The three of them sat together under the shade. Due to their youth, their group contrasted with others that were mostly middle-aged or older. Nobody else after Jean-Pierre came to strike up a conversation or try to join them.

After a while, the area top of the cliff became rather crowded. More and more survivors made it up and there had to be at least several hundred. More remained on the rocky beach, having been spread out by the rough waves close to shore. Some had found alternate paths up the cliffs.

“How many people do you think survived the sharks?” Jean-Pierre asked.

Zachary shrugged. “Who knows.”

The odds of surviving were not good but he was more worried about himself and his wounded soul. He was probably the only one who had to contend with such a handicap as his situation before had been very special. He would have to keep his situation a secret, to hide this weakness from the competition.

Jean-Pierre hopped up and walked over to the cliff’s edge. He looked out towards the sea and along the beach. “There’s a lot more than I expected… definitely over a thousand. Maybe close to two.”

“Oh, shit… Look out!” He suddenly shouted.

A wretched scream came immediately after his shout. It sounded like someone dying in agony.

Zachary rushed over to take a look.

On the beach, a prisoner was crawling with his hands. His upper half seemed fine but his legs were both missing below the thighs. Blood gushed from the two stumps, leaving a short but distinctive trail to the culprit. Nestled amidst the black rocks was a blood-covered boulder the size of a beer barrel, only it had a gaping mouth and many rows of jagged saw-like teeth. The unfortunate man had unwitting walked over this creature and gotten his legs bitten off.

“Ugh… what is that?” Jean-Pierre said and made a face of disgust.

“Ew!” Katherine squeaked and hid behind Zachary.

Zachary didn’t think much about the gory scene. So many people had died from the ship to the shore. One more was like a drop in the ocean.

He was more interested in the Ensouled that seemed to be a mouth and not much more. “It should be a big mouth barnacle or something close to that. I thought they couldn’t grow that big unless they were high-ranked.”

As he spoke, the unfortunate victim finally collapsed after a brief struggle. With both legs gone, there was no hope for him.

“Big bro!” Another middle-aged man shouted and rushed over. “Ahhh, big bro’s dead! Big bro!”

He wailed next to the dead body until he noticed the blood trail and the gaping maw that was still open and chewing on its food.

“I’ll kill you!” The man shouted crazily.

He leaped up, looked around the ground, and picked up a rock the size of a melon. He walked closer and hurled it at the ugly beast only for it to suddenly close its mouth. The rock bounced harmlessly off of its hard outer shell and this made the man rage even more.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Zachary shook his head, “Hopeless…”

“The big mouth barnacle?” Jean-Pierre asked. “Why is it hopeless? Maybe that guy can wound it enough to capture it. Its teeth are quite sharp.”

Zachary explained it a little more. He had read about this in a book about the New World. “A big mouth barnacle is, as the name suggests, a barnacle with a large and vicious mouth. They normally stay dormant but would suddenly attack anything that comes too close. Their bite is incredibly powerful and can break the hardest shells and even iron. Their own shell is also quite durable, but they have practically no mobility.”

This kind of creature was somewhat interesting but it was not very desirable for low-ranked summoners who preferred well-rounded creatures. Big mouth barnacles had a very specialized skillset of extreme defense and extreme close-range attack. For high rank summoners, such strengths could be used in unique situations. For him and the other prisoners who had to survive a year in this wilderness, this Ensouled was basically useless.

“You know all that? Wow! I had no idea what that was.” Jean-Pierre praised.

“Yeah…” Zachary shrugged and returned to his spot under the shade.

Around noon, some of the survivors were done resting and pushed further inland. Alone or in small groups, they left the relative safety of the jungle’s edge to brave the unknowns of the New World, eager to be the first to encounter a good Ensouled. Among them, he caught a familiar face, blonde-haired Heather, heading into the jungle with three other women. He didn’t expect her to actually succeed in forming a team, what with her big mouth and attitude.

Katherine tugged Zachary’s shirt and asked, “Should we… go?”

“You can go, if you want.” He replied.

He still had not completely recovered his energy yet.

She huffed and looked away.

“No need to rush.” Jean-Pierre said, “Who knows what other crazy Ensouled reside in this place? Those gulls that attacked the ship are already enough to wipe all of us out.”

While the three of them remained in relative harmony, the others weren’t so peaceful. There were more than a few fights. Death seemed to be just around the corner and everyone wanted to live.

This resulted in more people joining together for self-protection. As these groups formed, they sat separately and eyed each other with suspicion. They also tried to recruit the people that were still coming up the cliff.

“Hey! Hey you! Come here and join our Dark Star Gang! We have the strongest summoners!”

“Screw the Dark Star Gang! The Daybreakers will ensure you get your fair share of food and captured Ensouled!”

“Ignore those bastards, our group has many women!”

This last statement attracted the most attention. Out of all the prisoners, the ratio of men to women was roughly three to one. Surviving a whole year in the New World was already a deadly challenge. Trying to do so without the company of the opposite sex was tantamount to torture.

Jean-Pierre chuckled at the antics, “I wouldn’t trust anything the Dark Star Gang says. They are a highly insular and vicious criminal gang. They look to have a few people who are already branded members. Look at the star tattoo on their necks. They might seem friendly now but they will use these new people as meat shields. The Daybreakers should be the same. In fact, they and the Dark Star Gang are rivals and they might even use the recruits to fight each other. And as for those women, I don’t think any of them can compare to our little beauty Katherine.”

At his words, Katherine moved suddenly and pulled the knife out of her bag. She brandished it and glared at Jean-Pierre like he was a dangerous pervert.

He held up his hands in surrender, “Just joking… just joking…”

“What about that Arron White and his group? He is quite strong.” Zachary asked.

Jean-Pierre waved his hand dismissively, “He is strong. Maybe is the strongest one here. But he is making a mistake, his group already has too many people. It will come back to bite him.”

“Jean-Pierre, you seem to know a lot about these people,” Zachary noted.

“Me? Haha, I guess? It’s nothing special. I just like studying people. It was kind of my specialty before this unfortunate situation.”

Zachary nodded along, not understanding. He was never good with people. He preferred Ensouled and learning all there was to learn about them. It was this knowledge that gave him a sliver of hope.

But this hope was constantly under threat of being extinguished. He had almost lost his life to the blue tiger sharks countless times. When he was traversing the rocky beach, he could have been eaten by one of those barnacles at any time. And there were far more dangers ahead.

He didn’t know how he was going to survive the next few days, let alone a whole year.