and well rested, Mike was prepared for the hike towards the mountain. The reason Mike was going was for one, he was now an explorer, over the course of the past days of combat, surviving, and finding amazing things Mike had come to love this life slightly. With a past that was about as boring as watching grass grow, Mike was really excited to see what was around the corner when there was something new to discover and had come to enjoy finding rare materials and animals immensely. Obviously without Turul, he would not enjoy this life at all, but since he''d gained such a valuable asset and companion Mike was more than happy to explore dangerous areas with Turul there for protection since he''d be able to thwart most threats unless it was something frighteningly bad. Second off with Mike''s new life, he''d come to really enjoy sceneries like this, ones where it was nothing more than breathtaking to look at and wonder how it all blended together so well. So being able to take in a scenery like a mountain in a beautiful place like this, well he couldn''t miss the chance to do so. Mike had always been like this, even if he himself didn''t know that, he''d always had dreams of exploring and finding beautiful sceneries and amazing legendary and rare items. Most people when young had the same dreams and aspirations, however Mike was particular, most had given up on such childish notions when reaching adulthood, however Mike didn''t, he always kept it close to him and never gave up on them, even when he was over 40 years old, he always dreamed of it everyday and everynight. Loving a life like this was something that came naturally to Mike because he''d always had the idea of doing something similar, or writing down his dreams, and to live out your dream was something mesmerizing, and that''s exactly how Mike felt, that''s how he got used to this life so quickly and how he was able to shed away his old one like dropping heavy luggage. ? Pulling himself up with a medium sized gray bag with some things from camp and a canteen on the side full of water Mike admired his last couple hours of practice and hard effort, and how easy it was to be able to get used to the powers he''d gotten randomly. Getting Turul ready as well by nudging him slightly to continue the walk, Mike was fully prepared for the this awesome adventure ahead of them with a goal of reaching and climbing the mountain. Walking loosely towards the mountain, Mike realized that instead of bolting towards the mountain with the sole idea of getting there was dumb, and instead exploring the scenery around as they walked in the general direction was better with a lot more options and rewards to get. Heading forward slowly across the river and on to the next location. Mike had wanted to create this as his home base, but exploring was of more importance than settling down so onward they''d go. The journey itself would be a long one, Mikes estimate was 3-4 days but it could very well be weeks to months if he is doing as he is now what with going loosely in the direction. ? The adventure was exciting since Mike got to see new surroundings with every couple of steps, everything changed when you looked at it through a different angle, whether that be the lighting or it be the plants and colors of them or the chirping of bugs and other strange critters lurking in the shadows that were of no obvious danger due to Turul''s expression of boredom. Nothing became really boring for either of them with something new to always look at notice, or hear along the way forward. As the walking progressed for hours, Mike noticed something. It started out very small but it paced rapidly with droplets every so often until it finally started going to small raining into full blown storm with very high winds and droplets the size of coins falling rapidly. Seeking shelter under trees wouldn''t be able to fix their problem, and if Mike couldn''t keep focus on his recently created items, which had already dissipated a couple times over the last couple hours, they''d disappear again, and it''d be a real problem to have to find all the valuables and clean all of it up. Watching as the lighting crashed and the thunder rumbled even though there didn''t seem to be a cloud in the sky which was strange, it was like looking at someone do a magic trick, you have no idea how it works yet you enjoy it. As Mike and Turul sat under a tree that offered barely any protection, Mike couldn''t help thinking maybe his power may be of use here, that is if he could even use it properly. Pulling himself in and out quickly, Mike made an umbrella to the best of his abilities, however it seemed like he wasn''t able to with all that he''s created as it puffed away into oblivion as soon as he looked down at it. Sighing, Mike put away that idea for the moment and tried to think of anything that could be of use to their current situation. Screeching softly, Turul unfurled his wings once more bringing the air around them to expand and twist, almost like it was a dome of sorts to protect them from rain. Mike started to laugh as he forgot that Turul really was that useful for almost any situation, and had instead thought that he couldn''t rely on him for this one. Both getting up dripping wet, but with a protection against the rain, they''d be able to walk without much of a problem now. Mike wanted to search for a place to rest for a while and try to build a temporary campfire for them too dry beside. Walking forward on wet moss, puddles, and mud Mike and Turul continued to hike forward to reach something new. ? Trudging along fruitlessly, Mike and Turul couldn''t find a single place in which they could find shelter for the time being. The worst part about this, or a lesson, was that Mike''s creations constantly kept disappearing due to his attention being on the surroundings and being unable to focus on them, so they''d have to constantly repack it once he created the backpack again, which was proving to be more and more difficult along the journey since this was the 100th time this had happened already, or at least it felt like it. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Luckily they didn''t have to worry about water, what with so much surrounding them. Sighing once more, Mike was beginning to regret making this trip, but they couldn''t remain stagnant forever, and it was best that they do this now rather than later. As the lightning around them became more and more frequent, Mike started to worry about them being struck, but that faded away since he thought of the chances of them getting hit which was about 1 in a million. The warnings could never be clearer though, it felt like the lightning struck all around them constantly, and for some reason it only hit trees from what Mike saw or could tell. This lightning was serious too it felt like everytime it struck, it vibrated the ground like a wobbly table stuck by a hammer. It felt like getting shocked directly by the lightning rather than it being a mile away or closer. With Mike and Turul still searching, Mike slowly lost focus again, making his backpack disappear and all the valuable get dumped to the floor behind him. Sighing for the thousandth time today, Mike quickly remade it in order to put the stuff back inside. When Mike bent over to pick up the bear blanket, the world suddenly went quiet, and got very bright, before a large pearl of sound washed over Turul and Mike pushing them away with the wind dome being shattered like glass. Once Mike rolled a little he stopped, while Turul managed to stay rooted in place, albeit looking the other way from the bright light. Pushing himself up slowly, in pain, and wet with a whole slew of items still around him, Mike looked at what just happened. The tree right beside them had gotten struck by lightning, however it was weird. The tree looked about as black as charcoal with a few occasional arcs of electricity going all around it, from top to bottom. Staring in amazement at how close that actually was, Mike felt a huge sensation of relief from just not being hit directly, since they had only came out of that skirmish with some bruising and pain. Mike heard something weird though, with his improved senses, albeit only of a young person, he could hear faint buzzing over the horrible rain. It must have been very loud in order to even hear it over this huge amount of constant rain and thunder noises. Pulling himself up even farther, Mike disregarded the scattered items for now in order to get closer to the charred tree. Getting about 5 feet close was all it took, with a single step after that, Mike felt a small burning sensation pass though his body as he was pushed back very hard. Staggering back and wincing in pain, Mike looked at the area where the pain first hit. Staring at the black dot on his arm, Mike realized that something was wrong with this tree. Lightning doesn''t just make a electric fence around things it hits after the strike. Rubbing his arm, and pushing himself as close as he could get, Mike stared intensely at the tree, studying for any sort of movement. Lo and behold, he saw it, there were bugs moving so fast it looked like arcing electricity. Walking around the tree, Mike tried studying them in order to get prepared for scanning one, however after minutes of studying he had gained nothing what with them moving so fast. Sighing Mike could only catch a glimpse of golden before they moved again, so he decided to just scan one real quick before something happened again. Willing out The Explorers Log, Mike tapped the tab button to ''Fauna'' and proceeded to scan the bug. Turul now putting back up the wind dome at a safe location, and Mike picking back up all the items scattered across the ground into a newly created backpack stared at the arcing electricity of movement and the buzzing of bugs as they moved all about doing something. Waiting for almost an hour, the scanning was complete. During this time, Mike and Turul searched the area for anything else, and tried to set up shop slightly for a place to rest in this horrible rain. --Lightning Bug: The simplistic name does not show the ferocity of these little bugs. These eusocial insects live with the most brutal and violent storms in order to find food and places to stay. These critters are a very light golden with a body of hard carapace, making their ability to move very hard, however they make up for this with rapid speeds, amazing maneuverability in the air and solid defense. The King and Queen live in the most violent of the storm clouds and the workers move about around finding food and materials in whatever way possible. They have the ability to control lightning and direct it in any direction from within their body, they use this power control lightning strikes to either strike enemies or to reach potential food or building material very fast. These plants mostly thrive on a mix between charred trees and chareed animals not having a personal preference of one over the other. Environment: Storm Cloud Effects: N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Rare Reading this over and looking at the insect itself, it looked very similar to a very armored bee without the antennas, which looked slightly more deadly. Mike wasn''t that afraid of being attacked by these workers here now since they''d already found the food that they''re going to eat, so they shouldn''t have a hankering for him, however he hoped they would stop directing the lightning, now that they have all the food they''d hopefully need. Sighing again for the millionth time in a row, with another blunder of losing his backpack again and having to rearrange and make it again, Mike and Turul set off again in a dome of wind and wet feet with the rumble of thunder surrounding them. Chapter 16: Lightning Monarchs The trek forward never got easier with only more lightning falling as they moved toward hopefully somewhere to rest. With the trees around Mike and Turul getting hit more and more frequently, Mike just hoped they wouldn''t get struck because they looked tasty. "Are the King and Queen going to come down themselves?" Huffing slightly at how frequently lightning struck, and slightly scared at just how large this colony would have to be in order to need this much in order to get food, Mike started to nervously rattle and curse at this royal couple. "I mean come on you don''t need that much food, you''ll get fat you know!" Continuing to rapidly spew words quietly to himself, Mike wished he hadn''t said so much, knowing his luck they''d come right for him. And like clockwork, a large streak cracked the sky in twain as it hit very close to Mike and Turuls location. Shuffling himself closer towards Turul is the only way in which Mike felt slightly safer, however even he didn''t know if Turul would be able to take a hit like that. As the sounds of splashing and rumbling echoed throughout the area, it seemed like Turul was simply unafraid of anything as he continued to trudge forward without a single look of anxiousness, while Mike on the other hand looked as white as paper and seemed to be shaky at the knees everytime thunder rolled about. Then, it all stopped, the lightning died with the thunder and it seemed so quiet with only the sound of rain coming about harshly. This silence went on for minutes, only making Mike more nervous and scared at what was about to occur. Then, with a crash the world flipped around Mike, the ground beneath him and Turul was pushed away like sand as a wave erupted around them. The world turned dark as Mike couldn''t see anything, but he was unharmed. Right before the crash, and a large amount of earth, and rock could crash onto them, Turul surrounded them in a layer of earth for protection. Seeking around, Mike found Turul in front of him. Relaxing his shoulders in relief, Mike sat down beside him, knowing what just happened. "Either the King, Queen, or both came, and I know for a fact that I have to scan them, it''s the only way to get stronger." Tearing up slightly for knowing what he was going to have to do, Mike lied there for a brief moment to get himself prepared. Having another sigh escape his lips, Mike finally asked Turul to release them from the earth and see what the outside looked like. ? Being pulled up with Turul, Mike finally saw the area in which they were just in. All over was a pitch black smudge that seemed to be from the strike itself. Along with that a stretch of small land around the landing site was ruined, but after that it seemed to have no effect at all. In the deep pit of destruction were two small glowing blue lights swirling about as if dancing, it seemed like those were the Queen and King. "Why''d they come down here though?" Mike was confused about this since it''d seem like they wouldn''t come down unless something really good was around. Getting closer in slow steps, Mike was trying to get in range of scanning one of them. Pulling himself closer, Mike kept trying to lock onto one of the two creatures, finally after getting into the black ground range, Mike managed to snag one with The Explorers Log. With the scanning in process, Mike backed up as quietly and fast as he could hoping not to alert the two buzzing blue lights in the crater. However, it seemed like the blue bugs had other plans, with two flashes and a slap of thunder they were right on Mike. Looking at two tiny bee like bugs in slow motion, he saw exactly what they looked like. They had flew right at him so they were right beside each other, the one on the right for Mike was almost the exact same as the one on the left. The only difference being the right one had a large crown of three round jewels of different colors, Red, Blue, and Purple in that order from left to right. The one on the left was bigger, yet it had a smaller crown with only one large blue jewel in the middle. These ones were weird too, they had fur like bees only with it being blue and black instead of yellow as they glowed in their typical lightning bug fashion. Mike managed to scan the smaller of the two with the three jewels. Eyes wide open, Mike also watched in slow motion as Turul appeared beside them, with a huge storm of wind and earth behind him. Turul unfurled his wings to release tens of pent up wind stikes towards these two bugs as a distraction. Not slacking though, Turul pulled the earth around them into a dome as too not let the bugs escape and, if possible, to bring about another flurry of earth styled attacks on them. These bugs weren''t having it though, buzzing their wings gently arcs of blue electricity spread though the surroundings, bringing with it destruction. In tandem, these two bugs knew exactly what the other was doing, like real lovers and managed to wreck mayhem on any sort of attack or move by Turul. As the fight continued with it going back and forth, Mike was lying outside the dome, hearing the rumbles happening from within and chips of earth fall off occasionally. Slightly dazed, Mike had never realized just how fast fights like this one started, and how quickly they ended as well. Hopefully Turul would be able to finish this one of unscathed, though Mike very much doubted that. Gritting his teeth, Mike knew that Turul might not be able to make it out of this one. Mike knew it was his fault for getting Turul into this situation, so he did what he always did, Mike racked his brain searching for any sort of way in which he could help Turul prevail. "I could maybe use my new powers, but what could I make that could help Turul right now?" Mike had never thought this hard in his life, causing him to get a splitting headache searching his memory over and over, looking for the answer. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ''Rubber'' before Mike even had a chance to get the thought all the way through his brain, the large earth dome burst apart into dust and small rocks. From outside in there was a large crater in the dome with both Turul and the two monarchs fighting it out, with Turul still on the losing end. Panicking, Mike tried to figure out what he should make with this rubber in order to help Turul. "Maybe a large bag to capture the bugs in?" thinking of this Mike pulled it out of his own dream, completely disregarding the now disappearing gray backpack and canteen, the bag Mike pulled out was fairly large and could be used by Turul to capture either one of the two bugs. "Hopefully this rubber will be able to hold off the lightning that they shoot." Focusing all he could on the rubber bag as for it to not disappear, Mike ran closer towards Turul and the two lightning bugs. Before Mike could get that close though, the edges of the already destroyed large dome of earth around the fighters burst apart into an explosion of dust, earth, and many blue lightning strikes that seemed to be moving about erratically. Flying out in a cascade of dust were a large golden bird as it released a multitude of different projectile attacks, such as hardening and throwing boulders, or building up wind pressure and releasing it forward. Behind this large golden bird were two small blue dots that looked to be about the size of a phone. These two dots had erratic lightning swaying all around them, like whips, cracking the air as they moved. This lightning brought with it destruction of any form of defense of attack as it destroyed anything blocking it. These two blue lights never seemed to be separated, always staying beside each other, helping each other and bringing about a multiplier effect on their power. Pushing down on the large golden bird with their combined lightning in the cascading rain, it seemed like Turul is able to tank their hits with his large defense, however it still hurt him immensely so he could only take so many hits. "Turul take this!" Focusing all he could on the large rubber bag, Mike made sure as for it to not be destroyed. Throwing it as hard Having a hard time seeing, Mike threw it as hard as he could at the large golden blur as it sped towards him once it heard his voice. Clutching onto it with his large talons, Turul looked at the weirdly feeling bag. Not having any idea what this was supposed to be used for, Turul stared at Mike hard in order to figure out what it was as he fought off the two small dots billowing around him at blinding speeds. "Capture them in the bag, they won''t be able to escape from it!" Yelling loudly over the rain, Mike hoped Turul could hear him. Pushing himself forward with a gale spreading about, Turul rushed towards the royal pair. Exchanging attacks for what felt like hours to Mike as he watched the ongoing fight, he couldn''t keep himself distracted and focused all he could onto the rubber bag. It seemed like Turul was at even more of a disadvantage with his talons now occupied by a large rubber bag, however it helped Turul block off some hits of lightning that the two threw at him. ? Finally, Turul managed to get his opportunity. As the lightning died for a split second, Turul with speeds faster than the two bugs, rushed them, bringing with him a large rubber bag. Sweeping it towards them as they released another bout of lightning that hit mainly the bag, however neither the two monarchs or Turul knew that the bag was able to absorb lightning. Once hit, the bag absorbed the lightning like it was nothing. Sweeping the bag over the two and closing it tight with both claws. The two bugs struggled incessantly as you could hear that large sound of lightning cracking air inside the bag, and the loud sound of buzzing wings. As Turul flew back down towards Mike, it made sure to keep the bag sealed as tight as possible in order to ensure that it could be kept safely. "Should we kill these two bugs?" Standing in front of Turul, Mike had thoughts of killing these two. "If we kill them the surrounding lightning bugs will go into a frenzy over losing these two, however if we don''t they''ll send an army of these guys to kill us." "But I know bugs like these usually work with chemical signals, so if we just keep this bag tightly shut maybe the other bugs won''t realize that their Queen and King just died." Scratching his head, Mike didn''t know if that''d actually work and it was a highly risky maneuver. "Plus I still have to scan that other one." Speaking of scanning, Mike looked at the progress bar for the one he did manage to get scanned before the big fight. The fight probably took a little under an hour, and this scanning was almost done. Waiting the last couple of minutes while keeping check over the bag, making sure nothing went wrong. Mike finally saw that this scanning process was done and was ready to look at what this little bug was. --Queen Lightning Bug: The ruler over a colony of Lightning Bugs, this Queen is chosen over a duel of upwards of thousands of royal contestants for the throne. When a Queen is chosen she naturally grows her crown and three jewels, with each jewel representing a power. When the Queen is ready to mate she chooses her spouse that will be with her for as long as they both live. The Queen Lightning Bug honey created for her young is said to be a very precious material used in a multitude of beverages and foods. The Queen Lightning Bug is able to use lightning attacks that bring about storms for her colony, she may also use her other powers in order to fight or to defend her colony. When a Queen loses her spouse, she is able to increase the intensity of the storm in which she creates by many levels for a brief period of time in anger. It is said that in this mode a Queen has another name, ''Monarch of Storms''. Environment: Storms Effects: N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Rare Chapter 17: The Chasing Sun Looking at the information on this Queen, Mike wasn''t that surprised by it. Any creature with a colony this large and full of dangerous bugs had to have some sort of power to themselves. Mike just didn''t know how he''d handle these two ticking time bombs. Especially after knowing that the Queen could use either one of her other two powers. For one Turul wasn''t able to beat them in a two vs one match, and if he attacked only one of them, the other would attract a storm of lightning bug colony on them. A large headache spread out amongst Mikes chaotic thoughts. The only possible idea that might help out is if Mike could scan the king and get vital information on what his power was, but Mike wasn''t able to scan it through the rubber bag. During the mess of ideas coming and going, Mike''s best plan was to just squash the bag with the bugs inside and keep it closed as to not allow for any sort of pheromone to leak out as they ran away towards the direction they were originally heading too. Looking at Turul who was still tightly holding the bag shut, Mike knew he had no idea on what abouts to do with these two things, and was honestly slightly scared of a hurricane of lightning crashing down on them suddenly. Sighing, Mike decided that instead of sitting here and waiting for the lightning bugs to get suspicious it was better to just go through with one plan and hopefully it would be the right one. Steeling himself, Mike once more looked at Turul before making the command of crushing the bees. Bringing out a large amount of earth, Turul brought down a large boulder that seemed kind of overkill in order to kill two tiny little bugs, but Mike didn''t say anything knowing that Turul would make sure they died with one single hit. Moving the rock with a blinding speed it crashed straight into the bag. The wind and dust that flew around when Turul did that was immense. Closing his eyes in order to shield from dust and wind, Mike felt the pressure that came from the crash. Turul seemed pretty angry at these bugs for the fight earlier. Mike opened his eyes to look at the large boulder that was dropped, however what came into his sights was just an even larger boulder in the air, it seemed like Turul planned on another boulder being dropped in order to kill them. The last boulder could be called large because it was bigger than a car, this boulder was about the size of a house in front of him. Why Turul didn''t decide to use this during their battle earlier befuddled Mike. Mike turned and started to sprint away from the crash zone, he was too close. As a rocking motion took over the ground sweeping Mike off of his feet, Mike fell face first and a large stream of dust and wind rocketed over him covering him in a sort of smoky layer. Crawling up and coughing loudly, Mike once more looked at the boulders, hoping not to see an even larger one this time, luckily it seemed like Turul was done with crushing them. The large boulder took up so much space it''d be impossible to figure out if the two bugs died. Wringing out the brown water from his clothes, Mike walked over to Turul. Looking at the looming boulder up closer, Mike was sure that those two were dead since nothing could withstand that amount of weight with how small they were. "Still we should leave now before the lightning bugs realize that there Queen and King are dead." Running over and picking up all of the stuff that had dropped when he created the rubber bag, Mike stuffed it all back into a newly created gray backpack. Packing all of the stuff, Mike took one more glance at the large boulder. "I really need to scan that king bug, maybe I could get Turul to remove the boulder so I could scan them." Whispering to himself Mike thought of what would happen if he did that. Sighing, Mike knew he wouldn''t be able to because of the chances of the surrounding worker lightning bugs realizing that their Queen and King are dead. Picking himself up with a grunt and disappearing thoughts, Mike moved towards Turul so that they may head on to the next location, however it seemed like both of them doubted how powerful this clan of lighting bugs was, or how they operated. A rumble of thunder echoed around them, then lightning strike after lightning strike struck the area around them. Mike knew that something wasn''t right. "I knew I should have gotten more information on that damn Queen, she probably did something in order to get us killed!" Looking anxiously over at Turul, Mike started to run towards the way in which they were walking towards before the storm. Running in rain had never felt this dangerous, especially when you have a powerful colony of potentially millions wanting you and your companions head. Sprinting as fast he could, Mike looked behind to see Turul right behind him. Turul was also checking out the area, making sure that nothing got to close to either of them. "It seems like no animal is in the area anymore since these living lightning rods moved in." Looking for more lightning, Mike didn''t have a hard time seeing where they would strike since they moved in a line from where the last one hit. They especially seemed to be concentrating on the area in which they were just in. Most likely the Queen and King had signaled somehow to the other bugs that they were stuck and were getting rescued as they ran. "Getting away from these things is gonna take forever, if we even can, but there''s no way we could defeat these things with Turul alone." "Plus I can''t even make a rubber tarp since the force of lightning just hitting it would probably kill me anyways!" ? As Mike and Turul continued their sprint towards safety. The large boulder that Turul had crushed the King and Queen with had been constantly struck by lightning once the two of them had ran away. