Chương 124: Chapter 108 (B2-ch2) – A Shifting Perspective

Cade stared at Earl. For the first time, the large man actually looked nervous. Earl cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Now, personally, I got no problem with a man walking around au nat-tu-ral. You do you. But, uh, some people might be a bit more uptight about that sort of thing." Cade kept his expression blank. For several long seconds, neither of them spoke. Then he looked down at himself. His white cloak hung around his body in loose, flowing folds, shimmering faintly as tiny motes of ash drifted along the edges.

"I thought my cloak covered everything." Earl winced.

"Yeah. Totally." He hesitated.

"Well, it covers most of you… most of the time." Cade slowly looked back up and made eye contact with Earl.

"Explain."

"Well…" Earl scratched at his arm.

"When you're standing still, it pretty much covers everything. Very mysterious. It's a good look. Real intimidating. But when you move fast, or when you do that cool swirly woosh thing…" He grimaced.

"Your branch and berries are out there for everyone to see." For a moment, Cade's mind went dead still. He had spent so long inside Cynthia's Legacy without clothes that he honestly hadn't thought about it after returning. Cade had just assumed the cloak covered him at all times, but apparently he was wrong. A slow, deeply uncomfortable realization settled over him as he remembered holding Richard up by the throat with his mantle swirling around them both.

Had he killed the man with his family jewels on full display?

"Oh." Earl gave him an apologetic look.

"Yeah. I figured you either didn't know or it was on purpose for some reason. Like maybe you were going for shock and awe. A real power move to come at someone and flash them your junk at the same time." Cade rubbed a hand over his face as he suddenly regretted dissolving Richard's corpse. Then again, he wasn't sure if he'd be comfortable wearing a dead man's pants.

"Why don't you just buy some from the Tutorial Store?" Earl asked.

"A normal pair without enchantments should be cheap." For a moment, Cade considered telling him that he couldn't access the Tutorial Store. But the thought died almost as quickly as it formed. Telling Earl would raise too many questions. It would lead to System Cores, Classes, Professions, and everything else Cade wasn't ready to explain to a man he had just met. At the same time, being secretive was making things complicated. Honesty would be easier. Then Cade remembered his old lab mates.

He remembered the way they had looked at him after learning he didn't have a System Core. The shift had been undeniable. The looks of pity and superiority on their faces. After being surrounded by frogs and tortoises for so long, it was strangely nice to have a normal conversation with another human. Earl didn't know what Cade was. He didn't know what Cade lacked or what he had become. For now, Earl just treated him like a strange guy who had saved his life, and he didn't want that dynamic to change.

"There we go," Earl said, interrupting Cade from his thoughts. He reached out in front of himself, and a folded bundle of light gray fabric abruptly appeared. Cade blinked in surprise. One moment, Earl's hand was empty. The next, he was holding a neatly folded pair of sweatpants.

"Huh." Earl held them out with a sheepish grin.

"Figured I'd just buy 'em for you. Least I could do after you saved my life."

"Thanks," Cade said as he accepted the bundle and activated [Greater Identify]. Light gray sweatpants (common) — A common pair of sweatpants resembling the casual athleisure fashion of pre-System Earth. They offer no meaningful protection but are extremely comfortable. He quickly slipped them on beneath his cloak before letting the white mantle settle naturally around his legs once more.

"Much better," Earl said with an approving nod.

"Now I don't gotta worry about warning the next people we run into that you're not a perv who likes to fight in the buff." Cade shook his head and let out a small chuckle.

"I appreciate it."

"Nah, don't mention it." Earl waved dismissively.

"They were only one credit. I'll make that back the next time I kill a beastie." He gave Cade a quick once-over.

"I'm guessing you're running around without armor for a reason. Probably some passive skill. I have one that gives me a small amount of extra Stamina regeneration as long as I don't wear heavy armor, I figure you've got something similar going on. Then again I've never heard of a mage getting bonuses for fighting completely naked before. But I also haven't really spoken with too many mages." Cade let the larger man ramble on.

It was strangely refreshing after spending so long listening to Vorduun patiently explain cultivation or discussing things way beyond him, like the birth of the System. Earl's stream of consciousness felt somewhat normal in comparison. When Earl finally paused long enough to breathe, Cade interrupted.

"We should probably keep moving."

"Oh!" Earl slapped his forehead.

"Yeah, right. Camp's this way." He walked toward the edge of the stone dais before bending down to retrieve a broad-bladed axe.

"I dropped this when I saw you." He hefted the weapon onto one shoulder.

"Honestly, I thought I was gonna have to rescue you from Richard." He laughed.

