The next two days were spent on the move. The group moved slowly and cautiously, avoiding fights with anything that Ella deemed too dangerous to mess with. This meant that we often ended up waiting for a while, or detouring around a certain area if Ella deemed it necessary.

However, that didn’t mean we avoided all fights. There were a few weaker creatures in the wastelands as well, which we ended up killing to clear out spots to camp for the night.

Naturally, I did my best to snag those kills for myself. Since the fights were especially easy, Sallia, Felix and I worked together to make sure that we all got either a kill or an assist for every new creature we came across. One of us would strike a painful but nonlethal blow against the creature, then back off and let another get in enough damage to qualify for an ‘assist,’ and let someone else get the kill after that. Sallia and Felix specifically left the first kill of each new species to me, to make sure that I got new Skills from each kill using {Endless Hunger of the Ocean}.

I promised myself that once we returned to the Market, I would share some of the Achievement for each kill with them. Letting me get the first kill maximized our group’s improvement per fight, but it also meant that Sallia and Felix were losing some Achievement, and I wanted to make sure that they still got the fair amount of Achievement when we got to the next round of purchases.

The first creature we ended up killing was one that we ran across while setting up camp for the second day. Sallia spotted it in the distance, and Ella identified it as a dasher.

It looked like a very lean wolf. Unlike real wolves, however, it didn’t hunt in packs, and its above average dexterity and incredible bite strength were nowhere near enough to make it a real threat. A single extinguish dropped it to near-dead, and then Sallia and Felix both poked it with a weapon before I finished it off. The others seemed baffled about our strange ritual for killing such a minor threat, but the three of us were happy increasing our Achievement from each kill. Since this fight wasn’t dangerous, it wasn’t a problem to mess around and boost our Achievement a little. And since someone getting an ‘assist’ for a kill didn’t seem to reduce the reward the primary contributor got for the first kill, we felt that trying to make sure everyone got an assist made sense when we could afford to do it.

Slaughter: Kill a Dasher for the first time

Achievement +25

Endless Hunger of the Ocean has devoured Dasher for the first time. New Skill created.

Charge: Increase your Agility by 10 for 10 seconds. Consumes a massive amount of stamina. Can only be activated once per day

I ended up swapping out {Acid and Poison Control} for {Charge} after unlocking the skill. I was currently sitting at 197 Agility, which was three points below reaching the next grade. While my Perception was too low to keep up with my physical abilities, thus imposing a rather hefty penalty on how effectively I could use any boosts to my Strength and Dexterity stats, it wasn’t like there was no benefit to improving my physical body at all. The benefits were just significantly reduced. Being able to temporarily push myself up a grade in an Attribute was nothing to sneeze at in the middle of a fight, and the ability reminded me of the way some Orukthyri would suddenly speed up for a few seconds and randomly kill a soldier during fights. The fact that it only worked for 10 seconds and could only be used once per day was unfortunate. However, I felt it was still more useful than the Basic-Grade acid and poison resistance from {Acid and Poison Control}. There weren’t many creatures that fought using poison or acid in this world, and so both resistances were rather situational, while a generic physical boost was useful against all enemies.

The next creature we came across was one we stumbled across while crossing a river. Ella stated that it was called a poisonlurk. As we were checking how deep the river was, we found a few of them swimming through the stagnant black water. They looked kind of like glowing green piranhas. Ella took it as another opportunity for the four of us to get used to fighting and dealing with weaker creatures in the wasteland, so we had Anise target one of the bright green fish, while the three of us went through the process of getting everyone a kill and an Assist for the creatures. Since the poisonlurks were close-range threats, blasting them with ranged spells was was an easy way to kill them without the danger of getting hurt.

Slaughter: Kill a poisonlurk for the first time, assist in killing a poisonlurk for the first time

Achievement +40, +3

Endless Hunger of the Ocean has devoured poisonlurk for the first time. New Skill created.

Underwater poisons: You gain the ability to breathe underwater. If you bite a creature while underwater, whatever you bite will be poisoned.

The two kills and one assist brought my Achievement from 10,135.89 Achievement to 10,168.89 Achievement. Honestly, the gains were rather pitiful, but considering how many fights we ended up avoiding or fleeing from, it seemed quite reasonable, especially considering the fact that we had only spent two days in the wastes.

I didn’t see much use for the skill I got from the poisonlurks, unlike {Charge}. It would have been incredibly useful on the islands, but frankly, there wasn’t much water around this area. I had no real need for the ability to breathe underwater, and I didn’t really bite creatures during fights either. I did keep in mind that it might be useful if we ran into a lake or something, but I didn’t think I would get much use out of the skill, especially since I would lose the Skills whenever I died again.

During that time, Ella also taught everyone a little bit more about the tainted food and water of the surface.

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Apparently, if any pool of water existed on the surface, or if any organic matter existed on the surface, it would eventually start to turn a dark color, similar to the black sun that lay in the center of the planet. This indicated that there was something deeply wrong with the water or food, and that consuming it would make us sick. Anything that was exposed to the black sun would eventually start to become increasingly polluted.

However, while consuming polluted food or water would make us sick, it wasn’t impossible to purify. It was just a complicated process to treat the food or water.

For the water, one started by freezing it. This would cause the darker chunks of matter inside of the water to slowly harden up, turning into little globs of darkness. The black globs were then manually scooped out and disposed of, before the water was boiled. After being treated like this, the water would be safe to drink.