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Finally the bugs managed to dig a hole half way through with a little over 10-15 strikes in one general area. Before another strike could hit the boulder, it shattered by itself with an explosion of blue lightning cracking the air as the air broiled with heat from it. Deep into the boulder was a large swath of blue light seeming to vibrate and shudder awake. This large swath of lightning ''jumped'' out of the pit in which it was in. As it flew up, it created unnatural arcs of deep blue lightning around it, seemingly powering up the storm around it making it larger and stronger. With this new addition of blue lightning, the rain only pelted down more heavily onto the ground starting to become a flood in some areas. Something happened, and it wasn''t pretty. ? As Mike and Turul ran, it only seemed like the rain got heavier and the lightning seemed more frequent. Then, the lightning stopped. It was so abrupt, not like when the Queen and King came down, but more like it was in the middle of sending one down and it just stopped. Skidding slightly, Mike quickly turned back to look. It was the worst mistake he had made up until coming here. What floated high and behind him could not be seen since it was too bright. A large ball of pure blue mass floated erect in the sky, calling it the sun would be an understatement. ? Stopping entirely Mike could only stare at this and the only thing that came to his mind was his death. "What the fu-" Before Mike could say anything else out loud, it moved. It was only slightly but it did indeed get slightly closer. With this movement it brought out a large clap of thunder and a shockwave that blasted past Mike and Turul, shaking and bending the trees around them, like in those scenes of atomic bomb explosions where all the trees were pushed with the shockwave pulling the leaves back. Turul seemed like he wasn''t having any of it though, agiley and soundlessly he climbed into the air a single flap of his large wings. Coming up to a height of little over 1,000 feet, he appeared to be nothing but a dot, and that''d only be when it is good lighting and sound weather. Mike couldn''t see him anymore after he had reached about 100 feet. Turul bent both of his legs forward in a sort of grasping motion, like he was about to rest onto a tree or about to grab prey from out of the sky. Bringing his two claws together, he started to absorb the surrounding air and compress it into a ball as well. This compressed air started off very small, not even noticeable by the naked eye. Then this ball slowly got bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Before long this compressed air was larger than Turul was, and this process only took about 30 seconds. In this time the ball of blue mass wasn''t stationary, with every movement it moved closer. How much distance it crossed per movement was unknown since it was just that large. Mike stood tall and still like a statue as he watched the large blue sun creep closer and closer to his area, and sadly he didn''t have Turul close by in order to feel safe, even if he was doing something right now in order to protect him. The large swirl of blue light made Mike feel dread, like staring at something impossible to defeat. It made one feel powerless, after all even if he was excited and ready to face this new and exciting world here, he was still just a regular office worker just but a couple days ago. He never expected he''d have to go up against a literal sun!! Mike honestly just felt like collapsing to the ground and weeping bitter tears out of regret, but honestly he couldn''t even do that anymore. Not with how weak and hollow he felt anyways. "Is this how I die? Without ever being able to succeed in this new found hope of mine? Finally when I am just about to be able to get to this brilliant and new stage, I fail. Is this my fate?" A bitter laugh escaped Mikes lips as he looked at the death that loomed right over his head with eyes of discontentment and anger. Once it creeped slightly closer, Mike could see how it looked in more detail. It honestly looked like a real sun, every now and then it''d have something that looked like a solar flare except it was more lightning like with how it branched off. Obviously this was one of the works of the duo of destruction. In slow motion Mike watched it creep closer upon him. When he felt it was so close he could feel the static and heat in the air, Mike closed his eyes, he could no longer do anything. Nothing could stop it from killing him, not even Turul. As it got hotter by the second, and just when Mike felt like he was in a sauna, it all seemed to vanish away like the wind. What replaced it was a screeching sound of wind blowing in the surroundings, like a ghost, except this screeching was less ethereal and more like a banshee was screaming as loud as it could in his ear. With this screaming the feeling of heavy droplets wetting his face and hair constantly stopped. Looking around him it was like a scene in all of those famous superpower shows, like Superman or Thor were fighting. What appeared before him was, again, that large swirling mass of blue lightning, however fighting that was an equally as big, large translucent orb that brought a screech like rubbing metal together as they pushed back and forth on one another. ''What the actual crap is this though!'' Mike wasn''t even able to voice his thoughts like he usually does as he looked at this large battle of whatever it was that was battling. Pushing and clashing together it seemed like they would be at this for a very long time since it looked like neither of them could get the edge over the other. Chapter 18: A Change In Scenery With the high wind speeds that rocketed the area in a screeching metal sound, Mike no longer had to worry about rain pelting him and obscuring his vision since the collision swept away all of the clouds that caused this whole mess. As the two large titans clashed, the horrible sound and distinct feeling it gave someone was horrifying, like scratching nails against a chalkboard. Mike huddled his hands tightly over his ears and tried his best to ignore and repress the sensations of crawling skin and goosebumps he was feeling. Looking up at the still ongoing clash it seemed like it would never end. Time seemed to crawl on slowly as Mike watched the sort of sumo wrestling match that they played against as they slowly both lost momentum and got smaller and smaller. After long minutes to almost half an hour before, if they looked like the size of palaces and castles from far away they were now the size of regular to somewhat small houses as they still produced that horrible sound and pressure. Although they were very loud and horrible sounding, after about an hour passed, Mike no longer felt that sensation, even with it being like a freight train in his ear. ? Finally right at the last tipping moment, the two now pretty small suns exploded into a sort of fan shape away from each other, like a butterfly as it just came out of the cocoon and decided to spread its wings. One side was a deep blue sort of plasma with gentle swirling patterns that moved all around it, while the other side was a wispy and ethereal translucent air that moved as it pleased in any such way. However this short term peace didn''t last very long. Another explosion rocketed around the butterfly sweeping it away like a cloud as it dispersed with the aftershock of something happening. These explosions of air didn''t seem to be all of that big, at least not like the ones from the two titans fighting. Mike knew exactly what was happening when he even saw the two suns esque things fight, Turul was fighting whatever King, Queen, or both in a duel of pure elemental power. Picking himself up painfully, Mike felt his joints crack as the still soggy moss and mud around him made squishing sounds from all the water that they had absorbed. Before Mike left to head towards the area of fighting, he made sure he had all of his belongings in his bag still, or if he even still had his bag for that matter since it contained all the important things in which him and Turul had collected since arriving here. ? Mike had to make some more deviant paths on his way towards the resounding explosions from the ongoing fight of pure power since with all the rain that had poured down, it started to make small flooding areas in which he couldn''t cross easily and so it would be a better option to just go around those areas. Jumping over small little newly formed creaks, climbing up crumbly small little cliffs only about 10-12 feet high, and knocked over trees that seemed to span forever, Mike was managing his way closer to the scene of chaos. It seemed like the closer he got to where they fought, the more dry and crumbly, like hardened sand, the ground was. "I am really hoping that Turul is okay fighting them, I know that last time he didn''t come out the fight well, and it''s even more so after using that really big move." Anxiously, Mike continued to follow the sound of explosions as it slowly became louder, and before long he had managed to reach a sizably large clearing. Since the shockwaves of them fighting with their large and powerful ''sun'' attacks had managed to even knock over a few trees in the area he was in even though it took him about 20 minutes to get to where he was, it wasn''t a big surprise that all of the trees that surrounded them had been uprooted and swept away to some far off land he may never see. Walking into the clearing fully under the crunch of dried out soil, Mike had a hard time comprehending what he was looking at. What appeared high up above him was Turul and a blue like orb bigger than either the King or Queen that he had fought earlier. It was about the size of a basketball from what Mike could tell and it seemed pretty angry as its lightning arced around it hitting everywhere that wasn''t where it was. It was befuddling, hadn''t the Queen and King been the cause of that giant sun earlier? if they were not the reason for this, then what was? Once in the clearing, Mike immediately backed up again too hide behind a recently knocked over tree as he watched the ongoing battle between those two. It seemed like they were evenly matched from Mike''s eyes, however Turul had a slight advantage with his double element affinity, including one of them that had a slight power over the blue orbs lightning attribute, earth. Now that Turul didn''t have to focus on two enemies attacking at the same time at different locations, Turul could focus all of his strength on one and unleash all his might on it. They continually pushed back and forth on eachother with neither being able to break the others defense. The blinding speed they moved at now made it so that Mike could no longer see what was going on. They continually spinned around like a top and crashed into the surround area causing the already destroyed area to have more and more craters from their skirmish. Trying his best to avoid getting in Turul''s way, Mike ran further back into the area in which he just walked in since he was more familiar with the area. Mike was no longer able to see the fight at all, however he did hear it sometimes get closer or sometimes so far away it was barely audible, the earth and air around the area constantly shifted and changed in some areas, presumably by Turul. A multitude of lightning strikes were hitting the surrounding area as well with the ongoing fight, going pretty much like the fight from before did. Hearing the collisions, Mike no longer felt like shaking the ground like an earthquake in Turul''s fight was strange, even though it really was, however even this most recent collision really shook Mike up. It was like someone powerdrilled his brain directly with its explosion. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ? Straining his eyes open, Mike felt a buzzing and static noise in his ears as the fuzzy surroundings came into picture. Mike was on his back and staring at all of the stars in the sky with the large treetops not being able to hide many due to them being so bright. Hoisting himself up, Mike felt pain run down his arms and body in protest making it known they didn''t want to move, however he picked himself anyway, albeit slowly. The surroundings were still a little fuzzy on the corners but they also slowly disappeared as the ringing in his ears subsided as well. Looking at his attire, it was covered in a whole bunch of charred dirt but otherwise fine. Wiping himself off, Mike looked for Turul, it seemed like they crashed a little to close for his safety, however looking around they weren''t anywhere in sight plus he couldn''t hear their fighting at all. Something even weirder was that...Mike didn''t know where he was. This area was completely foreign to him, there was no charred earth or knocked over trees, it was like it was another part of the forest that hadn''t been ravaged by the fight. The moss here wasn''t even wet. How far did they knock him away?! ? The fight between Turul and the blue orb continued on unabated. As they fought they ran together closely not letting the other get away from their grasp. Turul with his high defense pushed against the blue orb with little thought on getting hurt, after all if the Queen and King couldn''t do anything to his feathers than what could this squishy thing do? As they continued to push without any restraint they started to spin around each other since neither could push forward without being push aside, thus they started the rampage towards each other. Quickly the ground was littered with large and small craters alike with charred earth making it up with both elemental powers ruining the ground around them. The blue lightning crackled around breaking through most obstructions, however it was obviously weaker than the lightning from the sun it had created earlier. The wind and stone brought around by Turul crashed into and around them creating small pits and gashes into the ground as well. It seemed like only the earth power that Turul brought around did more towards weakening this strange creature than the wind did. As they continued to crash into the ground like a spinning top around each other they quickly hit areas outside the zone of the clearing from their bigger clash of suns. They somehow managed to glide into a toppled over tree and ran through it seamlessly like a power saw. Crashing into the ground, Turul saw a glimpse of as Mike looked on with a face of bewilderment and shock as tree splinters bolted into the air obstructing vision, and the shockwave of their impact slammed into the ground in front of him caused another small earthquake to rock the area. Not caring at all about the blue orb that stood opposing him, Turul quickly scanned the area in hopes that Mike was alright. However he was gone. Mike was completely gone and there was no signs of him moving leaving at all. Searching desperately, Turul looked for any signs of Mike as he ran into the area in which he was just in. Feeling pure despair at losing his parent and favourite person that he''d rather himself die than see him hurt. They were really gone. It seemed like Turul was about to cry tears and go crazy as the surrounding area started to wobble and shake and the air surrounding the entire region around them started to buzz and creak like it was under an enormous pressure. Turul was about to go crazy until he ran into a rather nauseating sort of area that quickly warped his sights and caused his sense of direction to go a little crazy for a minute or so before he arrived in a seemingly normal part of the forest where he saw Mike standing there looking really confused and lost at what to do. ? Before Mike could really get his bearings on where he was, a large object crashed into his side causing him a great deal of fear on the thought of being eaten by a forest animal or something along those lines. The only thing Mike could do in this situation as a large creature crashed into his side and started to rummage around him was to freeze up and play dead and hope it was only doing this for sport and not to eat him. However looking down lightly, Mike saw a familiar figure of golden feathers and a face full of tears and snot running down this crazy big birds face as it looked at him with a look of relief. "Turual?! Are you okay?!" Picking himself up slightly to sit on the ground, Mike inspected Turul closely with a look of worry making sure he was okay. Turul had his wings around Mike in what was sort of like a hug making it easier to check on his body. After several minutes of inspecting Turul, though he wasn''t a doctor, it seemed like Turul was perfectly fine. Sighing in relief, Mike looked at the golden bird in worry, wondering if he was okay in the head and hadn''t gotten brain damage from all of those lightning strikes. Rubbing Turul''s head roughly, Mike managed to get a loud coo of affection from him as he seemed to calm down slightly. Picking Turul up who was about as light as a pillow, Mike wiped himself and Turul off from any sort of dirt or moss that was stuck to them. Now with Turul, Mike felt much more at ease and like nothing could stop them, plus they managed to get away from that blue orb creature hopefully since it seemed like it wasn''t following Turul anymore. Though how they got here was one thing, and slightly strange, they were here now so it was no use pondering over it. With a sense of confidence, Mike looked around the area once more while Turul stood close to Mike, like a lot closer than usual, as Mike was slowly rubbing his head to hear small little bird noises every so often. Even though Turul was now slightly taller than he was, it didn''t mean that their relationship changed. As Mike continued, a fresh breeze rolled around them, bringing with it a really powerful and almost tear jerking smell of salt and water. Chapter 19: Below the Depths The taste and smell of salt was too strong even by Mike''s modern standards. It was like licking a giant pile of salt and rolling it on your tongue. It made one feel nauseous even though the smell and feeling of water was in the air, it did little to actually dampen the feeling of salt in ones mouth. Spitting on the ground in disgust, Mike looked around him even harder checking for where this awful stench was coming from. "Is it some sort of salt creature or something this time?!" Mike was fuming at the thought that they had just barely managed to just get out of one fight with some sort of lightning bug now they''d have to deal with a salt monster?! After breathing deeply for a few seconds, Mike managed to calm down slightly. "Hey Turul could you go up and check to see if you can find where this salty smell is coming from?" Asking in a pleading voice, Mike had no choice but to do this, they obviously couldn''t set camp down here anyways what with him not knowing where they were at all for some strange reason, plus the smell of salt made it unbearable to try and sleep, and Mike was pretty hungry anyways. After some coaxing and flapping his wings, Turul was up in the air again although a little reluctantly. Sighing and spitting out some more spit in order to alleviate this feeling of pure salt in his mouth. Mike waited patiently until Turul would come back with good answers. Mike sat down and decided that he would make out some plans depending on where they were, and what the general scenery looked like from Turul''s observation, and obviously if they should check out whatever''s making that awful salty smell. "Maybe we''re next to the ocean, there''s no moon, or sun for that matter, so there wouldn''t be waves that could make noise all the way to here." "But oceans don''t have this much salt in them, unless this is some mystical ocean, but I don''t see why having more salt in it would do that?" Trying to wrap his head around what was causing this salty smell Mike completely forgot about making more plans as he delved deeper down the rabbit hole of this predicament. After a few minutes of Mike having a headache Turul finally returned. On his barely able to be discerned bird facial expression was a look of confusion and bewilderment. Looking over as his thoughts flew away, Mike looked at Turul quizzically in hopes of him leading them to the area that caused this smell if it was deemed good and or safe enough to go too. As Turul nodded at Mike, they headed to directly in front of Mike towards where it was coming from. Walking with Turul in front of him, Mike could tell how tired he was, after all they just went through a really large skirmish and had only managed to get away through some random encounter, whether they were lucky or unlucky has been undecided yet. This continued on for about 5 minutes of regular paced walking, so it wasn''t that far away. The closer they got to their destination, the more the wind carried that same strong salty smell, and it seemed to come around more frequently. Through the trees into a clearing it was obvious on what exactly it was. The ground started to turn into a soft sand that made it harder to walk. This sand also had a tint of pink in it that made it look like some sort of fairy dust. Looking further out was a large body of water that stretched beyond the horizon as Mike looked he completely forgot about the whole fiasco that got them to here in the first place. The water here wasn''t blue or green, but a light and strong pink that moved with the wind ever so slightly. The dim lighting seemed to get brighter since this was a clearing, but it still seemed like night time when staring at this lake. It had that kind of atmosphere like being next to an ocean at night and wanting to make s''mores. The large and bright stars that reflected off the pink water made it look like a swirling pink galaxy, the trees had their own reflections on the sides of the lake giving a dark spiky edge of tree lines to it. The water was slightly translucent allowing you to see the bottom of it that was also filled with pink sand except it had a stronger tint in it. Staring in amazement at such a beautiful scene, Mike stood there looking at this place wondering what it would take to build a house here and just live here to be able to look at such a beautiful scene every single day. Turul was standing right beside him also looking at the lake, though if he was looking on in amazement or not could not be seen. Walking forward and sighing in astonishment Mike really did love this type of scenery, one where you couldn''t see this anywhere else. Walking closer, Mike didn''t even really mind the salty smell anymore. Taking off his shoes, Mike felt the sand on his feet, it was cool and soft to the touch, crumbling under his weight. It was an all new experience for Mike, although he had been to the beach before a many of times, he''d never been to any place such as this, especially one with pink water and sand that was soft to the touch. The water softly rolled back and forth onto the shore washing over Mikes feet occasionally in a somewhat warm water. The water for some reason was warm, like bath water, and felt really good as compared to the somewhat cool sand under him. Looking at this lake, Mike really wanted to go swimming in it. Pulling off his completely destroyed suit that could only be called black rags now, and his equally raggy pants, Mike threw them onto the shore line away from the water and near Turul. Only in his boxers, Mike could still feel his narcissism radiate from how good his body looked now after turning younger. Running in, Mike really felt like he was taking a bath, a really salty bath. "Seriously why is this lake so salty!?" Getting some water in his mouth by splashing around in the water, Mike didn''t taste any of the water part, only the pure salt levels that entered his mouth. His mouth burning, Mike spat as much as he could until his mouth was dry in order to get rid of all of the salt. