“Why is it so hot all the time?” Alex groaned for what was probably the millionth time since teleporting into Saxar IV.

He had started walking again after he had blown through his entire supply of thermal energy. He could either wait for it to charge up again, or he could try to find his way while it was accruing. He was never one that could sit still doing nothing for too long. Even if he was doing a mostly brainless task, as long as he was at least partially active, he would be alright. So, he didn’t linger too long.

Alex tried jumping up over the dunes a few times to see if he could find the canyon and in turn alpha site. He could get pretty high, much higher than a normal human would be able to, but not nearly high enough to see sufficiently far enough. He wasn’t even sure if he would be able to see it if he did get enough altitude. He hoped it would work, otherwise he would be wandering through the desert aimlessly. Kind of like he was currently, but he would keep doing it for the foreseeable future. That was concerning. Alex stomach was already grumbling. He hadn’t run out of food, but every time he ate some field rations, his mouth got crazy dry and he would have to dip into his already rapidly diminishing water supply. He wanted to find some alternative cuisine.

As if on cue, he saw a familiar scene unfold in front of him. The sand started to shift and as if he had practiced it for many hours, Alex dove to the side evading two powerful pincers slicing through the sand. He identified the creature as it was pulling itself out of its hiding spot.

Yes! I must be close to where I got whipped away.

Fire Venom Scorpion

Level 26

When Alex first saw the familiar scene for the second time, his hopes soared. The level immediately quashed his high expectations.

Maybe this is its kid or something.

Alex didn’t even convince himself with that. Instead he metaphorically rolled his sleeves and got to work. The scorpion slashed forward with its stinger. Alex dodged, this time opting to not grab onto it. He was already mostly lost, he didn’t want to make it worse by getting launched once again. Instead, he charged forward to close the range between them. The scorpion extended its claws, but Alex batted them away and continued his approach. A stinger chased him and he dove under the chitinous form. Once underneath, he unleashed a fury of blows the creatures midsection. Alex wasn’t sure how much damage it did, but it certainly enraged the beast.

In a quick move contradictory to its massive size, it skittered six feet to Alex’s left and pierced down. Alex was already moving and the stinger impaled the empty desert sand where he had just occupied. Alex rushed towards the creature wanting to keep it close. He had to dodge a few strikes and jabs on the way. When he was within melee range, he unleashed a salvo. Jabs and haymakers connected with the scorpions eyes, head and the arms with its claws. It tried to scurry away once again, but Alex grabbed ahold of its front leg and swung it over his head. He tried to anyway.

Holy crap! This thing is heavier than it looks. Or maybe it’s as heavy as it looks. My view on how heavy things are is getting skewed.

The scorpion took advantage of his momentary vulnerability. It clutched him in its armored grasp and lifted him up. Alex squirmed in its grip trying to wriggle free. It was no use, he didn’t fudge an inch. Alex’s eyes widened with alarm as the stinger he had so desperately been avoiding came screaming down. He made a last ditch effort to evade it, but to no avail. The stinger connected with his abdomen and he immediately felt a scorching pain course through him. He screamed as another hit landed, then another.

The creature raised its stinger once again to strike. Alex had enough. He concentrated all of his Eonsteel at the point of impact. The moment it connected, Alex locked it in place. The scorpion tried to pull it free, but was unable to. Alex screamed yet again as now he was being twisted in unnatural ways from the force of the claw and stinger. Still unable to break free, the scorpion instead began clamping down on Alex’s body harder.

Alex felt his eyeballs start to pop out of their sockets. His face was beet red under his mask and blood started to pour out of his nostrils. He coughed and…nothing happened because his mask’s filtration worked both ways. But, if he didn’t have a mask, he would be coughing blood. If he didn’t do something fast, he would be toast. He could move his arms only a little as they were pinned to his sides. He folded them as far up as he could and was able to rest his hands in the claws that were keeping him prisoner.

Good enough for me.

He started to channel his thermal energy into the palms of his hands. They began to heat up rapidly. The claws started to radiate red, Alex sniffed and could smell a scent oddly familiar. It smelt like when his family would go to the ocean when he was a kid. They would always stop at this awesome seafood place. That’s what he smelled. It was almost exactly like crab. Alex’s mouth watered at the thought. The urge to eat something that wasn’t field rations gave Alex a newfound strength he didn’t know he had. He started to pry himself out of the clutches of the evil scorpion. It was solely due to the strength he received from his hungering stomach. It had nothing to do with the fact that the scorpion was being cooked alive and wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.

