[Are you ready?] the biological supercomputer asked.
Crouched behind a bush, Erik watched as a pack of wolf-like thaids prowled through the forest.
Erik had never seen them around these parts, and while he didn't co to Mur a lot of ti ago, he was pretty sure they didn't belong to this area but were likely migrating.
It wasn't just because of how they were behaving: sniffing the area, checking their surroundings, marking trees with their scent, and howling to communicate with each other. So were investigating potential den sites under fallen logs, while others prowled along ga trails, clearly searching for signs of prey.
The pack stayed unusually close together, which was a sign of caution. Two of the larger thaids were even testing different paths through the undergrowth, seemingly establishing new routes.
But even if Erik didn't know Thaids' behavior, he still had the Instability brain crystal power. That was telling him everything he needed to know about the situation because he was reading their minds. Granted, these were still thaids, the evolutionary next step of animals, and as such, they were not that smart. Erik wasn't reading coherent thoughts, but a bundle of feelings and primal urges.
Yet that was enough to make the situation clearer.
The problem was that with how many Thaids Erik killed around these parts, these guys likely wanted to set their territory here.
Erik knew that sothing like that would happen when he started massacring the local fauna.
By eliminating the local thaid population, he'd created a power vacuum—and nature abhors a vacuum. The problem was that he didn't have the ti, nor the resources, to do that.
His main goal at the mont was to kill everything on sight and turn strong enough to kill even the most dangerous beast among on this cursed continent. That and, of course, to clear the road for Amber and the others to find him.
"What a ss," Erik sighed, watching the pack explore what they thought would be their new territory. "At least I can deal with them, but this is getting tedious."
Unlike other creatures on the Mur continent, these wolf-like beings were not so monstrous. They had long legs, slim bodies with silver-gray fur, and sharp amber eyes that watched everything around them like hunters but didn't look like the amalgam of sothing spawned from hell.
They had bestial features but lacked the demonic appearance of other creatures. It was to the point that most of the thaids on Mannard were scarier than them. Of course, that didn't an they were weaker or easier to fight.
What was worse was that they weren't the only thaids that decided to set their territory in the area. The wolf-like thaids were just one of the many groups or creatures doing just that.
Luckily, Erik didn't even have to deal with the thaids in this area more than before. His previous hunts had been so thorough that the local threats were minimal.
Instead, he found himself dealing more with newcors like these - groups of thaids that wandered in from other regions, searching for unclaid territory to call their own.
Besides, these different thaid groups often fought each other for territory and resources. Erik had seen several brutal clashes between packs, with the winners claiming the disputed areas and the losers either dying or fleeing. These conflicts thinned out the thaid population, making his job easier.
[Rember, even if they look less monstrous than the others, they're still Mur thaids,] the system said.
[Your sarcasm is noted, but unnecessary,] the system said. [I'm just trying to make sure you keep proper caution.]
[And yet you still complain about the few experience points they provide compared to your previous battles. Curious how you can find them beneath your notice and worth griping about.]
The truth was that Erik was used to fighting much larger groups of thaids, or people, aning that the lack of experience points provided per single kill was compensated by the huge number of creatures he killed.
Here things were different because fighting large groups was complicated, and even if the thaids here gave Erik a lot of mana per kill, their numbers weren't enough for him to get more mana than what he would have gained on Mannard.
The hunts were easier since dealing with fewer creatures was simpler than facing thousands, but the rewards still felt insufficient.
[I prefer to think of it as providing a valuable perspective. But if you'd rather learn these lessons the hard way, by all ans, continue doing what you are.]
Erik rolled his eyes.
[Oh, so a pack of creatures as powerful as Hevadrins are 'half-assed' now?] The biological supercomputer's tone dripped with sarcasm. [I wasn't aware your standards had grown so high.]
Erik shot back, continuing to harvest the brain crystals from the fallen thaids.
[You can't expect every monster on Mur to be at the highest tier of power, and you should be grateful for that,] the system said.
[Yes, creatures here are significantly stronger than on Mannard, but there's still a hierarchy. Even these 'weaker' ones are far stronger than their Mannard counterparts. The pack we just eliminated? They're the Mur equivalent of Leylarhads.]
The system paused, letting that sink in. [Think about it this way—imagine General Becker walking into the woods back on Mannard and encountering a pack of Leylarhads. What do you think would happen?]
Erik remained silent, understanding the point.
[Exactly. It would be a complete massacre, just like what we just did here. The sa principle applies to you now. You've simply beco too powerful for this level of beast, but that doesn't make them weak.] The system's tone grew more serious. [And rember—if Mur has equivalents to Leylarhads, it definitely has equivalents to Hevadrins too. Probably much worse.]
[That's a better perspective,] the system said. [Instead of frustration, feel thankful. More importantly, you need to stay careful. We might be having a calm ti in this area, but that won't always be the case. The deeper we go into Mur, the more dangerous it becos.]
Reviews
All reviews (0)