Chương 86: (B2 Chapter 37)

Uwoc's POV The last two cycles had been so lonely, and I was glad to have finally met Eyatll this morning. I could not find anyone of my brethren earlier, no matter how hard I looked in this stone jungle. All I found were monsters to fight, and it was the first time in my life that I had to be completely isolated. I did not enjoy it. The nights in this new world were strangely dark, with just one moon in the sky.

The metallic boxes lined up next to the stone pillars were of different shapes and sizes, and I thought they were meant to be houses. But they were too small to be houses. Were the natives of this place this small that they would be able to live in them? The materials were flimsy for a house though. And when I had braved myself and climbed one of the stone pillars, I found it to be completely empty and lined up with doorways. Entering one of them made me realize that this, in fact, looked more like a house.

I even found a place to rest my tired self, and the bedding was much more comfortable than anything I had slept on. Even the softest of flower petals couldn't compare. Meeting up with Eyatll had been such a blessing. I was finally able to hope that I would be able to join up with my family again. And I was still extremely hopeful to be able to meet up with an elder. Eyatll and I made a plan to get out of this stone jungle and try and find a real jungle or forest, something more suited for our kind.

The problem was that no matter where we went, we just kept running into more of the gigantic pillars. And they all looked the same! We didn't give up, and continued trying to find our way out. However, we were interrupted by the system message informing us that the tutorials had been completed. And then, the system gave us the greatest blessing of all – an elder appeared near us! The elder's name was Qritl Mendar, a fitting name for an elder.

Two names signified that he was a newly appointed elder, but still, he was an elder nonetheless! He was from a clan I had never heard of, and the forest he described didn't seem like any I had ever seen. It looked like he was from another part of our world. Apart from the elder, we were also blessed with the appearance of two young cubs who hadn't even gone through their naming ceremony yet. They were understandably scared, but the elder was amazing at making them feel comfortable.

The elder also took barely any time in understanding what was happening, and instead of getting scared, he immediately started directing us on the wisest way forward. Truly, having an elder makes all the difference in the world! As per Qritl's instructions, we started making rounds of our surroundings to locate more of our kind. We stuck together but moved quickly, and the elder amazingly also participated in monster fights and started getting levels.

He had quickly concluded that everyone needed to level up, even an elder such as himself. And obviously, he turned out to be right. He gained a few levels and as soon as he started gaining stat points, he started looking younger and fitter. No wonder just a few of our kind ever get the honour of being crowned an elder. If just a newly appointed elder can so quickly understand so much, I can only imagine what an experienced elder would be able to do!

He had also gone through the system store and asked us to buy a few choice herbs from the materials section. Even though he was not a herb master, he had still been able to concoct a basic poison that assisted us in killing off monsters quicker. It was also the reason the elder was able to level up so quickly. As usual, we were out trying to find more of our kind while also killing monsters to level up. I was up ahead because I was the highest level amongst us, while the others were a few paces behind me.

I turned around the corner of a stone pillar and saw the way up ahead clear of any monsters, which was a surprise as we had faced a lot more monsters this cycle when compared to the previous cycles. The way ahead looked completely devoid of anything really… and something was troubling my instincts. Something is wrong… I clutched my sword tightly and looked around, backing away slowly. However, time passed by with nothing happening, and soon the others had caught up. Noticing my stance, Eyatll also readied himself.

"What is it?" he asked in a low voice.

"I don't know, but something is troubling me," I answered, looking up at the stone pillars now for any monsters that could ambush us, like the animals loved to do in our forests back home.

"Always trust your instinct, Uwoc. If there is something troubling you, we should back away from here and find another way. No need to take a risk," said elder Qritl. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I nodded, naturally not willing to go against the advice of the elder and my own instincts, and we started backing away. Once we were clear of the area, we moved at speed to put distance between us and whatever it was that had me on edge.

Time passed and as nothing happened, I started to relax a bit more.

"Good, child. You probably saved us from a grave danger. You should be proud!" the elder's praise, something that was seldom given, made me extremely joyous! We continued to make our way forward, happily discussing how to gain more levels and asking the elder for advice on what to buy from the system store. However, my joy soon turned to alarm as a strange creature materialized near us from thin air!

"Hi, I'm Alex, nice to meet you." The creature could speak!

