Chương 87: (B2 Chapter 38)

The monstrous race of large lizards looked understandably shocked at my sudden appearance and announcement. The two lizards with weapons then swiftly put themselves between me and the older lizard with the two children, and the taller amongst the two then spoke up.

"What are you? And what do you want?" What are you… never been asked that before… I kept my hands up in the universal placating gesture, hoping that it meant the same thing to them as well, and answered, "I'm a human, and as I said, my name is Alex. I think we're both in the same situation and have been put here by the system, so I thought I should introduce myself." The two looked at each other in confusion, while I kept track of my surroundings. I already had an escape route in mind in case it was needed.

"What is it saying?" I heard the older one ask the other two. Oh! That one was probably in statis, so it doesn't have the Pioneer title! The lizards though didn't realize this, and the taller one immediately whispered back, "you can't understand it?" The older one answered in the negative while my mind was preoccupied by how strange being referred to by 'it' felt.

Still, I felt I had to move the conversation along as the three of them started whispering how it was strange that two of them could understand me while the third couldn't.

"I believe it's because of the Pioneer title everyone who participated in the tutorial received. I think the one in the back must not have been part of the tutorial," I explained. The two lizards in front widened their eyes in understanding, while the older one asked what I had said, following which my words were repeated back to it. I sighed and waited patiently for them to finish, observing their mannerisms. The two in front were protective of the three in the back, which was obviously understandable.

However, what was very clear now was how the two of them seemed to defer to the older one in the back. Both of them took the words spoken by the older one as if it were gospel.

"… what it wants first, then we'll see," the older one finished, and the other two nodded.

"Thank you for introducing yourself. My name is Uwoc and this is Eyatll. Now that we have been acquainted with one another, I hope you can tell us what you want by speaking to us," the larger of the two said. I noticed he didn't introduce the older one in the back, and neither had he mentioned the two children, who had not stirred at all during this entire conversation. They seemed like they were dormant somehow, almost like they were deep in sleep but at the same time not looking like they were asleep at all.

It was weird. I followed their formal tone in my answer, "Thank you for introducing yourself, Uwoc. Very nice to meet you and Eyatll," the two of them nodded in response.

"As I said earlier, I just wanted to introduce myself, as it looks like both of us have been put here by the system without any prior knowledge. It would be best if we knew about each other, rather than kill each other off thinking the other side was just another monster," I explained a bit of what I was thinking to gauge their response. The response I got was underwhelming if I'm being honest.

Uwoc and Eyatll gave no response apart from a light nod, and as soon as I was finished, they relayed my words back to the older one, who listened intently and then fell deep in thought while the two lizards in front kept an eye on me and waited patiently for the older one to finish its thinking. The silence stretched awkwardly… for me at least. Uwoc and Eyatll looked completely at ease. Finally, it seemed like the older one had done processing my words.

"Can you understand me?" the older one suddenly asked me while looking straight at me. I thought for a moment about pretending as if I couldn't, so that it could possibly give me an advantage. But I had already shown I could understand it earlier when I had told them about the pioneer title. Besides, if I wanted to start a possible relationship as allies with them, the fact that anyone with the title could understand the older one would come out soon enough.

So, I nodded, and also verbally confirmed it in case they didn't understand nodding or if it meant something else to them. Although the two lizards had already nodded multiple times, so perhaps I was being needlessly cautious.

"I thought as much," confirmed the older one without waiting for Uwoc to explain what I had said.

"Your words hold much merit, as you look like a thing we would have no thoughts about killing for what this system calls experience. Tell me, do others of your kind look like you?" he asked. I thought about how to answer his question, and whether it was a probing one or not. However, I couldn't think of any reason not to answer truthfully.

"Generally, yes. But like the three of you, there are some differences in my kind. Some are larger, some smaller, while others may have different skin or hair colours," I explained. My words were then repeated to the older one, and it nodded sagely. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I believe it would be good of us to speak more in the coming days. I would like to learn more about you and your kind. Perhaps you could introduce me to your elders so we can discuss this further," the older one said. I was right. It looks like they have a culture of having their elders as the leaders, while the younger ones defer all decisions to them. It was obvious in the way Uwoc, who was by far the strongest amongst the three, deferred everything to this elder of theirs.

Now I had to think about how to respond…

"I would be happy to introduce you to my leaders. What may I call you, and how many should I say would be coming to meet them?" I asked them, keeping my wording intentionally vague while at the same time hoping for some information about their numbers. After my words had been explained to the elder, it responded, "You may call me Qritl Mendar of the Mendar clan. As for how many of us shall meet with your leadership, I'm not sure yet.

