Thirty-two hours left, can I make it before it reaches thirty? Noah had travelled for an entire hour. Thirty minutes before and a torrential rain battered against his raw flesh. Taking a quick sip of his water bottle, he gazed at the land in front of him.

It was the reason they had stopped. The rain had completely soaked the entire jungle floor into a deep swamp-land.

Guess not. Noah shut that plan down right away.

He was dreading swamp-lands, and thankfully it hadn’t occurred yet–until now. It enabled the more deadly monsters to skulk through the murky waters undetected.

Even the more perceptive of races such as the beast-kin, or even the rogues who placed more points into Perception, couldn’t detect fish that swam underwater.

To go around, or straight ahead. Noah thought to himself, but he already answered himself as the question travelled around his brain. He didn’t want to waste any time.

Looking at the shrouded water, his eyes widened as he spotted an area that was highlighted to him. His fishing Skill [Fish Eyes] enabled him to see which spots of water were best to cast his line.

His vision wandered to a spot where the water turned lighter. Not because the light from the sun was shining on it, but from [Fish Eyes].

Then that means that’s where the majority of the fish are, or rather, monsters that want to taste my flesh. Noah grinned, happy at his genius.

Of course it wasn’t perfect as the Level of his Skill was only at one, but it would at least give him a vague idea of where the majority of the monsters were.

Noah picked a spot where the good fishing areas were sparse, then ordered Krall to head in. The water reached his shin, quickly covering his knee, then with another step, his waist-line was submerged under the water. Feet dragging against the dirt soil underneath, it was impossible to see anything within. It was like an eraser had wiped away Krall’s lower half completely.

The cooling sensation of the water should have filled him with relief, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Noah kept his head on a swivel, looking at everything that moved. He flinched as a current of water brushed up against his legs.

Hell no. Noah deactivated his [Unbreakable Reins] Skill and climbed up onto Krall’s shoulder. He wasn’t that wide, his companion was more like a bodybuilder on earth. Feet on his shoulders, Noah balanced himself.

Krall glanced up at him. He knew the look of those eyes. They were saying ‘Really?’

Yes really. You have armour on your toes. I don’t. Noah squinted his eyes at his tamed companion, the armoured kobold shook his head as if in disappointment for his master's cowardice, and continued through the swamp.

Keeping his attention on anything that wanted to snap at him while retaining his balance on Krall, Noah took a mental note of his current supplies.

He had seven health potions in total ;four common, two uncommon, and one rare. He also had a Rare bandage, and a few Common ones. Then there were the two stamina potions he had.

Noah rubbed the weakness that pervaded his body from using the previous Strength stimulant. It was the negative effect of consuming it. His muscles ached, but even worse that pain–it lowered the amount of strength he could output.

Although he wasn’t certain by how much exactly, it was quite a lot. Of course, he wouldn’t gamble his life with odds that were unwinnable.

If the situation called for it, he had the stamina potions to negate that lethargy.

Of course, that meant he was treading a fine line on a knife’s edge, but that was okay. He was well aware of the risks he was taking.

Feeling the addicting adrenaline kick in once more, Noah scoured the waters once more.

Good, the large puddles of fish are over there, we can make it. Noah wasn’t sure what the name was for a large collection of fish, but as long as they stayed away from him–that was all he needed to be aware of.

Noah’s body jolted. Krall took another step, the water got deeper. They were slowly approaching the other side of the swamp. The land was raised, and the ground was dry. It was his aim, but Noah watched as something splashed the surface of the murky water.

Frowning, Noah readied his spear. Splash. It was getting closer. Then, a fin broke on the surface. It was heading for them.

Hurry Krall! Worried that Noah’s voice would attract more fish monsters to his location, he shouted within his mind.

Krall took a breath. His strong lungs thrummed with power as his hands beat the water like two oars.

However, the beating of the water sped up the incoming fish. A head emerged, then opened up, displaying a multi-layered set of razor-sharp teeth.

The adrenaline increased within his body as he could hear the thumping of his own heart. He would have preferred to have his bow out and attack it while it was closing the distance, but he needed to be prepared for anything that jumped out the water.

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Not wanting to risk changing to his bow, all he could do was wait. He looked at the encroaching banking of land, they wouldn’t make it.

A long and sharp fin began from the tip of its nose and trailed down its spine. The scales were a deep black, but once the sun shone on them, they lit up a muted orange.

It slapped its tailed fin against the water and shot forward.

Noah had his spear at the ready, pain surged in his arm–but he ignored it as he [Thrusted] it at the rapidly approaching fish head.

Splash. It shot straight for him, mouth open. Intertwined reed ridden teeth were ready to strip away his flesh.

Just as his spear made contact with the monsters’ scales, another splash appeared behind him. His heart dropped at the noise.

Krall snapped his head to the side and attempted to block the ambusher with his arm. It hit his armoured arm, but it warped its body like an eel, enabling it to barely latch on its teeth to Noah’s shoulder.