"Who would have thought it would be the other way around." Cade smiled faintly as the pair set off through the swamp. Towering cypress trees stretched overhead, their moss-covered branches filtering the midday sunlight. Thick roots twisted through stagnant pools while various creatures croaked and growled somewhere deeper within the swamp. Then Earl suddenly stopped. About thirty yards ahead, something the size of a small truck lumbered across a small muddy clearing. Cade activated [Greater Identify].

Razorback Snapper — Level 21 Highest Attribute: Endurance: 118 A heavily armored solitary predator of the swamp. Its powerful jaws can shear through stone and its long neck can make frontal assaults exceptionally dangerous. Beside him, Earl grinned.

"I wanna take that thing on. It's higher level than me, so it'd be decent experience." Cade raised an eyebrow.

"Weren't you knocking on death's door less than an hour ago?" This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Pfft. I'm fine." Earl said as he thumped a fist against his chest.

"That item you used healed me for a little under half my Health and Stamina. Besides, I've fought these things before." He pointed toward the turtle's oversized head.

"You just stay away from the mouth. Other than those jaws, they're actually pretty harmless." The dewdrop restored a little under half of his health? That meant Earl's total Health and Stamina were only just over six hundred each. Even without a Class, Cade had over twice that. Am I really that much stronger than this guy? He did have a growing collection of Titles boosting every Attribute. Between those and everything he'd experienced within Cynthia's Legacy, perhaps a comparison between them wasn't entirely fair.

Although [Berserking Behemoth] certainly didn't sound like the name of a weak Class. Maybe there was more to Earl's strength than raw attributes. Cade looked from the Razorback Snapper back to Earl.

"What rarity is your Class?" Earl immediately grinned, his smile stretching nearly to his ears. He puffed out his chest and rested the haft of his axe against one shoulder.

"Rare!" There was no mistaking the pride in his voice.

"I managed to snag a rare Class right from the start. Not many people can say that." His eyes drifted over Cade's white cloak.

"Then again, I'd bet you've got a rare Class too. Maybe even something better judging by how you handled Richard." Cade shrugged, trying his best to be noncommittal.

"Yeah, something like that." Am I really that much stronger than someone with a rare Class? Maybe it's just that my attributes are higher. Ever since arriving in the Tutorial, Cade felt like he was scrambling to catch up to those around him. First it was his old group, then it was the frogs, and then the tortoises. He had always felt so far behind. But now, standing beside another human, he was beginning to appreciate just how abnormal his own Path had become. Then again, he hadn't actually seen Earl fight.

Maybe the man relied less on raw stats and more on powerful skills granted by the System. That would explain a lot. Cade glanced back toward the Razorback Snapper trudging through the muddy clearing ahead.

"It probably wouldn't be much of a fight if we both attacked it." Earl followed his gaze.

"Oh?"

"You got to watch me fight Richard. Seems only fair I get to watch you fight this Razorback Snapper." Earl barked out a laugh.

"I like the way you think. Leave this one to me. You just sit back and enjoy the show." Before Cade could say another word, Earl charged." [UNBRIDLED RAGE]!" Cade couldn't help but notice orange rush through Earl's body as he shouted the name of his skill. It flooded every branching channel beneath the man's skin, racing through his limbs before converging around his muscles. The effect was immediate.

Earl's muscles expanded, his pace nearly doubled, and his face turned beet red as he barreled toward the Razorback Snapper. The turtle reacted to the charge, its massive head shot forward, jaws snapping shut where Earl had stood only a heartbeat before. Earl let out a crazed laugh as he narrowly avoided the beast's maw before bringing his axe down onto the creature's exposed neck. For the next several minutes, Cade simply watched the fight.

Orange continued surging through Earl's channels with every swing of his axe. The brighter the orange became, the more explosive the man's movements grew. That orange has to be Stamina and the blue I saw from Richard had to have been Mana. But why the hell can I see them now? As the fight progressed, Cade found himself paying more and more attention to the orange Stamina coursing through Earl's channels.

The skill he had activated appeared to flood his body with Stamina, dramatically increasing his physical performance. Likely at the cost of rapidly draining his reserves. Could he accomplish something similar with essence? Whenever he had tried forcing pure essence into individual muscles in the past, the Primordial Heartwood Rhizome redirected it almost immediately. At the time, he simply hadn't possessed enough essence to try flooding his entire body at once. But now his Core continuously replenished his essence.

Instead of reinforcing one muscle group, what would happen if he flooded his entire body? A particularly loud crack drew his attention back to the fight. Earl had finally ended his fight against the turtle, his axe buried deep into the creature's exposed neck. He stood over the corpse, drenched in blood and swamp water, breathing heavily as his chest rose and fell. A broad grin spread across his face. The fight hadn't been particularly impressive.

Aside from [Unbridled Rage], Cade never saw Earl activate another skill. But after everything Richard had put him through, Earl had clearly needed the victory.

