Master Of None

Chapter 2804: 2804. Obstacle

It was even more insane watching the water churn in this massive river. It seemed to cut right across any path toward where the expedition might explore or travel, and from the looks of it, this river was more or less a way to cut the continent in two before breaking in to hundreds of smaller rivers and streams to become the rough marshlands they had seen.

It proved that before the saltwater had risen and turned mountains in to islands, that this river might have been the source of the swamps and maybe even a gathering of lakes. It would have provided enough water for all of that while also being a home for the largest monsters on the continent that needed water.

As if to also reinforce this though, Walker glanced at the movement on the distant shore of the river. Larger creatures with deep black leathery skin sat in the sun enjoying the heat. They looked familiar but well too large compared to the species heʼd seen before.

ʼBrute hippo

Violence is the best word that is associated with this species of monster. They have an affinity for light mana and need to rest in the sun to absorb it, however, they have adapted their bodies to attract as much as possible leading them to have an excess. This mostly causes them to overheat and run in to a rage.

They are often in terrible moods due to their affinity and use their water affinity to also cool themselves while moving rapidly through the water to utilize the enhancement of their body from light mana. This makes them exceptionally strong and one of the few purely physical beasts with self enhancement magic despite only fighting with physical force.

They will fight one another or other monsters no matter how small, they even get one another riled up when they see a small mouse or bird causing them to stomp and destroy the entire riverbank.

While they are the most violent monster within the gnashing river, they are not the strongest. They are actually prey for quite a few monsters. This is because their muscles are very dense and can last many a long time as sustenance, this skin was once used as materials to create carriage shielding after being tanned…ʼ

Scouting this area would take a lot of time. Not because it was just a larger river than anyone had ever seen. It was because they would need to find an area without these dangerous monsters to worry about.

While the flying ships and most of the guards having spells to help others temporarily fly or flight being a skill they had themselves was useful, it would not help scout the underwater or the banks of the river easily. That would be an entirely dangerous and intense focus that would take time to achieve.

It might be better to wait to even go near this river until there was a larger and more powerful group in the expedition.

While that thought could have come across as doubting to anyone else, it was just the safer option. Most of the powerful forces who could go underwater or explore safely in watery areas were searching the islands right now. They would be doing so for the foreseeable future as well since the islands and the underwater area that used to be mountains would take much longer to explore since the small mapping orbs needed to map the ocean floor of the area.

Taking a deep breath, Walker used wind magic to propel himself forward faster. He didnʼt want to get caught up in any fighting with the brute hippos, he didnʼt need to fight them and didnʼt need to bring back any monster materials or food right now. It was better to just use his time wisely since he was also carrying a small mapping orb that would map this area better.

Once they had a small line of mapped area, the researchers and geographers that came with them would have the ability to better guess what was around the area as a whole. Just a little more information could move on to a great deal of theories about the overall terrain and just what might be needed in terms of exploring further parts of this monster continent.

The sharp cry of a bird monster made Walker turn his head and look down. He was absolutely stunned to see behind him that a larger monster was carrying one of the younger brute hippos away with its talons.

ʼKidnapper bird

This bird is a species of monster that has gained its name through the abduction and consumption of younger monsters. It does not care what monster it does after as long as it can carry them in its larger talons. This has caused it to develop powerful talons and even more powerful wings that work with all of its wind mana capacity…ʼ

He didnʼt even read the entire appraisal. This monster had specifically adapted to steal away prey from every monster around. It didnʼt care about repercussions since it could fly away under most circumstances. It even seemed to use wind mana without thought to fly higher before going out of sight of the now enraged brute hippo group left behind at the riverbank.

Things only seemed worse when Walker also noticed that there were more of them hiding in trees watching the brute hippo group. It was like people waiting in line for their favorite dinner table to be open. The chef already had the food waiting, they just had to race to be the first to sit at the table.

This wasnʼt on his mind for long as he noticed the trees become more substantial and his mana senses picking up on the fact that many manas moved through the trees.

It wasnʼt just the mist that made the jungle like environment important. It was the fact that there was only a jungle like mist to his right while to the left he noticed a change to dryness. The forest was different because manas flowed from outside of it one hotter, while the other was more full of water and some dark mana.

”Maybe a desert on the other side, and a few waterfalls and rocky terrain on the other…” mumbling out loud, Walker looked north and could tell that if he pushed far enough he would definitely move in to a colder region, what that entailed would just have to be seen later since he was not separating himself that far right now form the rest of the expedition.

The curiosity in his mind wanted him to rush off in all directions at once, but that would be impossible unless he actually looked at developing skills like the true sages in the elemental planes. Even then, he was sure that doing so would leave him weakened and defenseless right now, not something he wished to try out for simple curiosity.

With another deep breath, Walker used wind magic to speed himself through the air and back to the flying ships, which were surrounded by a rough camp. The tents being built up and a rough earth wall made all around everything by the heart mages made everything seem all that much safer. Everyone has been doing a lot of good work.

Unsurprisingly, Walker found Remey making some small potions. She was watering down some of the higher tier healing potions so that the pants they found could be soaked in them. The plants were similar to what Walker would call a rope or a dried fiber, but when he appraised them he found they were called coiling cork tree bark.

It was a tree that allowed its leaves and bark to peel away from it each season so that the softer buoyant wood underneath could absorb more water when it rained. It was an interesting plant but harvesting from it to make sanitized and soaked bandages would actually be an amazing possibility for farmers later on when they were brought to Genesis.

”So, whatʼs the word? Scout out enough land to tell us where we will head out to?” Gil easily caught up to Walker since he had been assigning the archers to watch out on taller posts made along the walls out of denser earth.

”There is a massive river ahead. Infested with monsters. I donʼt mean large. I mean, absolutely massive. So we arenʼt going to cross it. I think the territory to the west becomes dry like a desert sand to the east becomes hot and steamy like a jungle. Meaning that north should be something with ice.”

It appeared that Gil was even more excited about this. He could explore a whole lot and find plenty of arrow materials. More so though, he seemed worried to hear that there was already a major obstacle to any expedition in these lands. ”So we need plans, sounds about right.”

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