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Since the water had such a high salt level it allowed for Mike to float on the top easily without having to do anything to try. ? After relaxing in the pink water for who knows how long, Mike was finally satisfied and decided to get out. Walking/Swimming out of the water was harder than it looked since it was such a hassle to move fast in it with the footing being to soft and slippery and your body always being pushed back up to the surface of the water if you were trying to walk since you''re so buoyant in the water, not to mention that Mike was in chest deep water. As Mike trekked or swam back to the shore line, the feeling of sleepiness started to get more and more prevalent in him from moving so much, especially since Turul was already nodding off over near his clothes and had been since he first got in. Mike didn''t have to fight at all so he wasn''t as tired as Turul was. He went through two major fights almost back to back with no rest at all so it''s pretty surprising that he hadn''t already passed out yet. Finally back on the shore in a wet mess of pink water, Mike decided to put his still new powers to use. Pulling out a towel and a bottle of regular water, Mike washed all of the salt off of his skin and hair and dried himself off harshly. Although Mike couldn''t drink or eat anything he created obviously because if he lost focus all of it would turn into gray gas so ultimately it didn''t do anything for him, however using it to clean off salt water from his skin was good enough. Finally after repeating the process for over 30 minutes and getting even more exhausted, he felt brand new, like he had just gotten out of the shower after being unable to bathe for a week. Mike fell flat onto the rolled up Broad Bearskin, and passed out in a pile of exhaustion, not even bothering to make a fire as it was warm enough beside the lake that had the occasional warm breeze blow by with its lingering salty smell. ? Deep below the great pink lake as Mike and Turul slept away their accumulated stress, there lay a large creature. This creature had a hard carapace with colors like that of a male peacocks feathers and large stony eyes. This creature looked eerily similar to a shrimp. It had an unfurled tail that could reach to its abdomen if curled and small walking legs, claws, and swimmerets. Among its various features were two very large ball shaped punchers that hung low to the floor before its body. The shrimp was long and ridgy leaving a sandstorm behind it as it walker ever closer towards its destination. As it walked the joints in its legs creaked loudly and sounded like rusty machine parts about to break off or buildings that were on the verge of collapse as they creaked loudly. In the vast empty echo of its surroundings, like a void, it continued unabated by anything. As this large shrimp esqe creature walked on the deep surface of the lake, it carried with it eggs the size of houses on it in between its two large punchers. Moving forward slowly, it released a light blue-green liquid behind it with the sandstorm, making it hardly noticeable in the swirling chaos. Every single step the shrimp took shook the surrounding ocean slightly startling any inhabitants, if any, that were nearby. Looking forward in the haze of pink water that, so deep down, blocked any sort of way of seeing clearly making it difficult for one to see what was up ahead besides more pinkness, luckily the antennas if this creature made sure it was unabated. ? After sleeping for hours and hours ''morning'' settled in for both companions, the breeze still carried with it the smell of the ocean, though with more salt though Mike was finally getting used to the smell of it. Stretching and scratching his back, Mike looked upon the still and beautiful scenery of the pink lake once again, not growing old of it even after looking at it for a really long time yesterday. Turul was looking around for anything to eat in the surrounding area so that Mike could cook them both up hopefully something good to eat. ? As the large creature finally arrived at its destination, its creaking joints stopped, bringing about a plum of sand as it put all of its feet on the soft ground. The sandstorm that tailed the creature all the way here slowly settled down again into a calm and peaceful atmosphere. The still horribly loud creaking joints of the creature slowly echoed out into the vast emptiness of the pink lake. Once stopped, the creature no longer moved staying exactly how it was. As the creature stood erect, a pool of greenish-blue liquid slowly seeped out of the creature rising up for the water was too dense in order for it to fall. Finally after a period of an hour of this monstrosity not moving an inch, the large ball shaped punchers fell to the lake floor causing a massive rumble to settle in the surrounding area and kicking up another huge storm around it, masking whatever was happening to it from the surrounding area. The antennas that once moved about like two large and long poles making sure that nothing was in its way slowly fell to the deep lakes floor and somewhat coiled around itself. As the creature died, the large house sized objects in between its two punchers that were pooled together in one huge sac and attached to its body ever so slowly started to shake and move about seemingly ready to hatch. These eggs were pooled together in the hundreds, showing just how truly massive this creature was in order to be able to hold all of them together by itself, though what was able to inflict that much damage on it in order to kill it remains unknown. Chapter 20: Peaceful Days These eggs slowly crawled and moved about, signifying that they were close to hatching after their mother''s death. As these shrimp like creatures popped out of the eggs one to tens at a time, they very quickly filled up the surrounding area, making the scene around the large dead mother shrimp a tornado of baby shrimp the size of houses as they swam and moved rapidly around the area. This process took an undetermined amount of time, by the time all of these babies were hatched it was like a school of fish that swam together up until the last hatchling came out. Once the last one came out, it turned into a scene of chaos and carnage. All of the young very quickly and very decisively attacked one another killing rapidly and continuing on in a haze of dead carcasses and mangled shrimp flesh. Seemingly without end these animals killed their own brethren into a haze of colorless blood and empty shells. Until there was only one left from the hundreds. This single baby shrimp became the sole inheritor of its mother shrimps powers. Its clear and soft carapace wasn''t even fully developed and yet it had went through a war against its own kin. As this child had won, it swam to eat as much as it could of its fallen brothers and sisters in order to heal its hurt body. After gorging on everything it could eat until it was overstuffed, it slowly walked away on the lake floor, creating very minute trembles with each step, looking for a place to build a shelter and call home. ? Moving around and making sure everything was ready to go, Mike and Turul were ready to head out onto the quest that they had given themselves, to head towards the mountain! In order to get to the mountain they''d have to walk alongside the lakeside as it was straight ahead of them. Along the way, just like they have been doing, they''d stop and look, or try, to scan anything interesting or fight strong opponents in order for both of them to level up! Walking along the lakes shoreline, calling it a lake was kind of wrong since it seemed to be like an ocean in size, Mike looked at the still swirling pink galaxy not even bothering to look at what was ahead of him and almost tripping multiple times. Under impulse, Mike Crouched down and cupped some of the water in his hands, Mike pulled up The Explorers Log and scanned it. Once the scanning initiated the bar seemed to zoom to the finish line, not even taking 1 minute to finish scanning. Clicking on the new log it was called ''Pink Water''. --Pink Water: This water has turned pink due to small algae called Dunaliella that take in the salt content within the water and create a byproduct that has turned this water pink. Environment: Needs Dunaliella Effects: None Danger Level: None Rarity: Common Laughing slightly, Mike had guessed that this water was almost completely normal, but he didn''t expect The Explorers Log to tell him why it was pink! Shaking his head a little with a slight smile, it was nice to see something so beautiful yet so normal every once in a while. Progressing forward it seemed like Mike forgot about any worries that he might of had as him and Turul moved closer to the mountain. ? Days seemed to pass by them in a blur, though they weren''t exactly days per say since the sky never changed, however they came and went all the same. These days were peaceful for the both of them since they didn''t meet a single creature that wanted to eat or kill them. Though most of the time they stayed and slept near the shore of the lake that seemed to stretch along with them endlessly, they still adventured out into deeper parts of the woods either to look at weird places that may hold special materials or to look at strange creatures. Mike had managed to snag a couple more logs in The Explorers Log so he was pretty happy, though sadly neither him nor Turul leveled up once in the past couple days of no action or anything of amazing worth. They were peaceful though and that''s exactly what Turul and Mike needed after going through days of fighting, running, or surviving. Especially Turul since he went through a lot of fights in order to keep Mike from dying. Mike needed it as well as these days had a sort of therapy effect on him since he never really had a chance to just relax since coming here, and with these peaceful days with Turul he had managed to relax and feel more safe than ever with his surroundings. It seemed like not only were Mike and Turul were becoming more of a team, they were becoming more like adventurers, especially Mike. Ever since coming here he''d had nothing but hard time after hard time, after finally being able to relax for longer than an hour without sleeping, Mike finally started to pick up on the thoughts of adventuring, exploring, and finding awesome things as being fun as he was having fun as he explored the weird and cool areas of the surrounding forest, though they never found anything that really stuck out as an amazing item or animal, they still did enjoy the process! The progress they made during these couple of days were hard to measure. It seemed like no matter how much they moved closer to the mountain, it always only seemed to get bigger but not closer. Either they were farther away than they thought, or something was going on. ? The always slightly damp and yet barely cold surroundings of the air on this ''morning'' woke both Mike and Turul up slowly. The fire was long extinguished yet Mike was able to sleep peacefully with the broad bear skin that he kept along with him on their adventures. Shifting slightly under the large blanket/pillow, Mike rolled around unable to get himself to get up fully as it was colder outside than in the blanket. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Sighing and forcing himself up, Mike stretched and proceeded with his morning routine like yawning and scratching his back as he slowly woke up. After a little while of moving around and getting prepared, Mike and Turul were prepared for this day, though they seemed a lot more relaxed and less bothered with the surroundings. Moving forward once again on the slightly pink tinted sand, they seemed use to this by now as they had been doing the same exact thing for days now. Seemingly so relaxed, Mike had to battle sleepiness as they moved along the barely changing road. Luckily it seems like Mike had been able to get in more practice with his abilities as he had more control over them as they didn''t disappear upon his deviating thoughts, though there were a couple times in which they seemed like they were slightly vanishing as they released minutes amount of gray gas. As the day passed slowly Mike and Turul seemed to be having another one of those days where nothing happens. Finally after walking for almost the entire day, Mike and Turul stopped at their next camp site in which they''d rest for the night. Pulling out all of the materials needed and grabbing some nearby flammable material, they had a full blown fire before them. As Mike set up the campsite, Turul spent his time catching the dinner for tonight. After cooking, eating, and planning for tomorrow, Mike and Turul set out for sleep. ? Morning quickly approached for both of them as they seemed to have a repeat of the same morning from yesterday. Quickly packing their stuff they headed on. However, the plan for today was different. The plan for getting to the mountain was that every other day they''d just walk, however on the days they didn''t walk closer towards the mountain they''d search the surrounding area. Very quickly they veered of course towards the surrounding area in order to check it out for anything worthy of noting. Walking on the soft ground of moss as they headed deeper into the forest, it seemed so peacefully quiet with only the sound of jingling from their bag, their almost inaudible footstep, and the occasional gust of wind that brought about an earthy smell. The trees were spread far apart as they were very large making a lot of room to walk, along with good line of sight, even if it was slightly darker with the trees blocking some of the starlight. Everywhere they looked to be the same with large fluorescent flowers and grasses growing illuminating the ground ever so slightly as the large trees cast weird shadows onto the land below giving a somewhat somber and dark atmosphere. The rare crunch of leaves the fell from the sparse tops of the trees did little to change the surroundings look or feel. Mike however was used to the sights, but he still knew how to appreciate how beautiful it was. ? After half an hour of combing the surroundings looking for anything noteworthy, the only really out of normal thing they had found out of it was an arachnid. This spider was about 13 centimeters long that almost blended in with the surroundings, almost. This spider seemed uninterested in them, however it web that it created spanned from three trees, making a large net the seemed to span a very long distance. Standing about 6 feet away from the spider, Mike pulled out the explorers log and scanned it for the sake of logging it and leaving, as he didn''t want to stay close to this disgusting little creature. Staring at this spider it had long spindly yet terrifying looking legs. It had a small head and long oblong torso that seemed to kind of hump where it meets the head. This creature was a vibrant black with splotches of slightly glowing light like the surrounding plant colors. Standing there for a little bit, Mike backed up away from the spider slightly as to not be in its danger zone incase it was something that was really dangerous. Waiting for about 10 minutes, the scanning process finally finished to showcase the name under ''Fauna''. It was called an ''Ebb Spider''. --Ebb Spider: This spider is commonly known for its mythologically named background. It is said that millions of years ago this spiders species had intelligence that put it above humans and thus they prospered immensely, however all of that changed with the tragic fate of the new spider queen. When she first came to power she had a mighty yet kind rule over her subjects, but when tragedy struck her life she shut herself in the castle, never to be heard from again woefully spending her days alone and in isolation from anyone else. With the loss of their queen the race slowly faded from rule and has become just another arachnid species. This species has a very weak venom that can only affect prey smaller than it, it however makes up for this with very sturdy and strong webbing that stretches for upwards of tens of feet. This spider makes up for its weak body with a natural camouflage to its surroundings, making it very difficult to see it at all. Environment: Hot, and Damp Effects: N/A Danger Level: Low Rarity: Uncommon Mike was slightly stunned, The Explorers Log never usually did things like this where it told the background, maybe it had leveled up or something when he didn''t notice? Or maybe this species of spider has a lot more to it than meets the eye. In any case Mike was happy he''d been able to find and scan this little spider as it had been a while since he had found something this worthy of noting, even if it was only of a uncommon rank for its species. Picking himself up lightly, Mike took one last look at the hanging threads of spider webs and the small and almost unnoticeable spider that stood still on its web, waiting for prey, before finally heading out under a dim and beautiful night sky. Chapter 21: Melancholy Road Walking away from the arachnid with a huge history, Mike couldn''t help but think about all of the things The Explorers Log had described the spider as. Although sometimes it was vague and sometimes you needed to explore more into an item or creature in order to get all of the information, which Mike didn''t due to the Ebb Spider because he hated spiders and was afraid of them, it had never done something like give information like that on a creature before. The thought just wouldn''t get out of his head as he stared at the beautifully backgrounded screens in front of him that told so little about itself and where it came from. It seemed so mute, it wasn''t even like the screens he''d seen in video games either, it didn''t give him his points of ''Strength'' or ''Magic''. It was almost empty actually. It never told him the benefits of leveling up, or what was instore for him, or where he even was for that matter! It just appeared and gave him a road to follow, what laid ahead was unknown. (AN: Remember he has two screens! One for the Log and the other for Guardians!) It simply gave him basic information like his name, age, occupation, and level. Which is amazing that it even gave him his level anyways since it seemed to be unwilling to give him anything else. Heck it even makes him search deeper and look closer at certain things in order to get all of the information! Mike was even more confused about its origins, it didn''t seem like it came from the Jack Apple as the only one he ate had made him younger, so if he had gotten it, where did he get it from? And when did he receive it? Did it come to him when he arrived in this forest, or did he gain it after that? Thinking of all this Mike started to get slightly depressed and no longer wanted to think about it. Remembering how he got here and all that had happened then brought up some pretty recent and sore memories that he''d rather move on from, like mainly how he felt at the time that really made him want to forget as it brought a somewhat sour taste to his mouth. Sighing and returning back to his original thought, if The Explorers Log really did change the information given just for a single time in order to explain the Ebb Spider, what did that signify? Maybe, just maybe the background and history is a major importance to that species for a special reason he might find out in the future, but until then he''d have to just stay content with the questions he had in his mind and could only think of the possibilities that may become of them. Turul didn''t follow him to keenly and explored nearby, but away from Mike so that they wouldn''t miss anything. ? The needlessly high trees stuck out around Mike making him feel like an ant walking around giants feet. Walking in the same pattern he had been before, Mike continued to search for something interesting. Within in the confines of his own thoughts and the quiet whispers of the large beautifully constructed forest, Mike couldn''t help but have his mind wander aimlessly. After all it had been such a long time since he had been without Turul by his side. Since the beginning of all of this actually. So left to his own devices without a sort of support, Mike started to look back on everything that happened, albeit unwillingly. It felt like so long ago that he''d arrived here, although he really enjoyed it here and loved the thought of everything that was to come with Turul by his side. It didn''t mean he doesn''t miss his home or Earth anyless. You''d have to be an idiot to think this was on or near Earth, Mike knew ever since he saw the place this wasn''t home, and there may be no way for him to return in his lifetime. Mike had nothing to miss there, he didn''t have any living close relatives anymore, no friends that he particularly enjoyed, and he hated his job, however he still missed it. It was his home where all of his memories of over 40 years of life resided, where he grew up and where he thought he''d die, alone and depressed, but home nonetheless. He had his memories of both joyus and tragic moments there. His parents were his fondest memory because he loved and missed them dearly, even if they were no longer alive he''d still never be able to visit their gravestones, that were right next to each other, or look at the photos of them together with him when he was younger. He had missed the simpler times with them when they had recently passed, but now he missed the times where he was even around them at all. There was no real reason for him to miss Earth so much besides his fond memories with his parents, yet he still felt an aching for that place somewhere deep in his heart. He knew that if he had the chance to go home and give up this fantasy esque world and Turul he wouldn''t. After all this his chance and opportunity to live out a life he would be proud about! He had one of the worlds strongest creatures and a power that would be a must have auxiliary ability for him as it allowed him to create effectively any tool on the spot. So giving up on such an opportunity would have to make him an idiot. ? The air seemed to be closer to winter weather on the occasions it blew by. It felt cold and Mike had a hard time feeling the tips of his fingers that felt cold and unfeeling when he pressed them against the palms of his hands. Thinking of all of these things made Mike depressed and reminiscent of the past. The beautiful scenery with glowing mushrooms, beautiful flowers, and buzzing strangely shaped bugs under a deep and beautiful black sky with a trillion sparkling lights that dazzled and sputtered in between the trees with beauty seemed to blur in the background as he no longer paid attention to his surroundings that, even though beautiful, were not as important as his own aching heart. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Eventually Mike was pulled out of his tears that poured over his eyes and onto his youthful face as he had tripped over a large root that snagged his foot since he wasn''t paying attention at all. Sniffling a little bit, Mike slowly picked himself back up and swept away the dirt and moss that stuck to his clothing. Sighing Mike wiped away the tears and put himself back together as he fought against the idea of continuing on with his melancolic episode. Looking around, it seemed like he hadn''t walked far from where he originally was as he could see the area in which he just was before starting his depressed mood. It seems his thoughts and mood whirled by faster than his feet did. Walking forward once more, Mike fought against the surges of woeful tides in his mind as he focused on surveying his surrounding more scruntitly. Looking and wallowing in the beauty of this forest once again for the tenth time, Mike seemed to feel better about everything and soon started to forget about his sadness for a little bit. After hours of searching, Turul came back empty winged, while Mike only had the Ebb Spider under his belt for the day. It seems they had hit a period of drought with finding rare things. It was strange too since they had managed to find so many cool things when they first arrived here but ever since that fight with the lightning bug King and Queen they hadn''t been able to find one single thing that was worth the actual effort of going out of their way for. Mike had already scanned all of the flora and fauna they could find as it''s his job to ''explore'' and ''discover''. They had been mostly uneventful. Sighing seemed to be Mikes favourite pastime as he looked towards the very visible mountain from the sandy beach side. The never changing sky made Mike and Turul both tired as they couldn''t stifle their yawns. They had kept on searching after meeting up at the beach, together this time, and had managed to pass most of their day doing that, yet still without a good result on their endeavour. As they sat by a warm fire that had just cooked their food for the night, Mike looked off into space. It had been an emotionally and physically taxing day for him today, he was just ready to lay down and pass out, not even bothering with planning for tomorrow. Eating and laying down both Mike and Turul had no trouble falling asleep that night. ? The routine of their daily lives seemed to continue with exactly how it had been. Today they got up and, after doing the regular morning routine, they walked. For the entire day they had walked straight ahead without doing anything else besides stopping every now and again. They once again set up their fire and food in order to sleep after walking the entire day. ? Mike awoke abruptly. He had heard a strange noise in the forest that leered so closely to the beach. It sounded like a laugh and cry yet it was soft, but just loud enough to awaken Mike to hear it. Shifting on the broad bear rug, Mike peered at Turul who was already awake and alert to whatever was in the forest. Turul looked unblinkingly at the forest with his scary gaze waiting for whatever was there that threatened their sleep. However it seemed like it was all just an illusion. There were no more noises during the interval in which they kept alert, like it just disappeared, not even Turul could track it. Before long they both had decided to just get up and start their day. They both agreed Turul wouldn''t go into the forest for hunting today so they had fish from the lake for breakfast. Gathering their equipment Mike walked with Turul into the forest making sure they both stayed close today as whatever was in the forest was most likely still around and Mike couldn''t be alone as he was really weak. Today they''d continue with searching the forest, except this time they''d also keep their eyes out for any sort of strange creature. Eventually within the confines of the forest, Mike and Turul searched seamlessly looking for materials to scan. As the searching stretched too over an hour of looking they eventually found a bushel full of fruits. They looked like warped strawberries with large round bumps on their skin instead of their seeds. These strawberries were also silver and slightly metallic in coloration. It felt squishy sometimes and other times it felt as hard as metal. Making sure he checked everything on the outside, Mike quickly conjured up a knife. Slicing the little fruit in half was fairly easy even though it looked like and felt like it was made of metal. The insides were a swollen and ashy yellow, it looked revolting and inedible from any angle. Pulling up The Explorers Log Mike scanned one that he hadn''t touched. The bar of progression appeared on the screen signaling that it was in the process of scanning. The process seemed to be especially slow today which made Mike pretty excited for what these fruits were. However it was bound to be an unhappy time while waiting for the bar to finish as ''That Thing'' appeared. Its sharp and yellow teeth laid a glimmer in the darkness as it smiled a wicked smile along with maddened eyes of a pure red that radiated greed at its foundation. It had weathered skin that chipped and crumbled under the slightest touch or breeze, sharp claws that were a sickly brown, and strong robust legs like those of a kangaroo. It was a disgusting existence that would forever haunt all of Mike''s adventures! A species that would forever be the adversary of Mike''s exploration! Chapter 22: The Adversary This savage and wild creature hid in the darkness near the duo, however it seemed like Turul had noticed his presence long ago and was only waiting for him to get closer in order to get a decisive blow. Mike on the other hand hadn''t noticed a figure hiding in the darkness at all as he seemed quite pleased with their recent find of strange metallic strawberries. However this figure barely registered the two of them, instead its eyes flashed with boundless greed as its stares intermixed between the bushel of berries and Mikes grey backpack. Its clawed fingers twitched with joy at finding such things, its eyes grew even more bloodshot, it could not contain its ravenous need for wealth and objects. Only one thing truly stopped it. The aura that the large golden bird radiated was suffocating, it made it feel small and weak, as if it was about to be crushed any second, but it would not leave. The aura of the objects in the backpack made its body unable to move away, it was to mesmerized. The feeling of want and anger flashed through its eyes more than once as it finally landed its gaze on the creature that had these things. That creature sang a merry tune as it held one of the fruits in its hands. Finally the clawed beast could hold back its greed and anger no longer, it silently moved closer to the golden bird. It would take out the most dangerous of the two creatures first with a sneak attack in order to secure the wealth it desired. Inching closer within the shadows, it avoided anyway in which it would make noise as it finally arrived near the towering golden bird. Within touching distance of the bird, in the shadows, the clawed beast with as much power as it could swiped at the bird towards the neck, its most vulnerable spot! However, fate played a cruel trick on this creature. Before it had a chance to relish in its victory, before it even had a chance to realize what was happening. It died. It''s head flying freely from its body as it stared at the moonless sky before it died. ? Caught up in his delusions on what the new found fruit could be, Mike jumped horribly at the sound of a dying animal all to close to their location. Turning his head quickly, Mike saw Turul standing proudly in front of a freshly made corpse of a weird creature. Looking at this corpse was kind of disgusting, it must have been the ugliest thing Mike had ever seen that was alive. Just its body alone was all he needed to know it was beyond saving in beauty factor. It was tiny as well, probably barely up to his knee in height, including its head if it was as big as he thought it was. Peeking at the progress bar, Mike knew he still had a ways to go until it was done. So he did what he thought was best. Mike walked over to the corpse in order to examine it as he would scan it after he was done with the fruits. This corpse oozed red hot blood as its claws still slightly twitched after death. Its skin was a pale yellow that flaked and crumbled. ? The wait wasn''t that long and after about a half an hour wait, the progress was finished. To Mike however it felt like an eternity. What the little strawberry fruit was called was a ''Metallic Bomb Fruit'' with a red lettering ''New'' to the side of it as always. Pulling himself from looking into it more as for one he was scared immensely at the thought they were bombs and two he needed to scan whatever animal it was that followed them and tried to kill them. Scanning the body really quickly Mike afterwards hurriedly pulled up the new log as the progress bar went to the right corner of the screen to allow him to read the new information. --Metallic Bomb Fruit: These fruits were born evolutionarily with the process of animals eating their fruit then, with enough pressure, they would explode out of the animal with a metallic buckshot of seeds of the fruit to which they could be planted. As the seeds travel far distances and can shoot through most obstacles they can be found in most places. The lumps on the skin are the seeds of the fruit that will explode out when enough pressure is applied to them. This variation of the plant has evolved a special way of gaining its nutrients as there is no sun in order to go through photosynthesis. This plant is a parasite, sucking nutrients out of other nearby plants, thus repeating the process. Environment: Almost Any Effects: Explodes Under Pressure Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Rare Reading over the information, Mike calmed down slightly. At least they weren''t going to explode randomly, in fact they were quite useful as weapons if used correctly. Though it would be a scary thought for Turul to bring back dinner only for it to explode in a million pieces of buckshot.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Happily picking some up, there were only about 5 of them, excluding the one Mike cute in half. Putting them in a little side pocket of the backpack, Mike felt good about gaining a new weapon for his defense, hopefully he wouldn''t have to use them as they seemed to be a friendly fire sort of deal. As the progress bar slowly filled up for the dead creature. Mike decided to go on a little quest in order to find the beasts head, which didn''t take very long as it only flew a few feet away. Luckily Mike was used to the smell of death and blood what with gutting and skinning the animals that Turul brings back. It also didn''t take long before Mike quickly got bored of waiting for the progress bar to finish at the snails pace it was going. This animal was probably a grade or more higher than the Metallic Bomb Fruits, but if so what was it exactly? It seemed really weak for its grade as usually Turul has to fight a little bit longer than one move in order to kill these creatures, unless Turul got that much stronger in the time that they hadn''t fought anything big. No matter what it was it had to have some reason for being so weak for its grade, unless the beasts that Turul had been fighting have been above in strength in their category which is also a possible answer. The new found question had been going through Mikes mind as he sat by Turul in front of the corpse waiting for it to be done scanning. Although Mike liked to just sit around and pet Turul for a while and think, it eventually got boring. Looking over the information of their current levels, it seemed like both of them leveled up once! Mike was currently level 9 after the level up and Turul was level 6. The Explorers Log: Name: Mike Age: 19 Occupation: Explorer Level: 9 ? Guardians: Name: Turul Species: Roc Level: 6 ? The wait was an hour and a half of excruciating boredom. It was finally done though. This beast appeared to be called a ''Swipe Goblin''. --Swipe Goblin: Born out of greed for material wealth and treasures, this species will stop at nothing in order to get treasures. Swipe Goblins have innate senses that allow them see the ''aura'' of treasures, the better the treasure the bigger the aura of it. With strong robust legs Swipe Goblins are excellent climbers allowing them to not only leap and climb great distances, but their legs also allow them to remain virtually silent on almost any terrain. Lethal poison is a Swipe Goblins main attack, their brown long claws allow them to kill most of the opponents they will face. When Swipe Goblins gain a treasure they eat what is called ''Treasure Energy'' out of it, which is their main food source, allowing them to become stronger after each successful gaining of wealth. Although they are called Swipe Goblins, these creatures have no correlation with the Goblin species except for in appearance only. Environment: Any Effects: N/A Danger Level: Extreme Rarity: Epic It wasn''t to far from what Mike might have expected. Though certainly you don''t know what something wants from you if it attacks you randomly, except to maybe eat you, however if you have a Roc next to you unless that animal is delusional on being able to kill a legendary bird it must have been something else. One thing kind of bothered Mike. If Swipe Goblins took treasures and, after a certain point, become really strong after sucking all of the Treasure Energy out of them, when is it that they become really strong? This Goblin certainly didn''t seem to be at that phase yet, and it must have eaten all of the good treasures in the entire forest in this area! Although it was really frustrating that Mike hadn''t been able to scan any of those really awesome treasures here, at least he got to scan this strange and really annoying creature. ? Lifting himself up Mike stared directly at the corpse. "it''d be best to just leave it here since I have no use for it." Quickly following him, Turul got up and walked beside Mike as they walked back towards the beach front. Arriving near the shore, Mike sighed. He was very depressed, but more so than depressed he was angry. He hadn''t been able to scan anything that that little gremlin ate! His occupation was exploration and discovering now! What use was he when he would miss important materials? Mike had fully embraced being an explorer now. After all it was fun so why wouldn''t he? Though it was a little challenging at times and there were rough and potentially really horrible days, that didn''t make it any less of an adventure for Mike because what was an adventure without hardships? Boring. Shaking himself out of his unhappy mood Mike thought of the options they had now. They could head towards the mountain straight on instead of worrying about going through the forest again, though they''d have to go through some more forest as the beach was about to end really soon. This option seemed the most plausible as there would definitely be a more diverse range of things to scan and fight on the mountain. The option was set. They would walk straight for the mountain now. There would be no use in searching the forest near this area since that Swipe Goblin had probably eaten anything worth more than a penny. Their day had barely even started so they had started on the ongoing walk towards the mountain. As the time slowly progressed the quietness of the forest and the almost inaudible waves of the residing pink lake was mesmerizing. The swirling galaxy of the pink waters as it slowly went on with its rotations was quite a beautiful scene to look at. It seemed like this place had every beautiful scenery Mike could ask for at the moment. "I wonder what this place would look like at the top of the mountain?" Quietly whispering to himself Mike was quite motivated to get to the top of the mountain. He completely forgot that it took a lot more than conviction to reach the top of a mountain. This time it was Turul''s time to sigh as he saw Mike walking faster with a big glitter of light in his eyes as he looked at the mountain like a long lost lover. Heading forward with new found conviction, it was bound to be another adventure on the cusp of being found! Who knew what laid in store for Mike and Turul this time around? Whatever it was however was going to be fun! No matter what it was. Chapter 23: The Ongoing Trail In a picturesque scene of the ebbing twilight walked a man. On his back lay a large grey backpack full of all of the supplies and gains he had gotten throughout his adventure. His bare feet walked along the gently sloping mossy ground as the beautiful yet mysterious glowing bugs and flora surrounded him. The once tidy rags that covered him were slightly dirty from the wear and tare that they''d gone through. The long blackish brown hair reached to his ears in length swayed wildly with the passing winds. In his hands, that were rough and calloused from days of strenuous use, laid a large walking stick that he had picked up from the ground. His face displayed a large smile as he stared off into the distant darkness, what laid before him was a great and ever stretching single mountain. Beside this man walked a bird well over 7 feet, about a head taller than the man. Its feathers shown a large and dazzling golden that didn''t reflect any light. It had a head that looked similar to a falcon as it held a state of alertness as it protected over the man closely, it seemed indifferent to everything besides the man. The talons on its feet were large and scythe like, reaping whatever dared stand in its way. Its black beak gently curved and turned into small yet sharp edge at the end. The single large blackened stone that lay in its light golden colored eyes constantly moved about checking the environment. These two had been walking forward slowly towards a single mountain that reached heights beyond the clouds were even its peak could not be seen. The darkness surrounding the mountain cloaked it in a spell of mystery on what it truly held. ? Mike finally set his bare foot on the soft feeling of moss rather than the smooth feeling sand after hours of walking. The day had been a long and grueling task of walking forward after the incident with the Swipe Goblin. Hefting the slightly heavy bag Mike stared at their route that they''d have to take for a straight shot towards the mountain. What laid before him was the scene he always saw when walking into the forest again, a wide road of glowing flora and the whisper of bugs moving about. The mountain still loomed over the forest in the background even with the trees making him strain his neck as he looked all the way up. As they got closer it seemed like there was never an end to how big this mountain was. Most of the mountain was shrouded in a grey mass of clouds that covered most of the mountain. The snow gleamed even from Mikes position as it covered the whole mountain. Setting down the grey backpack on the edges between the moss and the sand, it made a slightly loud sound as it hit the ground. Mike stretched quiet lazily for it was time to rest and lay down to sleep for the night. As Turul went out in order to catch tonight''s dinner, Mike set up a fire quickly and unfurled the broad bear blanket/rug. After eating a nice meal of roasted venison and some common berries from around the forest Mike set out for a good night''s sleep. Deep within the recesses of their sleep, both Turul and Mike were fast asleep as they had assumed nothing would be happening that night since they had gotten rid of the only thing that truly had bothered them since coming here. ? The swirling galaxy of pink in its ever beauty seemed disturbed that night. It had stopped revolving and instead laid completely still, but even still it remained beautiful. The surface of the lake slowly grew uneven. Something was coming out of the water! Its large compounded dark eyes shone with a lustered light. As this creature pushed its ever growing body out of the water it was revealed how it looked as the pink water cascaded off of its body. It elongated body was covered in an armor of light turquoise with deep red legs and deep red clubs. Its flared body reminded those of a peacock. Its large body mass seemed to dwarf Mike and Turul like a rock to a tree. The sound it made as it walked out of the water with large deep reverberated steps was akin to a waterfall as the water seemed to pour never ending off of its elongated body. Its thoughts were unknown as it walked towards the shore line. By now both Turul and Mike were awake. They had been awake the second they heard the resounding creaking of legs and movement of a large creature from the pink lake. Turul had stayed his attack and was waiting to see what it would do as it got closer. Mike on the other hand was both frightened and fascinated. ''Is that a large mantis shrimp?'' Mikes mind automatically pulled up the dusty memory of the sea creature he''d seen from earth. The thought only unnerved him even more as he remembered the information about it. ''Doesn''t the Mantis shrimp have a punch that breaks the sound barrier?'' If this thing really was just a bigger and more powerful Mantis Shrimp then if it decided to attack them than they were goners. It would truly be a death faster than blinking.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Its deep steps into the shoreline brought up swirls of sand into the surrounding. Its body creaked like an old building on the verge of collapse. Mike relied on the most useful thing he had, The Explorers Log. Pulling up the screen and going to Fauna Mike scanned the large crustacean before anything else could happen. As it walked forward like an unoiled machine, slowly and methodically, it walked ever closer to their camp, however it seemed uninterested in them as it stared past them and into the forest towards the unknown. Turul quickly pulled Mike out of the way before he was crushed by one of the many legs the creature had as he was packing all of the important stuff. Turul set them a couple of yards away, luckily Mike managed to get everything. The periodic rumbles of the creature walking itself to wherever it was heading to was quite horrifying. As it finally walked into the forest it brushed past the trees, luckily there was barely enough room to accommodate its bulky size. It left deep pits wherever it landed its feet, creating a trail of where it was going. Looking at Turul, Mike had no idea what to do. Should they go back to sleep, or should they follow this large shrimp? Calming himself down, Mike thought of what would they should do. Assessing their options, Mike thought it would be a better idea to follow the giant Mantis Shrimp since it was obviously heading for the mountain anyways and plus it was going there for a reason like going for a treasure. So following it would be perfect! Ushering Turul along with him, Mike rushed in order to follow behind the Mantis Shrimp. Although they hadn''t been able to get much sleep the past couple of days, it would be sufficient enough in order to last the day. Walking along the path that the large Mantis Shrimp wasn''t hard to track at all in fact, it was quite easy. Mike didn''t try and run closer to the large creature incase it did decide on killing them. So instead they''d follow the trail it left and keep a close track on it and start getting closer once they reached closer to its destination. This large beast was surprisingly fast as well for how slowly it seemed to be walking. It had managed to outpace them enough a couple times were they had to speed up just to see its large frame wade through tree lines at the height of a small skyscraper. The hours seemed to pass by quickly as it slowly got harder for Mike to keep his eyes open. They had been on the trail of this monster for hours now and it took a lot out of Mike just to keep up the pace. Luckily with its trampling it allowed for a smooth road, however Mike hadn''t been able to get a good night''s sleep for 2 nights now and was feeling the effects. They were closer to the mountain now more than ever as it started to slop and the ground grow more uneven and rocky. It didn''t seem to even have an effect on the large Mantis Shrimp as it continued on with the same speed. The occasional jutting of craggy rock and a dropping of temperature, it was obvious they were starting the climb. The tired Mike started his wake up call when he started to shiver. Stopping himself, the frigid temperatures become all to known with the passing winds and the sight of snow not to far off in the distance. Mike had been so caught up in the fantastical world that he had forgotten that he was just another regular human at the end of the day and couldn''t climb a mountain without any equipment just because he wanted too. This mountain was steep, slippery, and snowy, plus the fact that it was constantly night, it was hard pressed to find any more of a dangerous situation for climbing mountains. This mountain was large in height and diameter. It was at least the size of Mount Everest from earth, maybe even larger. The silhouette of the Mantis Shrimp disappeared over a rocky ledge eventually as Mike had stopped to figure out what he should do. It would be nigh impossible to find food on the mountain unless by some stroke of pure luck. Plus the frigid temperatures could probably even give Turul a run for his money. If Mike were to use his ability to create all the special things needed in order to climb the mountain, that would only add on to the danger because if either of them got into a life threatening situation and Mike lost his cool and lost his thought process, it could be a potential freezing death for the both of them with frostbite and hypothermia. This world makes one unassuming of it, to let down your guard at how different and magnificent it is, the sights put you away from the dangers. The mistake made is an easy one and the one that would kill any who are unaware. Mike was only lucky. He had it easy with a Guardian that could hunt for a him and the auxiliary ability he found that gave him an easier life all around for surviving, but there are still things that even Mike can''t go up against. Most forget the one singular fact that had rang and held true for millions of years. Nature is scary. The dangers lurking on the shadows are always numerous. The frigid cold one feels on the nape of their neck and down their spine as one realizes the situation of nature taking over is a cold and merciless joke that kills painfully. ? Mike felt the cold northern winds deep in his bones as the loosely hanging rags he called clothes on his body raged fiercely with the strong winds blowing down the mountain. The darkness of the surroundings seemed to grown wider and stronger the more Mike looked on at the mountain that started right in front of him yet stretched endlessly away from him. What was he to do? It was impossible to go up there in the current situation they had. They would die a fool''s death doing that. Frostbite would be about as bad as the starvation that would rack their bodies on a daily basis from no food, oxygen would become a rare commodity the higher they walked. Not to even mention the already weak light they had would disappear about 300 feet up with the raging winds and the onset blizzard that racked the whole mountain constantly. They had already lost sight of the Mantis Shrimp beast. Although Mike could faintly hear its ever creaking, collapsing building sounding, joints over the mountains wind, it sounded quite creepy to hear but not see it in such an area. Sighing and releasing a clear white breath that picked along with the wind Mike looked back at where they came from and thought it was best to leave this part of the mountain before something really did happen. Chapter 24: Regretful Winds The crisp cold wind of a solitary being that stretched for miles into the sky brought about the change of a once beautiful scenery into a frozen tundra of hell. The illuminating flora that spoke of the off beaten path lay in the background of its majesty, bowing away from it, scared of it and what it could do them if it becomes angry. A cold and bitter sound would echo through their territory and they would wilt and die as they had lived, bowing. -? It takes less than a fool''s mind to realize when death is in your face. The slow echo of eternal slumber knocking on your brain is a scary sound indeed. As the mind cannot imagine death, for it is the opposite of what we are, we cannot know what it is like to die. A brush with the ethereal being is one that not many face in their lives, but those who touch it and caresse its cheeks like a lover would tell of the mad tales they had gone through to get there like an elusive creature that is far from sight yet close in mind, it haunts their every moment to the time their heads touch the pillow to the day they truly die. The stories of monsters that lurk in the deep to ones that stay on the doorstep of the residents homes are ones that sends most into recoil on its claims. Believing in such notions makes one delusional, mad even, but maybe the monster with the palest of skins and the sharpest of teeth with smiles that look at their food like the biggest of presents on christmas morning aren''t things you should be so quickly to refute as fake. We as humans, whether it be in daytime or darkness, are scared of such things to the very deepest of our marrows. It is a simple answer to such a reason honestly, it is because it represents what scares us the most about ourselves in a physical form that we hide from the world. It lurks like the ever looming scythe of the grim reaper, ready to cut us limb from limb. One could tell the stories of adventures and fairy tales as if it''s something that everyone should experience and that the beasts we hear of should rather be more scared of us than we of them. But we as humans fail to catch the true essence of beasts that live in our mind. No matter how intelligent we are or how ingenious our plans at winning can become we ultimately lose ourselves to the fear we so desperately try to shy away from. The discrepant smile of an almost featureless being as it laughs at the joke you show that is a fear filled mind while it wears the mask of a human is one that has never been seen before, for if it had been the smoldering eyes of it should burn you and turn you into one of their own. "The monster in the humans mind is no more a monster than that which they fear, themselves" "They are to caught up in their own delusion that, even if they did figure out the danger, they''d still walk in with their necks stretched for the executioner''s axe." -? The crunch of pebbles and small rocks were prominent with the cold wind that made it seem like a seasons change was in motion. A large creaking filled the background with noise as it slowly turned into a whisper. In a place with sparse trees and a darkness that veiled the surrounding area Mike looked at the mountain that held all of his recent aspirations slowly become the death trap that it truly was. He knew deep down that coming to this world didn''t make him invincible, even if it felt like that sometimes. He''d gone through some pain and hardships but not anything that he should have if he was alone. He thanked his lucky star everyday for getting Turul as a companion for he was the sole reason he was alive and well right now, without him Mike would probably be dying and alone as he slowly starved to death in a forest he''d hate more than find beautiful. He would have his final thought filled with hatred rather than wonder of the surrounding beauty. Mike shook his head of those thoughts. The thing they would have to do know is to figure out how to actually climb the mountain now, after all they couldn''t just let something so seemingly important get away from them. That wouldn''t make Mike an explorer! Plus the fact that as long as he had Turul around most dangers could be thwarted pretty easily. First thing on the agenda that Mike had to do was create a thick jacket, insulated pants, and boots for himself. Pulling out all of these things with his power was the first time he had tried to create more than 3 things and have them all out at the same time. Although it was a little nauseating, it wasn''t to the point were Mike couldn''t handle it. Putting on the boots first, it became much more comfortable to walk around on the rocky ground. All of the gear pulled out of Mike''s mind were a light grey and focused more on their function rather than style so they were quite plain as compared to how well they worked. Putting on all of the gear over his tattered clothes, Mike felt only slightly warmer but they''d work better the more he got used to them. Along with his gear Mike pulled out the Broad Bear rug in order to use it as an extra layer.