Alex was fairly certain that the snake was the apex predator of the area, but how far its territory reached was unclear. A Neophyte monster wouldn’t be rare on a Tier 1 world, but with so little wildlife around any truly powerful monsters should be elsewhere. If anything, Alex suspected that this area had been overhunted and then the monsters had moved elsewhere. A healthy ecosystem could easily be disrupted by a powerful monster emerging, forcing others to flee or die.
Alex easily snapped off the snake’s fangs, not bothering with other body parts. The Enhanced fangs were probably worth something, but the snake meat wouldn’t prove worthwhile. The fangs went into a secure box inside his bag, where they couldn’t tear holes into anything.
Neither Anthony nor Jess showed any interest in the snake’s carcass, so they left the body there. The three of them continued going toward the huts. The others could now see them as well, prompting a quick conversation about the landmark.
“What are we looking at here?” Jess asked, “Primitive buildings should’ve fallen apart after this many years.”
“Near-sapient monsters?” Alex asked, “Low-tier goblins sometimes build huts and minor fortifications without direction.”
“At least a few goblins would’ve evolved to gain sapience,” Anthony disagreed, “It might be a remnant of the native population made from stone quarried in trials.”
“That would imply the weather patterns are fairly moderate,” Jess argued, “With mana involved, a storm would’ve eventually grown strong enough to destroy poorly-made housing.”
“We’re not close enough to conclude that the huts are poorly made,” Anthony said, “It could be a cultural difference where the natives of this world preferred housing that was lower to the ground.”
“We’ll find out soon,” Alex said, “Let’s head out.”
It was only a few minutes before another snake attacked, but this one was far weaker. Alex was quite certain the monster was only an Aspirant, and he hung back to let Jess and Anthony secure the kill.
“Still nothing,” Jess stated as they started moving again.
Alex wasn’t surprised. That snake hadn’t even been at the peak of Tier 0, they’d have to kill several before it made a difference.
Snakes continued to attack, slowing their pace to a crawl. The snakes seemed to have the worst of both worlds, with the mindless aggression of a monster and the solitary nature of a serpent. The combination meant that they were more a nuisance than a threat, and Alex started to wonder why they hadn’t been bothered closer to the valley.
At one point, Anthony was bitten on the hand when a snake attacked before they’d even killed the one before it. The offending monster was quickly dispatched by Alex, who gave an embarrassed grimace, “I was looking in the other direction.”
Anthony nodded, no frustration in his gaze as the venom was pushed back out of the wound by his mana.
“You should’ve heard it coming,” Jess rebuked. The accusation was reasonable, but only thanks to Alex’s ridiculous Perception. The Aspirant snakes were far smaller than the Neophyte version had been, making it far easier for them to get around without rustling the grasses.
“This one had an Enhancement on its scales,” Anthony disagreed, “It’s subtle, but you can still see it. Also, I now understand why the snakes have taken over this area.”
“Poison’s that bad?” Alex asked. He’d been assuming as much, if they didn’t have some sort of advantage these monsters wouldn’t have taken over the area.
“It’s fast-acting,” Anthony confirmed, “Not painful, but a subtle poison that can be ignored until it's too late is an incredible advantage against other beasts.”
That explained why they hadn’t come across other monsters, but the lack of prey animals remained odd. Had prey animals been hunted to extinction or evolved into monsters over time, and now different groups of monsters fought just to eat?
Anthony being the one to get bitten was probably for the best, and his unconcerned response gave Alex confidence that he would be able to handle it if any of them got poisoned.
Anthony picked up the snake that had bitten him. Well, the half with the head, at least. Now that he paused to examine it instead of lashing out, he could vaguely make out an Enhancement.
Alex was a bit surprised Anthony had spotted it. The Enhancement made the serpent blend into its surroundings, and the mana blended into the scales as a result. It was pretty impressive for an unintelligent monster.
“There might be a stronger snake with stealth that has taught its offspring,” Alex pointed out, “We’ll have to be more careful.”
“We’ve already slowed our pace,” Jess replied, “Anthony and I will have to start taking turns fighting the snakes instead of killing them together. Two people stay on guard during every fight.”