Of course, food needed to go through a similar process. However, due to the fact that food was solid instead of liquid, the black chunks of frozen matter didn’t stand out quite as much. Which meant that one needed to carefully mince up the food, search through the food chunks for any suspicious-looking spots of black matter, and then thoroughly cook it afterwards to ensure no black globs were consumed in a meal. Messing up would cause someone to start growing black pustules on their skin. If more dark globs were consumed before the body fought off the effects of the black sun, the pustules would break open and bleed. From here, there was a good chance the patient would grow increasingly sick if they weren’t sheltered from the black sun and given time to rest.

Near the end of the third day, I noticed a rather unusual soul in the distance. It was much brighter than others, making it easier to spot even with my sub-par eyesight.

“I see something,” I said, frowning.

“What is it?” Asked Ella, immediately stopping and going on alert.

“It’s over there. Pretty far away from us, but bright,” I said. I frowned, straining my ears as I tried to figure out what was happening in the distance. Now that I was more alert, I was starting to realize that I could just barely make out some sounds…

Sallia frowned far more deeply as we cautiously waited. With our entire group frozen, the background noise of our movement was no longer present, making it easier to hear. Finally, she shook her head. “I hear fighting.”

I felt my heart start to race.

There was fighting in the distance?

I couldn’t help but wonder who or what was able to fight against the massive blob of life-force. The fact that I could see it from so far away meant that it must be very strong. It wasn’t anywhere close to the power of the dragon I had seen, but it outclassed the Orukthyri by leaps and bounds.

Ella sighed. “We’ll get a little closer and see what’s going on. If there are other orthanoids fighting it, maybe we can save them, if it doesn’t seem likely to bite us in the ass later. But we only intervene if it looks safe, and we look after ourselves first.” Ella paused. “Also, any info?” She asked, turning towards Felix’s parents.

“We’re almost out of mana for the day,” said Felix’s father with a grimace.

Ella sighed, and then nodded.

I checked my essence reserves. I could spare an extinguish or two, and a few crude fireballs would probably help too. Sallia would love a proper fight, and the three of us could always use more Achievement and opportunities to earn new keyword Abilities.

Our group slowly and carefully crept closer, making sure to stay hidden and walk slowly.

As we got closer, I could finally make out some of the details of the fight in the distance. For example, I could see the dozens of smaller souls locked in combat with the giant soul.

I could just barely make out a one-sided massacre… of the Orukthyri.

They were desperately trying to kill some sort of giant white furry creature. It looked kind of like a giant fuzzy caterpillar, although it had six limbs and was perhaps eight meters tall when it stood on its hind legs. As I watched, a group of Orukthyri spellcasters tried lobbing a round of spells at the creature. Unlike the Orukthyri, the creature didn’t seem magic-resistant. It screeched in pain when the round of spells hit it… but the actual damage seemed negligible. The creature was too resilient to be injured by a small round of spells. I could see that its candle of life was barely damaged when it got hit by the round of attacks.

Then, the creature retaliated. It breathed at the Orukthyri, and a cloud of green vapor spread through the battlefield. Perhaps eight Orukthyri began screeching and melting, as if they were snowballs thrown into a volcano. Another group of Orukthyri tried to seize advantage of the creature’s distraction, hopping onto its back and attempting to climb up. However, the creature tucked its arms and legs in, and then started rolling around, squashing the Orukthyri on its back. Most of the Orukthyri survived being squished between the creature and the ground due to their incredible life force, but several snapping sounds confirmed that they broke a few bones each. They squealed in pain, before doggedly climbing to their feet.

They did not live much longer, though. The creature simply breathed more green vapors onto the Orukthyri, and then another group of a dozen Orukthyri started melting.

Then, I looked more closely at the battlefield. I could see over a hundred Orukthyri… puddles on the battlefield. Combined with the twenty or so I could see dying in front of us, and the hundred and fifty or so Orukthyri I could see still futilely trying to fell the massive fuzzy white caterpillar, I realized that this fat creature was handily wiping out an entire warband of Orukthyri on its own. And it wasn’t as strong as a dragon was, based on soul size.

I shivered.

I had heard that the Orukthyri were nowhere near the top of the food chain. However, this was the first time I had understood that fact so clearly. The Orukthyri didn’t seem to be accomplishing much as they threw their lives at the fat giant acid-breathing caterpillar.

Ella tapped my shoulder, and I realized that I had been staring at the battle instead of running.

As a group, we quickly retreated from the area, and then hid in a nearby crack in the ground. For almost half an hour, the dying squeals of Orukthyri sounded throughout the area as I watched their souls disappear one by one. Then, eventually, there were no living Orukthyri, and I started to hear distant slurping sounds.

After the creature finished its meal, it left, either unaware or uncaring of our presence. Since it was a decent spot to camp, and we didn’t see anything nearby, Ella decided that we would set up camp there for the day.

I was simply glad that we had escaped from the creature, although the fight I had seen served as a stark reminder that this was a Tier 4 world. Things were much more dangerous here than they were on the islands. Luckily, the creature hadn’t found us. Much like some of the other apex predators that Felix’s parents had spotted and steered clear of during our travels, we simply had to dodge all of the powerhouses of the surface until we got back underground.

I went to sleep, at least somewhat comforted by the thought that we still had excellent mobility as a group, and when Sallia, Felix and I came to the surface in the future, we would be older, stronger, and more prepared.

When I woke up the next morning, Felix, Anise, and Anise’s parents were coughing and sweating, and their skin seemed unusually dark. They were so sick they could barely move.