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. It would be okay to climb the mountain for a little ways, but they''d have to stop when Mike started to feel dizzy or when the oxygen got to thin for him. Other than those times they''d have to worry about it being too dark. Around the middle portion of the visible mountain was covered in a gray clout of snow and absolute darkness. If there are any dangerous areas or locations, Mike wouldn''t be able to see it. The boots Mike made for himself should slightly alleviate his snow climbing problems, if he made them right that is. Looking over at Turul, Mike didn''t know what to do. He would have a really hard time creating anything for Turul so he would have to go with only the feathers on his back to brush against the cold. However he should be fine. He was a Roc after all, they were made to be able to handle this small amount of cold and pressure. Calming his breathing and beating heart down, Mike tore through cold wind in a heart with no small amount of worry for his safety. It was now or never. The many holes in his plan would have to wait for now. If he couldn''t follow through with one of his ambitions and dreams now when would he ever be able to just because there was something blocking his way? Would he forever remain the man who just arrived, scared of his environment? Even if it was dangerous, so what? Life had alway been dangerous and if he couldn''t get up and do something now when would he ever be able too. After all if he was going to accept his new life as an explorer he would do it right this time instead of being a half baked one. ? The crunching sound of walking was barely audible with the rapid and loud winds that brought along a flurry of snow and ice. In the dark expanse of steep snow a man slowly climbed forward on the verge of collapse. The only thing holding him up was a seemingly crude, but effective, walking stick and a 7 foot tall golden bird that allowed the man to clutch onto its back. His face was smeared with areas of red and white as he looked quite exhausted. His breathing was long and drawn out with large plumes of cold air being caught and blowing away with the wind. Mike wasn''t feeling too dizzy just yet and there was enough oxygen for him to keep going. The problem he had now was that he hadn''t made any gloves so his hands were starting to feel the mountains winterous fury, losing his fingers would be his biggest problem if he couldn''t find a way to solve it soon. It was dark. It was that simple fact that caused Mike more pain on the climb than anything. It was so dark he couldn''t see his own hand or body let alone Turul''s. it''s not like he could even look forward anyway, the wind and ice that pelted like large drops of deadly rain caused Mike to be unable to even pull his head up. The altitude they were at was unknown, after all Mike couldn''t make anything that could read that anyway, and it wasn''t like he knew how to tell himself. The climb was very painful. If that large Mantis Shrimp didn''t stop before the death zone for humans this entire hike would be worthless. Well he knew he wouldn''t be able to climb even half of that before dying due to not being used to the pressure and lack of oxygen. As Mike pushed his boots deep into the snow the tempramental storm raged on around them bringing about a cold and grey darkness that surrounded the already little vision he had. His hands a harsh white as they gripped on Turul''s back and the walking stick for dear life for he was scared of the consequences for his rash actions that repeated in a loop through his mind. The wind flapped through his barely holding clothing and blanket as he had to keep himself from getting distracted. His mind filled with thoughts of food as it had been hours since they started their climb. ''Why am I doing this?'' This solitary question rung in Mikes mind afterwards like a bell. He didn''t know why he was doing this. Is this what he wanted? To be strung dead upon one of the sparse trees that held on just as badly as he did? He wanted a grand adventure, a story of amazing sights and sounds. Yet why was the world so cruel. Would he have to go through similar situation like this one again? He pulled himself into this unthoughtful situation so he could blame no one, not even what brought him here. He wanted to be an explorer ever since he saw that ever stretching road unfold before him with The Explorers Log. He thought it would be filled with glory. It was obvious there were going to be hard and harsh times yet this wasn''t what he was expecting. It was cold and dark up here. He was the only solitary existence up here on a land filled with death. The only thing keeping him together was the unseen companion before him. Mind numbing cold assaulted him. Was this what it meant to be an explorer? To go through this is nothing short of torture. Who would ever want to do this sort of craziness!? The wind picked up harshly! It roared at him like a smiling demon! This mighty being wanted him off its land and dead. It screamed at him, thrashed him off with a mighty wave of its hands like the presence of god! It was angered because of his existence on its majestic body. A pile of filth that crawled on it like it was nothing! Nothing may touch it without suffering the consequences! Being pulled downwards by the mighty winds, Mike let go of everything unknowingly. As Mike started his fall he looked into the sky. If he fell and gave up now he would die. Why did he ever come up here? He had been to rash. When was the end to this madness that was a climb? It had felt like days since he had started climbing. He was hungry. He was tired. He was despairing. He just wanted to go home and sleep. Why would becoming an explorer help him? For a second the grey cloud vanished. What held his vision was the vast expanse of stars of the most beautiful of skys. The trillions of stars shined into his mind like the eyes of a loved one. Their beauty like the finest of sparkling diamonds that were held into the sky by strings. They brought light into the this dark world and guided all who walked through it. Their hands caressed the ground and brought with it hope. Their beauty eclipsed the darkness and despair of the humans melancholic heart. They had been one of his many guiders in this foreign land. It felt slightly better to lie down under the vast expanse of the universe that held the diamonds like dew drops on the tips of its finger rather than the cold and merciless wind of a regret. Chapter 25: On The Clock Stars that speak of their million year lives like story books tell of emotions unseen to the world and the eyes of the intelligent. We as humans hold out heads high as we are superior to other beings, for we are smarter! But when did that mentality bring us to our ruin? When did it cause the end of our world with the intelligence that we were so proud of? I know not what may happen to our species for I am just one of the billions, yet even a blind man may see the destruction we will wright upon ourselves. -? The trees hold their fickle lives by a candles heat to stay alive upon the mountain they reside on. The cold and harsh winds cannot kill them for they hold on by their thread of life and not the winds. The titans harsh breath brought Turul''s attention to Mike as he fell to his death. With one quick motion Turul brought Mike away from dancing on the Grim Reaper''s blade. Cold winds and darkness surrounded Turul as he protected his master from the harshness of the outer world. Pulling in the white and cold figure further into his wings, Turul dug his head closer near Mike. He didn''t know what to do, he was a Roc after all, he didn''t know how humans got sick and for what reasons so it was obvious he didn''t know how to cure one. Mike''s cold white, almost bluish, hands showed a case of frostbite. Hypothermia seemed to rack his body as he shivered in the darkness. A sickness was quickly encroaching upon his body, whether it was a cold or the flu was unknown by this time. They seemed insignificant in the vast world of darkness and ice that stretched beyond the border of ones eyesight. Turul would not be able to bring Mike down the mountain anytime soon since an avalanche would surely end Mike, and flying down with the rapid change of pressure and temperature would be about as fatal as the avalanche, plus even if he used wind for protection he wouldn''t have enough energy to even glide down the mountain safely using such a method. Mike only had around a day to live, and moving would waste energy that neither of them had anymore. It had been hours since they had last eaten, maybe even a day, and hunger was something prominent in an environment such as this one. ? The borders of darkness expanded and contracted in a series of blinding and small spurts of light as Mikes hazy eyesight tried to focus on the surroundings. His foggy memories and thoughts caused a slow process on where he even was or what he was doing. Shapes, colors, and even faces of loved ones floated in the stuffy darkness as he searched for anything real in the surroundings. His whole body felt painful and shaky with the only real feeling being in his hands as a prickly sensation. A splitting headache adorned him as his crown and sweat dripped easily from his pores. Slowly organizing his thoughts, Mike didn''t know what happened after he was blown back by the large gust of wind. He didn''t even have the strength to move his arms that much anymore and he lost his two most important senses, Vision and Touch. Clearer minded, Mike felt more sad than anything. Death never had been prominent in his life, even after being moved here. And for this first time he was dancing to the rhythm of his song. A marionette in the puppeteers hand. Why was it that after finally finding his true path in life he had to lose it so early over the most stupid of mistakes? He had been too relaxed. He knew the danger yet he didn''t plan for it at all. To caught up in his delusions of grandeur he lost sight of what was more important, his survival to find that success. Lost in a forest, most people would prioritize survival over the beautiful flowers yet Mike forgot that swiftly. It was understandable that he was lost in the new sight and smells. However he lost his senses to early. Maybe Turul was added to his new life to early. Due to his reliance on him so much he had even forgotten the unrealistic pain he had when he first got here. He didn''t even use his randomly acquired powers correctly. He could create whatever his imagination could create so why couldn''t he use that efficiently? It was practically the best ability for someone who explores. It was all of the bags and equipment needed to explorer within the nifty pocket of imagination yet it still wasn''t able to save him from a stupid death due to misplanning. In this cold abyss Mike only had a day left to live. If he could not get out, it would spell doom on him. Darkness was the only thing in his sight as his parents floated in and out of his vision with smiles on their faces while holding each other closely. He didn''t even know what they looked like as old people, he had been to busy with his own unimportant life that he hadn''t seen them until they were on their deathbeds in a closed casket together.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ''Would it honestly just be better to die rather than continue on with this?'' His stupidity had costed him dearly for the first time since coming here and he may lose his life because of it. If there was an afterlife, would he be able to see his parents and talk to them about his brief yet exciting adventure away from the world that they knew? Would they be disappointed in his risky actions? Admonish him for leaving behind a true companion? Or would they embrace him and tell him it''s okay to fail sometimes? He honestly didn''t know. He hadn''t seen them in almost 20 years so he would be hard pressed to tell you what their personalities were. They were the single chain that held him down to the old world, yet they were one of the chains that held him to his current one as he died. ? Amongst the diamonds in the sky that were held like dew drops on ones fingertip laid ones questions and hope, fear and aspirations, guilt and happiness. They guide us to what we seek yet they also hold the answers to so much more. Mike would have died that hour were it not for Turul and his eyesight being so good. On the slope that they had been walking up just a couple minutes of walking would have led to a clearing where it leveled off and no snow or ice fell. A few minutes walk had determined whether Mike would have died that hour or not, yet it was still up for interpretation on if he could live through the day or not. Carrying Mike within his expansive golden wings Turul walked up the slope quick easily. Upon reaching the leveled clearing Turul surveyed the surroundings. It felt like this clearing was infinite, it reached far beyond any normal humans eyesight and yet even Turul could not see the end of it. In the background far off into the distance all around them laid the rest of the mountain as its spiky and rickety edges pierced further into the stars. It surrounded them on all sides except for the place they just came from, almost like a chair. occasional spikes of ice and snow laid in the plain of desolation. Very little to no plants at all lived up here except special ones that weren''t within seeing range. It was a sort of strange ice savannah that was far above in the sky within the clouds. Although it could be called desolate, it could also be called beautiful. It was one of those once in a lifetime seen sceneries that almost no one saw. The clearing didn''t have single cloud above them, however looking back towards the slopes there was only darkness and harsh wind awaiting their return. Walking forward, Turul followed the deep pits of the walking creature towards its destination as the distant rumbling and creaking showed signs or resurfacing. ? Walking with the rumbling, the large creature found its destination. Surrounded by the desolation of ice and snow with the eclipsing of stars that shined like universes upon the planet it stopped the movement that had kept it afloat after all of these hours. Its rumbling body and creaking joints showed its weight as the deep pits trailed to its beginning. However what stood in front of this leviathan was an empty field. It''s sickles, that were as long as cars, moved rhythmically as it seemed prepared to do something. Pushing forward, Turul ran swiftly in order to catch up with the large creature in hopes of snagging whatever it came here for so that it may hopefully cure Mike. Protecting both of them with the wind elements Turul was able to move much quicker than without it. The flat, barely undulating, ground made it a simple act to catch up within the next hour or so. Reaching the eclipse of its mission, the creature had a strange luster in its compound eyes as it slowly stretched forward, however it stopped. It slowly rested again as it waited patiently for something. It was quite easy for Turul to know when he was close to his destination. Although there wasn''t any noise from the creature, it was so large that it would be hard to miss in this desolate landscape. However it was just standing there. Not stopping for a single minute Turul ran a half circle around the large creature to get in front of it. Taking a wide arc, it took longer for him to reach his destination, but it was better than them being caught. After reaching a point where he could see what the creature was looking at-Turul found nothing. Coming to a halt Turul looked on confusingly for a minute. There was nothing here. They had toiled through hours of harshness and bleakness, his master was suffering from fatal problems only for this creature to show nothing but a ruse to them. Mike would die here for a stupid mistake because he had wanted to follow his new path to closely. He had looked to the sun too much and got burned deeply. They both had believed that as long as they got up here to this creatures destination everything would be okay, yet Fate played its cruel jokes like the puppeteer that it was. Angry, Turul knew that there was only one way in order to save Mike at this moment, and that was to kill this large leviathan and use it to cure Mike. After all both of them were hungry and almost dehydrated, Mike more so than Turul. If he could kill and let Mike eat some food maybe they''d be able to get more time to diffuse this situation. Mike''s frostbite and hypothermia might be able to be alleviated somewhat with the monsters internal body heat and its meat could be used as food to help Mike feel better. His Flu or Cold would probably be there for a while but hopefully by the time he gets over mostly everything the storm on the base of the mountain would disappear. Turul pulled back on fighting the monster just yet, after all Mike would be in a dangerous zone if they fought now. Turul couldn''t afford to take his time and would have to go all out from the very beginning. If Mike''s situation got worse just because Turul took his time, it would only be his fault. Rushing away from the leviathan for over half an hour, Turul lightly laid Mike down onto the snowy ground. Pushing snow onto him, Turul made sure Mike would stay warm. He also brought over 3 large spikes of ice that were piercing out of the ground as to lay a landmark to he could find him later. Looking at the barely hanging on man with no small amount of anxiety, Turul unfurled his wings and flew into the radiant night sky, determined to hunt down that beast and save the only other being he''s known. Chapter 26: Burning Eyes and Disaster Strategies Gliding through the air, the magnificent golden bird rushed forward towards its goal. The night sky with the trillions of stars lit the monstrosity that stood as its opposite. It was the hope for his master and the fear of his failure. Turul didn''t bother with any fancy plans, he was one of the strongest creatures alive after all. Although he wouldn''t be able to use the earth element without tearing down this whole mountain Turul didn''t mind being constrained to only the wind element. However if he had to use the earth element he would break this area of the mountain to the ground floor. ? Once Turul reached a certain distance from the large beast after a very fast and somewhat long travel, he remained stationary in the air flapping repeatedly in order to remain where he was. Slowly and before long he started pulling in the surrounding air, putting as much power as he could into it. Although this monster probably had a tough defense, it didn''t seem very long ranged based since its clubs seemed to only extend so far. It also didn''t seem very fast either considering how long it took it to reach this area which was only so soon due to its large stature and long leg length. As Turul slowly pulled and rotated the surrounding cold air, there was only one thing that may be able to hurt this giant beast-a natural disaster. The surrounding snow and ice flew around this perfect disaster, creating an almost pure white tornado. Miles around it the snow and ice shook and vibrated as it started to loosely get drawn around. Reaching the summit of the mountain in just seconds, it had plenty of room and air to grow as big as it wanted. Dangerous showers of impaling ice and clumps of tens of tons of snow the size of cars flew around quite easily. At the epicenter of this was Turul in his large sphere of wind as he pushed his upper limits of strength in order to cause this terrible scenery. It swallowed anything around it like a hungry ghoul. Its pure strength and look brought the feeling of dread as its power easily ripped apart anything it touched. Winds of a little over 200 Mph (322 Kmh) brought anything even slightly deadly to an all new spectrum of dangerous. For people of the modern world a tornado is very dangerous. They flip anything with even a slightly dull edge to over 100 Mph and corening all around the distance of a city. Meanwhile they do this with thousands of objects of the modern life such as billboards, tools, scraps of metal, etc. Cases of people being chopped in half aren''t uncommon in even small tornados if they were just that unlucky. Natural disasters are called that because they are just that dangerous. Lives are as fickle as grass under the mower during these times. Luckily the lifespan of this natural disaster is relatively short, but what if it wasn''t natural? What if it was created by a being of legendary strength putting all of their power into it, how long would that last? It was like the blizzard down the mountain all over again. Darkness rained supreme as ice and snow whirled with the wind unceasingly. Large spikes of ice struck the ground randomly only to be pulled back up again to meet the same exact fate. The large leviathan had already been stuck within the whirling chaos within the first few seconds of Turul starting up. Its outer shell protected it from most of the damage, however with how much force is behind every single crash it had already started to generate some dents within the armor. Although it was tough and being able to take crashes of over 200 Mph was a feat that nothing in the modern would be able to do, it seemed slightly weak as compared to how much Turul thought the fight was going to be. However that thought was short lived. The gears in its head seemed to finally work again as its creaking joints and heavy set armor roared out in its movements, and before anything could be registered-it all disappeared. The freakishly large tornado that wrought destruction to everything simply vanished with such a speed that calling it something akin to teleportation wasn''t wrong. The only other creature around could barely register the beasts movements. As it moved slowly something seemed to click faintly and the large club that was held like a mallet was flung forward with such speed and power the surrounding air frictioned and created heat. The nearby icy tornado was literally blown apart to such a cause that it was never there in the first place. If Mike was around he''d known exactly what just happened. After all this creature was really similar to the mantis shrimp of his old home. The only difference was that this one was the size of a mansion and the other about the size of a little toy car. The punch of a mantis shrimp was said to be one of the fastest things alive and was only outdone by the Odontomachus, or Trap Jaw ant. The Mantis Shrimp is said to be able to break reinforced glass like a crusher, and the speed of it doing so was faster than the human eye perceiving light. And if this thing was just an oversized version of one than it was suffice to say that it breaking apart a tornado wasn''t out of the realm of possibility, especially in this world. Satisfied with the disappearance, the behemoth quited back down its movements and stood exactly as it had before as its club was being pulled back into place with a faint click. Turul being at the center of the tornado barely managed to get out unscathed since he had put a stronger wind barrier around his body to protect from random debris and was saved from most of the damage as it was mostly absorbed by the tornado. He flapped his wings a little sluggish since he had put so much of his power into that single attack, however he wasn''t done yet.