As Alex drew closer to the Sand Drakes lair, he regretted his decision more and more.

I should have just taken the extra punishment. This one hasn’t even been that bad, all things considered. Sure I’ve had to live in the desert alone, but I’ve gained so many levels. And I haven’t died yet.

He hugged the wall and sucked his stomach in.

Think skinny thoughts.

He could hear the beast breathing and the louder it got, the heavier Alex’s feet became. It was getting so bad that he was worried he would need to physically lift his legs in a few more minutes to make any substantial progress.

He was glad that he hadn’t had this problem when he finally made his decision. He had really cut time short and if the Forge hadn’t acknowledged his choice in his first step, he would likely already have another penalty incurred. He did some mental math and found that he had been on this planet for nearly six months already and he hadn’t even finished yet. If this was how every punishment tour would be, he would likely be gone from Earth for years of his life.

What if a punishment occurred at an inopportune time? He was taken after finishing the tutorial, but was that always going to be the case? They might take him as soon as the infraction occurs next time, or at a random later date. There could be some heavy consequences to pay aside from his time away.

Better to be safe than sorry. He just needed to avoid it altogether. The potential consequences far outweigh the immediate ones.

With Alex’s mind slightly alleviated, he began his trek once more. Was he still terrified of facing off against the Great one? Of course. He had been scared of it before but the altercation with the monkey king had made it that much more apparent how much weaker Alex really was.

He finally approached the clearing that was the Sand Drake’s den. Night was coming, and Alex could see it had already nestled in for the night. Its snores were surprisingly not as loud as he would have expected. They were still loud, but not nearly to the extent such a large creature should exhibit.

The Sand Drake’s face was pointed right at the opening Alex was arriving from. With each breath from the Drake’s bellowing lungs, Alex could feel the heat extending in his direction. He wouldn’t be surprised if it could boil water instantly if just the residual and unfocused strength of it was this hot.

In the opening, there were three different exits not including the one Alex was currently in. His internal GPS was telling him to take the one directly behind the oversized lizard.

Of course they aren’t going to make it easy on me.

The exit on the right was not nearly as far, and didn’t have the large and deadly obstacle in the way. The leftmost exit was further, but again he should have been able to skirt his way around without too much trouble. Now, he would have to go all the way around without disturbing the Great One’s rest. He didn’t know how acute the creature’s senses are, but he assumed they were extremely keen.

After a few minutes of watching the beast, Alex felt that it had settled into a deeper sleep when its breathing became shallower.

There’s no time like the present. I’m just hoping I don’t present a midnight snack to him.

Alex cringed at the dad joke, but it didn’t harm his resolve. Keeping as close to the wall as he could, he continued to walk around the lair. He watched the Sand Drake with one eye while looking ahead. It would be just like him to accidentally knock over a stack of rocks, waking up the creature.

After a few grueling minutes of tiptoeing across the still warm sand, Alex felt an urgent desire to sneeze.

What the heck? I really can’t catch a break.

He plugged his nose as hard as his enhanced strength allowed, which might have been overkill as his nose started to bleed and his nose eyes were watering. When the sneeze came however, it was nearly silent.

Nearly.

The Sand Drake began to stir and Alex stood still, paralyzed with fear. He was still clutching his nose to keep the blood from spilling out. It lifted its head and Alex cursed at himself. How was he going to get out of this if the Great one actually did wake up? Luckily, it lowered its head again shortly after, allowing Alex to relax. He willed some of the Eonsteel into his nostrils to stem the flow.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After ten minutes of standing still, the Sand Drake fell into a deeper sleep and Alex continued. He was approaching an easier section of the den as it was further away from its resting place. He had debated whether he should cut across to save some time, but he had ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it. It would likely only net him a half hour at most and would, at best, see him at his objective at nearly the same time. At worst, he would come too close to the Sand Drake and would become intimately versed in the inside bits of Sand Drake anatomy.

He circled the wider part ending up only about another one hundred yards off the exit. The Sand Drake had readjusted while he was walking the other way, and now its tail was blocking his way up ahead. As he continued, Alex wondered how he could stealthily get around it. He obviously couldn’t touch it as that would no doubt wake it up. If he jumped over it, he would probably make a sound upon landing. Could he go under it? Yeah, but he would have no way to see above himself to see if he was safe to come up.