Alex's POV The monster was clearly intelligent, not only from its eyes but also the fact that it was holding a sword in its hand. The monster looked somewhat similar to the kobold elite from the tutorial, just larger and having dark-green scales instead of the reddish colour the kobold elite had. It stood on two legs and had a height of at least seven feet. Its tail was thick and looked extremely sturdy, and was about two-and-a-half feet long.

I was reminded of the intense tail strike the kobold elite had struck me with, and I was sure this thing's tail would definitely pack a brutal punch. It definitely looked draconian in appearance, with large claws in both its hands and feet. I referred to it as a hand because it was definitely a hand, complete with opposable thumbs, and not like the monstrous claws the kobold elite had. Instead, this thing looked more elegant… less monstrous and more like a civilized version of the kobold elite.

The thing that threw me off was not just the intelligence, but also the sword the monster was carrying. The ogres in the tutorial had also used weapons, and they had much nicer weapons when compared to the weapons the goblins used. This thing also had a nice sword, making me extremely wary of approaching it to kill it. Is this one of those 'opportunities to grow stronger' the system had mentioned? I was certain this would be a tough fight, even if I got a good opening strike in.

Besides, I was a large distance away from base, and if I got seriously injured here, I would have a long, long journey back. So, I started backing away, but paused immediately as the monster sensed something. It had been looking around at the empty street, but suddenly it crouched down in a ready stance and gripped its sword tightly, observing the street with much sharper eyes now. Did it hear me move even through concealed presence?! I went completely still, alarmed at the possibility.

I slowly checked over my shoulder to see if there was anything else that had spooked this monster, but the street was completely clear, because I had killed off every monster here as soon as I had arrived. The lizard monster was still in the same position, its eyes darting all over the place, trying to find whatever it had sensed. I tried taking a slow step back because I had to move sooner or later; I couldn't just stay here stuck in place waiting for concealed presence to run out.

Luckily, the monster didn't sense anything from my movement, and I continued slowly backing away. However, I had only taken a few steps back when the situation worsened drastically. Two more of its kind appeared from the corner, one of them just a tad smaller than the first one, while the other was closer to six feet tall and looked much… older somehow. Its scales had wrinkles somehow, and its head drooped just a little as it moved slowly forward.

The other lizard was also armed with a sword, while the older one had two small bundles in each arm covered in some cloth-like material. I was about to turn around and use quick step to get away, when something so unexpected happened that I forgot all about any danger and instead stood there with my mind in absolute shambles. They started speaking!

"What is it?" the slightly smaller lizard that had just appeared from the corner said.

"I don't know, but something is troubling me," answered the one I had originally seen. The older one then chimed in, and I had no idea what was happening, and no clue how they were speaking English! Their mouths were moving in a strange way though; it did not match the sounds I was hearing… almost like I was watching a dubbed movie… Oh! The title! I quickly opened my status and went through the pioneer title, and the skill it gave me – Universal Language. I think I was seeing the skill in action for the first time!

The three of them backed away around the corner, and I started following them. I had enough mana to sustain concealed presence for a while longer, and I wanted to hear what these things would be discussing. I continued observing them while they made their way through the streets. I observed how the two younger lizards seemed to hold the older one in extremely high regard, hanging onto every word it spoke with utmost dedication.

I also realized the two bundles the older one was carrying were two small children of their own kind. Hmmm… that party composition… The conversation between them turned towards levels, skills, and how to use the system store, and from that my suspicions turned into conviction – these things were one of the four other races integrated to this planet!

Having one older lizard and two children alongside the other two lizards who seemed to be in the prime age for their race looked just like the system dumping older and younger people on us after the tutorials had ended for everyone. Then, there was the fact that my skill was working, enabling me to understand them. I knew the skill was called Universal Language, but I hadn't been able to magically understand the chittering of insects or the yips of the foxes when they were throwing their fire magic at me.

Finally, the fact that they were speaking about levels, skills, and the system store was a dead giveaway. I knew it was a huge risk, but revealing myself to them was a risk worth taking in my opinion. If I could somehow make allies with another race, it may boost our own strength significantly in numerous ways.

Figuring out that going the direct route was best, I made my way in front of them but at a healthy enough distance so that they wouldn't be too alarmed at my appearance while at the same time giving me enough of an opportunity to get away should things turn south. Undoing concealed presence, I announced myself, "Hi, I'm Alex, nice to meet you."