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Pulling back his thought process of attack Turul assessed the next best option of attacking. Its defense seemed relatively simple as compared to its attack, however it made up for that with an overwhelming attack that vastly outstripped its level. Speed was also relatively slow for everything except its overwhelming attack speed and power, as well as its long leg length that gave it a bigger stride. The best way Turul could beat it is with fast attacks that hit really hard in gaps of the armor, so fast that he was far away by the time the leviathan realized what was happening. Going with the most successful attack from birds of prey, Turul clad himself in a more slim barrier of wind that created a slightly dim movement around him and sped dramatically towards the back of the monster with his black, almost invisible, claws spread out in front of him! Turul circled around the monster and left constant gashes in the monsters armor and in between the gaps of its defense. He used wind on his claws that created deeper wounds then what was possible since they were like scratches as compared to the giant body of the beast. It seemed quite effective as it left deep wounds that leaked colorless liquid slowly. Over time however this strategy didn''t seem that effective. Although it left deep wounds they were too small to be really of bother to it. Turul tried every effective mean he could think that could deal major damage within a short period of time without it one shotting him with its massive club that did AOE damage to the surroundings. Eventually he started throwing throwing cuts of sharp air, slamming it with pressure, hitting it all at once with sharp icicles, however none of it seemed to really bother it. The amount of energy used in doing these things wasn''t a whole lot but he did this to many times over a short period of time in means of speeding up the process. An entire 20 minutes had passed since he had done all of these things and while that may not seem like a long time compared to how much he was actually doing, it should have been stretched over the course of hours or maybe even days. Physical stress weighed heavily on Turul''s body yet he couldn''t stop here, not if he ever wanted to see his master again. He was out of options when it came to only using his physical strength and one element, he had to use both. Breathing deeply through his large beak, Turul pulled his body back up again from his slight slouch. Burning eyes met the bleak surroundings as deep trenches and gashes filled the once pristine landscape. Not bothering at all about the damage, Turul flexed his whole bird body strongly, as if picking up something very heavy. That part of the plateau shook horribly. Large crystals dropped deeply into the snow and snow clumped together as the earthquake made the scenery vibrate incessantly. A large and randomly moving crack appeared on the snows surface. Although it seemed small in width, its length could not be ignored for it ran for miles. A slight rise appeared between the two sides of the snow on each side of the crack as one side slowly moved over the other, and before long a wall the height of a person appeared and not only did it not stop, it kept going. It wasn''t that the rising of the wall was slow, it was because it was so large that it looked slow. A large uneven wall that stretched beyond the normal range of looking towered over the stars eventually, eclipsing them. This newly created plateau stood not to far behind the leviathan, and although the beast was far beyond the word ''large'' for an animal, even by aquatic states, it still looked relatively tiny for the ice and snow wall behind it. Heaving a deep breath, Turul switched his way of moving very slowly. As he changed his stance the plateau shook once more and noised a deep and terrible noise as it slowly toppled over onto the leviathan and the surroundings for miles. An avalanche plowed through the surroundings as ice and clean snow was swept away and buried underneath. There were no trees nor living life besides the rare plant that somehow survived out in this forsaken little world. A tsunami of white snow and deep blue ice took the area by storm as it didn''t seem to settle down at all. And only after minutes of waiting did the original space where it had started stop moving. A large crash was heard as the ground that was used landed back creating another smaller shockwave in the area, unsettling the snow again for a few more minutes before a finale rest. Gliding down weakly, Turul surveyed the area tiredly as not to distant rumbling echoed with a bone scratching feeling. He could tell the area where the leviathan originally was since he used the wind element for protection against the snow. Walking in the bumpy and hard, crunchy snow very disorientedly Turul arrived at the area to finally dig out the animal so both him and his master could survive. Weakness was apparent on Turul''s whole body as he was racked with bone aches and muscle cramps. Pushing once more to get rid of the snow in this one tiny area, Turul moved the surrounding air to push away this snow. The creature was so large it wouldn''t be a surprise that it wasn''t swept away with the literal tons of snow that pounded its entire body and tried to sweep it away, and although it wouldn''t be moved that far it was a different story than it being crushed under the pilling weight as it slowly settled down since the amount or area it took up was ginormous and would crush it like a hydraulic compressor does a can. Blasts of air hit the ground at irregular intervals with it sometimes happening consecutavly and others taking upwards of minutes. The once sheen of gold that shined with the stars light now held a dark and somber luster. The digging was gruesome and although it took little time, slightly over 10 minutes, the wait was gruesome and long. ? Shining faintly under a multiple of stars light, it whispered to Turul to just rip it apart and eat it all. It looked like a juicy morsel to partake in as one''s hunger over grew their thoughts. Something that could satisfy your glutton. Using his sharp talons, he pierced through the shell quite easily, ripping three long holes though it. Pulling apart the rest of the shell, he immediately gorged on it like the large beast he was. Minutes passed by with Turul not so much as breathing more than he swallowed. The half white half red inner lying meat held quite the punch of energy boosting for Turul since as the more he ate, the stronger and faster he chewed. Eventually a hole that could easily fit him was created from eating so much, and only then did he slowly calm down from his feast. Pulling himself up confusingly and disoriented, Turul glanced in the far off direction of where Mike lied. Now was the time to finally save his master. Chapter 27: It Is Finally Time Below the miles of stone, earth, ore, and mud lied a dark and dank cave. Stalactites and stalagmites took most of the small area up. Water formed at the tips of some stalactites, dripping slowly and methodically. Nothing breathed in this cave. Nothing lived in this cave. Nothing happened in this cave. At least nothing should have happened in this cave, that was until this day arrived. Only on this day may the thing that resides here may break free of its invisible shackles. Something not quite a beast, yet not quite supernatural. Something most things in all worlds now of and harbor either worship or disgust for. A sin that blasphemies and taints in any form it lives! It squirms in its own form, finding the day nigh for its time of movement. Deep set yellow and veiny eyes that hold dark and abysmal oval pupils. Small in size, yet large in dominance and emotion. It was time. ? A dark snow field held the bright golden bird in contrast. Light snowflakes fell down without sound in the area as it piled upon the messy and hard snow already there. Sharp breathing escaped its beak as it sensed the sudden danger that was soon upon the land. The distant rumble of its past work still flowed forward in a small tide towards a desolate plane, creating no difference on this lonely little world. It was in no condition to fight another hard battle for it had already risked its everything in order to get this victory. Grabbing as much food as it could from the squashed beast, it flew away while being both full of food and carrying enough to last any normal person weeks. Dripping slowly with colorless blood the slab of meat that easily matched the size of a large truck was carried away by it. It''s massive golden form spreading a wingspan that was easily larger than a person. It flew towards the distant craggy mountain tops towards a set destination. A hard look adorned its face as it felt the unease and friction in the air. Cold seemed to be emanate from the very depths now as temperatures dropped below what should be possible. The snow in the surroundings shifted once more. It was time. ? A slight warmth surrounded Mike. He felt hot and stifled, yet he could not move his own limbs. Weakness and sickness were apparent from any angle looked at. Bright sparks lit up the dark exterior as his eyes played tricks on him. This time no family showed their condolences for his suffering. Only his short thoughts and bright white fireworks played the game of cat and mouse in his little realm. Sounds echoed all around him, bustling cities and festive music that played on radios. Chatter of a busy street and the daily news in the morning talking in a deep male tone. Noisy cars and happy christmas music played on loop mostly with the sparks now changing color and showing variation in shape. "It was around that time I came here huh?" A croak of a distant and sad voice only made the noises louder. They created deep headaches that split down his crown. Death was coming swiftly. Nothing changed. It was time. ? Small ravines spread chaotically in the dark of the world. The stars shined powerful light upon these new additives. Groans of splitting ice and falling snow spread softly. Yellow lightsreminiscent of the aurora borealis spread through, creating quite a beautiful scene as they lit up the surrounding snow. The ravines only continued to grown in size and length with the beautiful yellow lights inside them growing brighter. Flying forward with a deep screech following behind him, Turul pulled out the new found energy within him to reach for his master sooner. Although only getting food might not be enough to help him, it would at least help give him more time to think of something better. However the food was not the most important thing now. They had to leave this mountain. Something was coming. Something incredibly dangerous. Bright yellow light shined throughout the ground through craggy ravines behind him as it spread out from the middle of where that Mantis Shrimp was. Whatever it was, it seemed like that Mantis Shrimp was there for it and not some sort of treasure. The beautiful lights showed an underlying of danger to only those who felt its power. Rushing noisily, Turul reached his destination in a mere half an hour going a speed blinding to the eye as he left a huge storm in his wake. With the monster far behind him, Turul found it more important to keep his master alive first before leaving this place. Dropping the large truck of meat, Turul went to rouse Mike. The crunching and shuffling of snow filled the noiseless air as Turul pulled Mike out of the snow and into his embrace, and although he was alive he did not have much longer until a cold demise. Tearing off small pieces and forcing him to chew and eat took a little bit of time but other than it bringing a little more color to his face it did nothing else. After eating a full meals worth Turul grabbed both the large stack of meat with his talons and Mike, by his clothes, with his beak hurriedly.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Using the element of wind for protection, Turul rushed towards the bottom of the mountain to where the pink lake resided, for it was terrain in which they knew the layout of, and if that monster didn''t stop at the mountain they could escape faster. In order to get to the slope that led to the bottom of the mountain, they''d have to fly past the monster, however it was only past the monster so they could go more around if needed. Although it brought the sense of danger, it wasn''t to the point of where he couldn''t push it back in order to escape with Mike since nothing in this area would really be of threat towards him. Along with those thoughts most animals don''t usually chase down other animals to the death unless under extreme circumstances-like hunger. ? The small ravines appeared and only continued to grow in amount. By the time Turul was rushing back towards the slope they had already taken over that part of the plateau leaving little area to fly around, which was closing fast. Turul flew low to the ground as he used a large bubble of wind to protect mainly Mike from any more damage. It was like traveling in a fast and transparent car as no wind hit them and it muffled the noise on the outside. Crashing through darkness as only the lights above gave them a sense of where they were. Snow blurred past rapidly in almost pitch black darkness as they traveled closer to the bright yellow lights that lifted over the horizons edge. Deep yet short vibrations shook the beautiful area tainted by the yellow aurora borealis. The bright yellow lights that originated deep within the ravines shifted and extended beyond the ravines edges floating a little bit into the air, creating small rivers of golden light that spread all over. Like a maze it created patterns as they swayed gently above, looking more and more beautiful. It was more like a work of art than an ill omen of an awakening monster. They created no noise as they swayed and extended. The dark and somber atmosphere that surrounded the rest of this little world lifted with the beauty and created a sort of soft and vibrant aura as the stars light blended within. Darkness lifted by a golden light of mysterious origins created a scene none have seen. Deep within the dizzying lights at the centre of this newly created golden river, where the body of the Mantis Shrimp resided. A shift in the ground had started. A small little mound, no bigger than an animal, appeared and out of that small little mound appeared a monster as it released a faint noise. ? With half an hour to grab Mike and half an hour to make it back near the area, not including the time to feed Mike, the monster had plenty of time to grow its area of control. So upon seeing the sight of an expansive, yet small wall of golden lights that blocked their path Turul could not come up with an immediate solution. Stopping for only a moment he had dropped them relatively far away, enough to make the river sized lights look like a thin line on the horizon. Scanning the area with heavy eyes, Turul could only think of flying around it. Had he made the right decision? Doubt flared through his mind. Would it be better to go the opposite way? But what if they couldn''t find their way back? There were many consequences for any action he took. Flying around may get the monsters attention, yet it was the safer option once they got down since they knew the terrain and the danger level at the base was low which could allow for an easier escape. If he flew any other direction who knew when they''d get off this plateau of ice and snow, and Mike only had hours to live at most if he continued to suffer through this tough environment. Although he had already started to rouse from sleeping with a high fever, frostbite still racked his body. He was already lucky enough that his coat, backpack, pants, and shoes were still around since supposedly the created items didn''t disappear with Mike sleeping, and it was all held on with the broad bear rug that was tucked snuggly all around him. Looking far into the horizon towards the yellow lights razor edge, Turul calmed himself. It was time. ? The rapidly approaching screech as if a jet was flying through sounded as a long stream of white snow and ice barreled through reminiscent of a long freight train as it rumbled through the ground and left a long deep trail. Although a lot of G-force would have been put on Mike with this move, Turul kept relatively simple movements with only small changes in direction as well as a constant speed, allowing Mike to experience none of this in his semi conscious state. As Turul pushed on the edge of controlled speed, he kept a safe and watchful eye on the bright yellow lights as they moved gently with the slightest breeze or touch or falling snow. A higher view down on this would show the large maze like area in which the aurora borealis yellow light tresided, as well as the small middle portion being devoid of such lights. On the outer edges, somewhat far away, flew the long white train like creation as it rapidly did a half circle around the yellow lights towards the slope down the mountain. Deep within, dodging all of the swaying yellow lights and labyrinth esque turns into the middle where the beast had made its home, there stood the small creature that was the due reason for all of this. Along with the appearance of this creature was the start of something rising from the deeply packed ice and snow. Something quite large was shuffling within the snow as it seemed prepared to finally get out. As the large white train sped along around the distant light show, a large blast shot out from the middle of the yellow lights centre. A large column of air along with snow and ice shot straight into the air as it disrupted the silent falling snow within that area. The large blast brought down a small air shockwave into the immediate surroundings with the yellow lights swaying intensely as it rushed by. A hole that reached deep down appeared with a width that was well over the size of a manson. Darkness almost reigned supreme inside this deep hole-almost. The faint yellow light and powerful star light that mixed together showed faint signs of a light turquoise and deep red mixed shell as light black compound eyes shined with deep yet harrowing feelings as they mixed in with the surrounding darkness. Deep groans like a collapsing building echoed loudly as reverberating stomps that shook the ground faintly echoed within the almost pitch black hole. It is finally time. Chapter 28: Beautiful Poison There can be no bravery, without madness. Corrupted earth and tainted blood reek of the foul and intoxicating smell of corroding flesh. The insane smile, for they know the truth of this world and what the ungodly monster that resides below us all is. Sins roam the dividing line between madness and sanity. The face split by the swords blade in an act of valor with eyes as hollow as the battlefield before it. No happiness comes from a sane man here. Fighting for one''s king and nation should be an honour? Who are they kidding! This nothing but hell out here. ? Soft gold ribbons swayed gently with the desolate mountains breeze, moving carelessly above the deep yet small ravines residing below them. The black eyed beast that rested in a hole that could easily fit a mansion quaked with the teetering sound of a collapsing building. Its lustrous deep red and light turquoise armor had an almost sizable hole, yet it seemed unhindered by it. As the peacock colored beast climbed up from below, the small monster that held control over the entirety of the area above, with its maze of ravines, waited for it. ? A high whistling sound echoed deftly through the desolate mountain plateau. A long white bodied train like object moved through the newly created soft snow quickly and alone, leaving a trail behind it. Its speed fast enough to be a blur to the eyes. It''s whistling like a screeching ghoul and its existence unknown or forgotten by both The Beast and The Monster as it tried to escape from this cursed plateau. ? Time was nigh for both Monster and Beast to fight. What they fought over, and what it might entail for the encroaching forest and mountain was a mystery. The Monster was patient as it shrouded itself in a hazy mask of golden gas waiting for The Beast, however its eyes still shone brightly with the emotion of...greed. But time waits for nothing, for it wasn''t long at all before the towering shadow resided over the area once more. So large was it that The Monster seemed nothing more than a pebble. Deep rumbling echoed from The Beast''s body. Its antenna twitched repeatedly as the two light black eyes that could see in spectrums beyond any other creature set its gaze upon the tiny Monster before it. Neither creature bothered analysing the others abilities too keenly and although, if given enough time, they might be able to deduce such obvious things, they had neither the time nor patience. It was life-or-death at this point and moving aside to think of the other adversaries abilities would be a death sentence if they were unlucky with their choice. They are both Monster and Beast! There were more important things to them at that moment. Both seemed stuck in their staring contest, if only for a second, as the friction was thick in the air. The Beast struck first. Its most obvious, and maybe only attack, made no noise as it stuck-for it was to fast. The surrounding area shattered like glass in the shockwaves advance, and although it could not get rid of the entirety of the dominion of The Monster, it took an sizable amount of it out. A wave of snow and ice rushed high along the the end of the shockwave as its piercing noise and destruction made it obvious on what was happening. The golden ribbons made from The Monsters power were torn through like paper as they dissipated with the most singular of touches of destruction. It took no longer than a minute before the destruction began to until it resided like the tides. As the faint click of The Beast''s Club clicking back into place echoed through the crater, all was quiet except for the faint rumble of its unmoving body. The Beast was not stupid, only slow in thought process and action. It knew that The Monster was still alive and only where it was remained a mystery. Putting up its guard, it waited for the inevitable attack from its invisible adversary. However no physical attack ever came. The world around the beast turned warped and bent. Everything became flushed and wavy. This, however, had no effect on The Beast. Although its entire world had basically became an abstract art painting it paid no heed to such a ''trivial'' matter. Its logical thought in the split second between its first attack to until it got attacked was to raise mayhem. Overwhelming might wrought destruction on the area. The Beast left no measure for counter attacks as it played to the songs beat. Flinging attacks in any random direction, for it cared not of hitting its target and seeked only to destroy enough to where its target was destroyed along with the area.