While gasping for breath, Cassius stepped onto a mountain ledge. Deeper into the ledge was the massive waterfall. Covertly sitting within the waterfall's water curtain was a pond that shimred due to the rays of light refracting through the cascading water-curtain. The pond was roughly 800 ters in width and 1200 ters in length, appearing more like a small lake.
"Hmm," Cassius mused while closely inspecting the area around him. "Even though I don't believe that girl was lying to , there's never a ti when you can be too cautious."
Just as his self-musings echoed out in a quiet muffle, a ripple ford in the mystically-colored pond. Then a giant iridescent fin cut through the water's surface, with many just like it following behind. Within three seconds, Cassius had seen a little over 60 huge rainbow fins wade through the Body Liquid-filled pond.
'Just what is in there?' Cassius thought, doing his best to stay as silent as possible. 'Based purely on the size of each fin and how many there were, this thing must be ridiculously large. Maybe not as large as so of the Mutants I saw on the way to the Village, but it's definitely up there.'
Making use of his Idle Evolution System, Cassius brought up the System Tag for whatever was wading through the vast tub of Body Liquid. And to say the least, he was astonished by what he found:
[Rainbow Serpent (Female Mutant)]
[Rank: Diamond Body (5th Level)]
[Approximate (Ascension Tower) Rank: GX ]
A Diamond Body!?' Cassius exclaid inside his mind. 'The GX Rank?!? Oh shi—'
It was at that mont that he knew he was f*cked.
He tried fleeing, but it was no use. An invisible iridescent energy grabbed hold of him and urged him in a certain direction against his will. He was pulled to a distance less than 10 ters away from a large, scarily sinuous face.
'F*ck…' was all Cassius could think as he was put face-to-face with the owner of those rainbow fins. 'Why is my luck so sh*t…!?'
When he first saw the Rainbow Serpent's System Tag, he wasn't too worried about it discovering him, but that relief only lasted until he delved deeper into its description. The GX Rank—the Godlike Rank—was nowhere as simple as just another Rank. It signified a higher degree of existence. Sothing that far exceeded the difference between the SSS and EX Ranks.
Then, totally out of expectations, sothing unexpected occurred:
"A non-variant human?" The Rainbow Serpent spoke in an archaic, feminine voice.
The voice's sound waves rebounded off the slick stone walls of the waterfall, with its aftereffects causing Cassius's eardrums to rattle. "Why are one of you here? Your Variant Leader promised that only he and his Elders would be the only ones to co and periodically gather so Body Liquid. That was what they requested in exchange for keeping my place of cultivation a secret. Did they…forget their promise…?"
The Serpent narrowed its slitted eyes, slithering its large forked tongue. It stared at the dirt- and blood-covered humanoid man floating in front of it.
The Serpent seed to be deliberating what it should do with the invader. This surely spelled doom for one Mr. Cassius Steele…
'What do I do!?' he thought with an uncharacteristic level of urgency. 'Should I fight?? No, I'd instantly die millions of tis over! Should I run!? But I can't! And my Diamond-ranked Will won't tolerate such a cowardly action!'
'Shit, shit, shit! SHIT!'
His permanent death was staring him straight in the eyes, making him reconsider how smart of a plan it was to venture up here without probing information from multiple sources…
In the end—following a period of fruitless, stressed contemplation—Cassius did the only thing he could do in this sort of situation: negotiate terms of peace with…words.
He hated to do it, but it had to be done! He had to suck it up and make the sacrifice!
"What will you do to ?"
Straight to the point!
The Rainbow Serpent further narrowed its eyes, becoming thin slits. Then, with a flicker of its tongue, it said, "I haven't decided just yet. You are, after all, really weak. Wouldn't make for a nutritious al. Furthermore, your lack of strength and that intelligent gleam in your gaze has led to believe that you aren't a part of the Village of humans living at the mountain's base."
"You are…correct," Cassius said, surprise flashing through his irises. "You're extrely intelligent as well, which is odd if what I know of you Mutants is accurate."
"I'm unique among Mutants, similar to you I see," said the Rainbow Serpent as she gently set him down and freed him from the energy being used to restrain him. "You can run away if you want to; I won't stop you. But I feel like we should talk."
After a mont of thought, Cassius said, "I'm fine with that," as he sat himself down on a nearby boulder. "What's the first thing we should discuss?"
"Why don't we start with why you entered that Variant Human settlent and why you purposefully scouted out this area. Interested in my Body Liquid perhaps?"
An awkward chuckle from Cassius was followed by him engaging in a lengthy conversation with the intelligent Rainbow Serpent.
— So ti later —
Cassius wound up telling the Rainbow Serpent everything, only leaving out a few tidbits such as how he ca from a different world. She, on the other hand, inford him of various things, doing well to fill in the holes that the young Xyla left out.
"How interesting," said the Rainbow Serpent, blinking. "You suddenly awoke on a cliff and found yourself in foreign lands. Moreover, the place you originate from has no such thing as Mutants or a generally unintelligent population."
'The second statent is debatable…' Cassius thought, though he nodded in response to the Serpent's curiosity.
"I seem to have so remnant amnesia from the teleportation," he said. "If not for that, I might know of a thod to return ho. But since I don't…"
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