The two men of the group nodded, and they set back out. The barrage of weak snakes began to slow, making Alex think they had passed a nest or lair. By the time they were closing in on the huts that Alex now believed to be a village, their kill count had reached fifteen Aspirant snakes.
“Still nothing,” Jess shook her head. They’d always know that it took a while to level up from kills, but this was getting a bit ridiculous. Alex was beginning to believe that they just weren’t receiving anything at all from killing the snakes.
The last few hundred feet separating them from the village were covered quickly, with no more snakes attacking them. It became obvious as they approached that Anthony had been right. This was an abandoned village.
“Are there any defensive arrays?” Jess asked, “I can’t sense anything.”
“I can’t either,” Alex said, “We’re good to enter, but be careful.” Any arrays that had lasted for this long would have to be incredibly powerful, and powerful wards wouldn’t be subtle. Someone like Mrs. Stirling or the Dean might be able to create something that was both, but people like that wouldn’t have been around in a Tier 1 world.
It would still be stupid to charge in unthinking, as there may be smaller traps that had somehow survived, but Alex felt confident that they were safe to enter the village.
When they were ten feet from the closest building, Alex got a notification.
You have discovered an important location: Abandoned Village. Trial completion score increased by 5. Discover more about this village to increase score.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Alex didn’t have context for what the points were worth. It could be a good amount, or next to nothing.
This village being important was interesting, but again, he couldn’t say how important. Regardless, Anthony’s choice of direction had clearly been a good one. Alex probably would’ve been able to see this village if they headed South, but it would’ve been further in the distance.
Ultimately, it wasn’t too hard to find a village when there weren’t any major obstacles to impede sight.
The sun was close to setting, having moved across the sky faster than Alex expected. The timer for fourteen days was showing barely an hour and a half had passed since they entered, but the solar cycle was apparently faster on this planet. It had been the equivalent of early afternoon when they arrived.
Of course, they’d entered the trial when it was morning on Earth, so the team wasn’t at all ready to stop for the night.
Now that they were up close. Alex could tell that the material used for the huts was special, “Looks like Tier 2 stone. Whoever used to live in this village must have been powerful for the planet.”
It made sense. Tier 2 materials wouldn’t be indestructible on a planet like this one, but they would certainly last for a long time.
“Most likely,” Jess agreed. They reached the first hut and immediately discovered a problem. These buildings had been designed to withstand monster attacks, and they hadn’t been left open.
There was a large stone slab covering the entryway. It appeared that the designers of the huts hadn’t bothered with something functional, not including hinges of any sort. While the three of them likely would’ve been able to push the stone out of the way if it was resting on the ground, it had sunk into the soil after thousands of years.
The stone was clearly ancient. There weren’t missing chunks or discoloration that you might see from mundane stone, but it had a sanded-down appearance. The stone was strong enough to last for thousands of years more than it already had, but it had smoothed over to an extent that didn’t match the otherwise rough construction.
“We’ll have to dig it out,” Jess stated, “We can push the stone out of the way once that’s done.”
Alex shrugged, “Let's see if any of the other huts are more accessible first. If we have to dig, we’re doing it barehanded.”
They hadn’t been able to pack everything. Shovels hadn’t made it onto the list of items to bring into the trial. They hadn’t even known about the exploration side of the trial before entering, and their equipment was more suited for camping out in a location.
There were a total of six huts, each around twice Alex’s height. They were shaped into ovals, long enough that it was clearly intentional. The huts were all the same area, around three times longer than they were wide. As they walked through, checking the entrances of each hut, Alex concluded that he might’ve underestimated the civilization or group that made these.
They were too perfect to be the result of primitive construction. Every one of the huts was a near-perfect match for the others, and the imperfections were slight enough that they were likely a result of time instead of flawed construction. Doing this with Tier 2 stone would’ve required an impressive grasp of mana.
Had this seemingly remote village been home to higher tier builders and warriors? Odd
“These huts are odd,” Jess said as they came across the fifth sealed entryway.
“They’re uniform,” Alex agreed, “It’s odd that a civilization that could form stone this precisely made doors without hinges.”