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He finally slipped free of the scorpion and fell unceremoniously to the ground, his arms buried halfway up his forearms. He quickly pulled them out to avoid yet another stinger, this one aimed directly at his head. It appeared the scorpion was no longer interested in a fight. It wanted to end this. Unfortunately for it, Alex was of the same mind. He started charging up his death ray. He put both of his hands together.

Kame…

He had so many fantasies of being able to do something just like this. His twelve year old self would literally crap his pants if he could see what he had become. He felt a sudden burst of pride at the thought and channeled even more energy into his palms. The scorpion lunged, but Alex unleashed the heat. A beam of molten energy the size of a cantaloupe, unleashed from his hands aimed straight for the creatures terrifying maw. An instant later, a hole opened up in the scorpions body, starting from its head straight through the other side. Steam hissed up from the scorched beasts flesh. Alex wretched.

That literally smells like rancid diapers! Not a fan of that. At all.

The scorpion toppled over, twitching sporadically. The tail flailed around and Alex didn’t move closer for another twenty minutes because he didn’t want to take an errant swing. That venom was no joke. He had pustules and boils all over his torso. Now that the adrenaline stopped coursing through him, every movement had him wincing and fighting back tears. He felt like a baby. He hadn’t really cried since his accident. He was a literal superhero now, he didn’t want to cry. His fragile masculinity couldn’t tolerate it. So, with a tremendous show of willpower, he…sucked it up.

He fell over, hoping that no more beasts would come. He didn’t have the energy to fight back. Literally, he had no P.E. and that was what had clinched the victory for him. Without it, he would likely be cleaved meat for the scorpion to eat in bite size pieces. He was not going to go that way. He was not fun sized, he was a king sized candy bar. He would die in one piece or not at all.

He tried to fight it, but the exhaustion won over and he succumbed.

He awoke hours later, based on the position of the sun, to a gnawing on his foot. A large bird like creature had decided he would be an easy snack. It was green with leathery skin. It didn’t have any feathers, and looked more like a Komodo dragon with wings. He wasn’t sure how it actually flew, but it did. He identified it.

Scalavi

Level 12

He had some energy stored up from his nap. He aimed his finger at the creepy bird and fired. With a hiss and a slump, the gnawing on Alex’s foot stopped. He threw his head down on the sand, instantly regretting it.

My brain hurts. It’s like I was on the receiving end of a demolition derby.

He pulled out his water and drank it down. Only when he was nearly halfway through with the remaining water did he come to his senses. This was all he had left, he needed to make it last. He stored his water in his bag and made his way over to the scorpion. It had started to stink, which was a pity because Alex was looking forward to having something different to eat.

I guess I’ll just have to get the next one.

He pulled out a field ration bar and shuddered.

I really need to get the next one.

He had no doubt there would be a next one so he wasn’t too worried about that. He just needed to up his game so that he didn’t pass out next time. It also put him in a very precarious situation. He got lucky this time that only a level twelve creature tried to take advantage of his vulnerable state. He couldn’t count on that being the case next time. He needed to keep his wits at all times, even if he didn’t have a lot of wits to begin with. That just made it even more essential.

What was nice though, was that Alex had gained a level from the fight. He wasn’t sure if it was because his enemy was higher level than himself or if it was due to the mismatch the scorpion represented. Didn’t matter much to Alex either way. When he looked at the scorpion now, all he saw was free experience points. He no longer cared much if he found Zotari out here. Alex didn’t need them anymore. The creatures out here would offer much more in the short run. He could grow a lot faster. His goal of defeating the Sand Drake didn’t seem so impossible now. It was like he went from trying to create bake a cake without any of the ingredients to at least being shown where the store is. He still needed to gather everything, but he had a path now.

He still needed to find his way back to camp. That was an objective that would take precedence. His immediate survival depended on that. He continued walking in the same direction he had been before he was rudely interrupted. He didn’t get more than twenty feet before the sand started stirring again.

What the heck? Am I in the middle of a nest or something? Or did they not realize they were that close together?

Alex immediately started closing the distance between himself and the scorpion rising out of the sand.

Half an hour later, Alex was standing on the corpse of a level twenty three scorpion. He used his Eonsteel to form a sword and chopped off the larger claw of the beast. Using his microwave hands, Alex began to cook the claw. A few mouth watering minutes later, and Alex was popping scorpion meat into his mouth. It didn’t taste exactly like crab, but it didn’t taste anything like field rations so that was a win in Alex’s mind. Plus, it was extremely juicy and that helped a lot with his impending dehydration.

He didn’t gain a level from this one, but that wasn’t terribly alarming to Alex. There are plenty of scorpions in the desert, so he would have lots of opportunities to grind out some levels. He just really wished he could find his camp.