Erik walked back to the shelter, his feet instinctively finding silent paths between the carpet of the fallen leaves. The forest floor was damp from recent rain, and the temperature was very low, albeit higher than on Mannard.
Although this part of the continent was not very south and was very close to Hin, the difference in temperature was a lot. It might have been because of so thaid, or because of so natural phenonon, but Erik had no way to know.
Even though Erik knew he could beat the Thaid, he decided not to fight it. It was a smart choice—they had only just arrived in Mur, and starting a fight now would be pointless.
Erik needed to focus on more pressing matters—finding his friends, securing food and water. The Thaid could wait; their survival needs ca first. Besides, unnecessary combat would only drain his energy and draw unwanted attention from other creatures lurking in the forest.
The journey back didn't take much. Erik walked down the hidden downward stairs and entered the building. Inside the shelter, Erik found his clone lying on one of the wooden beds, breathing heavily.
Both of them were completely worn out. The endless need to stay alert, the scary environnt of Mur, the dreadful journey through the ocean, and the worry about their missing friends had left them exhausted. Erik could see his own tiredness reflected in his clone's state, yet he wasn't going to rest.
The clone desperately needed rest. While Erik had been unconscious during his healing, the clone hadn't slept for days. Despite Erik's attempts to make him rest during their journey, the clone had barely gotten any aningful sleep.
Erik sat on another bed fra. There were many thoughts racing through his mind, yet few of them were reassuring. He was trying to understand how many were the chances that Amber and the others landed, and based on their approximate position before the split, where they could have done so.
Logic suggested his friends must have landed relatively close by, assuming they had stayed on their planned course before getting separated. Of course, that also depended on the fact they survived.
Sure, the clone brought him to a small patch of earth in the middle of nowhere, but it must not have been that far from their original path. Not given the state in which the clone was in when Erik woke up.
Erik turned to the system.
[Based on data extracted from Maynard Island's records, the western territories have many ancient cities lost to forest growth. The region also has extensive cave networks and notable geological formations. To the east, we find similar ruins, but aside from forests and beaches, there is not much, at least until we stay in the south.]
Erik was hoping the system had already calculated where the most likely place was. Luckily, it didn't disappoint him.
[My analysis suggests the western region.] Yet the system's answer had a touch of caution within.
[However, if they survived and found shelter in one of the caves, as they should have, finding them will be much more challenging.]
"Shit…" However, Erik was more interested in the chances of them having survived, and what were the chances of them surviving on land if they did on the sea already?
[The cave networks provide excellent protection from Thaids and other threats, though they also offer plenty of hiding spots and escape routes.]
The system paused, analyzing the data. [Assuming they avoided serious injuries during landing, their survival probability is over 70% if they made shelter there.]
Erik sighed in relief.
[Given our flight trajectory before getting separated, the wind patterns based on what the clone told us, and the three-headed void ravager's attack vector, I think they should have had a 63% probability they veered westward. The attack's impact would have pushed them in that direction rather than east, but that is still assuming they didn't get steered by anything else.]
Erik's fingers unconsciously tapped against his knee. The Blackguards had much information about Mur and its dangers. For so reason, they refrained from deleting them, only destroying whatever was linked to them, but the rest was on the servers they left behind. This also ant that Erik could get a vague idea of the creatures that could be there, but not an exhaustive one.
The blackguards most likely wrote about what they found, but they couldn't have possibly matched whatever had been made on Mannard during the centuries in which scientists had studied the fauna on Mannard.
They could, and most likely did, miss many of the creatures, aning that Erik would be in a lot of trouble if he ended up facing one that no human had ever seen.
[What about the Thaids in that area? Any particularly dangerous species we should watch for?]
[The western territories host several high-threat specins. Based on the records, the most dangerous creatures would be Frost Behemoths in the higher elevations and Stone Wyrms, but we should be unlucky to find them. Really. If we are careful, we should be able to avoid them. The other thaids are not particularly problematic.]
The system showed Erik the data.
Frost Behemoths were massive beasts standing fifteen feet tall, with blue-white fur and ice-like crystals along their spine. They had two pairs of tusks and glowing blue eyes.
Stone Wyrms were twenty-foot serpentine creatures with granite-like plating. They moved swiftly through caves and forests and had multiple eyes and expandable jaws for swallowing prey.
Both creatures dominated their territories but rarely strayed from them.
[Keep in mind that most caves are filled with bug-like thaids.]
Erik nodded.
Reviews
All reviews (0)