“I’m not sure these were homes,” Jess replied, “There are no windows. It would be completely dark inside.
Alex looked around, a bit surprised by the observation, “What are they then?”
“I imagine we’ll score higher on the trial if we figure it out,” Anthony said, “I think the third stone will be the easiest to open.”
Alex shrugged. They’d all looked fairly similar, although the third one was a bit sheltered from the wind by the others. The oval buildings were all reasonably close to each other and the central position had allowed it to make it this far in the condition that seemed closest to the original construction.
After doublechecking the last stone, the three of them returned to the third building. The slab was around the same as the others. Rising a few feet over Alex’s head, it didn’t quite reach the top of the exterior wall.
The huts had flat roofs, hanging over the side by a few inches. It gave a slight amount of shade for them to work with as they started digging with their hands to free the stone.
Not having a shovel was an impediment, but it wasn’t too bad. With attributes, many difficult tasks could turn simple, and digging was one of them. Breaking through dirt wasn’t hard, and they quickly started to make headway as the world’s star continued to fall.
Eventually, they reached the bottom of the stone. It had sunk surprisingly deep. To the point where Alex had to wonder if the stone had actually sunk into the ground or if the base had been buried intentionally.
Digging to the bottom was the easy part, actually toppling a massive piece of Tier 2 rock would be the difficult part of their task.
“We have to widen the hole,” Alex pointed out.
The others nodded, understanding the reasoning without any prompting. Their few minutes of excavation began to extend as they created a hole wide enough that the stone could be pushed over.
The issue was that they’d also need it to be fairly deep since they didn’t know how wide the entry was underneath the stone. The hut and door were flush with each other, making it impossible to see anything on the other side.
“You know, I just realized,” Anthony said, taking a break from his work to address the others, “What if the door is fused to the wall?”
Alex frowned, “Why would it be?”
“I think Jess is right, these weren’t houses,” Anthony explained, “What if these buildings weren’t meant to be entered?”
“Any magical seal would’ve likely decayed,” Jess said, “I think we’ve dug out enough that we could at least push the stone a bit to make sure, though.”
Alex agreed, and the three of them congregated on one side of the stone.
The stone was heavier than expected. Sure, it was a huge rock more than ten feet tall and almost two feet thick, but Alex had still been thinking they’d move it without too much issue.
He’d been underestimating just how heavy higher-tier rock could get. The stone was hardly moving, and Alex was feeling the strain of pushing up against it.
The good news was, they did manage to make it give a little. That confirmed that it wasn’t sealed in place, which was good enough for Alex. They just had to dig enough room and they’d be able to figure something out.
An hour and a half of work later, the sun was completely down and replaced by four moons. The clear sky made working through the night simple, as visibility was still reasonable in the plains.
They’d finally dug out enough space to push the rock away from the entrance. After a short break, they went ahead and did so.
The rock had not grown any lighter after the time spent digging. Alex really wished they had anything capable of making the job easier as he pushed, but he hadn’t been able to think of anything.
Becca would’ve come up with a way to turn gravity in their favor or something.
The rock was heavy, but they were superhuman. Eventually, it moved.
The hut was opened to the outdoors for the first time in millennia, and Alex stepped in in front of the others.
Light from the outside spilled in, but the lack of any other light source made it dim at the entrance with the light rapidly vanishing. Alex saw a dirt floor, and not much else. Anthony pulled a lantern out of his own pack, lighting it without any preamble.
Looking around, Alex saw more dirt. After a few seconds, he saw a lumpy object and went over to pick it up.
It was rounded in shape, seemingly made up of four different imperfect spheres melded together. The item was old, but Alex could still recognize what it was. There was hardly any mana left in it, but this had to be a Soul Aperture that had lasted far longer than the body it once belonged to.
“Thread?” He heard Jess’s questioning tone as she picked up what appeared to be an ultrafine thread. He recognized that item by sight.
Mana Veins.
The realization of what these huts were dawned on him suddenly. The thought made him take a second glance at the Soul Aperture he’d grabbed before pulling up his status to check the notification he’d received.
Important location updated: Unknown Gravesite. +15 completion score.