Why don't we meet back here in two cycles from now, and then we can discuss further. It will give me time to discuss with my people," he said. Finding no reason to refute, I agreed, and the finer details were ironed out. I found out that the cycles they referred to were days, and I felt that the conversation was proceeding in a very positive direction, till Qritl asked me a question.

"Tell me, Alex, how is it that you were able to appear in front of us earlier? None of us saw you approach… which surprised me." Right… I should have actually walked out from a corner and kept my skills hidden! I mentally berated myself, but I quickly thought of a way to hopefully keep my true skills hidden. Hoping that my lie would work, I answered its question, "I have a skill that allows me to move very quickly, and as soon as I saw you all I used it to get closer. Would you like to see it?"

Once again, I had to wait for my words to be explained to the elder, by Eyatll this time. Uwoc, meanwhile, I noticed had shifted its foot slightly and had placed its clawed hand on its sword's hilt while fixing me with its gaze. Qritl gave the affirmative of me showing off my skill while Eyatll also got into a readied stance. Sighing to myself, I used quick step to move to the right, away from them.

As soon as the skill ended, I used it again to keep moving, and then used it a third time as well, wanting to keep the skill's actual limitations to myself for now. I hoped it must have looked like I used just one skill, and when I turned back and saw the widened eyes of the three lizards, I thought I must have hit the mark. I slowly walked back towards them, and Qritl spoke up when I got within earshot.

"Very nice, Alex. Is this skill available in the system store, or did you get it from your class?" Another probing question… if I had only met Uwoc and Eyatll, I think I might have had an easier conversation…

"Neither, I got it from a skill stone reward from the system," I answered, being completely truthful.

"Ah, I see, yes. Uwoc told me he got one of those as a reward for completing the tutorial as well," said Qritl, and I just nodded, not feeling the need to correct their assumption. Either they didn't know that someone could have gotten a skill stone from the forest of beginnings assessment, or they wanted to know if I was aware of it or not. Either way, the simplest answer was just to nod in agreement.

"Well, it has been very interesting meeting you, Alex. May we meet in good health again in two cycles from now. Farewell," said Qritl. They waited for my answer, before turning around and heading back in the direction I had seen them come from. Qritl was walking in front, while Eyatll and Uwoc were a step behind, trying but failing at being subtle in keeping their eye on me.

I turned around as well and quickly reached the corner of the building, and as soon as I was out of sight, I went under concealed presence and quickly made my way over to them. I reached them and saw that Uwoc was now leading with Eyatll at the rear, leaving Qritl and the kids in between. The three of them were surprisingly silent as they continued walking. Actually, Qritl was silent, while Uwoc and Eyatll just waited for their elder to speak. They really look like they have no thoughts of their own…

The lizard people continued silently before they reached a building and went inside, climbing up the stairs and going inside an apartment. I wanted to go inside, but chose to stay outside instead as I knew concealed presence could run out before I found a chance to get out undetected again.

"What do you think, elder?" I heard Uwoc's voice from underneath the apartment's closed door.

"Uwoc, what did you think about Alex?" Qritl instead questioned back. I hear no other sounds from within… looks like it's just the three of them here, which means Qritl lied about there being more of them. Not that I could fault it for lying, as I had done the same thing.

"He seems strong. Stronger than me," answered Uwoc instantly.

"And what about you, Eyatll?" Qritl asked.

"Same as Uwoc, elder. I would not be able to beat that thing," I heard Eyatll answer. First it, now thing… it's so weird being referred to in such a manner…

"I agree. That Alex could have killed all three of us if it wanted to. And he was intelligent as well… his species could be very dangerous for us to get involved in, especially with how scattered we are. Alex's answers hint at them being organized already with a leadership structure in place. We need to be very careful of these humans…" said Qritl, its voice trailing off at end. How could they sense I was so much stronger than them? Just quick step shouldn't have been enough of a giveaway…

is it some kind of instinct they have…? I heard the sound of movement from within, before hearing very light, barely audible footsteps approaching the apartment door. I backed away, checking to make sure concealed presence was still active and clutched my dagger, readying myself in case something happened. The footsteps stopped beside the door, before it was wrenched open suddenly. Qritl stepped out quickly, looking all around the empty hallway. After a few seconds, Qritl turned around and closed the door again.

"Is something wrong, elder?" asked Uwoc.

"No, I was just making sure someone wasn't out there. Alex could have followed us here, and if they knew it was just the three of us and these two young ones, we could be in trouble. They may want to control us in some manner, or something worse," answered Qritl. It really does feel like all their race's brains are concentrated towards these elders… or maybe Qritl just is intelligent. Can't really base any assumptions with a sample size of just three…

"Oh! We weren't followed elder, I am sure of it," said Uwoc a bit enthusiastically.

"But, what should we do about Alex and the humans, elder?" he then asked. I leaned closer to the door, wanting to hear what their elder was going to say.