Noah seethed in pain, but instead of panicking, his thoughts slowed. One enemy at a time. He reminded himself, then continued his attack. If he flinched, then his previous attack wouldn’t be a killshot.

Gritting his teeth, he lunged his spear completely forward to finish his attack. The spear tip punched through scales and instantly made its way into the beast's heart.

The System notification of the kill followed, but Noah had no time to care about it as a searing pain was burning into his back.

Krall grunted and with a final push, the sticky swamp transformed into hardened soil. Turning around, he grabbed hold of the eel-type fish.

“Stop!” Noah shouted, his heart dropped as his companion almost tore the beast from his flesh.

Seeing that Krall froze on the spot at his words, he breathed a sigh of relief, only for him to seeth in pain the next moment. Its jaws tightened at Krall’s touch.

Remaining calm, Noah handed Krall one of his knives. “Right, place it in its mouth, then twist the blade.”

Krall didn’t exactly know the meaning of his words, so Noah had to show him by motioning the action with his hands. Thankfully because of their minds' connection, it took only a moment for him to understand his intentions. Besides, kobolds were intelligent, it seemed Krall’s evolved form still shared that same intelligence. If only barely.

Slotting the knife into the eels mouth, Noah’s brow twitched as the blade scraped across his tender skin, but anything was better than the feeling of teeth lodged into his flesh.

Then, Krall twisted the blade and pointed the edge towards the main body of the monster. Grabbing the blade’s handle, Krall pushed it into the monster's mouth.

Maybe feeling the pain of the knife cutting into its mouth, it let go. But it was too late for the eel. Krall swiped the blade, splitting the fish in two.

You defeated a - Level 13 Snapping-Swarmer.

| You defeated a - Level 9 Lurking-Eel.

Experience is reduced for defeating enemies of a lower Level.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he curled up his lips in disgust as guts covered his fresh wound. Noah splashed some of his stored water onto his back, ridding it from the putrid insides of fish.

A crackling sizzle awakened him from the pain, but it wasn't from the eel. Noah looked out to the water where he had killed the snapping swarmer, a green mass was above the murky waters.

Noah looked at Krall. Krall looked at him. He nodded with a toothy grin and hopped back into the water to retrieve the Uncommon Skill.

He really is like a puppy. Noah shook his head in amusement.

When Krall arrived back, numerous lurking eels were latched onto the flesh in between the armour covering his legs, but it didn’t seem to phase him very much. Krall simply just stomped on the ground, and smashed the remaining ones by kicking the nearby hardened trees.

He pouted as the guts covered his armour. Krall glanced at Noah before rushing to the water to clean himself.

Is he copying me? He really is like a dog. Noah chuckled.

He spent a few minutes bandaging his wounds and recovering from the aching pain within his shoulder before continuing through the jungle.

Thankfully there were no more swamp-lands. Krall also seemed to be happy at the change as he squished his feet into the dirt, without a care of leaving deep footprints behind for potential stalkers.

Well, there wasn’t anything they could do about it anyway. [Shadowed Presence] merely lightened the steps, it was unable to erase them–so why bother? It was a waste of time. Time Noah didn’t have.

There was noise from the front. Noah activated [Shadowed Presence] while at the same time Krall crouched, making more effort into masking the noise he was creating.

[Sneaking] has reached the peak of Level 3.

| [Sneaking] Level 3 -> [Sneaking] Level 4

| [Sneaking] Level 4: Rate of detection has minimally decreased. Sound of footsteps has minimally decreased.

Perfect. Noah looked down, sadly it didn’t make a difference with the weight of his steps.

Krall still left a depression in the ground at every step, but it was now a little quieter than before. Not amazingly so, just a small difference that would hopefully add up when it reached the higher stages.Or when it evolved completely.

Or maybe it will even merge with Shadowed Presence after evolution? It would be a nice addition, but Noah didn’t bank on it.

It was only after Noah skulked ahead a few more metres did he realise that they were actually on a hill, no that wasn’t right, the land had sunk.

His eyes widened at the sudden expanse of land in front of him. It travelled far into the horizon. It was as if he was standing atop an enormous bowl, and in the centre lay the pillar of light.

He was expecting something magnificent, something extraordinary to be called a hub. But the only thing that was there, was a massive amount of flat plains. The grass was lush, as if it had never been touched.

Squinting his eye, a shimmering dome covered the entirety of the so-called ‘hub’ area.

Time left for reward gain: 32:23:09s

Could I actually make it before it ticks down to twenty-nine for the extra completion reward? Noah wondered.

A screeching awakened him from his stupor, it was the sound he had heard before.

Looking down, on the gentle slope in-front of him, was a roaming party of three humanoid felines. They were more beast than man as they seemed to lack the refinement of a human.

Their noses twitched. Their heads snapped onto his location.

“C’mon, I don’t smell that bad?” Noah inspected their levels and prepared himself.