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Stomping wildy as it flung snow and ice into the air, with the occasional fling of its destructive clubs. Not long after its new plan did the rise of snow and ice bring a shroud over the area, blanketing all in a mask of hazy white as the rumbles and explosions of physical destruction echoed cleanly for miles. Nothing could stand in The Beast''s way. Nothing. As time hung high like a blazing star and the pearls of the night strung upon the chorus of light, The Beast''s rampant destruction seemed nigh of destroying and turning the once beautiful lights of golden ribbons into a deep and bottomless crater. Along with The Beast''s terror and almost indescribable physical prowess, The Monster''s intelligence and greed also knew no bounds. It had ran from such a terrifying being long before it started its second phase of attack. The mental attack on The Beast''s eyesight had merely been a distraction for escaping. It instead pursued...much greater interests. ? As said by many, Time waits for no one. The Monster was greedy, but not foolish or brutish. Getting into an altercation with a beast a thousand times you size and with enough power to create craters is nothing but stupid. Its plan had been quite simple from the beginning. Ever since it had arrived to the surface it had smelled quite an enticing scent far towards the north-east that had been quickly nearing its location. However it had stopped and adjusted its trajectory to take a more circled approach around its area of influence in order to reach the slope that took them down the mountain. And although The Monster was planning on getting rid of that large Beast soon, it could wait. Arriving near the white ghouls screeching body, The Monster waited patiently. Figuring out the strength of an enemy was not so clear cut as a single look. Speeding along in a blur of white snow and screeching air, it was fast beyond measure. However before it had time to prepare to halt the speeding titan- it actively sped up. Snow flung higher than ever near the front of its bullet shaped body. It no longer held back its strength. The once sound breaking ghoul broke past sight and no longer allowed visible sight. As they got closer towards the slope it became increasingly harder to even see anymore as the blanket of natural falling snow was replaced by a shrouding fog from a Beast''s violent power. Oh how close they got. A mere couple of second before reaching their set destination and riding off towards the beautiful mystic forest below. But fate loves playing pranks. They were quite easily halted in their tracks. As soon as they sped closer to the edge, The Monster knew they were desperately trying to reach for an escape, allowing their weakness to show spectacularly. A thin wall of golden, almost transparent, light ground itself right in the path of the large ghoul. ? Turul knew they were getting close. He had long ago dumped the large truck of meat in gain of faster speeds, as well as a shield of wind with a tipped point in favor of even the smallest increase in speed. Strained, now was the time to push hard for survival! As The Monster''s presence neared their location, Turul knew they were caught within the crossfire. For what reason did it have to rush after them? They simply wanted to leave with no harm done. They perhaps at one point came to this bleak area in search of adventure and treasure yet they know only want to leave wounded and defeated. However the denizen of this area will not let that. They have something that he wants. Everything comes at a cost. As it sped closer to them with agility akin to teleportation, Turul knew he wasn''t fast enough. They would be caught and killed in less than a minute at this rate. He may be able to fight back against this Monster, however while trying to protect Mike from harm? They would be slaughtered like chickens if that Monster had the power to back up its aura. There can be no rest! Pushing himself now more than ever, Turul reached for the stars with a mighty flap of his wings. A cry unheard! A junction on the road. Fear can drive, but so can hope. As the edges of that slope resided close enough to reach for, the untouchable wall set its body down upon the snow and ice. Even while blanketed in white haze it was undeniable. Without thinking Turul pulled Mike within his embrace as his back slammed into that thin barrier. Turul is strong. Unbelievably so. He has power to destroy continents at adulthood. It is the unfairness that comes from power, and the price to be paid for such a thing is extinction. He may be the last of his species. How had their species ever come to be possible? It is unknown how most Legendary beings come to fruition, how could it be any different for his species? Evolution doesn''t work to make anything stronger. It only allows for adaptation. Birds, as an example, have a variety of different beaks and talons for their biome of life. Bugs learn camouflage and flight. Plants learn fruits and seeds. It is the way of life. The ones who can survive and persist pass on what they have. The ones who can''t struggle and adapt die. Nothing happens without reason. That is why some plants and animals simply can''t exist. Every animal and plant has a reason for being the way it is. Turul is strong, however there is always a limit. As he crashed into that barrier at speeds faster than sound the feathers as hard as diamond bent and broke. As he crashed, the bones more durable than any metal cracked. Slamming against that barrier broke it apart, but it managed to not only stop their momentum but also bounce them back. Laying weakly on his stomach, Turul struggled to even move as The Monster calmly approached. A broken spirit with darkness as his companion. He could do nothing in the face of such a being The man lay before him with the contents of their adventure spilled out around him. Golden bones and transparent crystals. That hazy miasma of golden fog encroached carelessly. The pearls of the night blocked from vision. Their chorus cut short. Time waited for no one. White haze intertwined with golden light, oh how beautiful it seemed! A beautiful poison dances with death as the smell of tainted blood and corrupted earth gives one solace. That is where we all meet our fate, beneath the dirt and mud. Crystallized attraction and sorrowful tales bound together to form the nigh unseen and forgotten to lay bare before the sins regal and man-made love. The beauty underlying with poison and corruption that even time and light cannot heal. Humans worshipping in faith to an unseen God, only for mans fraudulence to ring the bell of the wicked and the tainted. The Mythology that brings ruin. Fire burning the innocent. Wrath in one''s bones. Greed in one''s heart. Lust in one''s mind. Gluttony in one''s stomach. Envy in one''s eyes. Sloth in one''s muscles. Pride in one''s tongue. Beauty of the finest work, a gemstone uncut shimmers with potential! Chapter 29: Ugly Eyes We are both the peace and the destruction. Builder and destroyer, but this is nothing new right? We have always been this. We shall live with the price of intelligence. Sentient thought comes with harrowing pain, struggling futility against the dying universe in all of its brilliance. Sin is always veiled by beauty. The amber eyes smolder. -? As destruction raged, so did corruption. Slow and painful breathing escaped Turul''s beak. Icy fog mixed with golden love. An unmoving frozen body laid mutely surrounded in the afterglow of treasures. Eyes filled with contentment seemed to be the only thing laid bare within that enchanting gas. Its golden iris blended perfectly with the single black pupil. It really was beautiful. The encroaching gas flowed towards Turul''s weak figure. After all, it''s best to rid yourself of any threat early right? But, that is where its first mistake was made. It also never considered that body to be alive. It was so far gone that a sign of life from it would be to faint to find. Its entire body was covered in a large beast''s crude fur, however the hands that lay bare before the wind were black and purple, at least they were. Miracles always seem to fall before the fated. Does that make this human special? Or foolish for not realizing it could have saved its own life sooner? It seemed that it had a special treasure on it that could heal wounds and ailments quite well. ? After Mike had awoken from his delirium, he figured it out pretty quickly that the tear shaped crystal healed his wounds when his backpack tore and it landed right into his hand, after all the pain, frostbite, and bitter cold quickly started to disappear starting with his left hand until it started rolling all over his body until he felt so much better. After he had had awoken for the first time in maybe hours, he searched through the haze of white and golden fog slowly. A clear mind really did allow for one to understand a dangerous situation better. Through the haze in the surroundings, he could just barely make out Turul''s emancipated figure as he struggled to even move. As the perfect eyes of the Monster moved forward towards him, Mike quickly pulled up The Explorers log and scanned it since the sooner he did that, the sooner he''d be able to figure out what the thing was. ''What can I possibly do against a Monster able to stop Turul?'' Glancing at the not so big figure of the Monster, Mike had no idea how he could go about this. ''It was powerful enough to stop even Turul which means anything I could do to it may not be all that effective. The best I could do is use this weird crystal and heal Turul, however how am I going to get over there without being squashed like a bug first?'' Searching his memories, the only weapons he had were the Metallic Boomb Fruits, and his ability to create items, however he couldn''t create guns, and would a knife even work? The Broad Bear fur, Golden Carp Bones, Metallic Bomb Fruits, and a walking stick. After looking at it he surprisingly didn''t have a whole lot. The only reason he even had a backpack was for the broad bear fur. ''The only thing that I have that may even give me a chance is the Metallic Bomb Fruit!'' Within seconds Mike awoke and figured out a little bit of the situation, however how was he to save it? He was only a weak and fragile human. Shivering in fear slightly, Mike looked for the Metallic Bomb Fruit. Luckily since Turul absorbed most of the energy from impact most of the items landed relatively near him. The Fruits were within reaching distance, however even that distance might as well be halfway across the world. What if that Monster caught him moving? What could he do if he couldn''t even help Turul now when he needed him most? ''This is all just to complicated!'' Fear and despair mixed heavily within Mike''s consciousness, however crying wouldn''t solve his problems. He had no less than a couple of seconds before Turul was killed. Within the foggy and snowing desolate landscape a robbed man cried silently in despair and fear for his companion. Within despair, Potential is created! ? Disregarding every thought telling him not to do it, the man reached for it and grabbed 3 bumpy, and silvery fruits from off the snowy ground. Tightening his hand around a tear shaped crystal, the man slowly crawled off the floor. Once his upper body raised off the floor, the man looked down at the fruits in his hand. He was scared, unbelievably so. It was like staring down a large tiger as it walked towards your friend with killing intent. His shaky hands barely held the fruits within them, however this was his only hope of both him and his friend surviving. Steadying his body, the man riled up all of his anger and courage to throw those fruits in the hopes of their explosion, after all he had this crystal and his only hope was that it could heal flesh wounds. A little flesh pain was nothing if both him and his friend could survive. Focusing all of his weak strength into his right arm, the man threw them as hard as he could at those ugly eyes! Immediately after the fruits were thrown, the man ran for his life towards Turul. Fear was the most prominent emotion within his whole body, his running looked more like someone drowning, and tears streamed from his eyes. However he had managed to do something most people would never do, and that was risk his life against an enemy so strong he wouldn''t survive for a second, and only for a friend.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Flinging snow into the air, Mike rushed to Turul as the pop of those three fruits couldn''t overwhelm the sound of the destruction of the Mantis Shrimp. Two seed pieces managed to hit Mike in the arm, however he both survived and made it to his destination as well. Luckily the broad bear fur was thick and managed to block a some of the damage, after all it wasn''t an uncommon ranked beast in defense for nothing! Large black and purple bruises would have been left there without the crystal though. However it didn''t hurt all that much, at least not compared to when he turned younger. Not looking back in fear of that Monster being right there, Mike laid the crystal on Turul''s weak figure. As Turul''s body rose back to prominence, The Monster didn''t wait around. ? As Turul healed rapidly, Mike poured sweat all over his body. Glancing back, only the golden gas remained as it slowly settled to the ground and dispersed. ''Where is that Monster?'' Searching fearfully, Mike could not see it anywhere. ''D-Did I actually kill it?'' That didn''t seem logical, after all if it managed to stop Turul, no matter how hard it was, it should have at least survived that weak attack right? If the broad bear fur managed to barely block it, how could that creature not? Shuddering, Mike turned back to Turul in hopes of speeding up his recovery. Turul had been awake the entire time, so once the recovery finished he shot up in his typical cold and regal fashion as magic power buzzed in the surroundings. He was prepared to fight to the death, but what appeared...was nothing? ? As The Monster walked towards the dying creature, it planned to kill it in one fell swoop, because a cornered beast really is a terrifying one. It couldn''t even run anymore. It put so much energy into making that barrier that the second the rebound of having it broken by that speedy creature damaged it to much to even walk properly. It was using the gas as both a disguise and to heal its wounds, for if that creature knew how weak it was it may very well retaliate. It wasn''t expecting that creature to be so strong, even a pathetic human could kill it right now. Luckily once it got its hands on all of those tantalizing treasures that creature had, it would be able to recover back to full power and then some. However before it had a chance to get too close, it witnessed out of the corner of its eye as that ''dead'' human slowly rise up. Looking at it holding that crystal and those fruits, The Monsters instincts told it to run, however it couldn''t! Looking at the anger, courage, and fear in that pathetic humans eyes wrought fear within The Monster! ''This can''t be where I end! No! I have to much planned!'' It watched in slow motion as that pathetically weak human threw those fruits at it. Yellow veins filled its once beautiful eyes as the ugliness of it all exposed itself in all of its glory! It could not run. It could not hide. It could not defend, nor could it attack. It could only watch in anger and fear as that pitiful human killed it with fruit! As soon as those silver fruits landed they exploded right on top of The Monster, tearing bullet like holes all over its body. It died no sooner than it lived. ? Looking at the unrecognizable body of The Monster, Turul had that look on his face. ''Give me my determination back!'' Sighing very deeply, Mike fell flat on his back as he shivered all over his body. "Man that was scary." Mouth dry, Mike''s voice came out slightly raspy and shaky. Sweat still poured off his face as he felt like crying slightly. ''I nearly died multiple times. This trip was way to risky, and I was really stupid to follow that Beast up here without taking more precautions.'' Desolate mountain breezes softly blew by as soft snow gently fell down. White fog still covered the area as The Beast''s frantic attacking didn''t seem to lessen at all. After calming, Mike was ready to leave this place for good and never return. Walking over to Turul who was still prodding the dead Monster''s body, Mike crouched down to get a better look himself. it didn''t even seem like it could be alive. Goopy yellow liquids were the only thing that was inside it. Besides a little golden crystal, which Mike pocketed after wiping it off, there were no organs. Its body seemed to be decomposing to fast as well, by the time Mike had started sifting through it, it had already turned black and brittle. The only remaining thing were its two ugly eyes and a pile of disgusting goop. After storing the ugly eyes within his pocket as well, Mike walked towards the slope, never to return to this frozen abyss again. If it wasn''t for the tear streaks and puffy eyes from when he cried earlier, he would have looked quite cool. ? After grabbing all of his treasures and recreating his backpack and shoes, he descended down the slope with Turul. As the darkness of the cloudy slope descended upon both of them once more, Mike felt a lot more calm about it this time, after all he know knew the grand powers of the crystal that would protect him from both the cold and injuries. Along with Turul''s amazing vision so they didn''t get lost, they had a relatively easy time leaving the mountain''s slope as compared to when they first advanced up it. They never bothered with the mantis shrimp anymore, it would leave once it tired itself out. Mike had also basically figured out that it didn''t come here for treasure when he asked Turul about it. Looking back on it, he had already scanned it so he should be able to read up on it by know right? --Crustacean Champion: Born in large transparent eggs, these creatures are born in the thousands, however only one shall live to become the protector of its area. Standing at an average of 62 feet tall, these creatures have a multicolored carapace of almost impenetrable defense, as well as eyes that can see with a whooping 12 photoreceptors in its midband, allowing them to see in spectrums far beyond most races. This creatures special ability is manipulating pressure within its own body, allowing for it to increase its destructive power by a thousand fold, as well as being able to walk on dry land with ease. With a slow reaction time these creatures generally do not bother with most other creatures unless under direct threat, however this does mean they are stupid or an easy target. They are generally regarded as very gentle beings with fierce territory manners, going out of there way to protect both the land and their territory from massive threats. They love walking on the bottom of the ocean floor for miles on end. Environment: Large Bodies of Saltwater Effects: N/A Danger Level: MAXIMUM Rarity: Epic Reading up on the large Beast as he walked down the slope, Mike was pretty surprised at how broad the range of the ability it had, after all being able to manipulate pressure basically allows one to have unparalleled strength, as long as one is able to stand the pressure going through that body part without it blowing up of course. With pressure manipulation one would be able to do basically anything with their physical body alone. ''Good thing we didn''t get into a tussle with that thing huh?'' Sighing out of relief that they made the right decision to just leave it there, Mike continued his downward trot behind Turul. ''It''ll still be a while before it done scanning that weird Monster though'' Looking at the still loading scanning bar, Mike also checked on their levels. ''This is starting to feel more and more like an RPG.'' He was currently still level 9 while for some reason Turul updated to level 8. ''Did Turul even kill anything?'' Both creatures that would have the chance to level him up were either still alive, or killed by him. ''Maybe Turul takes the experience for me killing things, or maybe it''s based of actual combat experience? That needs to be looked into more.'' Keeping a mental note of that, Mike sighed at what they should do next. After almost 4 hours of intermixed rests and walking, they made it to the foot of the mountain with no problems to speak of. Although it had taken maybe double that time to get up the mountain, that was partially due to Mike slowing them down as well as them walking uphill instead of downhill. Looking at the beautiful moss floored forest with the quiet whispers of bugs and critters alike, Mike really did feel at home here know. The trillions of stars shined bright, the forest whispered sweetness to all creatures alike as its tall trees housed many and its floor provided nutrients for most. Now this was home. Chapter 30: Home Is In The Heart Mud, Rain, and Ruin. Those are the colors of survival. In order to enjoy the lavish life of Kings and Queens one must first live through death, and there can be no weakness. Would you abandon your humanity just to survive? -? A light drizzle echoed with a pitter-patter as the large trees of the forest protected the animals in their shelter. Although there was a snowy mountain not to far away, warm breezes still accompanied the lightly glowing flora and hiding bugs. The large trees that made the forest very spacious blended into the almost black background, except for the occasional glowing flora that made it stand out. The dark green moss that blanketed the entire forest floor soaked any little drop of rain that fell on it. No thunder or lightning danced along with this little storm today. It was a very peaceful time. A long brown haired man with a small amount of stubble on his chin and a walking stick in his hand walked along in the forest with both a large smile on his face and a large umbrella over his head. Accompanying him under this umbrella was an almost 8 foot tall golden bird that dwarfed the man by over 2 feet. "We''re finally back home!" It had seemed like a millennia since he had been in this amazing place. It also seemed like Mike had started to just treat this forest like his home ever since he almost died in the mountains tundra like weather. His bare feet could finally touch soft moss again. He had long taken off the broad bear fur and stuffed if back into the backpack along with those strange things from the dead Monsters rotting corpse. After walking around and reassociating themselves with the surroundings, Mike had found a flat area where he got rid of the umbrella and created a large rain shelter for them so they could eat and sleep for the night. After eating a large cooked deer until both of them felt bloated, sleep finally descended upon them. As Mike lay there with the broad bear fur once again surrounding him and a slow fire beside him, he looked back on the last day or so that they spent within the mountain. ''That was the worst experience I have had up to date with exploration, but it was entirely my fault for any of that happening. I really didn''t prepare anything at all. I had went in thinking everything would work out, and even though it did, I still suffered the consequence for being both to naive and arrogant. I mean I nearly died multiple time, I also put Turul in to much risk as well. I don''t want to do something like that ever again, but something tells me i''m gonna have to anyway.'' The drizzling rain echoed softly as Mike looked at their temporary ceiling through his covers. ''But next time, I''ll be more prepared.'' Sighing, Mike knew that would probably only be the start of such occasions happening, but for now it was time to sleep rather than worry about the future, he had already done enough of that. ? Peaceful hearts and calm minds. Winter sheds away to reveal the lovely underlayer of spring, where one''s happiness plays with the soft breeze. The little storm seemed to go on throughout the entire time Mike and Turul slept, luckily the moss took care of any problem of flooding. With a simple breakfast of the common berries from the forest, to which Mike reminesed on Earth''s amazing food, Mike planned their future actions. ''Find Civilization.'' That was the long term goal that Mike had come up with. Obviously there would be a lot in between finding other people, however that''s what they would search for in hopes of locating where they even are in the first place. The other plan Mike had was to simply fight creatures for Turul to level and to scan items for him to level. They also needed to figure out if Turul did actually take the experience for him killing things, though that would be kind of hard since there was no way to tell how close he was to leveling. After checking everything, Mike looked towards The Explorers Log newly finished log for The Monster. --Scourge: A being created through dark rituals, it is one of pure malice. These beings are created by using sacrifices and precious materials to create an amalgamation of sin. There are 7 forms of this being, each corresponding to the sin under it. There are also 3 different forms for each sin from weak to strong starting with the 1st form to the 3rd. Cupiditas(1st Form)(Type: Greed): One of the weakest in defense and attack as compared to other Scourge types, however it is known to be one of the most deadly. Greed types are known for being able to use illusion and control type attacks and traps with the utmost skill, Greed types are also the most intelligent out of all 7 types, allowing them to ruin entire civilizations if not caught early. They can easily amass entire armies and power under even the most harrowing of situations. Oriented more towards magic, Greed types are renowned for having large amounts of mana to use. The smarter the opponent, the easier it is for this type to win. Environment: Any Effects: N/A Danger Level: MAXIMUM Rarity: Legendary Sighing incredibly loudly, Mike sat down on a nearby rock as he ruffled his hair in both confusion and frustration. ''Was that little bastard the reason there''s no human life around here?'' That theory came and went, after all it would explain why there''s no sort of civilization here even though this place has a lot of the things needed for one.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ''But there''s no signs of any sort of battle, plus wouldn''t it have more power than that if it actually did destroy a civilization? It seems slightly suspicious that it''s still in the 1st weakest form as well if it actually did do something as grand as turn a species to extinction or something like that just because they started getting smarter.'' ''And if it truly was smart, it would have created its own sort of empire or something by now where it would rule like a dictator. So the idea that it destroyed an entire civilization is ruled off for now. And unless there was something else that could destroy everything that thing created, it would have either left irreparable damage to the land or still be around here today.'' Focusing on more pressing matters, as the theories of the Scourge drifted away, Mike wanted to figure out some way to get better clothes. His once sleek suit from earth has turned into a large, muddy, hole filled, shredded piece of swinging cloth. Faded to a dark blue as well as the shoes being long discarded for going barefoot. The only way for one to realize it used be clothing is that the arms and legs of it reach to his elbows and knees. "I guess it''s about time I discard this pile of junk huh? It smells like manure anyway." The only problem being that if he was to discard it, he would need to bathe as well in order to rid himself of stench as well. ? Finding a large spring of water and bathing was easier than thought to be since there was one nearby. Discarding the clothes to the side, Mike focused to create a simple long sleeved gray shirt, pants, and underwear. Creating anything more than that with his backpack added on wouldn''t leave him any room to create a weapon or tool without going dizzy for a while, plus walking on the moss barefoot was what Mike enjoyed doing the most. He also didn''t create anything that could really protect him besides the extra thick pants since it would use even more of his power, and that would kind of ruin his whole idea of conserving some power for emergencies. Now he looked a lot more normal and less hobo like. Sitting down beside Turul under the umbrella as rain dripped down slowly really was peaceful. Before long Mike started to just rummage through his backpack to find that little crystal and the pair of eyes. ''Which should I scan first?'' Looking at the tiny pellet sized golden crystal and the pair of ugly vein filled eyes, Mike went ahead and chose the crystal. ''Should be done within the hour.'' Dropping them back in carefully, Mike yawned before laying down to take a nap. ? 