"Feel better?" Cade said as the larger man trudged towards him.

"Hell yeah!" Earl laughed between deep breaths.

"A good fight always lifts my mood. And I got a level out of it." Cade nodded.

"Congratulations."

"Thanks," Earl replied as he wiped blood from his forehead with the back of his hand before resting his axe across one shoulder.

"We should probably keep moving to the camp," Cade said.

"It was good watching you fight and all but there still might be survivors."

"Oh, right." Earl's grin faded slightly.

"Yeah... let's keep going." He glanced back at the turtle before shrugging.

"These things never have any good loot anyway." Cade lingered for a moment. The Razorback Snapper's body still glowed with vibrant green life essence, though it had already begun fading. Earl continued walking without another glance. Satisfied he wasn't being watched, Cade quietly willed his cloak into motion. Pearlescent white motes drifted from the hem of the mantle and settled onto the turtle's corpse. Without a sound, the massive body dissolved into pale ash before the essence spiraled into Cade's channels.

The familiar warmth flowed through him for only a moment before the last traces disappeared into his Core. You have gained experience. With that, Cade hurried to catch up to Earl who was still moving deeper into the swamp. The towering cypress trees gradually grew thicker, their twisted roots forcing them to weave around stagnant pools coated in some magical form of duckweed. The air smelled of damp earth, decaying vegetation, and stagnant water. Basketball-sized insects buzzed between shafts of sunlight.

Neither of them spoke much after the fight. The easy conversation from earlier slowly disappeared as Earl's expression grew more serious with every passing minute. Eventually, he slowed.

"The camp should be just up ahead." His voice had lost its earlier enthusiasm.

"... Brace yourself. It ain't a pretty sight." About a minute of walking later, the trees began to thin. Light spilled through the foliage ahead, revealing a broad clearing beyond. Earl stopped so abruptly that Cade nearly walked into him. The color drained from the larger man's face. Without taking his eyes off the clearing, Earl slowly lowered himself into a crouch. His voice came out as little more than a whisper.

"We need to leave." Cade frowned but instead of asking why, he stepped around the crouched man and looked through the trees. His breath caught at the sight. Dozens of crude wooden huts lay splintered across the clearing. The surrounding wall had collapsed in several places, leaving jagged tree trunks scattered across blood-soaked ground. Fires had long since burned themselves out, leaving only blackened timber. But the destruction wasn't what drew Cade's attention first.

An enormous creature stood at the center of the ruined camp. A spiral shell the size of a small house rested among the shattered buildings, its weathered surface carved with unnatural grooves. Thick armored legs protruded from beneath it, each encased in overlapping plates lined with wicked barbs. The creature itself resembled a gargantuan hermit crab. Two massive claws, each nearly the size of Aquelion, rested amid the carnage.

Bulbous, glossy growths protruded from the tops of both pincers while jagged spines bristled along every joint. Four serrated appendages framed its grotesque face, twitching independently as they tore strips of flesh from the mangled corpse clutched beneath. Wet crunches echoed so loud that Cade could clearly hear them from the treeline. The monstrous crab effortlessly cracked the body apart before dragging another bloody chunk beneath its armored head.

Thick mandibles worked methodically as blood dripped from between them onto the churned earth below. Cade activated [Greater Identify]. Kharvaxis, Shellbound Shocklord of the Shore — Level 31 Highest Attribute: Dexterity: 153 An evolved Lord of the Swamp. Possesses exceptional mobility for its size and immense physical resilience. Every part of its body has evolved into a weapon, making Kharvaxis exceptionally dangerous. How was this thing a Lord of the Swamp?

He had assumed that every Lord would represent one of the creatures carved into the stone dais. Snake, monitor lizard, frog, axolotl, turtle, salamander, iguana, and alligator. Why was this Lord of the Swamp a giant hermit crab? They didn't even live in swamps.

"Cade!" Earl's frantic whisper cut through his thoughts.

"What are you doing?" Cade glanced back to see the larger man was waving him down with both hands.

"Get down!" Earl hissed.

"That's a Lord of the Swamp! We need to leave. Right now." Cade crouched beside him, though more to continue the conversation than from any concern about being spotted.

"This is the camp you were talking about?" Earl nodded rapidly but his eyes never left the Lord.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter anymore. If a Lord's here..." His voice faltered as he looked toward the scattered corpses.

"... there won't be any survivors." Cade looked back toward the massive Lord.

"It's just a hermit crab." Earl slowly turned toward him. The expression on his face hovered somewhere between horror and disbelief.

"You aren't seriously thinking about fighting it? We don't stand a chance against a Lord of the Swamp."

"Maybe." Cade stood.

"Only one way to find out."