There looked to be some good handholds in the cliff next to the tail. He could just climb across it and gently descend on the other side. That was really the stealthiest option he could think of, so he started planning his route. When he was only about twenty feet away, he started his ascent. Everything was going fine until he got almost directly over the beast’s tail. There were no more handholds close enough to reach and Alex would have to jump to the next one. This should be fine, but Alex was no rock climber. He had no practice with this sort of thing. He also had vastly improved strength. He could easily overshoot and end up sprawling down the cliff side. Not that he was worried about the fall itself hurting him, but the noise.

He played out the jump in his mind a couple of times. He overshot and fell hard to the ground, instantly being incinerated by the Sand Drake. Or, trying not to overshoot, he undershoots with the same result as before. He would need to be perfect.

Gauging the distance as best he could, he decided there was no way to really prepare for the jump and that he was just procrastinating. He needed to make the leap soon, or the Sand Drake might awake anyway leaving him in a less defensible position. He didn’t want to be caught with his pants down figuratively speaking.

He leapt across, flying for a split second and then grasping the outcropping of stone. He smiled, then that smile faded as the small ledge gave way under his weight. Alex felt his stomach rise into his chest as he began to fall. The loose rock smacked into the cliff a few times making sounds with each collision. Alex winced, but he knew that he would make an even bigger sound if he didn’t do something to stop his free fall. Alex shot out some Eonsteel in a thick cord, aiming for the cliff. When it collided, he extended it out inside the rock to form a sort of anchor.

Alex either misjudged how heavy he was now with all of his recent enhancements, or he misjudged how fast he was falling. Either way, when the Eonsteel became taught, his anchor blasted out of the stone taking large solid chunks with it. Alex watched in horror as they came crashing down, right into the Sand Drake’s tail with him following shortly after. As soon as he hit the ground he got to his feet and started running, not wanting to wait for whatever was coming his way. He quickly turned into the exit and sprinted as fast as his enhanced legs could carry him. Luckily, that was pretty fast. Unfortunately, the Sand Drake was much faster.

With a roar the Great One had taken to the air and was chasing him from the skies. The canyon Alex was running through was narrow, otherwise he felt he would have been eaten already. The creature still tried to hurt Alex the only way it could—its super heated breath. The brunt of the attack was blocked by the tall cliff walls, but some managed to fill the gaps. Alex could feel the temperature rising steadily as he was peppered with tiny projectiles embedded in the breathy spray. He arched his back from the sudden pain, but had no choice but to keep moving.

This pattern continued the entire way through the snaking canyon. Alex felt like his entire backside had been sanded down by a god using the finest sandpaper in existence.

I should have moved all of my Eonsteel along my back. Why did I just suffer through all that?

Alex needed to work on his situational awareness at times like this. His mind had a tendency to shut down, at least partially, and he ended up making mistakes he shouldn’t need to and getting himself into some precarious positions. He guessed that would come with more time and practice. Hopefully.

Speaking of situational awareness, Alex was too busy ruminating about his shortcomings to see that the canyon was coming to an end. He was about to be extremely, uncomfortably, and possibly lethally exposed. He looked up and could have sworn he saw the Sand Drake licking his lips. He shuddered, but focused back to the immediate problem. He couldn’t stay in the canyon, but he couldn’t walk out into the open either. There was no way he could face off against the Great One right now.

With just open desert for miles, Alex wasn’t sure how he would evade the beast. It could likely fly much longer than he would be able to run, especially if it could keep up the aerial assault. Alex thought back to one of his earlier ideas. He thought about going under the tail, but had discarded it since he couldn’t really gauge distance underground. That wasn’t really a problem now though. He just needed to go as long as he could in one direction. His internal GPS would solve that problem. He intuitively felt the direction he needed to go. The only question now, was how he would travel underground.

He envisioned and discarded a dozen ideas in his head, but nothing felt like it would work. He needed it to be efficient and fast. Eventually, he thought back to his egg shield he used against the monkey king. That would give him a relatively aerodynamic shape that should help with the efficient aspect, now he just needed some way to propel himself forward.

Since he would be digging into the sand, his immediate thought was a sort of drill on the front. That would clear the sand in front of himself. Now for the engine, what would be more powerful than himself as the forward momentum. By the time he fully designed his subterranean transportation, it resembled a rocket ship more than an egg.

This thing is gonna be sick!

As reached the end, he fashioned his ride, and started digging. He could he a roar of frustration from the sky above.