5 Months Later: Ever since the day Mike and Turul came off the mountain, they had explored basically the entire area near it. Never sleeping in the same place twice, they searched, fought, and scanned anything that they could. It wasn''t always smooth sailing. There were times where Mike almost got himself killed. One such case would be where they found another cave, but the ground in it was loose and underneath was a pit of lava, and although they managed to find a pretty nifty gem at the end, it was ultimately just a regular sapphire. Another was when they found a large carnivorous plant that used special scents to lure its prey in. Naturally Mike almost got eaten. Or that time they ran into the Lighting Queen again and had to fight her and the entire colony of lightning bugs. Luckily Mike got some of that sweet Queen Jelly in a large created jar of his. A lot more near deaths than that happened though, however one of the best things they had gotten out of it all is the bunch of loot, Mikes backpack was basically bulging now. He now carried a second smaller backpack on top of it that stored the more precious things. After 5 months of constant use, Mike was now more familiar with his new found powers and could now create a more broad range of items, and since he carried such heavy things around basically all the time, Mike now had a lot more stamina to create more items if needed. This finally allowed him to create clothing that could defend him better, albeit only slightly. Sadly both him and Turul both stayed capped at level 9. No matter how much he scanned or fought they never seemed to level up. It had been constant struggles one after the other, and though saying it was enjoyable wouldn''t exactly be the truth, Mike definitely didn''t hate doing it though. The Explorers Log was filling up very nicely. Over the course of the 5 months, Turul had grown tremendously as well. Standing at slightly below 20 feet tall, Mike can only reach up to his knees now. Luckily they could now fly around with ease now though. Another thing is Turul''s starting to gain more strength by the day. It wouldn''t be long before the only thing that could stand in his way would be a dragon. Mike looked more like a man in his 30''s than a 20 year old guy, sadly it was due to the long disheveled brown hair and the scraggly beard. Although he maintained a constant basis of washing, it still didn''t rid him of that look. But perhaps the biggest gain over the course of those 5 months is Mike''s experience with danger. When he got here, he had been scared to death by basically anything that had a set of teeth and a menacing look in its eye, and although 5 months wasn''t enough time to turn him into a seasoned veteran of the wild, especially with Turul by his side, he had definitely come a long way. ? Although he had spent 5 months with Turul around the clock working and fighting, he still hadn''t gained anything that was as precious as the materials gotten from the Scourge. --Elemental Crystal: When a concentration of pure elemental power is pressurized in an area, it goes through three stages, gas to liquid to crystal. When an element reaches crystal form it becomes unimaginably pure, holding a deep reservoir of elemental power. These crystal can be used for basically anything related to magic and have value beyond comparison. Environment: Deep Underground Effects: Anything related to magic Danger Level: N/A Rarity: Rare ----? --Eyes Of Sin: Once a Scourge is slain they have a chance to drop a random concentration of their power in one of their body parts. This body part is typically the one that holds the most amount of magic within their body upon death, and each body part has a different effect, creating thousands of variations for each scourge. The Eyes of Greed can be used as the main material to create top tier potions related to either illusions or basic magic. These eyes may also be used to bring back this specific type of Scourge. Environment: N/A Effects: Top Grade Material for potion creation, or Reanimate Scourge Danger Level: None Rarity: Epic Those two items were definitely worth something, especially the Eyes of Sin, that could definitely be used to create a life saving potion that he could carry with him. Well if he could find someone who can create a top tier level potion, however difficult that was. The Elemental Crystal would also be put into that potion as well. ? Sighing, Mike laid atop Turul as they flew through the sky once again. They couldn''t find any trace of civilization. Ever since they started to explore around the mountain, Mike and Turul alike kept a keen eye on anything that could be a sign of activity. And it''s not like they hadn''t tried to leave this forest to search as well. Even after flying for over 3 days they hadn''t managed to see an end in sight to this forest, and that was by traveling on probably one of the fastest creatures alive, so chances are they wouldn''t be able to leave it anytime soon anyways. ''Well i''ll take it as I see it. There''s bound to be something eventually.'' Humming a tune while thinking that, Mike had no idea how true his words were at that time. Chapter 31: New Era To protect one must be ruthless, and to love one must be gentle. Which shall you choose? -? Gentle waves rolled upon the white sand shore line as the strong smell of salt stung one''s nose. A man sat down by the shore as he stuck his feet into the pink water. The dark of the world reflected the stars upon the waters body. The swirling galaxy moved with the weak movements of the water. Staring upon the ocean, the man didn''t seem to be thinking of anything in particular. He just didn''t feel happy. Why was it? He had started his adventure with just him and his new best friend. There were hundreds of things that he''d never seen before, and a trillion more to discover. They were all so exhilarating to discover and study. This was his dream, yet he missed home again. He was having fun everyday. His friend kept him company as both his protector and peacegiver. Yet he still missed home, the one where he had nothing left there. None waited for him there. None worried about his safety anymore like Turul did, yet he still wished to return sometimes. ''Homesickness is stupid.'' The feeling of crying came and went like the weak tides before him. He knew it was a stupid grief, yet even he couldn''t stop his emotions. And although he didn''t cry, he sure felt like it. It had been over 6 months since he''d left that cursed place only to miss it, and it''s been every month since then that he''s had a period of depression like this where he could do nothing but sulk for a while. Behind the man stood the towering golden bird that made him look like a toy. It also sensed the man''s unhappiness. Bending down, the bird rubbed against the man woefully with its large head. Sniffling, the man quickly started to get over his unneeded sadness as he laughed at the birds silly expression and antics. Grabbing his walking stick and two backpacks, he hopped to grab onto the birds large head before they set off once again into the sky with a mighty screech and a large flap of the birds wings. ? Mike laid upon the broad bear fur near their campfire for the ''night''. Holding up a precious looking white gem they had just recently found within their adventures, he compared it to beautiful stars in the sky. He had tens of these things. They were scattered all throughout this place in somewhat dangerous areas. They came in a lot of variants with colors and shapes, however they were all basically the same. They were just regular gemstones with not a whole lot of value to him at the moment besides looking pretty. ''I can sell these once I find a large civilization.'' That was the only reason he even kept a hold on them, because they were apart of his plans for use in the future. The amount of random things that were both useful and somewhat useful within both of his bags were astounding. From exotic plants that could be kept for long periods, Gems, small monster parts, and cooking ingredients, like the Queen''s jelly, they were all stuffed within these bags. Luckily he could carry them without a whole lot of strain on him, however he had to many plans for everything he kept and didn''t feel like just throwing them away. They were really useful in their own ways. He had obvious ideas for everything he owned like selling the jewels, using the cooking ingredients paired with a very skilled chef, and using the monster parts and herbs for potion making or in some sort of special way. He would figure that one out as he went along. And it didn''t help that for the past 6 or so months that anything that he''d eaten tasted burnt due to his very lacking skills in using a wood fire to cook, so he really wanted to use those cooking ingredients well. ? A Night unlike any other, for the sky has shifted! A crack in the tides of Time and Space bring about the New Era. Tell me, can you Sleep on a Night like this? It had all happened to suddenly. No shadowed forewarning of it appearing at all. The dark outer cascade of its body bent the very world around it! Its maw showcased spiraling sceneries of unseen proportions. Defying the laws of physics in each new change. Absorbing only the essentials of what it wanted, the maw of that ravenous gourmand closed as quickly as it opened. ? Mike expected something quite satisfying when he reached level 10, after all it didn''t seem to ever come forth no matter how much he scanned. However finally on this day it came along. It made the usual quiet bell toll as both he and Turul leveled up simultaneously after killing and scanning a rather rare beast, and although he had scanned tens of things more exotic/unique, those never elicited a reaction out of The Explorers Log.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ''I guess it finally decided it was time for me and Turul to level up?'' Excited on the prospect of rewards for accomplishing another goal, Mike awaited a new window containing his reward. To which one promptly popped up. {Congratulations for reaching Level 10!} {Click here to Claim your reward: Claim} The rewards for reaching new levels and gaining rewards excited anybody, after all it was getting something really good for free for simply growing stronger. Anticipation in his broad smile, Mike clicked the claim button faster than he could think of all the rewards he may get. ''Maybe new functions on The Explorers Log, or maybe another guardian?'' Almost overwhelmed in his happiness, Mike had no time to register the split second before he fell flat onto the ground where he lay, unconscious. ? A brightly lit blue sky hung overhead as a golden yellow sun bathed the ground in a warm aftermath of its radiation. No regular soil lay here though. Strung high into the clouds lay the soft patch works for life. A mix of green grass and white cloud rolled on for a lifetime. Familiar sights always rung true as a man in grey clothes lay face down upon the ground, however the key difference being he also had a 20 foot beast right beside in the same position. His bags still on his back, the man slowly stirred from his nap with a grumble. Shifting his body upon the soft and slightly cool damp feeling of cloud and soil, the man felt the flashback of fear from bygone days. Lifting himself up quickly after groggily realizing something wasn''t right, he immediately regretted his actions. Spending half a year in a land of darkness, the man was not used to such bright lighting. Along with noises of pain and furiously rubbing his eyes while crouching for a few minutes. The man could finally barely make out the area he was in. The vast new world laid before his eyes. It truly was to much to take in all at one time. Going through 6 months of the same thing still didn''t prep him for this much of a change, and although it might be a welcomed one. It was still to much of a fast pace to truly adapt quickly. ''Will this happen every time I level up 10 times?'' Fearing such a unexpected occurrence he made a mental note for the next time he was about to reach level 20. Over the horizon yonder, on a separate large cloud land of its own that resided above them lurked the white clock tower of fate, where unknown congregated life resided. Civilization was right around the corner this time after searching for it for 6 months. Two almost as equally tall needle point sentry towers stood as the guard posts for entry to this unknown kingdom, connected by an overhanging archway. Surrounding this massive clock tower were large swaths of buildings that grew like a mountain would upon the kingdoms domain, with the clock tower remaining ever vigilant on top. Cascading waterfalls fell off the beautiful kingdom falling towards the clouds of the land below. An entire kingdom of white, pure and ethereal. ? It was not long after Mike and Turul had awoken that they were flying high into the sky. With Turul''s larger frame and higher level allowing for faster speeds, it was also not long before they were circling the entire kingdom like a buzzard does one''s prey. And although the kingdom was relatively in the middle for a kingdoms size, based off pictures, it was still something that only Turul could do to circle it so quickly multiple times each minute. Staring at the kingdom from high above, Mike felt a rush of absolute excitement and curiosity, forgetting all about anything else, including how he had just gotten here. ''Maybe it is a kingdom of angels or some type of winged race?'' Hypothesizing allsorts of ideas for what may inhabit it, Mike took the time to make a plan. Rushing into a brand new civilization with a legendary being following right behind his heels would spell trouble. Even if they couldn''t recognize what Turul is, he releases enough of a suffocating atmosphere already to bring the army marching, not to mention his 20 foot tall size. But he couldn''t just leave him behind. Without Turul, Mike was basically a normal human being that could only create relatively useful weapons out of nothing. Months of living the survivalist life didn''t count all that much when you are protected from any danger 24/7. The best news about arriving at a place with a sun is that they could now distinguish the day and night cycles clearly. Rapidly processing all of this, Mike had a rather easy time accepting and adapting to this new environment. After all, being an explorer was all about exploring new and unknown places, he''d have to get used to it. Making up all of the plans, Mike considered how they were going to get inside without alerting the whole kingdom anyway. If Turul didn''t get them caught, he certainly would. If it was some sort of Avian race with wings and bird faces, he''d stick out like a sore thumb. How would he explain himself then if they were hostile to humans or to him for some reason, or where he came from for that matter? He''d have to wait to flesh things out until he figured what race was actually in control of the city. He''d only been assuming it would be some sort of bird race so far. As Mike assessed their options, ten white jet like constructions flew out of the city from some unseen area behind the white clock tower. It seems like they had been caught. The hull of the creations were fast moving gears. Lightning had spread out crazily through the automatons before collecting into the small guns on both sides of it. They had no wings with only a body allowing it to fly through the sky. From the back, they left a trail of white clouds behind them that didn''t disperse. They quickly flew a circle around the city as they grew close, speeding towards Turul from the front. Thunder cracked loudly as their formation made its way towards Mike''s location. Their speed was crazily fast, reaching their position in seconds, even though their height above the city was considered huge. Firing volley like shots of lightning as they flew past, loud booming explosions rang from the sound barrier breaking, with each shot accurately aiming at Turul. However Turul easily bypassed every shot. The loud sounds severely hurt Mike''s ears as he covered his ears with his hands, luckily they flew far enough away to where it didn''t burst his eardrums. As the lightning shots that missed collided into each other, an after explosion rang throughout the air, creating a billowing cloud of black smoke and fire that covered part of the cities sky. Suddenly, the clock tower struck loudly as it echoed in a reverberating fashion throughout the land. Fate shall stick its hands within this world once more with a crashing of new existences and a white city resting below a strange clock tower. Chapter 32: Kingdom of White and Grey Heroism comes with the weight of a thousand miles on one''s back. Chivalry will not save a hero''s neck from being cut by the grayness of this world. Right and Wrong can only be discerned as truth by the beholder. Time is the key to the devil''s castle. -? The tolling of the bell rang loudly throughout the entire kingdom, bringing the cloud like jets to return too their holding place. Within seconds they left just as they came. The whisking bridges of white clouds from the jets remained like tentacles from a thrashing, monstrous, beast as they slowly faded into obscurity. Minutes passed as the bell''s last throes rumbled throughout the world in a spiraling dizziness. For minutes Turul remained stationary within the air awaiting prepared for any other type of offense they''d push towards them. Fortunately, or unfortunately, no new mechanized weapons came out, instead what came was much larger than the jets. A vast beast slowly lifted from the back of the kingdom. Vast mixes of white and gray swirled upon this beast in a pattern akin to mixing gases. Almost identical to a blue whale, this beast made no attempt at hiding its lofty and grand appearance as it slowly ''swam'' through the air like it was water. Lighting and thunder cascaded in a series of booming and flashing fireworks as torrents of rain fell occasionally from the gray underside of this beast like rain clouds. Calmly riding upon this whale was a group of people. A chivalry of full masked knights donned in heavy white armor, laced with dark brown leather that held sheathed swords on their waists and tower shields in their hand. This team of 5 knights surrounded a man wearing a white lab coat and a face mask covering his mouth. As the beast swam over quite peacefully, Mike and Turul stayed on their guard. Although this will be their second actual interaction with another fully intelligent life it may also not end up being a good one. Worst case scenario they have to flee. Processing this situation, Mike gripped the walking stick in his hand tightly. Standing upon Turul''s head, Mike looked at this group of people. He was both excited, nervous, and scared. This will be his first interaction with people who may actually communicate with him in almost half a year, and while that may not be all that long it''s plenty enough to make one crave for communication again. His beard now somewhat scraggly and his hair reaching to his neck Mike looked like a true vagabond with the thick walking stick in his hand. Were it not for his nice grey clothes he would look like a 40 year old hobo. Upon getting close to Turul, the knight group lined up behind the masked man, each holding their shield in hand. Finally the beast entirely stopped in front of Mike, the man no more than 20 feet away stared at him just as much as Mike did at him. His hair was a light brown, almost blonde, and his eyes and deep dark blue. A simple white mask hung over his mouth obscuring anything below his eyes. Silence weighed heavily upon the two teams as they waited for any sign of danger. "Hello?" Mike broke the quiet atmosphere first with a simple question. His voice deep and somewhat loud. Quiet as it was except for the torrents of rain and lighting falling from the bottom of the beast Mike''s voice echoed loudly towards the other party. As soon as confirmation was made, the lab coated man very smoothly walked forward to stand on the nose of the whale below him. "How do you do? My name is Hugh." This man''s voice was a very thick England accent with a relatively normal voice. Not to high, but not to low. "Mike." "You aren''t from this world, are you?" Very quickly the man named Hugh brushed past the formalities of introductions and got to the point.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "I...." Mike really didn''t know how to respond to such a question. The man before him was also obviously from earth, so why would he ask such a question? Maybe because the man saw Mike''s stony face not move all that much, or maybe because he saw the awkwardness on Mike''s face the masked man named Hugh quickly moved on past the question. "Anyways if you could please follow us back I do have a lot of questions I would like to ask you. In private of course." Before Mike could even agree, the large animal underneath the mans feet quickly swiveled as it turned itself around. Vast plumes of cloud drifted off as it breathed. Clenching onto his walking stick slightly Mike sighed before getting Turul to follow along. As they moved along Mike didn''t forget to scan the drifting whale in front of him. ? ''Something strange is going on here.'' Mike had a very strange feeling about this kingdom. Everything about it screamed mystery. The only other living beings besides him and Turul were the man, his knights, and the drifting whale. Residing within this piled kingdom was the home of this masked man. No more than a minute after they flew to the mans house did they arrive. As a somewhat small house, it was made completely out of white clouds. There was very little to no decor on the front of the house. A modest one story house would describe it best. It sat at the back of the kingdom hidden behind the clock tower, however it was relatively close to it as well. It sat in its own area surrounded by flora of a unsurprisingly white color. Upon arriving the large whale softly landed in a puff of clouds. No sooner did the whale land than Turul did close by. Getting off of Turul briskly, Mike awaited for Hugh to walk over. Walking over hurriedly not soon after with the the band of knights following along, you could tell the man named Hugh was quite excited with the extra jump in each step he made. Eager as he was, Mike planned himself out carefully. He was unaware of the area and being happy and forgetful could complicate things. The basic thing he had to do was plan out his words carefully. New changes bring new quirks, but one can''t remain stupid in surviving. "Now if you could please follow me into the house." Speaking quickly, the man named Hugh ushered Mike to follow him along. However Mike did not move a single step to follow him. His visage stony, hiding all of his rapid inner thoughts of his next action. Looking, one would think him a cold older man with those limpid light blue steely eyes of his. Seems living the wild life did bring something new about him. "Is there a problem Mr. Mike?" After turning around and not seeing Mike move, the one named Hugh quickly changed his pace as he asked with a look of impatience in his eyes. "I will not be moving away from my partner." Saying so in his somewhat loud and low voice, Mike used his walking stick to point at Turul. Looking over languidly, Hugh felt a sense of dread as he craned his neck to look at the 20 foot tall golden bird. The creature honestly gave him shivers. Its cold and arrogant eyes and terrifying aura pierced through him. Even someone of his attitude would shy away from one animal such as this. "We can go to the back where we can talk there if you would like." Asking with a small amount of sweat on his back Hugh received a curt nod from Mike. Arriving at the widespread backyard that seemed to delve into a creek and forest only a couple hundred feet away, it was a quaint area for one who wanted to either rest or explore the forest if one wanted too. Connected to the small one story house was a raised wooden porch with a metal sheet shade over it to block out rain and sun on regular days. Both men sat down opposite of each other over a table. Turul rested on the mixed cloud and grass backyard nearby. Both men had different expressions. Mike with his stony face had a hint of anticipation and excitement in his eyes, while Hugh seemed happy to be able to relax and talk alone with just the two of them, though he seemed slightly unhappy about something as looked into the house. "Reiterating what I asked when we first met you aren''t from this world are you?" "What makes you say that?" Asking faintly, Mike looked at Hugh inquisitively. "One because we speak the same language, and two because you and I are the only humans within this world that are confirmed at this moment." Dropping this bomb, Hugh didn''t seem to be all that surprised when he saw the shock in Mike''s eyes. "Then the knights that followed you were..." Confusion poured out on Mike''s face as he slightly lost his facade to the excitement of looking at an entirely new race of sentient beings, and although he had an inkling of thought to come to such a conclusion since living so high up didn''t seem like something humans could do or press through without a supple amount of technology. So those thoughts were discarded when he saw Hugh, but to think it was actually true. "Yup those are denizens of this world and of this kingdom, though they are less relevant now a days since knighthood had lost its relevancy about a century or so ago. They''re mostly there for show." Hugh calmly explained, propping his head up on his hand as he looked at Mike''s rapidly changing face. If this kingdom had something akin to jets to defend their borders, would they not have other weapons too? Using knights like that seemed kind of useless if they were vulnerable to bullets from a pistol. "Then what are the denizens of this world then?" "Nubes hominem or cloud people. Their anatomy is very strange. I could babble on everything about them but I would also like to ask you questions as well." "Ah...yes I will answer if I can." Rapidly cooling down, Mike made note on what to ask after he was done answering some questions. "First I''d like to ask if you received anything special upon coming to this world. As a show of good faith I will divulge mine to you first. The special power I received once I came here is ''The Biologists Compendium''."